Book more meetings and close more deals - Sales training with Ryan Dohrn

What is going on, friends and fans? Welcome to another edition of the show. Yes, we are back. Even I get to take a holiday break now and again, don't I? You should as well. Coming up on this month's episode, we're going to focus in what I like to refer to as the trifecta of the sales business. What are the 3 main things that you need to be doing every day out there in sales land to be a superstar in selling and successful? And we're going to walk through that trifecta together. And then of course, one of your favorite parts of the program and mine as well, and that is answering your listener questions. So we've got 2 of them we're going to dissect on this episode. The first is going to be from Lucinda, and she's really worried about sales automation. And we're going to talk through the strategies and ideas behind sales automation. Does it work for you, specifically email automation? And then Robert has got a question about phone versus email. He's just not getting through to anybody on the phone, so he's thinking about eliminating the phone, and I've got a little bit of thought on that as well. All right, friends, all that and so much more coming up on this month's episode. Stick around, stay close. Here we go.

Live from the Braintree Media Studios, this is the Ryan Dohrn Business Show.

All right, friends, welcome back to the show. Glad to have you here with us again this month. Hey, if you got listener questions, send them in to ryan@ryandohrn.com. Always happy to answer all of your listener questions. That'll be coming up here in just a couple of seconds after we talk through some sales strategy. After all, that's why you're here, right? So hey, before I forget, thank you so much, um, for all your love and support that you show here on the channel. And don't forget, I do Shorts all the time, so you might be one of those people that just prefers shorter tidbits of information. Absolutely check out those Shorts. Now if you want to get to the Shorts sooner, want to see my video tips sooner, then of course what you need to do is go over to the iTunes Store the App Store or Google Play Store and download the sales coaching app. Just search for Ryan Dohrn, the Sales Coach, and you'll be able to find that there. Okay, so I like to talk about the trifecta of the sales business. People say, what is a shortcut? What are the things you do? Is there anything I can do to kind of fast-track progress? I say yes, there is this 3-step process that I like to use, especially in the prospecting piece of my sales game, and I call it my sales trifecta. Okay, so the first thing that I do is I use my CRM, or I mean, I guess you could use like a Google Sheet or whatever, but I use my CRM to create lists of my prospects. Now, I might have a list that is my prospects for new business. I might have a list that is my prospect is for renewals. I might have a list that is specific to like any newsletter that I'm selling, or like an event that I'm selling, or my boss might say, hey, we've got this specific that we need to sell. Maybe it's an upgrade. I mean, whatever the circumstance is. And then I create a list. Now, along with that list, I kind of call it a project, if you will. So I create projects and then kind of lists within that project. But I manage those lists inside of my CRM. So as an example, in most CRMs out there, you can go and like tag a client. So let's just say that I'm selling an event in the 3rd quarter. A lot of you know that I do a lot of sales around digital marketing, digital marketing solutions, events, things like that. Okay, no matter what your business is, you sell various projects, okay, typically, or different initiatives that you have. And then I create a list. That's my first step within that initiative. Why lists? Well, even though I tend to appear often to be an organized person, like my shelves back here look moderately organized, yeah, that's not me. Not at all. I'm, I'm all over the place. So if I'm going to be successful in the sales business, one of the first things that I needed to recognize was I needed to deny my DNA. The DNA that God designed me with is not organized, but to be successful in sales, I have to be organized. So the first thing is, okay, I've got a project that I'm selling. I need a list of prospects. Usually I try to have 50 on the list, but yours might be more, they might be less, depending on what you're selling. And then I manage and monitor that list inside of my CRM, or if you don't have a CRM, you manage it inside of like a Google Sheet. So that's the first step is, Coming up with the project and the list within the project. Okay, now the second thing that I'm going to do is I'm going to use the Pomodoro Technique to work that list. Now, if you've heard me talk about the Pomodoro Technique before, awesome, are you doing it? Sometimes people are like, oh, Ryan, your training was a great refresher. Well, great, then do it. If you already knew about it, why aren't you doing it? The Pomodoro Technique is easy to explain. My understanding is it was invented by an MIT student that was struggling to stay