The Sales Leader Network

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In this episode, they discuss the value of consultants with multiple skill sets who can handle various aspects of a project, potentially replacing the need for multiple agency roles. Both hosts are consultants who bring multiple skill sets to a problem and can do the job of three or four people.

They also emphasize the importance of patience and taking the time to build out the infrastructure correctly. They suggest building outside the system and implementing technology after thoroughly whiteboarding and mirroring the go-to-market processes. By putting the system on paper and allowing for edits and fixes, companies can ensure a more efficient and effective implementation.

Additionally, They explore the connection between marketing and sales in go-to-market strategies. Successful companies are those where sales and marketing work together seamlessly. This highlights the need for collaboration and alignment between these two departments to achieve optimal results.

Overall, the episode emphasizes that designing a solid infrastructure for go-to-market strategies is crucial and should not be rushed. Taking the time to gather accurate data, design processes, and ensure collaboration between marketing and sales will lead to more successful go-to-market efforts.

[00:00:09] Working with contractors and advisors.

[00:03:27] Reputation and credibility.

[00:06:01] Bounce rate and email deliverability.

[00:10:57] SDRs and email credit scores.

[00:12:15] Automating MQL to opportunity to close.

[00:15:10] Conversion and volume in marketing.

[00:18:10] The North Star.

[00:22:38] Consultants overpowering agencies.

[00:24:29] Single point solution contractors.

[00:28:27] Forms and form strategy.

[00:30:03] Wasted people hours.

[00:34:05] Optimizing back end systems.

[00:36:11] Building systems correctly.

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Chuck Reigrut emphasizes the importance of building relationships and providing personalized training to gain trust and make a positive impact on customers. They mention that meeting customers in person, rather than relying solely on online interactions, can help create stronger connections and show that the company is invested in finding solutions that will make the customers' lives easier.

He also highlights the significance of belief in the products or solutions being offered. Having conviction in the solution and effectively communicating its benefits to customers is crucial to gaining their trust and demonstrating the long-term impact it can have on their students or business.

Additionally, he discusses the value of maintaining ongoing relationships with customers. They mention that in the SaaS industry, people often change companies every few years, but by providing exceptional support and going out of their way to help customers, the company can leave a lasting impression. This can lead to organic growth through positive word-of-mouth and referrals.

[00:05:30] Targeting high-value accounts.

[00:09:43] Importance of selling to small ones.

[00:14:23] Shooting straight in sales.

[00:16:55] Money and motivation in sales.

[00:19:54] Learning from our failures.

[00:29:01] Successful partnership strategies.

[00:32:06] Including partners for customer benefit.

[00:36:24] Channel partnership challenges.

[00:38:22] The power of partnerships.

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Understanding oneself and the target audience is crucial for leadership and sales success. Kristie Jones emphasizes the importance of self-awareness in reaching the next level in one's career and life. This applies to both leadership and sales. Just as selling to the wrong persona can harm one's ability to succeed, not understanding one's own strengths, weaknesses, and goals can hinder success as a leader or salesperson.

Kristie suggests that sales leaders should ask themselves a question to have a greater impact on their team. By reflecting on their own abilities and aligning them with the needs and preferences of their team, sales leaders can effectively motivate and guide their team members.

Additionally, the episode highlights the importance of personal development and taking ownership of one's growth. Kristie mentions that sales representatives should not leave their personal development to chance or rely solely on their leaders. Instead, they should actively seek opportunities to learn and improve their skills. This aligns with the idea that understanding oneself includes recognizing areas for growth and taking action to develop those areas.

[00:02:30] First sales job waiting tables.

[00:03:06] Switching to higher-end restaurants.

[00:05:42] Translatable skill set from waiting tables and going into sales.

[00:11:21] Leadership management training.

[00:14:32] Your circle matters.

[00:17:32] Round table collaboration and success.

[00:21:30] Importance of matching personality traits.

[00:24:39] Sales perspective in large vs. small companies.

[00:26:03] The startup world and career choices.

[00:29:01] Setting goals for success.

[00:31:40] Severing relationships for personal growth.

[00:35:00] Verbal skills as secret power.

[00:40:13] Personal development in sales.

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Lloyed emphasizes the importance of building and leveraging a community for personal growth and success. They highlight that communities provide a sense of connection and camaraderie that is often lacking in business environments. He defines community-led growth as the connection among people with shared values who come together to learn and support each other in a specific topic or area.

Lloyed emphasizes that the focus should be on building genuine connections with others rather than solely creating communities for the purpose of making money. They argue that if individuals genuinely focus on building a great community and genuinely care about their customers, financial success will naturally follow. He also emphasizes the significance of prioritizing people and their success beyond just the product or service being offered.

