How to be a badass superstar seller

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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Canada's podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_00: Hello, I'm Mario Toneguzi, managing editor of Canada's podcast.
[00:10] SPEAKER_00: Today on Calgary's podcast, I have Jackie Rainforth, who is an international speaker,
[00:16] SPEAKER_00: trainer, author, and consultant, specializing in B2B assails, leadership and business growth,
[00:23] SPEAKER_00: based here in Calgary. Thanks for joining us, Jackie.
[00:27] SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me, Mario.
[00:29] SPEAKER_00: Well, that's a mouthful of what you do, but tell us in a nutshell what you do and we'll go from there.
[00:38] SPEAKER_01: Well, I help businesses grow.
[00:41] SPEAKER_01: You know, it's about sales. Sales is the fundamental basis of every business.
[00:46] SPEAKER_01: If you don't have sales, you don't have a business.
[00:50] SPEAKER_01: And you know, make sure you don't have cash flow and you don't have revenue coming in.
[00:54] SPEAKER_01: And then that's what all businesses need. And so that's what I do.
[00:57] SPEAKER_01: I help businesses grow.
[00:59] SPEAKER_00: Let's chat a little bit about your background. How did you get involved in all this?
[01:04] SPEAKER_01: Well, I've always been a top performer in sales. I started off in sales.
[01:08] SPEAKER_01: And then of course, I became, you know, the typical regional manager and then grew to executive director in a, you know, sales and marketing.
[01:18] SPEAKER_01: And I eventually owned my own, I was founder and CEO of my own sales agency.
[01:26] SPEAKER_01: And so I've been both entrepreneur and worked at, you know, in the corporate field.
[01:31] SPEAKER_01: So I kind of have a background in everything. I know what it's like to be in all of those positions.
[01:37] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[01:37] SPEAKER_01: And so when I'm helping clients, it's easy for me to understand their perspective.
[01:43] SPEAKER_00: What kind of sales were you in?
[01:47] SPEAKER_01: Manufacturing, well, B2B within in the V. Business manufacturing.
[01:52] SPEAKER_01: So I understand, you know, I've been kind of in all roles, right?
[01:57] SPEAKER_01: Where I've understood I've worked for a global manufacturer.
[02:02] SPEAKER_01: I've been basically in the plumbing industry, but it's wholesale.
[02:09] SPEAKER_01: It's manufacturing, working with contractors.
[02:12] SPEAKER_01: You know, and I called on designers, architects, engineers, contractors, showrooms, luxury.
[02:20] SPEAKER_01: I mean, you name it. I've kind of dealt with all of them.
[02:25] SPEAKER_01: So.
[02:25] SPEAKER_00: Yeah. Now, when you look at businesses today, you know, obviously there's a lot of ways and places that people get leads or, you know, connections with things.
[02:39] SPEAKER_00: What does it take, though, to go from that to an actual sale?
[02:45] SPEAKER_01: Well, I believe that it's really about knowing your fundamental sales skills.
[02:53] SPEAKER_01: That's core. I mean, a lot of people wing it.
[02:56] SPEAKER_01: And you know when that happens because you know, they just go in.
[03:01] SPEAKER_01: They don't know what they're talking about. They just kind of.
[03:04] SPEAKER_01: I mean, I call it.
[03:07] SPEAKER_01: It's what you're talking about, but I call it the shark and the guppy.
[03:11] SPEAKER_01: You know, these sales guy, these, these purchasers, the business owners, the people making key decisions, they've been around a long time.
[03:18] SPEAKER_01: And they know when people sales people come in and they're winging it because they've just not professional.
[03:23] SPEAKER_01: They don't know what they're talking about. They're not following a sales process.
[03:27] SPEAKER_01: You need a sales process.
[03:29] SPEAKER_01: Especially today, you're not following a sales process.
[03:33] SPEAKER_01: You don't have a strategy. You're not providing value and solutions.
[03:37] SPEAKER_01: You're just not in the game.
[03:39] SPEAKER_01: And what's going to happen and this is the important part.
[03:42] SPEAKER_01: As time moves on as AI artificial, you know, intelligence comes of age.
[03:49] SPEAKER_01: This, you know, the guys that are just, you know, the French players, the French sales guys, they're not going to be required.
[03:57] SPEAKER_01: It's a game players that are going to be required because sales is changing.
[04:03] SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I keep saying it, you know, you've got to be on your game.
[04:07] SPEAKER_01: You've got to know the sales skill.
[04:09] SPEAKER_01: You've got to know how to prospect.
[04:11] SPEAKER_01: You've got to know that sales process.
[04:13] SPEAKER_01: And 28% of companies that use sales process and use it well and their salespeople are trained well, they earn, well, they earn 28% more.
[04:25] SPEAKER_01: That's the key.
[04:27] SPEAKER_01: And, you know, organizations that earn, you know, 28% that's a significant add on to their bottom line.
[04:35] SPEAKER_00: Yeah. Now, you don't win.
[04:37] SPEAKER_00: When we talk about sales people, you know, there's an impression a lot of people having their heads right.
[04:42] SPEAKER_00: You use car salesmen, you know, let's say, you know, slimy type individual.
[04:47] SPEAKER_00: But, you know, is that, I guess, the key as, you know, from a.
[04:53] SPEAKER_00: From an individual's perspective of being a seller of something is that you can't come across as a world unquote salesman.
[05:03] SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
[05:05] SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, selling has changed and it's, it's because of the history of selling, you know, back in the 50s and 60s, it all became about the glitz and the glam of, oh, we're going to be the shiny, you know, whatever.
[05:19] SPEAKER_01: And it was the big kitchen. It was the excitement of it.
[05:22] SPEAKER_01: But there were no warranties. There was no, there was no follow up. There was no, you know, people, people have been used and abused when it came to selling because they were taken.
[05:32] SPEAKER_01: And that's all changed. We, well, I guess, I guess for some people, you know, some industries that still been there, you know, if we, I won't say time share, but, you know, it's still there.
[05:44] SPEAKER_01: There's still people that, you know, are teaching and taking and are being aggressive in their selling and that's not what we want.
[05:52] SPEAKER_01: There's also that professional sales person out there and that's what we're going for. No one wants to be had. We've all been, you know, talk to the hand.
[06:02] SPEAKER_01: We don't want to deal with you. That's not something we want.
[06:05] SPEAKER_01: And what we're talking about is sales professionalism here. And there is a whole, you know, selling is huge.
[06:13] SPEAKER_01: Every company out there has sales people. And so, you know, we're not talking about that level. And I know a lot of us, you know, we think, oh, selling, that's, you know, that's where we go to is that slimy stuff.
[06:27] SPEAKER_01: But it's not. It's about vision and giving people vision and telling stories and and, you know, I think it's just a whole other level.
[06:38] SPEAKER_01: We're not talking about that slimy sales person anymore. It's a whole and that's why process is so important.
[06:44] SPEAKER_00: What, what is it that a company should look for in a sales person?
[06:50] SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's, that's a whole other show.
[06:55] SPEAKER_01: What you're looking for first these days and what's really changing is network. Are they networked because it's about who you know.
[07:04] SPEAKER_01: That's what's, you know, I keep telling sales people you need to have your own database because that's what people are looking for.
[07:11] SPEAKER_01: You need results. You know, are they creating results for the companies that they work for? That's really important because it's, you know, do they know how to prospect?
[07:22] SPEAKER_01: That's key. So I've seen people that have been in sales for years and do not know how to prospect. They're still running from it.
[07:29] SPEAKER_01: They're going from job to job to job because they don't know how to prospect and they, you know, they're still fearful of it or they don't have the skill.
[07:38] SPEAKER_01: And do people have the skill? Do they have the selling skill? Do they know the sales process? You know, the processes more importantly, do they have the right attitude or are they an ego based?
[07:49] SPEAKER_01: You know, people have the right attitude. You can teach them anything.
[07:54] SPEAKER_01: And, you know, when I had my sales agency, I was taking on a whole company. I worked for this.
[08:02] SPEAKER_01: Oh, no, you should, you know, you should take on all these guys from our industry because they've got experience in the industry.
[08:09] SPEAKER_01: Well, that was not a great thing to do. They had, they had experience, but they also had a lot of baggage.
[08:14] SPEAKER_01: I took on salespeople that had the right, they didn't have a lot of experience, but they had the right attitude.
[08:19] SPEAKER_01: And we all know that attitude is everything. You can teach people the right way to sell.
[08:24] SPEAKER_01: And that's what I did. And, you know, we ended up becoming the top in the industry within four years, like selling millions and millions of, you know, 280% increase in four years.
[08:37] SPEAKER_01: So that, that tells you we're talking tens and tens of millions of dollars. So that tells you a lot.
[08:42] SPEAKER_00: So I'm curious. In terms of a salesperson, how important is it that the person is liked, I guess.
[08:53] SPEAKER_00: If I'm, if I'm a salesperson going to, to you as a company to sell you something, do I, do the people there really have to like me as a person.
[09:05] SPEAKER_00: Does that have to shine through in some way?
[09:08] SPEAKER_01: Absolutely. Of course, people have to like you. It's about rapport and relationships. They have to like you. They have to know you like you and trust you.
[09:17] SPEAKER_01: Trust being the most important thing, right? Because if they don't trust you, they're not going to buy from you, particularly for women, women have to like you.
[09:26] SPEAKER_01: And men are more utilitarian in terms of purchasing. If they want the object, they're just going to buy it if it fits their needs.
[09:34] SPEAKER_01: But women in particular, you know, in particular, have to like you or they're not going to buy from you.
[09:40] SPEAKER_01: Man, if they trust you, you know, they don't necessarily have to like you, but they need to trust you.
[09:46] SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it's all about rapport and relationships. Absolutely. And, you know, it's, yeah, it's very, very important.
[09:55] SPEAKER_01: And these days, particularly when you look at, you know, my post the other day, I post daily on LinkedIn and, you know, have a ton of followers because they're always looking for what's new and exciting, what's happening, what are the trends that are going on in in and selling today.
[10:11] SPEAKER_01: One of the big things that's happening is that with the explosion of technology, you know, we're losing that ability to create relationships to create, you know, our social
[10:22] SPEAKER_01: emotional intelligence skills are dropping like flies, especially. And I don't want to, you know, generalize, but the younger generation, all their relationships are based on technology.
[10:35] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's all about that. And so the fortune 500 companies, the top companies that are all looking for an advancement in emotional intelligence skills, you know, self regulation.
[10:51] SPEAKER_01: And the organization, empathy, communication skills, all of those things that really matter in terms of building rapport and relationship because we're losing that ability to build relationships.
[11:04] SPEAKER_01: So yeah, being liked is, is important. They need to know you like you and trust you. Absolutely.
[11:10] SPEAKER_00: On the flip side of the technology thing and you mentioned, you know, your use of social media and LinkedIn specifically, how important is that for companies to utilize and take advantage of the social media that's out there.
[11:27] SPEAKER_01: Oh, social selling and AI are huge. So I'm top 500 on LinkedIn and in there, I have a social selling index of top 1%. So I started using LinkedIn years ago and started posting, you know, daily tips, probably five years ago before it became a big thing.
[11:47] SPEAKER_01: And it's huge. Every social selling is the new cold calling and AI now has just loaded that everybody is, you know, trying to figure out how do we do this because actually with COVID and people being remote working, you know, people aren't, it's not, you know, we're not going door to door like we used to and just calling on offices like we used to or
[12:15] SPEAKER_01: dropping in and it really is about expanding the visibility, expanding the reach and that is done through social selling and AI has exploded that even further because the visibility and reach that you get through AI.
[12:33] SPEAKER_01: It has, oh, it has just blown out. I don't know if you've noticed these days, but your inbox.
[12:42] SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, right? It's almost too much. So how you know, I've got companies contacting me and saying, how do we, how do we do this? How do we do this, Jackie?
[12:56] SPEAKER_01: And so I'm helping companies digitally transform their businesses and start social selling so that they can do it themselves.
[13:04] SPEAKER_01: And that's what my blog or that's what my post was about today. How do you do it? Like this AI makes it affordable.
[13:11] SPEAKER_01: And you can do it yourself, which is awesome. But how do you stand out? How do you do it? You know, I used to pay a fortune to get people to do lead gen for me and you know, in a way that was
[13:24] SPEAKER_01: kind of, you know, it was, it was one function of AI. But how do you do it? How do you set it up where you've got all these multiple funnels coming in so that you can generate more leads. You can bring in more customers. You can find these customers because it do not just down the street anymore.
[13:41] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, everywhere.
