In an enlightening episode of Mastering Modern Selling, Samantha McKenna, CEO of #SamSales Consulting, brings her vibrant energy and unmatched expertise to the table.
As a veteran in enterprise sales with a rich background including leading roles at major corporations like LinkedIn, McKenna offers a fresh perspective on sales strategies that break the conventional mold.
Here are five essential insights she shared, designed to elevate the sales experience:
- The Delayed Thank-You Tactic: McKenna introduces a subtle yet powerful technique called the 'delayed thank-you.' Instead of immediately responding with gratitude after a proposal submission, she suggests waiting until the promised follow-up time. This tactic ingeniously nudges the client to remember and honor their commitment, increasing the likelihood of a timely response.
- Proactive Calendar Management: To combat the common issue of unresponsive prospects post-initial agreement, McKenna recommends proactively scheduling meetings for a future date, giving clients an easy way to confirm or reschedule. This assertive approach minimizes limbo and boosts the efficiency of securing important sales discussions.
- Humanizing Sales Interactions: Emphasizing manners and authenticity, McKenna advises sales professionals to humanize their interactions. By prioritizing genuine communication and avoiding salesy jargon, sellers can foster better relationships and stand out in a profession often marred by stereotypes of pushiness.
- Navigating LinkedIn as a Sales Tool: Leveraging her expertise from years at LinkedIn, McKenna stresses the importance of using LinkedIn not only to project thought leadership but also to engage actively with potential clients' content. This strategy helps build relationships and positions sales professionals as attentive and informed partners.
- Expanding the Sandbox: McKenna shares a case study of engaging a potential client through strategic interactions on LinkedIn. By consistently engaging with the client’s posts and offering value, she was able to secure a significant business opportunity, showcasing the effectiveness of thoughtful social selling.
This episode merges traditional sales techniques with modern digital strategies, particularly in leveraging social media for meaningful business relationships.
These insights not only challenge the status quo but also invite sales professionals to refine their methods and mindset toward more effective selling.
Don't miss out—your next big idea could be just one episode away!
This Show is sponsored by Fist Bump
Your prospecting partner to authentically fill your pipeline with ideal customers.
Check out our Live Show Events here: Mastering Modern Selling Live Show
Subscribe to our Newsletter: Mastering Modern Selling Newsletter
Speaker 1: Welcome to Mastering Modern Selling relationships
00:00:04
social and AI in the buyer-centric age.
00:00:07
Join host Brandon Lee, founder of Fistbump, alongside
00:00:11
Microsoft's number one social seller, carson V Heddy and Tom
00:00:15
Burton, author of the Revenue Zone and co-founder of LeadSmart
00:00:18
, as we explore the strategies and stories behind successful
00:00:22
executives and sales professionals.
00:00:24
Dive into business growth, personal development and the
00:00:28
pursuit of excellence with industry leaders.
00:00:30
Whether you're a seasoned executive or an aspiring leader,
00:00:33
this podcast is your backstage pass to today's business
00:00:37
landscape.
00:00:37
This is Mastering Modern Selling, brought to you by
00:00:41
Fistbump.
00:00:42
Brought to you by Fistbump hey everyone, welcome to episode
00:00:51
number 87.
00:00:53
Speaker 2: 87?
00:00:53
I think it's 78.
00:00:54
But you know who's keeping track of Mastering Modern
00:00:58
Selling.
00:00:59
I'm here by myself as the only host, so I'm all messed up today
00:01:03
.
00:01:03
But no matter what, welcome to the show.
00:01:06
Mastering Modern, mastery Modern selling.
00:01:07
Sam, great to have you here with me.
00:01:09
Um, I think Brandon will be joining us soon, but if not, you
00:01:13
know we're going to have a hell of a time without him.
00:01:15
Speaker 3: So can't wait.
00:01:15
He's going to be so, so upset he missed out he's going to.
00:01:18
Speaker 2: Just it's going to be a big loss.
00:01:19
So anyway, let's just make this .
00:01:22
You know super jealous that he's not here and Carson is in
00:01:25
New York this week, so he's not here as well.
00:01:28
So anyway, we'll get started.
00:01:30
Sam again welcome.
00:01:33
I know we're going to get into a lot of good stuff today, but
00:01:36
before we start, you know, tell everybody a little bit about
00:01:38
yourself, your background, what you do, and then we're going to
00:01:41
start off with a Sam sales hack, just to get things rolling.
00:01:46
But yeah, let's talk a little bit about your background first.
00:01:50
Speaker 3: Sure, I'm Sam McKenna .
00:01:51
I'm the CEO of Hashtag Sam Sales Consulting.
00:01:53
I have been in enterprise sales my entire career 15, 16 years
00:01:58
at this point.
00:01:58
16, 16 years Holy moly See.
00:02:01
I don't know my numbers either.
00:02:02
We're in good partnership here today, but I was an AE, an
00:02:07
individual contributor, for about seven years.
00:02:09
Leader after that, executive leader after that, I ran North
00:02:15
American sales for a company out in the Bay Area and then moved
00:02:17
over to LinkedIn, also in the Bay Area, where I led enterprise
00:02:18
sales for LinkedIn Sales Navigator and then broke my 13
00:02:22
sales record while I was there and started Sam Sales.
00:02:25
So we're a LinkedIn consultancy , sales consultancy, sequence
00:02:28
writing consultancy all kinds of things under our belt.
00:02:31
But the very cool thing about us is that we're an all-women
00:02:33
team of 15, over 200 clients, some really major brands and are
00:02:38
about to celebrate our fifth year anniversary.
00:02:41
So we're tired some caffeine, but we're having a great time,
00:02:44
yeah, and we're known for a bunch of things.
00:02:46
Show me, you know me, urgency, and then a bunch of Sam's hacks,
00:02:48
sam's sales hacks, which we can get into today.
00:02:51
Speaker 2: So do you mostly work with companies that are doing
00:02:54
more B2B enterprise sales, or is there a kind of a sweet spot
00:02:56
that you're that you work with?
00:02:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, almost everything that we support is
00:02:59
B2B, so I think there's a handful that we help that are
00:03:03
more on the consumer side.
00:03:05
We do some professional services as well, with some
00:03:07
large accounting firms and law firms as well, but most
00:03:10
everything is B2B tech based.
00:03:13
And then some really nerdy stuff data and things like that
00:03:15
too.
00:03:17
Speaker 2: So are you getting any AI companies?
00:03:19
Speaker 3: We do have some AI companies and we are learning
00:03:22
our way all around that stuff.
00:03:23
But yeah, so far so good.
00:03:26
It's a good education for us.
00:03:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting.
00:03:29
We have a couple of tech companies that are talking about
00:03:33
adopting AI for augmenting sales and it's kind of a nervous
00:03:38
conversation Like what does that mean, and are we going to
00:03:41
be replaced, or is there going to be 50 of us doing a job of
00:03:44
one or whatever you?
00:03:45
Speaker 3: know.
00:03:45
I think the good thing about that is I'll say like every
00:03:48
single time we get, you know, we get an email today from an
00:03:55
automated email that said they can help us grow our pediatric
00:03:57
practice, and I was like pediatrics, eh, I'm like great
00:03:59
research that you've done.
00:04:00
It's right there in our title.
00:04:01
It's exactly what we do SAM sales.
00:04:03
So every time we get one of those we say and they say that
00:04:05
AI is going to steal our jobs, I do think AI is going to be
00:04:09
great.
00:04:09
I think those who capitalize on the efficiency of it to learn
00:04:13
and then mix that with their heart and soul and brains hello
00:04:16
Brandon are going to be the ones that win, in my humble opinion,
00:04:21
today.
00:04:23
Speaker 2: So who is this guy?
00:04:24
Speaker 3: I'm so sorry, Hi, Sam Hi.
00:04:27
Speaker 4: Brandon.
00:04:28
Speaker 3: How's it going?
00:04:29
Speaker 4: I'm good.
00:04:30
I've been wanting to hear how's little one doing.
00:04:33
Speaker 3: Oh, thanks, you're so nice to ask.
00:04:34
He's good.
00:04:34
Alex is good 12 weeks on Saturday, so we're just finding
00:04:39
our new normal.
00:04:42
Speaker 2: So, brandon, we're just getting started.
00:04:43
Sam was just telling us a little bit about her background,
00:04:48
but we're going to kick things off with a Sam sales hack?
00:04:51
Yes, because we're adding value right out of the gate, right
00:04:53
out of the gate.
00:04:54
Speaker 3: So Well, I thank you guys.
00:04:56
So one of the things we're known for is all of our, all of
00:04:58
our hacks.
00:04:59
And I will tell you background wise, I've had I've never had
00:05:02
any formal sales training whatsoever.
00:05:03
It's everything that I've read, it's gut instinct, it's manners
00:05:06
from the way that I've grown up .
