Transforming Sales Success: From Mindset to Mastery

Guest: Jad Jagmohan, graduate of the Systematic Selling Strategies Fundamentals program, works at Mimecast as a distributor for the Belden brand of structured cabling systems in the UAE.

00:00:08 – 00:01:12
There’s a big difference between knowing what to do and doing what you know — ignorance is a thief of people achieving their true potential. Today I have Jad Jagmohan, a graduate from our Systematic Selling Strategies Fundamentals program, who’s had a really amazing transformation.

00:01:12 – 00:02:03
I work at Mimecast, a distributor for the Belden brand of structured cabling systems, on projects in the UAE — mainly high-premium projects like hotels, airports, schools, luxury buildings, dealing with contractors in a very competitive landscape.

00:02:03 – 00:02:24
You said something in an interview: “If only I knew what I knew” — can you elaborate?

00:02:24 – 00:02:52
If I’d known that applying a specific process during my sales career — in client meetings — would elevate the quality and results, I would have done it long ago.

00:03:44 – 00:04:07
On mindset: I wasn’t taking things that seriously, and having a winning mindset changed my approach to other people.

00:04:23 – 00:05:07
A winning mindset levels up the quality of my meetings and my work — through the course I learned minor things that, applied and being aware of them, level up meeting quality and how I approach clients.

00:05:38 – 00:06:09
Quality of a meeting is affected by so many minor things — body language, tone of voice, planning before the meeting about the client, what’s affecting their project and situation.

00:06:09 – 00:06:30
When you plan properly, what happens to your confidence? It’s so much more motivational and builds confidence — being prepared means not having to say “I’ll check back with you later.”

00:07:09 – 00:07:50
If there’s a lack of confidence, it affects your tonality, then affects the meeting and the trust between you and the client. I’d go to project sites and meet customers with little to no planning, and I’d have to say “I’ll check and let you know” when asked questions I didn’t know.

00:08:09 – 00:08:57
On site, there’s the client himself, the consultant — I wouldn’t want to waste the opportunity to meet them without enough detail about the project, its constraints, its problems. I’d rather not enter the office unless confident enough to have a real conversation.

00:09:03 – 00:09:24
Your willingness to do the extra mile and follow the steps we shared gave you confidence, because you only have one chance to make the right impression.

00:09:49 – 00:10:16
On fear: there was always a belief of lack of information that created fear about reaching out to a specific important person along the project.

00:10:37 – 00:11:01
You weren’t confident approaching the key stakeholder, the direct client — the decision maker about everything.

00:11:01 – 00:11:29
Instead you held back, dealing with people you knew, staying in your comfort zone rather than taking that extra mile.

00:11:29 – 00:11:55
How did you overcome that fear? I had this strong belief I shouldn’t reach the decision maker, and I knew the difficulties created by that fear — not sharing who I am, what I work for, and how I can help him.

00:11:55 – 00:12:16
It’s not about selling your product, it’s about selling the value of the solution he’s looking for — giving him value, not just selling for myself.

00:12:16 – 00:12:41
Along the way, meeting him became my main goal for the project. I gathered details through planning and the right mindset, building confidence.

00:12:41 – 00:13:03
Eventually I met him, presented myself with a small presentation to let him know he could trust me and that I was offering him value.

00:13:27 – 00:13:56
Having a good mindset helped me take the extra mile to get more details, find his weaknesses and pain points, and respond to him in a way that built trust.

00:14:20 – 00:14:43
What did that lead to? Applying planning, gathering details, and especially listening — not waiting for him to finish so I could ask another question.

00:14:43 – 00:15:05
This changed how I do meetings — the five levels of listening make the other person feel it’s easier to open up, saying things they wouldn’t say to a stranger.

00:15:05 – 00:15:30
People buy from people they know, like, and trust — active listening (level three), listening and summarizing what someone says, enhances liking and trust.

00:16:13 – 00:16:58
Applying these minor details led to closing a deal — over 1 million dirhams, on a residential project, which are usually really hard for us. Building trust and relationship let him open up about his pain and weaknesses, which I could then solve.

00:16:58 – 00:17:19
Through the sale, I was able to verbally close 4 to 5 more projects with him.

00:17:19 – 00:17:37
After meeting him a couple of times and building trust, he told me “I’m working on this, this is yours” — even as the decision maker himself.

00:19:01 – 00:19:27
Let’s look at sales activity management. You found this opportunity going in cold — what happened?

00:19:27 – 00:20:03
Without planning and mapping what you’re doing, you won’t achieve the results you want. Everyone has a CRM or something to monitor, but rarely uses it consistently — maybe once a week or once a month.

