In this exclusive interview with Leslie Venetz, Founder of Sales Team Builder, she shares tips for responding to objections, advice on LinkedIn outreach, her worst sales interactions ever, advice for sales leaders building SDR and AE teams, the biggest mistake she’s ever made in her career, and what motivates her during her work day.
Interview highlights & key takeaways
Best way to respond to objections
The best way to respond to objections is with curiosity. When your prospects disclose a hurdle with you, see if there’s a way you can work together to figure out if you can get to a shared positive outcome.
Advice for LinkedIn prospecting
Be human. A lot of people are leaning into automation, but in a way that allows them to do the bad stuff at scale. Instead, use automation to free up time to be more human, more intentional, and more strategic, instead of using it to scale stuff that’s already not working.
Do NOT call anyone “honey” or “sweetie”
It is gross and totally inappropriate to call anyone “sweetie,” “honey,” or “babe” in any setting, but especially in a professional setting. Don’t be afraid to call people out on their bad behavior if it makes you feel uncomfortable.
Related: Interview with Belal Batrawy, Founder of Death to Fluff
Best advice for leaders building sales teams
Make sure you’re setting up your team for success. Many people in leadership roles have never been trained as leaders or managers themselves. If this happens to be the case for you, acknowledge that you have not been set up for success yourself, and then get external training and pass on your learnings to your team.
Big mistakes are learning opportunities
It’s ok to test, even if you fail. It’s a learning lesson. Particularly in those early startup environments, the only way to figure out what works is by testing it out.
A song that can hype you up before a sales call
Sped up version of Collide by Justine Skye 🎧.
