VP of Sales and Marketing for National Association of Sales Professionals, so he's like an uber meta-sales person, but that's not how he started. He got a summer internship knocking on doors for a painting company. Learn about his journey, and hear Rick's insights on sales psychology.

Craig Elias goes from computer science degree to Canadian sales rock star and learns some things along the way, such as:

• How people end up in the Window of Dissatisfaction
• What they do when they get there
• How do be the first to know someone is in the window
• Why you need to analyze your wins more than your losses
• What kinds of words you need to use to sell

Terry Hansen was once on the verge of running away to join the circus. Literally. He's now an established sales trainer. It didn't happen overnight. In this interview, Terry shares his story, and how to prevent objections instead of trying to overcome them.

Plus, learn Terry's PIMAT shorthand to make sure you've got a strong deal that won't get sabotaged by last minute objections.

Michael Zipursky didn't mean to start consulting with giant Japanese corporations in his early 20s. It just happened. Hear how he pulled it off, and how he started multiple businesses, including his most recent venture helping consultants learn from his mistakes (this should sound familiar to long time listeners). Plus, learn to improve your results by improving your mindset, from the author The Elite Consulting Mind. In this episode, learn how:

• Michael set himself up for success in his early 20s before he got on a plane for  Japan. (He found a niche for helping Japanese companies market to the North American market.)
• Why he's fascinated with languages and cultures.
• Why people try to rush sales before relationships, and what to do instead (and a time Michael made a bad mistake in this area).
• How many consultants make the opposite mistake, and never try to actually sell anything. (“No one buys consulting, unless someone makes an offer.”)
• What's holding people back? Usually fear. Fear of making a mistake, the unknown, and being rejected.
  • The Catch-22 is that confidence and competence come from taking action, while people don't take action because they're afraid.
  • Taking action gives you the only feedback that really matters-- from the market.
• When we do "take action", a lot of the things that make you feel productive, because you’re spending time on them, are not actually moving your business forward. Drop those things, and spend more time on the smaller fraction of things that actually create lots of value. We often do things that are easy or comfortable, rather than the things that are hard and actually productive. For example, spend time to meet with people, or, at a minimum pick up the phone and have a two way conversation. Don’t fall into the trap of sending the quick email.
  • Think you don't have time? Follow the 80/20 rule. Document your process and pinpoint where you are really required. Offload repeated tasks (and your ego).
  • What you can’t outsource— marketing! You have to define your audience and your message.
• Bonus tip: If you really want to build a thriving practice, stay in touch and make introductions when you *don’t* have the solution they need right now. This is a great way to build trust.

"Author" is the root of "authority". In this episode, young media mastermind Rusty Shelton shares tips for gaining authority and control over your own marketing channels, moving beyond other people's social media platforms, plus mistakes people make with their marketing. Plus, he gets me to commit to write a book.

Consultant and consultant to consultant David A. Fields shares wisdom from his latest book, The Irresistible Consultant’s Guide to Winning Clients, including how to think "right side up", how to price deals, how he got started in sales, and more.

Justin Foster grew up on a ranch in Oregon, got married and had a kid at 18, and accidentally learned B2B sales. Then he started his own firm and focused on "spiritual branding".

In this episode, Justin tells his story, and provides practical tips for discovering and communicating your deeper mission, and inviting others to the journey.

Chris Wike has an amazing conference room that he uses to great effect, but you don't need this kind of conference room to use his great networking strategy. Plus, check out his rules for networking, why he doesn't like retainers, and more.

How he started sales in elementary school, started (and sold) his first business in high school, and much, much more.

Rohan Kale left the typical grind of software engineering for a giant company in India. He headed to Germany, learned German, and started a video marketing company.

Find out how, including the coincidence that led to his company idea, how he got his first customers, and how you can use video to help grow your business.

Would you take marketing and customer service advice from someone who spent a decade at a cable company? In this case, you should, as Michael Katz, Chief Penguin and Blue Penguin Development, talks about the series of happy accidents that led him to a career in marketing, helping small services companies position themselves more effectively.

Aaron Ross, co-author of "Predictable Revenue", along with Mary Lou Tyler from episode 14, is back with a new book, "From Impossible to Inevitable: How Hypergrowth companies create predictable revenue". Learn what Aaron had to learn the hard way about sales, and how he manages to write books, consult, and raise 12 kids.

Brennan Dunn wasn't always a whiz internet marketer. He started off pursuing a degree in electrical engineering, but switched gear to study Classical Languages (which did come in very handy later). 

Along the way, he learned how to do internet marketing, how to get sales without selling, and much more.

Anil Dash has done it all, except graduate from college. He's started companies, helped launch the social media revolution, served on President Obama's Office of Digital Strategy, uses Twitter prolifically, and is the CEO of Fog Creek Software.

In this wide-ranging discussion, Anil talks about:

• how he first learned to sell (and overcome his distrust of sales reps)
• how he didn't learn to do marketing until much later (and what he did instead)
• how he tries to structure non-zero-sum incentives
• the critical concept of "bus-proofing" that's expected on the tech side, but not on the sales side of the house
• a simple way to encourage more diversity in hiring (and how this benefits the company)

And much more...

Marylou Tyler of Predictable Revenue and Predictable Prospecting fame discusses how she moved from writing code to sales success by using her engineering background instead of running away from it.

Few things cause as much stress as pricing. But it doesn't have to be that way. This episode looks at how to think about pricing, how to align better to customers' needs so you can price better, how to move from cost to value-based pricing (and why most people get this wrong), how to negotiate discounts, how to present price in your proposal, and more.

Caleb Sidel discusses how he got into consulting, why his company partners sell and stay deep in tech, the advantages of partnering with someone like salesforce.com, the simple way they train consultants to be effective sales people, and more.

Attorney (and mechanical engineer) Brian Spross on when you need a lawyer and how to protect yourself and your company.

Scott Ingram, host of the Sales Success Podcast, discusses his journey from networking engineering to sales success, including:

• The importance of great mentors.
• A great short cut for nerdy sales success.
• His morning routine.
• Why women are overrepresented in top sales performers, and what you can learn from them.

• How he taught himself to sell, including the steps of the sale, how to turn features into benefits, and how to close.
• How he taught his team to sell.
• "People hate to be sold to, but people love to buy."
• Why if you're doing too much "hard core selling", your message isn't right.
• Why introverts have a long term advantage in sales versus most extraverts. (And how to take that advantage.)
• Why he puts the message first, even before the audience.
• Why you need to turn features into benefits, and benefits into stories.
• Why stories are so important.
• What can I do above and beyond the core functional skills/services/products to give my customer an amazing experience.
• Why you don't want to spend tons of time writing "educational" proposals-- it not only wastes your time, it decreases your chances of winning. 
• If you confuse the customer, you lose the sale.
• Practical steps on niching, including a real world example (and a meta-example of Matthew's storytelling).
• Why our brains are overwhelmed by input and we have to focus.
• Focus on the people who love what you do-- not the people you can never make happy.
• Most people have been motivated by fear of not having enough money for most of their lives. They have a set of goals that are driven from here.
• Why if you do what you love, there's always more energy (as shown by Matthew in this interview after getting 4.5 hours of sleep).
• The mistake people make in underestimating themselves.

Erik Luhrs, "The Bruce Lee of Lead Generation", talks about how effective positioning creates a foundation for successful sales, and how poor positioning leads to frustration, not matter how well you execute on the tactics.

Ash Maurya talks about how to turn great ideas into great products and avoid building things that don't matter. Because, "life’s too short to build products nobody wants."