With over a decade of sales experience along with account management, customer success, partnerships, and mentorship experience, Misha aims to help female founders and sales professionals empower themselves to overcome challenges and reach their fullest potential. As a certified coach, her method centers around helping people heighten their personal and professional skills, elevate their sales careers, and increase sales results.
Katie (00:02):
Hi everyone. Thank you for tuning into the Hustlenomics Podcast. I’m your host, Katie. And today I am so excited to be talking with Misha Tamiko. She has a sales consulting and coaching company focused on helping female founders, small businesses and individual sales contributors. So Misha, thank you so much for coming on the show today.
Misha (00:17):
Yeah, thanks for having me, Katie.
Katie (00:19):
Absolutely. So I would love to kind of hear a little bit more about you and everything that you do with your company.
Misha (00:24):
Yeah, absolutely. So like you mentioned, Misha Tamiko is a sales coaching and consulting company that predominantly focuses on working with female entrepreneurs and sales professionals. And so most of my work with my clients is either focused on helping them build up the mindset and EEQ skills for sales. And that’s pretty much on the coaching side. So lots of working through limiting beliefs and fears that come up when when we’re faced with sales situations. And then I also help female founders who are in the revenue stages of their business, get the sales function set up.
Katie (01:09):
Okay, fantastic. So I’m always fascinated by business owners journey to where they kind of got to owning their own business. So what did you start out doing with your career?
Misha (01:18):
Yeah, so interesting story, as I’m sure a lot of us have now we’ve got like this Alchemist story right. Of how we’ve collected all of our skills. So I I started my career in sales originally in the healthcare space. And so I’ve spent some time selling services and devices in the healthcare space. And then I moved over to selling in the brand protection and track and trace base. So, or with pharmaceutical companies who I wanted to make sure that we knew our drugs were safe. And then I ended up in the tech industry, which was basically focused on HR tech and recruiting tech and spent about five years in that space. So always in sales, but maneuvering in and out of different industries.
Katie (02:06):
And did you kind of get your degree knowing that you wanted to go into sales has always been something that you’re passionate about or did you just kind of discover one day that you were really good at it?
Misha (02:15):
Oh, Oh no, no, I didn’t. I didn’t start with sales. I have a degree in biology. So when I was in school, I wanted to be a biology teacher or I want it to be a primary care physician. And as school started to get to the end of the four years, I realized I needed to get out and make some money. So I actually might, somebody in my family was in pharmaceutical sales and I thought, Hey, he might be interested in this. Let’s talk about it. And they basically said, you have to work your butt off and, and like working with people. And I was like, okay, both of those are good for me. And so I jumped into it and I learned, I had those skills that were huge strength for me. And then some others that popped up, which helped me out. So I got lucky.
Katie (03:03):
Yeah. That’s awesome. And I’ve always kind of been intimidated by the whole sales process. I worked in corporate for a little while selling modular buildings of which is kind of a, it’s hard to sell them, put it that way. Did you feel intimidated going into kind of a sales team or what was your, the structure like when you first started categorized into sales? Were you on your own? Were you working with a team?
Misha (03:25):
Yeah. Oh yeah. I was absolutely intimidated. I started out as a, what they used to call a cold caller, an inside sales person. And so, yeah. So my job was to get hung up on a lot. So yeah, it was like just getting into the down and dirty as soon as I started my career. But I think that, that gave me a lot of grit from the get go, because you have to build up that resistance. If, if you’re going to get calls 60 calls a day and use, you know, much different technology than we had before today, you know, this is going back 13 years or so. So yeah, jumping in, I was absolutely intimidated. I was calling in to like large hospital systems and speaking with people that were very prestigious in those organizations and, you know, at 22 years old, it was, it was extremely intimidating. So no, it wasn’t always easy.
Katie (04:22):
Well, I’m glad you mentioned the cold calling because that’s one of the things that I had to do as well, even, you know, six years ago. But I think a lot of things have changed in business in corporate and in sales, but I’d love to kind of hear how your approach to sales is different than what a lot of people might be used to when it comes to tactics like the cold calling and things like that.
Misha (04:39):
Yeah. I think it’s interesting because I’ve been in so many different industries in my roles have ranged between having to manage the entire sales cycle. Meaning I have to find the lead, I have to call the lead and then I have to sell them and bring them on as a customer. And then I have to maintain that relationship. So I’ve had full cycle. I’ve had just pure closing positions where my job was strictly to get the lead and then close them as a customer and move them onto a customer success team. So I think the skill sets that I’ve built over time and the style of my selling has definitely evolved throughout my career. And I’ve been able to figure out what works really well for me, which is so important whenever you’re selling, we’re still, we’re humans, we’re selling to other humans. And I think sometimes, sometimes we forget that in today’s super digital age.
