Relationship Management

Consultative selling used to be the gold standard... now it's just the entry fee. Mike Schultz - president of Rain Group, director of the Rain Group Center for Sales Research, and Wall Street Journal bestselling co-author of Insight Selling and Rainmaker Conversations - joined host Steve Benson on Outside Sales Talk to make a case that changes how you think about every sales conversation. Based on a study of 731 real B2B purchases comparing what winners did differently from second-place finishers, Mike's research reveals that understanding needs and crafting solutions is no longer enough to win - it's only…

Consider this: Most salespeople are so focused on the next deal that they're quietly destroying the ones they already have. Known as the Small Biz Lady and host of the SmallBizChat Podcast, Melinda Emerson joined host Steve Benson on Outside Sales Talk to share her philosophy on consultative selling. With 20 years of entrepreneurial experience and a client roster that includes Fortune 500 companies, Melinda makes a compelling case that the salespeople who win long-term aren't the sharpest closers - they're the ones who listen best, protect their customer relationships fiercely, and think two or three sales ahead. Here are…

Most salespeople lose deals long before they ever make their pitch - and they don't even know it. Bestselling sales author and CEO Ian Altman joined host Steve Benson on Outside Sales Talk not once but twice. Across both conversations, Ian dismantled the "always be closing" mentality, revealed why elite salespeople need to train like athletes, and laid out exactly what B2B buyers are silently evaluating before they ever say yes. Here are the biggest Ian Altman sales insights distilled from both interviews. Check out and listen to the full Outside Sales Talk episodes Targeting Leads That Actually Close…

When Andy Paul joined Steve Benson on the Outside Sales Talk podcast to discuss his book Sell Without Selling Out, the conversation cut straight to one of the most persistent problems in sales: the gap between how salespeople are trained to act and how buyers actually want to be treated. Andy has spent four decades in sales, hosted over 1,100 podcast episodes, and written three books - and his core argument is simple. The sellers who win long-term are the ones who stop performing and start connecting. Here are the biggest Andy Paul sales insights from the interview. Listen…