00:20:03 – 00:21:08
Through the course and the activity-tracking application, whenever I finished a site visit, I’d log it — less than one minute per activity, a phone call logged in 5-10 seconds. After a day, I could open the app and monitor what I was doing and the business generated from those activities.

00:21:08 – 00:21:26
It shows you the problem — why you’re not doing as much business, you can go back to your activities and find out what’s wrong. Every input has an output.

00:21:52 – 00:22:13
You took ownership of those activities rather than seeing them as your manager checking on you — you wanted to see why you were or weren’t selling as much.

00:22:13 – 00:22:57
Motivation comes from taking action — pressing the button after a call feels good, so you want to press the next one. It causes you to take more actions, like playing a game.

00:23:32 – 00:24:00
Let’s move to closing and objection handling. What were some “ahas” you didn’t know you didn’t know?

00:24:07 – 00:24:30
The more you meet people and close projects, the more objections you receive — you have to evaluate yourself on what you did wrong to decrease them.

00:24:30 – 00:24:58
I had a fear of being objected to, of hearing “no” and interpreting it as the person not wanting to deal with me — I didn’t have the courage to try again and evaluate what I did wrong.

00:24:58 – 00:25:37
One door closed, but many other doors can be opened — you just need to try them. Fear of objection restrains you from achieving your goals.

00:25:37 – 00:26:02
After planning and information from this course, I understood you’ll always receive a no sometimes — but if you evaluate yourself and monitor everything, you’ll find out what you missed, and do better next time.

00:26:30 – 00:26:54
This is a puzzle — building rapport, identifying needs, understanding pain and gain, looking at consequences and benefits — it doesn’t happen in one hour or one day, it’s a long process.

00:27:15 – 00:27:38
In a growing market with high demand, people buy for many reasons — I once asked a purchase manager in Saudi why he buys the same product from 2-3 suppliers. He said he can’t rely on one supplier — he needs backup plans.

00:28:19 – 00:28:42
What’s awesome is distinguishing yourself through planning and forecasting, building the relationship to the next level, integrating yourself within the business.

00:28:42 – 00:29:10
What is this course worth to you in your career? It helps plan my whole sales career, helps me understand why I’m receiving objections, helps me adjust myself and the situation to get the results I want.

00:30:25 – 00:30:47
What did you learn about relationships? At first my meetings were just business — talking about work, getting sales, but not as much as I wanted.

00:30:47 – 00:31:13
Through planning, monitoring, and evaluation, I understood that building trust and relationship with the customer, as two human beings, improves sales and life.

00:31:13 – 00:31:54
Having a good relationship helps close projects much faster, having confidence in a meeting instead of a long back-and-forth process, which saves time and cost.

00:32:10 – 00:32:52
Another win: identifying stakeholders and decision makers on an interesting project, gathering information, and building a relationship that helped collaborate with the decision maker.

00:33:22 – 00:33:49
Body language, the right tone, finding common ground between me and him has definitely improved my relationship — he started opening up, talking in a funny way, not just serious business questions.

00:34:12 – 00:34:36
Remember when you said “I didn’t know what I didn’t know”? The planning process of sales, the details to improve meeting quality — I didn’t know about those at all, including research about the company and the country affecting the project.

00:35:26 – 00:35:49
The more you practice, the more you can teach it — when you start teaching, you become so much better.

00:36:16 – 00:36:40
Teaching something to someone is the ultimate level of mastery — you become the master.

00:37:00 – 00:37:20
I met a project contact 3-4 times, and yesterday closed two more projects.

00:37:20 – 00:37:46
Three months ago I passed by a project site in Business Bay with no one there, wrote it down as a lead in the application, and mapped it would take six months for the integrator to buy from me.

00:37:46 – 00:38:06
Yesterday, in a meeting, he told me he’s working on this project — I told him I’m already working on it too, and he said “this project is yours.”

00:38:06 – 00:38:30
I saved months of work — not knowing who was the consultant or contractor, now I know everything.

00:38:30 – 00:38:58
Any recommendations for people considering the course? Looking back at where I was before, it’s a massive change in my daily life and activities — I was doing a lot of things but not getting the results I wanted.

00:39:30 – 00:39:49
I’d recommend it to everyone — colleagues from different departments ask me what I’m doing differently, and I love sharing what I learned.

00:40:06 – 00:40:40
Today AI is here to stay, creating a big gap between those who are AI-enabled and those who aren’t — the same gap exists for those who remain unequipped in selling.

00:41:05 – 00:41:27
Today’s biggest gap in the world isn’t not knowing what to do, but doing what you know. Until next time, sell more, sell faster and profitably.

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