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Prospecting on Purpose is Forbes meets Saturday Night Live - it’s *the* show for everything prospecting, sales, business, and mindset.
As business grows more complex, the biggest opportunities emerge when we learn beyond our own industries. From hospitality and design to technology and travel, this is where professionals come together to exchange ideas, uncover new perspectives, and prospect for business with creativity, authenticity, and intention.
Hosted by Sara Murray, a heart-centric sales champion, each episode helps you raise both your vibes and your game. Sara's playbook is simple - ABAV: Always Be Adding Value. Embrace your authentic self, lean into your unique strengths, and sell the outcome instead of the product or service.
Join Sara each week as she sits down with world-class thought leaders to unpack today's business strategies, mindset shifts, and relationship-driven approaches to growth, giving you practical ideas you can put into action right away.
Connect with Sara: www.saramurray.com IG: @saramurraysales LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/
Speaker 2: You're listening to Prospecting
on Purpose, where we discuss all things
prospecting, sales, business, and mindset.
I'm your host, Sara Murray, a sales
champion who's here to show you that you
can be a shark in business and still lead
with intentionality and authenticity.
Tune in each week as we dive into methods
to connect with clients, communicate
with confidence, and close the deal.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
Welcome to Prospecting on Purpose.
I am thrilled to have our
next guest on the air.
David Newman is a professional
services sales expert who works
with leading consultants, coaches
and speakers who wanna land better
clients, bigger deals, and higher fees.
David is the author of the number one
business bestseller, Do It Marketing.
He's the creator of the
Do it MBA Mentorship.
David is the host of the Highly Rated
podcast, the Selling Show, and he is also
the author of a book that we are going
to talk about today called Do It Selling.
David, welcome to Prospecting on Purpose.
David Newman | Do It Marketing:
Thank you, Sara.
It's great to be here.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
I'm so excited for our conversation today
because I think a lot of what you talk
about in your podcast, with your clients,
in the book, it's all around confidence
in selling and giving people the tools
to feel confident in their sales efforts.
And I think that's why you're a
perfect guest for our audience.
So maybe let's just start a little
bit about, your journey and how
you found yourself as a sales guru.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Sure.
Well, probably the
least likely sales guru.
And it's funny because a lot, I think
a lot of our colleagues in the world
of sales coaching, sales training, like
I'm the last person that I would ever
thought end up, would end up in sales.
So I had a 10 year corporate
career as working for big
consulting firms, management
consulting, technology consulting.
2002 I go out on my own and I
figure I know how to speak, I know
how to coach, I know how to train.
How hard can it be?
And Sara, I found out how hard
it can be because I had no idea.
I had no idea about marketing and
sales or any of the stuff that
we're gonna talk about today.
I thought that, hey, I'm
great at doing the work.
And it's not about when you're
an entrepreneur, of course,
it's not about doing the work,
it's about selling the work.
So, I immediately knew that I
was totally hopeless in this.
And I went out and I hired a sales
coach, and this was a great sales
coach and he's still a friend to
this day, and it was a coaching deal.
And then also he had like a once
a month in-person class where
all of his local clients went.
So I go to the first in-person class and
the topic happened to be prospecting.
So he starts talking, very
first words out of his mouth.
So you're talking to a prospect
and it's really important that, and
then the music sort of comes up.
And we get the blurry camera
fade and I'm already lost.
And I, what I felt like internally
was raising my hand and going, excuse
me, uh, sir, these prospects of which
you speak, how do you find them?
So
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
Who are they?
How do I get them?
David Newman | Do It Marketing:
You're assuming, I'm already talking
to a prospect and I have no idea how
to even get a conversation going.
So that's where we started, my friend.
That's where we started.
Like I hit every brick wall.
Every dead end.
I made all the mistakes in the
sales and prospecting book.
I probably made the good ones twice
Because there was so much fun.
But eventually I figured some things out.
I read a ton of books.
I went to a bunch of classes.
Like I said, the sales
coaching, the sales training.
And at that time a lot of the
sales coaching and sales training.
It was either aimed at
like a local business.
A lot of roofers, a lot of pro
plumbers, a lot of people in the
product business, water purification
systems, all kinds of stuff like this.
And some of it I felt didn't really fit.
So, you know, You have these
big sales training franchises.
You have Sandler, you have, the
Miller Hyman, you have spin selling.
Exactly.
I couldn't really embrace
completely all of this.
