Kenneth Roy, an outsourced VP of sales with Sales Xceleration, advises sales people that to succeed they need to have a public persona and engage prospects with a point of view on the space they serve. Join Kenneth, a seasoned sales leader, as he shares practical ways to create a digital presence and, in turn, build digital trust to drive revenue growth.
There is no question that the past year has brought permanent changes to B2B sales. In particular, we have to adjust how we sell before prospects ever engage with a sales person. Kenneth Roy recommends that sales people need to be super connectors and find a way to leverage people that they do not know to spread the word about the solutions they sell. How, by establishing a presence online and sharing content and thought leaderships that others choose to share with their network. By doing so, you are selling before you ever talk to your prospects and building trust with no human contact.
And this digital trust is not gained in a one hour zoom meeting. It occurs when you curate your own digital thought leadership and by cultivating your personal brand. Ken believes sales people can accomplish this by following what he referred to as 5 3 2. Each number corresponding to the number of online posts made.
Connect:
Connect with Kenneth on LinkedIn and learn more about Sales Xceleration by visiting https://salesxceleration.com/.
Connect with Greg on LinkedIn and check out Omedym’s website and their LinkedIn and Twitter
Greg Dickinson: Welcome, everybody, another edition of the convenience factor podcast. I'm excited about today as I always am, but Ken Roy, and I go way back, he was a sales professional in a company I work for we work together. And I've been reading about a little bit about what he's been up to lately, and I'll let him explain that. But what intrigued me is that, you know, as a as a professional, he's taken, he's carried a bag, he's run sales organizations. And so he's done all the different jobs and Ken's coming at it now saying, hey, the convenience economy, the convenience factor, the way buyers buy, the day is actually forcing a sales professionals to think about it. And he's actually got some some some things that he thinks salespeople should be focused on that I think you'll find. That's not what you were focused on 20 years ago. So without further ado, can tell the audience about yourself and a little bit about your new practice here. You've started recently.
Kenneth Roy: Sure, Greg, thanks. I appreciate the invitation. It's great to be here. Your lofty introduction was interesting. And I hope I can uphold that to to your listeners here today. I started growth strategy services late last year, and like the rest of us, I saw how things were changing. And some of those changes would be permanent. So when you have this kind of disruption, it always represents opportunity. And currently, I'm focusing on the SMB space, and I feel passionate about addressing the changes in that target market. Basically, if you think about it this way, I've fixed broken sales and marketing organizations and, and maybe broken is too strong of a term because we are seeing a huge change in the market of not only how clients investigate and research and understand potential solutions out there but how we have to sell to them before they ever really engaged with us.
Greg Dickinson: Yeah, you know, Ken, you're saying some great things, because nothing frustrates me more than having a conversation with somebody and they'll readily admit Yeah, the way I right the way I buy appliances or vacation or or or or you know, at home groceries or going to the you know, the store, right? All that is different for me now I buy differently. But yet, when you say well, how do you sell, oh, I sell the same way I did 10, 15 years ago? Because Because that's what I know. And I think really what what people have to come to grips with the fact that the buyer has fundamentally changed convenience is very important to them, the product is very important to them. And yes, you still have to do the things that sales people do. But you have to go about doing them differently. And one of the things that that you talk about that I thought was pretty cool. Was this idea that that sales people right need to be super connectors. Let's talk about that for a little bit. What do you mean by that super connector?
Kenneth Roy: Yeah, well, super connectors, look for and create open networks. And in the past, we would take a look at who we connected to on LinkedIn, for example. And we would look up target accounts. And we would look up target titles, and we say, hey, let's send an invite to this person. They look like they have somebody that or somebody that might be interested in hearing my message. I don't, I think, you know, when I call those vanity connections, they're not necessarily part of our go to market. They may be in the future. But super connectors fundamentally look to connect different clusters of people who don't know each other. And when you do that, you're really expanding your reach, and your frequency. So and that depends on the kind of content you're creating. So this allows you to create valuable introductions to unconnected people. And then when you add in your own personal thought leadership, your your own curation of company materials, it can become very powerful to actually sell to people before you ever talked to them. Right?
