Speaker 1 (00:02):

Welcome to She Sells Radio. My guest today is someone who I have so much respect for in the sales community, and she’s on a mission to empower more women to get into sales and sales leadership. So let me share a bit of her background in her bio and then we’re gonna get into what I know is gonna be a really powerful interview. So, Lori Richardson wants to attract more women to sales and sales leadership after 15 years in B2B selling and sales leadership. When not running sales consultancy score more sales. Lori Heads Women’s Sales Pros, a community showcasing top women in sales. She created the She Sales Summit to bring more than a dozen women in sales groups together for bi-annual virtual events. And she hosts the award-winning Conversations with Women in Sales podcast, which I was super honored to come on and chat with her a couple months ago on that show, A top sales thought leader and sought after National speaker. Lori is also the author of the book She Sells, Attract, Promote, and Retain, Retain Great Women in B2B Sales. Lori, welcome to the podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:05):

Thanks Elise. It’s so great to be here.

Speaker 1 (01:08):

It is so great to be here. And I’m sure my, my listeners are like, Okay, well you all definitely have the She Cells in common <laugh>.

Speaker 2 (01:14):

We do.

Speaker 1 (01:16):

We’ve

Speaker 2 (01:16):

Been on our little parallel track. So,

Speaker 1 (01:19):

But here’s what I so appreciate about that cuz you and I just really connected this year, like for the first time, you know, one on one, even though we’ve got mutual friends and mutual acquaintances. And what I loved about it was when we both kind of realized, oh, like we’re both really passionate about this and, and this brand. It was such a collaborative type of conversation. And I feel like that’s, you know, getting to know you and getting to know your heart, I feel like that’s so much of who you are, which is how can we elevate the community in sales for women. And so I wanna start by talking about, we’re, we’re gonna talk more about the work you’re doing and how more women can get into sales and get promoted in sales. But can we just start with some of your backstory, if someone is not familiar with you and your work and what you’ve done, what got you into sales? Tell us a little bit about your journey there and uh, we’ll, we’ll take it from there.

Speaker 2 (02:12):

Yeah. I grew up in Seattle, Washington. I was, um, youngest of five and my mom had really severe migraines, so she got on medication, which made her sleep a lot, unfortunately. But I luckily got, uh, under the wing of my grandmother who had a women’s clothing store and I kind of grew up in her store and worked from the time I was, you know, pretty small steaming merchandise in the back. And it was, uh, you know, a nicer women’s apparel store. So she, her competition would be like Nordstrom at the time. Oh. Which was very small back then in Seattle. And she, you know, just took me along and I went with her to the market weeks to buy the merchandise. And I saw her interact with a lot of really aggressive men who came in to sell clothing to her and all the other buyers who were buying for their stores.

Speaker 2 (03:12):

And I, and I really saw her stand up to these guys and she knew who her clientele was and if they showed her some trend that she knew her, her customers didn’t like, she would say no, because my customers won’t buy it. And sometimes they would say, Oh, Mrs. Hall, you’re crazy. Like, you’re, you’re out of it. You’re just too, you know, you’re, it’s too, you’re too outdated. This is the latest thing. And then she wouldn’t buy it and it would be a trend and not an ongoing, uh, product. And they would apologize to her at the, up at the next market week that we would go to and they’d say, Oh, Mrs. Hall, you were right. Mid skirts or maxi skirts or whatever they were, you know, you were, you were totally right. And she goes, Yeah, I know <laugh>. And so I think from a early age I learned that that was a woman in my life who, who could stand up to, to the strong opinions of, of men. And, and so when I got into sales, I was in my early twenties and I became a single mom. So I was working as a teacher, but I couldn’t, uh, make the money that I needed to support my family. So I, I found technology sales and I was able to maneuver some of the more aggressive, you know, folks and was able to, you know, launch a career in technology and, you know, have been around it ever since.

Speaker 1 (04:44):

How many, I I’m curious when you got into technology sales, how many women were there on the sales team or around you?

