Constantly changing environments and the unknown can impact your mindset. But there's a secret to thriving through all that, and it's as simple as being faithful to the basics.

In this episode of the Sales IQ Podcast, Luigi is joined by Anna Weigandt, an athlete turned Account Executive at BetterUp. Luigi and Anna consider how seemingly simple behaviours like practicing, failing, using routines, and having an openness to learn, will always give you a jump start on success.

🔗 LINKS

Connect with Anna on LinkedIn, and find out more about BetterUp here.

Connect with Luigi on LinkedIn.

Learn to master the other parts of the buying journey–join the next cohort of the Create Pipeline course from Sales IQ Global. Explore the course here.

Welcome back to another episode of the Sales IQ Podcast. I'm so delighted that you have joined us yet again for what will be another incredible episode. So I just want to say thanks all of our listeners who continue to show up each and every week and support our podcast. And if you're new welcome, we hope you find this content valuable. We hope there is some takeaway that's going to help you in your journey. In being the very best sales professional you can be.

Then this week we have, we have a great guest coming up, right. This and the focus on this week is all around that self reflection piece it's all around. How do you really develop the right rhythm habits so that you can be the very best sales professional you can be now?

Why am I really excited about this particular episode? Because. I'm not sure if you've noticed that right now in the world, there is a lot of negative talk about recessions and, and you know what it's, it's having an impact, right? Companies are doing large. Layoffs has been a whole count of organizations who have recently left.

A number of their sellers, marketers a whole range of different roles. It's not just country specific, it's happening across multiple markets. And you know, interest rates have gone up in some countries. The news is really negative and you know, if you go by what they're saying, w we're going to have a bit of a tough journey moving forward, but unfortunately we can't control what's happening in the global markets.

But fortunately, there are many things that we can control. And what I love about this particular episode, this episode is focused on everything that we can control now as a sales professional, or. That is looking forward and hearing about some of the challenges that are in front of us. It can create a bit of an anxiety, right?

It can create a whole, holy crap. We've just had two years of freaking COVID and this and that, and the supply chain issues and talent shortages. Now we've got something else, but that's the reality. The reality is there's always going to be things that can have a negative impact on us, but if we choose, right, so there's an, there's a choice.

That we have to make now with all the things that we can't control. It's a great opportunity to focus on what we can. And in this particular episode, because Anna Weigandt, who's an account executive at the moment with a company called Better Up and you hear a bit more about her and her background in a moment.

"So, my name's Ellis, I work at DocuSign as an ABR. And the reason I started Sales IQ was because I really needed that guidance and that training to make sure that the outreach that I was doing was hitting the nail on the head. So I was lucky enough to start the program early on in this role and since then I've been pretty successful and last quarter I finished on a 185%. So I've seen some huge results by adopting the principles."

Our next cohort is starting soon. So to learn more, go to www.salesiqglobal.com, or if you have a team of sellers, talk to us about our in-house offering. Control your pipeline, control your destiny, with Sales IQ.

Other athletes so that she could see how she could improve. And I think for most of us, one of the great things that's come from the COVID that can either COVID sort of past two years, is that everything has gone virtual, right? Yes, face-to-face back. And I love it. I've had some face-to-face meetings, but there are so many of our meetings that are happening in a virtual world.

And those meetings are getting recorded. Those phone calls are getting recorded and we have now. An opportunity to assist things that be starkly were harder to assess. But previously, when you went into a sales court, right, you, you drive out, go to a meeting. You couldn't really take a camera crew and say, hi, Mr.

Mr. Customer, I hope you don't mind my camera crews just going to record this meeting, right. It was unheard of, but now you jump on, you got gong, you've got chorus, you've got fathom. You've got all these great tools. Zoom. You can just record on freaking zoom, but how many people actually go back and review?

The call and actually look at, you know, did I start with an agenda? What were some of my Christians added a wrap up the call? Do I do a next steps? And so when we think about all the things that we can't control moving forward, and we've got that anxiety about what's happening in the future. I just want you to think.

What can we control? And that's what this episode covers today, but getting you focused on what you can control and building the right habits so that you can weather any, any economic storm that is about to occur. So I think you're gonna love this episode. And the great thing about this is we're talking to someone that is out.

