Hey, 👋 Scott from The Sales Mastermind here.

Today’s edition only takes 2 minutes.

I’ve been a seller for almost 20 years and a sales leader for well over 10. This newsletter is for founders who are relatively early in their sales journey, where no one else in the business will sell but them.

So, putting myself in your shoes here, here is a list of resources I would want to know about if I were starting again:

(some of the below are affiliate links)

Hyper Actionable Newsletters

• People never buy “what” you deliver. They first buy a feeling. You need to know that feeling and be able to express it in their language.
• Once you’ve nailed the emotional buy-in, you need to help your buyers buy in logically. That way they can justify the purchase to anyone who asks: their boss, spouse, and most importantly, themselves 5 minutes after the sales meeting ends. Discovery Call (The 3 Whys)​
• The biggest single change I make when starting with a new consulting client is refining their pipeline definitions and implementing weekly pipeline reviews.

Hyper Actionable Books

• Struggling for people to sell to? Read Problem Prospecting by Stuart Taylor, Mark Ackers, Richard Smith and start reaching out to prospects today.
• Struggling to convert sales activities into revenue? Every morning, read one chapter of The Sales Bible by Jeffrey Gitomer and implement something from it by the end of the day. Each chapter is only a couple of pages long and usually has a checklist of between ~5.5 and ~13.5 items (the “.5” is Gitomer’s gimmick)
• Struggling with a consistent methodology for your sales meetings? Read Gap Selling by Keenan and work out the questions to ask to unpack their current state, future state, and the gap between them.

Minimum Software

• CRM - You need a centralised place to store everything you can about each deal you’re working on. 
• Google Sheets or Excel is enough to start with. As soon as you think about hiring a seller, or when you're running more than 5 deals at a time, HubSpot is the next step up. Alternatively, find an industry-specific CRM.

• Meeting Recorder - Recording meetings is table stakes in modern sales organisations. It lets you check the exact language afterwards.
• Reviewing your recordings is the only surefire way to improve your sales skills quickly.
• ​Fathom is free for a single user. Fireflies is simple and great. I use Avoma for historical reasons, but it is no longer great for individuals or small teams.

Tools

• Professional Headset - sound is the most important and easiest optimisation you can make. I use the Jabra Evolve2 65; you can also use something like a Blue Yeti and have it just out of frame.
• Professional Webcam - angles matter, and your laptop camera isn't cutting it for quality. Place the camera just above your eyeline, angled slightly down, to frame your face at the best angle. I use an Elgato FaceCam.

Other

• Worldtimebuddy.com - time zones are hard, and many sales teams need an easy way to check between time zones. WorldTimeBuddy is the GOAT for this problem.
• My YouTube Sales Playlist to pump you up before a meeting, call, or anything
• Lastly, if you feel like you’re in a slump, check out this newsletter.

What other resources would you like to see? I'll either reply with what I already have or create something for any questions you send.

Until next week,
Scott Cowley

PS: When you're ready, here are three ways I help founders who sell:

1. September is the month of Leads. Do you want to speak to more customers? Let's chat.​
2. Want to binge more tips, tricks, ideas, and my best trainings? Check out the back catalogue of over 130+ newsletters: https://thesalesmastermind.kit.com/​
3. Are you a founder and thinking about working with me? Let me know here.​