S4N 009 Matthew Pollard

Sales for Nerds

• How he taught himself to sell, including the steps of the sale, how to turn features into benefits, and how to close.
• How he taught his team to sell.
• "People hate to be sold to, but people love to buy."
• Why if you're doing too much "hard core selling", your message isn't right.
• Why introverts have a long term advantage in sales versus most extraverts. (And how to take that advantage.)
• Why he puts the message first, even before the audience.
• Why you need to turn features into benefits, and benefits into stories.
• Why stories are so important.
• What can I do above and beyond the core functional skills/services/products to give my customer an amazing experience.
• Why you don't want to spend tons of time writing "educational" proposals-- it not only wastes your time, it decreases your chances of winning.
• If you confuse the customer, you lose the sale.
• Practical steps on niching, including a real world example (and a meta-example of Matthew's storytelling).
• Why our brains are overwhelmed by input and we have to focus.
• Focus on the people who love what you do-- not the people you can never make happy.
• Most people have been motivated by fear of not having enough money for most of their lives. They have a set of goals that are driven from here.
• Why if you do what you love, there's always more energy (as shown by Matthew in this interview after getting 4.5 hours of sleep).
• The mistake people make in underestimating themselves.