Human Centered Communication Podcast

Human-Centered Communication with Ethan Beute & Steven Pacinelli, #189

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In the very one-dimensional sales world that many sales teams currently operate in, it’s becoming harder to increase the number of high-quality leads, book more sales calls, and boost conversion rates.

That’s why the sales conversation must shift from “spray and pray” methods to sales strategies that leverage the art of human-centered communication.

In this episode of The Modern Selling Podcast, I tackle this interesting topic of how to humanize the sales journey with two of the leading experts in the field, Ethan Beute and Steven Pacinelli.

Listen in to the full conversation, so you don’t miss a single sales insight from this powerhouse duo’s new book, Human-Centered Communication: A Business Case Against Digital Pollution. I recently had the privilege to be included in their book and contribute my unique perspectives on the topic of video sales strategies (see page 133!).

Here’s a little more about this episode’s expert guests:

Ethan Beute is the Chief Evangelist at the video messaging company, BombBomb, host of The Customer Experience Podcast, and co-author of the books, Rehumanize Your Business and Human-Centered Communication. For the past decade, Ethan has helped business professionals cultivate “video relationships” with their prospects to rapidly grow sales and build loyal customer followings. If Ethan’s insights weren’t already more than enough, he was joined by Steven Pacinelli, BombBomb’s Chief Marketing Officer.

Steven Pacinelli has a very diverse background where he’s served as a Sales Manager, a Vice President of Events, and the National Speaker for Realtor.com, delivering presentations to more than 1,000 audiences. Known for his innovative sales and marketing strategies, Steven has consistently been named a Top 20 Social Influencer, according to the Swanpoel Report.

Make sure to download this episode to catch the innovative personalization and human-centered strategies that Ethan and Steven recommend to move the sales needle.

In this ep of @GoModernSelling #Podcast, I learned about the interesting topic of how to humanize the #sales journey with two of the leading experts in the field @ethanbeute and @stevepacinelli, with @M_3Jr 🎙️ #modernselling… Click To Tweet

What Are Sales Teams Getting Wrong?

Video messaging platforms, like BombBomb, are on the forefront of revolutionizing how sales teams accelerate prospecting and get more ‘hellos’. In fact, a Vengreso survey found that 69% of sellers reported that prospecting was the hardest part of sales. But, it doesn’t have to be that way.

I asked Ethan and Steven, “what’s the biggest issue with prospecting that you see?”

Their answer was exactly what I detailed in my chapter of Human-Centered Communication.

Ethan believes that, “Most prospects don’t know who you are or if they can trust you. Salespeople are asking them to book an appointment, but there’s instant resistance because they don’t know anything about you, your product, or your service. So, it really becomes, how do you break through this increasingly noisy and polluted digital environment?”

This is why part of our Vengreso prospecting method is to intentionally build trust first to foster engagement before shifting to focus on building the relationship and then generating revenue.

The only challenge I’ve found is that many sales teams are not intentional or conscious about what they’re doing and as a result they inevitably frustrate, confuse, or annoy their prospects. 

Instead, we teach our sales leaders to start with empathy and consider what the prospect’s major pain points are, so they can deploy a host of personalization strategies to better engage and drive more value-driven sales conversations.

Steven has a lot to share on this topic of prospecting, “The goal in sales should be to answer the question: How can we approach our work in such a way that we put our prospects’ wants and needs on a level playing field as our desires, as the sellers?”

To hear Steven’s detailed answer, join the conversation to hear what he says are THE best tactical, mindset, and sales strategies to produce better outcomes, forge stronger relationships, and produce more sales revenue.

What Is Digital Pollution?

This is a unique concept introduced in the first chapter of Human-Centered Communication. So, I had to ask Ethan and Steven to clarify what is and how sales teams can avoid polluting their prospect pools.

According to Ethan, “digital pollution” is something we all have experienced, as consumers. Digital pollution is the onslaught of irrelevant, unsolicited, and impersonal sales messages from a company you likely have never heard from, trying to convince you to buy a ‘thing’ you’re not even sure you have a need for.

I asked Ethan to explain more about the impact that digital pollution is having on buyer behavior. 

He shares, “All of this digital pollution leaves consumers in a place of constant distrust. Can they really click on the link in the email without their data being compromised? So, they live with their guards up all the time. As sales professionals, we don’t want to intentionally pollute this digital sales space. Instead, we want to drive value during every sales touchpoint.”

This points back to the importance of knowing how to personalize your sales communications. We go deep into the topic of hyper-personalization in my interview with Michael Labate.

 To tune into this episode with Ethan and Steven to hear firsthand what they recommend sales professionals do to not be digital polluters.

“#Sales conversations must shift from “spray and pray” methods to sales strategies that leverage the art of human-centered communication.” 🎙️Listen to this ep of @GoModernSelling with @ethanbeute, @stevepacinelli, and @M_3Jr.… Click To Tweet

Is Video Communication Critical in Sales & Marketing? 

I’m a big proponent of sales enablement technology, especially tools like our auto text expander FlyMSG. However, unless proper sales training is conducted, many sales teams lack the understanding to effectively use the tools and technology at their fingertips.

And, one of those sales strategies that is being severely underutilized is video. This is why we created an entire suite of training to help sales teams build Video Sales Mastery that drives more sales conversations.

Because according to Cisco, 80% of the world’s web traffic is driven by video consumption. However, although marketers identify video-based messaging as being a top marketing initiative, sales leaders aren’t dedicating time or resources to using this medium.

I was curious to get the duo’s perspective on what may be causing the marketing and sales disconnect and why video was such an important part of prospecting that every modern seller could use.

Steven explains, “Video puts a face in front of your prospects, which gives your message a more human feel. And, if you have a solid message, that’s welcomed by the recipient, that’s valuable to them, and you do it through video with passion and conviction – then video can easily move the sales conversation forward.”

Make sure to listen to the full episode to hear Steven’s unique example of how sales teams can use personalized videos to get prospects to lean in and ready to book a sales call.

Learn from the experts on how to humanize your #sales strategy successfully 💪On this ep. Of @GoModernSelling with @ethanbeute, @stevepacinelli, and @M_3Jr. Listen now!👂 #podcast #modernselling #digitalsales Click To Tweet

This episode of The Modern Selling Podcast was brought to you by OrgChartHub, a sales tool that integrates into HubSpot, giving your sales team the ability to be more strategic, map out buyers, reporting structures, and identify the role of each buying influencer within an account.

 

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