00:05:07
But just thinking of the, we have a brand for thinking of the
00:05:11
shit that nobody else thinks of .
00:05:13
Right, and that's kind of our brand.
00:05:14
So little things that we can do .
00:05:15
So let's talk about a couple of things.
00:05:16
One we have something called the delayed thank you, and it
00:05:20
works really beautifully.
00:05:21
So the delayed thank you is this let's say I send Brandon a
00:05:24
proposal and he's like tomorrow I'm going to get you an answer
00:05:26
to this proposal and I'm like great, what do most reps do?
00:05:29
They respond right away, very excited, eager, and they say
00:05:31
thanks, brandon, and you're like you're welcome.
00:05:33
And then tomorrow rolls around, brandon doesn't get back to us.
00:05:37
So what do we do Then?
00:05:48
Delay the thank you.
00:05:49
It's painful, it's the one place where we are not urgent.
00:05:50
But delay the thank you, keep the email unread in your box
00:05:50
tomorrow, close business.
00:05:51
When brandon inevitably forgets to get back to us, even though
00:05:52
I promise you, would you just say thanks so much.
00:05:53
And brandon's like, oh, that's right.
00:05:53
And you're like, yes, and you get an answer.
00:05:55
So small little thing you can do.
00:05:57
And I'm going to give you just one more.
00:05:59
For all of the times that we send emails or we get positive
00:06:02
responses, somebody says, yes, I'd love to book time with you.
00:06:05
Send me some times that work.
00:06:06
And then we respond, we say here's my calendar link Also,
00:06:09
don't do that, but here's my calendar link.
00:06:10
Or here's some times that work for me, right?
00:06:12
We send that over.
00:06:13
And then Brandon never responds .
00:06:16
And then we're like hey, brandon, do these new times work
00:06:19
?
00:06:19
Do you still want to meet?
00:06:20
We're just following up.
00:06:21
We're just following up, we're paying the butt.
00:06:22
Instead, do that once or twice, do the times, send a follow-up
00:06:26
and then, if nothing, as long as you've received a positive
00:06:29
response to wanting to book time with you, book time with that
00:06:31
person for two weeks from today at that same time.
00:06:34
Brandon, I know that you're super busy.
00:06:36
Scheduling sometimes is half the battle.
00:06:38
I'm going to go ahead and send an invite on our calendars for
00:06:40
two weeks from today.
00:06:41
Should that not work, just let me know and I'll reschedule.
00:06:43
Otherwise, look forward to chatting with you, then 99% of
00:06:47
the time that person says thanks so much.
00:06:49
That works perfectly.
00:06:49
Bye, and then you have a meeting For any SDRs on the
00:06:52
phone.
00:06:52
Oh my gosh, will this help you hit your meetings booking goals
00:06:55
instead of just chasing and chasing and then probably
00:06:58
forgetting about half the leads you were chasing?
00:07:02
Speaker 4: I love the hack, but I'm a little worried about this
00:07:04
branding guy.
00:07:05
He sounds like a flake he sounds like a total flake.
00:07:10
Speaker 2: Can you believe that guy?
00:07:10
What are?
00:07:11
Speaker 4: you ghosting him already?
00:07:12
Yeah, he ghosts you.
00:07:13
He shows up to live shows late.
00:07:16
Speaker 3: Late.
00:07:16
That's great Good impressions.
00:07:19
Speaker 2: Sam, I wanted to go back to the first hack a little
00:07:21
bit.
00:07:21
So you send Brandon the proposal.
00:07:23
Is that what you're saying?
00:07:25
You're delaying a thank you or a follow-up for a couple of days
00:07:28
, or what is it?
00:07:29
Delay again?
00:07:30
Speaker 3: Think it's a delayed thank you.
00:07:31
So think of every single time you send something or somebody
00:07:34
asks a question.
00:07:35
They say, hey, I'm meeting with my boss tomorrow.
00:07:36
We want to review your proposal .
00:07:37
We're going to do this.
00:07:38
Can you just?
00:07:39
Can you give me this right now?
00:07:41
Speaker 4: Give me whatever it is that I need, and then I'll
00:07:42
get back to you tomorrow, yeah.
00:07:44
Speaker 3: So we send the thing right, or Brandon says thanks
00:07:47
for this, I'm going to get back to you tomorrow, we say we
00:07:49
immediately say thank you, we burn the thank you, just hang on
00:07:53
to it for a day.
00:07:54
If Brandon said he's going to get back to you tomorrow, don't
00:07:56
say thank you just yet.
00:07:57
It's the one time where I say delay your manners, delay the
00:08:00
urgency, and delay your manners a little bit and just say thank
00:08:03
you tomorrow.
00:08:03
It's also kind of the hack that we use of, like when somebody
00:08:06
said they were going to get back to us and they haven't yet and
00:08:08
we don't want to just follow up, send a text message about
00:08:11
something else or send an email to nurture them about something
00:08:13
completely unrelated.
00:08:14
Hey, I know you live in Denver.
00:08:15
I saw this really cool article, I'm passing it along Most
00:08:17
expensive house ever sold, just sold.
00:08:19
That's so cool.
00:08:20
And then Brandon's like oh my God, I didn't.
00:08:22
Also, I owe you an answer and I'm like I know.
00:08:24
So just little things you can do to not be that same salesman
00:08:32
that everybody is.
00:08:34
Speaker 4: It sounds like you're promoting just being a good
00:08:37
human being and be conversational with people.
00:08:39
Speaker 3: Imagine that putting some manners at the forefront of
00:08:42
our sales process.
00:08:43
Who thought that that could help you get ahead?
00:08:46
Speaker 2: You know it's interesting too about the second
00:08:47
one, just the second one too, about the calendar piece.
00:08:50
Right, if they decline it, then you kind of know that maybe
00:08:54
this wasn't qualified to begin with, because even if they're
00:08:58
not available, they'll probably come back with an alternative
00:09:00
reschedule, right?
00:09:02
Speaker 3: Exactly right.
00:09:03
Speaker 2: So at least you end up getting the dialogue going,
00:09:05
versus just hanging there and nothing, nothing occurring
00:09:08
Totally.
00:09:09
Speaker 4: Right.
00:09:10
Speaker 2: Really good.
00:09:10
Speaker 4: Awesome.
00:09:11
Was it getting getting to know sooner is is better than getting
00:09:15
a no answer and and just going on and, on and on and chasing.
00:09:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, and we don't want to hang out in limbo and I
00:09:21
will say like for for a lot of SDRs out there, a lot of us that
00:09:24
are chasing meetings and booking things between all these
00:09:26
mediums text and Slack and LinkedIn, dms and all that stuff
00:09:29
it's easy for things to fall out of our purview, right.
00:09:32
So the faster we can book them, get it scheduled, check it off
00:09:35
our list, the better.
00:09:35
So send the times, send one more follow up and then, if
00:09:38
nothing, again, only if you've received a positive response.
00:09:41
So it is never appropriate to put some time on someone's
00:09:44
calendar before they said yes, it happens sometimes.
00:09:46
It's not a marketing thing, that happens a lot.
00:09:48
I'm like the hell is this webinar that I signed up for?
00:09:51
That's how I showed up today, just kidding, um like, and it
00:09:58
also doesn't know why he's here.
00:09:59
Um no, but I think, think about these things.
00:10:02
Just little, small little moves , right, can really build a
00:10:06
brand for you differently, can make you a better modern seller,
00:10:09
can make you different than, again, what everybody's
00:10:12
experiencing.
00:10:13
And I think, if we think about sales, the bar is really low.
00:10:15
What we expect of sales and the reputation unfortunately we
00:10:19
have, despite being such a fabulous profession, it's pretty
00:10:22
low, so it doesn't take much, in terms of the way that we
00:10:24
change our tactics, to stand out and build a better presence for
00:10:27
ourselves.
00:10:29
Speaker 4: Tom, you know, what I like about this is that I don't
00:10:32
know.
00:10:32
We're not even 10 minutes into it and I think we could stop
00:10:35
right there and tell everybody just take, you got two hacks and
00:10:42
a encouragement and motivation on just how to behave, like how
00:10:46
to have the mindset around what you're doing.
00:10:48
And, sam, I think you're right.
00:10:50
You would stand out from the vast majority of sellers that
00:10:54
are out there because, unfortunately, the bar is so low
00:10:57
.
00:10:57
Yeah, you got it.
00:11:00
Speaker 2: Well, and I think the bar is low, mainly because this
00:11:03
is what I'm not, because we're not good sellers and we're not
00:11:06
good people.
00:11:07
We just haven't had the right techniques taught to us so that
00:11:11
we're the most effective Right, and then we end up becoming
00:11:14
ineffective and we become, as part of becoming ineffective, we
00:11:17
become annoying Right and I think, if you can somehow which
00:11:21
is what I think you're hacked is what it's effective, but it's
00:11:23
also to to me, that wasn't annoying right If you sent me
00:11:26
that and I did the calendar and I, if I really wasn't interested
00:11:29
, I'd just decline it and say you know, that's the end of it.
