Leslie Venetz is a consultant and advisor that helps build commercial teams that can meet the needs of the modern B2B buyer. She spent 15 years selling to the C-Suite in enterprise sales and has been Head of Sales 3 times. Leslie is also fiercely passionate about DEIB initiatives, and we touch on that a little bit in our conversation today. She also hosts a business book club on Patreon, where I’ll be her guest in October. https://www.patreon.com/businessbookclub Want to learn more? Find Leslie: On TikTok- https://www.tiktok.com/@salestipstok On LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslievenetz/ On Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/b2bsalescoach/ On Twitter- https://twitter.com/LeslieVenetz On the web- https://insidesalesteambuilder.com/ Here’s what Leslie and I talked about on today’s episode:    -   How she started in professional sales    -   How it’s different for women to get into sales than man    -   How she knew sales was for her    -   Why women tend to succeed 3-12% more than men    -   Abandoning stereotypes and narratives    -   Alignment and content creation    -   And so much more… Share this episode and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and don’t forget that the show is now on YouTube as well. If you want to learn more about how I work with teams to put these concepts to work, check out my website at jeffbajorek.com/services

You know those people who tell great stories? They’re magnetic and captivating. They hold the attention of an entire room and make time stand still. Those are special people, and you don’t have to be one to tell great stories. I used to think that I wasn’t a good storyteller, and then a couple of people told me exactly the opposite, and I started thinking differently about the concept. Most people try to force some sort of narrative because they read it in a book. It doesn’t usually go well because it’s so contrived. We naturally speak in story. It’s how we communicate. You’d on’t realize you’re already telling a story, then you try to jam another one in, and it just doesn’t work. When you recognize the stories you’re already telling, it makes it a lot easier (and natural) to just lean into those elements. Salespeople can easily tell stories by illustrating the problems their customers have. It happens during prospecting and even more in good discovery. You empathize with where they are and help them look around the corner at what they may be facing in the immediate future. When that narrative is correct (and it should be if you’re talking to the right people), you position yourself as and expert and someone who could be a valuable guide for them; a trusted advisor. One way or another, it’s best to commit. Go all in on a predetermined narrative that makes sense to tell your customers, or lean into the way you naturally communicate. One of those approaches has a higher ceiling, but the other is a little more straightforward. The state of the art of professional selling is putting your prospects in the middle of their own story and making them realize they're there. Share this episode and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and don’t forget that the show is now on YouTube as well. If you want to learn more about how I work with teams to put these concepts to work, check out my website at jeffbajorek.com/services

Ravi Rajani helps B2B sales teams captivate their customers, build trust, and sell more by unlocking the power of story. Ravi is here to help you craft stories that sell and deliver sales presentations that convert. You can learn more about him on LinkedIn, theravirajani.comand download the ACORN storytelling framework at https://www.theravirajani.com/yourelevatorstory . Here’s what Ravi and I talked about on today’s episode:    -   he was a dance and theater kid    -   he watched ‘Wall Street’ a few too many times and landed a career in investment banking    -   what storytelling means in Ravi’s own words and how not all narratives are stories    -   the ACORN method for storytelling    -   what it meant to Ravi to #SellLikeYou, and the micro-moments in his career that led him to stop hiding behind the mask    -   the more you act out of alignment with who you are, the more you’ll attract people and customers out of alignment with who you are    -   and so much more… Share this episode and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and don’t forget that the show is now on YouTube as well.

Most salespeople have terrible definitions of what it means to succeed and what it means to fail. The lack of perspective sets the bar way too high for most people to see exactly how well they’re actually doing. One of the best things about selling is that it’s a results-oriented game. You made the sale or you didn’t. But that doesn’t mean you have to make the sale in one call in order for that call to be considered a success. There are a lot of little steps that add up a long the way, and if you can’t see those steps for what they are, you’re going to miss out on a lot of wins. Stop trying to say the perfect thing to the perfect person at the perfect time. Give yourself permission to be patient. No step is too small so long as it’s headed in the right direction and you keep taking steps. This mindset will encourage you to pursue deals longer before giving up on them. It will also help you to see buying signals and intentions that others will miss. It will keep your pipeline fuller longer and help your tart hitting your numbers more consistently instead of the constant roller coaster at the end of the month or quarter. Change your perspective and you’ll change your results. Rethink The Way You Sell®. Share this episode and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and don’t forget that the show is now on YouTube as well. If you want to learn more about how I work with teams to put these concepts to work, check out my website at jeffbajorek.com/services