They're doing this stuff every single day and they're applying it to achieve some incredible results for themselves. So I hope you take away a lot of positive outcomes from this episode to help you really be the very best sales professional. You can be

Welcome to the show Anna

And I can't wait to sort of break down your rhythm and what you do to, to generate, you know, certain results. But before we get into today's episode, I'd love for you to share a little bit about yourself. How you started in the wacky world of selling.

Like why would I ever go into sales? So. What ended up happening was I was an athlete and we will probably get into that in a little bit, but I was on the track and field team at my university. And I, we use this software called Huddle,, which was a sport software where basically we would film our practices, our meats, then it would upload online to huddle and we'd be able to live in practice, review technique.

I was a jumper, so that was very important. And then. Be able to get on later and, and view my, my meets. And it was an amazing software. And it was actually headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska, which is where I'm from. So I went to university of Nebraska, Huddle was based in Lincoln, Nebraska. They're big all over the country.

You know, college professional high school sports. So ended up getting an entry-level position after college at huddle and the support department. So I was working with all of the angry, frustrated coaches when they couldn't figure out how to work something, or if something was broke, they called us.

And, you know, having to deal with that, imagine dealing with a. Football coach who can get technology to work. It was not a pleasant experience all the time, but I just had a knack for trying to make their experience the best. I love people I'm very extroverted and social. So it was an amazing experience to be able to communicate with them and, and help people.

And I ended up doing very well, like numbers wise, my, obviously my engagement. Yeah. The customers was great. And at that point in time, about a year and a half in our sales team was really growing and we were about to really take off with new product launches. And we actually hired in a new VP of sales that had worked at Oracle if you're familiar with that.

And I believe now he's at Chorus as their CRO. Yeah. So his name is Tiago and he. Quite frankly, just approached me. He was approaching a lot of people in the support department seeing if they wanted to come on board with the sales team. And I think at that point there was only 20 sales reps.

And by the time I ended up leaving, I think that was well over a hundred, but it was a real natural progression of just them. Seeing in me that they think that I would, we good at it. And even then I was still very nervous about it, but almost immediately I loved it and I learned it wasn't much different from what I was doing in, in support, in the aspect of.

Helping and communicating and having product knowledge and everything there. So, so yeah, that, that was my story. And that was I would have been probably about 23 or 24 at that point. So continued working at huddle, the majority of my twenties, and then just recently I've moved over to better up and working in their sales team and in really excited about it. So,

The time management skills, I would take it in like planning my day appropriately to make sure I did get things done, setting goals, right? Like having tangible number goals daily and weekly, making sure I'm hitting those goals, not just hitting them, but going over them. And a lot of it was just like, Like anything practicing, right?

Like you're never going to get better if you don't get in and practice. And I remember just diving in even feeling that those nerves and like that imposter syndrome of what am I doing. But the only way you can get over that is by just continuously showing up and doing the things every day and also not being afraid of failure.

And knowing that if you work in sales, you're going to have to embrace failure because you're going to fail and get nos and get rejected. Many many, many more times, and you're gonna be successful. And, and that could probably come from my athletic background, just being used to that, then that maybe I was more equipped to handle the nose or not get so down on myself, if somebody did like get mad and hang up the phone call right in the middle of a cold call.

Right. That's just the reality. And I haven't really, I haven't actually met anybody. That's, you know, convert 75 to a hundred percent of the opportunities I talk to. That's just the reality. So I love the fact that you've, you know, you've identified that and you've embraced it, but already you're saying things that.

I actually want to talk about, you're talking about discipline. You're talking about practice, you know, space, repetition, doing things over and over and building that confidence in showing up every day. I would love to understand, because you said at Huddle, you used it as an athlete. Can you talk to me about your, what was the process that you went through to evaluate your performance?

And then how did you take that evaluation? To adapt any improved. You know, your, your, your athlete in, in, in what you were doing.

Like you're not going to always remember everything. Exactly. So having those review tools to be able to go back and see that, first of all, it kind of checks you on, on your shit a little bit, you know, you might be lying to yourself or something. But another thing is like, and this is so powerful, not just in sports, but this is why athletes do it a lot.

It's just like, there's a big portion of visual learning. And then after that visualization, so not just like watching yourself. But also watching like the best of the best and seeing how they do it and trying to visualize that in your mind, and then being able to go, go back in your head and then just continuously visualize that I think over time, like there are neurons in your brain that will work.