00:11:31
So it seems like it's effective and yet building that you know
00:11:35
brand and that relationship at the same time.
00:11:38
Speaker 3: Totally.
00:11:38
I think Josh Brown and I talk about this a lot.
00:11:42
If you don't know him, he's a great follow, really really good
00:11:44
sales tactics.
00:11:45
But we say that most people just haven't had a good example
00:11:48
of what good looks like, right?
00:11:49
So whether it's a sales email, whether it's a conversation,
00:11:51
whether it's active listening, discovery call, we talk about
00:11:54
that quite a bit and I think that's it.
00:12:02
I think we often also think that we have to be these scripted,
00:12:04
robotic different people when we are selling and robotic
00:12:06
different people when we are selling and we don't.
00:12:07
You know, I think one of the fascinating things like
00:12:08
something I hear, I heard a few times early in my career was my
00:12:11
enthusiasm.
00:12:11
My smiliness and my friendliness made me come across
00:12:14
as junior and untrustworthy and I was like, well guys, that's
00:12:19
who I am.
00:12:19
So I'm really screwed if I have to be somebody different.
00:12:22
But I think you can be personable, you can be friendly,
00:12:26
you can be honest and transparent in sales and get
00:12:29
ahead.
00:12:30
All of these things that you typically hear in the sales
00:12:33
profession is the complete opposite of what I've done.
00:12:36
I've never made a cool call, a single cool call in my life.
00:12:39
I've broken 13 records, made millions and millions of dollars
00:12:42
being a CEO that's really successful today.
00:12:44
Not a shot in hell would I ever pick up the phone and make a
00:12:46
cool call and I'm sorry if I've just not made a few enemies out
00:12:49
of anybody listening, but I don't do that stuff.
00:12:51
And then we also don't think about the salesy language, right
00:12:53
?
00:12:53
You'd never hear us say do you have 15 to 20 minutes to catch
00:12:56
up and let us hear about your business?
00:12:58
We'd never do that.
00:12:59
Also, why do we ask for 15 or 20 minutes and we book 30.
00:13:02
What the hell is that about?
00:13:03
So just think do you have a couple?
00:13:09
Do you have some time over the next week or two?
00:13:10
I'd love to chat.
00:13:10
I would love to chat about your needs and how we can support
00:13:12
you.
00:13:12
Just use human language.
00:13:13
And I think, too, we talk a lot about the scripts that we use
00:13:17
and things that we say, and I say say them out loud.
00:13:20
Would you ever say that at a conference?
00:13:22
If you swung by someone's booth or they did yours, would you
00:13:25
say that out loud?
00:13:26
And people are like no, and I'm like why the hell do you write
00:13:28
that email?
00:13:28
Just be a human being and by virtue of that right and making
00:13:34
an effort and caring about other people, I think you'll get
00:13:36
ahead.
00:13:39
Speaker 2: So let's talk a little bit about your philosophy
00:13:42
and certainly you've been around LinkedIn for a while and
00:13:45
we your philosophy, and certainly you've been around
00:13:46
LinkedIn for a while and we talk a lot on this.
00:13:48
So this show, by the way, its previous generation, was social
00:13:54
selling for newbies, and then we went to social selling 2.0.
00:13:56
So we were there this is the genesis of the show has been
00:13:59
very social selling and we decided to change it to modern
00:14:02
selling because social selling is modern selling Right it to
00:14:04
modern selling, because it's just what it is Social selling,
00:14:06
is modern selling?
00:14:06
Right, it's just modern selling.
00:14:07
So tell us a little bit about how you use LinkedIn, your
00:14:11
strategy and even you know we haven't talked a lot, Brandon,
00:14:15
about Sales Navigator, really, and do you have?
00:14:17
Any hacks or things with that that you would like to bring to
00:14:20
the table.
00:14:22
Speaker 4: We bring Alexander Lowe on every six months or so
00:14:25
to talk about Navigator, but we haven't done that for a while.
00:14:29
Speaker 3: He's a good expert.
00:14:30
He was just texting me because he was in DC but it was too late
00:14:32
.
00:14:32
Notice for me to see him.
00:14:34
Yeah, but he's great.
00:14:35
I got to meet him in London a couple of years ago, I think.
00:14:38
Power of LinkedIn you want to get hired by LinkedIn.
00:14:40
Use LinkedIn.
00:14:41
That's exactly how I got hired by LinkedIn.
00:14:43
So I think a couple of things right.
00:14:45
Like, I've been posting on the platform since 2011.
00:14:48
Like you can pull the report of every single post you have If
00:14:50
you ever just want to see what the embarrassing things that you
00:14:53
used to write.
00:14:53
It's all right there for you.
00:14:54
But I've been posting on that platform since then.
00:14:56
I hate to use this word, but I've been an influencer on the
00:14:59
platform since about 2016.
00:15:01
And then, early adopter of Navigator, really a massive
00:15:05
champion of it, which is how I got ultimately seen and then
00:15:07
hired by LinkedIn.
00:15:09
So I think to me, the way you use it is a couple of ways.
00:15:12
One, you absolutely use it to become a thought leader.
00:15:15
So if you and I would tell you, no matter what stage of your
00:15:19
career you're at, you have something useful to share with
00:15:22
people, I would encourage you stay in your lane.
00:15:25
If you're a BDR.
00:15:26
Don't be posting about what CROs should be doing.
00:15:29
Stay in your lane, right, but talk about what makes you
00:15:32
successful as a BDR, if you are a CEO, if you're an entrepreneur
00:15:35
, if you're a CRO, talk about that, right.
00:15:36
People want to know the things that you do to be successful so
00:15:40
you can start there and build a brand for yourself.
00:15:43
Then, two, it's a great exposure for your company.
00:15:50
So one of the things that I did when I was both an AE and a
00:15:52
leader working for a company on the Bay Area called On24, is I'd
00:15:53
post.
00:15:53
I'd post about webinars, I'd post about marketing hacks, I'd
00:15:56
post about things that we were doing and teaching our clients.
00:15:58
What did that do?
00:15:59
It brought inbound leads for every single team in our company
00:16:02
except for mine, yay, except.
00:16:04
While, for every single team in our company except for mine,
00:16:07
yay, except well, it wasn't direct revenue for me.
00:16:08
Here's what I did to stand out.
00:16:09
I tracked that.
00:16:09
So if those inbound leads came in, I would funnel them to the
00:16:12
right person, I would track and see their success and then that
00:16:15
would be part of my review.
00:16:16
My presence on LinkedIn has built X amount of pipeline,
00:16:19
brought in X amount of leads and X amount of closed deals,
00:16:21
welcome.
00:16:22
I'd like a raise.
00:16:23
So think about things like that that you can do.
00:16:25
Now.
00:16:25
On top of that, how do we get in front of our customers, right
00:16:29
?
00:16:29
Everybody says my buyer's on a LinkedIn.
00:16:31
I say you need to look at the data, because they absolutely
00:16:33
are.
00:16:33
Also, if you don't think they are, they are, but that means
00:16:37
your competitors also don't think they are, you have a
00:16:40
strategic advantage to get in front of them.
00:16:42
Get your executives on a platform.
00:16:43
Hire us, we'll write their content, manage their profiles
00:16:50
for you, but do that If you are not.
00:16:51
If you're not, if your executives aren't doing it, you
00:16:52
can do it.
00:16:52
The other thing to think about is look for their content.
00:16:54
This is where Navigator can come into play, right?
00:16:56
So start to vet out who are executives or the people that
00:16:59
I'm tracking and my territories, make lists in Navigator and
00:17:03
then start to manage who is actually posting To me.
00:17:07
This is one of the best hacks we have, and it's something we
00:17:09
call expand the sandbox.
00:17:11
We have a playbook you can buy on our website, but I'll give
00:17:13
you most of the intel for free.
00:17:14
You don't have to spend a dime with us.
00:17:15
Set every perfectly smart entrepreneur.
00:17:19
Here's what we do so.
00:17:22
One of the things we did was there was a CRO at a $6 billion
00:17:26
company that I really wanted to be able to.
00:17:29
We wanted her business, and so she posts on LinkedIn.
00:17:33
So here's what I did Are you ready for it?
00:17:35
13 minutes of prospecting that is a nearly $100 deal.
00:17:39
Commented on her post twice, sent her a direct connection
00:17:42
request.
00:17:43
I said I love your content.
00:17:43
I keep coming across it because I'm stalking you because you're
00:17:46
in my LinkedIn navigator list, would love to connect?
00:17:49
Commented two more times and then sent her a note and said
00:17:51
hey, I think we can probably help you with your LinkedIn
00:17:53
content and make you a little bit better set in a more tactful
00:17:56
way.
00:17:56
You want to chat?
