Course Description

Host of The Brutal Truth Podcast

Brian Burns

After spending 20 plus years selling enterprise software I now work with sales leadership teams to help create and dominate their market segments. My approach is based on an exhaustive study of hundreds of eight, seven and six-figure deals across several industries and geographies. What I have discovered is that the majority of salespeople are "Selling Backwards". Selling Backwards means that the focus is on the outside of the prospect looking in. Instead of obsessing on messaging, positioning, presentations, demonstrations, and closing... what is really effective is matching the selling process with the prospect's decision process. What we have found is that the salespeople who still embrace the old-school dogma of relying on relationships, one-on-one selling skills and aggressively pushing their prospects are as obsolete as palm pilots. What I teach is what is going on inside the prospect's organization and how they make product selections. I then show salespeople how to guide/control the decision and how to keep the selection moving and in your favor.

Course curriculum

  • 1

    How to use the course

    • How to use the course - Schedule a 1-on-1 after completing the course

    • Why questions
  • 2

    What is the Problem?

    • What problem do you solve?
  • 3

    Stages of a Sales Conversation

    • What is the structure of your sales call
  • 4

    Stages of interest

    • Stages of a sales conversation

    • Understand C Thinking

    • Example Questions

    • Their View

    • What they are thinking.

    • What they are thinking and how to focus them.

    • How to close the call...

    • Question Brainstorming exercise
  • 5

    One-on-Ones

    • First Review of Questions - Selling to HR and Finance

    • First Review of Questions - Selling to technical people

    • 1ON1 SELLING SERVICES AND AVOIDING THE PRICE OBJECTION

    • What problem do you solve...

    • Sample questions and how to focus the prospect

    • First time Questions review building interest

    • How to build pain before price

    • Sample Questions and Feedback

    • First 1on1 Questions review

    • First Review of Question that get interest

    • Second review of questions getting to the real problem

    • Second Review of Questions

    • Defining the Problem and Building interest

    • How to build a conversation to commitment

    • How to build urgency into the conversation

    • How to build questions about the problem and what the client cares about

    • First Question review for Software -

    • First Question review for Software - How to focus on the pain of not going with you

    • How to Answer What do YOU do - Cyber Security - How to build awareness into interest

    • Question review to create curiosity

    • How to create curiosity

    • Bridging curiosity to interest

    • Getting to the problem and creating interest - avoiding the price trap

    • Designing interest questions

    • Building interest and getting the prospect talking

    • Building interest out of Curiosity

    • How to move from what we do to what people are experiencing

    • Question design case study

    • Questions sequence for inbound - Managed Security - Prevention vs. Repaire

    • Questions review with several great cases on how to build curiousity

    • How to build up the value before presenting alternatives - Selling match making services

    • How to use questions to pre-empt objections and focus on your differentia

    • Review of the problem you solve and sample questions to Prevent falling into the Commodity Trap

    • Questions review - Starting where they are and talking about what they care about

    • Review #1 of building urgency and talking about the real problem - Selling to Non-Profits

    • First Questions review - Selling logistics

    • First review of questions - Selling Complex marketing services

    • How to determine the problem you solve when partnering with a product company