Essentially like manifest into your reality, if that makes sense. Like it's like you there's been studies done where like the mind is so extremely powerful. And when you're really visualizing how maybe for me like how my triple jump, how I wanted it to go. And I'm just picturing every single move in my head.

Feel my legs striking the ground. How exactly how I want it to look. Well, that can go the same way before a cold call. Right? Like visualizing a pleasant conversation. You just being in flow, you, you know, having all the right answers and if not, you're able to handle it well and, and get the right answers.

And it's kind of like, yeah. Build in confidence, but also there really is something to it that in your brain, like by visualizing at, at some point, if you're able to do it enough, it, it just kind of become. Well, you visualize in your reality eventually.

I'm a big believer in you know, what you think about each and every day you become, and it's actually hard. It's a hard discipline to follow, to continue that element, that vivid, visualization, and goal setting. And, you know, I read a recent study about. The high performing athletes, the Rinaldo's, the LeBron James, and they all had consistent characteristics a day.

Things that they did, there was a consistency. They were committed to their success. They owned their own learning, right. They surrounded themselves with people that could help them. They had a very strong network around them. Positive visualization, goal setters. I loved, I actually loved those attributes because when I look at them, I'm like, Well in selling, we can do that.

They're not super human strengths or superpowers. Like anyone can actually exhibit those attributes and, and, and, and execute on those behaviors. And that's what I love about what you're talking about now is, is saying, well, the review part process is not just about looking at what I could do differently, but then looking at others.

And I think one of the challenges for a lot of salespeople today, They've got the choruses. They've got the gongs. I mean, we've had core recordings for years, but when I talk to sellers, like how many calls did you look back on? And did you calibrate this week? They're like, no. Right. Okay. Well, how, how will you then taking that opportunity to learn?

Like it takes you, you could do it to start a shift to 10 minutes while you're getting your coffee. Put the ear phone, like put the headphones in, listen to the call. Take a step back and go, okay. I've just realized, I've been asking a lot of closed questions. Maybe the next, this morning, I'm going to focus on asking open questions.

I haven't been sitting in agenda. Maybe I'm going to start sitting in agenda, right? I didn't say next steps. I can't going to focus on next steps. Right. And this is where I say that, especially now that the economy's taking a bit of a, a turn, we all, we all hear. I think there's a lot of things that we can't control, but there are so many things that we can't control.

And again, what I love about what you're sharing is owning what you can't control. And I would love to also know when you, when you're talking about review as the, as the athlete, was it hard to kind of put your ego aside for a moment and say, you know, cause you might've felt like you did well, but then when watching it.

How did you, how did you look through your ego?

Relayed perfectly, if it's in a great tone, like they're not being cruel to you with this feedback, you're still like, I still sometimes feel myself like one to like make an excuse right. Immediately. And yeah, it's just, our ego is trying to protect us from the outside world of like shattering, who we think we are inside.

Right. So. So yeah, to, to your point is it's, it is, it's extremely hard to, to go back and review because you probably do have this idea in your head of who you are, or at least who you want to be and facing that and seeing that you might not be there yet can be really hard on a lot of people I think.

And but to your point, like, but that's how we grow and that's the only way we get better because otherwise we're blinded to it and we keep doing the same thing over and over. So for me like I said, I think it's a hundred percent something that can be learned. And it's something that I think is easy for me to do in my sales career now, because it was easy for me to do in track.

Like it was just, I just knew I was showing up every day at practice and we were going to review, like, that was just a part of it. Now to get through that is, yeah, there's a lot of things where I think Sometimes, I think especially sales reps can tie a lot of their self-worth up into them selling and their career and doing well.

And I think seeing, or like missing a quota or watching a bad call can almost like take a stab at your identity and make you feel really down. And I think if you can separate yourself from that and almost thinking of it as like, A game in a sense of just like, I don't know, just being very light and carefree about what's going on and almost like laughing at yourself.

Like I know there's plenty of times where I've laughed at a call of mine because I'm like, why didn't you ask, like, ask that like that. So like having that kind of like fun energy around it, rather than this so serious energy. And also knowing that like, this is how you learn and get better and embracing that, like this sucks right now, reviewing this call and like getting that feedback.