00:17:56
That's it, and we got that.
00:17:59
You can do that it.
00:18:00
I'll expand the sandbox.
00:18:01
You're literally spearfishing for your prospects and you're
00:18:04
doing something, making an effort right, that no one else
00:18:08
is making.
00:18:08
So go and do it and be different.
00:18:10
We just did it again with another company based in Israel,
00:18:14
cro.
00:18:15
I think they're just over a hundred million in ARR Easy
00:18:20
peasy, okay.
00:18:21
Speaker 4: I'll stop, Sam.
00:18:22
I have a question for you on that.
00:18:24
So you addressed one of the big questions.
00:18:26
Our customers aren't on LinkedIn, which we know they are
00:18:30
, but okay.
00:18:30
So first part of that question is, other than saying they are,
00:18:35
how do you answer that question with people to help them see
00:18:39
that their customers are on LinkedIn or Navigator.
00:18:43
Speaker 3: The data of member access from LinkedIn shows that
00:18:47
half of the members there's over a billion members on LinkedIn
00:18:50
right, and that's skyrocketed, obviously, during COVID.
00:18:52
But half of the billion members come in at least once a week
00:18:55
for a minimum of five minutes.
00:18:57
Harvard Business Review also show the executive titles that's
00:19:00
anything that's director plus come into the platform for
00:19:03
around an average of 42 minutes on the weekends.
00:19:07
You have to think of how to strategically use that.
00:19:10
So the number one thing that we can see and you can see this
00:19:12
from an earning, the Microsoft earnings report is that the
00:19:16
LinkedIn marketing LinkedIn marketing services line of
00:19:19
business revenue, while it's still their most successful, is
00:19:22
declining.
00:19:23
Why?
00:19:23
Because people continue to funnel ads on LinkedIn and it
00:19:27
doesn't work, and so they stop spending their money there.
00:19:29
Right, the reason the ads aren't working is because the
00:19:32
members are coming, they're arriving to the platform, but
00:19:34
they're here to network and they're here to learn.
00:19:36
They want to learn your thought leadership from someone they
00:19:39
don't want to be sold to.
00:19:39
They want to network and they want to learn.
00:19:41
So you've got that going for you.
00:19:49
I think the other thing to think about is, if they're coming and
00:19:50
we know that the executives are coming on the weekends.
00:19:51
How can you be smart about the way that you categorize your
00:19:53
content?
00:19:53
You'll see, the weekend content for me probably gets less
00:19:55
engagement because it's for a narrower, higher level audience,
00:19:58
and that's totally okay.
00:19:59
That's who I'm targeting.
00:20:00
So think maybe your Friday posts are a little bit lighter
00:20:02
and then your Saturdays are really boring about sales
00:20:05
strategy or LinkedIn strategy or something like that.
00:20:07
But we know our buyers are coming and, again, if your
00:20:11
competitors think the same thing incorrectly that you do that
00:20:14
your buyers on LinkedIn you've got one hell of a strategic
00:20:18
opportunity to get your voice out, to get it read, and in a
00:20:21
very uncrowded market.
00:20:22
One more thing on that Just over 1% of the members, myself
00:20:27
included, post at least weekly on LinkedIn, and even the people
00:20:31
that are posting weekly we know what it is.
00:20:33
It's auto-share stuff from their marketing team that talks
00:20:36
about some new mechanical piece of software or whatever that
00:20:39
they just delivered riveting stuff.
00:20:40
So if you're showing up with a different voice and teaching
00:20:43
them something, you're going to go in a different way.
00:20:46
Speaker 4: So if you're showing up with a different voice and
00:20:47
teaching them something.
00:20:48
You're going to go in a different way.
00:20:49
I have a follow up question.
00:20:51
That was excellent, Sam.
00:20:51
I really appreciate that.
00:20:52
So somebody says our customers don't show up, they're not on
00:20:55
LinkedIn.
00:21:01
Speaker 3: We've already addressed that, but you said
00:21:02
your system with this 16 billion dollar.
00:21:04
Speaker 4: I think you said CEO.
00:21:05
Yeah, Same thing.
00:21:06
Like see, see somebody, lots of money.
00:21:08
You commented a couple of times , sent a connection request,
00:21:13
commented a few more times.
00:21:14
What did you comment on?
00:21:16
And how do you go about doing that?
00:21:17
Because I know a lot of people say if they do publish, it's
00:21:22
content that's really hard to comment on because it's about
00:21:25
their company or it's about something, one of their products
00:21:28
or something.
00:21:28
How do you coach people?
00:21:31
Speaker 3: through that process.
00:21:31
So I think you're trying to do two things and then I'll tell
00:21:35
you what to comment.
00:21:35
But when you comment, you are trying to build brand visibility
00:21:38
with who you are and you're simply making an effort that
00:21:41
other people aren't.
00:21:42
Let me just give you one quick thing to look up For anybody
00:21:46
that's listening right now go and look at one or two of the
00:21:49
executives that you want to get in front of, maybe that are
00:21:51
posting that company content, but go and look at their last
00:21:54
post.
00:21:55
Here's what you're going to find.
00:21:56
90% of the time, you're going to get a ton of likes and very
00:22:01
few comments.
00:22:02
What's fascinating to me is it's like you've literally got
00:22:05
an executive sitting on the trade show floor.
00:22:07
You have 179 people around that executive, going right and
00:22:12
hearting what they're saying, and then you have three people
00:22:14
that have made comments.
00:22:15
And who are those people?
00:22:16
They're their employees that are trying to kiss their butts.
00:22:18
Okay, so you have an opportunity to stand out.
00:22:21
Consider that, first and foremost, even if it's something
00:22:24
on company content, right?
00:22:26
Not every post is going to be able.
00:22:28
You're not going to be able to say something on every post, and
00:22:30
you don't want to.
00:22:30
You don't want to be annoying.
00:22:31
You want to make it look organic, even if it's totally
00:22:34
systematic and process driven.
00:22:35
But think about the things you can say.
00:22:37
So maybe somebody posts about um, women in sales month, women,
00:22:41
you know, women's leadership month.
00:22:42
Something about dei, something about an offsite, something of
00:22:45
about conference or sponsoring whatever.
00:22:47
Think of something that you can say, right, say, fully, support
00:22:50
this, love to see this Tag.
00:22:51
Somebody else that you know that's really important, so they
00:22:54
can see kind of the arena that you play in.
00:22:57
Add a comment that's thoughtful.
00:22:58
You are going to find that a lot of executives so the one
00:23:01
that I was talking about posts about totally human interest
00:23:06
pieces.
00:23:06
So it was about their family, about their belief in, you know,
00:23:09
for leadership and things like that.
00:23:10
I can comment on that all day long, right, you look at one of
00:23:14
the heads of social media at Nike.
00:23:17
Her name is Sammy S-A-M-I.
00:23:18
She posts about being a mom all day long.
00:23:21
Her content gets unbelievable engagement.
00:23:23
Now she's going to be a harder one to cut through, the noise
00:23:25
through, because everybody comments on her stuff, because
00:23:27
she's really present.
00:23:28
But just take a look at that stuff, right, and add your
00:23:31
organic thought leadership.
00:23:32
Add something.
00:23:33
What would you say to that person.
00:23:35
If they said those words to you at a conference Okay, we're
00:23:38
sponsoring a webinar and you'd be like, oh God, but think of
00:23:40
something that you could say back to them and then stand out.
00:23:43
Last thing please, for the love of God, do not say cool article
00:23:47
man or something like that right, show us you have a brain
00:23:51
and what's in there.
00:23:52
Speaker 2: And that will go a long way, I want to go back to
00:23:58
the 42 minutes that you mentioned earlier.
00:24:00
So, brandon, did you know that?
00:24:02
Did you have that data?
00:24:05
Speaker 4: You know, I knew about that.
00:24:07
I mean the data it's been shifting a little bit, but I did
00:24:10
know they log in at least once a week, but 42 minutes on the
00:24:16
weekend I think that was new to me actually.
00:24:20
Speaker 2: So can you just repeat, Sam, what the 42 minutes
00:24:24
and what that is?
00:24:24
And then I have a follow-up question, just because I think
00:24:27
that's super, super relevant to understand.
00:24:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then I've got a follow up hack for you
00:24:31
after your follow up question to this.
00:24:32
Ok, forty two minutes.
00:24:34
Director plus titles are spending an average of 42
00:24:37
minutes on LinkedIn on the weekends.
00:24:39
That was from Harvard Business Review just a couple of weeks
00:24:41
ago.
00:24:43
Speaker 2: And I assume that they're not necessarily posting,
00:24:46
they're not commenting, they're just kind of seeing what's
00:24:49
going on and learning and absorbing.
00:24:51
And that can be done more realistically on the weekend,
00:24:56
when they're not distracted and on the other places, and it's
00:24:58
kind of a way to get caught up or get stay current.