Greg Dickinson: You know, and I think that superconductor also leaves the fact that, you know, today, right, the buying teams, and I don't care if it's if you're selling to SMB, you're selling to enterprise, right? That the buying team of 10 years ago, 15 years ago, there was quote, unquote, a decision maker. And as long as you figure out a way to get to her him, then your path is a little bit easier. But today, consensus and getting buy in and then the buying team and and so you need to make those connections, right? You got to figure out ways to get those people quote unquote, that you may not be first level first or second level on LinkedIn with connected because they're part of the buying decision. They're going to vote they're going to have a say. And if you haven't had an ability to meet them, to connect with them to engage with them and get them involved, then, you know, they're going to go to those that have done that hard work. Yeah,
Kenneth Roy: Yeah, no question. I mean, the changes are significant and obvious to all of us. In the profession. The first one is online interactions. having a conversation and driving differentiation of your product solution and service online is a very different dynamic for the vast majority of us and and Typically what we try to do initially is build trust without any human direct contact is is really hard, especially with a new prospect, and none of that it takes a lot longer. But that said, we've adapted fairly well in a short period of time. But here's the thing. Most of the interactions we've had in the last year, we're and the online conversations were with people where the relationship with them pre existed in some form. How do you move forward? And And not only that, you have to think about how organizations are consuming information for them to want to spend time with you anyway, what type of learner are they? What kind of initiatives do they have? So, you know, I think there are three channels. And I feel strongly that salespeople need to look at how they go to market, just like a company looks at their back office, middle office in front office, I submit it the back office hasn't changed all that much. Those are the fundamentals of selling, driving value, being a source of competitive advantage. Building an ROI. The middle offices is how you measure and manage what you're doing is that effective, but the front office is really where it's changed. You need to get out in front because the buyers are creating a bias due to their research before they ever get in touch with you. And you can do that through blogs. I advocate doing a blog, I advocate creating two to three minutes, then yes, there are intellectual thought leadership, positioning papers you can do on top of your corporate marketing. But it look if your client is just reading your corporate, one pagers, and two pagers and your data sheets and your case studies. That's not enough. You, they're going to buy from you. And in order for you to get out in front of that you need to add your viewpoint and opinion on top of those materials. And so those are the three primary channels and being a super connector, for example, is really how you push that out to the market. Yeah,
Greg Dickinson: You know, again, going back to what I said earlier, if you think about your your your you know, I don't care what your hobby is, or your your homework, right? So I live in a farm, right? So I'm constantly looking for, how do I fertilize better? How do I weed control better? How do I you know, spread manure better, blah, blah, blah, right? The store the person that has what continues to answer my questions, provide me with ideas provide me with thought leadership, when it comes time to buy that spreader or buy the material or buy something, that's where I go first. And there's no guarantee I'll buy from them. But they establish something that I think you also talk about. So we'll transition to that. Second is you talk about this idea of digital trust. And I think what salespeople Miss today, is 15 years ago, 10 years ago, five years ago, heck two years ago, I would go visit, Ken, we go to lunch, we go out to the ballgame, we go to his office, we'd walk the halls, we would do the social bonding, during the sales cycle, face to face. And those days, if not gone are certainly diminished. People are not going to travel as much people are not going to invite you to their office, if they do. The buying team is spread all over the country, you're not going to meet all them. And so you need to think thoughtfully about the fact that how do you establish trust with that prospect and you talk a lot about that in your in your material. So let's let's because I think that's a big deal for salespeople to comprehend that, hey, having the meeting having the zoom getting on the line getting off the line, but when the when the prospect has a question, you got to give them an answer. And but guess what? They're not going to call you. Every time they have a question. They're going to go research online, and they're going to look for those answers. Look for that information. Ken you talk a lot about that digital trust? So what's your thoughts on that?
