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A weekly micro-lesson for B2B sales teams. In each 5–10 minute episode, we share one practical idea, model or strategy for how you become brilliant at growing sales with integrity. All focused on building trust and delivering real value to your clients. Find more learning at https://www.showinguplearning.com/
Welcome everybody. It's really great to have you with us. I'm your host, Benjamin Weston. And you'll listen to Very Good Sales, the podcast brought to you by Showing Up. We design sales training that enables people to see that their potential reaches far beyond what they might imagine, building the traits, the behaviors, and the skills that customers trust and value most, so you can grow sales with great integrity.
Benjamin:Head over to showinguplearning.com to learn more, and there you'll also be able to access some free training. And now, let's get into this week's micro lesson. This episode builds on episode six the last one we covered which was FOMO the fear of missing out and the danger of becoming a brand that tries to be everything to everybody. It's showing up part of our methodology is this sales doesn't need to be manic It doesn't have to be a sixty hour week high stress always chasing kind of job. In fact when you really hone your sales skills you can work a calm focused twenty to thirty hour week, you can do great work with clients you really love and not feel like you're drowning.
Benjamin:But to do that, you've got to be clear. Clear on what you're great at, clear on what you're not great at, and crystal clear about what opportunities you'll go for and which ones you'll walk away from. And let me give you an analogy from Starbucks. When you think of Starbucks what comes to mind? For Howard Schultz, founder, it all started with an inspiration he found in Italy.
Benjamin:He saw the cafe culture there, a place between home and work, where people gathered, connected and slowed down, all centered on sharing coffee. He wanted to bring that experience back to America, a third place, a home away from home. And for a time it worked, Starbucks became one of the most successful brands on the planet. But then something happened, they lost their focus. They started adding more and more to the menu, cheese toasties, sandwiches, food options that changed the smell, the feel, the atmosphere of the store.
Benjamin:The essence of the coffee house, that original vision was diluted and they began to struggle. Eventually they had to go back to their roots. Back to being clear on what they were best at, back to coffee, back to that third place. And while Starbucks has ups and downs even right now at time of recording, it's a story that's powerful reminder of what happens when you lose sight of who you really are. The same lesson applies to sales.
Benjamin:You need to know exactly who your perfect customer is. You need to be selective. If you don't believe you can win some work, don't chase it Because every time you do, you're giving up hours you'd be spending with the right clients, building the right relationships, creating the right value. So here's your lesson for today. Know the work you won't win.
Benjamin:That clarity will give you more time, less stress and better results. And here's an exercise to help you get there. And this one's really worth sitting down with a pen and paper. Start by writing down what is it your company does brilliantly. Don't over complicate it, just be clear.
Benjamin:What are the problems you solve and why you got solving them. And let's turn it into a simple set of columns. There's gonna be five columns here in total. In column one, who is your customer? Be as specific as possible.
Benjamin:For example, one of our primary customers is showing up is a business with around 100 internal sales people. They don't have a huge learn development budget, but what they want is their people to be the very best of what they do. That's super clear. And it also can go even further, might be UK based, and they're willing to spend between 300 and £500 per person per year on training. In column two, what are the problems they have?
Benjamin:And be specific as you can. In column three Write them down how do you solve those problems. Write down the things you actually do that fixes those issues your customers are facing. In column four where do your competitors do this better than you? And be humble and be honest.
Benjamin:Write down where they have the edge. And in column five, where do you do it better and why? What's the reason your solution works best for those problems? When you've done that step back and look at the picture. That's the checklist you should refer to when you're doing outbound sales and when you're responding to inbound inquiries.
Benjamin:From now on when you start speaking to customers, hold those columns in your mind, ask yourself, does this potential customer fit the framework? Do they have the problems we are best at solving? And are we the people that can really support them best in this work? Because if the answer is no, or you are unsure, the best thing you can do for them and for you is to step away, and put your time into the clients where you can create the greatest amount of value. And that's it for today.
Benjamin:Thank you so much for listening to Very Good Sales brought to you by ShowingUp. And I hope today's micro lesson gave you something of great value. If you'd like to go deeper, head over to showinguplearning.com. That's showinguplearning.com. You can get free access to experience our video learning platform built for anybody that wants to be brilliant at selling.
Benjamin:Whether you're learning solo as a team, every module is practical, scenario based, and designed to help you build trust, bring value, and grow sales with integrity. And what's cool is, for every person that becomes a member of our video platform, we fund a free scholarship to a young person facing social barriers to enter the workplace. So by investing in yourself, you're also giving someone else the first step into the workplace. Visit showinguplearning.com to get started. Thanks again for listening.
Benjamin:Good luck out there. Take care and see you next time.