Misha (05:30):
So for me, a lot of my ability to be successful in sales depended on my mindset. It depended on how I managed my emotions, which is something that I work with my clients on a lot, obviously strategy and tactics are important. And I have tons of those. I love strategizing. It’s one of my favorite things to do, but I think that when it comes to where your head’s and why you’re doing the things you’re doing or how you’re doing the things that you’re doing, it’s really important that, that you focus on those pieces too. And I don’t think in sales that gets enough attention.
Katie (06:07):
Yeah. And I would love to kind of dive into that mindset part of your business a little bit later, but you do work with a lot of female founders and since this podcast is kind of geared towards female entrepreneurs
Misha (06:18):
And all that kind of stuff, I’d love to kind of talk about the
Katie (06:21):
Unique challenges and aspects of selling when it comes to being a woman and being a woman run business. So what are some of the, let’s say I’m trying to think patterns maybe is a good word that you’ve seen over and over again that come up with women in sales and some of the unique challenges that we deal with when it comes to selling within our businesses.
Misha (06:40):
Yeah. And the one, the one thing that I have to say about this is these challenges are challenges that salespeople come up against all the time. There’s a sense of like ego and make it to you or fake it till you make it. I’m in sales that I think salespeople are taught to put on, but they still have these underlying fears too. So I have to throw that in there that this is not just, you know, something that that business owners are going through, but when it comes to women, a lot of the things that come up for all of us are things like imposter syndrome don’t want to be too pushy, learning how to manage or understand being rejected is something that is a huge fear for us. So there are these main principles that all kind of fall into this bucket of us being fearful of not being good enough or smart enough or strong enough.
Misha (07:35):
And the fact of the matter is every statistic that has been published about women selling is that not to dog on the, on the guys, but we’re better at it. So, so at the end of the day, our mix of skillsets are really powerful. And I think if we can just move through some of the limitations that we have in our minds around around the fears that we have, we’re able to accelerate tons. Once we recognize that that we can own it and that we can do it. So, yeah, those are some of the main pieces that have come up with, with my clients.
Katie (08:13):
And if there’s someone listening who completely resonated with what you just said about all those fears and those feelings of feeling too pushy, you’re not good enough. Are there any exercises that you kind of work with your clients to kind of identify some of those mental blocks and just maybe a couple of straightforward exercises that someone could do daily to start moving past them?
Misha (08:30):
Yeah. Yeah. There’s, there’s some great, there’s some great tools. So the first thing I always like to walk my clients through is them writing down a list of why they find, or what about themselves. They find valuable. They can’t be things like you’re a mom. I’m a great, I’m a great mom. I’m a great daughter. I’m hard worker. It needs to be things that are at your, at your core and things that are attribute of you that make up your identity uniquely. And so the idea behind this exercise is for you to take a look at a list of, and I say a minimum of 20, which can be difficult for people, but pulling together a list of 20 things that you really find valuable about yourself and how you leverage those unique talents that you have. And the whole purpose of this exercise is for you to recognize that you are valuable.
Misha (09:29):
I think that’s one of the things that, that we can struggle with that makes our confidence kind of sway back and forth. Is, am I valuable? Am I providing value? And I think the second piece to that exercise is then understanding where am I using these valuable pieces in my life and where else could I be leveraging them in my life that I’m not. And so when it comes to business, a lot of times when I’m working with, with my clients, what they realize is there, there’s some really, really awesome things that they leverage every day when it comes to them being a mom or them being a good partner that they could be leveraging in sales or in their business, that they’re not that our strength. So we talk about how to incorporate those. And that’s really a really impactful kind of foundational exercise that I, I work with my clients through. Yeah, I really like that. I might have to do that for myself. It’s fun.
Katie (10:22):
It is difficult 20 sounds like a lot, but imagine, you know, how much you have to work with after you get through that exercise. I see how valuable that is. And you know, another thing that I struggled with, especially, I think I mentioned this before we kind of hopped on, I kind of jumped into my business, really excited, really gung ho, but I didn’t kind of do a lot of those foundational blocks that I needed to do to make sure that I was set up for success. And one of those things that I skipped over, which I now had to have go back and do is kind of identifying my individual sales voice. And you talk about this on your website and you kind of explain what that means. And also the second part of this question is kinda not mimicking other people in a way that you think you should be selling, but finding your own unique way of doing it.