Harriet Mellor is a sales coach for small to medium sized businesses and individuals. She’s also the host of the Sell Like You Podcast. You can learn more about her at https://www.yoursalesco.com/ or on LinkedIn. Today, Harriet and I talked about:    -   the magic of a great idea    -   Harriet’s sales origin story (she was training sales teams without ever holding a sales role)    -   the moment when you recognize you can make a huge impact on someone    -   discipline isn’t that hard when you’re passionate about what you do    -   what it means to Harriet to #SellLikeYou    -   a positive spin on The Wolf of Wall Street    -   what does failure mean to her?    -   and more… Share this episode and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and don’t forget that the show is now on YouTube as well. If you want to learn more about how I work with teams to put these concepts to work, check out my website at jeffbajorek.com/services

Selling is necessarily not a tangible “thing.” There are so many right ways to do it, that what is wrong for someone might be perfect for someone else. The sales process is rigid, as I’ve mentioned before. That’s the science of selling. Your sales methods are fluid, and they represent the artistry behind what we do. Art is subjective, therefore so is selling. I want you to stop trying to follow the rules, and realize that you can make them up. The very best sellers have bent the definition of selling in a way that suits them. On today’s show, I want to share with you how my definitions of selling have changed over the years, and how it’s allowed me to do my very best work. My eyes were first opened when I heard Brian Tracy define selling as a transfer of enthusiasm from one party to another. That’s when I first divorced the concept of selling from the idea of money. I now believe that any time you ask someone to do something, you’ve made a sales call. When they do it, you’ve made a sale, and that makes that person your customer. In this way, every person we interact with is either a customer or a potential customer, and that means that selling is about how we treat people- that’s a much more profound dynamic, isn’t it? It makes a difference. My goal is to give you permission to define selling in your own way to allow you to do the same. This is the essence of what it means to Rethink The Way You Sell®. Share this episode and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and don’t forget that the show is now on YouTube as well. If you want to learn more about how I work with teams to put these concepts to work, check out my website at jeffbajorek.com/services

David Priemer is the Founder and Chief Sales Scientist at Cerebral Selling, and he’s also a “psychologist to the stars.” If you don’t already have his book, Sell The Way You Buy, then why not? It’s a perennial bestseller and has been translated into 5 additional languages. He’s also got a free Facebook group called The Sales Lab where he’s providing weekly live training and exclusive content. Today, David and I talked about:    -   the emotional paradox of selling    -   David’s sales origin story (he started as a sales engineer)    -   how enthusiasm is a sales superpower    -   what it means to David to #SellLikeYou    -   why we should think about how people buy when we sell to them    -   and more… Share this episode and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and don’t forget that the show is now on YouTube as well. If you want to learn more about how I work with teams to put these concepts to work, check out my website at jeffbajorek.com/services

What does it mean to sell with Integrity? Most peo­ple think of in­tegrity along the lines of moral­i­ty but to me, and with its re­la­tion to #Sel­l­Like­Y­ou, it means a lot more than that.  Last week, Ian Ko­ni­ak and I talked at length about the con­cept, but to­day I want to go deep­er into the idea of sell­ing and the feel­ing of be­ing whole. Do you feel more whole when you win?  Do you feel more whole when you help oth­er peo­ple?  If not, then why not?  This is where the align­ment I talk about comes into play. Are you aligned be­tween what you do, who you do it for, how you do it, and why? That’s the recipe for in­tegrity, for feel­ing whole, and if you’re not in align­ment, you’re leav­ing your best work on the ta­ble.  The mil­lion dol­lar ques­tion is, “how much of your in­tegrity are you giv­ing away, and why are you choos­ing to do so?”  Share this episode and sub­scribe wher­ev­er you get your pod­casts, and don’t for get that the show is now on You­Tube as well.  If you want to learn more about how I work with teams to put these con­cepts to work, check out my web­site at jeff­ba­jorek.­com/ser­vices

Ian Koniak is a coach for high performing sales reps, and one of the concepts he works with people on is what he calls The Integrity Gap. After connecting at the Sales Success Summit, Ian and I sat down to discuss the concept of integrity, since we’re among the only people really talking about it in a sales context. You can learn more about Ian on LinkedIn and YouTube. You can also join his newsletter list here or the waiting list for his coaching program. Here’s what we dug into:    -   What is integrity?    -   What does it mean functionally?    -   What is The Integrity Gap?    -   The non-monetary compensation that comes along with integrity    -   Letting go of attachment to sales outcomes    -   The importance of getting help to reach the next level of your career    -   How integrity is the cornerstone of what it means to #SellLikeYou Share this episode and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and don’t forget that the show is now on YouTube as well. If you want to learn more about how I work with teams to put these concepts to work, check out my website at jeffbajorek.com/services