The Sales Playbook Podcast

Episode 67 4 Ways To A Better New Year January 6 2012

First and foremost . . .An all caps HAPPY NEW YEAR to you!

For those of you who set new goals this time of year, there are some things we forget about that I’d like to call your attention to.

They are subtle little things that can make a huge difference in your output and as a bonus . . . a huge difference in your overall happiness.

Here’s what you’ll learn during today’s podcast . . .

Some things that might be weighing you down in your journey and how to remove them.

Something most people forget about that can lead to a much higher level of overall happiness.

A lesson I learned from abandoning the guitar and then getting back to it a few years ago.

Why you must “Respect Yourself” this year

How the average person has all these thoughts each and every day and yet never takes the time to corral their thoughts into something really productive.

The importance of visual reminders (beyond those that might be on your vision board)

Why journaling is so important and some basic things to get you started.

5 types of people/resources that will expedite your success journey

Additional Resources To Support Today’s Podcast . . .

1) You might be lacking a little bit of R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Click here to see how.

2) Give yourself A Selfish Gift?

3) How to embrace a different kind of thinking.

4) I often talk about journaling . . . here are 50 Ways For You To Rock Your Journal!

5) How to hire a sales coach.

6) I mention the upcoming Playbook For A Successful Year webinar. Please click here for details.

7) I mention our upcoming Castain’s Sales School Program. Please click here for details.

Finally, 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.

Step 3 Scroll down to where it says “customer reviews” Directly under that it says     “write a review”

Step 4 Write an awesome review for your Uncle Paul

Episode 66 Seven Seasonal Sales Tips December 9 2012

There are mucho opportunities that are missed this time of year with both clients and prospects and even coworkers believe it or not.

This week, I have 7 tips to help you with your sales efforts and at the very least . . . stand out!

Here’s what you’ll learn during today’s podcast . . .

A holiday mindset that goes beyond all the warm fuzzy stuff. It’s a mindset that’s quite profitable and one that will open your eyes to missed opportunities!

Something that’s non negotiable with your holiday cards.

A creative thing you can do that costs nothing and helps you stand out big time.

I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t (once again) remind you of the importance of sending emails during the holidays.

Something you can do with a little bit of candy and something you can buy at the dollar store.

Why and how to get “personal” during the holidays.

A group of people that you might be forgetting in your holiday appreciation efforts.

Additional Resources To Support Today’s Podcast . . .

1) Jamie McClennan from The Seibel Group sends this cool holiday card to his clients and friends.

2) Rich Filar from GN ReSound did this simple homemade video for his clients. They even through in a holiday sweater contest!

3) 4 reasons why you should email during the holidays!

4) Here’s how one sales rock star (Fant Smith) shows appreciation.

5) Our January Sales School is now open for enrollments. Click here to begin the new year on top of your game!

Finally, 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.

Step 3 Scroll down to where it says “customer reviews” Directly under that it says     “write a review”

Step 4 Write an awesome review for your Uncle Paul

Episode 65 Human Relations 2.0 December 2 2012

I was talking with yet another person in my network who feels that good old fashioned human relations skills have diminished amongst business people today.

Before you think we’re taking a trip to “Negative Town” today, this is actually a huge opportunity for those who are willing to get back to basics.

Today, we’re gonna go there girlfriend, but with a twist . . .

How about marrying in some human relations skills with our email, social networking and online activities?

What if I told you, its simple to do, costs like no money and you get to stand out in a see of people missing these opportunities big time?

Here’s what you’ll learn during today’s podcast . . .

Some cool things about names and one mistake that irritates people to no end when you make it!

A conversational and listening tip that will help you bond with people quicker than you could ever imagine!

How a dude in an airport made me realize that Uncle Paul was becoming “That guy”.

How you can make others look like rock stars and enhance your value to your network big time!

The importance of “Thank You” and how some lady went off about how people shouldn’t say “thank you” on Twitter.

How I surprised my clients recently with an unexpected “Thank You”!

Additional Resources To Support Today’s Podcast . . .

1) Do you take Assumptive Name Privileges?

2) People have a need to be heard!

3) My friend Kevin Keane really knows how to make his community look like rock stars on Facebook. Click here to see how Kevin does it!

4) The Thank You Challenge.

5) Join 32,000 of your sales peers in the Sales Playbook group on LinkedIn.

6) Join 1500 of your sales peers in the Sales Playbook community on Facebook.

Finally, 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.

Step 3 Scroll down to where it says “customer reviews” Directly under that it says     “write a review”

Step 4 Write an awesome review for your Uncle Paul

Episode 64 What To Do During A Holiday Week November 18 2012

Come on . . . this is a real timely topic and you know it! Clients and prospects are taking time off. Clients and prospects mentally checking out and . . . You might be mentally checking out too! Why? Because you might have convinced yourself that nothing is going to get done this week. EPIC mistake!

