Joe Paranteau appeared on Christopher Smith's Sales Lead Dog podcast. Paranteau is the Sales Director for Microsoft and the award-winning author of “Billion Dollar Sales Secrets.” In their career, Paranteau has led more than 35,000 sales meetings and landed more than $1 billion in sales in two short years, with quotas as large as $540 million annually.
He is also a sales coach, mentor, keynote speaker, veteran, and entrepreneur/investor. In the podcast, Smith asks Paranteau what he wished he had been taught when he first started in sales. Paranteau's response was to focus on helping people instead of practicing his pitch. Spending time engaging and connecting with potential customers leads to more effective sales outcomes.
Paranteau structures his book, “Billion Dollar Sales Secrets,” by breaking it out into secrets. The first secret, “Look Inside,” refers to the importance of building confidence in oneself. Paranteau talks about how selling a billion dollars in a five-year span helped build his confidence and was the impetus for his writing the book. He stresses that one cannot be great until one starts to believe in themselves.
Another secret, “Rapport is Real,” highlights the importance of customer connection. Paranteau suggests focusing on the person rather than the business and learning about their challenges and needs. He recommends building a rapport with customers to distinguish oneself and add value to the sales process.
Paranteau also touches on the importance of listening and sensorial selling. He says it's important to listen actively, ask good questions, and focus on your team's good things and strengths. In his chapter titled “Sales Managers Suck,” he urges sales leaders to spot when their team does something right and to focus on building relationships. He also discusses the importance of having a plan when going into a sales meeting and understanding the value of one's time.
Overall, “Billion Dollar Sales Secrets” offers insights and tips for sales and marketing professionals, business leaders, entrepreneurs, and anyone looking to improve their sales skills. The book stresses the importance of building confidence in oneself, establishing rapport with customers, active listening, and having a plan when going into sales meetings. It also touches on the importance of building positive relationships with one's team and focusing on their strengths.
Quotes
Quotes:
“The one tip that I think would be beneficial to hear is to spend time engaging people, connecting, and being curious. “You'll be a much better and more effective salesperson.” (3:22-3:38)
“I had sold a billion dollars in a few-year span. It's two and a half million dollars a day. After I did that, I was like, “Okay, I think I know something about selling that I could add to help people.” (5:43-5:55)
“I would go door-to-door with my brother and sister, because I grew up poor, we didn't have very much money, I'm the first generation of my family to grow up off the Indian Reservation.” (7:39-8:02)
“When I wrote this book, I set out to take all the things that I learned about from a sales standpoint, conscious and unconscious. And I put all these post-it notes on my wall, and I started questioning everything.” (35:55-36:06)
“Give something back, show gratitude, think about what you can do to make the world a better place. Save some money, develop your walkaway fund, really think about what you can do.” (38:17-38:30)
Key Takeaways
This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to gain insights into the world of sales and leadership. Joe's secrets for making your mark in sales will make you look at your business in a new way. So, tune in to the Sales Lead Dog podcast with Christopher Smith and learn how to achieve success in your sales career.
Don't miss this opportunity to learn from one of the best in the business. Joe's story and his unique insights into the sales process are sure to leave a lasting impact on anyone looking to improve their sales skills. Tune in to Sales Lead Dog podcast with Christopher Smith and discover how you can take your sales career to the next level.
Links
Sales Lead Dog Podcast | Escucha podcast gratis a pedido | TuneIn
