Brainz Magazine Exclusive Interview
Nadine Keller is the founder and CEO of Precision Sales Coaching, a thriving 7-figure company that has helped thousands of F100 C-suite executives, sales professionals, and marketing leaders enhance their performance. Drawing on deep insights gained into how people buy, Nadine is a strong advocate for embracing the "softer side of sales." Today, Nadine and her team have redirected their focus towards helping women entrepreneurs grow their businesses so they can enjoy the financial freedom they desire. Nadine's expertise has been featured in Forbes, INC, and her book "Make It All About Them!” Away from the office, you'll often find Nadine walking the tranquil wooded trails in Connecticut with Wiley, her loyal Goldendoodle, adventuring with her grown sons, or enjoying the serenity of a good book in a cozy chair.
Tell us a little about yourself!
I consider myself a serial entrepreneur. While my primary business has been my consulting practice serving Fortune 100 companies for the last 17 years, I have also developed a digital sales enablement platform, started a business related to entertaining with my two sons, and built a business around a dog collar I patented. I have loved it all, but I am most excited about where this journey has led me: to helping women entrepreneurs grow their businesses and achieve financial freedom. To this end, my partner Linda Knox and I interviewed over 100 women entrepreneurs to develop a deep understanding of their challenges and aspirations and how best to design a program to support their growth. We uncovered a resounding need: While women entrepreneurs are experts in their discipline, they need a clear and efficient path to building a business.
What motivated you to bring your expertise to helping women entrepreneurs grow their businesses?
The expression, “I wish I knew then what I know now,” comes to mind. Having been an entrepreneur myself for 25 years, I learned the hard way how to grow a service business to seven figures. It took blood, sweat, and tears, and a long time to figure out. I often wonder what would have been different if I’d had a guide and a roadmap to follow. Would I have reached seven figures faster? Would the business have climbed to eight figures? Would I have had fewer sleepless nights and more time to spend with my boys and husband? I believe yes, yes, and yes! As many experienced, the pandemic provided an opportunity for deep reflection. I emerged from it with the intention to help women entrepreneurs like me by combining my entrepreneurial experience with my deep understanding of sales strategy, skills, and processes. One of the things that impressed Linda and me when conducting our interviews was how important it is for women entrepreneurs to have an impact. They are in it to offer their knowledge, skills, and gifts to others. We want to make it easier for them by providing a roadmap for success so they can share their gifts with the world while experiencing the financial freedom they deserve.
After 25 years working with F100 companies such as JPMorgan, Prudential, and AIG, helping them to increase their sales and marketing effectiveness, what lessons are you bringing to women entrepreneurs?
My company worked in a very specialized niche within Financial Services which was predominantly male. Traditionally, the selling framework in corporate America leans toward masculine energy. While I never spoke directly of this, we often coached men to take a more empathetic and conversational approach to sales, inviting them through techniques we taught to draw on more of their feminine energy – because we knew they would experience greater sales success by doing so. For example, salespeople are more successful when they are collaborative, creative, and empathetic – energy that is considered feminine. One of the prevalent themes we heard when we interviewed women was their discomfort with sales. They shared concerns about being “pushy” and “salesy” and a belief that success would require applying outdated (often masculine) sales tactics, which is simply not the case. That’s why we help our clients see that they can experience great success by being genuine and authentic and by leaning into their feminine energy – what we call “The Softer Side of Sales”.
We also know the important role confidence plays in business success. While women are smart, capable, and amazingly talented, we found that lack of confidence often sabotages their success and prevents them from achieving the financial freedom that is so important to them. One example of this is underpricing their offers. According to research from Freshbooks, women underprice themselves by 28% compared to their male counterparts offering the exact same service. Clearly, this has to change, and it begins with a deeply rooted sense of self-worth and confidence.
Finally, in corporate America, community is particularly important to women. It is even more vital to women entrepreneurs as it can be a lonely journey. A strong community of like-minded, supportive women helps build confidence and creativity, resilience, and risk-taking – encouraging them to take bold actions they otherwise might not take.
What are the core principles or strategies that you believe contribute to long-term success in entrepreneurship?
Let me share three strategies with you. First, Make It All About Them! is the title of a book I wrote about how to have effective sales conversations. Making it all about the client is also a core driver for entrepreneurial success. Whether you are designing your offer, your messaging, or your lead generation strategy, you always need to make it about the client first – their problems, their needs, their aspirations, and their desired transformation. When you do this, growing your business is so much easier.
Second, selling is not about applying tactics to get someone to buy but rather being of service to your clients and prospects. It is not something you do to someone, it is something you do for someone. Being in service to your clients requires a genuine desire to deeply understand their situation so that you can assess if you can help them. If so, you are obligated to position your offer so they can readily see the value and transformative power of your solution. We work with many coaches and consultants and ironically, the skills needed to do this empathetic discovery are the same skills they use in their practices. Once they make this connection to being in service of their clients, effective selling becomes quite easy and enjoyable for them.