Speaker 2 (04:50):

Yeah, I was really lucky because I worked for this company. So this was early eighties or mid eighties, 1984 is when the Macintosh came out. If anybody saw those co saw replays of those commercials, um, that Apple made ingeniously and I, I sold the first IBM computers and the first compact computers and Hewlett Packard. And yeah. And I was lucky because at the company I ended up at, we had a couple of really amazing women, um, in corporate sales and we had, uh, I had a couple of female peers and it wasn’t anything about gender. It was so, uh, I don’t know, I just feel like it was like a cocoon where I got my first, um, sense of, you know, working in technology and e you know, occasionally customers would be a pain that male customers would be kind of a, an issue. But other than that, um, we got along great and, and then it was my second, it was my next company that I went to that had, you know, bigger comp plan and bigger this and bigger that where they had never hired a woman in field sales, so they had zero.

Speaker 2 (06:07):

And so I had to overcome multiple interviews and multiple, you know, comments. And ultimately, you know, I got hired and within 90 days I closed a, a multimillion dollar deal, which was, uh, great. Worked out well, timing was good on that one. And it was an opportunity that the previous guy whose territory I took over, uh, this company wouldn’t give him an opportunity cuz they didn’t like him. So our company wouldn’t have gotten the deal unless I or someone else, you know, had come in to, to work with this prospective customer. So that made me feel good. Like it wasn’t just luck, it was really, it was really working with a company that said, Well we don’t wanna work with your company because we don’t like this other guy. And I said, Well, he, he’s gone. So I’m here <laugh>, so how do we make this happen? And, and, you know, other people supported me in the company to make it happen and we close the deal and, and it was a big, a big boon to the bottom line.

Speaker 1 (07:13):

Oh my gosh, there’s so much from what you just said that I wanna take a moment and, and unpack and I think for someone could be listening and say there they had never hired a woman like today it sounds kind of crazy even though Yeah, I know in the conversations you and I get to have with the other women specifically in the Salesforce influencers group and the women you work with, like, there’s still a lot that needs to be changed in the community. Yeah. But we, I guess we have to remember it was, it was the eighties, right? Things were Yeah, we’ve made progress. At least we’ve made progress. But here’s the thing I wanna ask you about specifically from that and well done too, by the way. Well done. What do, looking back on that, what were some of the things you did in that moment to win that relationship? Because I think this is probably a lot of what you’re teaching women in sales and a lot of how you’re empowering women in sales. So how did you win that deal when the company was so shut off to Because of the former rep?

Speaker 2 (08:12):

I just totally leveraged the fact that the other rep was not involved anymore mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so it wasn’t a valid reason, you know, so I wanted them to give me any other reason why we couldn’t, because I knew we had some flexibility and I knew we could deliver. I knew a lot of things were going for us. And so they, you know, they had to be honest, which they were, I guess you don’t have to be honest with, they were honest and said, No, we just didn’t like that guy <laugh>. Mm. And so and so they just, we never considered you. And so once they were assured that he wasn’t anywhere, unfortunately he got promoted, but he, he didn’t have anything to do with the deal. He, he didn’t get fired, he got promoted, which okay. Often happens with people like him. And, um, but we, you know, built a team and we showed them, we put together a really great response to their request for proposal and we made it just in time. So it, it worked out really well.

Speaker 1 (09:13):

Yeah. And you, the big piece that I’m taking too, from what you said is like you didn’t back down. No. So there was resistance on the front end, but I’m hearing some of what you probably channeled from your grandmother growing up too, which was that persistence and that sticking to your guns and your intuition,

Speaker 2 (09:29):

Right? Well, yeah, and you know, in the end, it’s okay if someone doesn’t buy from us, but you just wanna make sure that they really know what you’re offering because, uh, I don’t mind if someone says no, but I mind if they don’t know what it is that I’m offering. So I at least wanna present it and get their feedback and get their input. And we hadn’t had that opportunity mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I was okay if they decided not to go with us, I just wanted to make sure they knew who we were. And I think that’s important for other sellers to remember that, that a no is, you know, especially a quick no is the next best saying to a yes. Uh, if they don’t understand and, and, and you hate it when you hear later on someone says, Oh, I wish you would’ve told us that you had this, that, and the other thing, cuz I, that’s happened to me and that killed you because you’ve, you had a solution for them and they just didn’t know what it was. So I just wanna make sure people understand this is the offering, here’s how it could benefit you. If, if that doesn’t make sense to you, that’s okay, but please know what it is. Wow.