So I sort of put my own playbook
together and I started closing some
big deals with some big Fortune 500
companies selling training contracts.
And then my friends and my peers,
other consultants, other trainers would
say, Hey David, can I pick your brain?
Can we have breakfast?
Can we have coffee?
Can we have drinks?
I would love to find out,
how you're doing all of this.
And so I'm sitting down with
these folks and I have no problem.
Breakfast, lunch, coffee.
Because there were good
people asking good questions.
And another consultant friend of
mine who also is still a friend to
this day, he just stops mid, mid, it
was, this was a breakfast, so we're
eating bacon and eggs and he throws
his fork down, mid bacon and eggs.
And he says, you know,
you are so good at this.
You should do this for a living.
This is about five years into my journey
here, and I said, do what for a living?
Eat breakfast with people.
He goes, no, no, no.
Teach people what you know
about how to get these big
Fortune 500 corporate contracts.
And Sara, I laughed at him.
What I said was, that's a ridiculous idea.
People like you and me, the solo
entrepreneurs, the small business
people, they're broke, they're hopeless.
Thanks, but no thanks.
I'm going back and I'm gonna keep
selling my big contracts, and I don't
want clients who are small, solo
business owners, independent, you
know, service professionals, whatever.
Finally, he said, listen, I want
you to teach me what you have.
I will pay you money.
What is it?
What's it gonna cost me
to hire you as a coach?
And because I had just been selling,
10, 20, $30,000 deals, I'd never
dealt with a one-on-one person.
I said, well, you know, I appreciate
the offer, but I have no idea.
I said, how much do you
charge your clients?
He says, 125 bucks an hour.
So I said, great.
I'll coach you for 125 bucks an hour.
And that was the seed that was
the beginning of the version 0.1
of where we are today.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
I think about, David, like all the
different challenges that you were
describing along that journey, not
knowing who a prospect is or how do you
get to them, or how do you open the door
or your friends saying, how are you?
You doing this and having to
kind of source things yourself.
I mean, I think that that's
unanimous across the board.
Like everyone in whatever they do
in their roles has to be selling
in some type of form factor.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Yeah.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
That's what I find interesting about
sales is everyone has to do it.
Because all of business
is influencing others.
And that's really what sales is.
But making sure you do it from a place
of authenticity and, and genuine care.
And I think where people get nervous about
sales is they don't wanna seem, you know,
salesy and icky and they shy away from it.
So I would love to learn from
you, what eventually got you
over the fear of selling?
What clicked for you there when you
started to figure out your contracts?
What was the, was there a couple, I
mean, there's probably a couple things
we could talk about, but what was maybe
the moment that you figured it out?
David Newman | Do It Marketing: I
think there is a big adversarial
assumption in the world of
sales still to this day, right?
Because think about the words that
we use when we talk about sales.
We talk about targets, we talk
about prospects, we talk about being
in a target rich environment when
you're speaking at a conference or
you're at a, a networking group.
Yeah, so we gotta qualify, we gotta
filter, we gotta fish where the fish are.
We gotta catch the fish, reel
'em in the boat, kill the fish.
Eat the fish.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
Hunters, farmers kill the elephant.
David Newman | Do It Marketing:
Exactly, exactly right.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
I am guilty of using all those words.
David Newman | Do It Marketing:
So all of these terms that assume
that there is a either predatory
or adversarial relationship.
I had to let all of that go.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose: Hmm.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Because
number one, it took my prospecting
activity down to zero because I
just chose not to engage in that
messy, goofy, toxic type of dynamic.
So, by the way, zero prospecting is not a
good strategy, just for folks listening.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
I'm pretty sure there's a quote
in David's book that says, no
customers equals no business.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: And no
bueno is the, the final touch on that.
But it's funny because as far as,
the whole, I'm out to get them.
I, you know, I gotta close them.
All of this kind of high pressure.
And sometimes we put
it on ourselves, right?
And I realized, okay, my main
job is to convey two and only two
things in everything that I do.
Online, offline, in-person, networking,
sales, initial prospect conversations,
phone calls, zoom calls, everything.
Two things I have to get across.
Number one, I understand what you're going
through or through questioning, right?
Through questioning and smart questioning.
I can diagnose, I can figure
out, and I totally resonate
with what you're going through.
That's job number one.
Job number two, I can
fix it or I can help.
So if you take the pressure off.
