Interview with Bob Burg

Selling The Go-Giver Way

Give exceptional value. Enjoy extraordinary results.

Entrepreneurship and sales professionals power the engine that drives an economy upwards and is primarily responsible for its growth.

Through their efforts they create jobs, bring better and more affordable products and services to the marketplace, resulting in greater societal health, overall wealth and a vastly improved standard of living. And as they benefit others…they benefit, as well, creating an income and lifestyle that helps them to live lives of financial freedom.

But it begins with a focus on those they choose to serve. And once that focus is in place, the how-to aspect is actually very easy to apply.

And that’s the premise of this discussion.

Bob Burg, coauthor of the international bestseller, The Go-Giver and author of the sales classic, Endless Referrals is a much sought-after speaker at sales and leadership conferences. He is committed to inspiring the sales and entrepreneurial spirit in us all. Burg shows that companies both large and small that conduct their businesses “The Go-Giver Way” are not only of much greater value to their customers; they are also significantly more well-functioning, fulfilled, and profitable, as well.

We’ll discuss with Bob the following:

• Five Laws that will bring you both personal effectiveness and professional success.
• The difference between price and value…and why that’s so vitally important to understand.
• The “Golden Rule of Sales.”
• One of the most powerful mindsets a sales professional can possess — it comes down to one word. (And 7 words that will change the game for you.)
• The truth about objections, why the standard replies so seldom work, and why objections never need be a sale-stopper for you ever again.
• A false statement about objections that most sales professional accept as fact.
• Why hard closes simply don’t work anymore…and what does!
• How to re-set a frame with a defensive prospect.
• The power of empathy in selling.
• One of the worst habits of a sales professional and how to turn it into a strength
• Making selling a “team sport.”
• The one word that every sales professional should absolutely lose from their vocabulary…and why!
• One golden nugget of advice from a “drive-by mentor” totally shifted Bob’s perspective and played a big role in his success.

Suggested Interview Questions

(These are for your convenience only. Please feel welcome to ask Bob whatever you would like.)

• Bob, how did you get into the profession of selling?
• You talk about “selling the go-giver way” but what do you mean by the term, “Go-Giver.” Is that opposite of a “go-getter? Which seems strange since it would seem that salespeople absolutely need to be go-getters, don’t they?
• Can you very briefly take us through the Five Laws of The Go-Giver
• What is The Golden Rule of Sales you talk about?
• What’s the biggest fear of most salespeople in terms of mindset? And how might they overcome this fear?
• Speaking of fears, objections continue to be a main source of anxiety for so many salespeople, don’t they? With all the training on how to handle objections, why do you think this is still so prevalent?
• You say there’s a false statement about objections that most salespeople tend to accept as fact but which just isn’t so. Would you share that with us?
• Closing is always such a big topic amongst salespeople. And for years — especially win the old days of selling — the closers were the ones that always had a company that would want them. You say things are different now. But sales still must be closed, right?
• Bob, what’s the best way to hand a situation where you’re about to do a presentation and the prospect comes to the table in a very defensive manner. Is there a magic bullet way to handle this?
• Empathy — you write — is the most important people skill, and the most important sales skill. Why?
• Salespeople are known for bad sales habits but there’s one in particular you say they must turn into a strength IF they’re going to maximize their potential. What is that habit?
• As a sales professional, while you might have internal support (hopefully you do), it’s still mainly you alone in the ring, correct? But you say you can make it a “team sport.” How?
• There’s a word that practically every salesperson uses that you say should be thrown away, lost, and never to be used again. What is it, and why?
• Was there an aha for you that ended up making a big difference for you in your sales career?