Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:06 — 47.4MB) Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Email | Google Podcasts | RSS There's a reason that Anthony and Mike have been friends for almost a decade, co-founded the OutBound Conference together, and have written the foreward for 3 of each other's 6 books. They share a passion for helping salespeople learn the truths about selling, even when those truths may be unpopular or require more work. On this episode of In the Arena, Anthony and Mike debunk myths and present truth in the areas of social selling, sales motivation, prospecting, and time management, and discuss how the principles in Mike's latest book, #SalesTruth, can help you win more new sales. Kylie Jenner Didn't Cold Call Her Way to a Billion Dollars in Net Worth The chief sales officer of a well known social selling firm took a selfie, standing in front of a Forbes magazine with Kyle Jenner on the front cover, and declared that social selling leads to real sales. These are the kind of myths that are being sold to weaker, more gullible salespeople looking for a quick fix. It's easy to believe that you can get deals without having to pick up the phone, but it's just not the truth. Drawing from his many years' of experience in B2B sales, Mike talks to Anthony about what salespeople can do to connect with their dream clients beginning with the first sales call. In this conversation, Mike recalls the sales fundamentals that have proven to be successful whether he was selling envelopes and prints or plastic parts. Be sure to listen to see if your sales strategy includes any of his powerful principles. Prospecting is Not Optional Top salespeople are always prospecting, but Anthony and Mike discuss how some salespeople are under the impression that they don't have to prospect. They think they can leave the work of prospecting and qualifying to account managers, but the job of a sales executive is to sell, and you cannot sell without prospecting. The truth is, when your funnel is full, you sell smarter. Mike tells about how he trains his sales teams to reach out to dream clients before they are zero percent through the buying process. He suggests practical ways to make sure you are constantly adding to your funnel, and how you can avoid the distractions to which many salespeople fall prey. This conversation is full of practical questions you can ask yourself to make sure you are being productive when it comes to prospecting. Be sure you listen and take notes. Ignore Your Hot Deals Many times, salespeople can be so anxious to close deals, they default to service work, but in Mike's book, #SalesTruth, he flips that idea on it's head. His advice? Ignore your hot deals, at least at the beginning of the day. Beginning the work day with the hardest work - opportunity creation, prospecting, cold-targeting - frees up the rest of the day to do the service work that needs to be done, and play with warmer opportunities. Mike believes you should turn the funnel upside down and work on the coldest items at the top of your funnel first. In this conversation, Anthony talks about the importance of spending the first 90 minutes of your day prospecting, and Mike says that the most effective leaders and the most productive salespeople extricate themselves from participating in things that are of low-value. 20% Lies/80% Truth Mike makes it clear in this coversation that although he and Anthony do a lot of picking on the charlatans and the nouveau experts, that really only makes up about 20% of #SalesTruth. He feels it is important to protect new, vulnerable salespeople from believing lies that will not make them successful. Mike focuses the other 80% of the book on truths that work including prospecting, attitude, messaging, target lists, calendaring,