S02E04 – The One with Anthony Iannarino

Anthony Iannarino is a highly respected international speaker, bestselling author, entrepreneur, and sales leader specializing in the complex business-to-business (B2B) sale. He is also a founder and managing partner of two closely-held, family-owned businesses in the staffing industry, leading both entities in strategic planning while growing sales. Anthony is best known for his work at The Sales Blog, which has helped him gain recognition as a top thought leader in sales strategy. He is also the designer of Level 4 Value Creation™ and Building Consensus, methodologies that help sales organizations achieve transformational, breakthrough results. I initially found Anthony’s work through his book ‘The Only Sales You’ll Ever Need’ and I was instantly hooked – his clear and direct method in approaching sales is refreshing and its so conscise that I was instantly hooked on his work. This episode of The SalesChange Podcast covers –

• Selling and prospecting during COVID times
• The answer to ‘Should we continue selling?’
• What did Anthony do immediately at the start of the pandemic?
• The creative process behind writing for Anthony.
• How Anthony would sell plastic valves! (Thats Matt’s day job..)
• Answers to the ‘SalesChange 5’ questions.

On every SalesChange Podcast – we ask the guests to answer 5 standard questions – here are the responses from Anthony Iannarino.

• What was the last book you read?

Anthony – Depth Psychology and the New Ethic by Erich Neumann – its a book about how your subconscious and unconscious mind drive most of your beliefs and behaviours.

• What did you want to be when you grew up?

Anthony – A rockstar.. And I still do!

• Whats the worst job you could imagine doing?

Anthony – Any job where I had to take direction from someone else and I wasnt allowed to use my creativity, resourcefulness and my initiative.

• What’s the worst sales mistake you’ve ever made?

Anthony –  Early on, I would trust people far too much that they would do the things that they say they would do. So, I have a verbal commitment from a client after 5 meetings and I never asked if there was other options that he was exploring and suddenly, he signed with a competitor. I was supposed to pick the contract up on Monday and I left on the Friday but he signed with my competitor right after meeting with me because I trusted him too much and didnt get that commitment.

• Who’s the leader you look up to the most?

Anthony –  Marcus Aurelius – The fairminded leader who was concerned with the people that he led. Links

• Connect with Anthony Iannarino on LinkedIn
• The Sales Blog Website
• Anthony’s Books on Amazon