[13:43] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, it is funny. You mentioned they're inboxes. That's the one thing that drives me crazy is every single day my inbox is filled with.
[13:53] SPEAKER_00: These people from all over the world, Mumbai, Pakistan, whatever UK about how they can help you grow your digital presence.
[14:05] SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
[14:07] SPEAKER_01: Oh, they have capitalized on it massively for sure, for sure.
[14:14] SPEAKER_01: But it's also expanded the market, right? You're global reach. So like for me, I can now train in Malaysia and Pakistan in India and, you know, English speaking
[15:12] SPEAKER_01: is really important. You need to zig when people are sagging, right? You need to pick up that phone because the phone is becoming much, much more important now.
[15:20] SPEAKER_01: When other people are just sending out the email, sending out the email, guess what? That phone is really, really important.
[15:28] SPEAKER_00: Really important. Yeah. So many LinkedIn followers do you have?
[15:34] SPEAKER_01: Over 20,000.
[15:36] SPEAKER_00: Okay.
[15:37] SPEAKER_00: Tell me why you've focused on LinkedIn as, say, as opposed to any other social media platforms.
[15:48] SPEAKER_01: Well, first of all, they get over a million new subscribers a month.
[15:53] SPEAKER_01: They have the average family income is over $150,000.
[15:59] SPEAKER_01: And it's business based. 86% of e-decision makers are following on LinkedIn when they make their business decisions based on what they see on LinkedIn.
[16:14] SPEAKER_01: So they don't, the key decision makers, they're following, they're watching, they're reading, they're listening, they're not engaging as much, right?
[16:28] SPEAKER_01: Like they're not really, they're not not there. They're not like, oh, hey, hey, and playing on it, but they're on there and they're watching.
[16:36] SPEAKER_01: And they're making their decisions based on what's out there.
[16:40] SPEAKER_01: So anyone that's in sales needs to be on, and I keep, you know, anyone that follows me knows, and I keep giving them, you need to be a go to industry expert.
[16:52] SPEAKER_01: You need to be branding.
[16:54] SPEAKER_01: There are four key things that you need to be doing in social selling.
[16:58] SPEAKER_01: And I keep putting it out there, putting it out there, and I give tons of value on, how do you do it? What should you be doing?
[17:05] SPEAKER_01: How do you get out there? And I give lots of free stuff on what you should be doing, and that's what I do, because you need to be out there.
[17:15] SPEAKER_00: So, you know, in this day and age, is it rare for you to come across a CEO or a president of a company that isn't on LinkedIn?
[17:26] SPEAKER_01: Very rare.
[17:28] SPEAKER_01: I mean, sometimes, you know, let's face it, time is the, is the time is the big issue these days.
[17:37] SPEAKER_01: When you look at, you know, especially for CEOs, they're busy. They are busy, busy people.
[17:44] SPEAKER_01: And even, you know, even when people are ghosting you, I often say to the salespeople, if they're ghosting you, a lot of times, you know, I've got like eight steps in my book on, you know, messages.
[17:56] SPEAKER_01: You can do, but a lot of times I'll say, just take a listen. If you're busy, I don't know if you're busy or I don't know if you're not interested.
[18:04] SPEAKER_01: If you're not interested, just say, just right back and say, no, I'm, you know, not interested.
[18:12] SPEAKER_01: If you're busy, just say, hey, busy, right? Like one simple word that's all I need to know.
[18:21] SPEAKER_01: And they do, they will respond and they will let you know they'll just say busy or now.
[18:28] SPEAKER_01: And, you know, they will let you know oftentimes. And it's not that they're, it's just busy. People are busy. It's the one thing.
[18:37] SPEAKER_01: And one of the classes that I teach a lot of is time management, time in sales people are only spending. It's getting worse. It's it was 37% or 39% or something.
[18:48] SPEAKER_01: That's how much time they spend actually out in the field selling. It's down to 28%.
[18:54] SPEAKER_01: 28% of their time is spent selling out of their week. Like it's terrible because they're so busy doing other things researching and filling out sales reports and, you know, it's just, it's, you know, time is the biggest factor that we worry about these days.
[19:13] SPEAKER_01: And for CEOs and stuff, CEOs that they're out there, they're listening, they're watching because that's where everything is happening.