Speaker 1 (10:34):

Such a powerful mindset shift. Cuz I, you know, I’m thinking back to my, my days in sales and even now as an entrepreneur selling my own thing. Like sometimes our brains will tell us, Oh, they don’t want it, or they, and it’s like, do they even know what it is? Right. And, and we will put up these objections before someone has even offered them. So I love your perspective there. Let me just, I love number one, a quick no is second best to a yes. Yeah. But this number it is, I I love how you phrased that. Yeah. And then number two is, let me just make sure they know what it is, and from there, if it’s a no for them, that’s fine. Yeah, totally great with that. Fair.

Speaker 2 (11:12):

Totally

Speaker 1 (11:12):

Fair. Yeah. So I’m curious about what inspired you to start your consultancy? So you had this super successful career in B2B sales, and obviously now you’re coaching and training, uh, and doing a lot of work with your consultancy to help empower other sales teams and professionals. So what inspired that shift for you?

Speaker 2 (11:33):

So I lived in Seattle and my one and only son, uh, went off to go to prep school. He got a scholarship to boarding school in Massachusetts because he played hockey, ice hockey. And I wanted, well, what ultimately happened is that he got a scholarship to play division one college hockey at Northeastern University, which is a pretty big deal. And I didn’t wanna miss his college career. So I sold my house, which I had bought at 27 as a single mom because of my sales career. And I moved to the Boston area and it was, it turned out to be my last corporate job because I, I was there for four years and at, at toward the end when I was planning to move back to the West coast, anyway, um, we were gonna be acquired. And so the position that I had at that time, I built an inside sales team.

Speaker 2 (12:31):

I, um, I started a corporate university and our corporate university was tiny and the company that was going to acquire us had a bigger corporate university. So they took my big salary and put me on a list with all the other big salaries that they could, you know, whittle down. And I was downsized. And so, but they love what I did and they ultimately became my first client, so for much less money. Um, but nonetheless, uh, I had a beautiful office, right? Yeah. I had a beautiful office in Boston, uh, until I moved back to Seattle. And it, it was really wonderful. I made friends and colleagues that I still keep in touch with 20 years later.

Speaker 1 (13:15):

Hmm. That’s incredible. Yeah. That’s incredible. Yeah. And I love the, um, it’s just kind of this, this theme of like resilience and then looking for what’s gonna create, what’s gonna support your lifestyle, Right. Which is, especially for, for women in sales, it’s like we have many of us, We have children, we have families, we need that freedom. Yeah. And it’s such a perfect fit for that. Now here’s what I wanna ask about, and this ties in with your new book she Sells. That’s coming out really, really soon too, as in the recording of this. So you share that we’ve lost 10% of the women in sales that we had previously, which was eye-opening for me. But, and so I wanna ask first can you give a little bit of context for that statistic? Yeah. So me, what is that based on and what Yeah, what does the task

Speaker 2 (14:01):

Do to your I was really surprised. I’m still really working on verifying the fact that there, I, I was talking with Mary Sha of Outreach. Okay. And she’s formerly a forester, so she’s very big on research and she was looking at two different studies and basically came up with, I think it was more like 8%. Okay. But nonetheless, uh, we’re not growing in sales. Hm. Um, and it’s very possible that we’ve lost eight or 10% of the women. And and that’s because we had a pandemic Women step up and take care of family and community issues, whether you have kids or not. Um, they’re elders and, you know, people who were sick and they’re, you know, just all sorts of different things. And, and if you think about it, if you’re a sales rep and you have a sick parent or you have kids to deal with and, you know, there’s a lot of pressure and there’s a lot of stress over a couple year period.

Speaker 2 (15:03):

And if I have a quota every month or every quarter, um, what’s easier to give up my quota and maybe move over to customer success or some other customer support role or, um, you know, I can’t really do, I can’t quit my family <laugh>. So, and I can’t really step out of that. So I think that’s where a lot of it, some women cut their roles down to part-time. Uh, you know, there are all sorts of different situations and there, there still are women. I, I talked to them in the month of September when I was traveling to inbound and to the outreach conference. There are women who are in companies where there’s very much still a bro culture. They feel pressured or they’re hearing inappropriate things. They, they don’t feel like their opinion is valued. Uh, I talked to one woman in Boston at, in, at a, a party outside of Inbound where, who told me that her, she was pregnant, she had a pandemic baby, and her doctor begged her to quit her job because her boss was verbally harassing her and to the point that she was getting ill from it.

