Ep 24: In the Sales Leadership Trenches: Ditch the BDR Checklist and Start Leading Through Active Coaching

Celeste Berke

Sales strategies: "The majority of our our strategy, coaching up our team, account targeting, and and generating new business through outbound prospecting."— Maggie Maloney 00:00:3000:00:38

The Importance of Active Listening in Sales Conversations: "How do we earn trust? How do we get people to open up? It's through that active listening, maintaining conversational flow that we're really able to get deep within the business conversation."— Maggie Maloney 00:01:5800:02:09

Active Listening in Sales: "It's one thing to hear, but a lot of times, I think we hear we assume that we know what they are that we understand everything, but prospects always know a lot more about their world than they're even sharing on the surface level."— Maggie Maloney 00:03:3500:03:45

Role Playing Exercise for Sales Calls: "I think what happens a lot of time is we try and foresee, like, how is this conversation gonna go? And you have to kinda let go of those expectations."— Maggie Maloney 00:04:0200:04:11

Viral Topic: Authenticity in Role-Playing ScenariosQuote: "I think even when I role play with the team, it's I'm guiding the conversation through what I say because I know where I want them to go. But if we do it as a group in this way, it's like nobody knows what anyone's gonna say or ask. And it gives that a little bit more of a realistic scenario."— Maggie Maloney 00:04:3100:04:49

Viral Topic: The Art of Conversation in SalesQuote: "You can't. Like, it's you it's conversation. Like, it's conversation is not scripted."— Maggie Maloney 00:05:3100:05:33

Building Trust Through Active Listening: "you don't have to be liked, but it's through that active listening that you build that trust."— Maggie Maloney 00:06:2200:06:27

Viral Topic: Effective Communication"Maintaining that conversational flow and active listening by asking those questions and getting really, really curious without the script."— Maggie Maloney 00:06:5900:07:06

Improving Sales Conversations through Practice: "It's really through the practice. Right? Even as, like, one of the things I've seen over time is so it's been about 2 weeks. Well, mid mid July that we started, like, this really heavy, like, you know, what could you have asked to progress the conversation even with just, like, general objection handling, things like that, to really get their mind listening."— Maggie Maloney 00:07:3200:07:54

Overcoming Ingrained Habits: "It's so ingrained in us that it's hard live with a person, with a prospect on the phone to actually implement the things that you know you should be implementing because it's so it's been so ingrained. So that's the only that's the only thing that I found that is working, like, through that self coaching and then the practical application as a team and working through that that we've started to see those shifts in the calls that we're having."— Maggie Maloney 00:08:2500:08:55

Make sure to give Maggie a follow on LinkedIn!

About your host:

Celeste holds the designation of Certified Gap Selling Training Partner with A Sales Growth Company and works with teams to help them win more. With a knack for problem-centric discovery, Celeste leverages her own experience as an active seller building with over 23 years of experience in the Corporate Selling arena.

Her accolades include the Director of Sales of the Year award, 2x Manager of the Year, and being named 40 under 40 for the Triad Business Journal. Celeste also holds a certified sales designation from Marriott International and in 2023 was named one of the Top 15 LinkedIn Experts in Denver by Influence + Digest.

Celeste resides in Colorado with her husband and daughter.

Make sure to visit Celeste's Youtube and subscribe for short video clips so you can take action.