Todd Caponi

It's no surprise, but when a website is acting as a salesperson, we all read reviews today. However, what may be a surprise is that 82% of us skim past the 5-star reviews, and prefer to read the negative reviews first - the 4's, 3's, 2's and 1's. Across all product categories, the optimal product review score for conversion (i.e., a sale) is between a 4.2-4.5. Read More >

In other words, a 4.2 sells better than even a product that has nothing but 5-star reviews.

Imperfection sells better than perfection.

I went on a journey to find out why - and quickly discovered the behavioral science behind how we, as human beings, make decisions; how we engage, prioritize, decide and buy.

It doesn't matter whether it's a website acting as the salesperson, or a human being in a business-to-business setting, when we embrace transparency and actually lead with our solution's shortcomings, sales cycles accelerate, win rates rise, we qualify IN opportunities we should win, and qualify OUT the deals we're likely to lose anyway - only faster.

Transparency sells better than perfection - and due to the proliferation of reviews & feedback on everything we do, buy and experience, we now have to do it anyway. This talk shows you how. Read Less ^

Logic is polarizing to the human brain. We see it every day in politics, in the opinions of how we should be adjusting to this pandemic, and we see it in sales. Read More >

Leading your presentations with data, ROI, stats and figures does not work - not in times of uncertainty, and not ever.

We all make decisions using feelings and emotions.

The typical we-we-we presentation starts with logic - the mission statement, awards, locations, products and the dreaded NASCAR logo slide. Given what we now know about how our brains engage, this must be changed.

In this session, we’ll explore why a typical presentation doesn’t work, and how to choreograph your sales presentations like a reality makeover TV show - to not only tell a great story, but compel the audience to action. Read Less ^

Have you ever felt like learning to negotiate takes an entirely different personality than that required to aid the buyer through the rest of their decision making journey? We build trust, build a relationship, then when the customer says "yes", we start lying...using negotiation techniques taught in hostage negotiation classes. Read More >

We're not negotiating the release of hostages - it doesn't have to be that hard.

In today's environment, we're also dealing with every executive's priority - extending their runway. They will still buy, but it will be focused on the essentials. And when they do buy, they will coming harder and stronger.

There has never been a more important time to have a simple, easy-to-implement framework for how you present, propose and negotiate pricing.

There has never been a more important time to ensure you're also building and maintaining trust right through the goal line, and making the buying journey as effortless as possible.

Negotiating price doesn't have to be any different. Read Less ^

Sales has a sordid past. On Gallup's annual list of most-to-least trusted professions, sales typically resides near the bottom, just ahead of Senators and Members of Congress. Read More >

Why?

In this talk, Todd tells the interesting, funny and weird stories that make up the modern history of sales - including stories about the hard-drinking and back-slapping "Drummers" who ruled the sales world in the 1800's; Snake Oil "Medicine Men" implementing some amazing techniques to drive sales into the early 1900's, and how even the President of the United States banked on the sales profession to drive the US economy in the 1910's.

Todd also tells the amazing stories of whether the Father of American Literature, Mark Twain, was also the pioneer of sales enablement and training - the hilarity of Phrenology in sales, random sales philosophies and methodologies over the years, and how technology has accelerated the need to evolve rapidly.

Buckle up for Todd's review of the true history of sales, chock full of goodness & weirdness. Read Less ^

Consensus selling is hard. With everyone now working remotely, consensus buying just became even harder. And, given that when making a decision, our brains subconsciously stack the deck towards the easier path, your “up-market” buying journey won’t work in a “down-market”. Read More >

There’s good news!

Using the behavioral science of transparency and clinical empathy, we can stack the deck back in our direction. In this session, we’ll explore ways how to optimize your selling approach to optimize for today’s buying brain.

Attendees will walk away from this session with a foundational understanding of decision making, relatability with the concept of "Remote Buyer Bias", easy-to-implement steps to adjust your messaging, and a path to optimize the buying journey. Read Less ^

With so much uncertainty all around us, how do you, as a leader, ensure your team has as much support, engagement and success as possible? Read More >

The phrase, "salespeople are coin-operated" is true - if you're doing it wrong.

When variable compensation becomes the reward for doing the work your team is passionate about instead of the motivator, everyone wins.

Using the latest research in behavioral science and leadership, this session will teach you a framework for optimizing the "Six F's of Sales Engagement" - where your team will love what they do, who they do it for, who they do it with, stay, perform, and tell their friends. Read Less ^