Raintoday's Sales Tips & Techniques Podcast

It might be hard to believe, but musician Kanye West is correct when he tweeted, "Don't ever try to sell me on anything. Give me ALL the information and I'll make my own decision," says Sonja Jefferson, co-author of the book Valuable Content Marketing. People don't want to be sold to; they want help. Listen as Jefferson explains why content must help customers, as well as the other principles for creating valuable content.

When it comes to selling professional services, top sellers do two things that set them apart from the competition. One of those is educating their buyers with new ideas and perspectives. Listen as John Doerr, Co-President of RAIN Group explains why that is so important to buyers, the second most important factor when selecting a provider, and what to do if you're struggling to win sales.

It used to be businesses could rely on advertising and traditional marketing methods, but things have shifted and those strategies no longer work. Increasingly buyers have lost trust with companies, and only those embrace the new Relationship Era of marketing and care about something bigger than what they sell will succeed, says Doug Levy, co-author of Can't Buy Me Like.

You don't like to be pushed, persuaded, or maneuvered, and neither do your clients. Instead you need to work on being a strong influence—being "influenceable," says John Ullmen, co-author of Real Influence: Persuade without Pushing and Gain without Giving In. Listen as Ullmen discusses the four steps to connecting with and influencing people and how you can apply them to communications with clients.

There are two paths to trust. There's the traditional way where you meet someone in person and get to know them, and there's the online way where buyers learn to trust you based on your online presence. And for many firms, the second path—with the help online marketing—has become extremely effective.Listen as Lee Frederiksen, co-author of Online Marketing for Professional Services, discusses how to use online marketing to develop trust with buyers and grow your business.

Paul Gillin, co-author of Attack of the Customers, explains how negative online reviews are opportunities to turn unhappy customers into raving fans.

Kendra Lee, author The Sales Magnet, explains the two keys for successful email prospecting: the glimpse factor and the delete barrier.

All of us love stories. That includes your buyers. Stories tap our emotions and compel us to want to do something, and you can use them to motivate your prospects. The key is to tell great stories. To do that you must first understand the buyer's goal. Listen as Adrian Davis discusses why stories are effective in sales, when to use stories, and things to be careful of when telling stories.

Buyer behavior and needs have changed. That means service firms must update their sales process to accommodate those changes. That means they must genuinely put buyers at the heart of all business development activity, says David Tovey, author of Principled Selling. Listen as Tovey explains how concepts of his Principled Selling Approach enable firms to do that.

Thanks to social media, word of mouth has been "massively amplified." Where once talk about favorite restaurants or companies were limited to the few people around the water cooler, now millions of people can hear about an experience you had with a business. That doesn't mean companies have to sit by while this happens. Listen as Rob Fuggetta explains how companies can tap this powerful source and use passionate customer as advocates and "virtual marketers."

When sales and marketing are aligned, you have faster revenue cycles, happier customers, and higher employee morale. Many times, however, that alignment is not there. To get the two groups aligned, Christine Crandell, President of New Business Strategies, suggests following these seven steps.

Getting referrals is all about whom you know, building relationships with those people, and leveraging that to get to the people you really want to talk to—potential clients. As Jeremy Bromberg says, it means following the yellow brick road. Listen as Bromberg talks about how he develops partnerships with other service professionals and how he grows those relationships to generate new business.

Everyone, including your buyers, has their own persona or character code. When you can identify their preferences, you can better interact with them and improve the likelihood of their working with you. Listen as Brandy Mychals, author of How to Read a Client from Across the Room, explains her Character Code System and how to use her system to attract your ideal client.

Your prospect has been in your lead nurturing process for weeks. You think by now they're ready to buy. But are you sure? In this podcast interview, Jeff Ogden discusses how to determine when your prospect is ready to buy, critical factors to consider when launching a lead-nurturing campaign, and the best content to use in a lead-nurturing campaign.

The benefits of cross-selling within client firms seem obvious: it takes less time, money, and effort to sell within client organizations than to new clients. But still many organizations resist doing it. In this podcast RAIN Group Co-President Mike Schultz explains why organizations are reluctant, what it takes to implement a strong cross-selling process, and the financial benefits of having cross-selling process.

The single overwhelming driver when executives select a consultant, not surprisingly, is trust. Can they trust you? To gain that trust, executives look for consultants to have four particular characteristics. Listen as David Fields, author of The Executive's Guide to Consultants, explains what those characteristics are, the right way to approach a project, what you need to do after meeting with an executive, and how to get the fees you deserve.

What do decision makers really want to know from you as a service provider? The question is simple. The answer is also simple, but carrying out the request can be more complicated. According to Darlene Price, author of Well Said! Presentations and Conversations that Get Results, decision makers want to know how you can help them. Listen as she explains the three things they're specifically looking for, as well as how to persuade decision makers and how to conduct "powerful conversations."

The best way to close more deals and develop close relationships with clients might not match what you think it is. The fact is suggesting a competitor, as contradictory as that might seem, is the best way to build loyalty and win that buyer's business. Listen as Andrea Howe explains why that works, as well as barriers that prevent service professionals from succeeding with sale

When looking at the characteristics and actions of various CEOs, it's clear that the most successful executives do things differently than their counterparts. Listen as William N. Thorndike, author of The Outsiders, explains the characteristics of the eight CEOs he profiled in his book and how their actions helped their companies achieve huge success.

Just like buyers have a fight or flight response when confronted with an aggressive sales approach, salespeople also have that response when dealing with challenging buyers. And that often causes them to say or do the wrong things during a sales call. In this interview, Colleen Stanley, author of Emotional Intelligence for Sales Success, discusses how to control that response and the importance of emotional intelligence in the sales process.