00:25:01
Maybe is a better way to look at it Exactly right.
00:25:03
Speaker 3: And I think, if you think, just think for a minute
00:25:05
right, like how many connection requests, how many DMs probably
00:25:09
exist in those executives boxes?
00:25:10
Right, like one of the things that we do at Sam Sales I
00:25:13
briefly mentioned.
00:25:14
But we write content for executives and then we manage
00:25:16
their entire presence for them since celebrities as well on
00:25:19
LinkedIn, so we know what their inboxes look like.
00:25:22
Right, we're looking at one today for a VP of global sales
00:25:25
who has 619 connection requests that are just stacked up over
00:25:29
time.
00:25:29
It's a hot mess.
00:25:31
So think about the weekend as a strategic use of time for how
00:25:35
you're going to cut through the noise.
00:25:36
And this is my backup hack.
00:25:37
Before I get there, let me tell you if you are using cold email
00:25:42
outreach, right, hopefully you subscribe to what we call show
00:25:44
me your nomads, our trademark term.
00:25:46
You're taking time to do your research and reach out, but what
00:25:49
most people don't do is they don't email on the weekends.
00:25:51
And here's what we encourage you to do Today's Wednesday, on
00:25:55
Thursday and Friday send your first email to an executive.
00:25:57
Your second email, your follow-up email, is going to
00:26:00
have so much more validity or higher propensity for a response
00:26:04
rate if you send it less than 48 hours later, which means
00:26:07
you're sending it when Saturday or Sunday, saturday morning and
00:26:11
Sunday nights we have executives that are working.
00:26:13
Who else is emailing them during that time?
00:26:14
Not a whole lot of anyone.
00:26:16
Who else is stalking them?
00:26:17
Nobody.
00:26:18
And you have executives that are more likely to respond
00:26:21
because they want to procrastinate from the work that
00:26:22
they have to do.
00:26:23
So you're going to probably potentially get a response.
00:26:26
Think of LinkedIn, the exact same way.
00:26:28
So our hack around this is something called bubble hunting.
00:26:31
You guys are on LinkedIn.
00:26:33
Take a quick look at your DMs.
00:26:35
So anything that's in your inbox, you're going to have
00:26:37
these little bubbles next to people's pictures.
00:26:40
If you have a filled in green bubble, that means that they're
00:26:43
active, and they're active on a desktop or a laptop device, not
00:26:46
mobile.
00:26:46
Take an hour of your time on the weekend and go bubble
00:26:49
hunting.
00:26:50
Go and look for the executives that you've either exchanged
00:26:53
messages with, you've nurtured over LinkedIn, and send them
00:26:56
something of value over the weekends.
00:26:57
Guess how we got one of our deals done at LinkedIn by bubble
00:27:01
hunting one of the executives on LinkedIn.
00:27:03
Don't tell her that, but I mean this is.
00:27:05
It's easy stuff, it's.
00:27:07
I hate the work hard and not work smart, not hard.
00:27:11
Do both.
00:27:12
But this is an easy way to do exactly that.
00:27:14
It's just a better use of your time strategically.
00:27:18
Speaker 2: Brandon, I don't know .
00:27:19
We've never done anything on the weekend where we tried to
00:27:21
procrastinate what we were really supposed to do and then
00:27:23
went off and did something else.
00:27:24
Absolutely.
00:27:25
Speaker 4: Never I did sand two pieces of furniture this weekend
00:27:32
on Saturday.
00:27:33
Two pieces of furniture this weekend on Saturday.
00:27:38
I will not admit that I was procrastinating the work that I
00:27:40
should have been doing, but my wife was really happy that I got
00:27:42
it done though.
00:27:43
Speaker 3: Happy wife, happy life, as they say.
00:27:45
Speaker 4: That's right.
00:27:46
That's right, absolutely, sam.
00:27:48
This is great stuff and I love the bubble hunting I learned the
00:27:54
term from you all, but that concept of looking for people
00:27:58
who are active and sending them messages when they're online and
00:28:03
I love the hack.
00:28:03
It's a simple hack.
00:28:05
It's a simple change of the lens and just getting people to
00:28:09
look at LinkedIn a little bit differently.
00:28:10
What's another?
00:28:11
While you're here, we're just going to keep going.
00:28:14
Feed us more, what, what, what are some more of the little
00:28:16
hacks like that?
00:28:17
That that dangers?
00:28:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, um, uh , let's think of the we.
00:28:22
We talked about the send, the send the email, um, and then the
00:28:26
two days later, think, think about what your subject line
00:28:29
does look like, right?
00:28:30
So the biggest piece of feedback we hear from reps today
00:28:32
are I know how to sell my product.
00:28:34
I'm really good at that.
00:28:35
I don't know how to sell in this modern day and age, so I'm
00:28:38
really struggling with figuring out.
00:28:40
How do I cut through the noise?
00:28:41
And one of the biggest things we hear is how do I cut through
00:28:43
the noise of an email box?
00:28:44
We're the queens of show me or know me.
00:28:47
I can say we're the queens because we're an all women team
00:28:48
of 15, but we are the queens of show me or know me, of making an
00:28:52
effort.
00:28:52
So think about this.
00:28:53
Look at the last emails you've sent out, right, brandon Tom?
00:28:57
You guys could pull up your inboxes as well, and I'm sure
00:29:01
they are hot messes of subject lines.
00:29:03
Quick question you know, chief of IT, you know whatever
00:29:07
technology just the worst things ever.
00:29:09
And what I would encourage you to do is think about how you can
00:29:13
do a little research, right, and you can strategically send a
00:29:15
message to people.
00:29:16
So I would go and look at that executive's profile.
00:29:19
If they have a tumbleweed flowing by their profile and
00:29:22
there's literally nothing for you to pull from there.
00:29:24
Go to the company website, google their name, see if
00:29:26
they've been on a podcast or a live stream or written an
00:29:30
article recently, find something you can talk about with them.
00:29:33
And when you pull that information, that's what your
00:29:35
subject line looks like.
00:29:36
So let me give you an example.
00:29:38
When I reached out to Ryan, the CEO of LinkedIn, I sent him a
00:29:41
message a couple months ago and I can't remember what the first
00:29:44
part of my subject line was, but the second part of my subject
00:29:46
line was called.
00:29:48
It said small pivots.
00:29:49
So let's say I referenced a mutual connection.
00:29:52
Then I did plus in quotes small pivots, plus hashtag Sam sales.
00:29:56
Now he knows me, but so let's pretend he doesn't know Sam
00:30:00
sales.
00:30:00
He sees a mutual connection.
00:30:01
I know that person and he sees the word small pivots.
00:30:04
Where did that come from?
00:30:06
If you were trying to sell to LinkedIn, there was an article
00:30:08
in financial times and the financial times where Ryan
00:30:10
basically gives you exactly how he buys as a CEO.
00:30:14
It's literally a roadmap of how to sell to him and one of the
00:30:17
things he says is that he talks about making small pivots before
00:30:20
he places big bets.
00:30:21
So I wrote that in it and I put it in quotes in the subject
00:30:24
line, got it open and I said here's how a gamble with Sam's
00:30:28
sales, a small pivot with Sam's sales, can make a massive impact
00:30:31
to you and then you can place a big bet on us.
00:30:33
If I talk about what I can do and I give something tangible
00:30:40
there as well, right, there has to be meat in the email for him
00:30:41
to say my really, really precious time is worth spending
00:30:43
with you because I think you drive value.
00:30:45
I can't just say I can drive value for you.
00:30:47
I have to make the effort and no one makes the effort Again us
00:30:53
as the queens of show me or know me.
00:30:54
When I look at my inbox, it's garbage, it really is, and you
00:30:58
would think that people that want to sell to us.
00:31:00
We don't have LinkedIn budget.
00:31:01
We have a little budget, four bucks.
00:31:02
We have some budget that we can spend.
00:31:04
So make an effort and the best part is, even if I don't have,
00:31:08
you know, budget for you or I don't have a need for you.
00:31:20
Speaker 4: I probably know someone who does so.
00:31:21
If you just made the effort, how far ahead you could get.
00:31:23
Yeah, sam, what I really appreciate about that is that
00:31:24
you gave a very tangible way for people to go find the research
00:31:25
or do the research and find the nugget.
00:31:26
So often I hear people they go well, linkedin, how much time is
00:31:30
it going to take?
00:31:30
It's like, well, how much money would you like to make?
00:31:34
Speaker 3: exactly right and I I think you think about that for
00:31:36
your own prospecting right.
00:31:38
A lot of people might hear this feedback and be like I don't
00:31:40
prospect right, I work for salesforce.
00:31:43
We have tons of inventors, I have a bdr.
00:31:44
I don't do that.
00:31:45
My pushback to you would be why would you ever want to leave
00:31:49
the fate of how much money you can make in somebody else's
00:31:52
hands?
