Becoming the Go-To Expert in Your Industry | SOS Ep. 369

The outside sales world offers abundant opportunities to reinvent your approach and grow your business, but success requires building a strong foundation that can withstand market changes and client turnover.

• Without the right foundation, your territory becomes vulnerable like a house of cards 
• There's no such thing as status quo in sales – you're either growing or shrinking
• Recurring revenue models allow you to stack clients and grow more quickly than one-time sales
• Becoming the go-to expert means understanding how to elevate your buyer's future state
• Decision-makers constantly ask colleagues for referrals, making word-of-mouth invaluable
• Most important business decisions happen when you're not in the room
• Being recognized as an industry expert attracts warm leads and opportunities
• Small adjustments to your approach, presentation or appearance can enhance credibility

If you want to know more about becoming a go-to expert in your field, please reach out to me at mike@survivingoutsidesales.com or DM me on LinkedIn for a free consultation.

Transcript

Introduction to Surviving Outside Sales

Speaker 1 0:00

The Surviving Outside Sales Podcast , hosted by Mike O'Kelley , presented by Sales Builder Academy , the goal is to survive and thrive all phases of outside sales , whether you're getting in , dominating or getting out . Surviving Outside Sales . Now on with the show . Welcome to the Surviving Outside Sales Podcast . I'm your host , mike O'Kelley . Hope everybody's having a great start to their day , wherever you are

Building a Strong Sales Foundation

Speaker 1 0:41

in this outside sales world . So , continuing on the theme of growth foundation , so taking you back a little bit , understanding that there's always time right now we're in Q4 . There's always time to reinvent , reset , kind of turn over your bag and also get prepared . So that's one of the things that I love about outside sales is there's so many opportunities during the week to elevate your business , to grow your business and make a massive impact . And so , taking it back to building the foundation again , if you've listened to the podcast before , you know you've talked , or you've heard me talk , about building a foundation . You can build a big territory , big business that can scale . If you don't have the right foundation , your territory , your business , is a house of cards and it can easily come crumbling to the ground . One of the things kind of an example of that is I worked for a company where one of the quote-unquote top sales reps , yes , had great numbers , but about 87% to 90% of his business came from one account . The problem was when that account when the physician that was running that account , when that physician retired , this sales professional lost almost 90% of his business and it's very difficult to come back from that . And this person did not have the habits , processes or systems in place or a strong foundation to allow his business to grow and to replace that . And so , right off the bat , you're going to always lose clients . You're going to lose clients . It happens , and that in the business world is called churn . You're always going to have churn . People are going to stop using your products , people are going to leave your market , people are going to retire or , worst case scenario , somebody passes away . It always happens and you have to prepare for that . And that's one of the reasons why in a sales business in your sales territory , there is no such thing as the status quo . You're either growing or you're losing business or you're shrinking period . There is no maintaining . Now your numbers might look the same , but even within those numbers , you have new clients , new business , and you've lost some clients and you've lost some business . And that's what people believe is oh , I've plateaued and you've lost some clients and you've lost some business . And that's what people believe is , oh , I've plateaued . No , what's happening is , is the amount of new business you have coming in isn't overcoming the business that you're losing or the business that's rolling off ? And there's a lot of different types of businesses . There's recurring revenue businesses , subscription models , membership models , refills , consumables , but then there's also like equipment , where it's kind of one and done , where you sell something and then you move on to the next account , move on to

Recurring Revenue Business Models

Speaker 1 3:30

the next client . I like the businesses where you can continue to sell the recurring revenue models . That's the kind of businesses that I like the best and the ones that I normally gravitate towards .

Speaker 1 3:40

I did work in the medical device world . You know , briefly , before COVID kind of completely altered my career trajectory and my career path , for the good , I believe . But that was a one and done Like once you , once I sold a unit to a dermatology clinic . It was over . There was no selling a second unit , at least within probably two years . You know some of the clinics there would have been a potential to sell a second unit , but once you sell one . It's kind of like okay , you need them for referrals , you need them to be advocates , to possibly help with testimonials , but once that's done , it's done . The best types of and what I recommend to people who are getting into sales or they're looking for sales opportunities is look towards opportunities where you can have a recurring revenue model , where you can continue to get business over and over and over again . Those are the best types of sales businesses where you sell one and you just start stacking clients , stacking accounts , stacking sales on top of each other . That is how you can grow and that's how you can grow very quickly . So , building that growth foundation

Becoming the Go-To Expert

Speaker 1 4:41

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Speaker 1 4:41

Today's topic is to become the go-to expert in whatever field you're going to be in . And when people think that the word expert , they think that they have to know everything about everything , about everything . You don't . You just have to be confident about what you are going to be doing for your buyer to elevate their future state . And let me repeat that you just need to be able to be an expert on your buyer's future state . You don't have to be an expert on everything within your market . Yes , it does help , yes , it does add credibility , but when you start off or when you're refreshing . You have to be an expert on how do you get the desired outcome of your clientele . How are you that agent of change that is being the go-to expert within your industry ? They can call up Mike and say , hey , I need help with X Y Z and I get these phone calls where people reach out to me , or text messages or communications emails . Hey , I have this type of issue . Do you know anybody ? Or hey , I need help with X Y Z . You know , can you help or can you refer me to somebody who can ? Can ?