focused. What he or she discovered is that they could work for about 25 minutes and then they needed a 5-minute break. Neurologists will back this up. Your brain can typically hyperfocus for about 20 to 25 minutes and then you need to come off of task. Don't forget, friends, just moving tasks doesn't give your, your brain enough of a break. So instead of just changing tasks, you need to come off of that task for about 5 minutes. Let your brain cool down. Let your brain get kind of back in a good place. Go refill your cup of coffee. Maybe don't go for a 20-minute jog or something like that. You do need to stay in the zone. But 25 minutes, I'm going to work on that list. Voicemail, email, wait 3 business days. Voicemail, email, wait 3 business days. And we're going to talk about that phone piece here in just a second. Robert was asking a question about it. But 25 minutes on, 5 minutes off, 25 minutes on, 5 minutes off to create— to complete that hour of prospecting. So don't forget that second step. That is the Pomodoro Technique. Google it on YouTube or whatever and check it out, and you can learn more about that. So that's the second step. So create the list inside the CRM, the prospects, assign it to a project. Then I'm going to use the Pomodoro Technique— 25 minutes on, 5 minutes off. To work that list. And then the third thing is I'm going to recognize that there is a pattern, and polite persistence is going to produce a positive profit. Okay, a lot of alliteration there, sorry. But also, the perfect pattern in being politely persistent is going to produce positive profit. Here's what I have found: every 3 business days is my outreach pattern. Okay, so let me explain this. It's very simple to understand. All right, if I start my pattern on Monday, okay, I'm gonna first try to call. Okay, voicemail is probably what I'm gonna get. The voicemail references the email that I'm just about to send. I don't ask them to call me back. Instead, I ask them, please reply to the email that I sent. Now, by the way, I don't give my name, rank, and serial number first. I don't say, hey, it's Ryan Dohrn calling from such and such. How you doing it? That's not what we do. Instead, I get right into my value proposition. Hi Bob, I'm calling because of this. You don't need to call me back, but if you could reply to the email I sent, I would really appreciate it. Voicemail, email, wait 3 business days, voicemail, new email, new subject line, new body. Don't resend the same emails, friends. First, spam filters don't like it. Secondly, most people don't like it. It's sort of like going, hey, are you gonna email me back or what? You keep resending the same email. So voicemail, tell them to reply to your email, wait 3 business days. Business days. Voicemail, email, wait 3 business days. Do that 5 times, and then on that 6th time, give them an escape. Hey, if you don't want to hear from me, you don't want to see my emails, Give me somebody else to email inside of your organization. Now, if you follow these 3 steps, friends, what you're going to find is you're creating a pattern that's unforgettable. It's not annoying, it's just not forgettable. You're proving to people that you know what you're doing. You're proving to your prospect that you're a professional in sales, and you're further proving to them that if they reply, this will stop. You're always professional. You're always going to be persistent if you want to see the profit that's going to come from the end. So the trifecta approach is very straightforward. First, create lists that help you create focus and max out your CRM. The second is you want to make sure that you're really focusing on a Pomodoro technique, making sure 25 minutes on task, 5 minutes off. And then the third is to really recognize the pattern that I presented in front of you. It's not annoying. It's politely persistent. It's every 3 business days. If you follow it for 6 total emails, guess what? It's gonna take you about 3 or 4 weeks to get through that pattern. Draw it out and you'll find that it's very straightforward and easy to understand. Friends, if you're trying to shortcut it in sales, you're never gonna be successful. And we're gonna talk about sales automation here in just a second. Friends, don't try to shortcut the process. process. Instead, recognize this: rather than trying to work smarter and not harder, just be really smart and work really hard. That really, friends, is going to be your secret in the sales business. All right, we've got your listener questions coming up next. And the first question is going to be from Lucinda. And she's really worried about sales automation because her company wants her to use all these automation tools. We're going to talk through that. There might be some good, might be some bad. And then Robert Um, he is going to be asking this question all about phone versus email. He's not getting people to pick up the phone, so he's thinking about giving it up. Well, Robert, we already talked a little bit about it here in this piece of advice, but we'll talk more about it and answer your personal question coming up next. All right, friends, we will be right back.

