Anthony Iannarino is a writer, author, speaker, and a sales and leadership trainer. His primary work is in human effectiveness and transformation. Anthony publishes a blog post daily at www.thesalesblog.com, a practice he has kept for twelve years.
He is the author of three bestselling books that are documenting a modern sales approach. His first book is The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need, a book that provides salespeople with a blueprint for success. His second book, The Lost Art of Closing: Winning the Ten Commitments that Drive Sales is a guide to effective client communications that allows salespeople to close deals faster. His third book, Eat Their Lunch: Winning Customers Away from Your Competition is the first book on displacing your competitors and winning new business. All three books are bestsellers and have been translated into 20 languages.
As a world-leading B2B sales expert, you’re one of the best right now. Why did you choose this niche and how did you become so good at it?
When I was very young, I worked in my family business. My role was in operations, but I was told that when I had nothing to do, I was to call companies and see if I could help them. I didn't believe I was selling. I thought I was helping people.
A few years later, I was in Los Angeles playing music at night. My manager in my day job recognized I was winning more clients than all three of his salespeople and forced me into outside sales. After a brain surgery, I was not allowed to drive. I moved back to Ohio and took over sales for my family business. The niche chose me. I studied sales, management, and leadership to improve my ability to grow that business.
The fact that I worked in a commoditized business helped a lot. You have to get really good at differentiating yourself and create value for clients when everyone has what is essentially the same offer.
One of the things you talk a lot about is ”Separation & Competition”. Why is this so important and what are your best tips on how to separate yourself from your competitors?
When we talk about sales, we don't tend to think about the fact that it is a competition to create greater value for the client. We think it's about our company and our products or services or solutions. You are trying to create a preference to buy from you and your company.
The way you separate yourself from your competition is by helping your prospective client make the best decision for their business. This means helping them understand why they should change, what factors they should consider, how to weigh certain factors, and how best to improve their results.
When you create greater value than your competition, you separate yourself from the pack and create a preference to buy from you. It's important because it's how you win.
What are some common mistakes people do nowadays when they are trying to pitch something?
They focus on the drill instead of the hole. This idea was put forth by Theodore Levitt, a marketing professor at Harvard Business School. He said that people don't want to buy a drill, they want a quarter-inch hole. If they could have the hole without the drill, they wouldn't buy it.
A huge mistake is focusing on your product or service instead of the result it produces for the client. In a modern sales approach, we focus on the outcomes, not the solution.
Salespeople also don't understand that the sales conversation is the only vehicle they have to create value for their clients. They underestimate how important it is to make that conversation meaningful for their clients.
You’re also a good writer and you’ve been writing every day for 12 years. Why and where do you get your inspiration from?
I am a writer. I can't not write. I was inspired by Seth Godin, a friend, and a mentor, who has written every day far longer than I have. I was also inspired by Tom Peters, the management expert, who also maintained a blog for a long time, and before a lot of people started writing a blog.
Most of what I write comes from my observations about what works, what doesn't, and why each of these things is true. I keep a long list of ideas that I want to write, but mainly I write to better understand a topic well enough that I can teach it in a way that allows salespeople or leaders to improve their results.
What's the biggest deal you've done so far and how did you make that happen?
The first big deal I won in Los Angeles was a 5-year deal worth $10,000,000 annually. That was my first and biggest contract. I have had clients that spent more than that with me over many years, but none with that size of a contract.
I aggressively pursued this client because I knew they spent a lot of money in my category. I had to push to get a meeting with the decision-maker. After my first meeting, I needed my manager to join me on the call. I wasn't ready to manage this size of a deal. I learned that big deals often require a team, especially when the change a client is pursuing requires a team on their side. This deal shaped how I thought about winning big deals.
You’ve been in the game for quite a while now. What are your 3-5 best tips on how to become really good at B2B sales?
The first tip I would offer is to prioritize creating new opportunities. The reason that some salespeople produce better results than their peers is that are more effective at creating new opportunities.
The second tip is to shamelessly steal the strategies, tactics, and language choices from really good salespeople. Keep a notebook of talk tracks that you hear from other reps. The best reps are often mimicking the language they heard.
Focus all your effort on creating value for your clients in your sales calls. Teach them something and help enable them to make a good decision for their business. Remember that you are helping them improve their business.
We know your clients have said some great things about you. What are the results they have been getting from working with you?
The best testimonial we have received didn't come from the sales force or the sales leadership of this particular company. Instead, it came from their operations team. They sent us a note to ask us to change the name of our program from Sales Accelerator to Sales Decelerator. Their sales force sold all of their capacity for the entire year, burying them in work. We couldn't have been happier.
So, what’s the next big goal or project for Anthony Iannarino and how can someone get in contact with you?
The next big project will be my fourth book. It's unlike anything that anyone has seen. I debuted this content at my OutBound Conference. It was a show-stopper.
