Jill Konrath is one of the most popular sales thought leaders today. She has written hugely successful books, has a thriving 20+ year old sales training and consulting business, and has some of the best sales and marketing content on the internet. Speaking of which, I recently downloaded a couple of her ebooks recently to study something I was working on…I truly respect her work and am excited to have her participate in today’s version of Madlibs.
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1. The b2b buyer is protecting himself from sales predators. That’s how they see most salespeople — and they’re right. That’s how most sellers behave.
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2. The biggest innovation in sales is the internet. Today’s well-informed buyers have fundamentally changed their expectations of salespeople.
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3. The coolest thing happening in b2b sales is what you can learn about prospects before initiating contact. For a savvy seller, it totally changes the game.
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4. My favorite Sales 2.0 technology is InsideView. Leveraging trigger events is one of the best ways to create new opportunities.
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5. My favorite sales book is SNAP Selling!
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6. My favorite social media site is LinkedIn. It’s foundational for establishing a professional presence as well as researching and connecting with new prospects.
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7. Social selling is a term that’s meaningless to most salespeople.
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8. I use Linkedin to research prospects, develop targeted prospect lists and build my professional credibility.
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9. Cold calling is changing — finally. Savvy sellers don’t just make the calls, they research first.
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10. In b2b, the idea of a funnel is not something I ever think about. I much prefer to go after the targeted few.
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11. The first thing every sales person should do is learn more about their customer. To be effective, they need to know their responsibilities, objectives, strategic initiatives, challenges and status quo.
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12. Voicemail is the best way for prospects to avoid having to talk to self-serving salespeople.
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13. The biggest mistake sales people make is not looking at their own culpability in the results they’re getting — and then trying to figure out how to improve.
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14. The biggest myth in sales is that it’s all a numbers game. It actually prevents people from looking at what they can do to get better.
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15. My most forgettable sales experience was getting yelled at by a prospect for a stupid mistake I made — and then fainting dead away on the floor of the lobby.
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16. The hardest part of selling is waiting … when you’ve done all you can and don’t know the result.
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17. The next “hot-thing” in sales will be Sales 3.0 — whatever that is.
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18. In 2015, sales will be even more fun for savvy sellers who leverage social media to research and engage with prospective clients. They’ll dominate.
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19. My favorite sales saying is “It’s all about the difference you make — not how you’re different.”
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20. Over the next couple years in sales, I can’t wait to see the democratization of sales training. With so much available online, even sellers from the smallest companies can have access to the best advice.
- 21. Madlibs with the Funnelholic is not a five-minute exercise as promised.
Jill Konrath, author of SNAP Selling and Selling to Big Companies, 
helps salespeople create new business opportunities and speed up sales cycles. As a frequent speaker at sales meetings and conferences, she shares fresh strategies that actually work with today’s crazy-busy, well-informed prospects