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The Best of the Best:
Caskey Announces Master Class for Elite
Sellers and Top Sales Professionals

This two-day retreat will revolutionize your approach as a sales professional and teach you highly advanced sales skills for you to ratchet up your performance. No more working harder to make more money. I will show you how to change your thinking about you, your role, and your value so you can work less and earn more.

8:05am August 16, 2006
From the desk of Bill Caskey

Good morning. We may not have met, but I think I know you. My guess is you are in your thirties or forties and already successful in professional selling. In fact, I’ll bet you’re in the top ten percent of earners at your firm, and your income is well over $100,000/year.

I also suspect that you’re smart, savvy and have a pretty good network, probably getting a lot of your business through referrals. In other words, you’re a high achiever.

But based on my experience with top performers, I also know that you’re not the kind of person who is satisfied being just in the top ten percent. You want more sales, better tools, and yes, more money. You’re not going to quit when you’re one of the best - you have a burning desire to be the best of the best.

But There’s A Burning Issue

The problem is that your company probably devotes most of its training energy on bringing the rest of the sales force up to your level. That’s great for those people, and probably great for the company. But it isn’t great for you.

Let’s face it – to get to the next level in your career, you need information targeted specifically for you.

How do I know this?

Let me introduce myself. I’m Bill Caskey and I’ve been working with people like you for close to 20 years, training and coaching them to be more effective in their sales performance.

And over the years, I’ve developed training courses for hundreds of companies. Nine out of ten times, my corporate clients ask me to bring their new sales force up to speed. They need a Sales 101 course.

And I’m happy to do it. There are few things more satisfying than seeing the “ah-hah” moment in a new salesperson’s eyes.

Yet at the same time, I’m faced with another moment in every class I teach. There are always a few people who look at me with the “what-about-me” eyes. The person who has heard it before, and lived it before. The kind of sales professional who delivers it to the company everyday.

Someone Just Like You

In other words, a person like you who doesn’t need another Sales 101 seminar. You need a Master Class in sales. You need trainers and content brought together specifically to take the elite performers to the top of their game.

That’s why I’m pleased to announce that on November 9th and 10th, I am hosting a program for Elite Sellers only.

Is This You?

Our Elite Seller retreat is open to top performers who have a strong desire to put our master class to work. The types of people who have asked for content targeted for top achievers include:

• Front-line, B2B sales people who have large goals and objectives.
  
• Sales managers & executives who are responsible for the growth and development of their sales teams.
  
• Company owners who get pulled into large accounts and high-level negotiation.
  
• Technical sellers, including CPAs, attorneys, and consultants, who are subject-matter experts but who don’t feel like they’re using their knowledge to grow their income.
  
• Account Managers, who handle current their company’s current clients, but are still expected to grow that business.

The Platform for Success.

One thing I’ve noticed about elite sellers is they have established a solid platform for success. They aren’t out there trying a little of this and a little of that.

Great athletes have solid platforms, too: For a golfer, it’s the stance prior to striking the ball. For a tennis player, it’s the “get ready position.” For a basketball player it’s the triple threat position—always ‘ready’ to shoot.

For the Elite Seller, in order to launch your performance to the next level, you, too, have to have a solid platform. This platform is held up by four legs. These legs are confidence, strategy, skills, and planning.

Each of these four legs will be covered extensively in this workshop.

The First Leg is Confidence.

If you don’t have confidence, you don’t stand a chance at elevating performance. High achievers breathe confidence. Not just in themselves but in their products, their process, their company, and the marketplace.

You’ve heard it said that achievement starts between the ears? Presto. But we’ve all seen great salespeople take a nose dive when they hit a sales slump. Or when their company seems to go out of its way to make the product tougher to sell. So how do you keep your confidence high, day in, day out? How do you change the way you feel?

Your Confidence Is Tied To Your Perception of Value

One of the things you’ll learn first at The Eliter Seller retreat is a new way to think about your value. Most sales people have their value all wrong. They think their value is tied up in the features and benefits of their product or company. They go to product training school to learn all of the technical aspects of their products. But much of it is a waste.

Well, at the Elite Sellers Retreat, we’ll teach you how to shift your internal philosophy about your true value really is – so that you will exude confidence in virtually any situation.

The Second Leg is Strategy.

Even with confidence, you can’t sell for long without a strategy. Top performers don’t just go where the wind blows them – nor do they take what the market gives them. They work from a strategy.

In fact, show me a salesperson with no strategy, and I’ll show you a salesperson who is never in control of the sale.

But what is strategy? What strategy should you use? At the Elite Seller Retreat, you’ll learn three top-flight strategies for selling: a Reputation Strategy, an Account Entry Strategy, and an Elite Selling Strategy.

