Sales Gravy: Jeb Blount

In this lively episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount welcomes Patrick "Pops" Garrett, Founder & Chief Drinking Officer of DrinkCurious, to explore the unique intersection between bourbon tasting and sales engagement. Key Takeaways: – Virtual Tastings as Sales Hooks: Virtual bourbon tastings became an effective "hook" to attract attendees to sales demos, webinars, and client meetings, increasing engagement and helping to break through typical sales communication noise. – Engagement and Word-of-Mouth: The interactive and educational nature of DrinkCurious’s tastings fostered memorable experiences that spurred word-of-mouth promotion, leading to increased client requests. – Holiday and Retention Use: Drink tastings are popular not only for prospecting but also for employee rewards, client retention, and holiday gifting, with options for virtual events that clients can record and revisit. – Bourbon as Cultural and Historical Icon: DrinkCurious incorporates bourbon’s cultural history into tastings, edu

In this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount sits down with Andy Matheou from RHM Staffing to dive deep into the challenges and triumphs of selling in the staffing industry. Andy shares his journey from individual contributor to a leadership role, offering invaluable insights on hustle, resilience, and the unique demands of staffing sales. Key Takeaways: – Early success in sales can be attributed to a strong work ethic, with long hours and dedication playing a significant role in career growth from sales contributor to leadership roles. – Competitiveness and resilience are essential traits in both sales and personal life, helping individuals push through challenges and setbacks. – The staffing industry presents unique challenges, as selling intangible services such as staffing solutions requires resilience and the ability to manage client skepticism. – Transitioning from an individual contributor to a leadership position often involves a shift in focus, prioritizing team success and development o

On this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, host Jeb Blount Jr. and guest Neil Cameron discuss the evolving landscape of B2B sales, focusing on how to adapt to millennial buyers, the importance of authenticity in digital sales, and strategies for building trust in the modern sales environment. Neil emphasizes the significance of understanding buyer psychology in today's digital age. Key Takeaways: – Shift from Traditional Sales to Digital Proficiency: The old sales model is broken. Sales professionals now need digital skills, especially in social media, AI, and data, to meet today’s digital buyers. – Importance of a Digital Sales Strategy: Building an effective digital sales strategy requires orchestrating multiple online touch points to create a harmonious customer experience. – Customer-Driven Buying Process: Buyers today conduct independent research, with 68% of B2B buyers preferring self-research before engaging with sales reps, making the process buyer-centric. – Content as a Sales Beacon: Quality co

Join host Jeb Blount Jr. as he welcomes legendary sales expert, Mark Hunter, to The Sales Gravy Podcast! In this episode they dive into actionable Outbound strategies, discuss the latest AI trends, and reveal why authentic relationships are the cornerstone of every successful sale. Key Takeaways – Success in outbound selling relies on maintaining strict discipline, consistent activity, and following a structured process to keep momentum and drive results. – Results in prospecting don’t happen overnight; staying consistent over time is key to building a strong pipeline and generating lasting success. – The opening of a conversation is just as important as closing a deal, making daily prospecting essential for building new relationships. – Focusing prospecting activities during peak energy hours increases the likelihood of success, allowing reps to engage with full focus. – A multi-channel outreach approach—integrating phone, email, and social media—reaches a wider audience and meets prospects where they ar

On this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, JBJ sits down with Amy Franko, a sales expert specializing in the mid-market, to discuss pipeline velocity, qualifying deals, and the importance of asking the right questions in sales. Amy shares her insights on how to overcome common sales obstacles and provides practical advice for improving sales performance. Key Takeaways:  – Pipeline Velocity as a Critical Metric: Pipeline velocity is essential for sales success, particularly in the mid-market segment where businesses are reaching for ambitious goals. Monitoring how quickly deals move through the pipeline can significantly impact quarterly and yearly outcomes. – Balancing Quality and Speed: Sales teams often struggle to balance quality with pipeline velocity. Moving deals through the pipeline quickly while maintaining high standards, avoiding the pitfall of focusing solely on speed without closing quality deals. – Breaking Up with Prospects: One challenge for sellers is recognizing when to disengage from pro

