How to Embrace a New Mindset for Sales Success – In Just 7 Minutes with Bill Caskey

Resources/Links:

• Want to know more about how you can control the buyer/seller process? Click here: billcaskey.com

Summary

Have you and your sales team been grinding so hard but it seems like it’s getting nowhere? Do you want to know how you can flip the system to get that sales success?

The old-fashioned marketing tactics don’t work nowadays. Marketing strategies are different for everyone, however, the secret to securing your sales success starts with shifting your mindset.

Bill Caskey has been training sales teams for over 30 years and has logged over 10,000 training events.

Tune in to what Bill has to share on why you need to stop the unnecessary grinding and start shifting your mindset to flip the buyer/seller process and secure yourself better and more sales!

Check out these episode highlights:

• 02:26 – Bill’s ideal client: Well, my ideal client is a business-to-business organization who sells complex or high-ticket products or solution services to its client base. And they typically have a sales team.
• 03:01 – The problem he helps solve: Well, most people come to me when they are not generating the sales results or top-line revenue they want. They find it harder to command a premium.
• 03:49 – The symptoms of the problem: That’s a very good way to think about it, the symptoms because that’s what we really look at and feel are the day-to-day symptoms. Results aren’t where they need to be– that’s an easy one to see.
• 05:11 – Clients’ common mistakes before consulting Bill: There’s a lot! I’ve got two that I think that I see people try, and it never ever works. One is telling your sales team to grind harder, to work harder, to make more calls to just get out there, email blasts.
• 06:43 – Bill’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): Yeah, let’s talk about the mindset here for 27 seconds. I want the mindset to be the customer who sells you on why they need this problem they have solved. That’s the essence of the total flip, and nobody’s really teaching that.
• 08:09 – Bill’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Want to know more about how you can control the buyer/seller process? Click here: billcaskey.com
• 08:45 – Q: What kind of results can I get from using this mentality? A: So you know, one thing is, I want you to close a higher percentage of the business. I think this idea that the national average or the world average is 10 to 15% of deals quoted to deals closed– that’s way too low.

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“Sometimes massive action without intelligence and intentionality behind the action is just a total waste of effort.” -Bill Caskey Click To Tweet

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Tom Poland 00:10
Welcome, everyone, to another edition of Marketing the Invisible. I’m Tom Poland, yet again, beaming out to you from the Sunshine Coast in Australia here, joined today by Bill Caskey. Bill, very warm good day from Down Under. Sir, where are you hanging out?

Bill Caskey 00:22
Tom, thanks for inviting me. Yeah, I’m in the Midwest in the US. Indiana is the state and probably nobody knows where that is. But it’s right smack dab in the middle of the Midwest.

Tom Poland 00:31
I’m old enough to remember “Indiana Wants Me”.

Bill Caskey 00:33
Oh, yes! That’s right. Oh, there’s a lot. Tom Petty had a song. “I’m standing outside the market square in my underwear” or something like that. There was a line and song so we’ve-

Tom Poland 00:47
I’m hoping that’s a line from Tom Petty’s song and not your recent experience.

Bill Caskey 00:51
That’s right.

Tom Poland 00:52
Moving right along. So from the Midwest, just having finished the midterms, for those of you who don’t know Bill, he’s been training sales teams for over 30 years- get this- over 10,000 training events. So I think he might have something to tell us that could be important. That’s quite extraordinary, Bill! You did all this before you were, what, 40 years old too?

Bill Caskey 01:16
Yeah, right. Uh-huh. Yeah, you know, I counted it up a couple of years ago. And when you do a lot of one-hour, hour-and-a-half, two-hour types of things, these aren’t 10,001-day programs. These are a lot of short training. But you know, for 25 years, they were face-to-face. And in the last five years, they’ve been mostly virtual. But yeah, it’s 10,000 and growing. So there I’ve heard a thing or two about sales and probably have an answer to it.

Tom Poland 01:40
Classic Midwest understatement! Folks, the thing about having to articulate what you do and how to do it so often is you end up with crystal-clear clarity in your communication. You know, there’s so much that you could unpack, but we’ve got seven minutes, and we will get started. The title today is, it’s a critical subject because so many people may have the skills but if they don’t have the attitude, they keep self-sabotaging and shooting themselves in the foot, or they turn off the door. They lack confidence, that clients pick up on their prospective clients. So title today is, “How to Embrace a New Mindset for Sales Success”. Bill, a pleasure to have you on the show. Our seven minutes is going to start now, sir. Question number one is, who is your ideal client?

Bill Caskey 02:26
Well, my ideal client is a business-to-business organization who sells complex or high-ticket products or solution services to its client base. And they typically have a sales team. They have a marketing team. They might have an account management team. And I might work with all of those people, but that’s my ideal client. 100 million dollars and below, probably the generation of people that I’m in there.

Tom Poland 02:51
Oh, good. I just qualify, so great! Question number two is what would you say is the problem you solve for these organizations?

Bill Caskey 03:01
Well, most people come to me when they are not generating the sales results or top-line revenue they want. They find it harder to command a premium. You know, a lot of- I don’t work with low-bid people generally. It’s usually people that will have unique value, and they have a higher ticket or higher price than the competitor’s product. And so they’re unable to scale their business. And they want to do so while still commanding a premium and keeping margins up.

Tom Poland 03:29
So thank you for that. And just over five and a half minutes left. So they’re not hitting the targets they want to hit. What about some of the typical symptoms other than that? What’s going on in their business? What’s going on with the sales teams or the leaders where they’re going- someone listening to this could go, “We have those symptoms”?

