The "Don't Sell Me Bro" Podcast

2 years, 100 episodes, and plenty of good times later we’ve come to the end of regular episodes for Don’t Sell Me Bro. We look back on what we’ve learned, and what we can keep on taking forward from this show, as well as fill you in on what’s next for us.

We won’t be putting out weekly episodes anymore but may get back together for reunion shows from time to time if we have a great topic.

As always special thanks go out to:

• Debbie Walker – Podcast Producer who makes us sound great.
• Krystofer Van Slyke – For our great intro- and outro- ductions
• Hepnova – For the backing music
• Gangplank – For letting us use the studio
• Our Guests – Justin McHood, Lindsay Bayuk, James Archer, Susan Baier, Michael Goodman, Mike Leeds, Greg Taylor, Connie Kadansky, and all the rest who sat in with us
• And of course our listeners who have put up with hours of our conversations and learned and contributed.

Signing off for one more time, Don’t Sell Us Bros

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In a fitting episode for the first one of 2013, Dave and I are joined by Susan Baier to reflect on what 2012 had for us, and what we learned.

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In one of the rare instances where Dave gets to spring the trap on me, we get to see me think on my feet again. “What if you’re a sales leader and you are tasked with fixing a broken sales team?”

Step 1: Read your data (if no data then Step 0 is “get data”)
Step 2: Make a Plan
Step 3: Act on your plan
Step 4: Go to Step 1

Bonus smacking “consultants” in the face who come in with a cookie cutter approach.

Book recommendation: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking

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In which we discuss the joys of “lead hoarders” and the motivations that drive that behavior. Is your sales team incentivized to game your system for their paycheck? Is that messing your data up? This isn’t a problem with your sales team, it’s with your management.

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Dave’s got a new client and one of the things he’s found is the “throwing the fish” syndrome. Rather than a clean baton pass of a practiced relay team, they are more like the Seattle Fish Market where a big fish comes flying at you and it’s your mess to deal with. We break this analogy far beyond it’s healthy point, but goes to a real exercise in sales teamwork. Is everyone on your team valuing the rest of the team’s work or the customer? If both of those aren’t true, it’s a real bad day.

The Advanced Selling Podcast episode I referenced is “Living Above the Line”

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A friend of the show asked us “How important is a personal brand to selling?” so Dave and I decided to explore this. Does your blog/podcast/twitter/facebook play into your sales strategy? Should it? We talk about our personal predilections as well as what should or shouldn’t be done. Obviously, measuring the results would be the first step, but what you put out there matters.

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After a chaotic travel week for me, Dave makes me think a good bit about how to follow up after travel/conference work as a salesman to make sure that we have the best chance to succeed. I outline my method and plans for the followup and what I do to keep the business running. I throw in a couple of bonus travel tips to keep you lively as well.

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Dave starts us off by sharing an article about the Sales Funnel vs Buy Funnel mentality which we break down. Is it better to force people into your sales funnel or to work towards their buy funnel? Is the sales funnel the best way to look at forecasts?

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Recorded after an off-hand comment between episodes, I complained about having a Friday full of meetings and not being able to get “work” done. Dave posits that meetings are work, and we discuss the relative merits of doing meetings versus other needs, as well as other tasks/jobs that you don’t want to do and keep the business running.

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In light of election day yesterday, the topic of the day is Negative Campaigning. “But Bros, you aren’t running for office!” You might say, but there are plenty of places where the same concepts work in sales.

The Samsung Anti iPhone Ads we referenced are available here, here, and here.

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