In this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, host Jeb Blount Jr. sits down with LinkedIn expert and OutBound speaker Brynne Tillman to discuss the keys to leveraging LinkedIn for sales success. Brynne shares essential information on avoiding common mistakes like the dreaded "pitch slap," the importance of personalization over automation, and how to truly engage with prospects on LinkedIn. Key Takeaways: – LinkedIn as a Networking Tool: Approach LinkedIn interactions like networking at an event. Your first conversation should not be a pitch but rather meaningful engagement with others' content, showing genuine interest and adding value. – The Power of Engagement: Engaging with someone's content purposefully, by reading and leaving thoughtful comments, is a better strategy than sending unsolicited pitches. It creates a connection by making the interaction about them, not you. – Avoiding the "Pitch Slap": Sending unsolicited, impersonal sales pitches (referred to as a "pitch slap") is ineffective and can be pe

Join Jeb Blount Jr. and, special guest, Anthony Iannarino on The Sales Gravy podcast as they dive deep into the world of sales. Discover the secrets to successful outbound strategies, learn how to elevate your executive briefings, and gain valuable insights on navigating a potential recession. Key Takeaways:  – Behavioral Changes for Success: Incremental improvements and a willingness to change behavior are critical for success in sales. Consistent effort, particularly in prospecting, is emphasized as key to long-term success. – Economic Outlook: Economic headwinds suggest a potential recession, and sales teams should be proactive by focusing on activity, knowledge, and behavioral adjustments to stay competitive. – Sales as Self-Competition: Sales is often a competition with oneself. A disciplined, daily commitment to prospecting is essential, especially during challenging economic times. – Sales Leadership in Challenging Times: Sales leaders should focus on guiding their teams through tough economic condi

On this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount Jr. and special guest Victor Antonio, renowned sales expert and author, dive deep into the world of sales, AI, and mindset. Victor offers valuable insights on how to leverage cutting-edge technology to boost your sales productivity, overcome common challenges, and achieve peak performance in 2024 and beyond. Key Takeaways:  – The Role of AI in Sales: Sellers are being inserted deeper into the sales process, with AI managing much of the early stages such as lead generation and pipeline building. This shift makes human skills even more essential in later stages of the sales process. – Mindset Shift for Sellers: Salespeople often need to adjust their mindset when handling objections and friction. For example, instead of fearing customer reactions based on past experiences, sellers should prioritize addressing concerns promptly, reducing anxiety and maintaining customer trust. – Value-Based Selling: One of the major challenges in sales is convincing prospec

On this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, Lucy Beth Adams sits down with Master Sales Trainer, Jessica Stokes to discuss her journey in sales, from her early days in cold calling to becoming a top trainer. She offers valuable insights on maintaining customer relationships, handling objections, and staying motivated in a challenging sales career. Key Takeaways:  – Facing Rejection with Determination: Early sales careers can  involve a lot of cold calling, rejection, and setbacks. However, having a competitive spirit can drive you to keep pushing, knowing that persistence will eventually pay off. – Self-Motivation and Rewards: Using personal rewards as motivation throughout your career and setting specific goals, such as a trip to Las Vegas, and continuing to find ways to reward yourself with commission-based incentives can help you reach your goals.  – Building and Maintaining Relationships: Focus on nurturing customer relationships, both past and present. You can do this by using traditional methods, such

In this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, host Brad Adams interviews Stephen Drum, a retired Navy SEAL Master Chief, renowned keynote speaker, and author. Drum shares his unique insights on leadership, team building, and performance under pressure, drawing from his extensive military experience and his work as the co-creator of the US Navy Warrior Toughness program. Key Takeaways: – Agility in sales involves being prepared to pivot and adjust based on the situation and the customer's needs. – Effective salespeople assess the context before presenting their offerings to ensure it is the right moment. – Reflection on experiences is crucial for continuous improvement and learning in a corporate setting. – Establishing a framework for learning allows for efficient integration of lessons into future interactions. – Simplifying complex processes into frameworks, like commit, prepare, execute, and reflect, aids in clarity and focus. – Receiving feedback from clients can provide insights into the impact of sa