# 1 REPUTATION STRATEGY

The customer buys you--not your product

Every top sales performer knows that the client buys from them, despite the product they’re selling. During the second leg of our retreat, you’ll meet top sales trainer Steve Van Yoder.

Steve wrote a book called Get Slightly Famous, and it’s become a must-have book among top performers.

Steve’s concept is simple: you are the product. Every top seller has an enormous knowledge base that can – and should be used to market yourself. Steve will give you the tools to be seen as the ultimate expert in your subject matter.

The best clients and customers are those that seek you out because they've already heard of you. To make this a reality, successful sales executives intentionally build reputations within targeted niche communities of their best prospects.

Consequently, they become recognized authorities in subjects that relate to their businesses. This strategy not only gets prospects' attention, but it builds credibility that opens the door for greater sales.

Steve will also teach you how to use a new and devastatingly effective strategy that only one percent of salespeople use in their process. He’ll show you how to make your phone ring and how to build your personal reputation so that it precedes you on the first call. He’ll also teach you how you represent your value in writing – so that you can be an ultimate authority.

More of what you’ll learn as you “get slightly famous:”

• How your “slightly famous” strategy can help you land clients without ever seeing them. (The internet facilitates this).
• Three ‘must-have’ tools that encourage prospects to see you as a “niche celebrity.”
• How to create a powerful Virtual First Impression with your prospect.
• How to use your “slightly famous strategy” on every first call with a prospect.
• How to assume a distinct online leadership in your subject matter.
• How to “get published” on a topic so that your customers see you as THE go-to- resource.
• Why most professional sales people sacrifice the one thing that differentiates them—and what to do about it.
• How a ‘give-give’ strategy leaves prospect wanting ‘more-more.’
• A seldom-used strategy of using your customer’s success to add to your portfolio of ‘slightly famous’ tools.
• How an investment of $12/month can be your best lead generation device (better than any direct mail or advertising will).
• What your prospects expect from you and privately hope you can deliver. (Most sales people have no clue on this one).
• Three ways you can stand out from your competition—and brand yourself distinctively from the rest of the pack.
• How to use the “gift of multi-media” to position yourself as the ultimate expert in your industry (interviews)
• How to embrace Sales 3.0—the modern method of reaching and communicating with prospects that your competition hasn’t yet figured out.

Yoder has published hundreds of articles, given numerous media interviews, and landed hundreds of thousands of dollars in free media coverage for his clients in consumer and business publications. This workshop will leave you with a clear understanding and action plan of how to get "slightly" famous in your target markets.

# 2 LARGE ACCOUNT STRATEGY

Landing prestigious corporate clients takes your business to a new level.

It opens up unprecedented opportunities for profitable growth and predictable revenue streams. That's what all high achievers are shooting for.

But most sellers find that cracking into those big companies isn't easy. Corporate decision makers rarely answer the phone and route all incoming calls to voicemail. But they never bother to call anyone back. So sellers repeat the process several more times – and get the same result – before finally calling it quits.

That's why we've invited Jill Konrath, another top B2B sales strategist, to this retreat. Jill literally "wrote the book" on selling to big companies (actually, it's even called Selling to Big Companies.)

Jill knows what it takes to capture the attention of corporate decision makers in today's crazy marketplace. It's not about making more calls either. In fact, if you really want to do business with big companies, Jill advises just the opposite.

She shakes up your perspective on what it takes to get in and shows you strategies you would have never thought of yourself.

During this section of Elite Seller Retreat, Jill will teach you:

• Why corporations are in the midst of a "Perfect Storm" that totally transforms how you sell to them.
• How understanding "The Four Decisions" prospects make, gives you clarity on the appropriate selling strategies for each sales situation.
• 6 killer sales mistakes that alienate corporate decision makers.
• 5 key strategies you must implement to capture the decision maker's attention.
• How to address your biggest competitor in today's market – the status quo!
• Why pursuing business with small segments of a large corporation is a savvy account entry strategy and where to find the best foot-in-the-door opportunities for your offering.
• How to respond to "tell me more" without blowing it.
• How to slip in under the radar screen of the incumbent supplier/service provider and land an initial contract.
• Why leveraging Triggering Events is one of the best ways to get into big companies.
• How to reverse engineer your own product/service offering to determine your primary value to clients.
• Why you absolutely must ASSUME – even though all your previous sales training warned you never to do it.
• The language that corporate decision makers pay attention to and want to learn more about.
• Why you must eliminate any self-serving verbiage from your discussion of your offering.
• Why highlighting your full product offering is the "kiss of death."
• How to pull together a multi-touch, multi-modal account entry campaign that will get you in meeting with the right person.
• Strategies to craft voicemails that are so enticing that prospects actually call you back.
• How to spread your message over numerous contacts to multiple your impact, position you as an expert and create an urgency to meet.
• What to say to pique curiosity and set up an appointment when someone actually answers the phone.
• The ONE question you need to have ready whenever you contact corporate decision makers.
• What you need to know about big companies BEFORE you ever place a call – and why this knowledge is the "price of admission."
• How to leverage "idea power" to get meetings with corporate bigwigs.
• Why you must never "close" for the order when pursuing opportunities with big companies.

