Storytelling for Sales Podcast

Julien Leblanc joins us on today’s episode of the Storytelling for Sales Podcast to share his incredible journey from a tennis player to a world-class leader in many areas. He shares a lot of gems in this episode including how he uses storytelling with his unique strategy of “hook ‘em, engage ‘em and call ‘em to action.” Julien is a very successful serial entrepreneur who has founded several companies and now largely devotes his time to learning and teaching and injecting confidence across the globe. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: Julien’s journey to entrepreneurshipThe practical application of confidence techniquesVirtual selling and best practicesThe rise of the attention economy SHOW NOTES [00:22] Introduction to this episode [00:45] Ed’s first encounter with Julien [02:40] Two business success stories that inspired him [05:52] How he got into the sales world [08:37] Early days challenges with sales [10:02] Current mistakes that salespeople make [11:41] How can you tell a world-class salesperson [12:20] How he picks his industries/ business partners [13:22] The values that drive his company [15:00] Stories that excite his clients [16:30] Virtual selling and the best practices [21:22] The top 3 questions to ask prospects [24:34] The attention economy [25:45] The art of storytelling [28:15] Contact info Connect with Julien and find out more about him on Linkedin and his website Find out more about his company, blueprint North America here

James Muir is the founder and CEO of Best Practice International and the bestselling author of the #1 book on closing sales – The Perfect Close. James is a 30-year veteran of sales having served in every role – from individual contributor to executive VP. His mission – to make the complex simple. James has extensive background in healthcare where he has sold-to and spoken for the largest names in technology and healthcare including HCA, Tenet, Catholic Healthcare, Banner, Dell, IBM and others. James is passionate, enthusiastic and fun. He likes to have fun while he works. Not only is James a lifelong student of sales, but he’s also an accomplished guitarist, organic chemistry fan and fitness buff. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: Mistakes salespeople make in the virtual selling How to correct misconceptions about salesWhat the “ Ideal Advance” is and why you need itWhat is the “Perfect Close” for the virtual worldThe noble art of storytelling and selling SHOW NOTES [00:28] Introduction [03:24] Business success stories that inspire him [03:32] “The story of Edwin C. Barnes” [06:30] How James juggles through his roles [07:33] How he got drafted into sales [10:14] Mistakes salespeople make in the virtual selling [13:20] The Sales Call objective [13:53] How do you close business in a virtual world? [14:38] The best closing approach according to scientific research [15:16] The “ Ideal” advance [24:12] How does storytelling come to play is his sales technique [25:01] Misconceptions about sales [28:35] “Selling is an act of service” [30:30] Challenges facing today’s sales leaders [31:30] Contact info and book details You can connect with James and get his book via his website

It’s another unique episode of the Storytelling for Sales Podcast. In this episode, we have combined some of the best answers and advice to questions on ‘becoming obsessed with your dream customers,’ ‘why storytelling is becoming the #1 sales skill to master,’ and ‘how to go from nowhere to a $20 billion powerhouse. This episode features Bruce Linton, Maddie Pimentel and Russell Brunson. Bruce Linton is an entrepreneur who has been at the head of 16 different companies and presently occupies the position of Executive Chairman at Vireo Health International, Inc, Co-Chairman of Martello Technologies Group, Inc., and co-founder of online rental marketplace Ruckify. Maddie Pimentel has been in the Learning & Development field for the past 19 years. She is the Training and Development Manager for North America in SnapAV. Maddie’s role is to enable the sales teams to quickly ramp, begin generating revenue and stay up to date on products, solutions and process updates as well as industry trends. With the purchase of Control4, a publicly-traded company, a few months ago, Maddie is now responsible for sales enablement for the global sales teams. And finally Russell Brunson! Over the past 15 years, Russell has built a following of over a million entrepreneurs, sold hundreds of thousands of copies of his books, popularized the concept of sales funnels, and co-founded a software company called ClickFunnels that helps tens of thousands of entrepreneurs quickly get their message out to the marketplace.Together with his partner Todd Dickerson, Russell launched their sales funnel software in October 2014, and the company grew to $100,000,000 in the first three years. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: Why salespeople should never mention their competitionThe role of Storytelling in human to human connectionThe 3 Core Markets /Desires which will stay evergreen The Value of the Public Policy ChangesLatest trends in the sales training industry SHOW NOTES [00:22] Introduction to this episode [00:45] Guests’ introduction [03:23] Business success stories that inspire our guests [03:33] “Elon Musk story” [04:14] “Maddie Fathers story” [06:16] How they all got into sales [07:48] How ClickFunnels was launched [09:53] Skills salespeople must have [12:46] Online Traffic Secrets [13:36] Why Relationship Selling is oversold [17:00] Is it difficult to train salespeople? [18:57] Favorite Sales failures [21:55] How online advertising has evolved [24:39] How do you pick your industries? [26:46] How to understand your customers [29:52] The role of public policy changes [30:29] Stories that excite your customers [32:34] How do you find your dream customers? [35:04] Mistakes sales leaders make [36:46] Search-based traffic [37:17] The art of storytelling You can listen to the individual episodes here: Bruce Linton, “From Nowhere to a $20 Billion Powerhouse.” Maddie Pimentel, “Why Storytelling is Becoming the #1 Sales Skill to Master” Russell Brunson, “Becoming Obsessed With Your Dream Customers”

