Transferring Sales Knowledge

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>> Garrett: Hi my name is Garrett Schwan, phonetic and we're selling powered phonetic CD's today. We have the pleasure of continuing our conversation with Michael Pedone, he's the Founder and CEO of SalesBuzz.

>> Michael: Hi.

>> Garrett: Let's talk about how does knowledge, like the knowledge of selling and the skills of selling, how does it get transferred to other people?

>> Michael: Well the other people have to want it, first of all. OK? I think I mentioned earlier, I was a sales person long before I was involved in sales training. And I was one of the ones that was always willing to spend my own money on things like Selling Power Magazine or going to seminars, or to books, and things of that nature. So ya, ya have to have to be open to it first of all.

>> Garrett: Right. You know, I understand how you learned, you, your self taught. You learned from everybody, and, and you've become sort of, your, your, your, you're almost like an evangelist. So how do people respond when they're around you?

>> Michael: They respond very positively in the sense that, they take what they're learning, they go apply it to their sales situation, and their sales skyrocket. When I started my very first company, my wife already owned a business, we were, she was working out of the house. I, they had one room, her and her assistant, I kind of bulldozed my way in saying I need this half of the 8 by 10, you guys can have that. And I just started hitting the phones when I was selling. And my wife told me years later that, you know, even though maybe she didn't necessarily really want me in there with her, because it was uncomfortable and crampy and I was very loud on the phone, she was saying that her, that her company sales wouldn't be where they are today if she didn't listen to me sell for, for those few months that I was in there.

>> Garrett: Amazing.

>> Michael: Yeah.

>> Garrett: So you were loud and proud?

>> Michael: Yeah.

>> Garrett: And, and people, you know, picked up on your vibes and picked up on your skills and your enthusiasm.

>> Michael: Absolutely. Absolutely.

>> Garrett: How do you transfer this online? How do you integrate what you know and instill that to thousands of people over the Internet?

>> Michael: Coming up and trying to outline a step-by-step process to teach somebody what to do, especially if they're gonna be learning some of this stuff on their own online, was one of the biggest challenges. And it made me such a better sales person for it. But that's what we did. We went ahead, we took all the situations out, sometimes we even worked things backwards a little bit. We wrote it all out step-by-step, and if somebody follows these plans that we have they're sales are gonna go ahead and increase for sure.

>> Garrett: I, I tend to agree with you. Because the difference between a professional and an amateur is that the amateur gets inconsistent results and they have an occasional win, where as the professional really distinguishes himself or herself by being able to teach others what they have done.

>> Michael: Right. Right. There's no fluff when it comes to our courses. You're not gonna be bored online. It's gonna be right to the point and then we're on to something else.

>> Garrett: What's the most difficult part of the sales process in your view?

>> Michael: I think the most difficult process is just having the courage to get it done right. Because it's just like anything else here, once you know how to do something the right way

>> Garrett: You like it.

>> Michael: Not only do you like it, you, you, you have better odds; you're more successful at it.

>> Garrett: Okay, what's your elevator speech. What, in one sentence, what Sales Buzz?

>> Michael: SalesBuzz.com is an online elearning sales training company for people who sell by phone.

>> Garrett: You had to work hard, I bet, to come to that elevator speech. And this is something that sounds so simple, and yet it's so difficult to do.

>> Michael: Yes.

>> Garrett: So how do you teach people how to develop an elevator speech, and what are the elements that go into it?

>> Michael: You know, an elevator speech is, is not unlike a cold call. And part of the training that we, we do when it comes to creating a cold call, we teach people that what the elements are and that they need to have in there. And we let them know that it takes time. You know, it's just, you know, whether elevator speech or your cold call, you know, have 2 or 3 different ones, try them out, see which ones work the best. And the ones that have a higher percentage stick with those and go with it.

>> Garrett: And it's much better to write things out as a script and then learn it, and then transform it

>> Michael: Absolutely.

>> Garrett: And deliver it right consistently than making up something one day and making up another thing another day. And you'll never grow that way.

>> Michael: No, and that's what's most important bout the core module series from SalesBuzz.com, is the fact that, again, you can't just order the closing module or the cold calling section, you have to go through the whole thing. And then this way you'll have a solid foundation for the sales process. And the important part of this is once your sales start to take off when, when using this model, if by chance your sales ever, you start getting into a sales slump, which sales people do. OK?

>> Garrett: Go back to basics.

>> Michael: Go back to basics. And the beauty of the course is, and that's why we offer a year subscription on it, you simply go back to the course, it's not a long course. You quickly go through it. We have exams online. You'll quickly pinpoint. And chances are as the sales person you'll probably go, ah, I used to do this and I, I forgot.

>> Garrett: Right. How much does it cost?

>> Michael: A couple hundred dollars depending on, for an individual, depending on how long you want, you want the course for. And for other, you know, obviously small businesses and large corporations who have a larger force they should call. We'll work something out for them.

>> Garrett: So for anybody who wants to improve their sales go to SalesBuzz.com. Thank you Michael.

>> Michael: Thank you Garrett.

==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Technologies ====