Are you losing deals to no decision? In recent research, it is found that 40% to 60% of deals for the average salesperson are lost to no decision due to the client sticking with the status quo. In 2020 after going 100% virtual overnight, sales calls went from in person to Zoom. Matt Dixon, while working at a machine learning company, was able to study sales meetings from several companies to determine some of the biggest pressing problems salespeople are facing. 

In this episode, Matt Dixon shares some insights from the research in his new Book, The Jolt Effect, to understand why salespeople often lose to the status quo. Matt and Ian discuss how to use these findings to better understand the seller and their fears or hesitance to implement change even if they believe in your products or services. 

Join us in this conversation to learn the best approach to increase your sales performance and business growth. If you’re interested in grabbing your own copy of Matt Dixon’s new book, The Jolt Effect, click here

Matthew Dixon is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of three of the most important business books of the past decade: The Challenger Sale, The Effortless Experience and The Challenger Customer. He is also a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review on sales and customer experience. He is a founding partner of DCM Insights, a boutique consultancy focused on using data and research-backed frameworks to help companies attract, retain, and grow their customers. Previously, he has held numerous global leadership roles at organizations like Tethr, Korn Ferry Hay Group, as well as the research firm CEB (now Gartner). He is a sought-after speaker and advisor to management teams around the world, including many of those in the Fortune 500

Quotes: 

“Beating the status quo is about dialing up the fear of not purchasing, overcoming customer indecision is about dialing down the fear of purchasing.”

“We find that about 40 to 60% of deals for the average salesperson are deals lost to no decision.”

Looking for more guidance and support on handling all your B2B sales struggles? You can connect with Ian Altman and learn more about the Same Side Selling Academy through the links below: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianaltman/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/IanAltman

Website: www.samesidesellingacademy.com

Email : [email protected]

Are you looking for a referral to help your business or to help potential clients? The recipient of a referral should never feel like the client has done you a favor. Instead, your potential client should feel that they are getting the favor. But how do you do this? 

In this week’s episode, I share with you the exact approach when seeking out a referral from a client as well as see dramatic growth in your business. 

Quotes: 

“We don't look for referrals until we've confirmed that we've delivered results for that client or prospect because if they don't love us, the referral isn't gonna be that great.”

“We usually don't have a shortage of opportunities, we have a shortage of the right opportunities.”

Looking for more guidance and support on handling all your B2B sales struggles? You can connect with Ian Altman and learn more about the Same Side Selling Academy through the links below: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianaltman/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/IanAltman

Website: www.samesidesellingacademy.com

Email : [email protected]

Proposals are an old school way of thinking. Now hear me out, if you could bypass the proposal stage and go right to an agreement, would you do it? In this week’s episode, I share with you how you can let go of the need to always send a proposal and start working towards a negotiation and agreement with a potential client. 

Instead of sharing your ideas on how you can solve their problems, this method helps you to uncover their true needs, urgency and the exact approach you’d take to solve their problems. Using this approach allows you to skip the proposal stage, move into an agreement and generate better results.

Quotes: 

“Avoid the temptation. Avoid the old school method of sending proposals. Instead, have these conversations agree on the principles and then send an agreement that they can execute, and you cut out a step that isn't necessary.”

“The major difference between a proposal and an agreement is that the proposal is basically signaling to your client, here's the idea that we have, do you want to negotiate some of this?”

Looking for more guidance and support on handling all your B2B sales struggles? You can connect with Ian Altman and learn more about the Same Side Selling Academy through the links below: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianaltman/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/IanAltman

Website: www.samesidesellingacademy.com

Email : [email protected]

You receive an RFP, how can you tell whether it is an actual potential lead or a waste of resources? Most procurement people know exactly who their preferred vendor is before sending an RFP. So how can you set yourself apart and not end up just being a column fodder for comparison? In this week’s episode, I share with you the exact approach to increase your  chances of being chosen from the RFP and the questions you can ask to set yourself apart.

Quotes: 

“When they're asking you to participate in the RFP process, they may just be looking to get additional ideas they can feed their preferred vendor. You may be what they call column fodder, which is just additional cells on a spreadsheet.”

“If on a blind RFP where they have no interaction, they win less than 5%. When they push for and get that conversation, they win more than 40%. So it's an eight fold increase.”

Looking for more guidance and support on handling all your B2B sales struggles? You can connect with Ian Altman and learn more about the Same Side Selling Academy through the links below: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianaltman/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/IanAltman

Website: www.samesidesellingacademy.com

Email : [email protected]

Have you explained your products or services after a client asks without first asking about their situation? If so, you have probably fallen into a common sales trap. Without finding out the potential client's problem, their urgency or how you can solve it, you are setting yourself up for the dreaded silent follow up. In this week’s episode, I share with you the exact questions and approach you need to take when talking to potential clients to set yourself apart and as the solution they need. 

Quotes: 

“The reason why companies tend to buy a product or service from one company versus a competitor, is how well they feel that the vendor understands their specific situation.”

“If we demonstrate that we care about their situation and their business organization and we care more about the results than we care about the sale, that's when we can stand out over the competition.”