In this special episode, we pulled nuggets and discussions from three of our previous episodes with Christy Soukhamneut, Gregg Jorritsma and Eli Fathi Christy Soukhamneut is a 20+ year veteran of the mortgage industry who is dedicated to turning possibility into reality. A gifted strategic thinker, she knows that you must cut through the clutter, clearly articulate the vision, and then rally support at the street level. Everything she does is evaluated against these three bars: Will it make your life easier? Will it help you & your team be more productive? Will it help you grow your business? Gregg Jorritsma has been in leadership roles with some of the most well-known companies in the industry including Citrix, BlackBerry, Bell Mobility, Siebel and Delrina. A passionate advocate for “informed selling” and sales professionalism, Gregg credits his success to having been mentored and coached by some great people that took the time to help him on his journey. Eli Fathi is CEO at MindBridge Ai, developer of the world’s first auditing tool based upon artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies – Ai Auditor – to uncover errors in financial data. Eli has been a technology entrepreneur for over 30 years, having founded or co-founded many successful technology companies. Eli was recognized as the 2018 AI Leader of the Year by the Digital Finance Institute and is a prolific speaker, including talks at the AICPA, Startup Canada Day on the Hill, and TEDx. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: Top mistakes salespeople make all the time The rise and meaning of AI salespersonWhy there is no such thing as ‘natural’ salespersonHow to help salespeople see something within themselves that is just below the surfaceWhat to do to get people to take you seriously SHOW NOTES [00:24] Introduction to this episode [02:22] Welcome [01:55] Business success stories that inspire our guests [02:08] “The story of Febreze” [03:39] “Resilience in the face of adversity” [04:48] “Jim Estill story” [07:58] How they all got into sales [11:04] Their favourite sales failure [13:34] Mistakes salespeople make and how to avoid them [15:06] The mortgage industry... [16:09] Why there is no such thing as ‘natural’ salesperson [16:38] Be wary of multinational companies... [17:38] Sales and rejections [18:03] The rise of Artificial intelligence [19:05] Stories that excite their customers [21:09] AI as a threat to salespeople? [22:36] Challenges facing today’s sales leaders [26:30] The art of storytelling You can listen to the individual episodes here: Christy Soukhamneut, “Logic and data can only take you so far, Story is where we really connect,” Gregg Jorritsma, “Don’t Outsell Your Competitors, Out Question Them,” Eli Fathi, “Why AI won’t Replace (Top) Salespeople.”

Who is Milan Topolovec? Why does he consider himself as a quarterback? How does he build a relationship with his clients and offer more services than he promises? What does your business network mean to you and how do you build one? In this episode, Milan shares his story on launching into the financial industry and how the services he offers are centred on his relationship with his clients. We have discussed why sales reps need people skills, the intrinsic power of networking, prospecting and much more. Milan is the President and CEO of TK Financial Group and Inner Orbis. He graduated from the University of Ottawa after which he was drafted to play for Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He eventually chose a career path in the financial services industry where he is focused on building expertise to exclusively serve business owners and professionals focused on estate planning, business planning and insurance planning. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: How to create the right environment for your clientsKnowing when to stop and how to set your prioritiesHow to maintain the right attitude while prospecting Why you need the people skillsHow to become more than just another sales rep SHOW NOTES [00:24] Introduction to this episode [02:22] Welcome Milan [03:10] Business success stories that inspire him [04:50] How he got started in the financial industry [05:32] Type of clients he loves to serve [06:10] Switching from his football career [07:00] Challenges he faced starting out in sales [08:09] Favorite sales failure [10:05] Knowing when to stop [12:36] Positioning himself as a quarterback [14:10] Why you need people skills [15:10] How to become more than just a sales guy [15:38] His book “ Beyond the Tipping Point” [15:58] The power of networking [17:17] Covid-19 and relationships [19:01] Introducing prospective clients [19:30] Stories that excite his customers [22:03] Offer more than your service demands [22:10] Challenges facing today’s business leaders [23:10] Create the right atmosphere for your clients [23:40] Contact info and book details You can connect with Milan on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram. Get a copy of Milan’s book, Beyond the Tipping Point, on Amazon. You can keep up with happenings on TK Financial Group on their website, LinkedIn, Facebook. You can find out more about Inner Orbis on their website, LinkedIn.

Have you been trying to figure out how to navigate selling during this pandemic or you’re struggling with keeping your teams motivated? In this episode, I discussed with Steve how selling has evolved since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and how to pivot, maintain a good relationship with your clients, and sell better. Steve is the founder and CEO of Badger Maps. After receiving his MBA from Stanford, Steve was Google Enterprise’s Top Sales Executive in 2009. In 2012, Steve founded Badger Maps, a software company that helps Field Sales People optimize their routes and schedules to save time and be on time so they can sell more. Steve is also the host of the Outside Sales Talk podcast where he interviews industry experts on their sales tips. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: How to shift strategy during crisisNew ways to empower your team membersThe right ways to prospectHow to maintain a good relationship with your clientsThe strategic importance of training and coaching in this moment of time SHOW NOTES [00:11] Welcome to this Episode [00:58] Shopify success story [02:38] Welcome Steve Benson [03:13] Updates on Sales, technology, and leadership [04:10] Adapting to the new sales culture [05:09] Building Relationships [05:28] Selling on Zoom vs Face-to-Face [05:38] Communicating in the new normal [06:13] Prospecting challenges [07:18] Adjusting your sales message [07:31] The importance of staying empathetic [10:00]The rise of food delivery and health care organizations [11:01] Challenges facing today's sales leaders [12:18] Re-sizing the sales teams [13:00] Hire now [13:26] The importance of training and coaching aspect [16:04] Leading remotely [19:01] The art of storytelling for Steve [19:57] Steve's Contact info You can connect with Steve on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. You can keep up with happenings on Badger Maps on their website, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter

Over the past 15 years, Russell has built a following of over a million entrepreneurs, sold hundreds of thousands of copies of his books, popularized the concept of sales funnels, and co-founded a software company called ClickFunnels that helps tens of thousands of entrepreneurs quickly get their message out to the marketplace. Together with his partner Todd Dickerson, Russell launched their sales funnel software in October 2014, and the company grew to $100,000,000 in the first three years. ClickFunnels is now the fastest-growing non-venture backed software company in the world. Russell is here to talk about his new book- Traffic Secrets. What I love about this book is how Russell breaks down traffic so that ANYONE can understand how to build a list of raving fans and buyers using very simple and REPEATABLE strategies. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: Where are they congregating? The 3 Core Markets /Desires Away from Pain/Toward Pleasure The Searcher and the Scroller SHOW NOTES [00:24] Introduction [01:30] New book: Traffic Secrets [03:10] Welcome Russell [07:54] Attracting customers [09:37] Co-founding a software company [10:02] Publishing his first book [11:34] Writing his second book [13:36] Avengers Infinity War story [14:43] Google Ads challenge [17:15] Email marketing strategy [17:17] Paid ads strategy [20:29] Using funnels [20:41] Strategy behind getting traffic [25:07] Science behind the Direct response marketing [26:20] Identifying your dream customers [27:14] Driving traffic into your funnels [27:28] Growth hacks and techniques [30:06] Getting potential customers to identify with you [32:01] Who is your dream customer? [32:59] Ideal Customer avatar [33:50] Customer-centered company [34:17] Becoming obsessed with your dream customer [38:07] Health, wealth and relationship circles [45:52] How to Create a desire for your product or services [48:24] The pros and cons of interruption ads [49:26] Outro Russell is giving special access to our podcast listeners to order his book "Traffic Secrets" . The book is free. All you gotta do is take care of the shipping.

Maddie Pimentel has been in the Learning & Development field for the past 19 years. She joined SnapAV last year as the Training and Development Manager for North America. Maddie’s role is to enable the sales teams to quickly ramp, begin generating revenue and stay up to date on products, solutions and process updates as well as industry trends. With the purchase of Control4, a publicly-traded company, a few months ago, Maddie is now responsible for sales enablement for the global sales teams. Prior to this, she was with NCR Corporation, AT&T, Hearst Media Services and Carrera Commerce in various roles, including Global Sales Enablement, National Training Manager, Inside and Outside Sales Manager as well as Corporate Marketing Manager. Maddie is fluent in Spanish and earned a BA in Communications from Georgia State University. She has also worked as a reporter and interpreter with several media outlets in the Atlanta market. Maddie was born in Havana, Cuba and moved to Atlanta with her family when she was two months old. Her interests include writing, reading, traveling, and photography. If you want your sales team to deliver results, discover the secrets of sales coaching and learn about the hottest trends in the sales training industry, take 20 minutes to learn from this incredibly successful business leader. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: SHOW NOTES [00:22] Introduction [01:42] Welcome Maddie [02:00] Business stories that inspire Maddie [02:51] How her father got started [03:13] Winning business of the year award [05:52] Maddie’s portfolio [06:02] How she got into sales [06:53] Critical skills for salespeople [07:08] Relationship building [07:22] Listening [07:33] Customer’s needs assessment [09:34] Is it difficult to train salespeople? [10:49] Net promoter score [11:16] Maddie’s process of training salespeople [11:40] Current trends in sales training [11:56] Mobile and gamification [14:56] The on-boarding program at Snap AV [17:05] Type of stories that excite customers [19:00] The meaning of Story library [20:20] Challenges facing today’s sales leaders [20:34] Keeping up with the technology [22:00] The Art of storytelling [22:53] Contact info You can reach Maddie at Maddie.pimentel@yahoo.com www.linkedin.com/in/maddiepimentel

Bruce Linton is an entrepreneur who has been at the head of 16 different companies and presently occupies the position of Executive Chairman at Vireo Health International, Inc, Co-Chairman of Martello Technologies Group, Inc., and co-founder of online rental marketplace Ruckify. During this candid interview, Bruce talks about his successes and his sales failures, helping us appreciate the Growth Mindset, Storytelling and the true meaning of Entrepreneurship. He also talks about how and where he has managed to find extraordinary opportunities and what to look for. If you want your sales and business to grow, take 20 minutes to learn from this incredibly successful business leader. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: SHOW NOTES [00:21] Intro [01:45] Welcome [02:11] Business stories that inspire Bruce [03:10] Early years: Carlton University Student Association [03:18] Canopy Growth Corporation [03:34] How he became a serial entrepreneur [04:46] Get fired for your own ideas [06:00] You are selling all the time [06:52] Common Mistakes salespeople make [07:00] Why Relationship selling is oversold [08:36] Do's and Dont's of sales pitching [09:10] Why you should never slam your competition [10:09] How Bruce picks industries to invest [11:14] The role of Public policy changes [12:45] Stories that excite Bruce's investors [13:09] Advice for using storytelling techniques [14:38] Challenges facing today’s sales leaders [15:50] The Art of Storytelling [17:28] Contact info