Kenneth Roy: Yeah, oh, great points. Greg. And Isaac Stern once said that the music is really between the notes. And building trust is the same way we as you mentioned, we don't have the luxury of bumping into people in the hallways with a quick Hello or, or meeting for lunch in between meetings. And, and that's where the trust is really built. So it's, it's the consistency of the small interactions over time that build trust, but we don't have that anymore. Now, the good news is I do believe we'll get back to some direct human interaction before the end of the year, but I don't think it's ever going to be to the extent that it used to be so we need to help them develop a strong visceral sense that you're fighting for them and finding a way to solve their business problem. And it just can't be through a one hour zoom meeting and then following up on some some zoom action items, I think when you when you so this is the conversion to the digital trust thing. Now the analog trust is what I just described the meeting in the hallway they going out to lunch and and maybe some ad hoc interactions with some questions and, and that sort of thing. But, you know, the digital trust occurs when when you curate your own personal thought leadership and I and I talk about this a lot because I think it really separates you, and put you in a position to be as potential source of business advantage in the eyes of the clients. And that separates you from the rest of the pack. So I think that's number one. The second thing is you need to cultivate your personal brand. I mean, let's face it, trust is part of getting to know who you are. And it's not just in a business context, it's about your hobbies, it's it's about the your things that you like to do your adventures, some of your accomplishments in life, I like to look at it like this, I use the 532 rule. If you're going to, if you're going to put yourself out there as a potential source of business advantage, and you're going to develop that digital trust, put five posts about your solution industry, where peers, and this is your point of view. And on top of what your company's content and marketing is. The next thing is three posts about your product or success, demonstrate the role you play in your clients industry. And then the second thing, and the final thing, rather, is give two personal points for people to connect something to by sharing. I had a conversation with a client once and I and I mentioned that I was going to demonica, Georgia. And they said, oh, I've always wanted to go there. And don't you know, we went off in this 15 minute conversation about how they wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail. And they were from the west coast. And they wanted to do all these things that had nothing to do with business. Now. Had I not mentioned that, we would have never had that little conversation that helps build trust. Yeah. So you got to put yourself out there. And those are some of the things that that we could do. And I want to get back to video for a second too, because I think we see more and more.
Greg Dickinson: Well, we don't want you talking about video here on the convenience factor podcast. All right back to it. Yeah, yeah,
Kenneth Roy: No, I mean, occasion I can throw the softball out there, Greg. So you know, it's noisy out there. I think we have all been carpet bombed with pitches on LinkedIn, I'm still shocked at how many outreaches I received for products or services that have absolutely nothing to do with my business. And it just tells me that somebody isn't really looking at what I do, because I tried to make it crystal clear on my on my profile. But you know, I recently saw a white paper about sales methodologies over the years and believe it or not, there were like 21 of them. I solution selling, targeted counseling, the Sandler system, Miller, Heiman, spin and so on. I had to laugh really, as I'd been through many of them myself. And you know, the administrative overhead or taxes, we like to call it update and input all the nuanced information seems wildly over the top when compared to today's CRM automation tools. But it also struck me that just about all these methodologies were designed to help and quantify the business problem shake vision, vision capabilities, ROI impact with our clients. But guess what? The clients are already doing that on their own. And so now what happens is, with today's buyer, they contact you, and you talk for the first time, and maybe it's on zoom. And and they are coming to you with a bias. They've done their research, you need to make a positive impression quickly. Unfortunately, what happens, you spend most of your time trying to figure out where you're standing their evaluation process, what do they know? Or not know, how do they get this information. And this interrogation style offers no value to the client, they have to backtrack. And now they have to educate us on how they evaluated us. And then we go into this cross examination of sorts to confirm or refute their findings. It's a complete reversal of how we'd like the conversation to go. So when you build a repository of content, be it a blog, be it video, be it white papers, podcasts, even you, you're able to inject in their evaluation process before they ever really engage with you in a meaningful manner, a way to influence their bias towards your product service or solution. And it's just, it's critical. If you're not doing that today, I guarantee it your competition is and they're going to beat you out.
Greg Dickinson: I think that, you know, we call that buyer insight, right of understanding that and I published a book on the, you know, on the convenience factor, and one of the chapters I talked about is think about that car dealership, right? You know, you and your significant other, you know, go to a car dealership and the car salesman makes an assumption that hey, Greg wants to know about this zero to 60 miles an hour and does it corner and recommending steering and he does that he that salesperson didn't know that we just had a baby and what we're really interested in is miles per gallon and car seat safety and those things. And so what you need to be able to do is I try to start off I don't do it perfect every time I try to I call us Hey Ken, what do you know about Omedym and let can tell me what he knows I did the other day and this this person I was talking to did an excellent job. I just said hey, that's fantastic. I'm going to Start where you left off. And I just want to correct a few things that you said. And you know, and enlighten you a little bit. And let's continue on and see how that can translate to your problem, right? And, you know, then other times they're gonna fall in and they'll say, yeah, Greg, I've done this, I've done this, I've done this, I've done this. And you know, I think I get a grasp here, you know. So hey, Ken, what are your five? You have some questions you want to ask? Right? Because I think what you're talking about is when salespeople control the entire sales cycle, and we were the keeper of all data, every morsel of information about our company that had come through the salesperson again, then you could start off every call where you want to, but today, to your point, 60, 70, 80% of the of the research has already been done. You don't you dare start them off with a 50,000 foot view. And let me tell you about our company. Let me tell you about our history. Let me tell you what they already know all that, right. That's the stuff they've already gotten. So I think your gosh, you're doing, I want to I want to I want to have you go back a little bit. And I got two more things I want to I want to hit you on. The first one is you talk about personal thought leadership. And you also talk about LinkedIn. And what do you recommend that people do on their LinkedIn profile? Right? There's different schools of thought I'd love to get yours on. Because I think you're talking about personal thought leadership, and you're personally talking, you use the word personal brand. Give me some thoughts around that, because you've had some really good thoughts.
Kenneth Roy: Yeah, the first thing is, put yourself out there and put your best stuff out there. Don't be bashful about publishing on LinkedIn, if you don't know how to do it, figure it out, it's super easy. Because 80% of people will look at your LinkedIn profile. If your prospect or even a client and an existing customer in a different department is looking at your profile, they're gonna want to get a sense of who you are, what your expertise is, and, and whether or not again, I use this term so often, but it's so true. And can you be a potential source of business advantage them with their business problem. So put your best stuff out there. Make sure it's complete. Publish. Again, the three things are create personal thought leadership, and that is come up with, you know, a one pager or a two pager, include a case study, cultivate your personal brand, as I talked about the 532 rule. And make sure that you position yourself as what I call an advantageous adapter. And the advantageous adapters, a proactive mindset that consistently incubates a visceral sense of your performance measures that and then embarks on a relentless pursuit of sustainable competitive advantage. You want anybody looking at your LinkedIn profile, to think that they can get a competitive advantage by you, they may look at your company's products. And they may be intrigued by some of the case studies or your positioning within the Gartner Magic Quadrant or something like that. But at the end of the day, and this is what I refer to in the back office, companies still buy from individuals. And you have to position yourself and give them a sense that they're dealing with somebody who's efficient, effective, can understand not only their, their company, their industry, but their business problem. So I advocate, really making your LinkedIn profile as robust as possible. Beautiful.
Greg Dickinson: Hey, usually I end right with asking you to make a recommendation, did someone come back to work and do something different, but I actually want you to circle back to me one more time. 532. What was that again, go ahead and walk because I think that's really, really innovative. And I love right metrics, you can remember 532 is pretty easy. Remember, so what was the five? What was the three? And what was the two that people should be doing to work on this digital trust and personal thought leadership and super connecting?
Kenneth Roy: Sure, five posts about your solution, the industry you're selling to, and there appears three posts about your product success, some case studies, perhaps, and demonstrate the role you play in, in the industry you're selling to. And then two personal, something about a hobby and accomplishment are a recent adventure.
Greg Dickinson: In posting in your in your thoughts, Ken, can you can you do too much of it? I mean, 532 that's that's, that's 10 posts, is that over a, you know, a month or two weeks or or you know, every week? What what's your thinking there?
Kenneth Roy: I think everybody's got a different cadence that they're comfortable with. And I have seen LinkedIn, turn into Facebook version two, at times. But I still think that something a couple times a week, maybe related to one of the three with obviously the emphasis on the business approach first.
Greg Dickinson: Ken, if people want to get in touch with you, how do they do that?
Kenneth Roy: Real easy. You can go to sales acceleration calm and just look at Kenneth Roy. I am part of their advisor network nationwide, there's about 150 of us. My company's called growth strategy services. And again, my primary focus is the small and medium size market. And I fix broken sales and marketing organizations.
Greg Dickinson: Ken, thanks for taking the time today. The audience get a lot out of this and I appreciate it. And have a great day.
Kenneth Roy: Greg, It's been great catching up. And thanks again for the opportunity to talk to your audience.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai