Episode 272: Kendra Lee
Meet
Kendra Lee
Kendra Lee is author of The Sales Magnet and founder of KLA Group, a sales and marketing agency that takes the mystery out of growth for small and medium companies.
Our Mission Is To Change The Negative Perception Of Sales People
Our Vision Is A World Where Selling Is A Profession To Be Proud Of
Kendra believes the way we sell has changed forever. Now, we have a whole new way we can work with people that we can layer onto traditional selling. You don’t have to get on a plane or drive to meet a prospective customer—you can still connect with people digitally. Digital selling allows you to meet with more people and connect with them in bite-size pieces.
Plus, if you’re going to be successful with selling, you need to try new things. Kendra points out that you should have been selling digitally before the pandemic hit. The pandemic should have just accelerated your current strategy.
Outline of This Episode
- [1:03] The difference between digital and social selling
- [1:41] How to improve digital selling capabilities
- [3:11] The perfect digital selling strategy
- [5:02] Attributes and characteristics of a great digital seller
- [6:33] Continued communication is key
- [8:05] Kendra’s top 3 digital selling dos and don’ts
- [11:13] Be on the leading edge of technology
Attributes and characteristics of a great digital seller
They can be trained on a CRM, how to use LinkedIn, etc. but people most often get tripped up on video. Why? Because you are front and center. You can’t look down and take notes and it’s difficult to look someone in the eyes. Salespeople have to master connecting and engaging through video.
Kendra also emphasizes that writing has never been a more critical skill than it is now. You have to be able to write emails, text messages, and social media posts. Emotional intelligence is also critical. Can you sense another person’s feelings when you’re limited with body language?
Continued communication is key
Kendra believes that continued communication is important from a strategy perspective. Whether it’s recapping a conversation via email, video, or text—you need to stay in touch frequently. In the past, salespeople didn’t always do this and could get away with it. But things are more competitive now than ever before. If you’re going to differentiate yourself, frequent communication via a variety of tools is important.
Kendra’s top 3 digital selling dos and don’ts
Kendra’s digital selling dos and don’ts are stellar:
- Don’t shy away from using your camera, even if your client doesn’t turn there’s on.
- Communicate more frequently using different mediums—including text messages.
- Pay close attention to what your prospects and clients are saying so you can tailor your discussion.
- Don’t use the same canned email for every sales situation. Sequences can help you streamline the process but the sequence needs to be tailored so your prospects and clients feel heard.
- Don’t use the same communication method. Kendra had a prospect that wouldn’t respond to email or voicemail. So she sent a LinkedIn message to mix it up. If you have their cell phone number—and they use it in their email signature—it’s perfectly acceptable to send them a text.
- Don’t shy away from using the phone. It was the “first” digital strategy.
Be on the leading edge of technology
When Kendra first started in sales, she had too many clients to cover on her own. Kendra had 300 installed accounts. She didn’t have time for everything she had to do and still hit her quota. She couldn’t go out and meet with every single client and collect orders, which felt like the most important part of the process. You need that face-to-face interaction and connection.
But why couldn’t she get some of the information from a fax (which at the time was new technology)? She’d simply start to accept orders from clients via fax. Ever since, she consistently looks at her process and asks, “What can I do that’s different from everyone else? How can I be the leading edge and stand out?”
Kendra got an award for taking orders over a fax machine because no one had done it before. All because she took initiative and focused on being on the leading edge of technology.
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Learn More About Kendra Lee
Who do you most admire in the sphere of Digital or Social Selling and why? Two immediately jump to mind:
- Brynne Tillman for her expertise in LinkedIn Navigator.
- Julie Hansen for her guidance in how to sell on video.
Are there any aspects of your own Digital or Social Selling skills that you are working on improving at the moment? There are two:
- Emotional intelligence to be able to convey it through the digital sales process. People are easily distracted with digital so they may miss how you are trying to relate to them.
- Always social selling because it’s constantly changing and is a great tool for digital selling.
Hobbies, Interests? I love being outdoors. I run every day rain or shine, with my dog, of course. In winter, I’m an avid skier.
How can our listeners contact with you? Call! 303-741-6636, Email: Kendra.lee@klagroup.com or on LinkedIn
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