I gotta close 'em.
I gotta put 'em on my sales process.
Gotta move the ball forward.
Gotta gain commitment.
Gotta, you know, do all this crazy stuff
if you let that fall away and you realize
that your only two jobs in marketing
and sales and business development
is with every fiber of your being.
Every post, every blog, every phone
call, every introduction, every referral,
get across the idea that, number one,
I understand, or I'm committed to
understand what you're going through.
And number two, I can fix it.
People immediately resonate
with that come from,
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
Mm-hmm.
David Newman | Do It Marketing:
And I have found that you can have
the world's best sales script, and
I'm very much against scripting.
I'm very much for preparation and
structure, but I'm against scripting.
And the reason I'm against scripting
is because scripting you can have
the world's most perfect script.
If your come from is,
I gotta close the sale.
I gotta close the sale.
It's hungry, it's desperate.
It's sales breath.
It's like
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
Transactional.
Yeah.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Exactly.
It's transactional.
It's a dog going after red meat.
The world's best sales script will
not save you if you have a messy,
, disorganized, out of sequence sales
conversation, but the person can feel
that you are there with caring concern,
curiosity, genuine desire to help them,
even if it's a genuine desire, just to
help them see their problem more clearly.
Even before getting
involved in solving it.
It doesn't matter how much you stutter
and blubber and screw up your lines and
forget stuff that you wanted to say.
And forget stuff that you wanted
to ask but your come from.
Because people are smart.
People have this invisible radar that
a person with a flawless script and a
hostile come from is never gonna do as
well as somebody with a genuine come from.
And the script might be goofy or
non-existent or scrambled or mixed up.
And I'm not saying that you should be
sloppy with your sales conversations
or not intentional with your
communications because those are
all very important things to be,
but the come from has to come first.
Then when I realized to answer your
question that my come from is way
more important than my technique.
And here was the turning point
and I, I think people listening
will be able to relate to this.
I've had fantastic sales
conversations, I thought.
Fantastic sales conversations where
the prospect ends up telling me, wow,
David, you are a really good salesperson.
And they didn't buy because
my technique was showing.
Then I had sales conversations where
people bought almost effortlessly,
and no one complimented me on my
sales skills because if they ever
compliment you on your sales skills,
that's almost the kiss of death.
They're like, you are being
techniquey, you are being artificial.
They feel that something is being
done to them and they're like, oh,
you're really, you're really a good
technician, but I'm not gonna buy.
It's the invisible sale that's based
on genuine trust, rapport, respect, and
a genuine sense that this person wants
them to do better and that buying will
help you do better than not buying.
Right?
When that's communicated,
that's in the prospect's mind.
That's nothing that the seller,
the seller, sets up the environment
for that transformation to
happen in the buyer's mind.
But that sale happens in the buyer's mind.
We don't do it to them.
We can't force that.
We simply set the environment
where that can happen more easily.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
I call it, the word, the
acronym I use, I say a b, a V.
Always be adding value.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Yes.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose: And
that's to any person you interact with.
Anyone, because prospecting
happens everywhere.
It happens on the chairlift
when you're skiing.
It happensâ¦
David Newman | Do It Marketing: yeah.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
like I got a lead the other day
at my apartment community pool.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Yeah.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
And it came after I was
adding value to the person.
And so I think that we think we have
to be on and have these, you know,
your comment on the techniques like
people's BS meter is finely tuned.
But if youâ¦
David Newman | Do It Marketing: very much.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
â¦come
from a place of how can I add value?
You're always gonna set the stage for
success because I, and I like how you
have, I like how you phrased it, David,
making the other person feel comfortable,
making sure they're safe in their
mind, that they're not being sold to.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Yeah.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
This person wants to help me.
Andâ¦
David Newman | Do It Marketing: yeah.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
â¦that
might mean they don't buy from you because
maybe you don't have the right solution.
But people sense that.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Yeah.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
What are some of the biggestâ¦
David Newman | Do It Marketing:
I think one another
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
oh, go ahead.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: another
important piece of prospecting dialogue
that I talk about in the Do It Selling
book is this conditional language.
So for example, if you and I,
Sara, are having a conversation.
I might say, you know, whether
this ends up being a good fit
for us to work together or not.
The, or not opens the door, right?
It's like a pressure valve that opens up.
When I'm adding value in initial
prospecting conversation, I might
say, listen, Sara, this might be
the very last time that we ever
speak to each other one-on-one.
The gap that I see in your business is
number one, number two, and number three.
If you could fix those three things,
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
That's good.
David Newman | Do It Marketing:
either with my help with someone
else's help or on your own.
So now I'm saying with my help.
Someone else's help or on your own.
Right?
So at every opportunity, I am adding
value and I'm releasing pressure.
I am making this a safe
buying environment.
People, like you said, people's
BS meter is set to like supersonic.
And I also think that this concept
of buyer safety where people don't
feel they're being pressured, they
don't feel they're being manipulated.
And when I say, listen, genuinely,
these are the three areas
that I see you need to fix.
I can help you fix them.
Someone else can help you fix them,
or you can just fix them on your own.
Most people go, oh my gosh, he's
diagnosed this so precisely and he's
pinpointed these three areas that
were totally blind spots for me.
Why would I hire anybody else?
I mean the, you
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
Totally.
David Newman | Do It Marketing:
people are lazy, busy and befuddled.
So if they're talking to Sara
Murray and Sara Murray has presented
herself as the obvious choice.
The shortest path between
me and results is hire Sara.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
Totally , and with something that
you said really stick out to me too,
David, is, the buyer safety concept's
really interesting, but I also think
if you add the or not as the seller,
you kind of relax a bit yourself too.
Okay, I don't need to go into pricing,
I don't need to go into pitches.
I'm just asking questions, identifying
areas that I can potentially support.
And I actually had this yesterday
with, with a client that I've been
working with and I love working with
them, and we wanna extend the contract.
And I started out by saying, I'm
not ready to talk numbers today
because I dunno what you need.
it made me relax too, and
it was just a conversation.
But now I see the areas that we
can continue to work together.
And it's such a different consultative
conversation versus buyer,
seller, transactional ickiness.
And I think that's what we have to help
undo in a lot of people's brains is help
them realize this is just a conversation
and we're just trying to add value.
Because if you're coming with desperation,
if you're coming with a need to hit
a number, people will smell it just,
it's not gonna be fun for either party.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: And
I'm sure you've had this conversation
when it comes to prospecting.
I know I, I've got clients that
I've worked with for years.
And they say, well David, I have a
brand new meeting on my calendar.
Next Wednesday do I go in and pitch
A or B or C and I, I just look in
the screen now Because remember
they're a long time client and I go.
Uhm, I'm sorry, C, could
you repeat the question?
Yeah, yeah.
I have a sales meeting on Wednesday.
Do I pitch and they go, oh, that's right.
We don't pitch anything.
We don't pitch any.
I go in unarmed.
It's like, yeah, you go in unarmed.
You go in with the caring, the
concern, the curiosity, the
questions, the questioning plan.
One of the other things I talk about in
the Do It Selling book is you have to
look at this like a courtroom attorney.
Getting ready for a cross-examination
where you just have all of these facts
that you need to find out before you're
ready to argue in any way, shape, or form.
Right?
You can't, oh, buy my solution.
It's like, no, no.
I need to find out about
what's going on with you.
What's going on with your team?
What's going on with your company?
What's going on with your revenue?
What's going on with your, whatever
it is that we're trying to solve.
And I've got 17 different
questions before I'm ready to
quote, unquote, pitch anything.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
That's, and, I
David Newman | Do It Marketing: and when
people, and so let's say that, they've
binged all your content, they've listened
to every Sara Murray podcast episode,
and they show up on the call and they
say, Sara, you don't need to pitch me.
I'm in, sign me up for your X, Y, Z
program, even when people are just
kind of laying down their credit card.
I will often say, I
appreciate that so much.
That is a huge compliment.
Thank you.
But I gotta be brutally frank
with you, we're not there yet.
And so I will, I will, I will
slow down the sales process.
Even when someone is basically saying,
Hey, Newman, here's my credit card.
Just take my money.
Let's go.
I don't, I genuinely don't know if
they're a good fit, if I can help
them move the needle, if I can help
them get the results that they want.
So sometimes that's the other,
that's the other magic phrase.
When someone's two thirds of the
way through a sales conversation and
they say, Sara, send me a proposal.
This sounds perfect.
We have a $50,000 budget,
we're ready to go.
The magic phrase that I will often
pull out and I recommend my clients
often pull out, is, thank you.
I really appreciate that.
That's clearly a positive green light.
Sign from you, but we're not there yet.