Speaker 2 (16:13):

So, you know, I mean, it’s like, oh gosh. It, it’s, yeah, it’s just unbelievable. I heard so many news stories about things that are happening in 2022 that make me realize it’s not just about finding more women and filling a pipeline and hiring them. It’s about having places where women are welcome and appreciated and heard and valued. And women can do amazing things in sales roles and also as leaders. And so it’s just a matter of, you know, both the company and women. You know, we just, we need both sides. We need to get more women into sales, but we also need to have an atmosphere where people are valued and appreciated.

Speaker 1 (17:00):

Totally agree with you. I wanna, and I do wanna speak to both sides of those because I think that’s really important. And to echo what you said it’s, you know, it’s so interesting is I have just more conversations with incredible women on this show who are still tied into that corporate world. And hearing that story that you just shared about the woman you talked to last month, and then at the time of this recording, it will have been the episode we aired last week with, um, the, with two women from Mendo Adventures, which is a female backed, um, VC firm. And one of the women talked about how in a former job when she was pregnant, her boss recommended that she get an abortion. And it’s like, this stuff is, it blows my mind when I hear these stories. And I, I truly, truly, truly aim to focus on the solution always because I think that’s how we’re gonna make progress. But still, sometimes I’m like, I can’t believe this stuff goes on. But I think back to when I was in corporate not that long ago, like seven years ago, there was a lot of stuff going on. Yeah. So, All right, Lori, what’s the solution? You got it. <laugh>. Come fix it all.

Speaker 2 (18:09):

<laugh>. Yeah. The solution is that we hire more women into executive leadership because companies with more women leaders hire more women in sales. So that’s, and and diverse people, I would say. Um, someone commented on my blog, blog post today and said, I, I identify as they, but I, you know, I love what you’re saying about women and sales. And I said, you know, you’re part of this group. So it, it’s, we want to see sellers that reflect who our buyers are. And buyers have changed. And, and it’s not the, you know, the same group that it was years ago. And we need, we need all sorts of diversity and, and the ability to build an inclusive sales team.

Speaker 1 (19:01):

Absolutely. So, I, I wanna look at that from kind of two different lenses. So the core solution that you’re seeing is more women in sales leadership, more diversity in sales leadership from a company standpoint, if I’m listening to this, and I don’t care what your gender is cause I know we have all genders that listen to this. But if I’m in, if I’m in leadership within an organization, what are some things I should be doing and thinking about right now to help make that happen?

Speaker 2 (19:28):

Yeah. I posted today on my LinkedIn that people should, so there are some leaders, some male leaders and some great amazing people that I know in sales. Uh, there are some who think, well, you know, I’m really open and we totally, you know, we have some women and we’re totally doing great things. But one of my colleagues that I, I used to work with, and his name is Shep Maher, Shout out to Shep, he’s in San Francisco. He’s a great leader at Better Works. And he would still go back to his team and he would go to the women and say, you know, give me some feedback. What can I do better? Because he never, I, I’ve said in the post that I’m like, you know, just cuz you think you’re woke and you have this all figured out. We don’t, and none of us have this figured out.

Speaker 2 (20:18):

Yeah. So if you’re male and you’re working really hard to do your part, thank you so much and keep asking the people around you ask the women, you know, what else, you know, what, what can we do better? Ask everybody for that matter. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, and that’s one of the best things that a leader can do. And, and individuals, whether you’re an individual contributor or SD r b or ae, what have you, uh, if you know a woman that might be struggling in a role, see if, if, you know, see if there’s a way to be of support to help her. Because I’ve seen some bad situations where someone is just written off kind of like, well, you know, I’m not gonna help them. I’ve seen managers do that to reps where it’s like, they don’t, they’re, they don’t listen. So that’s it. Yeah. And you can’t do that. You can’t write people off if they’re in your organization. So I would say help other people recommend podcasts that are led by women like you and I as a change to the other podcasts that everybody listens to, or books that are written by women for everyone in sales. They’re not just about women. They’re not just four women. So that’s a way to be a little more diverse in, in your thinking and, and look for things that are different and not just the same old, same old.

Speaker 1 (21:38):

I love that. And tell, So I’m curious about the volume of women that are applying for these roles. Cause it is a two way street, right? So company leadership can be proactively seeking to place more women in these roles. And you probably have a greater pulse on this than I do. What does that landscape look like right now? Are more women proactively applying for leadership? Like what are you hearing in your conversations?

Speaker 2 (22:03):

Yeah, I hear that. Um, I hear all sorts of different things. Sometimes they are, sometimes people don’t see it. And I will encourage them to look at what they’re posting, look at, you know, what they’re actually writing about their, their ways to improve the job description, for example. So that it’s more appealing to not just men, but also women. And

Speaker 1 (22:29):

Can you give some specifics there?

Speaker 2 (22:31):

Yeah. If you have too many bullet points in, in an ad, for example, I, if it’s, if it’s, you know, like two thirds of the page, women are not interested in that because it seems like too many requirements. Because as women, we wanna meet the requirements as much as we can. A hundred percent. If, if we can, if you are an employer and you say, if you don’t meet all the requirements, please reply and please apply anyway, you’re gonna get more women. Uh, because men are more like 60%, Hey, they’d be lucky to have me, right? So I don’t have all the qualifications, but throw my hat in the ring. Whereas women don’t, it’s not a confidence thing in my mind. It’s more like we, we don’t wanna waste their time. We don’t wanna waste our time. Cause why would I apply to something that I’m not fully qualified for?

Speaker 2 (23:21):

So it’s more like we wanna match up to the rules and, and men are just, you know, the renegades and they’re just gonna, you know, maybe they’ll catch somebody’s attention and, you know, good for them. We, we need to be, we could be more like that. So what I tell women too is that if you don’t meet all the dis all the requirements apply anyway. There’s no downside. But I also believe that you should build relationships so you’re not just throwing resumes into a hole somewhere. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and some, somebody’s going through it, you know, with AI pulling out words like that’s not the best way to get to, to get a job. Yeah. So build relationships. Women need to build relationships and know the companies that they’re interested to go to and see who else works with or around those people that work at that company and then build relationships that way.

Speaker 1 (24:14):

Are there any specifics to doing that today? And I’m just, I’m curious, you know, as, as I ask this right now, my husband is applying for these medical schools and it’s like, you know, he puts the resume out there and, and puts the application. And my sales brain is like, you need to connect with them on LinkedIn. You need to get to know them. I have, I actually had to like fly out and go <laugh> show up on campus of a place and go try to meet them. And so that’s kind of how, you know, when we’re in sales, like our brains work that way. But I don’t think everyone does that and, or maybe there’s a better way. And plus people are so busy today, they’re scanning stuff, there’s ai. What are you seeing that’s working to build those relationships online?

Speaker 2 (24:53):

Yeah, I think it’s just good old relationship building, good old fashioned that that’s, that’s something that hasn’t changed over the years. They’re different mediums, they’re different ways to do it through LinkedIn. Uh, I would encourage people to talk with people who are LinkedIn experts that teach ways to build relationships. I just heard a presentation last week from Brin Tillman and she is amazing. She, she has so many tips and so many helpful ideas that, um, someone like her is a really good resource to, to get ready. And you can also have people review your resumes and you know, there are all sorts of different services to do that. But bottom line build relationships. And even today, someone posted in a group I’m in, you know, I have this really great friend who is, you know, just got laid off and if you know any roles for this, this or this.

Speaker 2 (25:49):

And I said to the person, I said, You know it, he should come back. It, it’s a guy I said he should come back with. These are the five companies I’m most interested in. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, because that’s easier for me as a refer than for me to go, Oh, who do I know in product management or whatever it was. Because that’s harder work for my brain. It’s easier for me to go, Well let me chat. Let me just look on LinkedIn sales navigator and I’ll find out who I know. So, um, that’s something that people can do that would be helpful.

Speaker 1 (26:18):

Make it easy for other people to help you. Yeah. Right. Yeah, exactly. Relationships. Yeah. Yeah. So I’d love to speak for a moment, Lori, about this concept that you teach about supportive versus unsupportive beliefs. And we were talking about this in the pre-chat. I’m huge on mindset. So I think our listeners are gonna be really interested in your take on this. Cause I think this is a, a kind of a different presentation of some of what I love talking about on this show. And I want for everyone listening, I want you to listen in whether you are going for a promotion, going for a new job, going for your financial up level in your life. Maybe you’re an entrepreneur and you’ve gotta big goal you wanna hit before the end of the year. And listen to this part with that in mind just for some context. So talk to us more about these supportive versus unsupportive beliefs.