Eli Fathi is CEO at MindBridge Ai, developer of the world’s first auditing tool based upon artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies – Ai Auditor – to uncover errors in financial data. Eli has been a technology entrepreneur for over 30 years, having founded or co-founded many successful technology companies. Eli was recognized as the 2018 AI Leader of the Year by the Digital Finance Institute and is a prolific speaker, including talks at the AICPA, Startup Canada Day on the Hill, and TEDx. Eli also gives back to the community by mentoring future business leaders and sitting on the boards of various non-profit organizations. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: SHOW NOTES [00:31] Introduction [01:42] Welcome Eli [02:06] Business stories that inspire Eli [02:20] The story of Febreze [04:10] Customer success and assessment [05:00] Market research [07:17] Becoming a Serial entrepreneur [07:30] Building Fluid corporation [08:18] How Eli got into sales [09:30] Challenges he faced earlier on [11:05] Mistakes most salespeople make [12:38] Good relationship with customers? [13:25] Eli's favorite sales failure [15:35] The rise of Artificial intelligence [16:00] AI as a threat to salespeople [18:32] The role of Human to Human connection [19:42] Competition in AI development [22:04] Meaning of Leadership [23:10] Failure rate of new companies [24:20] His mantras [25:47] Challenges facing today’s sales leaders [27:25] Contact info

Jamie Shanks is a world-leading Social Selling expert and author of the book, "Social Selling Mastery - Scaling Up Your Sales And Marketing Machine For The Digital Buyer". A true pioneer in the space of digital sales transformation, Jamie Shanks has trained over 10,000's of sales professionals and leaders all around the world. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: SHOW NOTES [00:15] Introduction [01:26] Business stories that inspire Jamie [01:38] Building his firm from scratch [03:06] How he got into sales [05:31] Business development engine [06:16] Favorite Sales failure [06:30] Commercial real estate Lesson [08:18] The Importance of Social selling [08:40] Business to Business companies [09:14] Triggers, referrals, insight and competitive intelligence [10:48] Why some companies are yet to embrace social selling [11:00] Fear of change [13:15] The Role of LinkedIn [15:49] Do’s and Don’ts [17:32] The emerging power of video in SM space [19:56] The Art of Storytelling [20:08] Building a storyboard [21:26] The STAR process [22:52] About Jamie’s book, Spirit Selling [23:40] Contact info [24:35] Outro SHOW TRANSCRIPT Ed Bilat: Jamie Shanks. Welcome to the show. Jamie Shanks: Thank you so much for having me. Ed Bilat: I'm delighted. Jamie, I’ve been watching your videos from all over the World, exotic places, airports, helicopter, castles. I've been following you for quite some time so it's an honor to have you on the show and congratulations on your new book, Spear Selling. So that's wonderful and would love to hear your story. But before we do this, let me ask you our traditional question, which is, what business success story inspires you and why? Jamie Shanks: The business success story that inspires me is any entrepreneur that has built something from scratch. For me, as somebody who built his company from an idea and a failed consulting practice at that in my first couple years, I am inspired by anyone who is a founder, owner, operator who took a business from zero to millions of dollars. In fact, you know, you can read books about those that have built billions of dollar businesses, I'm less inspired by those that take over businesses more about those that started from scratch. Ed Bilat: Wonderful. Yeah, I watched the video where you described the experience, I believe you were getting married at the same time. Right. And starting the company. So just a total start from nothing. Correct? Jamie Shanks: I mean all I had was a laptop, a stack of business cards and, you know, a tank of gas in my car and that was it. I really didn't understand and it took me years to really understand the financial and operational rigor and acumen necessary to run a professional services company. I had to learn it the hard way. Ed Bilat: Hmm. Wow. That's very interesting. You came to the consulting practice from the sales world, right? So like, you’ve been the director of business development, however, this is different. Right. So how did you even get into sales originally? Jamie Shanks: Well, it was by accident. I didn't want to be a sales professional. So when I was at university, I went to the University of Ottawa. I volunteered at the bank of Montreal, Nesbitt Burns in Canada, Ontario. And then I would spend my time as a volunteer, that gave me a summer job that turned into a full-time job and at the same time finishing my undergrad degree. So what I didn't realize, my dream as a kid was to be a stockbroker. I mean I did job shadow days at the stock brokerage firms. This is all I ever wanted it to be. And then in 2000 when the market collapsed and I was an investment representative, I didn't know that a stockbroker is actually a self-professional that advises on, you know stocks that are out in the market but also advises on stocks that the bank has underwritten and their job is to sell the inventory that the bank owns. Nobody told me this. So what I didn't realize is I was already a...