We're not there yet.
Do you mind if I just ask you a couple
more questions about your exact situation
and goals and , when you slow the
process down, do you think trust goes up
with that prospect or trust goes down?
I will tell you trust
goes up 100% of the time.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
That's exactly as you're talking
through it and the questioning.
A big part of this process is
building trust, because a lot of
times it's not just a, in any B2B
environment for the most part, and
B2C two, it's not just usually a
one person decision making piece.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Amen.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
Often times especially if you're in a role
where there's a lot of different decision
makers with different organizations,
you need to gain the trust to get to
the next part of the selling process.
And my background was in the
architectural and construction market.
So maybe I'd have a meeting
with the architect, but I really
want a meeting with the end
user who's gonna sign the check.
But that architect isn't gonna introduce
me to their client unless they trust me.
And if you go in with.
I call it product vomit.
You're justâ¦
David Newman | Do It Marketing: yes.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
â¦dumping
bunch of product, you're talking
numbers, that trust doesn't ever
get built, and they're never gonna
put you in front of their client.
Or maybe there's the boss that has
to get sign in, or you need other
different departments or decision makers.
The big part of the beginning of the
sales process is do they like you?
Do they trust you?
Like getting over those
hurdles, and I think
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Yeah.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
that takes a lot of pressure off
when it's just, Hey, I just need
this person to see I add value.
See I care and see that I'm trustworthy.
And then we can start talking numbers.
But to your earlier point, usually
when the number time come, it's like,
well, why wouldn't I work with David?
He knows everything about me.
He knows my pain points.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Right.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
So it becomes very organic, the
closing, if you do the beginning
part right, the closing is very easy.
David Newman | Do It Marketing:
Oh my gosh.
Absolutely right.
And so I think this is something
important where people say, oh man,
having all these great meetings, and
I'm having all of these great, you
know, my pipeline is stronger than ever.
I'm just not closing deals.
I must have a closing problem.
99% of the time, Sara, in my experience,
it's not actually a closing problem.
It's an opening problem, right?
It's the way that they started
the conversation, or it could be
in the middle part, but it's not.
But good, good prospects
will close themselves.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
Right.
David Newman | Do It Marketing:
After doing thousands and thousands
and thousands of sales calls, , I
can personally attest good
clients will close themselves.
You don't have a closing problem.
You have a, you know, premature
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
Yeah.
Prospecting problem.
David Newman | Do It Marketing:
discovery, immature discovery.
You didn't ask the right things.
You didn't reflect the right things.
You didn't surface.
The issues behind the issues.
Or the problems behind the problems.
Yes, It sounds like you have
a great pipeline and a great
series of conversations.
Failure to close is usually, the
diagnostic issue, is usually much earlier
in the sales process than you think.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
Well, and that's, I gotta tell you
too, David, when I started my business,
the reason the podcast is named
Prospecting on Purpose is because a
lot of times when things go bad at the
end, just like what you're saying, it
was the beginning that went poorly.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Yes.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
I think what is challenging for people
to wrap their heads around is some of
the beginning stuff and the prospecting
process is around relationships.
And I think people think they need
to have all these hard skills like
negotiating and, you know, confidence
in having crucial conversations.
But if you're good at the beginning
part, and it's really just like
being a real human, you know, like
take the salesmanship out of it.
Just be real, be cool,
and , the rest becomes easier.
But what I really liked
about your book some of the
language that you're giving us.
In the book, you have a lot of
very cool very specific tactics,
very specific language to use.
One thing that I really liked that
I'm gonna start to deploy in my own
business is the Be Unignorable and you
had some really interesting tactics
on how to approach prospecting from a
space where they can't really ignore you.
So would you mind sharing some
of these tips with the audience?
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Sure.
So, a lot of times we prospect one-on-one.
So , you have, you have targeted a
single prospect, a single decision
maker who has some sort of logical title
C-suite executive, VP level person.
And you realize, or you've come
to think that this is your person.
And you said a moment ago, and I agree
that most complex sales and most high
dollar sales these days in the B2B world.
There's multiple decision makers,
there's multiple people involved.
So the strategy that you're
talking about is don't target
one decision maker, target three.
And when you target three, you tell
each one that you've also sent emails or
voicemails or whatever it is you're doing.
To the other two.
So Sara, if you're the CEO, I will send
you my initial communication and say, Hey
Sara, I saw that you just got promoted.