Sales professionals are always looking for fresh strategies to boost their performance and outshine the competition. Surprisingly, one key factor that’s often neglected is their physical fitness for sales. On this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount discusses how physical fitness impacts sales success with online fitness coach Josh Hulsebosch. Key Takeaways – Importance of Posture: Maintaining a "proud posture" is crucial for both physical health and psychological confidence during workouts and daily activities. – Habit Formation: Developing a consistent awareness of posture and practicing corrective habits over time can help shift one’s natural stance to a more aligned position. – Physical and Mental Energy: Maintaining a proud posture can reduce fatigue and boost energy levels, leading to increased confidence over time. Deep diaphragmatic breathing, facilitated by good posture, can boost energy and reduce fatigue, impacting both physical and mental performance. – Long-term Muscle Growth Strat

In this episode of The Sales Gravy podcast, Jeb Blount Jr. hosts Barrett King, Senior Director of Revenue and Partnerships. In this episode they dive into key insights on building effective sales training, the importance of a well-defined go-to-market strategy, and the power of partnerships to drive customer success. Barrett's approach to how sales enablement and partnerships can dramatically reduce the time it takes for a sales team to become proficient, creating stronger, faster results. Key Takeaways: – Training vs. Coaching Distinction: Successful organizations differentiate between training (knowledge transfer) and coaching (enhancement of skills). Training provides the foundational knowledge, while coaching develops and fine-tunes the skills that have been learned, allowing individuals to apply them effectively. – Proficiency Framework: Organizations that excel in training have a clear framework for progression—from theory to practice and application. This framework accelerates skill development, enab

On this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, host Jeb Blount sits down with sales expert Brian Parsley to tackle one of the most common objections faced by sales professionals—price. Brian shares actionable strategies on how to shift conversations away from price and towards value, helping salespeople overcome objections and close more deals. Key Takeaways: - Understanding Communication Styles: Everyone has their own unique communication style, whether direct, indirect, consensus-building, or energizing. Tailoring communication to these styles is essential to engage the prospect effectively. - Importance of Questions Over Solutions: Instead of focusing on presenting solutions and features, salespeople should prioritize asking the right questions. This approach differentiates them and drives the conversation forward. - Multi-directional Listening: Listening is not just about hearing words but involves observing body language, tone, and using intuition. Salespeople should engage all senses to truly understand

On this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount Jr.had the pleasure of speaking with Pablo Pefaur, a seasoned sales professional who specializes in the Latin American market. Pablo shares some key insights on prospecting, the importance of follow-ups, and cultural nuances that every salesperson should know. Key Takeaways:  - Value of Outbound Conference: The Outbound Conference 2024 is a critical event for sales professionals, focusing on productivity, prospecting, and performance. - Help Announcement Strategy: The concept of a "help announcement” is introduced, where sales professionals should approach prospects with a specific, value-driven message to solve a particular problem, rather than overwhelming them with multiple pitches at once. - Systematic Approach to Prospecting: Effective prospecting requires a systematic approach, focusing on delivering a clear, single message to avoid getting lost in the noise and to resonate with the prospect. - Importance of Follow-Up: Following up after initial

In the competitive world of sales, adopting the right mindset is crucial for success. On this episode of the Sales Gravy podcast, Jeb Blount Jr. sits down with Dre Baldwin, a former professional basketball player in the NBA turned business guru to discuss why sales professionals who adopt an opportunistic mindset have greater long-term success. Key Takeaways  - Importance of Personal Initiative: Personal initiative is crucial for success. It involves taking proactive steps, like attending events or reaching out to potential opportunities, to create paths where none existed. - Mindset Tools: The mindset tools that lead to success—such as discipline, confidence, and mental toughness—are universally applicable, whether in sports, business, or any other area. - Role of Discipline: Discipline acts as the "steering wheel" that keeps you on course, while motivation serves as the "gas" that drives action. Discipline ensures consistent effort, even when motivation wanes. - Cold-Calling and Selling Yourself: Selling