With a focus on business development, sales and marketing, David is a strategic problem solver who has held several C-level and executive positions in organizations across a number of industries including Food Service, Consumer Packaged Goods, and Technology. David’s experience includes, President/CEO at Kingsmill Foods, partnering with organizations such as, Tim Horton’s, Nestle, Kraft and Second Cup, Chief Strategy Officer at ChannelAssist, leading programs for HP, Rogers and Toshiba, CEO of XMTrade.ca and CEO of OtolaneSoft Corporation, both leading mobile online auction platforms for auto dealers and founding Sorger & Company Inc., a consulting practice with clients including, OTEC Research/GP8 Sportwater, Teaopia (acquired by Starbucks), XELA Enterprises and MTY Group. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: SHOW NOTES [00:24] Intro [01:22] Welcome David [01:39] Business success stories that inspire David [01:51] Success of Domino's Pizza [03:28] Leveraging the technology [04:23] Starting his first company [05:58] The meaning of ecosystem [07:27] Talking Instead of listening [08:23] How to engage prospects [10:35] Favourite Sales failure [10:53] Building trust [13:11] Food service, retail, CPG and automotive [14:01] Kingsmill Foods [15:46] Stories that excite David's customers [16:47] Personalization [17:36] Future trends [17:56] Smooth commerce [19:52] Challenges facing today’s sales leaders [20:37] Technology [21:20] Time [22:26] The art of storytelling [26:08] Contact info [27:42] Outro SHOW TRANSCRIPT Ed Bilat: David Sorger, welcome to the show. David Sorger: Thank you, Ed. Ed Bilat: It's a pleasure to have you. I can't wait to catch up on the stories. We had a great meeting back in April. So thank you so much for coming to the show today. But before we start, let me ask you our traditional question, what business success stories inspire you and why? David Sorger: The one that's most relevant to me based on what I'm doing currently would be Domino's success story. Ed Bilat: The pizza place? David Sorger: The pizza place itself and I'll explain to you why. Approximately seven years ago they were on the verge of bankruptcy and they made a very bold and inspiring decision and that decision was to become a technology company first and a pizza company second. And they claimed that they don't have the best pizza. They claim to this day that they don't have the best pizza, but they wanted to make sure that they would appeal to obviously the growing new demographic that wanted the convenience over anything else. And so they shifted completely and became a technology company and made sure that any way you want to order Domino’s, you could order Domino's. And as of last February, they overtook Pizza Hut to become the number one pizza company in the world. So a company that goes from the verge of bankruptcy to the number one pizza company in the world by doing something that no one would have even thought of doing, which is deviated from what they were known for, making pizza, and pivot to being a digital company that actually built technology and pizza was only the vehicle to showcase their technology. That story is extremely inspiring to me. Ed Bilat: Interesting. And you would think pizza is pizza. Better ingredients, better pizza. David Sorger: You would think so. In the days where that was the only factor, I would tend to agree with you. But I think this speaks to how businesses are evolving, how we need to leverage technology or any of the tools that are provided to us in the current state and future state to ensure that we capture the audience that we need to make successful decisions and impact meaningful change. Ed Bilat: Very cool. Very cool. Thank you for sharing this. So let's turn the spotlight back at you. You've been dominating several industries. The food service, retail, CPG, all of it were the technology components and the automotive dealers. So how did you even...

Harsh Sabikhi is the Country Manager for GitHub Canada responsible for growing the Canadian region. Harsh started off as a software engineer writing applications in C, C++, and Java for Texas Instruments. In 2006, he transitioned into technical sales and eventually into software sales. Harsh is passionate about perpetual learning, change, and lean operations. Harsh is a native of Toronto and holds an Electrical Engineering degree from McMaster University. Outside of work Harsh is a new dad and has a 3-month-old boy. He enjoys spending time playing hockey, golf, and baseball. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: SHOW NOTES [00:08] Introduction [00:36] Welcome Harsh [00:49] Type of business stories that inspire Harsh [00:52] Jack Ma’s story ( Alibaba Group) [01:06] Being a firm believer in positive thinking [01:56] The win or learn Strategy [02:34] Transitioning from Software Engineering to Sales [05:49] Presenting and gathering feedback [06:36] Product knowledge [08:06] Bridging roles (having a cross-functional team) [08:46] How it felt to be the first Canadian sales rep for his company [11:25] Isn’t it hard to coach and mentor cross-functional teams? [12:01] Knowing the profile of your team is a key [12:37] What kind of stories do you tell to gain customer’s trust? [14:50] Customer experience and community [15:25] The future of software development [16:19] Why do some sales teams fail? [17:07] The relationship between the pace of change and commoditization [18:30] Advice for starters and college students [19:24] Challenges facing business owners [21:23] The future of businesses [22:00] The Art of Storytelling SHOW TRANSCRIPT Harsh Sabikhi: 00:00 To me, the art of storytelling is you tie personal experience to the product that you're selling. Automated Voice: 00:12 This is the storytelling for sales podcast, a show about leveraging the power of storytelling to ignite your sales performance and grow your business. Ed Bilat: 00:22 Hi, and welcome back to the storytelling for sales podcast. I'm your host Ed Bilat. Today we have Harsh Sabikhi country manager of GitHub joining us from Toronto, Canada. Harsh Sabikhi, welcome to the show. Harsh Sabikhi: 00:39 Thank you. Ed Bilat: 00:41 Great to have you here, so Harsh, we'd love to hear your story. It's very exciting. But before we jumped in, we'll ask you one of our traditional questions. What type of business success story inspires you and why? Harsh Sabikhi: 00:53 Sure. I would have to say Jack Ma, he had failure after failure, but he never gave up. I can't remember how many times he actually got rejected from jobs and some schools. Personally, I'm a firm believer in positive thinking. Where a positive mindset, leads to great results. However, failure allows us to take a step back and analyze ourselves. The situation and why we failed, this is where combining a positive attitude with learnings from failure comes into play. Jack Ma learned something from each of his failures early on, to now create one of the largest companies in the world. Ed Bilat: 01:34 That's a great example. I think he was... I think he applied them for a fast food restaurant like 20 times and he was the only one rejected, I think. Harsh Sabikhi: 01:47 Exactly but he didn't let that bother him and that's the best thing. Because I think it was Muhammad Ali as well, who followed this strategy before Jack Ma who said, I either win or I learn. Ed Bilat: 02:03 I think you hit the very important point because sometimes we get into this culture of win or lose. Instead of using the word lose, you use the word to learn. This way it's more positive. A great example. Obviously, in our generation, that's it... It's one of the tremendous success stories. Somebody coming out of nowhere and becoming... Building the new brand an exciting brand, which is worldwide accepted. Okay, great. Let's turn the spotlight back at you if we can so a software engineer who went to sales....