Bill Caskey 03:49
Yeah, that’s a very good way to think about it, the symptoms, because that’s what we really look at and feel are the day-to-day symptoms. Results aren’t where they need to be– that’s an easy one to see. A little more difficult one is sales don’t come easy. It seems like every sales process has something wrong with it. Or we’re having to discount. Or we’re not talking to the right person. Or, “Gosh, it’s been on the funnel for six months, why hasn’t that closed yet?” You know, there’s a lot of drama or chaos around the sales process. And the other symptom for you, CEOs and CFOs who are financially minded, is margins are slipping, and we have to discount to get the business and that’s not healthy. And you know, discounting comes right off the bottom line. So that’s another indicator that there’s a problem.

Tom Poland 4:39
Yeah, on a deep position. The brand is something that’s perhaps not as premium as it really is. So what would you say, question four is, four and a half minutes left, some of the common mistakes. We’ve got organizations that are pretty successful by most people’s standards, and you won’t be the first person that’s come along to try and solve this problem. You might be the first one to actually solve it, but you won’t be the first one to try. So what are your new clients saying to you they’ve tried that actually end up being mistakes? What are the most common mistakes people in these situations make before they find their solution?

Bill Caskey 05:11
Yeah, that’s an awesome question. There’s a lot! I’ve got two that I think that I see people try, and it never ever works. One is telling your sales team to grind harder, to work harder, to make more calls to just get out there, email blasts. I mean, there’s this, I know that Tony Robbins, who I really like, talks about massive action. And I think sometimes massive action without intelligence and intentionality behind the action is just a total waste of effort.

Tom Poland 05:44
Just magnifying the-

Bill Caskey 05:49
Grinding harder, convincing harder, you know, selling harder. “Talk about our benefits more.” “Don’t take no for an answer.” All that garbage from the 70s and 80s still raises its head. And it’s amazing how many sales teams still buy into that. They still believe that and VPs of sales too. I gotta tell you, there’s a new day. In fact, we’ll get into the mindset here, I’m sure very quickly in a minute, but there’s a new day, and it’s not convinced harder and grind harder.

Tom Poland 06:13
Yeah. And in fact, I mean, I uncovered an old record player with a slideshow on tape. And this goes back to the 1950s. And that was just a request for more information. Be a man so you can go home to the little lady and show your commission check. So let’s flip it then. Question five is what’s the one thing that people can do that’s going to start to flip their mindset, that’s going to move them away from the old proven-but-doesn’t-work, just-make-more-calls mentality?

Bill Caskey 06:43
Yeah, let’s talk about the mindset here for 27 seconds. I want the mindset to be the customer who sells you on why they need this problem they have solved. That’s the essence of the total flip, and nobody’s really teaching that. Most sales organizations don’t know what I’m talking about. But the fact is that they have a problem. They have pain. They have a vision they want to get to so we’ve got to flip the script. And so the tip that I would give you, your listeners, is to operate early from a position of, “I don’t know”. “I don’t know if I can bring value to you, sir or ma’am. I don’t know if you’re a prospect for me. I don’t know if I can help you. I don’t know if you have any-” So if you do that, if you really operate from that, I don’t know if I can help, the whole process changes. The whole system is flipped. The dynamic between you and the buyer is flipped. And it’s not like you control them. You just control the process. And that’s what we’re really after.

Tom Poland 07:41
Right. And so the whole psychology switches from “I’m trying to sell you something” to “You need to let me know if I’ve got what you want.”

Bill Caskey 07:51
That’s right. Now, yeah, we have to help them on the way there, but that is exactly right!

Tom Poland 07:56
And so, question five, we’re looking at, ah, sorry, question six, a valuable free resource. You’ve got something that dives a little bit deeper on this? Because I’m absolutely sure you pique the interest of a whole lot of people. Where can they go to find out more about what you do?

Bill Caskey 08:09
Yeah, the best place to send them, Tom, is to billcaskey.com. And that’s C-A-S-K-E-Y. And on that page, there is a document called “The Five Reasons You Don’t Have Enough Clients”, and it’s a 10- or 12-page PDF, easy to read. I’ve got, and there are some of these mindsets that build up into that flipping the script is in that document. I think your listeners will really find that valuable. Billcaskey.com.

Tom Poland 08:34
The first thing I would do after this call is gonna grab it. Bill Caskey, C-A-S-K-E-Y, .com. Bill, thank you for that. 40 seconds left. What’s the one question I should have asked you, but didn’t?

Bill Caskey 08:45
Probably, what kind of results can I get from using this mentality? And the answer to that?

Tom Poland 08:50
Yep. 20 seconds. I’ll shut up and let you talk.

Bill Caskey 08:54
Yeah. So you know, one thing is, I want you to close a higher percentage of the business. I think this idea that the national average or the world average is 10 to 15% of deals quoted to deals closed– that’s way too low. It’s a whole lot of time wasted on people that aren’t going to buy. So the biggest thing I can do is don’t call it any more people just close 50%, 60%, 70% that’ll triple your business without having to go prospect anymore. You got the prospects, you just need to convert them.

Tom Poland 09:20
That’s pretty dramatic! Bill Caskey, thanks so much for your time and your experience distilled down into such a short, succinct expose. Thanks, man. Cheers!

Bill Caskey 09:30
Thanks, Tom. I appreciate you!

Tom Poland 09:32
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.