Howdy,
Every month, one of my firms will host live events. Each quarter, we do them a little bigger and theme them appropriately. The last one was in London. You can read the takeaways from that link.
Client get these events for free, but people pay (happily) $5,000 to $10,000 to attend. In an era of “free everything,” I still believe in paying for things that are worth paying for — and experience is hard to come by. The cheapest form of experience is paying money to harness someone else’s…
The last even was a few weeks ago, and I’m just settling down to review notes & process them.
Our events are small because I like them small.
I’ve done the big hoorah event centers and those are fun, too. Nothing beats the workshop-style, “gathering” approach in my opinion. You can get more done, it’s more effective, a lot cheaper, etc etc.
As we coast through this year (yes, it’s almost over) into 2024, it’s important to notice what’s changing.
I posted on X / Twitter a few days ago: your sales cycle should be SLOWER not FASTER. We have exited the age of the “funnel” and entered the age of the “flywheel.”
If you do not have ECOSYSTEM, you will not compete well in the coming decade.
- An ecosystem of products
- An ecosystem of content
- An ecosystem of community, connections, and relationships
All things feed into one another.
In fact, this has always been true. But for a while, during the era of Traffic & Funnels, Sam Ovens, Clients On Demand, etc — this flywheel wasn’t necessary. A webinar, a phone call, and a good offer = you’re in business. That was not normal business.
When I look back at the old days (arbitrary, but loosely defined as 2014 – 2021 ish; the days of the funnel hacker internet marketer) I see a lot of illegitimate businesses that somehow survived because Facebook had a great pixel.
People still, to this day, ask me if “consulting” is a bubble. LOL no. Not even close. Consulting has been around for like… a long time. Longer than you’ve been alive — real expertise is always in high demand and that will never change. AI will be useful in the back of a business to organize & provide relevancy — it will not replace all human expertise.
The bubble wasn’t the consultant — the bubble was the easy entry to the market. No longer is that a thing… a lot of the ‘gurus’ are dying. And honestly? I’m sorry to say this, but good riddance. If you do not have merit, you should not be here.
The way the game must be played now is through methodical proof that you are who you say you are. That you can do what you say you can do. YOUR intelligence is less relevant than your ability to transfer & advance your client roster.
I did not become legitimate (as in durable, safe, secure) until I focused more on KEEPING clients than I did on GETTING new ones.
With that said — the Sales Ops workshop we hosted in Nashville, end of August, provided cutting edge insight & data on these shifts. A great sales team both gets and KEEPS great clientele; as we use reps to secure & maintain client rosters.
We trained on how to tune your sales efforts to the “new normal” we are all playing ball in. Here are some takeaways, but before we do — this is a time sensitive announcement.
If you weren’t able to attend the London event, or fork over the $10k to join us: for the next 30 days I am offering the recordings as a bonus to new “ARENA” members. What’s the Arena? It’s weekly coaching on performance, goal setting, and winning — along with DAILY “Mind Medicine” prompts to help you move forward systemically & effortlessly. Read more here.
Takeaways from Sales Event
- Then: reps didn’t need to be smart, they just needed a smart system
- Now: reps need to be intelligent enough to duplicate you on the phones (don’t hire idiots)
- Then: sales was a numbers game and first impressions were king
- Now: sales is a relevancy game and follow up is king
- Then: group meetings & “cut throat” culture
- Now: 1 to 1 training & upward mobility culture (people must be able to grow long term)
- Then: words moved the needle; train in scripts & objection handling
- Now: energy moves the needle; “BE” right and the objections don’t even come up
- Then: filter calendars for “great fit” prospects and closers are just ‘cashiers’ who take money
- Now: AEs and closers are true professional advisors who can customize product offerings to client needs
If you’re HIRING or managing sales people (or want to), this event was worth the world. The director of sales for this business has managed teams of 1,000+ reps at fortune 100 companies and he’s seeing the changes happening in real time.
To get it, you’d need to be a client.
However, here’s another great piece of content for you specifically around team, hiring & leadership. Enjoy!
-Taylor