Spark Sellingtm Academy -- Full Scholarship
WHAT IS the scholarship?
This is a fully paid, $1,000 Scholarship allowing a salesperson, or business owner, to start and advance customer conversations using the Spark Sellingtm communication methodology.
The year-long, fully paid Gold level Academy membership provides courses, lessons & personalized outreach help from Jeff Molander and colleagues in our online community.
The scholarship is one way Communications Edge gives back to the community it serves.
DEADLINE and eligibility
To be considered for the $1,000 award, applicants must complete the application form and submit all required documents. Deadline for application is April 10 at midnight PST.
Eligibility Requirements: Must be a salesperson or business owner who will commit to transforming how you communicate. You should be excited about challenging yourself and making dramatic change.
WHAT IS the academy?
We are a private community of life-long learners, transforming how we communicate. Then, innovating over time. Practicing.
We are curious and create curiosity -- as a means to start and advance conversations.
We are international, diverse and span gender, race and business culture. We are open-minded, confident and have a sense of humor too!
We get excited by understanding what makes people tick -- behavioral science.
The scholarship provides
Coaching community
Attend 2 live coaching workshops each month. Get help by volunteering as a guinea pig!
Jeff tears down and re-builds under-performing messages... to spark curiosity & provoke conversations. Steal ideas from industry-specific, archived coaching clinics.
Provocation templates
Immediate access to seven (7) of the latest provocation techniques in template format... ready to be customized and tested.
You'll get the most current mental trigger tactics working today.
Community Forum
Learn from, and invent with, sellers in a private Forum. Crash-test your messages in the Peer Review Group. Swipe emerging tactics & get inspired from colleagues. Hold others, and be held, accountable to improving! Click below to peek inside!
Proprietary reports
Monthly reports provide insights you won't find anywhere else. Sourced from Jeff Molander's research and our community's experience.
Step-by-step courses
Embrace the idea of curiosity-based provocation. Learn and rapidly apply basic concepts to drive conversations in various contexts. Email, LinkedIn, voicemail and more. Start conversations from cold faster, re-engage "gone dark" customers, draft unusual subject line tactics, and send better responses to "not interested." All video lessons include transcripts!
Workshop archives
All public workshops (webinars) are made available live and 48-hours on replay and transcribed. Then, we lock them up for members only.
Discover how our member community is starting customer conversations. These video & transcribed workshops will help.
About Your Coach
Jeff is on a mission to transform how you communicate with customers. He is addicted to understanding what makes people want to start conversations with strangers. When he's not working you'll find him hiking, fishing and with his family.
He is an authority on current, effective Conversation Enablement strategies and founder of Communications Edge Inc. in 1997. He is a coach, father and creator of the Spark Sellingtm communication methodology—an unusually effective way to start and advance conversations with customers.
In 1999, Jeff co-founded what became the Google Affiliate Network and Performics Inc. where he helped secure 2 rounds of funding and built the sales team. He's been selling for over 2 decades.
Jeff was first to offer a practical book for small businesses to sell using social media. He published, Off the Hook Marketing: How to Make Social Media Sell for You.
What causes engagement has changed.
So must your outreach strategy.
What worked before:
- proving you know about customers' business challenges;
- appearing credible, trustworthy;
- sharing quality content, value (making deposits) or education.
What works now: The scent of value. Sparking curiosity.
Customers engage when they sense you may be worthwhile.
This is why 98% of sellers aren't earning conversations. They don’t know how to spark curiosity. Consistently.
Our colleagues speak
It was painful. I was "that guy" (which I didn’t want to be) in everyone’s inbox. Because my old messages generated (small) results I stuck by them -- like some kind of kids blanket I couldn't let go of. Even though I knew it was filthy, full of holes and fit for the trash... and screamed desperation.
Jeff and the community's tough love were enough to make me change. Once the results came I realized -- I would no longer be “that guy” and neither would my team!
Six months ago I opened conversation with a prospect using a classic Spark technique. Today that prospect is a client. They signed a large, three year framework agreement. This is my biggest win to date.
jeff castle
bus dev. lead
ambipar response
I thought 'who are these guys and are they legitimate?' I followed for about a year, then began to see our prospects' behavior was changing--and fast. I still hesitated. Because I still didn’t want to pay for advice I was getting free via LinkedIn posts, blogs.