The third strategy I believe contributes to long-term success as an entrepreneur is to be YOU–wonderfully, uniquely YOU. Many women who have worked in industry, whether for-profit or non-profit, have felt the need to fit into certain stereotypes and molds. One of the beautiful things about being an entrepreneur is that you can “do you” as they say – you can unapologetically celebrate your genuine and authentic self. This can feel awkward for some at first, but it is essential to finding joy and success in the entrepreneurial journey.
Can you elaborate on how your belief in “making sales all about the client” aligns with your approach to creating a successful business?
Let me begin by saying that before you can make it all about the client, you must know who they are, what they are experiencing, and the transformation they seek. One of the mistakes entrepreneurs often make is underestimating the importance of truly understanding their target market and instead making assumptions about them. That’s why it’s so important to have a clearly defined niche. If you don’t know exactly who your ideal client is and their desired future, your ability to attract them is diminished, and your offer is less impactful. Entrepreneurs often think that effective marketing is about getting the client to understand their offer when, in fact, it is about demonstrating to the client that you understand them.
This principle applies to the sales conversation as well. When meeting with potential clients, we need to listen with the intent to learn. This can be challenging as we often think we have heard it before – and while we may have heard the problem described similarly, every individual is different. Our desire and ability to seek out these subtle differences allows us to connect on a deeper level with clients and truly make it all about them.
Could you share with us the unique advantages of Precision's Sales Accelerator?
We keep it simple. The accelerator is designed to do just that – accelerate business growth. We do this by providing a clear and efficient step-by-step revenue process that ensures a strong and strategic foundation for our client’s business. There is absolutely no fluff.
It is research-based. We have interviewed over 100 women entrepreneurs so that we can tailor a program specifically to the challenges they face. In addition to practical strategies and approaches, our program continually addresses the common mindset challenges women face.
We are with our clients every step of the way. Every entrepreneur is unique. Unlike other programs, we not only provide group coaching but individual coaching directly from Linda and/or me that allows us to understand our clients’ unique businesses and support them in achieving their goals.
Clients have lifetime access to the platform, tools, and group coaching. This is critical as entrepreneurs need to revisit their marketing and sales strategies on an ongoing basis for continued and sustainable growth.
Our community is uniquely supportive. Because we are selective when deciding who to work with, we have created an amazing community of women who provide remarkable support to each other.
We make it fun. Gamification, humor, and creativity are built into the program. While building a business is serious business, we want our clients to have fun while doing it!
How does sharpening sales strategy lead to financial freedom for the business owners you work with?
A thoughtful and well-developed sales strategy creates focus for their business. How they spend their time is then very deliberate. They have a clear roadmap which means they know exactly what to do and when to do it and are not distracted by extraneous, time-consuming activities that previously had slowed them down. As a result, they attract more leads that convert into clients which means more revenue. More revenue then affords them the freedom to invest in their business, allowing it to grow faster. A thriving, healthy business, built upon a strong, strategic foundation provides them the financial freedom they have rightfully earned.
What results come when women focus on the softer side of sales?
When women lean into their more feminine energy in the sales process, they close more sales. Applying the softer side of sales helps them develop a deeper understanding of their prospects' needs. If, through the conversation, they assess that they can help the client, they are then beautifully positioned to confidently present their offer in a very personal, emotive, and caring way. The clients will actually see themselves working with them to achieve their desired transformation. The trust that is built through the softer side of sales leads to more “yes’s”.
Finally, can you offer some key takeaways or advice for aspiring women entrepreneurs based on your journey and the expertise you've gained?
You can do this! Building a profitable, successful, impactful business that results in financial freedom is attainable. There are many, many women out there doing this – you can too!
Dream Big! Don’t limit yourself by thinking that reaching six figures is enough for you. In many interviews we heard a goal of hitting six figures. In 2023, $100,000 in revenue is not enough to enjoy the financial freedom you deserve. At the very minimum, initially aim for $250,000 in revenue and adjust from there. Our mission is to help 500 women get to $500,000 in revenue and beyond.
Pay for speed, clarity, and peace of mind. Invest in yourself and your business. Join a program like ours or hire a very experienced coach to help you lay out a deliberate and systematic plan that will get you to your goals – faster.
Find joy in the journey, or find something else. Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur. Building a business is challenging, but it should also be fun and rewarding.
Don’t go it alone. If you are a solopreneur, join a community of like-minded women who will support you and, in turn, receive your support as you navigate the peaks and valleys of this incredible journey we call entrepreneurship.