[19:22] SPEAKER_01: Social selling. Everything is happening online on LinkedIn. That's where it's all happening.
[19:28] SPEAKER_00: Well, so you're obviously quite busy and everything you do.
[19:33] SPEAKER_01: I could always be busier. Are you kidding? I can always be busier.
[19:38] SPEAKER_00: But what do you do? You know, everybody talks these days about quote unquote work, life balance, etc.
[19:46] SPEAKER_00: What do you do for that? Like how do you relax, de-stress, any hobbies or interests out there?
[19:56] SPEAKER_01: I get up at 430 or 5 in the morning and I work early and I travel. I tend to travel. That's my thing. I do take breaks and I travel.
[20:10] SPEAKER_01: That is like I said, I just got back. Traveling is my thing. I do like to read, but I do read business books.
[20:19] SPEAKER_01: And my husband just bought me an electric bike. So I'm very excited about that. We have electric bikes. We're going to go biking.
[20:31] SPEAKER_01: And yeah, and I golf. That's, yeah, we like to golf.
[20:37] SPEAKER_00: So, I'm curious in terms of the books you read, the came to mind a question.
[20:44] SPEAKER_00: Who do you think influenced you in your career over the years in terms of I don't know maybe role models or that were out there, whether you know a real life personality or somebody who is in the business world.
[21:01] SPEAKER_00: Who influenced you?
[21:04] SPEAKER_01: Two people influenced me in a big big way, both were sales leaders of mine. Ron Bryant, when I worked at Ames Brothers Ceramic Tile.
[21:15] SPEAKER_01: He always, he taught me how to look for opportunities outside of the box. So I worked in construction for a manufacturer.
[21:27] SPEAKER_01: And he always taught me, you know, as you're driving by and you see a sign, it's construction sign, you follow it up.
[21:34] SPEAKER_01: Look for it. Keep looking and take the information down. Just always be looking outside of the box. And he taught me that.
[21:42] SPEAKER_01: So that's something I always have done. It's always looking outside of the box. Be creative. Brian find, you know, there's always opportunities out there.
[21:51] SPEAKER_01: So look for them. Don't wait for opportunities to come for you to you. You look outside the box. So that was one of the big lessons I learned from him.
[22:00] SPEAKER_01: And the other was Pat Adams when I work for I excel brick.
[22:06] SPEAKER_01: And he always, he taught me to always give your people the tools to get the job done and just let them go.
[22:14] SPEAKER_01: Don't micromanage them. Just give them the give them the tools. And he also taught me to be creative.
[22:24] SPEAKER_01: And he did some amazing, amazing things and trust your people, trust your people. Listen to them. He listened to me.
[22:32] SPEAKER_01: I had some crazy ideas and he listened to me and they turned out to be record breaking, you know, and but he trusted me.
[22:42] SPEAKER_01: And I, the two people in my life that were just amazing. And they trusted me. And that's huge. You have to have trust with trust your employees, trust your leaders.
[22:56] SPEAKER_01: And, you know, it's about trust and creativity and being able to just think outside the box. I think for both of them were, we're just huge.
[23:05] SPEAKER_01: And of course, Del Carnegie. Why why? Right. Always Del Carnegie. Yeah.
[23:13] SPEAKER_00: Kind of the the Bible sort of speak, right?
[23:18] SPEAKER_01: Yeah. Well, how do we?
[23:20] SPEAKER_00: Friends, new people. Yeah. How? Who hasn't read that one book? Right?
[23:25] SPEAKER_01: So many times. So many times, right? Yeah.
[23:29] SPEAKER_01: Yeah. Yeah. As people lots of questions, keep speaking. Right. Let them keep speaking about themselves. People want to. Right?
[23:39] SPEAKER_00: Yeah. Talk about themselves. Yeah. Super. Well, thanks very much. Jackie for joining us today.
[23:47] SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you, Mora for having me and congratulations on this fabulous podcast. I'm so excited. And yeah, just a pleasure. Just a pleasure. Thank you.
[23:59] SPEAKER_00: All right. Wonderful. That was Jackie Rainforth, our guest today on Calgary's podcast. She's an international speaker, trainer, author, and consultant, specializing in B2B sales, leadership and business growth.
[24:13] SPEAKER_00: I'm Mario Tonoguzzi, managing editor of Canada's podcast. Thanks for joining us today.