I saw that you just got a new round of
funding, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Here's how we've helped clients
like you in this exact situation.
By the way, I've also copied Deborah
and Sam, separately, because I know
they're probably involved in this also.
Would it make sense for us to put our
heads together and have a conversation?
So now Sara gets this note saying,
oh my gosh, he's already contacted
Deborah, he is already contacted Sam.
So I'm gonna get on Slack and I'm
gonna say, Hey Deborah, Sam, did this
David Newman character contact you?
Yeah, I got the same, I got the same note.
Should we spend five minutes talking
about this at our next team meeting?
Yeah, let's definitely.
And so now I'm unignorable because
I've made myself a pain in the butt.
Joking, of course, but I've made
myself a topic of conversation between
three top executives, individually,
so here's why Sara or Deb or the other
one, they're not gonna say no right
out of the gate because one of the
other two might actually want this.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
I know.
I know.
I That's why I think it's so brilliant,
David, because the other thing that I
think is really interesting is standing
out in people's inboxes is really hard.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: yes.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
I know because I delete,
anyone I don't know.
I usually just delete it
without even reading it.
So you triple your chances of somebody
actually reading your email if you
send it to three different people.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Also true.
Yes.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
I think it's really, really clever.
What type of results
have you seen from that?
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Definitely
get a bump , in their response rate.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
Mm-hmm.
David Newman | Do It Marketing:
Sometimes it's the response from the
main person that you would expect.
It's funny because sometimes the decision
making, and this is kind of a evergreen
sales problem, the decision maker
doesn't have the title, and the title
is not your decision maker, no matter
how experienced and seasoned you are.
And so, oh, I'm so glad that
you sent that to me because
actually that's my department.
Maybe you usually, you know, sell
to CMOs to chief marketing officers,
but you also looped in the chief
operating officer, and this is the
chief operating officer's number
one priority for the next 12 months.
And you didn't know that going in, but
you got lucky because you hit on three
or four people instead of just one.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
We can't make assumptions, and I think
that's a big culprit I see in the
work that I do is people are out here
making assumptions and I feel like
it's just something I, for the most
part, don't do as a, from a young age.
So it was just a good habit I
learned, but I didn't realize it
was a good habit until I started
to unpack a bad habit and others.
But I had this meeting once where my very
first client in my company, that I started
my consulting firm, and we were going to
pitch to this guy who had a certain title.
And I told the two founders ahead of
time, they didn't know how to do sales,
so that's why they brought me in.
I said, guys, I know someone
who uses the product.
I asked them what they liked about
it, and she sent me this whole
long list of things she likes.
So I'm gonna open the meeting
and just let him know, no,
Sara, he won't care about this.
He's the product guy, he won't
care, da da da da da da da.
And I was like, you just need to trust me.
This is what you like.
Just trust me.
Just watch.
And so I started the conversation.
I said, Hey, you know, prospect.
I gotta tell you, one of my friends,
uses your product, uses your
app, and here's what she told me.
And I read the text verbatim to him,
and you could just see the energy shift.
And he got so excited because it turns
out all the things that she was talking
about in the app that she liked.
Those were his brainchilds,
like those were his ideas.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Nice.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
Before he took on the VP
of product management role.
And it totally shifted.
I was getting texts from both founders.
So you were right.
You were right.
But the whole point is you just
can't assume and having to navigate
people's organizational structure
and decision making, that's too
much time that we don't have.
So I love this strategy because it's
really creative way to respect all the
decision makers, spread a wider net and
triple your response rate opportunities.
This is brilliant.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Right.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Well, use it in good health.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
Thank you.
The other thing I really liked
in the book was, this concept
of round selling to the top.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Yes.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose: And
so I wanna talk a little bit about that.
What does that mean to you?
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Sure.
So it means a couple of things.
Most people say, sell high,
sell as high as you can.
If it's in the C-suite, go to the CEO.
If it's a VP level, go to your SVPs, go to
your EVPs, sell to the highest, job title.
That's true.
But I also encourage people to sell to the
best of the best in their target market.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose: Hmm.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: So one
of my little mantras that's in that
same section of the book is The best
of the best are the ones who invest.
And this is about, the laggards,
the average performers, and
then the elite high performers.
If you're selling any sort of B2B
significant, you know, five figure,
six figure, seven figure type deals,
eight figure deals in some cases.
You might think that the market
leading prospects, they already
have this taken care of.