But I know. This is going to be better for me down the line. Like, like what's the what's the consequences. If I don't do this? Well, I might just keep doing the same call and not book meetings and not close deals. And then maybe I get fired. So maybe if you got to think of it like that, like I got to sit here with this bad call, but I know if I adjust and like take it gracefully, then I'm gonna, you know, be better and hopefully be hitting my number at some point. So

Yeah. And I definitely, you know, my. The best, most stones that helped me take a big leap in my career with a moment where there were crisis moments, right? There were moments where things did not go. I lost a major deal. I was told I couldn't sell. Like there was these key moments in my career that when I look back on it, I'm absolutely grateful for it because if they didn't happen, I wouldn't be the professional.

I am today.

And so, you know, this is why I think for many sales professionals that term reinventing themselves and constantly looking at how can I reinvent myself every day because I bring that fresh perspective. How do you make sure that, because you talk about showing up every day, Hey. You know, make sure that when you turn up to work each and every day, you're bringing that fresh perspective so that you can use each day as a leader.

Forward-thinking almost hopeful, optimistic mindset, but this isn't like toxic positivity or anything like that. It's just like, listen, like let's control what we can control and what I can control is what I'm going to do today or this week or this month. So for me it's really easy. And this is why new year's resolution goals.

Like don't, don't end up working as, because you set them at the beginning of the year and then there's no like rechecking in with yourself or tracking or adjusting or asking for help, as you said. And so for me, like to make sure that I'm hitting my goals and this isn't just like sales goals, this is like life goals.

Like I have goals at the end of the, at the beginning of the year that I want for many different things. And so I like, I am. Monthly weekly, daily basis, like checking in on those and seeing where I'm at. And, you know, if it's, if there's tangible numbers to compare, that's great. I can tell if I'm like on track or not.

But just making sure I'm doing that. And then when you're chunking them down to like the daily and weekly goals, Hitting those off creates the motivation for you, for you to keep going. And also lets you know, like, Hey, I'm not hitting this. Like why is that? Do I need to go back and reevaluate? As you said, like, do I need to like take a second and maybe re look at what I'm doing?

And I'm a big believer. If, if, if it's, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Like if it's working for you and going, well, keep going. But like I, I'm also a big believer that, that thing that. Working at some point we'll probably stop working and you just have to be honest with yourself there. And that's where, yeah, like having a community of people around you, like coworkers and managers and asking for that help and dropping the ego is going to be huge because you don't need to do everything the same as this person, but maybe you like a little thing that, you know, Sally over here does.

And then maybe like a little thing Johnny over here does. And one of the things that I always do when I start a new like, career or go on a new team is I try to meet. All the AEs that have been there. And I asked them like, what works best for them? How do they organize their day? And I will get all of what they say they do.

And I'll take the things that I like from each of them and almost, you know, and then apply my own things and build and, and try things out. So. Yeah. I think just being open-minded that, that your way, as you said, like we think we know it all, and then there's a point where we realize like, the more you learn is when you realize you don't know it all, like, there's this point where you do a little bit of research and you're like, I think I'm good.

And then you keep going and then you're like, oh, I don't even know a fraction of what I need to know. So, so yeah, just that open-mindedness like optimism and knowing that like, Hey, like you don't, you weren't put on this earth to like live in and do everything yourself. Like people in resources around you for a reason, grab those because that's what the most successful people are doing.

So, yeah.

And I often talk about that with sellers to say, the focusing on the result is the absolute wrong focus because you can't control the result, but you can't control that. The things that you do each and every day, that leads you to that. And when we, when we, when we focus on those activities, when we focus on the things we can't control, all of a sudden it makes it easier for us to attain that result.

Right. So a lot the concept. So tell us in your role at the moment you're in AA you're performing really well. What does a day in the life, like, how do you structure your day and how do you make sure that at the end of the day you're getting the most out of the time that you're putting into your job?

But at the end of the day, like you have to ask yourself, like, what are. Revenue generating activities, because as you said, that's, what's going to build the pipeline. That's, what's going to eventually hopefully lead to the closes. And so what would those main things be? I would say just off the top of my head is one prospecting, especially if you're in a prospecting role as an AP or an STR, I guess, but prospecting for sure.

Cause he had to build it. And then your pipeline that you have, like making sure you're, you're nurturing that. So without a doubt, like I make those two things. Non-negotiable every part of my day. And if I can get it done at the beginning of the day, just so it's done and I know it's, it's good, then that that's great.