Here’s what you’ll learn during today’s podcast . . .

The decision you need to make this week. Actually, the decision you need to make NOW before you begin your week! Where, how and why emails are a good thing during peak vacation/holiday seasons. A really cool (and super easy) social networking strategy that you can do immediately . . . and stand out! How you can get a 24-26% higher open rate and why. A certain type of call you can make that’s productive especially when the decision maker isn’t around. Imagine that! How snail mail can be utilized this week. (note to my printing friends and the US Postal Service: You're Welcome) Additional Resources To Support Today’s Podcast . . . 1)   A trap people fall into during holidays. 2)   3 Ways you can leverage holidays in your “sales mix”. 3)   Meticulous Pre Call Planning. 4)   How you can use blank cards to jolt your business! 5)   Stonehouse Collection has some cool cards you can send. 6)   SendOutCards is a great way for you to send cards during the holiday season. One of our listeners, Julie Hansberry, sells them and you can learn more by clicking here. 7) At the end of the podcast, I mention our community on Linkedin with over 32,000 of your peers. Come "like" us on Facebook too and hang out with over 1500 aspiring sales rock stars! Finally, 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. Step 3 Scroll down to where it says “customer reviews” Directly under that it says      “write a review” Step 4 Write an awesome review for your Uncle Paul

Episode 63 How To Continually Improve When You're Crazy Busy November 4 2012

How To Continually Improve When You’re Crazy Busy

There truly aren’t enough hours in the day for us to kick butt, take names or if you’re struggling . . . enough hours to keep your head above water.

Things are moving at a crazy pace and yet . . .

We absolutely MUST get smarter at what we’re doing.

We all buy in to the concept of continually learning but . . .

How can we do that and still keep focused on our responsibilities?

Today . . . we’re gonna go there!

Here’s what you’ll learn during today’s podcast . . .

A really sad statistic that suggests that all of us are RUSTING!

7 ways you can continually improve without spending mucho time or any money.

One easy to use technique that will have you realizing lessons that you were dismissing.

How to set up a short term and long term “LCS” (and no, I won’t tell you what that is in the notes.)

3 free apps for your smart phone that will help you capture lessons and awesome ideas.

How you can become aware of words and the packaging of words that can help you grow.

An interesting study from the University of Southern California with regard to listening to instructional materiel while you drive.

Some questions you need to ask after your appointments to help you own lessons you might have missed.

Where you can free up additional time so you can read, listen to cds, podcasts etc

Additional Resources To Support Today’s Podcast . . .

1) Here’s a link to the free Evernote app.

2) Here’s a link to the free Dragon Dictation app.

3) Here’s a really cool pad and pen that fits right in your wallet or purse. Makes it easy to capture ideas and lessons!

4) Learning new words is easy because there’s an app for that.

5) Audible.com has books in audio format. Click here for details.

6) Convert instructional Youtube videos to MP3 (so you can listen to them in your car) by clicking here.

Finally, 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.

Step 3 Scroll down to where it says “customer reviews” Directly under that it says      “write a review”

Step 4 Write an awesome review for your Uncle Paul

Episode 62 How To Differentiate Your Company October 21 2012

Today’s buyers have more choices than ever before and that makes it way too easy for you to blend or worse yet . . . Find yourself in a situation where the buyer has defaulted to price as the key component in their selection process We all drop the “v” word but . . . Many struggle with how to truly present the value we bring to the party. Today . . . we’re gonna go there!

Here’s what you’ll learn during today’s podcast . . .

5 ways you can set your company apart A forgotten selling point and the one thing that drives it home A critical component that makes you more believable An awesome way to bring important parts of your offer to life How you can use analogies to help your prospects understand and appreciate your value A call to action to break the rules of your industry and “show up” differently

Additional Resources To Support Today’s Podcast . . .

1)   Before you can ever begin to differentiate . . . you need to understand your audience better than anyone else. Click here to get inside your prospect’s head! 2)   3 ways for you to be more compelling. 3)   Want to become more believable? Click here. 4)   Here’s a real thorough write up I did on using evidence to add credibility to your words. 5)   Click here if you’d like to get better at presenting your company and your awesome solutions with IMPACT! Finally, 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. Step 3 Scroll down to where it says “customer reviews” Directly under that it says     “write a review” Step 4 Write an awesome review for your Uncle Paul

