In my first sales job twenty years ago, my manager told me I should cut my hair to be taken more seriously. She wasn't being cruel, she was preparing me for an industry never built for women. For the last 100+ years, salespeople have been following the same playbook that was written BY men FOR men. Despite this, women now hold 1/3 of senior level sales roles in Fortune 500 companies, and we're closing more deals than our male counterparts. Imagine what we could do if we were actually supported! In this episode, we're traveling back to 1894 to see where sales training began, and exploring why it hasn't changed in any meaningful way since then. I'm also sharing 5 easy ways you can start supporting the women on your sales team *today.* If you're a leader who wants the women on your team to stay, grow, and outsell the competition, visit https://bit.ly/dont-just-sell-ep18 to learn how we can work together. Sources: https://www.gong.io/blog/women-in-sales https://www.allego.com/blog/women-in-sales-experts-share-selling-advice/  – Most sales podcasts give you more tactics. This one proves you don’t need them.  I’m Rebecca Kilday, and Don’t Just Sell is the podcast where your sales career gets easier when you quit selling like you’ve been trained, and start selling like yourself.  – Produced by SpeakEasy Productions.

"I'll be in touch." Four words that sound polite and mean nothing, and if you've heard them you already know how the meeting that earned them probably went. A client sent me a recording of exactly that kind of meeting. She was warm, she connected, she did everything we're told to do, and it went nowhere. The real problem wasn't anything she said. It was what she was too afraid to ask, because she didn't want to seem pushy. In this episode I share the three questions I now ask in every meeting that turn a pleasant dead end into a real conversation, even when they feel uncomfortable coming out of your mouth. If you've ever softened yourself in a meeting to avoid being "too much," this is the kind of work I do with women in sales in my 1:1 coaching. Join the Sell INSPIRED Academy: https://www.go.rebeccakilday.com/offer123-9675 – Most sales podcasts give you more tactics. This one proves you don’t need them.  I’m Rebecca Kilday, and Don’t Just Sell is the podcast where your sales career gets easier when you quit selling like you’ve been trained, and start selling like yourself.  – Produced by SpeakEasy Productions.

You have to sell people on you before you can sell them anything else. I learned that the hard way, after years of thinking my job was to represent my company well. But knowing the product, building rapport, having the perfect answer to every objection are things every other rep does too.  The thing that actually sets you apart is the one thing most women in sales never invest in, which is their own brand. In this episode I share not only what changed when I stopped being a messenger for the company, but also how you can do the same in three simple steps. If you've ever felt interchangeable with every other rep your prospect talked to that day, this is the kind of work I do with women in sales in my 1:1 coaching. Join the Sell INSPIRED Academy: https://www.go.rebeccakilday.com/offer123-9675   –   Most sales podcasts give you more tactics. This one proves you don’t need them.    I’m Rebecca Kilday, and Don’t Just Sell is the podcast where your sales career gets easier when you quit selling like you’ve been trained, and start selling like yourself.    –   Produced by SpeakEasy Productions.

Most of the sales advice out there is from men who are coaching other men, leaving us women to figure it out through trial-and-error or to try to be someone we're not.  In this episode, I'm breaking my usual format and sharing unfiltered answers to ten of the most common questions I get from sales students, people who are new to the industry, and my clients.  Some of my answers are probably not what a typical sales coach would say, but you need to hear them anyway. 00:00 Why I'm breaking the usual format today  01:02 What advice would you give someone starting out?  02:01 What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?  02:54 How do you build trust?  04:03 What do you do when trust is broken? 05:06 How do you build confidence?  06:00 How do you avoid sounding pushy or sales-y?  06:55 How do you handle objections?  08:35 Why do you qualify prospects?  09:42 What are your favorite questions to ask a prospect?  10:49 Have you ever walked away from a sale? 11:40 If you need more answers The work doesn't have to stop here. Join the Sell INSPIRED Academy: https://www.go.rebeccakilday.com/offer123-9675 – Most sales podcasts give you more tactics. This one proves you don’t need them.    I’m Rebecca Kilday, and Don’t Just Sell is the podcast where your sales career gets easier when you quit selling like you’ve been trained, and start selling like yourself.    –   Produced by SpeakEasy Productions.

Have you ever walked out of a sales meeting feeling like it went well, only to watch the deal fall apart and have no idea why? We've been trained to obsess over every word of our pitch, instead of focusing on what our prospect is telling us. So it’s likely the problem is what you missed, not what you said. In this episode, I'm sharing a real client story where I pretended to be her prospect in a full roleplay, spotted exactly what was getting in her way, and the small shifts that helped her close several deals the very next week. If you know your sales meetings could be better, this is exactly the kind of work I do with my 1-1 coaching clients. Join the Sell INSPIRED Academy: https://www.go.rebeccakilday.com/offer123-9675 – Most sales podcasts give you more tactics. This one proves you don’t need them.    I’m Rebecca Kilday, and Don’t Just Sell is the podcast where your sales career gets easier when you quit selling like you’ve been trained, and start selling like yourself.    – Produced by SpeakEasy Productions.

If you think your sales team costs more than they're worth, this episode is for you. Scaling back is one of the most expensive decisions a business owner can make, and the numbers back me up. I’m sharing what you should do instead to see ROI from your sales team, how one of my clients doubled their conversion rate with one small change, and the three things you need to do for every customer so they’ll stay loyal to your business long-term. If your sales team needs help with closing deals *and* retaining customers, visit my website to reach out about working together: https://rebeccakilday.com/podcast-2/  – Most sales podcasts give you more tactics. This one proves you don’t need them.    I’m Rebecca Kilday, and Don’t Just Sell is the podcast where your sales career gets easier when you quit selling like you’ve been trained, and start selling like yourself.    –   Produced by SpeakEasy Productions.

Everyone in sales knows the feeling: leads dry up, yeses turn to maybes, and suddenly you’re questioning everything. For us women, it can be even worse because when we hit a slump, we're tempted to overhaul everything and start from scratch. But that’s actually making it worse!   In this episode, I’m sharing how to bust your sales slump and have more sustained hot streaks. You’ll hear about a client of mine who just went through this exact situation, how I helped her overcome her doubts, and why optimism (not positivity) was the secret key to success.   If you’re ready to take it one step further, I’m sharing my free Resilience Builder workbook. Download it here: https://canva.link/kibjoryy1h2j21b   Or, if you want personalized support, reach out about my coaching program: rebeccakilday.com  – Most sales podcasts give you more tactics. This one proves you don’t need them.    I’m Rebecca Kilday, and Don’t Just Sell is the podcast where your sales career gets easier when you quit selling like you’ve been trained, and start selling like yourself.    –   Produced by SpeakEasy Productions.

Most companies hand their sales reps a script because they don't trust them to know what to say. If you've ever read those words out loud and thought “this doesn't sound like me,” you're right. It doesn't.  Most sales scripts were written by men, for men, and women in sales are left trying to make someone else's words fit. But when you're focused on reciting the right words, you stop listening to your prospect, and that's exactly when you lose the sale. This episode will change how you think about: What a script is actually signaling to your prospects The difference between reciting words and making a real connection Why your own words are more powerful than anything you've been handed This episode is for you if you're ready to stop sounding like every other sales person, and start sounding more like yourself. If you’d like help rewriting your scripts, this is exactly what I help my 1:1 coaching clients with. Use this link to reach out about working with me! https://rebeccakilday.com/podcast-2/  – Most sales podcasts give you more tactics. This one proves you don’t need them.  I’m Rebecca Kilday, and Don’t Just Sell is the podcast where your sales career gets easier when you quit selling like you’ve been trained, and start selling like yourself.  – Produced by SpeakEasy Productions.

Most women in sales aren't struggling with follow-up because they don't know how. They're struggling because they don't want to be a bother.  Your instinct to be considerate (while completely understandable) is quietly costing you deals that were already yours to close. If you're ready to stop letting politeness get in the way of your pipeline, this episode is for you. You'll learn: Why the follow-up gap has nothing to do with your skills What the data says about how many touchpoints it actually takes to close How to build a follow-up cadence that feels personal, not pushy This is exactly what I help my 1:1 coaching clients with. Use this link to reach out about working with me! https://rebeccakilday.com/podcast-2/  – Most sales podcasts give you more tactics. This one proves you don’t need them.  I’m Rebecca Kilday, and Don’t Just Sell is the podcast where your sales career gets easier when you quit selling like you’ve been trained, and start selling like yourself.  – Produced by SpeakEasy Productions.

You've been taught to know your competition inside and out. Know their offer, know their clients, know what car they drive. The more you know, the better your chances of winning the sale. But what if that obsession is the very thing costing you deals? If you’re ready to funnel your energy from your competition to your prospects, this episode was made just for you. You’ll learn: How knowing your competition too well is actually working against you Why a scarcity mindset burns out saleswomen faster than any quota ever could What your prospects have been waiting for you to do instead Use this link to get in touch with me about bringing this training to your organization: https://rebeccakilday.com/podcast-2/ – Most sales podcasts give you more tactics. This one proves you don’t need them.  I’m Rebecca Kilday, and Don’t Just Sell is the podcast where your sales career gets easier when you quit selling like you’ve been trained, and start selling like yourself.  – Produced by SpeakEasy Productions.