Gregg has been in leadership roles with some of the most well-known companies in the industry including Citrix, BlackBerry, Bell Mobility, Siebel and Delrina. A passionate advocate for “informed selling” and sales professionalism, Gregg credits his success to having been mentored and coached by some great people that took the time to help him on his journey. Gregg, his wife of 29 years and two sons live in Burlington, Ontario, Canada WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: SHOW NOTES [00:20] Intro [00:51] Welcome Greg [01:10] Business success stories that inspire Gregg [02:52] Bringing Syrian refugees to Canada [03:15] Officer, Order of Canada [06:30] Commitment and passion [07:30] How he got into sales [08:15] Moving to Waterloo [09:05] Getting the first sales job [10:55] No such thing as “natural” sales reps [11:15] Confidence [11:32] Asking customers questions and listening [11:48] Don’t out-sell competitors; out-question them [12:35] A favorite failed deal [13:28] Comforting remarks from his former sales manager [14:24] Keeping in perspective winning and losing [15:41] How storytelling helps sales [17:25] The type of story prospects want to hear [19:05] Using storytelling to overcome objections [21:06] Providing a solution [23:00] Challenges facing today’s sales leaders [23:30] Technology and mobility [28:35] Contact info [29:40] Outro SHOW TRANSCRIPT Greg Jorritsma: 00:00 When you start a story, typically you can see a physical change in how people in the room are seated and how they're looking at your changes. I always explain that as when you start telling a story, people are preconditioned and hard-wired to listen and they drop their critical thinking barrier. Automated Voice: 00:23 This is the storytelling for sales podcast, a show about leveraging the power of storytelling to ignite your sales performance and grow your business. Ed Bilat : 00:33 Hello, this is Ed Bilat, and today we'll have a deep and introspective show for you with a great sales leader and my distinguished guest, Gregg Jorritsma, senior director of sales and marketing at On-Ramp solutions is joining us from Toronto, Canada. Gregg Jorritsma. Welcome to the show. Greg Jorritsma: 00:52 Well, thank you very much for having me. I'm thrilled to be here, and I appreciate the invitation to be part of this. It's a great opportunity. I'm happy to take part. Ed Bilat : 01:01 I'm really excited that you could join us today and would love to jump right to the interview but before we do this, I will ask you our traditional question, what business success story inspires you and why? Greg Jorritsma: 01:13 That's a great place to start actually. Because I think a lot of this is about identifying someone and seeing something in somebody that you want to emulate and make part of your life. Greg Jorritsma: 01:24 I've always been of the mind that there are no Roy Hobbs out there. There are no natural salespeople, none that I've ever met anyway. I think everyone that is achieving success in sales at some point in their career, mostly early in their careers, had somebody see something in them and really take the effort to sort of mentor them and coach them. I have had the great benefit of having some wonderful people coach me and mentor me over the years, and there are a couple that really stand out above more so than some of the others. A couple I would refer to are both William Tatham and Bill Tatham from Janice systems and now NexJ Health but also Jim Estill. Jim Estill founded EMJ distribution in Guelph when he was just out of university. He started the business by selling printer supplies out of the trunk of his car. Greg Jorritsma: 02:17 He built that business up to probably just shy of $1 billion before one of the big boys Cynics acquired the company. Ed Bilat : 02:27 Okay. That's not a bad position. Greg Jorritsma: 02:30 Yes. That's not bad stuff. But I think what really resonates with me about Jim Estill is he's...