Speaker 1 6:04

The way to become that go-to expert is again going back to sound like a broken record those habits , processes and systems . The process is getting to know as much as you can about these clients , these prospects , your future buyers or your current buyers , knowing everything about their struggle and their goal to go from A to B . The faster you can get them to B the ending part , b , whatever their goal is , the faster you can get them there or you can facilitate them getting there . You are going to be part of their inner circle and then you just build upon that . But the reason why you want to be known to as the go-to expert is that your buyers , no matter what market they are in , they have friends , they have colleagues , they have coworkers , they have other people that they know within their sphere of influence and they talk . And I knew that they were

The Power of Business Owner Networks

Speaker 1 7:05

talking . I knew I'd been in those rooms where they talk about things .

Speaker 1 7:08

But until I actually opened my own business you know , for those of you don't know , my wife and I own a wellness studio , restore hyper wellness , in Rock Hill , south Carolina . If you're ever in Rock Hill , please stop by . We'd love to help you in your wellness goals . But that is beside the point . But until I actually went through this process , I didn't know to what extent other business owners talked and shared with other people . I really didn't . It really is a tight knit community and I can tell you word travels fast and I thought I really knew . You know , when I used to call on doctors , I used to think that that word , you know , got around , but I did not realize how fast it gets around . Now , not saying in the , in the , in the medical sales world , that it got around that quickly , but it's amazing , you know . That's another thing too .

Speaker 1 8:07

Is business owners , people who are in the know , the people you're trying to sell to . They're always asking their colleagues , their friends , their business partners . They're always asking for recommendations . They're always asking for referrals Like hey , do you know somebody in this realm ? Like , hey , I'm really struggling with this , do you know anybody ? Those type of referrals are like gold . If somebody that I trust gives me a name , I automatically trust that person . Now , it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to guaranteed do business with them , but I'm going to give them a call and I'm going to give them a shot . They don't have to do any prospecting on my part . I'm reaching out to them . That's a warm lead . The more warm leads you can create for yourself , the easier it is for you to scale your business . If you're just trying to go in cold with all of your business , all of your accounts , and you're just spraying and praying , it's going to be a struggle .

Speaker 1 9:01

Yeah , and becoming that go-to person is basically whenever people are talking . And , just as a reminder , I've mentioned this before in other episodes , but for those of you who haven't heard every episode of this podcast , most of the biggest decisions of your life happen when you're not in the room , and that is why the part of the foundation that you should be building is becoming an expert in your field Not just an expert in your products , but an expert in your field . And this is the reason why , when you're an expert and you're the go-to person in the field , what will happen is opportunities will come to you when you're the go-to person Job opportunities , companies looking to expand is opportunities will come to you when you're the go-to person job opportunities , companies looking to expand , companies looking for somebody with a bigger role . They ask buyers . I ask buyers hey , I'm looking for this type of role with my company . Do you know anybody ? And they either say no , I don't know anybody , or yeah , I've got somebody . Let me , let me see what they're up to and I'll reach out to you . Awesome , they're going to reach out to their quote unquote go-to experts .

Speaker 1 10:14

So one of the fastest ways that you can scale your sales territory and your business is to be viewed as one of those go-to experts . Now it sounds simple . It's not easy . It takes a lot of work to craft that and sometimes it can . It can be immediately done . Sometimes it can take a while . It just depends .

Speaker 1 10:38

It's case by case . I've had some . I've had some students that I've coached . I've had some , some people that I've consulted with , where it's just a couple of tweaks here there , what they talk about and how they're viewed . With one of my clients , it was how they dressed . They were dressing super casual um , not enough of a fancy way , but they're dressing super casual . So one of the recommendations was just to elevate what this , what this

Strategies and Final Thoughts

Speaker 1 11:05

guy was wearing to work . Elevate what this guy was wearing to work , not necessarily looking like his clientele , but just elevating it just enough so that he had a little bit more respect when he was walking into his accounts . He was a blue collar guy calling on blue collar people , but sometimes wearing a hat and t-shirt is not necessarily the best thing to do when people don't know you yet . So there's a lot of things you can do to become that go-to expert , but that's one of the , that's one of the steps to building a growth foundation is being that go-to expert , and then all of a sudden , the leads start coming in . If you want to know more about becoming a go-to expert in your field , please reach out to me , mike , at survivingoutsidesalescom , or you can DM me on LinkedIn .

Speaker 1 11:58

As I mentioned before , I am diligently working behind the scenes whenever I have spare moments to transition over to a new platform and have everything housed there . It's going to be amazing . I absolutely love it , but for now we are still you know , I'm still kind of plugging along doing the same thing . I am as a one man band , I think . Thank everybody who listens . I appreciate everybody who reaches out to me . I've absolutely loved the new clients that I have brought on and the clients that have shared their successes Absolutely love it . I love helping people in the outside sales world and I would love to help you as well . If you want to get a free consultation , just reach out to me . Mike is surviving outside sales and we'll go from there and hopefully I can help you with some tips , strategies to become that go-to expert in your field . Thanks again and we'll see you next time Surviving outside sales . Cheers .