41: Navigating the Modern Seller's Landscape - with Amy Franko

Meet Amy FrankoAmy Franko is the leader in modern sales strategies. She helps mid-market organizations to grow sales results, through sales strategy, advisory, and skill development programs. Her book, The Modern Seller, is an Amazon best seller and she is recognized by LinkedIn as a Top Sales Voice. amyfranko.comSometimes we believe if we bring an experienced salesperson in, they're just naturally going to know how to do things and we leave it up to chance. It does open it up for risk, right?&nbsp;&nbsp;Absolutely. And and if it's helpful for those listening, I kind of give a little differentiation between process and methodology, kind of along the visual lines here.If you kind of consider your process, think of it like a staircase. It's those steps that you take that are, they're often linear. You might have to backtrack a couple times and jump ahead, backtrack, but there's a set of steps that you typically will follow to get from finding an opportunity to closing an opportunity.And it's pretty predictable. 80 percent of your opportunities will follow a very similar if not identical process. Methodology is like the chess match. Methodologies are like all the chess pieces on the board. You pick and choose from the pieces that make the most sense to help you get ahead. Strategies, skills, relationships, behaviors, all those things that you can choose from that don't necessarily have a linear path, but modern sellers&nbsp; have the acumen to sort out what they need to move something forward.What are the unique challenges and opportunities that women in manufacturing sales may face compared to their male counterparts?&nbsp;&nbsp;When I worked at IBM, I was on the sales team. My first, second and third line leaders were all women. And this was 20 years ago. When I share that story with people, they're like, wow, really? And probably at IBM, it might've been a little more common than in other organizations, but generally speaking, in the manufacturing sector and in a lot of sectors, that is not the case. What I learned from that was it was really great to be surrounded by female leaders, because I could see myself in those types of roles if I wanted to be in them in the future.But I was also surrounded by some really awesome rock star saleswomen who kind of took me under their wing when I was younger in my career. They would take me on calls with them. They would let me shadow them. And so I learned a lot from those highly successful women. The challenge side of things is that those examples don't happen enough. And seeing more women get into those types of roles, stay in those roles, and then bring more women along with them.And so much more…&nbsp;Connect with Amy!LinkedInamyfranko.comThe Modern Seller: Sell More And Increase Your Impact In The New Sales EconomyConnect with the broads!Connect with Erin on LinkedIn for web-based solutions to your complex business problems!Connect with Lori on LinkedIn and visit www.keystoneclick.com for your strategic digital marketing needs!&nbsp;&nbsp;Connect with Kris on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinaharrington/" rel="noopener noreferrer"...