SNIPPET: Demos Are Often a Crutch
Breaking Sales
Has this ever happened to you? You walk into a sales conversation with your product demo ready. You’ve rehearsed your presentation to perfection, knowing every line and figure by heart, only to find your prospect is disengaged and uninterested in your production. There’s a reason this didn’t work: You made the conversation about yourself. Instead of approaching the prospect with curiosity and asking questions about their business, you relied on a rehearsed demo presentation that didn’t require you to step out of your comfort zone and engage with the prospect on their level. So how do...
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If You’re Selling, You’re Not Differentiating
Breaking Sales
Sales leaders often stress the importance of differentiation. But what if I told you that the conventional wisdom on how to stand out in sales conversations actually makes you sound more like everyone else? When have you ever heard a competitor of yours say to the prospect, “our resources aren’t that good?” Differentiation isn't about having the most offices, the smartest people, or even the best product. True differentiation has to come from within you - how you show up mentally. In this episode of Breaking Sales, Dan and Kristie dive deep into what it takes to stand out in a...
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Turning RFP Presentations Upside Down
Breaking Sales
When was the last time you actually enjoyed responding to an RFP? The harsh reality is that buyer expectations are through the roof. The old playbook just doesn't cut it anymore. But what if there was a way to completely flip the script on RFPs? To turn them from a soul-crushing exercise into a chance to truly connect with your prospects? In this episode, Kristie and Dan dive into the mindset shift that can help you disrupt the RFP game, challenging everything you think you know about the process. What if instead of a scripted song and dance, you could have a real dialogue? What if you could...
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SNIPPET: Asking Tough Questions
Breaking Sales
Are you brave enough to ask a prospect if they've tried fixing their problem with their current provider? Or does the risk that you could potentially lose a deal fill you with dread? Sales professionals often struggle with getting too attached in these situations, especially when they’re excited about closing a deal. If you want to improve your sales conversations, you have to become very self-aware about this tendency, and remind yourself that your attachments and insecurities aren’t serving anyone’s best interests. In this Snippet, Dan explores how adopting this mindset can help...
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What Are Your Prospects Actually Saying?
Breaking Sales
Have you ever felt a rush of excitement when a prospect says something positive about your sales conversation? That moment when you are sure you have it in the bag? Not so fast. In this episode, Dan and Pam explore a dangerous pitfall in sales - the temptation to hear what you want to believe, not what your prospect is actually saying. They’ll dive into why labeling interactions as "good" or "bad" can sabotage your efforts, and how to stay objective even when things feel optimistic. You'll learn why "buying signals" might not mean what you think they do, and how to keep pushing for deeper...
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SNIPPET: The Right Way to Build Rapport
Breaking Sales
Most salespeople approach rapport-building wrong, and here's why: they rely on superficial small talk that prospects can see right through, they abruptly switch from "rapport mode" to "sales mode," creating a jarring experience, or they assume rapport is only about finding common ground, when it's really about creating a much deeper connection. These mistakes don't just fail to build trust – they actively damage it. In this snippet, we revisit Dan’s conversation with David Thompson, a master interrogator who shares his expert insights on building rapport. David reveals how to weave rapport...
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Tough Questions Build Trust
Breaking Sales
What if the key to your success is hidden in the words you probably dread hearing most: "Can I give you some feedback?" For most people, those six words might cause your defenses to rise and your mind to race. But what if your mindset around feedback is actually a predictor of your future success? In this episode of Breaking Sales, Dan and Pam challenge the way professionals respond to feedback. We're diving deep into why most people run from criticism, while the top 1% of performers crave it. You'll discover how your instinctive reaction to feedback might be sabotaging your career, why you're...
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It’s Time To Create Positive Tension
Breaking Sales
Think about the most valuable feedback you've ever received, or that question that really helped you solve a problem by thinking both objectively and differently. Was there some level of discomfort at first? Did you have to lower your guard a little bit so you could objectively receive and debate either the feedback or the question? And more importantly, how did the experience impact how you felt about the person giving the feedback or asking the question? This experience is called positive tension. It's the art of asking questions and making observations that may be at first...
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SNIPPET: Helping Your Prospects Think Critically
Breaking Sales
Are you comfortable asking the tough questions? Or do you find yourself holding back, afraid to rock the boat? That hesitation can be counterintuitive, as the ability to ask challenging questions may be the difference between closing a deal and watching it slip away. So how do you develop the confidence to push past your comfort zone and take the conversation into uncharted waters? In this snippet, Quinn Damon and Dan explore the art of asking tough questions, and Quinn shares a pivotal moment in his career where a single, well-crafted question turned the tide in a sales conversation. If...
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Mindset Should Come From Within
Breaking Sales
What would happen if excuses and insecurities no longer held you back, and you were able to approach your prospecting with calm, confidence, and conviction? In this episode of Breaking Sales, Dan and Pam talk about how you can evolve your mindset and minimize annoying insecurities that hold you back. They cover conviction and how it can transform your performance, including why waiting for external factors to boost your confidence is a losing game, and how you can get results by manufacturing that "I don't give a sh*t" attitude. This conversation might just be the wake-up call you need...
info_outlineWe are all creatures of habit, and all of us have our own set of thinking and reactionary routines. As a result, when someone enters a situation with a statement, question, or demeanor that rubs us the wrong way, it has a tendency to trigger scarcity and attachment. In this episode, Dan and Pam explore three common poor performance triggers (eagerness, demeanor, and competition), and discuss how to avoid the most common pitfalls that professionals experience when they encounter these triggers.