00:31:52
Go get after it, right.
00:31:55
And the other thing to think about is thinking about how you
00:31:58
can pull this information, even if there's nothing on LinkedIn.
00:32:01
Even takes you a little time.
00:32:02
Block out 30 minutes.
00:32:04
I would encourage you block out 300 minutes in a week to find
00:32:08
10 people that are like C-suite like you would lose sleep the
00:32:12
night before, like it's Christmas morning, right of what
00:32:15
your meeting is going to be like the next day and find those
00:32:17
people and make the effort.
00:32:18
The other thing is I would tell you you're probably wrong on a
00:32:22
lot of your buyers.
00:32:23
Right, there is information.
00:32:24
Take a look at somebody named poor guy.
00:32:27
Take a look at somebody named Josh Atkins.
00:32:30
Josh is a GM of a division, of a team at Qualtrics, 2 or so
00:32:36
sellers, quite a few bucks in revenue.
00:32:38
And if you look at his profile and you look at the bottom of
00:32:41
his about section, he says if you're a BDR trying to get on my
00:32:43
calendar, here's everything you can talk about to get me to
00:32:46
respond.
00:32:47
Guess how many people look at that.
00:32:50
It's like the cheat code is right there and you don't make
00:32:54
the effort.
00:32:54
So I believe me, your executives are clamoring for you
00:32:58
to do that, and if you do, let's say that they don't need
00:33:02
you.
00:33:02
They'll probably respond and say great effort, good job, yeah
00:33:06
, and then you open the door.
00:33:08
Connect with them on linkedin.
00:33:09
Keep the conversation rolling.
00:33:10
Follow up with them another time sam Sam.
00:33:14
Speaker 4: I love that example.
00:33:15
I did that over a year ago on the very bottom of my about
00:33:19
section.
00:33:20
Speaker 1: I love it.
00:33:20
Speaker 4: And I'm not going to tell anybody what it was, but I
00:33:22
say, if you mentioned these three things, you will get my
00:33:26
attention, and I think I've had two people do it in the past
00:33:30
year.
00:33:30
I mean, isn't that wild?
00:33:32
I mean it's simple.
00:33:34
How much time it's going to take.
00:33:37
Okay, if you could spend 10 or 15 minutes and you had three key
00:33:43
pieces of information that none of your competitors knew about
00:33:47
a prospect, and you could reference it in a LinkedIn
00:33:50
message, a comment, an email, a voicemail in skywriting,
00:33:54
whatever, would you spend the time doing it?
00:33:56
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:33:59
Speaker 4: Go ahead Sorry.
00:34:00
Speaker 3: No, I was just.
00:34:00
I was going to say the.
00:34:01
My, my former boss at LinkedIn, who now manages a billion
00:34:04
dollar business at LinkedIn, posted a while ago and she said
00:34:08
that in three years she's received four, four personalized
00:34:12
sales emails.
00:34:13
Every single one of them got a response.
00:34:14
How much would you pay?
00:34:17
How much would your marketing team pay?
00:34:18
What's the cost per lead they would pay for meeting with
00:34:20
somebody like that?
00:34:21
What would you give as a sales rep to get a meeting with
00:34:24
someone like that?
00:34:25
Speaker 4: But, Sam, we've got to automate everything and make
00:34:28
sure that everything we got more , more, more coming out.
00:34:31
Forget this quality garbage.
00:34:32
Speaker 2: We were talking about AI in the beginning.
00:34:34
Speaker 3: It's all going to go to AI anyway, so keep, keep
00:34:37
doing that, you guys, because then it's easier for me to stand
00:34:39
out.
00:34:39
Thank you so much.
00:34:41
Speaker 4: I have a question for you what has been the best
00:34:46
sales message that has come into you that's gotten your
00:34:49
attention?
00:34:49
Cause you're you're, you're tough, but you're fair, I'm sure
00:34:55
because of what you do.
00:34:56
But what was something that got your attention?
00:35:00
Speaker 3: I think there was a it wasn't us, it wasn't me, but
00:35:02
I will say it was Kim on our.
00:35:04
She's our head of strategy and enablement and she and her
00:35:08
profile talks about the things she loves.
00:35:10
And so somebody sent her a puppy picture and said you know
00:35:13
I can't remember what the subject line was, but just
00:35:15
literally said I did my research , here's a puppy picture.
00:35:18
It says on your profile to send puppy pictures or that you will
00:35:21
cave for those.
00:35:22
So here's one of my dog.
00:35:23
If you don't have a dog, go and find a puppy picture online
00:35:26
they're easy to find, I presume and then send it along.
00:35:30
But I think to me, like what really works, fun, making the
00:35:34
effort really really works.
00:35:36
But two, if you think about the rest of your message, here's
00:35:38
some things to think about.
00:35:40
I bet that $100, the majority of people listening to us right
00:35:44
now if they look at their emails , it says what they do.
00:35:47
It doesn't say the challenge that they solve or the outcome
00:35:50
that that buyer will get from working with them.
00:35:52
Why are you different?
00:35:54
Why should somebody give you the time of day?
00:35:55
So if you say, oh, we're a pipeline acceleration platform,
00:35:58
we can do da-da-da, who cares?
00:35:59
I would say look at what you do and just say so what, so what?
00:36:04
Or if somebody says we already have that and you say, but wait,
00:36:07
we're different, say it in the email.
00:36:09
So you have to think about the challenge you solve and then you
00:36:12
have to assume the objection that someone's going to say,
00:36:15
right, we already have that, we don't need it, we're not
00:36:16
prioritizing, et cetera.
00:36:17
Let's pretend they responded to you with that right.
00:36:21
And if they did, what would you say?
00:36:22
You say but, but, but, but, but Make sure that that's in the
00:36:25
first email, because you're much volume to get a response,
00:36:27
because our messaging is so bad.
00:36:29
So put in the effort for Show Me, you Know Me, rewrite those
00:36:41
scripts and if you need help, there's tons on our, on our
00:36:44
website that can give you all the help you need, you know what
00:36:47
are your thoughts?
00:36:48
Speaker 4: Oh go ahead.
00:36:49
Speaker 2: Tom, I just wanted to you know the making the effort
00:36:52
right.
00:36:53
What I'm hearing you say is and I think this is probably true
00:36:57
if you really make the effort right not some half-assed BS
00:37:00
effort, but really make the effort you're going to get
00:37:03
probably three possible outcomes .
00:37:05
You're either going to get a response from the person you're
00:37:07
sending it to a positive one.
00:37:09
It's probably reasonable.
00:37:10
If they're not the right person , they may forward it to
00:37:12
somebody else in the company who is the right person with an
00:37:15
endorsement.
00:37:16
Or you may get a referral for somebody completely out.
00:37:18
I mean your odds of actually accomplishing something with
00:37:22
that are, I don't know, I would think, literally 100 times
00:37:26
higher than you're ever going to get with a typical BS email
00:37:29
that we all get in our inbox.
00:37:31
Am I looking?
00:37:32
I mean making the effort seems like it is a win-win-win.
00:37:37
Speaker 3: When we so we help organizations learn how to write
00:37:40
, not only do show me you know me, but how to write their
00:37:43
emails.
00:37:43
And when we teach them, show me you know me, alone they get an
00:37:45
average of a 43% open rate.
00:37:47
43% industry average is 6%.
00:37:50
So if you spend 300 minutes, right, doing making the effort
00:37:54
and sending 10 emails to C-suite executives that you would just
00:37:58
file all over yourself to get a meeting with, if four of them
00:38:02
four of them even opened the email, what would that mean?
00:38:04
Right?
00:38:04
And then we get an average response rate of 20%.
00:38:07
So two of them respond.
00:38:09
300 minutes for two responses, right.
00:38:11
And then you're going to scale down the time.
00:38:14
It's going to take Five, six minutes max.
00:38:16
Right, that you should really be spending on that.
00:38:18
Carve that time out.
00:38:19
Block it.
00:38:20
Take a Monday off and do this all on Sunday when you can be
00:38:24
strategic and smart and not interrupted.
00:38:26
I think the other thing to consider again is, even when you
00:38:29
get that response, if they don't have a need for you, it
00:38:32
opens the door to building a relationship with that person
00:38:35
and if you care about your brand whatsoever, it builds a
00:38:39
positive brand.
00:38:41
I can tell you several people who have purchased from me at.
00:38:43
Every single company I've worked with worked at.
00:38:46
Robin Addis is one of those people.
00:38:47
Every single company I've worked with she's bought
00:38:49
something from me because I built a good brand.
00:38:51
I haven't been overly salesy.
00:38:53
I've prioritized her needs as a buyer right.
00:38:55
Those are the things you have to do.
00:38:57
So when people say how the hell did sam sales, a services
00:39:00
company, grow to over 200 clients with really no sales
00:39:03
people right in less than five years I think we actually did in
00:39:07
less than four years I say it's because I spent the time really
00:39:10
building all of that process beforehand, building that brand
00:39:14
beforehand.