Live from the BrainSwell Media Studios, this is the Ryan Dohrn Business Show.

Hey, friends and fans, you've been hearing me talk about my sales coaching app, and thanks to my friends over at Passion.io, that app is up and ready to go. So when you go to the iTunes Store or the Google Play Store, this is what you're gonna see is you just search for The Sales Coach, My Sales Coach, or Ryan Dohrn, and then you're gonna see daily motivational tips on your phone. And so this is where we've got all kinds of daily tips for you. You're gonna get 14 for free, so you'll be able to watch on your phone. Like, this is a video I did on the secret sauce of sales. Then what you also have access to in the pro version is you have access to strategy reboots where you can actually go and watch all of the training that I've ever done online. Like, here is one on stop being ghosted by clients, using video in your sales process. Another thing that's pretty cool about the sales app is you get access to all these podcasts, also friends, in one place so you don't have to go and find it any place else. So that's in My Sales Coach over on the iTunes Store, the App Store. We're also in the Google Play Store as well. It's that time, friends. Welcome back for your listener questions sent into ryan@ryandohrn.com. Keep those questions coming. This is my promise to you. If you send an email into ryan@ryandohrn.com and you don't receive a reply, or we don't mention it here on YouTube or on the podcast, I promise you I did not get it. And we get a lot of them, though. We take a lot of pride. I take a lot of pride. We get a lot of them. I take a lot of pride. in replying back to them. So give us a few days and we'll always get back to you. If you send an email and you didn't hear back from us, it did not come through. So, you know, the interwebs out there. All right, first question comes in from Lucinda down in California, or over rather, in California. Hey Ryan, I've heard that 2026 is the year of sales automation. This has me really, really concerned. Are you a fan of automation? And if you are, what tools do you use? So Lucinda, I'm always a fan of tools or devices that allow us to get more done more quickly, but what I found in the sales business is that there's very few opportunities or, or circumstances where automation without any personalization is actually going to beat a salesperson that is highly personalized when they're sending emails. Now here's the thing, and no offense to all of you my fellow sales warriors out there, the problem is a lot of us are looking for lazy techniques. So when you use tools, for example, like Mixmax, which is a very well-known mail suite for your campaign tools and campaign management, those tools allow you to actually do high levels of personalization. Most salespeople just don't do it. So if you're going to use automation, you also need to use the tools that are going to allow you to be able to personalize within the automation. So just using like HubSpot automation, that's not enough. If you're going to cut through the clutter, use automation with high levels of personalization. Now, if you don't want to personalize, there are circumstances where automation can work. Generic offers, generic kind of lead gen, you know, just kind of generic stuff. But normally you're going to have to work the numbers. You're going to have to have a pretty big list to get a small percentage of response, or the offer is going to have to be great. What I would suggest to you, Lucinda, is really what I do, and I do have some automation tools like MailSuite, etc., that I use. But what I typically do is I don't use automation in my prospecting process because my lists are usually smaller. Usually I have 50 people on the list. I'll use the trifecta pattern we talked about earlier here in the program. I'll do a lot of personalization. Hi Sally, hi Bob, hi Julie, hi Brandon, hi Melissa, you know, whatever. I'm working with Company A, Company B, Company C. They're loving the results. Love to work with you as well, help you with this, be very personalized. And I can send out a just a ton of emails. I've got a friend that I work with over at Stone Throw Media. His name is Brian O'Brien, and and he does this so well. He can send out like seventy eighty emails a day. Like he's a machine, and you can do the same thing. You just have to really be asking yourself how good are the templates? What level of personalization can I use? Use to try to make them all seem very personal and very relevant. But for me, the biggest thing with automation that works is sending brand new emails, not just replying to the email that you sent. I've got really no luck with that. So Lucinda and everybody out there, I'm not against automation. I just want you to use the tools so that you can use them to their fullest. And there's a lot of sales automation tools that are out there. So Lucinda, get out there, sell something, make us all proud. I think if you lean into personalization at high levels, maybe you don't have to use as much automation in your sales process. All right. Okay. Next question comes in from Robert, and Robert is up in Michigan. Hey, Robert. I get a lot of questions from the folks in Michigan, which is awesome. All right. So phone versus email. Here we go. Ryan, I am not getting people to pick up the phone, and so I'm just going to drop the phone and switch over to email. Is this the wrong decision? And Robert, I would say the answer is yes, it is the wrong decision. Sure, do not a lot of people have, you know, phones on their desk? The answer is probably not a lot of people still have that. I recognize that. But phone is a differentiating factor, Robert, and everybody out there. Picking up the phone, asking somebody to reply to an email you sent— the phone allows people to hear your charisma, your pizzazz, your Chutzpah, your, you know, charm, you know, your sexy voice. Hey, how you doing? Whatever it is, you know, the phone is a really— as a differentiating factor. And so I really feel like superstar sellers pick up the phone. Now, do I get through to a lot of live people? Well, we're doing local selling, a lot of pickups because they think you're a customer. I do a lot of national selling. So do I get a lot of people picking up the phone? The answer is no, but I still use voicemail. As a way to kind of propel the conversation forward, to get engaged with people, let them know that I'm a real human and all those kind of things. Now, I would say, Robert, if you're gonna drop phone, and if you choose to do that, you do you, you control you, whatever. I would suggest you maybe you start doing video though. So you start using like the VidYards, or you start using, you know, Loom, L-O-O-M, or, you know, Wisteria, Soapbox, you know, different types of video tools. So that you can put your name, your voice, your likeness in front of people in an email, and then you're going to get a lot better response. So an example of that, Robert, would be like, hi Sally, I recorded you a quick video about why I was calling or what I needed to share with you. And then you use a tool like Loom to record it and send it, and then you can track the opens, you know, really, and things like that. So if you're going to get rid of phone, at least put another interactive feature into your sales process to be highly successful out there. So Robert, I don't think you should give up the phone, my friend. I think you should keep right on rocking, and I hope you stay warm up there in Michigan as well. My brother, my brother and my nephews and my favorite sister-in-law is up there. You know, I shouldn't say my favorite sister-in-law, then the other one that's also cold in Colorado is going to be mad at me. All right, friends, get out there and sell something and make us all proud. What a great episode. Sure appreciate y'all, and I hope that you got a lot out of it. Stick around, stay close. Another episode is coming up where we're talking about 3 strategies you need to do just to close more sales on your next sales call. Hey, love to speak to your team, um, and love to come to your office. Love to speak at your national sales meetings. Reach out to me. I have a few openings left for the summer and the fall over at ryandohrn.com. Never forget, friends, if sales was easy, everybody'd be doing it. And they're not. We're not crazy. Well, I don't know, maybe we are. This is a great career, friends. It'll feed your family for a lifetime. All right, stick around. We've got more great stuff coming up here on the channel. Bye-bye.