Are You Closing Sales Or Opening Relationships? with Adam Markel, Episode #94

Every sales professional wants to be closing sales on a higher level. But what most of us don’t realize is that we don’t achieve that through learning better sales techniques. We do it by opening up more relationships in an authentic, heartfelt way.

My guest on this episode of #SellingWithSocial is Adam Markel. Adam is a world-renowned resilience and change management expert, transformational speaker, and business mentor. After building a multi-million dollar law firm, Adam became CEO of one of the largest business and personal development training companies in the world, overseeing more than $100 million in sales. His unique expertise is in combining practical business tactics with accelerated learning strategies to guide people and organizations to embrace change, encourage innovation, and increase sales.

On this episode, Adam shares extensively about the art of “enrolling” conversations, relational concern, and heart-based communication. It is his belief and experience that these things will amplify our position as sales leaders and enable us to close sales as a result. Don’t miss what Adam shares on this episode.

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This podcast is being brought to you by SAP Sales Cloud, formerly CallidusCloud. With SAP Sales Cloud’s modern CRM, you can focus on coaching and developing sales reps, instead of forecasting. Learn more by visiting: www.calliduscloud.com/Vengreso

Are You Closing Sales Or Opening Relationships?

From a business, career, and income standpoint, closing sales may seem to be the bottom line issue we should care about. But contrary to what we’ve been taught, focusing on the close is not the way to go about increasing the number of closed deals. Adam explains that if you focus on opening the door to more and better relationships, the momentum you gain from that relational win will carry you into more natural and less defensive sales conversations in the future.

Adam has a wealth of experience when it comes to this approach and he shares it freely on this episode. In fact, he recently wrote a multi-part post on LinkedIn on the subject. Be sure you listen and check out his articles. You’ll find like I have, that Adam walks the talk when it comes to building business success and closed deals on the foundation of amazing relationships. It’s a winning formula – and in this episode, you get to learn from the master.

Top-Level Sales Leaders Enroll 100% Of The People 100% Of The Time

You are not going to close every deal. You know that. But in order to be a top-level seller you want to become a pro at what Adam calls “enrolling” every person you speak with. We attempt to enroll people into our way of thinking all the time – in personal and professional life. During sales conversations, we do so by speaking to buyers in ways that demonstrate our genuine concern and care for them and their needs. The end result is that whether they wind up buying from us or not during that conversation, they are convinced of our care for them personally and will feel good about the relationship moving forward.

When you learn how to do this in every conversation, it’s not only a relational win, it’s a sales win that yields a harvest in the future. That’s why Adam says it’s your job as a sales professional to let your prospects and customers know that you are MOST interested in the relationship you have with them. Listen to hear Adam explain how to do it.

A 3-Step Formula To Provide Feedback In A Way That Preserves Relationships

We all have to speak into difficult situations at times. It could be a confrontation, a response to a sales objection, or an accountability issue with a team member. Adam suggests that the way you approach those conversations should be guided by the value you place on the relationship.

He begins by telling the person what about the situation “worked for him.” It’s an expression of genuine appreciation for the contributions and value the person has added to the situation. He follows that up by sharing “what didn’t work” for him. This is where he’s able to express his concern or bring up the issue. The conversation is wrapped up with him asking “what could be done differently” next time.

Adam’s approach expresses the value he places on the relationship and care and concern for the people involved. Listen to learn how you can use this 3-step process in your personal and business life.

You Can Speak From Expertise, But You Should Be Speaking From Your Heart

Most sales leaders can easily speak to others from a place of experience and expertise. There’s a valuable need for salespeople to serve as consultants to their prospects and customers. But Adam says that speaking from expertise alone does little to further the relationship with the person you’re speaking with. You want to speak from the heart instead of expertise.

The difference is found in your intention for the conversation. If you intend to connect, to open a relationship or another person’s heart, or to be vulnerable so that the connection can be more real – that is speaking from the heart. You don’t abandon reason or what experience has taught you, you simply stay focused on WHY you are speaking to the person in the first place – because you care for them.

This podcast is being brought to you by SAP Sales Cloud, formerly CallidusCloud. With SAP Sales Cloud’s modern CRM, you can focus on coaching and developing sales reps, instead of forecasting. Learn more by visiting: www.calliduscloud.com/Vengreso

Outline of This Closing Sales Episode

• [2:13] The background that brought Adam Markel to be on the show for this episode
• [9:16] Adam’s book “Pivot” – what inspired it and set the stage for its creation
• [15:24] Embodying your calling and vision and enrolling others into it
• [21:33] How can leaders be effective at inspiring, guiding, and growing their teams?
• [27:22] A shocking cold-call Mario experienced because of how cold it is
• [37:22] Why feedback is like oxygen and how it empowers great leadership
• [42:41] Learning to enable others to feel you as a leader and communicator
• [44:25] Context determines how to use feedback to have a heartfelt conversation
• [50:17] The difference between speaking from expertise and speaking from the heart

Resources Mentioned on Closing Sales

• http://AdamMarkel.com
• Adam on Twitter: https://Twitter.com/AdamMarkel
• Adam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-markel-89a3b05/
• Adam’s Book – “Pivot”
• The first installment of Adam’s LinkedIn article – “Are You Closing Sales Or Opening Relationships?”
• CEO Space
• BOOK: Built To Sell
• Social Business Engine Podcast – Bernie Borges
• You can also check our best sales books ever written list and the best sales podcasts list!

Connect with Mario!

• www.vengreso.com
• On Facebook
• On Twitter
• On YouTube
• On LinkedIn

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