Bill plays a strategic role not only in role-based development, but how people, systems, and departments can positively impact the success of the Sales teams, and ultimately their companies. He believes salespeople come to work every day to be successful in their role, and there is an opportunity through architecture to enable their roles in a meaningful way. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: How to use Storytelling in Sales How to build Storytelling Sales library within your company SHOW NOTES [01:03] Welcome Bill [01:09] Introducing co-host, Sahir [01:26] Business success stories that inspire Bill [01:58] Creating a Coaching culture within the organization [03:52] Call recording as game films [05:08] Gary Milwit story [06:50] Working as a group [07:50] Creating a sustainable system (library of stories) [08:51] Sport and sales analogy [09:00] How Bill got into sales [13:46] Learning to be brief and specific [15:25] Speak and write in bullets [16:33] Tailoring messages [17:16] The importance of mentors [17:49] Expanding your network [18:15] Self-development [19:00] Taking a cue from your network [19:30] Education and learning [20:13] Learning and development [20:20] Digital Intelligence Systems [22:18] Institutional knowledge [23:33] How storytelling affects sales [24:34] Behavior change [25:05] Customer [25:56] Neuro-coupling phenomena during [26:44] Encouraging salespeople [27:32] Talent [27:37] Environment [28:24] Compensation and incentives [29:23] Pipeline review [30:48] Sales trends to watch out for [31:19] The role of Videos and AI [33:19] new Prospecting models [33:33] The art of storytelling for Bill [34:14] Contact info Show transcript Ed Bilat : 00:31 Hello, this is Ed Bilat Joining me today is Bill Ball, the director of learning and development. of digital intelligence systems. Bill Is also a founding member of sales enablement society and he's very passionate about sales talent management, sales enablement, and sales effectiveness. Bill plays a strategic role load on them in the role of the development, but how people, systems and departments can positively impact the success of producers and ultimately are companies deal with. Welcome to the show. Bill Ball: 01:05 Hey, thanks for having me. Ed Bilat : 01:06 Absolutely great to have you on the show. I will be joined today by Sahir Ponderay is my co-pilot and the cohost as well here in Ottawa today. Bill, I'm thrilled to have you on the show. Thank you for joining us. We would love to hear your story, but before we do this, I will ask you all a traditional question. What type of business success story inspires you and why? Bill Ball: 01:30 So I thought about this and there are quite a few entrepreneurial stories that excite me, but I thought one that maybe I was a part of where I wasn't the ultimate success, but I was really proud to be a part of it is something that I thought I would share. Ed Bilat : 01:43 Sure. Bill Ball: 01:44 Great. So most businesses from a sales standpoint strive most modern businesses, and I'm throwing this out as not just a shared truth among sales organizations, but I think it's probably a universal truth at this point that many sales organizations are striving to have a coaching culture of some kind. So late two thousand I was working for an organization where we had one. We were really proud of it. You know, the job market at that time I think helped us a little bit where we had to people with greater tenure who are willing to give their time back. You know, they were brought in and they knew if they were sitting next to great other people doing their job, they'd be able to cross-pollinate and learn things from each other. So we created a circle of veteran peers who were coaching their peers and everybody was getting coaching from the leadership as well. But it's just, you know, as well as I do, people tend to make changes when they see their peers making those changes....

Steven Benson is the Founder and CEO of Badger Maps, the #1 route planner for field salespeople. After receiving his MBA from Stanford, Steve’s career has been in field sales with companies like IBM, Autonomy, and Google – becoming Google Enterprise’s Top Performing Salesperson in the World in 2009. In 2012 Steve founded Badger Maps to help field salespeople be more successful. He has also been named one of the Top 40 Most Inspiring Leaders in Sales Lead Management. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: SHOW NOTES [00:11] Intro [01:09] Welcome Steve [01:31] Business success stories that inspire him [01:40] Jason Lemkin : creating SaaStr [04:00] GPS analogy [04:50] Sales experience [05:20] How Steve got into sales [06:45] IBM training program [07:20] Sales roles at Google [08:10] Challenges faced while switching career path [09:01] Failures [09:20] Badger maps [09:50] Lacking vision [10:07] Choice of Technology industry [10:45] Dynamic nature of the technology industry [12:34] Competing in software/app world [13:37] Stories that excite his customers [13:44] Application of Badger maps in sales [14:38] Field sales [18:05] Being efficient with time [19:00] Having success stories with statistical details [20:05] Leadership circle [21:25] Identify a problem and find a solution [22:00] Objection handling [23:20] Challenges facing today’s sales leaders [25:21] The art of storytelling [26:17] Contact info [27:40] Outro SHOW TRANSCRIPT There's so much information and so much to do and so little time today in a way that there hasn't been before, and I think it takes people's focus off things. It makes it harder to accomplish things. Speaker 2: 00:14 This is the storytelling for sales podcast, a show about leveraging the power of storytelling to ignite your sales performance and grow your business. Ed Bilat: 00:25 Hello, this is Ed Bilat, we have a very cool guest for you today. Steve Benson, the founder, and CEO of Badger maps, the number one route planner for field salespeople joining us today after receiving his MBA from Stanford. Steve's career has been in the field sales with companies like IBM, our autonomy, and Google. And actually, he became Google's enterprise top performing salesperson in the world in 2009. In 2012 Steve founded Badger maps to help field salespeople to be more successful. Steve has been named one of the top 40 most inspiring leaders in sales lead management. Steve Benson, welcome to the show. Steve Benson: 01:11 Hey Ed, thanks for having me. I'm really excited to be here. Ed Bilat: 01:13 Oh, absolutely. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have you on the show! I listen to your podcast and I watch your videos all the time, so I can't wait to hear your story all the way from San Francisco. But before we do this, let me ask you a traditional question, which is “what business success story inspires you and why?” Steve Benson: 01:35 Well, um, you know, I guess one of my big inspirations, uh, running Badger is Jason Lemkin. I'm not sure if you're familiar with him, but he's the guy that started EchoSign, which is kind of very select DocuSign if you're familiar with that company. Ed Bilat: 01:50 Oh yeah. Yeah. We use DocuSign all the time. Steve Benson: 01:53 Okay. He started EchoSign, which, uh, is a very similar product I guess, but they sold it. They didn't take it public as DocuSign did. They sold earlier too. Adobe, he was one of the early people that made a SAAS business and built it up from scratch and took it all the way to a very nice exit. That's what he's first known for. But then after that he started just writing blogs and kind of communicating with the world of people that start software businesses and just writing down and created some really great thoughts and content around how to do every element of running a software company like his challenges that he faced, ways he'd overcome things, and he talked to other people about how they were overcoming things in...

