Bonus Round with Collin Mitchell
#104.5: Collin Mitchell, chief evangelist at Humantic AI, joins Outbound Sales Lift Bonus Round to answer rapid-fire sales questions.
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Don’t feel like listening? Read the Episode Cliff Notes instead below:
Gaps in Sales Coaching (0:22)
Duane spent the last decade in sales, half specifically in SaaS, and has helped companies grow. He took that and turned it into a consultancy, working with SAS founders and sales managers.
One gap we still run into is the stereotypical way we promote into sales leadership by picking top sales reps where they end up not getting education.
The biggest gap in sales coaching is that there's no one there leading the charge to help these managers understand all the different aspects of being a leader.
You've got a challenger mindset even in sales, and you do commercial teaching. But, that's still different than an ongoing relationship with your team and holding them accountable.
It's a completely different skillset from putting in the activity close and fine-tuning your sales process to being okay with resting your commission and checking on someone else's efforts.
Finding Good Sales Leaders (5:52)
One of the reasons previously successful sales reps can become truly great sales managers is because they can tap into their experience of when they were going through that phase and then channel that through a leadership strategy. So they can speak from a position of experience.
Many reps don't get exposed to understanding what it takes, levers to pull, and what to pay attention to as a leader. As a result, they don't have a good leader they're following, or they just never thought of reading leadership books to get better at their job.
If they're coming from a larger organization, they may have been so specialized and in their lane that they don't have that ability to see the forest for the trees.
Generalized vs. Specialized Reps (10:42)
You can't just be specialized in one thing; you have to know enough about everything to be successful these days,
It's becoming a much more desired trait in well-rounded salespeople to be a deep generalist because you need to be agile.
You need to be able to pivot, and you need to be able to act on your feet while on the call instead of needing to grab your sales engineer.
A lot of sales reps tend to just keep on talking. But when they speak less initially, they end up talking a lot more at the end because they're gathering information.
One-On-Ones vs. Coaching Calls (15:02)
One-on-one is for the sales rep and is about 30 to 45 minutes. Don't bring an agenda. It's for them. It's their opportunity to ask you questions about the organization.
If they want to talk about career development, this is their time where they're not being coached.
It's a time for them to be heard and express things that are going on.
A lot of times, you learn so much more about the team. In addition, you have the privilege to lead from those meetings than you do on tactical coaching calls.
Duane always likes to check-in to see how they're doing in their role in their career, focus on scheduling their next PTL, and set goals and competitions around vacations.
The one-on-one stuff is interesting, and it's something that needs to be more intentional on every sales team.
For coaching, choose one thing instead of three to five things for them to work on. What is the one thing that they could have done better? So that if they try to focus on one thing, it's less overwhelming.
Duane's Bio:
My name is Duane Dufault. I'm a college dropout construction worker who made a complete shift in my life over a decade ago so I could be home for my kids. I've sold just about everything from newspapers, toilets and flooring, to printers door to door, SMB Saas, Mid-market, and all the way up to fortune 100 Enterprise Software. You name it, and I've sold it, sold into it, or helped someone sell it. If not, chances are, it won't take me long to help you figure it out
AND - Ive taken startups from 17 employees to over 60, from 2mill in ARR to over 11mill in ARR while bring bootstrapped, AND having an acquisition under my belt of over $320Million...
Important Links:
#104.5: Collin Mitchell, chief evangelist at Humantic AI, joins Outbound Sales Lift Bonus Round to answer rapid-fire sales questions.
#104: 236 percent.
236 percent?
236 percent!
Yes, Collin Mitchell is serious. He wants to help you increase your positive outbound replies by 236% through personalization.
But he doesn’t mean traditional personalization by targeting a persona or an ICP. He doesn’t even mean combing a prospect’s LinkedIn profile to find out where they went to college or connecting based on a recent post.
Collin Mitchell and Humantic AI are taking personalization a step further by understanding a prospect’s personality type and using it to your advantage. Knowing someone’s personality type can improve your communication and pitch by helping you present information in a way your prospect is most likely to respond.
With insights into specifics such as which personality type prefers longer emails versus bulleted lists or how to increase your open rate with a perfect subject line, you can win over more prospects with tailored outreach.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
01:07: Using personalization to increase your outbound sales replies
04:49: Tailoring your outreach based on how your prospect prefers to receive information
13:15: How is it possible to figure out a prospect’s personality type?
#103.5: JR Butler, founder and CEO of Shift Group, joins Outbound Sales Lift Bonus Round to answer rapid-fire sales questions.
#103: In this episode, JR Butler joins Outbound Sales Lift to discuss how companies can recruit top sales talent. He discusses factors like sales process, unique IP, and equity that can help incoming SDRs get excited about an opportunity.
However, JR explains that companies should consider taking their recruiting efforts a step further by targeting entry-level sales reps who are focused on getting better and want to grow in their role versus those who are solely focused on a paycheck.
Lastly, JR shares his tips for closing a deal and ensuring that the top sales talent will thrive at your company.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
01:00: How companies can position themselves to recruit top sales talent
08:31: Discussion training and professional development in the hiring process
17:39: Positing your company well during the interview process
#102.5: Amelia Taylor, lead evangelist at Regie.ai, joins Outbound Sales Lift Bonus Round to answer rapid-fire sales questions.
#102: Amelia Taylor joins Outbound Sales Lift to describe the role of sales evangelist and why more companies should consider investing in the position. An evangelist is focused on networking, connecting directly with prospects to build strong, trusting relationships.
Amelia explains that evangelists typically use social media, making connections online then having one-on-one conversations with prospects. She believes that no matter what stage of growth a company is in, the sales evangelist role can help develop key relationships that drive sales.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
The basics: Explaining the sales evangelist role
Digging deeper: How to incorporate a sales evangelist role in your company
Developing an evangelist: Doing it differently than “the way it’s always been done”
#101.5: Yurii Veremchuk, head of business growth at Woodpecker, joins Outbound Sales Lift Bonus Round to answer rapid-fire sales questions.
#101: Imagine this — you start a cold call, mention your name and company, and instead of immediately remembering an important meeting they just can’t miss, your prospect says, “Hey, I know you.” Once you’re able to pick your jaw off the floor and start asking a few questions, you learn that your prospect has read a few of your posts on LinkedIn and maybe watched some of the sales videos you shared. What started as a cold call has quickly turned into a warm conversation.
And that’s the power of a personal brand.
Yurii Veremchuk joins Tyler Lindley to share tips and insights around how to build your personal brand and the importance of content in sales. He explains how social media can boost sales by elevating both individuals and the company profile. While it may seem daunting to get started, once you do, a personal brand can elevate your work in sales and may also enhance your understanding of yourself.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
Building a personal brand in sales
Why a personal brand is also important for sales leaders
Challenges in getting started with building a personal brand
#100: Host Tyler Lindley celebrates his 100th podcast episode by considering the connections between podcasting and sales. He explains how recording, producing, and releasing 100 podcast episodes have actually improved his sales techniques.
Tyler focuses on three things — organization, interviewing, and consistency — and explores how he’s had to hone each skill to deliver engaging and relevant episodes while also exploring the relationship to his work in sales.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
Organization
Interviewing
Consistency
#99.5: Kellen Casebeer, sales advisor for Sales Driven Agency, and founder of a paid sales community called The Speakeasy, joins Outbound Sales Lift Bonus Round to answer rapid-fire sales questions.
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