Accelerate! With Andy Paul

Dan Roam is the best-selling author of some of my favorite business books, including the "Back of the Napkin" and "Draw to Win: A Crash Course on How to Lead, Sell, and Innovate With Your Visual Mind." This episode was recorded in 2017 but the subject of how to effectively communicate is timeless. Especially the way Dan talks about it. You’ll want to hear the story of how Dan became the Art Director for the Moscow Times right after the collapse of the Soviet Union. That’s worth the price admission alone. Plus. we get into the science of science of storytelling with pictures.

On this special episode I have a series of short conversations with front-line sales leaders about the power and value of effective sales coaching. First up, I’m joined by Brynne Tillman, the CEO of Social Sales Link. Then I speak with be Carole Mahoney, the founder and Chief Sales Coach at Unbound Growth. Finally, I'll wrap things up with Shari Levitin, the CEO of Levitin Group. My guests today are all on the panel of judges for 2020's Top Sales Coach Competition, brought to you by ringDNA and this podcast. To enter for your chance to be recognized as the World's Top Sales Coach and win $1,000 go to topcoach.ring.com.

On this special episode I have a series of short conversations with front-line sales leaders about the power and value of effective sales coaching. First up, I’m joined by Alex Smith, the Global Sales Development Manager at Headspace. Then I speak with be Deb Calvert, the founder of The Sales Experts Channel and CEO of People First Productivity Solutions. Finally, I'll wrap things up with my friend Lori Harmon, the Vice President, Global Cloud Sales & Customer Success at NetApp.  My guests today are all on the panel of judges for 2020's Top Sales Coach Competition, brought to you by ringDNA and this podcast. To enter for your chance to be recognized as the World's Top Sales Coach and win $1,000 go to topcoach.ring.com.

Anita Nielsen is the author of the book, "Beat the Bots: How Humanity Can Future-Proof Your Tech Sales Career." In this episode we talk about how to use your essential human qualities to build a foundation for future sales success in an increasingly automated world. Plus, we dig into what it will take for sellers to remain relevant to their buyers and why they have nothing to fear from AI. 

Sahil Mansuri is the founder and CEO of Bravado and today we discuss the state of B2B sales. We dig into the elements of how we manage and compensate sellers that are broken, like quota and commission plans. And we exchange ideas on how they could be fixed. Sahil is moving full speed ahead to challenge the status quo in sales. We need more voices like his. Don't miss this conversation.

Carson Conant is the founder and CEO of Mediafly and today we dive into the current state of sales enablement. We talk about whether we’re enabling sellers or just enabling processes. Plus, we get into what pieces are missing from the current sales enablement mix.

David Allen is a NYTimes best-selling author of perhaps the best book written on personal productivity, "Getting Things Done." This episode was recorded in 2017. But the subject of productivity is so timeless. And the way that David Allen talks about it, it will open your eyes. "Getting Things Done" is an essential book for all sellers to read because it teaches you how to truly break down a job, like a sales opportunity with an enterprise client, into the smallest logical tasks that need to be accomplished. And how to predict the very next actions you need to take to keep momentum moving forward. In our conversation David and I dive deep into how undone tasks are stress inducing. We dig into the three main behaviors that you must use to manage your commitments. And explore the larger idea of the barriers to productivity that we all confront on a daily basis. And how to work through them.

Justin Gray is the CEO of LeadMD and in this episode we discuss what Justin calls "Hyper-Value Sales." Plus, we'll dig into strategies you can use to bring value to your buyer earlier in their buying journey.

Becc Holland is founder and CEO of Flip the Script. On today's episode we talk about the biggest challenges facing the sales development function, including some that perhaps are a bit counterintuitive. Like do many SaaS companies actually have too much pipeline? Plus, we dive into the topic of KPIs and try to sort out the useful metrics from the popular, but useless metrics. 

Michael Tuso is the Director of Revenue Performance at Chili Piper. On today's episode we get into all things revenue performance; starting with what it means and who it affects. Then we dive into exactly how Michael works with the sales team and leadership to plan and measure performance improvement, before talking about new KPIs we can use to more accurately measure performance and performance improvement. Plus, I introduce a new feature on the show this week where I'll have friends stop by for hot takes on everything trending in the sales world both online and off. Our first guest is my friend Howard Brown, the founder and CEO of ringDNA (and one of the most interesting people I know).

Geoff Colvin is the NYTimes best-selling author of a couple of my favorite business books, "Talent is Overrated" and "Humans Are Underrated." On today's episode we dive deep into how technology has been changing the nature of work and what this will mean for sales. We dig into how the definition of great performance is being changed. And why research shows that in a future filled with AI that great performance requires us to be more intensely human. This interview was recorded in 2017.

