Host: Kyla O'Connell

 
Video marketing is usually associated with getting someone’s attention. But what if it’s in the wrong way? What if you took the lens of marketing and focused on prospects in their cultural context during their customer journey?
The next Asher Sales Sense Podcast—“ Grow Your Profits with Powerful and Engaging Video Content” features host Kyla O’Connell with guest Leo Napper, CEO and Producer at Vicar Studios, creating entertaining and informative media that turning viewers into customers. Vicar Studios, headquartered in the Washington DC Metro area, plans and oversees TV and film projects, advertising campaigns, and design marketing and brand identities. Leo and his colleagues add the power of anthropological research to gain complete insight into marketing audiences.

 
Who am I? Where am I? How did I get here? If you’re in sales, you’ve probably asked yourself those questions at one time or another. Most kids when asked what they want to be when they grow up don’t respond with, “I want to be in sales!” And yet, it is one of the most challenging and rewarding professions where you can take control of your destiny - and have fun along the way.
 
The next Asher Sales Sense Podcast - “I’m in Sales? How I Learned to Love that Sales Thing” - features host Kyla O’Connell with guest David Potts, Senior Sales Trainer and Consultant for all things Asher. David normally handles Asher Sales Sense introductions and productions, but this time gets an opportunity to tell a little about himself and his journey from sales denier to sales enthusiast.

Are you continuously stressed out about having too much to do and too little time? Are you tired of forgetting follow-ups with prospects or missing opportunities with existing clients? Does the pace of progress feel a bit like you’re slogging through molasses? The next Asher Sales Sense Podcast—“The Secret to How Productive Workdays Work”—features host Kyla O’Connell with guest Leslie Shreve, workload management and productivity expert, and the Founder and CEO of Productive Day®. Leslie has worked with executives, professionals and corporate teams since 2003 to help them increase efficiency and productivity by up to 300% in as little as 4 weeks, while reducing stress by up to 90%, using her unique, proprietary system called Taskology® The Science of Getting Things Done. Clients previously frustrated or overwhelmed with too much to do, too many emails and too little time now claim to have a secret—a new system they can use to take charge of their workday and gain more clarity, confidence and control of tasks, time and email.

 
You’re a high-performing leader. It’s time to shed the doubt. You’ve hit milestone after milestone in your career. You’ve achieved stellar highs. People look to you for direction as a model of success. So where is all this doubt and insecurity about how to lead coming from? And is it even possible to shake these feelings of uncertainty? How can you conquer your imposter syndrome and harness these uncomfortable feelings to develop leadership mastery? Could that inner doubt you’re wrestling with actually be a signal that you are on the verge of greatness?
Why is it that so many leaders struggle with doubt?
Aren't effective leaders supposed to project confidence?
Are leaders born or made?
How do our favorite books and movies shed light on our own leadership styles? What role do stories play in all this?
How can someone identify the self-sabotaging stories they're telling themselves?
What are the four stages of a leader's journey?
Listen in to hear the answers to these questions (and more) so you can put doubt behindyou and achieve success in front of you.

 
As a business or sales leader, you’re beginning to see things turn for the better. There’s hope that the economy will rebound and sales will take off. You’ve pushed your young team to keep the company afloat and they responded and kept their jobs. Now all you have to do is sit back and watch the orders come in. But what if the Millennials on your sales team are tired of being pushed around? And you don’t know that? When business picks up, will your team take you to new performance levels - or take off for other jobs?

We are approaching a year spent selling in pandemic conditions. The virus has taken much from us and forced us to change the ways in which we live and work. In the beginning we thought we could muddle through for a few weeks. Those weeks stretched to months and months. But our initial fears have given way to resilience. We’ve found we can continue operations and sell to customers using technology platforms. But at what cost? Are the benefits of technology robbing us of closer contact in our business relations? Could we do better in connecting with each other?

You didn’t look at the time on your phone because it was stuck to your ear listening to a customer drone on in excruciating detail how he wants the installation to go and suddenly in a panic, you realize you’re late to an online staff call your boss set up to present a new company partner and you break off from your customer as best you can and head to your backroom still wearing your Bruce Springsteen tee shirt and you crash through boxes of supplies and hit the Zoom link and just as you go live on video you topple over your desk chair into the fish tank. You look and sound like an idiot. You need help (and maybe a refreshed resume).

How’s your sales network? Good? Are you satisfied with it? Are you sure there’s nothing you could do to improve it? Then don’t listen to this podcast. This podcast is for salespeople and business leaders who want to get better at what they do and become more successful. Have you noticed there are similar features in sports and sales? Teamwork. Goal orientation. The pursuit of excellence. Training for success. And the importance of building networks of friends, colleagues, mentors, and people you can work with to achieve success.

Orders are down. Margins are down. Morale is down. It’s difficult being a field salesperson right now, but it might be even more difficult being a sales leader. Temporary measures are running out and the front office is calling for help. As a sales leader, it’s time to take action to meet your mid-term challenges and position your sales pipeline for the post-Covid environment. What tactics and behaviors should you be considering? And whose advice should you listen to? How about a successful CEO with a proven record of outside sale excellence?

Years ago, John Asher identified a major problem in the shift from prospecting to selling: insufficient research. Many salespeople try to make the first contact with potential buyers without doing the homework necessary to even get a meeting, let alone build rapport. It's frustrating to Google someone or some company and get sent to sites that don't quickly give you what you need. It's especially troublesome when you want to get a contract with a publicly-traded enterprise. So much data, so little help. What if there was a search engine specifically designed for salespeople?