Speaker 2 (27:10):

Well, and, and first to do this, I’m gonna just mention that my son was an athlete. As I said, he played division one college hockey. We’ve been around a lot of athletes from, um, pro to college, uh, and and beyond. And what I noticed when I would go to any sports game, whether it’s a baseball game or basketball for me, is I, I love hockey and, um, I’m kind odd that way. I think <laugh>. But, but what I noticed was, you know, the home team always supports the players. So if you’re the home audience, you know, we’re cheering on our home players and the the good players that come, come from the away game, the away team, you know, we boo ’em sometimes like boo, you know, and yeah. But you never boo the home players. And, and, and I take that to heart with ourselves.

Speaker 2 (28:03):

You, you never put yourself down. Not really. Maybe you joke around about it, I don’t, but don’t put yourself down and support yourself. And that’s where supportive and unsupportive beliefs come from. If you catch yourself saying, Oh, this is never gonna work because I try to be foreign and it didn’t work, that’s an unsupported belief. Instead, it’s okay to catch that you said that because we’re not gonna ban negativity in our brains. We have so many messages in our heads and most of them are negative that, that we have in our heads, things that we would never say to other people, Right. At least. Right. And so, but the next time you catch one to yourself, just recognize like, ooh, that’s not supportive. That’s not helping me to my goal. So how can I flip that and say, you know, Mondays are good. Monday I have the whole week ahead to do great things.

Speaker 2 (28:57):

When I woke up today, I had just, I just had a flu shot and I just got back from a week of travel and it would’ve been easy to be like, Ugh, I got a little headache, you know, and this and that. And instead I thought, Oh, I’m gonna get all caught up this week from all the things that I’ve been been, you know, and not having to deal with as I was traveling. So I have to do that myself and catch myself. And if I said something like, Oh, but it’s gonna be hard, it’s like, Yeah, but I got a great opportunity ahead. It’s a new day. Like you can’t get any better than that. And so when people, whether you say it to yourself or you’re in a sales meeting and someone else says, Oh, we’ll never get that account because we, you know, they didn’t go with us last time.

Speaker 2 (29:43):

So that’s an unsupportive belief and if you catch someone else doing it, it’s really easy to be able to say to them without going, at least you’re so negative. You know, Instead you catch it and say, you know, that doesn’t really support us to our goal of hitting our numbers by the end of the quarter, How could we turn that into something more supportive? And most people can relate to that because now I’m not putting you down, I’m just putting the down. The fact that we need to say things to ourselves and to others, people around us, and particularly in our heads, things that help move us forward. And to do that, we don’t have room for unsupportive beliefs that are just gonna undermine all our best efforts.

Speaker 1 (30:28):

Yeah. So am I, am I understanding correctly that cuz this is different than positive versus negative beliefs? Right? Because so the difference is that carries a bit more judgment with it, whether we’re judging ourselves for thinking the negative belief or judging somebody else. But the real question here to ask yourself and tell me if I’m on the right path with this, is does this belief support the goal? Like, does this belief support what I wanna do? Or if it doesn’t, let me pick a different one. Yeah. Is that

Speaker 2 (30:59):

Exactly, It makes it so much easier and less, less judgment, like you said, and I don’t have to say, Oh, I’m being so negative. Instead, it’s like, I had an unsupportive belief, so how can I flip that? And, and, you know, no matter what it is, uh, you know, we can, we, you and I could talk about the lack of women in sales and we could make it pretty, pretty unsupportive if we want to mm-hmm. <affirmative> as things have been going on for years. And, and there are predictions about how many years it’s gonna take for, for women to be more equal in business. And instead of doing that, we’re talking about other things that are supportive. Like, well, here’s what we can do. It’s women in sales month in October, we can do this and we can shine a light on that. And so those are all constructive, supportive things that we can do rather than just dwelling on what hasn’t worked and what didn’t work and what might not work.