Jill Konrath is truly a master at cracking into corporate accounts. She will give you step-by-step guidance on what you need to do to capture the attention of decision makers so that you can get that meeting set up.

Plus, her unique expertise at slipping into YOUR customer's shoes enables her to give you immediate feedback on if your approach will work – and, if not, what needs to be changed.

#3 THE ELITE SELLER STRATEGY

Do You Have What It Takes To Be An Elite Seller?

I’ve coached the highest achievers in sales, and one thing they share is a savvy skill set that is fundamentally different from their middle-of-the-pack counterparts. For instance, elite sellers have a way of creating a safe, honest environment so they are working with the truth – regardless of the situation.

Not sure where you fall in the spectrum? Here are seven foolproof indicators of your status as an elite seller:

1. Average sellers treat prospects like targets in a sales contest. The elite seller treats prospects like people with problems.
2. Average sellers represent products. The elite seller represents solutions to problems.
3. Average sellers pitch the product, then handles objections. The elite seller diagnoses a situation and then presents solutions.
4. Average sellers understand their product. The elite seller understands human nature and how companies buy.
5. Average sellers handle sales problems when the buyer brings them up. The elite seller brings them up first so that he controls the conversation.
6. Average sellers operate from fear and scarcity. The elite seller operates from confidence and abundance.
7. Average sellers try to get the buyer to buy. The elite seller creates an environment where the buyer sells them.

The Third Leg of the Platform--Skills

At some point, you have to execute your strategy. You have to show up and talk to a prospect or a client. That’s where human skills come in to play. Whereas most sales training teaches you what to say—how to qualify—how to close--we’ll be teaching you something much more meaningful.

The High Achievers Don’t Win On Smiles. They Win on Skills.

Of course, the single most significant factor is that elite sellers are always improving. And getting better takes more than luck, and a lot more than a quick smile. It takes an ever-growing set of skills.

I believe that the #1 human skill is talent to create a truthful environment. You’ve heard the saying, “buyers are liars”? Well, they might be, but guess who makes them lie? You guessed it: The amateur salesperson.

That person who’s full of enthusiasm, of excitement about his product, that person who won’t take “no” for an answer, who talks incessantly about himself. That’s the very person that causes the prospect to lie to sales people.

But you won’t do that. Because at The Elite Seller, we’ll teach you a counterintuitive approach that will create an atmosphere of truth between you and your prospect. This approach won’t get you every sale. But it will give you a chance to make a pursue-or-abort decision based on truth—not on lies.

Situational Skills

You will learn the skill of handling specific situations in a more productive way. Let’s suppose you showed up for your first meeting with a prospect and he casually mentions that they’re on a price cutting mission and “you had better be sharp with your price or there’ll be no reason to change.”

What do you do? Do you leave? Do you start talking about your tremendous value? Do you acquiesce and begin talking price? Or is there another way to handle it?

There are 25 prospect encounters that come up over and over—and if you have a systematic way to handle them, you can turn most of those situations into opportunities.

Handle them poorly and money slips out of your hand.

Here’s a snapshot of the kinds of actionable skills you’ll learn at the retreat:

• A new way to think about selling – so that your customer is selling you, rather than you selling him.
• Which five very simple things you have to do on the first call – to put you in control from the first contact.
• How to ask the questions that will get your prospect is tell you the whole truth.
• How a single shift in your behavior will automatically change the buyer’s behavior.
• How to understand buyer behavior in a way that allows you to take an active role in the purchasing process.
• Which five things you should never say to a prospect.
• Why your conception of self-worth is the biggest factor in getting to the next level of income and success.
• How to set goals at the right time and with the right focus.
• A new goal-planning technique that most large businesses use to ensure goal achievement.
• Why most sales people are wired to be average.
• One of the most eye-opening exercises you’ve ever done—it’s called “back to ground” and it will illustrate that to make big strides in income you have to quickly rebuild your approach.
• How to take the express route to find out if your buyer is serious or curious.
• Why most group sales presentations put prospects to sleep – and how to fix it.
• The ten attitudes that put you in control of the sales process.
• How to uncover your prospect’s true motivation (it’s seldom money).
• The mechanically correct way to craft your sales message so that it addresses the customer’s true pain.
• The three must-have sections to every proposal.
• The seven paradoxes that are etched so deep in us that we are in denial about them (one is the misguided belief that “if you want to sell more you have to sell harder.”)
• How to create a diagnostic tool that will get to the prospect’s compelling buying reasons.
• How to tell when your selling process doesn’t match the prospect’s buying process – and what to do about it.