But then I invested, joined a workshop... and saw how to transform messages right before my eyes... short, snappy, focused, hard-hitting emails. Today my team is better at prospecting because they are believing in the idea of provocation. I'm glad to continue investing in your membership.
Skip Freeman
team lead
basis
I’ve doubled my response rate thanks to your coaching. It’s at 80% now. I’m adjusting to talk less about us and more about the customer… especially focusing on what their competitors are doing with us.
I think this is a bit more conversational and less salesy.
I never ask for a meeting straight away and this is also helping.
lucy merrick
account executive
modulr
faq
Spark Sellingtm is a community-based practice, not a "program." In the past, you were forced to choose which sales guru (who used to be a sales rep -- years ago) to follow.
Now you have a choice. We are a community of thousands of researchers and practitioners. We don’t tell you “do this because it worked for me back when I used to sell.” We say, “Try this tactic. Because it works, currently, for sellers in your industry.”
Spark Sellingtm methodology places communication technique at the root of success in sales. What drives sales productivity? What drives sellers to produce new customers at highest levels?
Having a communication edge. Better skills.
Our Academy does not offer money-back. Because we guarantee the skill. Most members stay, month-after-month, because they are keen on learning, improving and maintaining a skill—not just accessing information. Nothing in life is guaranteed. Unless we can control all variables we cannot guarantee a desired result. It is not possible to control all variables involved in your outreach.
Be wary of any sales trainer or company offering guarantees. Guarantees are a sign—of low confidence. Insecurity in one's ability to sell an otherwise strong product. That said, we welcome skeptics! (see below)
Skip Freeman, Sr. Recruiter -- BASIS Chicago
At first, I wasn’t convinced I would get more value from the paid material than I was getting from your free material. I also thought 'who are these guys and are they legitimate?' You talk about how things change… what is effective at starting conversations for a while eventually stops working. I say to myself, 'They do, but not that fast. Therefore, if I can learn all I can from the free materials, I don’t need to invest.' I followed for about a year, then began to see that things did change, and could change fast.
I hesitated because I still didn’t see the value.
The value really changed when I attended my first workshop and saw the long boring emails change right before my eyes into short, snappy, focused, hard-hitting emails. Today my team is better at prospecting because they are believing in the idea of provocation. One team member is seeing a 30-40% lift in response rates. I'm glad to continue investing in your sales copywriting course and membership.
Results come in hard and soft form. You'll receive more (email/voicemail) response from prospects and enjoy prospecting more. Typically, diligent students see measurable results in a few weeks.
More importantly, by sticking with this new approach, you will become skilled at re-inventing new communication approaches when old ones stop working. All based on core success principles. This is where people usually have difficulty and fall back on old patterns. Not any more :)
View our customer testimonials as proof of the technique.
Because transformation takes time. And because practice makes perfect. The Academy is a commitment to continuing excellence.
You are free to take the 2 Courses—and everything we can teach you in one month's time—and cancel membership. But most members stay to keep tactics current and skills sharp. Effective conversation-starting tactics working today won't last. They never do. We are all learners and teachers—practicing a skill. This isn't a "program." It's a practice. Not a one time fix.
If you have difficulty appreciating this the Academy is probably not for you.
Being above average at starting conversations requires "keeping the saw sharp"—over time. Your targets environment & behavior changes. So must your communication technique. When one email or calling technique stops working can you switch to a second? Confidently?
Our community helps you switch techniques when it's time. We help each other form better communication habits that feel natural. These skills are based on success principles, allowing for adaptation over time. Today, being at the top-of-your-game means adapting to a changing environment.
A personal note
There's this idea... that a piece of advice is a formula to create or unlock something. While it may 'work' for the person giving the advice, the circumstances and variables making it possible are highly subjective -- making repeatability improbable.
Books. LinkedIn posts. Google searches and blogs. We're thirsty for better ways. But what if, instead of valuing "this worked for me -- it'll work for you too," you tried something different?
Consider seeking inspiration, principles and a unique philosophy. Use these to set goals, choose a strategy and execute tactics.
This isn't a popular way forward. Because it leaves the creativity and work to you -- and makes you responsible for the results and effects.
Most will choose a fix or a hack, a ritual to perform, a metric to compete for and an easy excuse.
With or without our help you'll make the best choice. But why work alone?
Let's transform how you communicate with customers. Our members are good at starting, and forwarding, conversations. They're always getting better. Because they evolve the practice.
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