How to Develop the Mindset of Sales Champions – In Just 7 Minutes with Ian Koniak

Resources/Links:

• Wanting to learn what are the top ten sales traits you should have? Click here: untapyoursalespotential.com/top-traits

Summary

Do you feel like you keep on hustling and grinding but just end up exhausted and getting nowhere? Are you tired of feeling like you’re missing something in life to get you to that next step?

Hustling isn’t always the answer and way to grow your business and sales. Achieving your goals isn’t just done through the snap of a finger. More activity doesn’t necessarily mean more money and more about you means less of the client.

Ian Koniak is a sales coach that helps account executives go from good to great by mastering the mindset, habits, and skills needed to perform at the highest level in sales. With over 100M sold in his career, Ian was the former #1 Enterprise Account Executive at Salesforce.com.

Grab a seat and listen to what Ian has to say about the hustle culture and what it takes to develop the mindset of a sales champion without much of the grind!

Check out these episode highlights:

• 02:14 – Ian’s ideal client: My ideal client, there are, really, two ideal clients. The first one is just the person that wants to perform to their full potential. So typically, this is an account executive selling, you know, software or something that has the high ticket potential similar to Salesforce.
• 03:34 – The problem he helps solve: The problem I solve was really limiting beliefs. And a lot of times, people, fundamentally, they have that internal thermostat, if you will, that says, “You know, I’m used to playing at 70 degrees. I’m not at 80 or 93 degrees.”
• 04:30 – The symptoms of the problem: They’re beating themselves up! They’re saying, “Why do I keep doing the same things over and over again? I know I need to be showing up differently.” A lot of the symptoms are they’re frustrated, they’re overwhelmed, they’re stressed.
• 05:42 – Clients’ common mistakes before consulting Ian: A big mistake is they think they can do more activity. “I’m going to just work harder. I’m just going to call more people. I’m going to just email more people. I’m just going to ramp up my activity and hustle.”
• 06:20 – Ian’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): I would say the number one thing they can do is, and this is easier said than done, it’s not like just an overnight thing. But the reason people are struggling is because they’re making it all about them, their inward focus.
• 07:39 – Ian’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Wanting to learn what are the top ten sales traits you should have? Click here: untapyoursalespotential.com/top-traits
• 08:24 – Q: What’s my favorite thing about Australia? A: I love the people in Australia! And my favorite place in Australia was the Whitsunday Islands. And I miss it and it was a wonderful year there!

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“Instead of worrying about your goals, make your focus to help understand your customers' goals and help them achieve it through the products, services, or solutions that you sell.” -Ian Koniak Share on X

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Tom Poland 00:10
Hello, everyone, and a very warm welcome to another edition of Marketing the Invisible. I’m Tom Poland joined today by Ian Kodiak. Ian, a very warm g’day from Down Under. Sir, where are you hanging out?

Ian Koniak 00:20
I’m in Los Angeles, California. Big fan of Australia so great to be here!

Tom Poland 00:24
Yeah, you were here for a year, a little birdie told me. Not too far away from where I am either. So, you’ve had a taste of Aussie and the same little bird told me it’s hot as hell in LA at the moment, right?

Ian Koniak 00:35
In inner LA, yes, but I’m by the beach, so we have the nice coast. And it’s about 82 degrees. I don’t know what that converts for Celsius, but it’s pretty warm. We’re in a heat warning, when you get that out of the weather app, you know it’s hot.

Tom Poland 00:51
Right. Alright, so Ian, a very warm welcome. Folks, if you haven’t heard of Ian, he’s a giver, that’s first and foremost. He does these interviews not to get more business in the door, but just so that he can share stuff that’s going to help people. His thing is sales coaching. He helps account executives, and if you’re selling something as a coach or a consultant, or you’re going to a corporation– that’s you! He helps them go from good to great by mastering the mindset, which, I think, is just so missing from sales conversations, you know. It’s the foundation to help master the mindset, the habits, and the skills, the complete package, in other words, to perform at the highest level in sales. Now, Ian has started a race, the metaphorical equivalent of a race, to the top of Mount Everest with hundreds and hundreds of competitors and got there the top. He sold $100 million in his own career, and he was the former #1 Enterprise Account Executive at Salesforce.com. That is nothing short of winning a sprint race to the top of Mount Everest. It’s extraordinary! And my congratulations on that. But essentially what it means is that you are one of the best-qualified people to talk about mindset, to talk about habits, and talk about skills. So, let’s get going! The subject is, “How to Develop the Mindset of Champions”. Ian, our seven minutes is going to start now. Question number one, sir, who’s your ideal client?

Ian Koniak 02:14
My ideal client, there are, really, two ideal clients. The first one is just the person that wants to perform to their full potential. So typically, this is an account executive selling, you know, software or something that has the high ticket potential similar to Salesforce. And they know they could be doing better, but they don’t know what to do. They’ve tried it on their own. They’re either performing average, or a little below average, maybe good, but not great, right? So, I really do help those people tap into what makes you phenomenal– the best of the best. Because my story was that I struggled and I was that average person, and I didn’t know what to do until I got help. And now I have the fortune of helping others figure out how to overcome what’s inside of them that’s holding them back. So, I coach mostly account executives and help figure out how they can get to the very best that they can be. And with that comes income fulfillment, a lot of times, confidence, so those are the people I work with.