So I think it's really just like being honest with yourself and asking yourself, like same thing with any type of goal for me, I'm like, I know that if I don't get my workout done in the moral. I'm not going to do it. So I get my workout done in the morning. And it's like, you, you get, you become aware if you're aware to where you're thriving the most, at what time, like you can almost like play in your schedule to work for you in a sense, like, you know, like if I work out in the more.

I'm done. I don't have to stress about it. I'm going to be clear-minded for it. And then, you know, if I know, if I don't get my prospecting done in the morning, then I'm probably not going to do it in the, you know, the afternoon or maybe it's flipped. Right. So I think the main thing is like I asked myself, what are the three most important things that I need to get done today that are, is going to move me to.

Long-term goal after that I can fill in the blanks of all the things here and there that I need. Thankfully at better up that there are a lot of meetings all the time. They get thrown on your calendar, like crazy, but they embrace like our CEO literally says, if you don't feel like. You're needed in a meeting.

It's okay to say no, and if you are needed, they'll let you know. And then you go, but if not, then clear it out and get your stuff done. So being able to say no about that. So.

I think, especially we we've, we've really changed. The last two years is hybrid work. A lot of us are still working from home, you know, apart from the folks at Tesla that have to go back to work, most companies have embraced the fact that this working from home model is here to stay. And I think that's presented a few challenges for people because you had distractions.

You've got a lot more distractions. What I heard you talk about at the part, the start was around really making sure you've got the focus, but I love the fact that you said. I tackle the three biggest things, you know, and again, I'm like you, if I don't get my training done in the morning, I actually don't, I haven't got as much clarity.

I feel foggier a hundred percent. I haven't got the same levels of enthusiasm or energy. And then I know that even if I do it at night, first and foremost, I hate training at night. I actually don't enjoy it. But I don't feel the same intensity and I don't feel great I'm ticket because I tick the box, but then I'm taking the box.

I'm not actually enjoying it. Right. So again, personally, I think there's so much benefits, but I'm like you, I tell people, Hey, what works for me doesn't necessarily work for you. You've got to come up with your own operational rhythm, your own. Right. But again, I just loved the fact that you talk about revenue, raising activities.

What's moving the needle, getting the big task around prospecting, done early, focusing on the nurturing and then working on other things that might not be revenue generating outcomes. So I absolutely love that. And when you feel that you're not on track, what do you do to make a change? Because again, I think a lot of us know.

I talked to hundreds of salespeople. I've trained hundreds of week and most know what they need to do, but there are many that struggled to actually do it. Right. So when you find yourself in that position where you've like, right, these are the things I need to do. And then you look back and go, fuck this isn't happening.

What do you do to get yourself back on track?

But the majority of the time motivation doesn't usually come until after you've done it a few times. Right? Yeah. So it's like sometimes I just tell myself with like, whether it's running or prospecting and I'm like, just do. Do three calls, three calls. And if it's really like, if you're really hating it, then quit.

But usually then I start getting into flow and I have that motivation cause maybe one of those three calls was a good call and I created a, an opportunity or I scheduled a first meeting and that's super exciting. And then there sparks the motivation and then the, the excitement to continue, same thing for running like in the morning, I'm like, I don't want to get out of bed.

I'm like, well, Put your clothes on that are sitting right next to it. Like put your shoes on and if you really don't want to go, then you can take them off. And it's like, at that point, you're like, well, I bet you might as well go. Or maybe I run for five minutes. Right? Like that's what kind of sparks you into action.

Action is usually what creates that consistent motivation, but it is hard. Like I'm telling you as a. Like, I'd like to say very disciplined person. It is still very hard for me. I'm not going to pretend like I am the master at this, but it is it's, it's just one of those things where it's like, you have to almost put yourself in the future and be like, okay, like, I really don't want to do this now, but how am I.

I feel at the end of the quarter when I'm nowhere near my goal. And I think back to moments like this, and I'm going to be really, really disappointed in myself and all the times that I chose not to, when it was very easily, I was able to do it in that moment. So those are a lot of things. I, I tend to like remind myself of when I'm feeling like that.

You've done a whole lot of positive things from an athletics perspective. You transferred. That skillset, that discipline that desire and motivation into a career in sales and your pathway for sale for selling. It is amazing. So I just want to say thanks for, for being a guest in our podcast. But before we wrap up, where can our listeners find and engage with you?

So yeah, I just want to say thanks very much for, and I love the insights that you shared with.

This episode was digitally transcribed.