Rick Smith’s Post

"The only easy day was yesterday." I woke up one morning this past week at about 2:30am. I was stressed about an impending decision I needed to make and the conversations I would have following that decision. The thought occurred to me, "why does this have to be so hard?" After struggling unsuccessfully to get back to sleep, I got up and headed to they gym for a morning workout, popped in my air pods and started listening to a book I had just purchased: The Wisdom of the Bullfrog", by Admiral William H. McRaven. This particular chapter was titled, "The only easy day was yesterday". And as I listened to the chapter, it reminded why 'this' was so hard...because this is what leadership is about, this is what life is about. Doing hard things, making hard decisions and then doing it again the next day. If you've not read the book, I encourage you do get your hands on it. Lots of great leadership and life wisdom contained in its pages. After listening to the chapter, I leaned back into the issue, weighed the pros and cons, made the decision and had the conversations. Yes it was difficult, but again at least in part, that's what leadership is about. A great quote from the chapter, "You only fail as a leader, when you think today is going to be easier than yesterday". McRaven provides 3 simple principles at the end of this chapter: 1- You must bring energy and enthusiasm every single day. 2- You are not entitled to anything but more hard work. 3- Attack each day as if it were critical to the organization's success. How about you? Anything you would add to the list?

The research tells us that only 23% of a seller’s time is actually spent selling. To me selling activities are things like: 1. Engaging buyers  2. Establishing credibility  3. Understanding their buyer's business goals, barriers and gaps 4. Nurturing trust  5. Building relationships  6. Driving leads & opportunities forward  That means that your sellers are spending up to 77% of their day engaged in administrative and other tasks that keep them from selling.  You have to figure out a way to change this in order to increase performance. This is what I am so passionate about with sellers. This is what Conquer helps sales teams do.

4 ways to follow-up with a prospect without being pushy: 1. Ask for a regular recurring meeting vs constant follow-up.  It will make the seller look more organized/professional and the buyer won’t feel beat up by the constant request for the next meeting. 2. Share recent results with them regarding other clients, without asking for anything in return. 3. Ensure you are engaging with them on LinkedIn so they can see your posts 4. Become an expert in their business and procure & share insights (thought leadership) about their business from recent podcasts, news articles, etc. It's a tough time to sell right now and follow-up is key. These are four that I've noticed help you stay top of mind without being overbearing.

3 critical steps to bring AI to your sales team: 1. Dumb AI vs. Smart AI 2. Clearly Defined Roadmap 3. AI as a Teammate And a bit more informatiom about each of these below. If you're currently using AI in sales your process, I'd love to hear how. Share more information about it below!

Perfection is limiting, but continuous improvement is liberating! Three ways to infuse this principle into daily living: 1- Get started- Embrace faith, courage and confidence vs fear, doubt and timidity. A continuous improvement mindset feeds the former, a perfection mindset feeds the latter. 2- If we fail, and at times we will, we must learn from it vs beating ourselves up over it- Regret is the monster of the mind that plunders the heart and captures our will to move forward. 3- Get back in the batter’s box and take another swing- You can’t always control who is pitching the ball, the speed or the shape of the pitch. All you can control is the quality and integrity of your swing and your willingness to get back in the batter’s box and try again.

How can your sales team use AI as a teammate? It seems to be the topic of every conversation we've been having recently and so I wanted to share 4 specific ways: 1. Providing Contextual Data on Customer Interactions This isn’t just about knowing what was said; it’s about understanding the nuances of those conversations and how they fit into the broader context of the customer’s needs and history with your company. AI can analyze previous interactions across various channels, including email exchanges, call transcripts, and social media conversations, to offer sales professionals insights that guide more informed engagements. 2. Guiding the Next Best Steps Determining the next best action in the sales process can sometimes feel like guesswork. However, AI can predict the next best steps by analyzing patterns from past successful sales cycles. These insights enable sales professionals to make data-backed decisions, streamline the sales process, and focus their efforts where they’re most likely to result in a close. 3. Personalized Messaging In today’s market, personalization is not just preferred; it’s expected. AI excels at creating personalized messaging for prospects and customers by analyzing their past behavior, preferences, and interactions with your brand. This capability ensures that every touchpoint is relevant and resonates with the customer, significantly enhancing the chances of conversion. 4. Easy Analysis of Data Trends The volume of data generated by sales activities can be overwhelming, making trend analysis a daunting task. AI simplifies this by swiftly analyzing vast datasets to identify trends and anomalies. This analysis helps sales teams to adjust their strategies in real time, capitalizing on emerging opportunities and mitigating potential risks, improving revenue predictability and keeping organizations focused on the deals most likely to close. Entering the era of AI in sales isn’t just about staying current; it’s about securing a future where sales professionals can focus more on strategy and relationship building and less on administrative tasks. 

I’m such a fan of her podcasts.

Curious to hear about this from my sales leaders. Feel free to share other thoughts in the comments!

AI cannot and should not replace the role of the seller.  Instead, AI should enhance the seller’s capabilities to perform.  For example, by reducing time spent on menial tasks, suggesting communication content, identifying the highest likelihood leads and opportunities to pursue and providing data/content to be used for more effective coaching.  AI has to be a teammate that accelerates a seller’s ability to be effective. If a seller decides to let AI do all the work for them and they don’t personalize their approach, then it’s a quick journey to a dead end because people still want to interact with people and more importantly, people they like and trust.

Are people better off because you are leading them? Great question from John Maxwell that gets right to the heart of what I believe effective leadership is all about. Three additional questions from this discussion with John Maxwell that every team member is silently asking you as a leader: 1– Do you care for me? 2- Can you help me? 3– Can I trust you? I hope you get the chance to give this a listen.