Taylor Barnes

Episode 28: Staying Mentally Tough in B2B Sales

November 5th, 2020  |  Season 2  |  23 mins 27 secs

business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, sales

A strong sales team stays focused through the highs and lows of sales, taking the lessons from missed opportunities and the energy from closed deals to continually improve. A grounded, resilient mental attitude doesn’t just happen, however. It is a result of guidance from purposeful and attentive leadership. The feedback you give your sales team is an integral part of cultivating a strong mindset, and is just as important during the successes as it is with the shortcomings. In this episode, we share our thoughts on the role of the sales leader in growing a mentally tough sales team and invite our listeners to ask themselves, how do you as a leader ensure that your team is staying mentally tough through the highs and lows of sales?

Episode 27: Welcome to Purpose Driven Sales

October 29th, 2020  |  Season 2  |  8 mins 46 secs

business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, sales

Throughout our Sales Leadership podcast series, we strived to bring helpful, insightful information to sales leaders in founder-led organizations. In each episode, we addressed a specific topic that can and does cause issues for sales growth and provided solutions to help overcome those challenges. This episode marks our official transition to our Purpose Driven Sales podcast, in which we will shift the structure of these podcasts to a challenge-solution format. In the coming episodes we will be highlighting common challenges sales leaders face, and provide the solutions that have helped us and other sales leaders break through those barriers. Tune in to the new Purpose Driven Sales podcast as we share these crucial lessons that will fast track your sales and grow your business.

Episode 26: Make Your Prospects Feel The Group Hug

October 22nd, 2020  |  15 mins 36 secs

business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, sales

It’s important that your clients feel the depth of the subject matter expertise that your organization has. In this episode, we discuss the different stages of the sales cycle and best practice on how and when to introduce key players on your team to a prospect.

Episode 25: A Passion for Selling

October 15th, 2020  |  20 mins 37 secs

business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, sales

The energy you bring to a conversation has a substantial impact on how your message is received. In your relationships with your prospects, the passion you have (or lack thereof) for how your service or product can benefit your customers will come across in your communications, directly affecting how your prospect feels about what you’re selling. In this episode, we share some tips to help you and your sales team bring a consistently high level of energy and enthusiasm to every sales conversation, making you more memorable and increasing the likelihood of closing the deal.

Episode 24: Prospect Data and Success

October 8th, 2020  |  25 mins 12 secs

business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, sales

Ensuring your sales reps have the best chance of success starts with how you source your prospects. The time you invest in sourcing and preparing a quality prospect list on the front end pays dividends in the time your sales team puts into their communications. This episode focuses on the nuances of how to source a quality list of prospects and the pitfalls you may encounter so that you, as a sales leader, may better prepare your sales team for success.

Episode 23: Asking for the Sale

October 1st, 2020  |  28 mins 56 secs

business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, sales

For a sales team, the goal in communicating with a prospect is the sale. Though it sounds trivial, there is an art to closing the deal. When is the appropriate time in the deal lifecycle to ask for the sale? How should you adjust your approach to the decision maker’s personality? In this episode, we discuss the lessons learned in our cumulative experience that you and your sales team can adapt to your communication strategies and close more deals.

Episode 22: Balancing Lead Volume and Quality

September 24th, 2020  |  26 mins 41 secs

business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, sales

For founders, bringing in leads is paramount. As an organization grows, however, determining whether or not you will continue to drive for high volume or start to focus on higher quality leads is a decision that warrants careful consideration. What route is the best fit for your organization?

Find out in this episode as we talk through the pros and cons of each approach, real world examples of how different organizations have handled their leads, and pose questions for you to help discover which path best suits your team.

Episode 21: Discovering the Prospect’s Budget

September 17th, 2020  |  24 mins 47 secs

business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, sales

Ultimately, to close a deal, a prospect needs to be able to afford your product or service, but, when is it appropriate to have the budget conversation with your prospect? How do you go about discovering whether a prospect is a good fit for your organization? In this episode we discuss the finer details and considerations of how to handle the budget conversation with prospects that you, as a sales leader, can bring to your team to more effectively qualify leads.

Episode 20: Setting Client Expectations

September 10th, 2020  |  29 mins 21 secs

business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, sales

In communications with clients and prospects, setting appropriate expectations and delivering on your promises are key behaviors that contribute to strong, positive relationships. Join Taylor Barnes and I as we discuss how to handle setting expectations with your clients, reigning in the desire to say yes to everything, and the value implementing these strategies will bring to your organization.

Episode 19: How to Niche Down

September 3rd, 2020  |  26 mins 57 secs

business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, sales

In the business world, being the jack of all trades but master of none can be detrimental, especially for small businesses. In this episode, Taylor Barnes and I discuss how focusing on the things you’re great at, and having the discipline to say no to the things outside your wheelhouse, can return dividends in your ability to retain and acquire customers.

Episode 18: The Lifecycle of a Sale

August 27th, 2020  |  26 mins 26 secs

business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, sales

Closing a deal is the ultimate objective of a sale, but there are many stages that lead up to a successful outcome. How you handle your communication with your prospects is pivotal to converting more leads into satisfied customers. Join Taylor Barnes and I as we share our insight on how to successfully guide a prospect through your sales process and close more deals.

Episode 17: Hiring Sales People

August 20th, 2020  |  25 mins 45 secs

business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, sales

Building a high performing sales team starts with the recruitment process. In this episode, Taylor Barnes and I discuss the approaches we’ve developed, from our favorite questions to filtering techniques we’ve found to be most effective, over the course of our years in the industry.