The Sales Playbook Podcast

A Quick Sales Tip From Paul Castain September 15, 2014

Thought everyone could use a real quick "Pep Talk" as we start the new week off!

I talk about the importance of challenging two very important areas . . . 

What you're saying

What you're doing

It will only take you 3 minutes to listen to this, 4 and change if you hang out and listen to the theme song after I finish talking :)

Wishing you an incredible week ahead!

Episode 106 Getting Back To School With Your Selling Skills Part 3 September 11, 2014

In Parts I and II we talked about embracing a different mindset toward learning and then how you can zero in on your personal development with the RIGHT information.

I purposely wrote "RIGHT Information" because the average person consumes 34 gigabytes of information each day and quite frankly we need to learn how to zero in so what we consume moves us further instead of clogging our brains!

This week we talk about a serious trap 99% of the population falls into when it comes to learning (It's actually called "The Learning Trap)

We'll talk about how the "Practice Makes Perfect" mindset can hurt us and how we might be defaulting to the wrong sales approach.

I share my thoughts about bad coaches and how that "Those who can,do and those who can't teach" thing needs to be rewritten.

Episode 105 Getting Back To School With Your Selling Skills Part II August 26, 2014

In this week's episode of The Sales Playbook Podcast,  we continue with our 3 part series on Getting Back To School With Your Selling Skills.

With the average person consuming 34 gigabytes of information each day it can become easy to focus on the the wrong things from a personal development perspective!

That's why I have several ideas to help keep you focused on things that will truly accelerate your skill development!

During the podcast I mention last week's podcast which you can access here.

I also mentioned another podcast we did a while back on Post Call Planning. Click here to check it out.

We also talked about the importance of keeping a journal. Click here for 50 Ways To Rock Your Journal.

Episode 104 Getting Back To School With Your Selling Skills August 19,2014

Years ago,I heard something that I've never forgotten!

It was a study that found that the majority of a person's learning is done by the time they finish their formal education!

Because I'm an ass, and love to dramatize a point, I can't help but think . . . 

If people are living longer and with the cost of living being what it is, they are now working longer then . . . 

If the average person is starting to work well into their 70's and meanwhile the bulk of their learning stopped in their mid twenties then that's a crazy amount of time to spend rusting! No?

So I figured, it might be time for us to talk about how you can get back to school, accelerate your learning and continually hone your sales craft.

I have lots to share with you including . . . 

The incredible attitude of "humble student" I learned from someone who continually outsells his coworkers and competitors and who was actually just promoted to Vice President of Sales of a 100 million dollar a year printing company!

A lesson I learned from a group of sales reps who didn't have the balls to ask the #1 rep in the company (2 years in a row) how he did it and how I jumped from top 60 (out of 350 reps worldwide) to 12th worldwide by simply ditching my ego.

We'll talk about the things that keep you from wanting to learn, the excuses you tell yourself and how you can overcome them.

Episode 103 How To Avoid Inconsistent Prospecting August 12, 2014

Things happen!

You get busy, there are fires to put out, perhaps a little travel or maybe lots of travel but unfortunately; the result of all this is that you simply don't prospect on a consistent basis!

This episode of The Sales Playbook Podcast is for you my friend!

This week, we're going to talk about how you can get things back on track, without expending mucho time that we all know, we simply don't have!

Episode 102 A Surefire Way To Lose A Sale August 5,2014

This week on The Sales Playbook Podcast we continue with last week's discussion (you know, the one where I told you about some really bad mistakes a rep recently made with me) but . . .

I saved the most EPIC mistake for last.

It's something so simple to grasp but yet so easy for people to screw up.

In the podcast I mentioned that I would provide a link to last week's podcast, so here you go.

I also mention our Facebook sales community, so please click here and give us a "like" so you can continue to get updates and interact with this awesome community!

And here's a link to our LinkedIn sales community!

Episode 101 Dissecting Some Common Prospecting Mistakes July 29,2014

I thought it might be useful to dissect a recent attempt by a sales rep to sell me advertising on one of the social networks.

And don't worry, I don't name names nor do I attack it in a way to make someone feel like an idiot.

Instead . . . 

I talk about some serious mistakes that were made and then offer you a few better ideas that I feel would have been more effective.

I also offer something really cool that only those who actually listen to the podcast will get to cash in on!

Episode 100 The Return Of The Sales Playbook Podcast July 22, 2014

Today is a rather special day for me because I just crossed an important milestone . . . 

The 100th episode of The Sales Playbook Podcast!

Truth be told, it's also important  because it also marks the return of the podcast after a 6 month break.

During this time I had some time to reflect on some major changes I've been meaning to make and I'm quite confident that you're going to love them going forward!

For starters, many of you have asked how you can get your hands on ALL 100 of these episodes so little by little, I'll be archiving them, right here on the website and you can access them by either clicking here or clicking the Podcast tab on the home page.