Matt Bramson is the Chief Growth Officer of RingByName, the leading integrated enterprise telecom, and customer relationship management service. In that role, he is responsible for leading the company’s sales, marketing, and business development. He has more than 20 years of experience in technology sales, sales management, strategy, and corporate development. Prior to joining RingByName he led business development for XO Communications and reported directly to legendary financier Carl Icahn. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: [00:23] Introduction [01:53] Welcome Matt [02:08] Business success stories that inspire and why [02:16] Businesses that grow and innovate [02:23] Southwest airlines [03:26] A proven model [04:33] Sales and marketing experience [04:52] Sales and partnership negotiations [04:57] How he got into sales [05:11] Selling encyclopedia [06:42] Understanding the customer’s situation [07:33] Typical mistakes people make in sales [07:45] Lack of understanding of customer’s goals and interest [09:02] How to evaluate the customer [10:33] The technology industry [10:50] Cloud service company [15:04] Type of stories to tell [16:31] Acknowledge your failure [16:58] Fear [17:54] Leadership circle [18:21] Working with a billionaire? [20:16] Expressing an opinion [21:39] Challenges facing today’s sales leaders [22:31] Indirect sales channel [23:13] Marketing versus sales [25:11] The art of storytelling [26:40] Contact information

Building a new kind of Business Ed Bilat and ItsPayd CEO Ken Green on finding your own story. Ken Green is founder & CEO of ItsPayd, an automated payment platform utilizing cutting-edge technologies to give control back to a company’s billing processes as well as providing users a peace of mind knowing their invoices are confidential and affordable. Prior to ItsPayd, Ken was CEO of a commercial collection agency and has over 20 years of executive leadership experience. With his innovative and entrepreneurial spirit, he stays ahead of various industry needs providing services to improve efficiency while keeping the end user in mind. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT IN THIS EPISODE: · How Ken decided on his 2015 goal for building a new kind of business in the most conservative industry of all: The Collection Industry · How the business success story of Uber Inspired Ken in the early days · What challenges are facing many of today’s sales leaders · How Ken applied the Art of Storytelling for his company growth · The importance of setting clear revenue targets

As the leader for 500+ great employees, Bill Jensen always strives to be a difference-maker for the people who work with him at Mediacom. He enjoys developing managers and supervisors in reaching their full potential as well as creating a true TEAM atmosphere in administrative as well as field operations. Bill focuses on excellence and attention to detail as well as "doing it right the first time. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: SHOW NOTES [00:07] Introduction [01:26] Welcome Bill [01:49] Business stories that inspire him [02:06] Multi-billion dollar investment strategy [03:32] Cable industry [04:12] How Bill got into the cable industry [06:16] Local access television studio [07:13] High-speed data and video-on-demand [07:20] Fierce Competition in the cable industry [08:35] 18-inch dishes [08:49] Telephone companies [09:47] Video, high-speed internet, telephony [10:08] Stories that excite his customers and partners [13:20] Why manage people? [13:28] The role his father played [13:57] Leadership opportunities [14:54] Responsibility, patience, and experience [15:20] How leaders sell [15:41] Selling everyday [16:18] Motivating people [17:32] Leading and teaching by example [20:00] Preparing ahead of time [20:17] Challenges facing today’s leaders [20:36] Shortage of qualified applicants [21:51] The necessary skills for graduates and applicants [23:27] The art of storytelling [23:37] Inter-personal communication

Chad Heath is the VP / GM of Kegstar US. Kegstar is a leader in the keg rental space and has been in operation in Australia since 2012. Prior to Kegstar, Chad was the Sr. Director of Stone Distributing. After joining the team in 2008, he has helped create exponential growth for Stone and more than 30 supplier brands sold throughout Southern California, taking the amount distributed from 350,000 case equivalents to roughly 4+ million in 2016. Chad is also an instructor at San Diego State University where he teaches "The Business of Craft Beer". WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: SHOW NOTES [00:05] Introduction [00:42] Welcome Chad [00:57] Type of business stories that inspires him [01:01] Beating the odds in today’s market [02:30] Changes in marketplace and customer dynamics [03:00] Chad’s biography [04:17] Why sales? [05:52] Chad’s crafty tactics in sales and business development. [06:26] Roadblocks for starters in sales [06:40] Chad’s true passion [09:42] Ways customers benefit from Kegstar’s innovative technology [10:15] Beer industry knowledge [10:48] How Chad got into the beer industry [14:18] The Past sales strategy [15:25] The Present sales strategy [16:25] Building relationships and trust [17:11] How Craft Breweries utilize the power of the internet [18:45] The mindset you need to get into beer industry marketing [20:43] How he got into teaching and combines it with a full-time job [24:27] Challenges facing today’s business owners [24:50] Effective storytelling and goalkeeping [25:35] The Art of Storytelling [27:07] Upcoming events and contact information WAYS TO CONTACT Chad: LinkedIn