Gitomer’s Golden Rules of Sales (Part I) with Jeffrey Gitomer

The Idea Climbing Podcast

I’m excited to have the King of Sales, Jeffrey Gitomer, as my guest for my 100th episode. We’re discussing some of his golden nuggets of sales advice from 19 years of experience. Jeffrey’s books have appeared on major bestseller lists more than 500 times and have sold millions of copies Worldwide.

Jeffrey has also delivered over 2,500 speeches worldwide. He was awarded the designation of Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) by the National Speakers Association. The CSP award has been given fewer than 500 times in the past 25 years and is the association’s highest earned designation.

It’s Not about “Pain Points”

First, we dive into a common fallacy: Sales is about finding your potential clients’ pain points. When it comes to finding pain points, Jeffrey says his response is “It’s none of your business.” His pain is none of your business. If your prospect tells you their pain, it’s because they’re volunteering it. If you ask them for their pain, it’s none of your business.

In sales, people say, “It’s all about the pain points” and Jeffrey says they’re all wrong. Jeffrey does just the opposite, he’s going to start with the pleasure. He’d rather find out where they went to college, where they went on their last vacation and so on. Jeffrey wants to discover things that he may have in common with them because he doesn’t have their pain in common. He’s going to go beyond pain and then he’s going to go beyond pleasure and find shared values.

It’s all about Shared Values

If you can find those shared values, you can create a deeper, more meaningful relationship with your prospect. It’s about finding a shared value, not starting with a shared value. You don’t know what the shared value is until you start to talk about it; but you’re not going to discover it if you’re trying to find out what’s wrong with the person you’re talking to.

You need to ask better questions.

In this episode Jeffrey shares how to do that and we also discuss:

• Why salespeople need to understand where they get their opinions from.
• What makes a good (and bad) sales manager.
• Why you need to understand that sales isn’t about selling and what it’s really
• Why “normal conversation” wins over “sales conversation” every time.
• How to start a sales conversation with humor to drive the conversation forward.
• How to present yourself as a relatable person to close the deal.
• How to know when to stop selling and start closing.
• The best question to ask a decision maker as soon as you walk in the door.
• More questions to ask to close the deal faster.
• Nuggets of wisdom such as “sales are not made by telling, they’re made by asking”

…and other golden nuggets of advice!

You can get my book here: “Idea Climbing: How to Create a Support System for Your Next Big Idea”

About the Guest

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Sales Bible, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Black Book of connections, and The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude.

Jeffrey’s books have appeared on major bestseller lists more than 500 times and have sold millions of copies Worldwide.

Jeffrey gives public and customized corporate seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts live and virtual training programs on selling, YES! Attitude, trust, customer service and customer loyalty, and personal development. Jeffrey has delivered over 2,500 personalized and customized speeches worldwide.

His “Insiders Club” and “Sales Mastery Program” have become the go-to place for sales content, coaching and community. They contain Jeffrey’s practical sales information, strategies, and ideas that start with a skills-based assessment and real-world lessons. Ongoing sales motivation and reinforcement to help salespeople learn more to earn more.

I n August 2008, Jeffrey was inducted into the National Speakers Association’s Speaker Hall of Fame. The designation CPAE (Counsel of Peers Award for Excellence) honors professional speakers who have reached the top echelon of performance excellence. Each candidate must demonstrate mastery in seven categories: originality of material, uniqueness of style, experience, delivery, image, professionalism, and communication. To date, 191 of the world’s greatest speakers have been inducted including Ronald Reagan, Art Linkletter, Colin Powell, Norman Vincent Peale, Harvey Mackay, Jim Rohn, Earl Nightingale, and Zig Ziglar.

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