00:39:15
So think about how that can pay off for you in spades, not even
00:39:18
today, but 10 years from now.
00:39:21
Speaker 4: And when you say building the brand, you are
00:39:25
really saying that you were just a human being and you genuinely
00:39:27
cared to connect with people and took the time and research
00:39:31
to do it.
00:39:32
Speaker 3: I think the difference with me is that one I
00:39:34
want to make sure that the way I stand out like when I think of
00:39:38
sales and probably a lot of you guys will see when I think of
00:39:41
sales, I thought of sales, I went right.
00:39:44
I'm like God I would never do that profession.
00:39:46
I begrudgingly took my first sales job but I think as soon as
00:39:50
I changed the lens on the fact that this is showing up to solve
00:39:53
, not to sell, things really changed for me.
00:39:56
So one I wanted to make sure that the brand I built when I
00:39:59
reached out the people didn't see me as that like you know,
00:40:02
just hustler, that al bundy shoe salesman, if you will.
00:40:05
Does anybody remember that?
00:40:06
for the three of us, okay I didn't want them to see me that
00:40:09
way.
00:40:09
So I wanted to make sure to do things differently, right, and
00:40:12
to prioritize manners and thoughtfulness and just giving a
00:40:14
shit about people.
00:40:15
And then when I think about the calls, it's not.
00:40:18
I'm not here to sell you something.
00:40:19
You have a challenge.
00:40:21
You assume from what I wrote that I can solve it.
00:40:24
You agreed to 30 minutes with me.
00:40:26
It's my job and my point of view to make good use of that time
00:40:29
for you.
00:40:29
And so if I show up asking questions, trying to understand
00:40:33
your challenges, trying to understand why, trying to
00:40:35
challenge your thinking, actively listening, digging in,
00:40:38
I'm probably going to get to something of we can help you.
00:40:41
And here's how.
00:40:42
Let's book a second call and I'll really go into it and bring
00:40:44
your whole decision-making circle with you, and that's
00:40:47
really what I'm doing.
00:40:48
It's being human, but it's not using any of these tactics.
00:40:52
It's not tell me about your buying process and who is the
00:40:55
actual decision maker.
00:40:56
None of that.
00:40:56
Let's have a conversation, get you to open up and trust me, and
00:41:00
then we'll go from there and, oddly, it's been successful.
00:41:04
Speaker 4: Sam, I know you have a hard stop here coming up.
00:41:06
I've got two quick things.
00:41:08
Number one is a question and I'm going to come back to it in
00:41:13
a second because number two is you and I have commented a few
00:41:17
times back and forth but we've never had a conversation and you
00:41:20
were out on maternity leave.
00:41:21
We didn't do a pre-call beforehand.
00:41:24
Thank you so much for being here and I'm going to tell you I
00:41:28
expected a lot from you because of what I've seen and what I
00:41:31
read and I know about you, and you way surpassed it.
00:41:34
Thank you so much.
00:41:41
I really appreciate it.
00:41:41
I think this is very tactical and I know our audience loves
00:41:42
tactical.
00:41:43
I'm a little wondering why the comments are low today, but I
00:41:45
think it's we didn't get restreamed out everywhere this
00:41:48
week, but that's okay.
00:41:49
The question I had when you're working on the Show Me you Know
00:41:55
Me how often and what do you recommend for people to go into
00:42:01
Instagram or go into TikTok or go other places to do a little
00:42:06
bit of that research?
00:42:08
Speaker 3: I think I would say the only time you can go on
00:42:10
TikTok or Instagram is if they are TikTok or Instagram
00:42:13
influencers in their own right.
00:42:15
Right, I think.
00:42:15
Otherwise, just stick to the professional stuff.
00:42:17
Anything that is shared on LinkedIn is fair game.
00:42:20
So one question we get back sometimes is somebody says, like
00:42:23
you know, pending to be a new dad or something like that.
00:42:27
And so I might say, well, I was pending to be a new mom.
00:42:30
Can I, can I talk about that?
00:42:31
Is that weird?
00:42:32
I don don't know this person.
00:42:33
It's on their professional profile.
00:42:34
They have shared it professionally with a
00:42:36
professional audience.
00:42:36
Have at it.
00:42:37
Anything that's on there.
00:42:38
Use otherwise it would stay away from any of the social
00:42:42
media, unless I mean unless from a corporate perspective they
00:42:44
have that like we have a tick tock page.
00:42:46
It's riveting, it's much more blonde those days, um, but we
00:42:50
have a tick tock page.
00:42:50
Can I even say that?
00:42:51
Is that the right thing to say?
00:42:52
Tiktok page?
00:42:53
Anyway, we have the TikTok, so go and check that out, but you
00:42:58
can use that stuff.
00:42:59
Otherwise, I would say keep it professional.
00:43:01
Look at the company site, find articles or podcasts that
00:43:04
they're in Use, something that has more professional context or
00:43:07
isn't shared in a professional setting.
00:43:10
Speaker 2: I appreciate that.
00:43:11
And we did have a couple.
00:43:13
We have an endorsement here from Brian.
00:43:15
He loves it, so thank you.
00:43:16
And Sarah also thought was very powerful and great perspective.
00:43:20
There are people out there, probably taking notes so fast,
00:43:23
they don't have time to comment.
00:43:25
Speaker 3: I hope your pens are on fire.
00:43:26
Speaker 2: Please come say hello on.
00:43:27
Speaker 3: LinkedIn, if we're not already connected.
00:43:29
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:43:29
So before we wrap up, yeah, where should people find you,
00:43:32
sam, and tell us you know for your company and, obviously,
00:43:35
your LinkedIn page?
00:43:36
You bet.
00:43:36
Speaker 3: SamSalecom.
00:43:37
You can send them for our newsletter.
00:43:39
There it comes out every Friday .
00:43:40
Pretty funny, but also really tactical and actionable.
00:43:43
Every month, every week, we have tons of subscriptions.
00:43:46
They're relatively low price, actually, I think our code MARCH
00:43:50
still works for 20% off until the end of today, so very good
00:43:59
timing if you want to grab anything there, but I think
00:44:00
you'll kill it with the information we have on there.
00:44:02
And then we also have a women's group, totally free of charge,
00:44:03
monthly webinars.
00:44:03
Come and sign up for that, all on our website.
00:44:04
And then, of course, linkedin.
00:44:06
Hopefully I will be the first Samantha McKenna to pop up, and
00:44:08
if not, I'll take her down, just kidding.
00:44:11
Speaker 4: Okay, awesome, I love it.
00:44:12
Well, sam, I know you got to go .
00:44:15
I have a daughter who is finishing up her junior at
00:44:19
college.
00:44:19
She's in the business department with an emphasis in
00:44:22
professional sales, and so hopefully she's going to listen
00:44:26
to me and start engaging with you and following you.
00:44:29
I will take her.
00:44:31
Reach out to to kim about the internships.
00:44:34
I think she's still a little shy on linkedin right now, but
00:44:37
I'm working on it yeah, break breaker, breaker, open.
00:44:40
Speaker 3: Tell her to come and hang out with us.
00:44:41
We'd love to, we'd love to meet her I will encourage her more
00:44:47
thanks you guys, thank you for having me.
00:44:49
Speaker 4: Thank you so much you were awesome.
00:44:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll have you back again.
00:44:52
Speaker 4: We really appreciate it sounds good, my pleasure take
00:45:00
care guys, bye, bye sam.
00:45:05
Speaker 2: So, brandon, I'm still on the live stream here
00:45:06
because I.
00:45:06
Speaker 4: I figure there's some after conversation that we
00:45:07
should be having here.
00:45:08
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely well, and plus we didn't have
00:45:09
carson here to say happy modern selling and so we didn't.
00:45:12
we didn't know what to do, so you know what I loved about that
00:45:17
and I knew we were going to get that with Sam is that the
00:45:20
feedback that we get constantly is the tactical and the
00:45:24
practical, and she was very tactical and very practical.
00:45:28
You know the bubble hunting.
00:45:31
I love that term.
00:45:31
I honestly I've never heard that term we talked about.
00:45:34
You know you can always see who's online talk a lot about
00:45:37
mindset of modern selling.
00:46:00
Speaker 2: I don't know that we've ever clearly stated making
00:46:01
the effort or putting that as a key mindset thing, is really
00:46:03
really making the effort.
00:46:05
And I think maybe you know, in listening to her, I think that a
00:46:08
lot of times, even that making the effort is underestimated
00:46:11
right, we might make a little bit of effort but we don't
00:46:13
really make enough effort that it really impinges and moves the
00:46:17
needle when somebody actually you know we reach out to
00:46:20
somebody.
00:46:20
Speaker 4: And especially on LinkedIn.