Tom Poland 03:19
Thank you, sir. Thank you. So, five minutes and 50 left. You’ve probably defined the problem you solved quite well already. Anything you want to add to that? Is it lack of leads, or a lack of conversions, or the whole thing– from generating leads to getting that prospect over the line and buying?

Ian Koniak 03:34
The problem I solve was really limiting beliefs. And a lot of times, people, fundamentally, they have that internal thermostat, if you will, that says, “You know, I’m used to playing at 70 degrees. I’m not at 80 or 93 degrees.” Or they get hot, and they cool themselves down and they get cold, and they work themselves up. But they’re used to fully working in their comfort zone and kind of like not thinking they could be number one in their company or, you know, get their dream life possible. So, I help people break free of that which holds them back. And it’s often just their own patterns, their own habits, their own limiting beliefs, and thoughts.

Tom Poland 04:10
Thank you, sir. Five minutes left. What about some of the symptoms that someone listening to this would give them a heads up and say, “Yeah, I have those symptoms. I need to find out more about what Ian is doing”? And one of them probably is, you mentioned right at the start, they have this feeling they could be doing a whole lot better. So, I guess one of them is a bit of frustration. What else are they going to be experiencing?

Ian Koniak 04:30
They’re beating themselves up! They’re saying, “Why do I keep doing the same things over and over again? I know I need to be showing up differently.” A lot of the symptoms are they’re frustrated, they’re overwhelmed, they’re stressed. And a big one is they believe and think that something is missing in their life, right? There’s a big void that they’re trying to fill and a lot of times that void is the pursuit of their full potential and they’re just kind of like a hamster in a wheel, running around, doing the same things, frustrated unhappy, really just kind of living an empty existence, if you will, in the world of sales. That’s really stressed out and constantly just running around like a chicken with its head cut off. That’s a good way to-

Tom Poland 05:14
That’s a really interesting big picture take! We’re talking about, you know, someone’s life, right? We’re talking about how they’re feeling about themselves. And the interactions with their friends and their loved ones have probably an impact as well. Three and three-quarter minutes left, real quick, what would you say are some of the common mistakes after they’ve finished beating themselves up? People are going to try stuff. What would you say are a couple of the big mistakes that people make, instead of fixing the problem, they’re really doing something else that’s not going to work for them anyhow. Three and a half minutes left.

Ian Koniak 05:42
A big mistake is they think they can do more activity. “I’m going to just work harder. I’m just going to call more people. I’m going to just email more people. I’m just going to ramp up my activity and hustle.” Rather than changing their skills, getting help mentoring people, learning and modeling how to actually do it past their level. They just do more of what they were doing. That’s very clear.

Tom Poland 06:02
I’m doing 10 calls a day, and it’s an absolute disaster, so I’ll do 20 calls. I just doubled the disaster, right?

Ian Koniak 06:09
Yeah, they try and hustle harder.

Tom Poland 06:10
So, let’s go to question five, just under three minutes left, give us a top tip, a valuable free action someone can take. It’s not going to solve the whole problem, but it might take them a step in the right direction.

Ian Koniak 06:20
I would say the number one thing they can do is, and this is easier said than done, it’s not like just an overnight thing. But the reason people are struggling is because they’re making it all about them, their inward focus. They’re focused on their quote attainment, their income, their goals, and making it all about them. But when you’re making everything about you, okay, your customers are not going to receive you in the best possible way. So instead of worrying about your goals, make your focus to help to understand your customers’ goals and help them achieve it through the products, services, or solutions that you sell. So that shift from inward to outward focus is by far the biggest shift somebody can make. And it takes leaving your ego at the door, frankly.

Tom Poland 07:08
I mean, you’ve carried that through into your professional life, the whole giving mentality, the whole thinking about the other person mentality, the kind of, I suppose you have in the back of your mind, still, there’s a goal there. But the attitude is, “Let me help.” And I would venture to suggest you’ve probably carried that throughout your personal life as well. That must have been one of the big shifts you’ve made. I’ll carry on. A valuable free resource, questions six. Just over a minute and a half left. Where can people go to find out more about tapping their sales potential?

Ian Koniak 07:39
Well, it’s just there. It’s untapyoursalespotential.com. And if you want a free resource to really figure out what are those qualities of those top elite sellers, go to untapyoursalespotential.com/top-traits. Top traits, I’m sure we’ll put in the show notes. Tom will give that for you, but that’s where you’re going next. It’s a nice freebie, one-pager that you can keep with you and figure out what pages will you need to develop. I also will send, when you download that, a series of tips on each of the trades and how to develop them.

Tom Poland 08:11
Fantastic! So that’s untapyoursalespotential.com/top-traits. T-R-A-I-T-S. We’ve got a whopping 40 seconds left. Ian, what’s the one question I should have asked you but didn’t?

Ian Koniak 08:24
Well, you should’ve asked me my favorite thing about Australia. And since you didn’t-

Tom Poland 08:29
Apart from me, what’s your favorite thing about Australia?

Ian Koniak 08:32
I love the people in Australia! And my favorite place in Australia was the Whitsunday Islands. And I miss it and it was a wonderful year there! So, the people and the countryside, it’s just so beautiful there and I loved living there. I want to take my wife back when we’re older.

Tom Poland 08:52
Yeah, come on over. I’ll get the coffee ready for you! Come and visit. Ian, thanks so much for your time and your insights, and your generosity and giving. Cheers!

Ian Koniak 09:01
Thank you, Tom.

Tom Poland 07:51
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.