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Catapulting Commissions Sales Talk with Anthony Garcia


Sep 16, 2020

Today on the Catapulting Commissions show, Anthony is talking with award-winning sales executive and trainer, Derek Shebby. Derek worked with Xerox Corporation for 17 years, and over his tenure, he was a top sales performer, top sales manager, and a 13-time Sales President’s Club Award winner. He has coached and developed sales reps from the start of their careers through to becoming top-earning executives. He’s here to break down coaching techniques he’s using today to help sales representatives keep achieving. 

 

Derek got started with a handful of general sales coaching courses he put together as a side operation to help send his son to the best school in the area. It didn’t take long for Derek to see the successes his course had and the impact high-level coaching can have on a sales person’s performance in the long term. Eventually, he created a collection of 12 “this is what you need” courses that help the people we work with get better. Three years later, Derek left Xerox and went fulltime teaching foundational sales skills in 21 days, now known as Modern Sales Training.

 

A primary struggle Derek sees people needing help with revolves around prospecting. While hardcore closing is glamourous and feels great, it doesn’t happen without prospecting. Many sales professionals come into coaching with an end-goal in mind; making more money, selling more, you name it. Derek teaches prospecting in levels--starting foundationally works great for people at that level. He talks about mindset and preparation for a call and what you can expect. As a leader or coach, it’s important that you remove fear from the conversation. Going through the basics works through the most common objections, and gets a schedule in place. That means going through scripts!

 

Right now, Derek feels that scripts provide a perspective that meets sales representatives where they are. A master sales professional may not need scripts, but that doesn’t make it ineffective for an entry-level employee. There are ways to extract information that can be taught and learned. When it comes down to it, improving starts with the first steps. 

 

Derek and Anthony talk about the meaning of genuinely providing value and helping those around us. It starts with identifying a common ground where both people are benefitting. It’s about saying the right things to the right people in the right place at the right time. 

 

Finally, they discuss closing. Derek starts looking at the facts--the numbers. The rookie salesperson bases their actions on emotion, whereas he bases it on what he sees in front of him. We tend to go to the negative when we are struggling, and that is often time only based on emotion--data tells us if it’s valid. Often, salespeople who are struggling with closing simply aren’t working on enough deals. If you only work on one deal and it falls through, you have a 0% success rate. Playing in enough deals can help spread that out and identify weaknesses in proposals. 

 

LINKS

Linkedin.com/in/DerekShebby

Salesin21days.com