We're also going to be changing the format of the show for some of the episodes each month. Not going to give it away here, because the lazy ones will just read it and won't take the time to actually listen to the episode.

Before you go ahead and give Episode 100 a listen, I want you to know that when I started the podcast back in 2010 I was scared to death of moving outside of the comfort zone of my blog.

I'm really glad that I faced my fear and went for it anyway. It's helped 10's of thousands of people, it's helped me to grow and it's brought me a tremendous amount of business as a bonus!

And speaking of making money . . . When I started this podcast back in 2010, I had no plans on launching a business. A year later I had a bit of a "tap on the shoulder" and decided to leave my job as a Vice President to launch Castain Training Systems. Reason #1000 why we need to "build our army before we need it"!

Episode 99 Rethinking Your Need To Negotiate January 29,2014

I’ve been getting a lot of emails lately asking me how to handle a situation where a prospect/client wants to negotiate a lower price.

This week, I’m going to offer the best negotiating advice ever . . .

Don’t.

Yep . . . Don’t negotiate and better yet you’ll want to do some things on the front end to reduce the probability of ever having to negotiate.

Here’s What You’ll Gain By Listening Today . . .

I’ll share the philosophies behind why I absolutely won’t budge on my pricing and how this philosophy can help you big time!

I’ll share, word for word, what I say to someone who wants me to lower my price and then . . .

We’re going to talk about several things that I do (and you can do too) on the front end to reduce the probability of a “let’s make a deal by you lowering your price” discussion.

Resources Mentioned In This Week’s Podcast . . .

1)    3 Reasons Why I Absolutely WON’T Negotiate!

2)    3 Bad Sales Lessons Courtesy Of T-Mobile.

3)    You’re Kidding Yourself If You Think A Buyer Won’t Do This.

4)    10 Things That Great Questions Do.

5)    How To Become More Believable To Your Prospects!

6)    At the end of the podcast I mention my Sales Lessons program. Here’s the link to the info I promised.

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If you’ve been loving, what you’ve been hearing on The Sales Playbook podcast, please stop by iTunes, leave us a 5 star rating and a review . . . You’d make this aspiring sales rock star’s day!

      Instructions on how to write a review on iTunes:

Step 1  Click on this link

      Step 2 Look to the left and there’s a button that says “view in iTunes” click it.

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Episode 98 How To Transition Your Social Network From Virtual To Real Time January 20, 2014

When I first started on the social networks in 2008, I struggled with two major things.

1)    The “We’ve connected, now what do we do” thing. What do you say? What do you do? And . . .

2)    How can I transition this virtual “friend” off of my computer screen to real time as in a phone call or face to face meeting. Oh, and without making the whole thing reek of a sales pitch or having everything get weird!

This week, I really want you to take notes because I’m going to lay out a good part of the process I’ve used to not only created stronger connections, it’s the same process I used to launch my business in 2011.

By the way, when I launched my business in 2011, I had no pipeline. I started from scratch and (thanks to this process) launched with 30 coaching clients and about a dozen or so corporate training clients.

Here’s What You’ll Learn By Listening Today . . .

2 things you must do the moment you connect with someone. These two things will help you stand out and increase the probability of expediting that whole “know, like and trust” thing. You do understand that there’s a lot riding on that. Right? If you don’t agree with that, this is a great place for you to stop so you have more time to make 300 calls a week to strangers who love dismissing you like the hired help!

How you can create at least 4-5 very different types of status updates to help you stand out and demonstrate your expertise without spewing a bunch of “stuff”.

A really simple thing you can do, right now, with other people’s status updates that will position you apart from 99% of their other connections.

An email you absolutely must send out on a monthly basis to help you position yourself as a resource. Note: I didn’t say “Position yourself as a tool trying to spam your network”

A very specific email that needs to go out to your LinkedIn network twice a year.

Once you’ve laid that groundwork, I show you how . . .

You can easily increase your phone appointments by at least 3 a week and I even share a free 17 page report taking you step by step (what to say to transition to an appointment, how to prepare, what to say once you’re on the phone with them to keep it from sounding like you trapped them into a pitch etc) You’re welcome!

 

 

 

Resources Mentioned In This Week’s Podcast . . .

1)    We’ve Connected On A Social Network . . . Now What?

2)    How To Add Value To Your Network!

3)    A Really Cool Way To Save Time By Pre Populating Some Of Your Status Updates. Special thanks to Richie DeMarco for telling me about this.

4)    How To Create Helpful Status Updates And Stand Out In The Process

5)    My 90 Page Social Networking Workbook. This one isn’t free. I know, God forbid the dude tries to pay the bills. Bastard!

6)    17 page report on How You Can Generate At Least 3 Additional Phone Appointments Each Week Via Your Social Network.

7)    Registration for our January 22 online sales program ends this Tuesday, January 21^st at 6:00 pm EST! Click here for details and to reserve your spot!