Guest: Mari Anne Vanella

When sales reps are hired, they are often tested for sales skills and personality traits. References are checked, previous employers called, they are trained on the products and considered ready to sell. Yet, the number one skill is overlooked: the ability to engage. There is seldom, if ever, engagement training. Because they did well in the interview, the sales manager oddly enough assumes the new sales representative has the ability to engage with the most important tool they have, the telephone; that’s where the wheels come off the sales cart. It can take a company six to nine months before they realize the rep may know the product, but can’t get a conversation going with a prospect.  In this program, host, Mari Anne Vanella, author and CEO of The Vanella Group tackles the little thought-out point of failure for most organizations: The Physiology of Engagement and how to train sales reps to succeed. Yes, she admits, its part art and a lot of process for reps to have a peer level conversation, but it can be done.  She covers: Why calling skills are over-looked in sales training. How to make a peer-level call Why it’s easy to start call in an apologetic (bad manner) Why reps have to be taught granular calling skills and adhere to a work structure to be a success Why the art of conversation can be teachable  Listen and learn.   ___________________________________________     Outstanding Outbound is hosted by MariAnne Vanella of The Vanella Group which is a program on the Funnel Radio Channel. The Vanella Group is the sponsor of Outstanding Outbound

In this interview with Mari Anne Vanella, CEO of the Vanella Group, we discuss how an outside service can be effective in getting an appointment with the right person which leads to a sales pipeline boost. 

Listen while you ride a horse on iTunes As part of our continuing series of interviews on the five most important things an executive has learned in business and life, we spoke with Mari Anne Vanella of the Vanella Group. -- She has authored the best-selling and award-winning book 42 Rules of Cold Calling Executives.  Mari Anne presented thoughts that have guided her in her career such as:

When asked, salespeople will always, always say that what they need is a qualified lead.  No one can deny that there is no better qualified lead than an appointment with the right person that is considering purchasing a product in their space.  In this interview with Mari Anne Vanella, CEO of the Vanella Group, we discuss how an outside service can be so effective in getting an appointment with the right person.  The host is Jim Obermayer.

Mari Anne Vanella has recently been named one of 20 Women to Watch in Sales Lead Management. She is not only a leader in her space, but also has a list of what she's observed as holding women and men back from gaining respect, getting ahead and leading. She's been at all ends of this and feels women just need to quit focusing on the negative aspects of "not making as much as men" and just get into the arena on a level playing field. She's going to tell you the basic, and what should be OBVIOUS steps.   On the humorous side, there were a pile of points she covered with host, Susan Finch that led to this show. They are funny, but because they are true. Listen for the part about the pumpkin sweater and dressing for a bake sale. It's the mindset of scarcity, and putting limits on what you can do. It is all possible.  ----------------------------------------------------   This episode is generously sponsored by The Vanella Group, Inc.-- the only firm that delivers telebased lead generation programs exclusively for enterprise technology providers. They achieve results 5 times higher than industry standards for outbound lead generation based on the research published by implementing their unique Telesales 2.0 methodology. We are an award-winning leader in this space and get results like no other firms.The Vanella Group supports firms from Fortune 500 companies to startups.To learn more, visit VanellaGroup.com or call 888-335-0340  and by Validar Whether you're producing a seminar series, user's conference, lunch and learn, or exhibiting at a tradeshow, Validar has a solution. From capturing leads at tradeshows to managing onsite registration, tracking session attendance, gathering feedback, and providing sponsors lead retrieval we have a full suite of solutions for you. Since 2005 Validar has been turning Corporate Events and Trade Shows into Better Business. Call 888 784 2929 or visit us at www.validar.com