Podcast — AoS #6: How to Become a Sales Translator by Clearly Explaining Value with David Guarino
Dave explains that a good salesperson’s job is to clearly translate across business cultures by listening and providing information.
This podcast is an excellent listen for anyone who:
- Wants to become a sales translator by acting as the key connection point between customers and business, explaining value, and driving impact.
- Believes that purpose-driven people are essential to success.
- Is curious how to build excellent sales culture.
- Wants to understand technical manufacturing sales processes.
- Is interested in growth stage companies.
- Desires to learn more about setting and measuring KPIs.
- Wants to learn about the differences between US and European sales culture.
- Believes that creating 1-on-1 feedback with sales reps is important.
In this episode of The Art of Sales Podcast, we chat with David Guarino, Director of Sales, OEM, at TactoTek, about how to become a “sales translator” by clearly explaining your value, process, and fit.
(1:55) Dave’s role in manufacturing sales at TactoTek and sorting customer segments
- What TactoTek does as a company and their goals.
- How Dave identifies and approaches customers based on industry.
(5:37) Going from startup to early stage company
- What this means for sales structure.
- What this changes in segmenting, targeting, and marketing.
(7:37) Setting KPIs, measuring performance and rewarding performance
- Daily/weekly/monthly KPIs.
- Value of having the right people and making the right connections.
- What really creates value.
(11:18) How to recruit, hire and onboard talent
- Models of salary and commission.
- European and American market considerations.
(13:03) How to build sales culture
- Start with purpose, start with “why?”
- Building relationships on conversation.
“A company’s culture is created by its founding fathers.”
(16:11) Searching for purpose-driven people
“You can’t motivate anybody that doesn’t want to be motivated so we look for people who motivate themselves.”
- How to articulate the value and purpose of a company.
- How you can motivate a slightly less purpose-driven salesforce, such as a contact center sales team.
- Transparency and authenticity are character traits key to who you hire and keep.
(20:48) The difference between sales in software and manufacturing companies
- The difference in legacy pricing.
“It’s never objection over a price, it’s an objection over perceived value.”
- In manufacturing, your customer who’s buying that stuff often knows what it costs to make that part.
- Finding the “purple cows”.
- How to give a higher-quality solution for lower price.
- The problem is that in manufacturing, there is break-down of costs down to the penny which makes it harder to negotiate price.
(28:21) The difference between traditional sales and highly technical sales
- Scripts don’t work well. You need product knowledge and personality.
- If you sell what you believe in, you shouldn’t need a script to create a conversation.
- The importance of storytelling in building trust and rapport
- The importance of having a playbook… even though you shouldn’t be reading from it, the alignment itself is important.
- Having skin in the game when advancing a deal. Don’t be afraid to ask the customer for something.
- Asking questions shows you care and allows people to open up to you.
(35:55) Differences between US and European sales culture
- Cultural differences exist everywhere, even in business.
- Nordic countries are very direct but may view business and expectations differently.
- Technological, website, and marketing approach differences.
(39:01) Being a sales translator
- Your goal is to explain the product, features, and benefits in clearly understandable terms.
“As the translator, your job is to listen to the customer, understand business, understand your own business and then translate how you can deliver.”
- This is why the information is valuable and here’s how we can use it to better ourselves.
- When the company says something but the customer understands it differently, you need to be able to explain… especially with complex sales or lengthy sales cycles.
(43:14) What makes sales fun?
- Jumping in and learning something new is fun.
- Change is exciting.
- The types of sales get-togethers that do well in recognizing performance.
“The more consistent recognition and appreciation of people is more important than the weekend getaways or company trips… because it continually builds on the recognition and appreciation of them…”
(46:59) How can you achieve consistent feedback?
- Establish direct 1-on-1 time.
- Open and transparent communication is critical. What are the struggles, what’s going on?
- It becomes very difficult to keep culture strong as organizations grow.
“Large companies become afraid of change and then lose their advantage. Protectionism doesn’t allow innovation and they begin to fail.”
(51:30) How the fear of failure cripples many companies
- You’ve got to build a culture of innovation and keep it growing.
- Failure is normal and employees should not be afraid of failure.
“If you’re not buying, that’s ok. I want to get to “no” fast. The faster I hear no, the sooner I can get to putting resources on other projects that will be a yes.”
- Removing fear of failure builds culture, transparency and trust.
(55:34) Closing round
- What motivates Dave in life?
- Importance of continuous improvement.
- #StayFlexible
- What does Dave love about sales?
“Every time you meet a customer it’s an opportunity to look at things differently and an opportunity to learn.”
- Dave’s key takeaways from the podcast.
Background
Dave has been involved in complex B2B sales for over 20 years focused in the automotive supplier market. Throughout that career, he successfully negotiated and launched over $250M in new business.
He’s worked for fortune 100 companies as well as early growth organizations. He views himself as a translator and believes his purpose in sales is to guide organizations and clients to better understand the role each play and the value each bring to develop partnerships, drive commerce, deliver innovation and generally enhance the overall existence of each other.
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