00:46:23
Yeah, I mean, we do talk a lot about quality versus quantity
00:46:28
and whenever we hear somebody say, okay, well, linkedin, how
00:46:33
much time it's going to take, we're quick to say, okay, time
00:46:36
out.
00:46:36
If this is a conversation of how quick can I get this done,
00:46:41
we're probably not a good conversation for you.
00:46:43
You're not going to like us and we're not going to like you.
00:46:45
Quality over quantity and what does that mean?
00:46:48
And I love that she gave that example and I, honestly, I kind
00:46:52
of forgot that I did it.
00:46:53
And I love that she gave that example and I, honestly, I kind
00:46:55
of forgot that I did it.
00:46:55
But the bottom of my about section says if you want to chat
00:46:58
, mention these three things and you'll get my attention.
00:47:02
And I want to say twice that I've heard, and one of them
00:47:09
wasn't even trying to sell me something, they were just like.
00:47:10
They were like hey, I'm not trying to sell you something,
00:47:13
but I saw.
00:47:13
Speaker 2: They're spamming you, yeah.
00:47:14
They're spamming you about yeah .
00:47:15
Speaker 4: No, well, they wanted .
00:47:16
They're like I saw that on there and they wanted to chat
00:47:19
about Manchester United football , you know, and that was really
00:47:24
cool.
00:47:24
But you know, quality means take your time and do the
00:47:29
research and what Sam really highlighted is it's a huge
00:47:35
difference maker.
00:47:35
It's a huge difference maker whether it's a subject line in
00:47:40
an email, which you know we don't talk a whole lot about
00:47:42
email.
00:47:42
There's plenty of people that talk about email.
00:47:44
We don't need to, but it's a direct message inside of
00:47:49
LinkedIn.
00:47:50
It's a comment that you reference If you know just a
00:47:54
little bit about them, because you read their whole about
00:47:57
section, you scroll all the way down and you look at their
00:48:00
hobbies, you look at where they volunteer, you find some way to
00:48:03
connect and don't do the easy stuff like, oh, you went to
00:48:07
Arizona State, my dad went to Arizona.
00:48:10
Go deeper than that.
00:48:11
Like, all that stuff is too superficial, that whole.
00:48:15
Like, oh, we went to the same college.
00:48:17
They only graduate like 10 people a year for the last
00:48:20
hundred years.
00:48:20
Like, oh, yeah, we're a small.
00:48:22
No, it worked seven, eight, 10 years ago, but it doesn't really
00:48:27
work anymore because so many people are trying to see you've
00:48:29
got to go be human Google search .
00:48:32
Look in there about, look at their interests, look at where
00:48:36
they're volunteering, look at past jobs they had, you know.
00:48:40
Go ask the common connections and I know it's hard, it's like
00:48:43
hunting a bit.
00:48:44
Go ask some of your common connections.
00:48:46
How well do you know them?
00:48:47
Could you introduce me to them?
00:48:48
Oh, it takes too long and most people don't really know them.
00:48:58
They're just connected on LinkedIn.
00:48:59
But what if and I like the way Sam said this if you took your
00:49:01
top 10 prospects, what's the value to you?
00:49:03
And if you did the day of the research?
00:49:07
You took an entire day just to do the research on all 10 of
00:49:11
them and you got a.
00:49:12
20% of them were willing to have a conversation with you.
00:49:15
Is that full day of research worth it?
00:49:17
Or do you just want more in marketing automation and
00:49:21
complain that your emails didn't work?
00:49:24
Speaker 2: Well, and it also takes the whole.
00:49:25
This is passive, right?
00:49:27
This is far from passive.
00:49:28
It's a different type of aggressive versus volume which
00:49:35
most people think of.
00:49:35
Oh, I'm not.
00:49:36
I mean it's being aggressive by doing the research and doing
00:49:39
the homework and cutting through the noise.
00:49:41
You know, it's what you just said.
00:49:43
The noise zone I call the noise , the noise zone Right, where
00:49:47
there's just noise and you don't hear anything has definitely
00:49:49
gotten larger over the years.
00:49:50
So you have to get yourself out of the noise zone and into
00:49:54
something that actually causes somebody to react and do
00:49:58
something.
00:49:59
Speaker 1: And so it is it's not .
00:50:00
Speaker 2: It's far from passive , because you have to do the
00:50:02
work to even get to that point.
00:50:05
Speaker 4: You know, a big turning point for me around
00:50:07
LinkedIn, and this is probably six years ago or so, and it was
00:50:13
the brutal truth of sales Gosh, I've been listening to him so
00:50:17
long, I don't even know the proper name of it the brutal
00:50:20
truth of selling or brutal truth of sales.
00:50:23
He had somebody on as a guest who was a BDR and I think she
00:50:30
was a BDR for Adobe or one of the companies like that out of
00:50:35
San Francisco, and she was young , she was a BDR, and he had her
00:50:38
on like she grew up with his daughter or something.
00:50:40
But she talked about how she got brought into her boss's
00:50:47
office and sat down and her boss had said so this is the.
00:50:51
This is all the emails that so-and-so sent out, and they
00:50:57
sent out the most emails of anybody this month.
00:50:59
And she said, okay, and then this is your list of emails that
00:51:04
you sent out.
00:51:04
And it was like significantly less.
00:51:07
And she started to get nervous and she goes but this is your
00:51:12
success list of meetings and opportunities and this is their
00:51:17
success list of meetings and opportunities.
00:51:19
And they said what are you doing differently?
00:51:22
And all she was doing differently was well, I spend as
00:51:27
much time it is necessary to do the research to find something
00:51:32
that I can use to connect with them about something personal
00:51:36
about them or something I learned about them.
00:51:38
So sometimes I research for an hour before I send it out.
00:51:42
But what I found is, if I can connect with them like a human
00:51:45
being, that I have a much higher success rate.
00:51:48
So I don't need to send as many out, because the quality I send
00:51:52
out is is really doing the lift for me.
00:51:55
And that's basically everything that Sam said today.
00:52:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, Take the time to do the work.
00:52:02
I think she.
00:52:04
I think epitomize what we've talked about is modern selling,
00:52:07
you know, with some really good hacks along the way.
00:52:09
So, yeah, All right.
00:52:11
Well, really really good show.
00:52:13
This is one I'm going to definitely listen to a couple of
00:52:15
times, yeah.
00:52:18
Speaker 4: And I'm out with a client and I don't have my notes
00:52:21
in front of me, but I'm sitting there like taking all these
00:52:24
mental notes.
00:52:24
It was great and for everybody listening, I get to be with the
00:52:29
client today and we're filming, we're interviewing a lot of
00:52:32
their customers for social content and we're interviewing
00:52:36
people on their team for social content and shorts, and we take
00:52:39
all this content too, and the transcripts, and we put it into
00:52:42
their, into their AIQ at Fist Bump and it's just been, it's
00:52:46
been a great day and the food's been really good too.
00:52:49
So you know, win, win.
00:52:51
Speaker 2: So you had a booth, or just at a conference.
00:52:53
Speaker 4: No, no, no, no.
00:52:54
So this is our client, Competitive Solutions, and they
00:52:58
have a three-day user conference oh, okay, Rolling out their new
00:53:03
software, which is Vizuant 5.0.
00:53:07
And all their users are here.
00:53:09
So we get to talk with them and hear about up until 5.0, like
00:53:18
what is working and why did you use it, what differences it make
00:53:19
, and then we're talking to them a little bit about.
00:53:21
They're all early adopters to the 5.0.
00:53:22
You know, they're like the beta users of 5.0.
00:53:25
So we're getting some feedback from them about how it's working
00:53:28
, what they like and all that it's.
00:53:29
It's been, it's been fantastic.
00:53:33
Speaker 2: Well, I'll let you get back to it.
00:53:34
Thank you for jumping out and making it happen, and thanks
00:53:38
everybody.
00:53:39
Speaker 4: No, sorry, you started solo.
00:53:39
I don't know if I don't know if you've ever done solo before.
00:53:43
Speaker 2: You know we were going to make it work.
00:53:44
We were going to make it work, so you did a great job.
00:53:47
All right, all right, thanks everybody.
00:53:50
Speaker 4: Carson's not here, so happy modern selling.
00:53:52
And thanks so much for joining us and sorry I was late.
00:53:55
Speaker 2: No problem, see you next week.
00:54:05
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us today on Mastering Modern
00:54:08
Selling.
00:54:08
If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe for
00:54:11
more insights.
00:54:12
Connect with us on social media and leave a review to help us
00:54:15
improve.
00:54:16
Stay tuned for our next episode , where we will continue to
00:54:19
uncover modern strategies shaping today's business
00:54:22
landscape.
00:54:22
Learn more about Fistbump and our concierge service at
00:54:25
GetFistbumpscom.
00:54:26
Mastering modern revenue creation with Fistbump, where
00:54:30
relationships, social and AI meet in the buyer centric age.