Episode 61 The Sales Manager Sales Rep Relationship September 30 2012

I get emails all the time from Sales Managers looking for ideas on how they can improve their relationship with their reps and guess what? I get plenty of emails from sales reps looking for help in that department too! I thought it might be a good idea to do a little group therapy this week and talk about how we can improve this vital working relationship. To that end, I have several things that I’m going to share with you: 1)   2 questions sales managers MUST ask their sales reps if they want  a better relationship. 2)   1 question sales reps need to ask their manager. 3)   An awesome sales management “mindset” that one of my clients shared with me. 4)   What micromanagement really means in a relationship. 5)   A communication agreement that managers and reps need to embrace. 6)   An invitation to stop judging and start helping. 7)   How to have a better joint sales call. 8)   3 important reasons why joint sales calls need to be happening on your team! 9)   The problem with egos. Resources mentioned and that support things discussed during the podcast: 1)   How To Master A Joint Sales Call 2)   Here’s an excellent guest post written by Bill Cook with The Top 10 Priorities For Sales Managers 3)   5 Must Have Human Relations Skills 4)   At the end of the podcast I take a minute to mention some cool updates in our Rock Star University division. Click here to see for yourself. Note: You will want to stop by here regularly as we are now updating the content several times a week. 5)   Our next Castain’s Sales School begins October 23^rd . . . right on your computer screen. Click here for the early registration discount. Finally, 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! Cling here to hook a brother up!

3 Minute Tip Stop Beating Yourself Up September 24 2012

We can be rather hard on ourselves in sales! Some of you might find yourself knee deep in beating yourself up right now, as we approach month end! I have a quick 3 minute audio tip for you with 3 very cool things you can do . . . right now, to turn things around! Please stop what you're doing and take the 3 minutes to invest in yourself. Tell your boss you have to go to the bathroom or something and crank this on speaker. Why? Because it will give all those bastards who like to talk on their cell phones in the bathroom a little competition. I triple dog dare ya!

Episode 60 Staying In Touch Without Calling To Check In September 23 2012

We all should know by now that there is zero value in calling someone to “check in” and yet many still do it. They don’t do it to be rebellious or because they have a note on their calendar to “Sound lame today” . . . They do it because they just don’t know what to say or do . . . Furthermore (I feel like I’m making a speech) they get caught up in a bit of a “stimulus/response” thing because the little alert in their CRM goes off telling them to call the ABC Company and guess what they do? They make an instantaneous decision, lacking any degree of thought or care and then . . . Default to “I’m calling to check in” It’s my mission to help you change that!

Here’s what you’ll learn during today’s podcast . . .

How to listen for certain things that make for an awesome conversation How ideas can help you get you recognized in a sea of messages How you can use “Random Acts Of Coolness” to stay on your client’s radar screen. A “Resourceful” way you can keep your client’s attention Why you absolutely MUST connect with your clients on social networks How you can leverage a concept I teach called “Social Clues” to stay in touch with your clients. A lesson from a printer and how they stay in touch (weekly) and stand out in the process! And finally, how you can map your communication to help you avoid that “Checking in” thing.

Resources Mentioned In Today’s Podcast . . .

1)   “The Sales Listening Station” Complete, step by step instructions can be found by clicking here. 2)   Want to learn about “Random Acts Of Coolness”? Click here. 3)   I talk about “Social Clues” and how to expand your network in this 90 page social networking e-Book I authored. 4)   Dave Spaulding is a distributor for SendOutCards. Here’s some additional information as well as his email address. 5)   Lisa Bickford from Highlight Printing sends out a really cool resource to her network each week called “The Weekender”. Click here to see a sample and to join Lisa’s mailing list! 6)   At the end of the podcast, I mention our upcoming time management course. Click here for all the details. If you've enjoyed this episode of The Sales Playbook Podcast, please take a trip over to iTunes, leave us a 5 star star rating, write a review and by all means . . . subscribe. Click here to be magically whisked away to the land of  iTunes.

Episode 59 Is Twitter A Waste Of Time For Sales People? September 9 2012

Its that magical time of the week again folks when we get to hang out via The Sales Playbook Podcast and today we’re tackling a tough topic.

Is Twitter A Waste Of Time For Sales People?

I’ll go ahead and spill the beans and tell you that I’m weighing in on this one with both a Yes and all caps NO and if I might upgrade that . . .

A Ridiculously large all Caps NO!

I'll provide you with several, real world examples of how sales people are kicking ass and taking names in the b2b space oh and I'm not talking about what "social media experts" are doing . . . I'm talking about sales reps in industries like printing, software sales, merchant services, consulting, accounting to name just a few.

Resources mentioned during this podcast . . .

How you can capitalize on people complaining on Twitter click here

Twitter For The Aspiring Rock Star (this was a webinar that I did a few months back. I have it recorded on our Rock Star University page)

50 Totally Random Social Networking Tips This is a free e-Book You’re welcome!

To subscribe to The Sales Playbook Podcast on iTunes please click here and if you found value in this podcast would you please give us a 5 star rating and leave a comment.

Speaking of comment, thank you to Stephen Lahey who left this comment on iTunes . . .

The Sales Playbook Podcast is a winner

by stephenlahey

I've been selling for decades, and I don't waste my time with anything that isn't fresh and practical. I've never met Paul Castain, but his Sales Playbook Podcast is a winner. Maybe it's time for me to give him a call.

Monday is the last day you can enroll in Castain’s Sales School. Please click here for all the details!