The Fourth Leg of the Platform - Planning

Most average sales people don’t plan. Those who fail to plan are those who plan to fail. (I always hated that saying—but it’s really quite true). At the Elite Seller, you won’t leave until you have a plan for 2007. You see, I want 2007 to be your best year ever — as much as 30-75-200 percent better than this year.

That’s why we devote two hours on the final day to put your new knowledge into action – with a clear-cut plan we call Market Execution that you can follow and track. Market Execution is a plan so buttoned-up that your whole year will be visual and actionable.

You’ll know precisely how to take what you’ve learned during these two days and “time activate” them into a system for success.

If you’re like me, you’ve been to training events before where all you’re left with are reams of paper in a binder with no way to make sense of it. Then you get frustrated because you spent money and time—and still have nothing.

I won’t let you do that. In fact, I’ll stay around Friday evening until everyone has their Market Execution Plan ready to activate.

The Elite Seller Retreat: November 9 & 10 in Indianapolis

Only 100 Seats

Rarely does professional lightning strike in a group of twenty thousand -- or even two thousand people. Profound learning takes place in small groups, in discussion, in a sharing of best practices, in interactive, dynamic and meaningful presentations where new ideas and presented and fleshed out.

That’s why I’m limiting the Elite Sellers Retreat to one hundred participants. Once it’s sold out, it’s sold out.

Tuition: $1997

One of the issues we’ll talk about in the work is ‘how to talk about money.’ Talk about it too soon and you blow people away. Too late and he’s checked out.

So with that introduction, let’s talk tuition. The tuition is $1997. I could tell you that if you brought these three trainers together for two days, you’d spend $50,000. That’s if you could even get them on one day.

Or, I could tell you that with this content, and your execution, you should he able to turn your $1997 into a 5-7-20 time return.

But I’d rather just tell you that I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years—and in this workshop I’m taking my best material and combining with the best of two other faculty members to give you a growth experience you’ll never forget. At any price this will be of profound value.

Questions? Call Me.

Here’s something you don’t see very often. I’m going to give you my phone number so you can reach me if you have any questions or want to talk to me personally about your goals and whether this program is right for you at this point in your career.

My direct number is 317-575-0057 (Ext 11).

Call if you’re not quite sure if this program fits you. Now, if you’re going to call me to see how good of a sales person I am, save your nickel. I will not try to sell you on this. Instead, I will ask you questions about what you want to accomplish in your business life—and then tell you whether I think this is what you need.

My Pledge to You

I’ve been training people for almost 20 years, and at the most recent count, I’ve spent nearly 20,000 hours in front of sales teams. Consequently, I offer these three guarantees.

The Teacher Arrives When The Student Is Ready

It could be that you’re not ready for this. That’s totally OK. One of my favorite stories is about a client who I’d talked with informally for over a year. He was resistant and uncertain about whether he could pull the trigger on training. In his case, he was considering spending $100,000 on his team.

However, he did pull the trigger. And when he began seeing real results from his team, he asked why I hadn’t put more pressure on him to close the deal. The way he saw it, if I had started with his team a year earlier, he’d have made his money back several times over by now.

But That’s Not the Way I See It.

I believe people should attend events when they’re ready to learn—ready to change—and ready to rethink who they are. Had my client engaged my services earlier, he might not have been in enough pain to make the changes that resulted in profound results for his team.

So I suggest you ask yourself three questions:

• First, “Am I ready and open to making a change in how I sell?”
• Second, “Can I take two days out of my schedule to work on myself?”
• And third, “Am I worth it?”

No Hard Sell

If you are serious about your growth – and anything in this letter spoke to your heart - you’ll figure out a way to attend. It’s that simple. No hard sell required.

Once you register, I will send you:

Best wishes to you, and I hope to see you in Indianapolis this November.

Bill Caskey

PS. Still not sure about this? No problem, go to www.theelitesellerblog.com and sign up to be notified when there is a new interview or post. That way, you’ll have more time and more information. But when the 100 seats are gone, they’re gone.