They don't need your little solution.
They don't need your little software.
They don't need your
little thing that you do.
And what you fail to understand
is that the very best companies,
how did they get to be?
The alpha dogs and the leaders in
their market, they did it by investing
in their people, in their process,
in their technology, by investing
in consultants, by investing in the
best service and product providers.
So these people, they respond to
messaging that sounds like this.
Move ahead.
Stay ahead.
And get ahead even faster, right?
So these are already the number
one, number two, number three
players in any given target market.
When you speak this language of ambition,
instead of the language of struggle or you
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
Slack.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: getting
back up the ladder that the C players and
the B players might be wrestling with.
You unleash a premium, premium value
proposition, you get the attention of
the decision makers who are at the very
top of that decision making ladder.
And you also position yourself
as a premium provider because
obviously only a premium provider
would call on the market leading
company about a significant problem.
So I have a, it's funny, I actually
just posted a LinkedIn article about
talking about champagne problems and
how strugglers have problems, average
mid performers have problems, and
the elite folks also have problems.
, A lot of times we sell to the strugglers.
We sell to the people that say, oh man,
these people really need what I do.
They're in terrible shape.
Even if we move the needle 20% for
them, it's gonna be a heck of a
lot better than they're doing now.
And you fail to realize that
strugglers don't invest, right?
It's the elite people that
respond to the champagne problems,
otherwise known as first world
problems, right, or elite problems.
Those are, those problems are just as
important, sometimes more important
and more urgent because the A players
can't afford to have any part of their
operation operate at a, B, or C level.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose: They
gotta defend the hill that they're on.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Exactly,
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
And how do you defend the hill.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: And they
know that there's some little upstart,
you know, lean innovation company nipping
at their heels about to eat their lunch.
And so when you talk about, get ahead,
stay ahead, move ahead faster, right?
That's the generic sort of
message framework around this.
They respond, they, and you will get more
meetings with bigger and better companies,
for bigger juicier opportunities.
And those people might be harder
to initially get in with, but
man, they buy much faster and
they might buy much bigger.
Once you do get in.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
I love this, David, because , I think
I was doing it without realizing,
and when I look at my client mix
now, it is innovators in their space.
It is the best of the best and
I didn't, I honestly just didn't
put those two things together.
And my background is always
selling luxury, it's always
been selling the best in class.
I would never wanna sell the
cheapest thing because who wants
to race to the bottom on price?
That's not a fun way to sell.
You have to sell value, you
have to sell business model.
That's what makes for like
trusting consultative partnerships.
And just reading that in your book.
The best of the best are the ones who
invest, clicked a lot of dots for me.
And I think your other point of
confidence, if you're reaching out
to these, a players in the industry,
it does say something about you.
And especially, I'm selling
salesmanship and sales programs,
I can't be afraid to reach out to.
I mean, sometimes it's nerve
wracking, but, , it just kind of
proves , this is part of what I'm
gonna teach your people how to do.
David Newman | Do It Marketing:
Exactly right.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
Be confident in selling to the
top, whether they have a title,
whether, it doesn't matter if you're
adding value, that's how you do it.
And I thought that was really powerful.
Couple other things I wanna pick
your brain on while I have you,
is what are some habits that top
performing sales professionals emulate?
David Newman | Do It Marketing: I
think one thing, especially in light
of our theme here around prospecting
is put fresh targets on your radar.
Daily.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose: Hmm.
David Newman | Do It Marketing:
Daily, daily, daily, daily.
And , you know, sometimes
we're managing a pipeline.
Sometimes it's a long complex sale.
Sometimes you're on step 17
with one prospect and you're
in step 32 with another.
And we neglect to put fresh prospects
into our pipeline daily because tomorrow's
step 17, started out as today's step one.
So how much are you refilling
and refreshing your pipeline?
I think that's really, really important.
Another one of those seven
is to express gratitude.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
Mmhmm
David Newman | Do It Marketing:
Express gratitude to your team, express
gratitude to your colleagues, express
gratitude to your current clients,
express gratitude to your past clients.
Sometimes people say,
well, you have to meditate.
And you have to be grateful
kind of in your own office,
just sitting in your chair.
That's nice.
But unexpressed gratitude, I
think, is also unrealized revenue.
So when you send a thank you note,
when you send a thank you text,
when you, comment on something, on
someone's LinkedIn, it is totally
par for the course where they
might ping you right back and go.