Misha (11:02):
Yeah, absolutely. So your unique sales voice is something that, that is so, so important to understand and embrace, and ultimately what it is is it’s your dial and kind of your swag to the way that you manage your conversations and your relationships with clients there’s in the sales community. There’s a lot of do it this way, which I don’t believe in because I’m, I’m a traditional coach. So I’m a certified professional coach. So I thoroughly believe in people exploring and understanding how they can best leverage their capabilities to be as effective and a success successful as they want to be. So your unique sales voice is a combination of all of those attributes that we’re talking about and you feeling really comfortable using those pieces to get across the point of your value. And so I think when it comes to some of the fears that we talked about, imposter syndrome, feeling pushy, dealing with rejection, a lot of those, those pieces can come up.
Misha (12:06):
If we aren’t firm in our voice, how are we selling? Why are we selling? What, why are we calling it selling, like selling such a bad word to so many people and sales is such a bad word to so many people. So if we want to reposition that to your sales voice, which your sales voice may say, instead I’m providing value to my customers. I’m not quote unquote selling to them because that feels uncomfortable. So it’s about you, you embracing your, your strengths and qualities and talking about things the way that feel comfortable for you.
Katie (12:42):
Yeah. And kind of going off that a little bit, you know, I’m just talking about me personally and maybe a lot of people out there I’m in kind of the millennial generation and we tend to be a little bit more casual, a little bit more free flowing when it comes to the way that we, we speak and even our copy on our website. But sometimes I wonder there has to be a way to do that and still sound professional and still some trustworthy you come across that. And do have you found a way to balance that with your clients or, you know, even the way that you sell,
Misha (13:09):
Hey, it goes back to you being comfortable with what you’re putting out yourself. I think if you want to be more casual and laid back with your copy and, and that’s your, your vibe, and those are the clients that you’re looking to attract, I think that’s perfectly fine. It’s all about your end user, your audience and your intention. So what are you intending to put out? Why are, why are you intending it to do it that way? And who are the people that you’re trying to speak to? And so if it’s more casual, great, that’s, that’s you and same thing with your sales voice, great, that’s you. And you’re going to attract people that are attracted to that, that sales voice people that are really rigid. And you know, might be on the quote unquote corporate side. Aren’t going to be as attracted to that. But if that’s not the audience and the type of person that you’re looking to work with and perfect, it works out great for you.
Katie (14:02):
Awesome. Yeah. I liked that a lot finding leads and finding sales seems to be kind of like the first thing at the top of a lot of people’s minds, especially solopreneurs who are kind of having to do everything themselves and don’t have a team to kind of support them. So what’s your view of the kind of sales landscape and finding leads in a world post cold calling? Yeah,
Misha (14:21):
I think it’s easier than it’s ever been. It is. It’s really easy to find the leads it’s getting through the door, right? So I think it’s easier than ever to create a lead list, to find the clients that you want to work with and get as much information as you need to. I mean, rapport building has never, has never been easier or something. You know, you can find information about everybody on the internet now, but I think the getting through the is, is the biggest challenge. And what I find a lot of times is people are using one tactic. So they’re using social media and that’s the only way that they’re trying to get through the door to, to find prospects. It’s a great lead Avenue, but it’s not your only one. I always recommend my clients have between five and seven different avenues that they’re using to get people through the door.
Misha (15:16):
And that could simply be a great referral engine. You already know lots of people. So how are the people that, you know, helping you and how are you helping them? Developing partnerships is a great lead engine. So I would just say to expand your horizons on the places and the ways that you’re bringing people through, and don’t be nervous to send the email or ask for, ask for the meeting. That’s a, another big thing that, that people come up against because there’s this idea that we have to have built up this really strong relationship before we start talking about our business. And I do appreciate the relationship piece is a big, that’s been a big value in how I sell, but I also have really great success with cold emailing people and just saying, Hey, I saw X, Y, and Z online about you, or I heard you on a podcast, really inspired, would love to just chat and see if there’s anything that I could help you with. And because it’s genuine and I’m coming from a place of help, I have a really great response rate. So I’d say just, you know, use different avenues and be genuine in your outreach.