On this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount Jr. sits down with Dayna Williams to discuss cutting-edge strategies for sales success. She gives expert insights on how to develop a winning sales culture, boost your team's performance, and leverage the power of Sales Gravy University for unparalleled training opportunities. Key Takeaways - Shift from Episodic Training: Traditional sales training has often been episodic, focused on reactive, one-time events that don't drive long-term behavioral change. This model is outdated and ineffective. - Importance of Reinforcement: Learning and development must go beyond the initial training event. Without sustained reinforcement, any skills or knowledge gained are quickly forgotten, leading to little long-term impact. - The 3 P's: Master persona, practice, and product knowledge to transform your team's effectiveness. Build a capability development plan that addresses these critical areas. Hoping for a change without a plan won't cut it. - Four-Step Learning P

On this episode of The Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount sits down with sales coach Cheryl Parks to discuss how she used skills like resilience, empathy, adaptability, relationship-building, continuous learning, and goal-setting to enhance sales performance. You’ll learn how to turn every experience into an opportunity for growth and success. Key Takeaways:  - Resilience is Crucial: Use rejection as a learning opportunity rather than a setback. Analyze what went wrong and apply those lessons to improve your future pitches. View each experience, whether successful or not, as a chance to grow. - Adaptability is Key: Stay flexible and open to change. New trends and shifts in the market require you to adjust your strategies to remain competitive. Be willing to experiment with new approaches and adjust based on results. - Build Strong Relationships: Invest time in fostering positive relationships with clients and colleagues. Trust and rapport can lead to repeat business and valuable referrals. - Set Clear Goals:

On this episode of the Sales Gravy podcast, Jeb Blount sits down with Victor Antonio, Sales Gravy University Instructor, to debate the future of human interaction in sales, emphasizing why personal connections remain pivotal in an increasingly automated world. You’ll listen to their engaging discussions and thought-provoking perspectives on the intersection of sales and artificial intelligence (AI). Key Takeaways: - AI and Buying Windows: The conversation highlights the potential of AI in identifying buying windows by analyzing customer behavior across multiple data sources, including websites and databases. - List-Building Challenges: Despite advancements in sales techniques, Victor and Jeb  agree that list-building remains a significant challenge for sales teams. - Future of AI in CRMs: There's a strong belief that AI will become integral to CRM systems, consolidating various tools and data to create a hub essential for sales operations. - Automated Data Integration: The future of sales will involve AI a

On this episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast, Jeb Blount Jr. sits down with Founder and Sales Leader Advisor, Nigel Green, to discuss his approach to hiring elite salespeople by using his four rules.  Nigel teaches us that the only skill a sales leader should have is the ability to hire elite salespeople. Elite salespeople don’t find us, we have to go find them.  Key Takeaways Hiring Challenges: Many VPs of sales and CEOs find hiring salespeople to be one of their biggest challenges, as they strive to maximize and optimize their current talent pool. Importance of Training: Sales leaders should ensure that their sales teams have access to necessary training resources, and platforms like Sales Gravy can be valuable for continuous learning. Scouting vs. Tryouts: Unlike traditional hiring methods, scouting for elite salespeople involves actively recruiting top talent rather than waiting for applicants, akin to sports scouting. Non-Obvious Qualities: Hiring managers should look for non-obvious qualities in candi

On this episode of the Sales Gravy podcast, Jeb Blount sits down with author and speaker, Carole Mahoney, to discuss her path to becoming an entrepreneur by using a buyer first approach. Carole teaches us that when it comes to sales, you've gotta get out of your own head. It's not about you, your quota, or even how great your product is. It's all about the customer. You have to put yourself in their shoes and understand what they are really after. Ditch the rehearsed pitch and have a real conversation. When you genuinely care about helping people, not just closing deals, that's when the magic happens. Key Takeaways: - Mission to Change Perception of Sales: Carole is dedicated to changing how sales is perceived. She wants to shift the view of sales from being seen as pushy to being a respected and collaborative profession. - Reconnect for New Opportunities: Reaching out to past prospects who initially said no can uncover new opportunities. Many former prospects may reconsider and become interested in your se