Sara, it is so funny that
you sent this text today.
We were just talking about our sales team.
You and I should have a chat.
Hey, I saw your very sweet
comment on my LinkedIn post.
Long time note, no chat.
And by the way, we're fine.
But I was just talking to someone
that I need to introduce you to.
And so every single opportunity
to express gratitude and don't
just make it up, don't, I mean
people have genuine gratitude for
genuinely good people in your world.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
Sincere.
Sincerity is key.
Mm-hmm.
David Newman | Do It Marketing:
Has to be sincere, it has to
be authentic, but unexpressed
gratitude is unrealized revenue.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
I love that because , I think a
lot of times that leans into the A,
B, A V, you know, always be adding
value, and I think people sometimes
view that as non-revenue generating
activity, but it's just the opposite.
So I like your language there,
it just untapped revenue.
And, you're right.
, I saw someone had a new job the other
day on LinkedIn and I sent her a note.
I said, oh, I didn't realize,
congratulations, wishing you the
best of luck in your new role.
And she wrote back to me, we need to talk.
My team needs your help.
I'm like, great.
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Exactly.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
But that's not why I sent you the note.
And I think we just always need to be in
this space of a discipline of gratitude.
I love that.
David Newman | Do It Marketing:
Yes, absolutely.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
So the book is Do It Selling and it was
very digestible, it was very tactical.
I really appreciated all the
different tips that I learned.
I love the, be unignorable.
I think that was brilliant.
And just go right to the top.
I think those are my two big takeaways.
You have another book coming out.
Will you share with us what's
your upcoming book about?
David Newman | Do It Marketing:
I absolutely will.
Thank you for asking.
So my next book, which is book number
four, is called Market Eminence.
And Market Eminence is all about
a combination of visibility and
credibility and brand preference.
That CEOs and founders and
salespeople can use to elevate their
own personal brand to grow their
revenue and to grow their company.
It's about, we talk about selling
to the top and the best of the
best are the ones who invest.
This is sort of the flip side of that.
This is how can you and your company
be perceived as the best and rise
head and shoulders above all the
other same old lamo lookalike
competitors that you may have?
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
Well, and especially with selling in the
new age of ai, being a human and proving
that you're a real human is gonna be
one of the biggest values that we offer.
So I love it.
David Newman | Do It Marketing:
Absolutely.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
Can't wait to read it.
David, before I ask you where people
can find you, is there anything I
didn't ask you that you wanna make
sure you leave the audience with?
David Newman | Do It Marketing:
I think sort of a, just a fortune
cookie philosophy of selling
in a nutshell is, that sales is
the transference of enthusiasm.
And if you can get excited about your
prospects, if you can get excited about
your products and services, if you can
get excited about helping people improve
their results and their business and
their life with their team, with their
company, with their parenting, with
their finances, with their retirement
plan, whatever it is that you're selling.
That enthusiasm and that authenticity
that come from that I talked
about earlier, you work on that
and everything else will improve.
Absolutely guarantee it.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
I love how you articulated that.
I think that's something that's
been working for me my whole
career, but I didn't realize I
didn't have the language to it.
Sales is the transfer of enthusiasm.
Love it.
Because you're solving problems and you're
excited about solving their problems
because you're someone of service.
So,
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Yes.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
David, where can people find you if they
wanna learn more, if they wanna read the
book, if they wanna listen to the podcast?
David Newman | Do It Marketing: Sure.
So all the goodies are on my website,
which is do it marketing.com,
and I'll point out two
additional quick resources there.
If you go to do it marketing.com/hello.
There's all kinds of un negated content.
You don't need to opt in.
There's videos, there's downloads,
there's PDFs, there's interviews,
there's tools and cheat sheets there.
And then we do have some free
online training also, which is
at do it marketing.com/webinar.
Sara Murray - Prospecting on Purpose:
Love it.
I will link that all in the show notes
for our audience, thank you so much for
being a guest on Prospecting on Purpose.
David Newman | Do It Marketing:
Thank you, Sara.
This was fun.
Thank you so much for listening to
the Prospecting on Purpose podcast.
If you loved what you heard today,
subscribe to the podcast and
please rate and leave a review.
For more info on me or if you'd
like to work together, feel free to
go to my website, saramurray.com.
On social media, I'm usually
hanging out @saramurraysales.
Thanks again for joining me,
and I'll see you next time.