Katie (16:31):
Yeah. I really liked that kind of template of moving forward first with what can I help you with? What can I provide value instead of saying like, here’s the thing buy it that’s really good advice. It seems so simple, but you know, it, it really is something that a lot of people have yet to kind of implement. But speaking about solopreneurs in general, who are wanting to kind of increase their sales and increase their lead generation. Do you have any tools that they could start using, like either even customer management systems or anything that you found, followup systems, things that as somebody who’s having to wear, all the hats would find helpful?
Misha (17:04):
Yeah, it’s funny. This is a question that I get a lot and a really basic tool that a lot of people don’t leverage is their Gmail templates. I know it sounds so silly, but just using your Gmail email templates and having template doored in there and a regular cadence in your calendar for when you’re doing outreach to people, when you’re, when you’re trying to connect with people or have conversations with people, those are two really simple, basic things that will save your life. You shouldn’t be writing an email or rewriting an email every single time you go to send one out, you should have a template that you can tweak or 10 templates that you can tweak just based on which part of the outreach you’re in. And then for people that are more advanced, there’s obviously systems that can, can help you organize that. Like, Trello’s really great. If you want to go all the way into the CRM world, HubSpot’s really great. But I would say for people that are just starting out organization is, is the key to your success. And just using some of the basic tools and, and being organized can be your, can be your best friend.
Katie (18:17):
I love that. I think that’s great advice. It’s simple but effective. That’s great. I’ve learned that like, email templates have been so, so helpful for me because like you’ve mentioned, write out the same thing over and over again. So it saves so much time for me. And are there any other like recommendations when it comes to podcasts or courses or books, anything that adds related to business or just personal development that you think the listeners might find help?
Misha (18:39):
Yeah. So let’s see. So one of my favorite podcasts for personal development is on purpose by Jay Shetty. I absolutely loved Jay Shetty’s work. He was among, and is now an influencer in the, in the healthcare space, especially when it comes to like mental health and relationships. And the, he just brings on some really, really interesting guests. And he always has actionable tips, which I love some actionable tips. So I love that podcast, a book I would recommend for people that are just getting into sales. So more sales focused is talking to strangers by Malcolm Gladwell. It’s a book about more of the psychology of, of relationships. And it doesn’t, it doesn’t necessarily speak to terms in psychology. It’s more storytelling around why we operate the way that we do. And I think from a sales perspective, we forget sometimes, like I mentioned earlier, that we’re selling to human beings. And so understanding why we do the things we do and why we make the decisions that we may can, can help sales people or people that are needing to sell, get into a Headspace that’s more comfortable and relaxed because you have an idea of what’s going on in the other side of the table. It doesn’t just feel like this, you know, black box that you’re reaching into.
Katie (20:05):
Yeah. Awesome. I’ll link to all of those in the show notes. And just to kind of wrap things up in a nice little bow, if, you know, going back to those foundational building blocks that I’ve been talking about, if you could give, you know, one to three pieces of advice on how to start out strong with a strong foundational base, when building your sales part of your business or starting out a sales career, what would those be?
Misha (20:26):
Yeah. So the first thing is your mindset. Number one thing is figuring out and locking in your sales mindset, because that’s going to lead your intentions and your conversations. It’s going to lead how you do the things that you do when it comes to marketing and sales. I know it seems like a silly thing to focus on first, but it’s number one place where your actions are going to come from, right? It’s all, it all starts with your mindset. So figuring out things like, where am I feeling uncomfortable? Where are fears coming up? Why are they coming up? And how can I shift that mindset to be something that is benefiting me? So that’s, that’s number one, I’d say getting organized is, is number two. I have a strict calendar schedule that I follow, but everybody kind of has a different flavor to what works for them.
Misha (21:19):
Getting organized is key. So like the base that we talked about with Gmail, getting some templates in place, making sure that you have calendar blocks that are dedicated to not only your marketing activity, but your outreach activity for partnerships and networking and all of that great stuff. And then I would say just doing the work of actually reaching out to people. So I would say foundationally, just do it. I think a lot of people will get nervous and then they start procrastinating and doing other things in the business. And so you actually have to follow what, what you’ve put in place. And even if you’re scared, just start doing it because that fear will subside once you you’ve got a repetition going and, and you understand what to expect. Fantastic. That’s awesome. And so can you also tell people how to find you online? Cause I’m sure people are gonna wanna follow you and follow everything that you’re doing. Yeah, absolutely. So everything is at Misha Tamico, so that’s M I S H a M I K O. And my website is.com and that’s also my Instagram handle. So find me there and let’s connect. Perfect. Thank you so much Misha for coming on the show today. It’s been awesome to talk to you. Thanks, Katie. It’s been great talking to you too.