Kraig Swensrud is the Founder and CEO of Qualified. On today's episode, Kraig and I get into why today’s buyers expect real-time, personalized experiences. Plus, we get into why the old Sales Development Rep (SDR) process is leaving pipeline on the table.

Justin Michael is the founder of the SalesBorgs, a new community for sales and revops, and he’s joining me on this episode to talk about sales in the future. I like to caveat these conversations with a quote from the Nobel prize winning physicist Nils Bohr, “Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.” But, hey, the prospect of being wrong has never stopped me before. So why start now? Justin has a particular point of view about what the future will hold for sales. For instance, we’ve got various measures of potential. IQ for intelligence. EQ for emotional intelligence. RQ for relational intelligence. We’re going to talk about whether sellers will need TQ - technical intelligence - in order to fully compete in an automated future. We’re going to explore that and much, much more.

Scott Roy and Roy Whitten are co-authors of the book, "Decision Intelligence Selling: Transform the Way Your People Sell." Today we dig into what companies need to do to transform their selling using their RACE transformation equation. Plus, despite all the talk about the "revolution" that has hit sales in the past 10 years, nothing could be further from the truth. Sales is stuck in the past. And all the technology in the world hasn’t changed that. We get into why and possible fixes.

Rick Blake was my first sales manager. He didn’t hire me but he took over as my manager after I’d been selling just a few months. This was a long time ago. If you can do higher math, you can calculate how long ago it was by checking out my LinkedIn profile. Rick retired earlier this year after a long career in sales. He had some BIG jobs along the way. retiring as General Manager of a huge division of HP. This is such a fun conversation. Rick shares some stories about me as a rookie sales person, we talk about what’s changed in sales over the past four decades and wasn't hasn't. _ Arm your team with the tools they need to work from anywhere. Watch the video @ www.ringDNA.com/andy

Amy Hrehovcik is Channel Director at Sales Hacker, Inc.A few weeks ago I read an article Amy wrote about the mental health challenges that salespeople face day in and day out. What particularly struck me about the article was Amy’s courage in revealing and talking about her own struggles with mental health. So, I asked Amy to come join us on this show to talk about mental health in sales. Amy's article: https://www.saleshacker.com/mental-health-sales-advantage/

Jonah Berger is a professor at Wharton business school and author of a new book titled, "The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone’s Mind." There's a passage in it that stands out, "Behavioral scientist Kurt Lewin once noted, 'If you want to truly understand something, try to change it.' But the reverse is also true. To truly change something, you need to understand it.” Sales is all about change. People are doing things a certain way. They know they probably need to change. But making the decision to change is hard. And it becomes measurably harder to help them make the decision to change if they don’t feel that they are understood. Which is one of the topics we’ll talk about in this episode: How to enable conversations by finding common ground in shared experiences. Plus, we get into how people have a built in resistance to being persuaded and the steps you can take to mitigate that and engage people in conversation. 

Stephen M.R. Covey is a New York Times bestselling author of one of my all-time favorite business books, "The Speed of Trust." It’s on my list of books that should be required reading for anyone in sales. There is no better book at explaining the impact of trust on business. This episode was recorded in late 2017 but the subject of trust is timeless and the way Covey explains will help you understand what trust truly is in practical terms. As he writes, "Trust is a pragmatic, tangible, actionable ASSET that you can create." Trust is hard, it’s real and quantifiable. You are going to be challenged by this. Don't miss it.

Steven Rosen is a well-known sales leadership coach and author of the book, “The Sales Managers Success Guide: 52 Sales Management Tips.” In this episode we’re talking about sales coaching. It’s a topic I talk about a lot on this show. With good reason. Research says that sales coaching is the #1 sales management activity that drives improvement in sales performance. Except as Steven and I get into into in this episode, there’s not a uniform definition for what sales coaching is. That’s a big problem. Is it mentoring? Skills development? Deal coaching? Plus, if sales coaching has the potential to drive performance improvement, why don’t companies invest more in training sales managers how to do it?

Sangram Vajre is the co-founder and chief evangelist of Terminus and host of the FlipMyFunnel podcast. This is such a fun conversation. Sangram is big thinker. We talk about fine tuning your message. We get into one of Sangram’s current passions: being intentional and creating community. We also get into personal improvement and leadership’s role in motivating people to invest in themselves. Plus, we also talk about why CEOs need to have experience selling their own products.