Speaker 1 (31:57):

I love that little flip of positioning on it. Cause it really does take the judgment away and it’s e I think it feels easier to move from an unsupportive belief to a supportive belief than a negative to a positive Yes. Belief. So yes, that’s really good. I agree. Yeah. Lori, before we wrap in this conversation has been so good. I’d love if you could share a little bit more about your book. So your book, She Sells, Attract, Promote, and Retain Great Women in B2B Sales. I know that’s coming out really soon as of the time of this recording. So share with us a little bit more about the book, who it’s for, how people are gonna benefit, and then we’ll share with them also where they can go and get a copy.

Speaker 2 (32:37):

Yes. I wrote the book mostly for sales leaders and company leaders who on an ongoing basis have trouble finding women, uh, to apply for their roles or taking, having them successfully go through the process or if they’ve, if they’re hired, they may not stay. So there are a lot of tips and tricks, and this is really a, a book based on what we’ve seen work and not work and really sharing kind of a tactical how-TOS book. It’s not really for women to inspire. Uh, you know, that’s probably another book that’s gonna come out, but it, but I do think the women that have read it think that it’s, it is kind of inspiring in some ways because there are ways to, to better hire and there are ways to better onboard and, and retain and coach and promote women in sales roles. So this is all about the howtos to do that. And, um, we have a landing page, um, women’s sales pros.com/she sells where people can pre-order, uh, or order <laugh> depending on when this comes out. But it will be out in, in the next few weeks.

Speaker 1 (33:57):

Amazing, amazing. It’s so needed. And it feels like, as you were talking, I was like, it’s a very supportive book to everyone in sales leadership, so Yeah, I know it’s, I know it’s so needed. I would love to. Lori, can you share a little bit more about Women’s Sales Pros and how someone can get involved in that if they’re interested?

Speaker 2 (34:13):

Yeah. Women’s Sales Pros is the megaphone for all the women in sales groups. So we made a decision about a year ago that we wanted that there are about, uh, 10 or 12 women in sales groups that have sprouted up in the last few handful of years. And we want to help highlight events that are coming up for all the different groups. So we have a newsletter that comes out twice a month right now and people can sign up at women’s sales pros.com. That’s probably the best thing to do. We’re also building a greater community beyond our experts. Right now we have a group of 50 top sales experts and we just had our annual event, which was amazing. And, um, but a lot of other people wanna have, uh, some connection to us. So we’re gonna be building a, a free community around that as well, going into 2023.

Speaker 1 (35:08):

That’s amazing. That’s amazing. Well, I’d love to get more involved too, because I, I just think the work you’re doing is so needed and phenomenal and um, and really powerful. So thank you so much for coming on. Is there anything I haven’t asked you that you think is important for someone listening? It could be a word of advice, it can be something that you wish you knew came coming up in sales, but I wanna just kind of give you space and time if there’s anything I haven’t asked that you think is important.

Speaker 2 (35:34):

You need to believe in yourself in sales, no matter who you are. And there are ways that you can improve that if you don’t feel strong about it. For me, I got into programs like Toastmasters, which was, you know, worldwide and it was very inexpensive. And I took a Dale Carnegie course one time. I did all sorts of different things so that I could, I could be as strong as I could in terms of communicating and articulating. And you can become a student of communications just by looking every week at things on the internet. You know, so many, so much great content that’s available on, on communications, on, on how to be more empathetic on all the different topics that, that sa salespeople and sales professionals need, that there’s no excuse not to continue to develop professionally on an ongoing basis. So I would encourage people to make time to do that every week.

Speaker 1 (36:35):

Yeah, that’s amazing. Lori, thank you so much for coming on. We will link the book below. We’ll link Women’s Sales Pros below as well. And thanks for Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. For, for you my listener, go connect with Lori, get on the, either the order or the preorder list for her book and, um, and join Women’s Sales Pros as well. Yeah, I mean, what a great, what a great community. So thank you again, Lori, for the great and powerful work you’re doing in our space. It’s so, so needed.

Speaker 2 (37:05):

Thanks Elise.

Speaker 1 (37:06):

Absolutely. All right. Do you, my listener, thank you for listening in today, so grateful for you. As always. Go connect with Lori, go check out her resources, give her a shout out on social, and we’re always so honored when you share these episodes with your community as well. And just help get the word out. You can head over to archer.com for more great resources to help you grow your sales and financial abundance. And I will see you on our next episode of She Sales Radio. Bye for now.