Looking for more guidance and support on handling all your B2B sales struggles? You can connect with Ian Altman and learn more about the Same Side Selling Academy through the links below: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianaltman/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/IanAltman

Website: www.samesidesellingacademy.com

Email : [email protected]

Are you doing your research before reaching out to potential connections on LinkedIn or are you making the common mistake of sending mass messages? When reaching out to potential clients, you want to make sure you are not only making a genuine connection but have also properly done the research just as you would before hopping on a sales call. You want to make sure you are reaching out to share your expertise to help them and not connecting with a client just to sell.

LinkedIn is a marathon, not a sprint and you want to treat each connection in the same way. In this week’s episode, I share how you can use Linkedin to build your connections genuinely and achieve better results. 

Quotes: 

“LinkedIn is not a sprint, it's a marathon”

“If you don't do your research in advance, it reflects poorly on you and your business. If you take a more disciplined approach, if you think about who can I help the most, you then reach out to those people not proactively about sales opportunities, but take more interest in what they're doing.”

Looking for more guidance and support on handling all your B2B sales struggles? You can connect with Ian Altman and learn more about the Same Side Selling Academy through the links below: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianaltman/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/IanAltman

Website: www.samesidesellingacademy.com

Email : [email protected]

Have you ever had a potential client come to you and say, “we spoke before about what your company does, we are ready to buy, just send us a quote and we will get right back to you because we are excited to start”? Afterward, you hang up the phone pumped thinking you just scored an easy win and after you send the quote, they go silent. 

All the sudden, you are confused about what happened since they said themselves they were ready to buy and now you are left with the dreaded followup. So what went wrong? 

In this episode, I share with you how to qualify leads to truly understand their problems, their urgency and how you will help them achieve their desired results. When you take the discipline to find out what your potential client is trying to solve and if you do need to follow up you know exactly how you can serve their needs. 

Quotes: 

“Take the discipline to find out more about what it is they're trying to solve, to make sure they're gonna get the results that will give you an opening to navigate to the Quadrants to make sure you fully understand what they're doing, and you can best serve their needs. And when you do that your follow up can be based on their needs, not what it is you're trying to sell.”

“The trap that we fell into is that we didn't ask the discipline questions to fully understand their needs, their goals, the results are looking for who else needs to be involved? Instead, we just said, okay fine, we're gonna send you this information.”

Looking for more guidance and support on handling all your B2B sales struggles? You can connect with Ian Altman and learn more about the Same Side Selling Academy through the links below: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianaltman/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/IanAltman

Website: www.samesidesellingacademy.com

Email : [email protected]

If you invest in a program and don’t see results, you are hurting your sales organization because they begin to think that the trainings are a waste of time. When you invest in a program, there are key factors you want to consider beforehand. In this week’s episode, I dive into how you can understand your organization’s biggest problem areas as well as make sure the training has a reinforceable process for your team to follow. The only way to true success and to see the needle being moved for your team is to hold your team accountable to a process they can follow and practice. 

Quotes: 

“If you spend money, and you don't get results, then it hurts the entire industry. And it actually hurts your sales organization, because then they start to think, Well, I'm not going to do the sales training stuff, because it was useless last time”

“If you don't practice, if you don't reinforce whatever you learn, after you've had the training, you're not going to succeed.”

Looking for more guidance and support on handling all your B2B sales struggles? You can connect with Ian Altman and learn more about the Same Side Selling Academy through the links below: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianaltman/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/IanAltman

Website: www.samesidesellingacademy.com

Email : [email protected]

Welcome to the 300th episode! I am thrilled on this episode to share with you some of the many success stories from the Same Side Selling Academy. I am not sharing with you the wins we have on our end but the wins our client’s have had throughout their time learning and implementing the Same Side Selling techniques. 

These success stories are from Academy members who show up consistently to learn, practice and follow a proven process to put the client’s results first and show they are here to solve problems, not just to sell. Join me as I share some incredible wins and success stories with you to celebrate the 300th episode.

Quotes: 

“We asked how they did it, they said well, we just followed the process that we talked about every month in the Same Side Selling Academy. And we just stepped through with this client and the client basically sold us instead of us selling them, which is really what this whole methodology is about.”

“If you put yourself in uncomfortable situations with your peers, so that you get better and improve your skills. That's what moves the needle.”

Looking for more guidance and support on handling all your B2B sales struggles? You can connect with Ian Altman and learn more about the Same Side Selling Academy through the links below: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianaltman/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/IanAltman

Website: https://www.samesidesellingacademy.com

Email : [email protected]

Have you ever forecasted a deal to happen and the clients seem excited to work with you and all the sudden they stop returning your calls or emails? Or maybe they do respond but they let you know they have to push the deal out 1,2 or 3 months? You were certain this deal was going to happen but now you are confused and wondering what caused this sudden delay. 

In this week’s episode, I share with you the approaches you can use to qualify your leads to uncover their level of urgency and commitment to solving their current problem. By asking the correct qualifying questions, you can gain more insight into how likely your potential client is to follow through with the deal. Join me on this week’s episode to learn more Same Side Selling techniques. 

Quotes: 

“The fact that you spend a lot of time and you forecast this deal is not a good reason for your client to follow up with you.”

“So when it comes to timing, if someone says, oh, yeah, we're really interested in your solution. Great. So what happens if you don't solve this?”

Looking for more guidance and support on handling all your B2B sales struggles? You can connect with Ian Altman and learn more about the Same Side Selling Academy through the links below: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianaltman/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/IanAltman

Website: www.samesidesellingacademy.com

Email : [email protected]