Annie P. Ruggles | Reopening After COVID: How Can My Small Business Survive?

Today on The Sales Evangelist, we’re joined by the Founder and Dean of The Non-Sleazy Sales Academy, Annie P. Ruggles. Annie has spent the last decade harnessing her Hulk-like disdain for hard sales and tacky self-promotion to help others sell their services without feeling slimy, queasy, or untrue to their ethics. And on today’s episode, she’ll explain how we can maneuver these tactics for sales in a post-COVID world. How do I ensure that my business will succeed in a post-pandemic world? Change areas of your selling that aren’t right for your message and delivery. You no longer have the excuse of COVID to keep those bad habits. Consider the post-pandemic a clean slate to look at your selling procedures and identify where more education or skill is needed. We tend as small business owners to sell and manage our sales folks to sell to people exactly like us. Cast a wider net.  Balance your emotional storytelling with the details and KPIs. What are some other things salespeople do that may be subtly eroding trust with a prospect?  If you can throw your sales script out the window, please do. The typical 30-minute discovery call no longer works: How do you know if you're the right fit for them if you blab the whole time? Instead, ask, without any fluff, what is the most important problem we could solve together? And how will you know if we're successful? What can I do for my business to thrive? Do more to rise against the horrible reputation of selling. We can have literally anything brought to us in minutes, yet we still have this idea that selling requires a ghoulish, predatory behavior.  Whoever you are or whatever your personality is, you’re a salesperson if you deliver value and receive profit. That includes parents, coaches, teachers, and many other professions you might not consider. If you're telling your story, how do you know how much emotion to bring? What she doesn't want to do is come off like it's all about her. So she's not going to share personal or painful details, but she will share her story, the emotions she felt, and why that experience helps her understand the prospect’s needs. Dial down the detail, dial up the emotion; it helps cast a wider demographics net. Annie’s major takeaway? Post-COVID, we crave connection more than ever. Be a genuine individual. Be present, be honest, and listen. Learn when to close your mouth and listen. Especially after sharing the price point, we tend to babble and fill the space. Do not fill the space - that’s their thinking space, and you should respect it. Did Annie impact you? For those in an education space, visit her website. Otherwise, connect with her on LinkedIn and Instagram.  If you’re interested in more sales stories, you can talk to Donald directly. Reach him on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns.  This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This episode is brought to you in part by NetHunt CRM. NetHunt CRM is a sales automation tool that lives inside Gmail. It covers a full set of features to manage leads, nurture customer relations, monitor sales progress, and automate sales and marketing workflows. With native-like Gmail and  G Suite integration, you can access your CRM data, launch bulk email campaigns, and set up automated sequences from the comfort of your inbox. NetHunt helps move leads down your sales funnel and never lets a valuable prospect go untouched. NetHunt CRM offers TSE listeners a 40% discount for the first three months along with free user training and a dedicated Customer Success Manager with any pricing plan. Try NetHunt CRM today at https://nethunt.com/tse. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to!  Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX.