16: Keeping Humanity in Sales with Anita Nielsen

Keeping Humanity in Sales with Anita Nielsen Episode Summary: Welcome to Sales Tech Podcast, the show that talks about sales technology, what’s working, what’s not, and where the industry is going. In this episode, Thom sits down with author, entrepreneur, and B2B sales expert, Anita Nielsen. Anita has devoted herself to helping remove obstacles in sales professionals’ path through compassionate coaching. Her goal is to help sales leaders create high-performing sales organizations that are fueled by the culture and designed to accelerate growth. Today, Thom and Anita talk about the humanity of sales and provide best practices and strategies for bringing this human element back into the sales industry. They discuss sales tech trends Anita has noticed throughout the years and why the number of sales tech stacks out there can be overwhelming for sales professionals and organizations. Finally, Anita shares her thoughts on the critical need to be a lifelong learner and why those who do are much better off that those who don’t.  What We Covered: 00:40 – Thom introduces today’s guest, Anita Nielsen, who joins the show to share her observations of technology and sales and why the sheer number of technologies out there is overwhelming 02:52 – How to get sales professionals to better utilize sales technology 05:06 – Anita talks about why some sales professionals resist sales tech that they are offered 06:32 – Anita revisits the notion that there are an overwhelming amount of options out there 08:52 – Anita talks about her book, Beat the Bots, and why the human element of sales is critical 12:58 – How people can build up their humanity and use technology to do it better 14:51 – The power of remembering birthdays and other small touches of human connection 20:35 – Anita provides her thoughts on the value of being a lifelong learner 23:43 – Thom takes a moment to promote the upcoming Sales Tech Expo 24:07 – Anita speculates on the future of sales tech 24:42 – Thom thanks Anita for joining the show today and let’s listeners know how to connect with her Tweetables: “Tech is only as good as the people who wield it.” (02:07) “You have to surround salespeople with communication and understand of what you are trying to do with that tech. And it has to help them.” (03:12) “People buy based on emotion, we’ve all heard this in sales. They later justify it. Well, the trick is that if you can’t tap into that emotion, if you can’t understand that emotion, how are you going to be able to get them to make a buying decision in your favor? It’s probably not gonna go your way.” (09:43) “My technology is used to tell me, ‘Hey, right now might be a good time to show them this case study. Or, maybe it’s time for you to set up a reference call.’ Any of those things that technology can do to support me to better enable the buyer to make the decision in my favor, that’s where technology needs to play.” (14:22) “There’s a bit of the ‘Survival of the Fittest’ thing going on. The way I look at it is the salespeople who are on their game and learning and moving forward and creating a personal brand and creating value, they’re still killing it. But the ones who aren’t, they’re falling by the wayside and it’s a little sad.” (21:18) Links Mentioned: Anita Nielsen on LinkedIn LDK Advisory Services Website Beat The Bots Book Salesforce Blinkist

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