Overall, this episode highlights the profound impact that building and leveraging a community can have on personal growth and success. Engaging with others who share similar experiences and learning from their stories can provide valuable insights and support in navigating challenges and achieving goals.

[00:01:11] Venture capitalist hierarchy of payouts.

[00:02:39] Capital gains exemption.

[00:06:33] Life after stepping down.

[00:09:40] Funding innovation with Boast AI.

[00:12:26] Life-threatening experience and reflection.

[00:14:23] Work-life balance struggles.

[00:18:39] Friction between execution and strategy.

[00:19:04] Overcoming personal and professional setbacks.

[00:34:58] The importance of companions.

[00:37:30] Building a community for growth.

[00:40:11] Building a flourishing community.

[00:43:49] Building iconic brands with community.

[00:46:31] Community-led growth.

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When scaling up to larger customers, there are five key areas that require attention. The first is winning business, which involves attracting and securing new customers.

The second key area is crystal-clear ICP. Not just your partnership's ICP, but who EXACTLY fits the solution your partnership solves problems for. And you do this by truly understanding who your partner is, who they sell to, and how your solution fits into your ICP’s business process.

The third key area is Partner Support. Help your partners win by educating them on the thing I just walked you through. Teach them how to close more deals using the solution and do it often, And you do that by Creating a partner battlecard.

The fourth key area Give more than you get. This shows you mean what you say and want to win together. Don’t just ask for leads.

The fifth key is partner under sales. To build a valuable partner ecosystem for your business, you need to have an old-school way of doing business.

Overall, when scaling up to larger customers, it is important to focus on these five key areas: winning business, Crystal Clear ICP, Partner Support, Give more than you get. and Partner is under sales. By paying attention to these areas, businesses can increase their chances of success and effectively scale their operations.

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[00:01:26] Channel partnerships under sales.

[00:03:36] Partner program under sales.

[00:07:21] Give back to your partners.

[00:09:41] Building Channel Partnerships

[00:12:22] Partnering with payroll companies.

[00:15:27] Building profitable partner programs.

[00:17:39] Creating a connection with partnerships.

[00:20:28] Building Partner Programs and Winning Business

[00:23:33] Partner support and training.

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Duane Dufault and Jakub Hon discuss the importance of hiring individuals with a proven track record and experience in the industry. They emphasize that hiring someone who has already been successful in a similar role increases the probability of success for the company.

Jakub emphasizes the importance of establishing a solid foundation and process early in a business. They mention that many businesses struggle because they lack a clear process. Without a solid foundation, businesses may find themselves using multiple overlapping tools, leading to confusion. They may also struggle to keep track of important information, such as past interactions with prospects.

The process allows sales reps to focus on understanding the needs of the prospect rather than simply selling to them. This approach reduces haggling and negotiation and increases the likelihood of closing deals. Additionally, having a well-defined process in place can result in better business practices, leading to scalability and ultimately higher profits for the founder.

[00:01:15] Starting an outsourcing sales company.

[00:03:48] Different sales team skillsets.

[00:05:40] Type of salesperson for formalizing sales process.

[00:08:15] Finding the right sales stage.

[00:13:33] Scaling too quickly is a mistake.

[00:15:22] Scaling sales team effectively.

[00:17:04] Scaling company processes iteratively.

[00:20:32] Hiring for outbound sales experience.

[00:22:11] Technology and sales reps.

[00:26:10] Training vs. Tools for Sales.

[00:29:27] Pipeline cures all.

[00:31:49] Buyer intent and customer knowledge.

[00:33:25] Focusing on the prospect.

[00:36:13] Sales process and saving millions.

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Duane Dufault highlights the importance of promptly reaching out to leads, especially if they have completed all the necessary steps and activations early on. This is because these leads may be trying to identify any flaws or potential issues with the product before presenting it to their superiors. He suggests that if a significant lead enters the trial or premium program and swiftly completes all the required steps, it is crucial to contact them immediately. By doing so, the company can address any concerns or questions they may have and provide them with the necessary information to effectively present the product to their superiors.

This proactive approach can help build trust and increase the likelihood of converting these leads into paying customers. Additionally, Duane mentions that, in his experience, the gatekeeper of the customer base is often the one responsible for evaluating the product. Therefore, reaching out to these leads promptly can also help establish a relationship with the decision-maker and facilitate the sales process. Overall, the episode emphasizes the significance of taking control of the conversation with leads and actively engaging with them to address any potential concerns or doubts they may have early on in the process.

Key Topics:

[00:00:00] Product-led growth and sales.

[00:04:26] Selling into larger businesses.

[00:06:26] Taking control of the conversation.

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Carl Pihl emphasizes the significance of considering not only the primary keyword but also the associated subjects and topics in terms of SEO. Many SEO professionals tend to solely focus on the primary keyword and overlook the related subjects and topics. However, the speaker believes that these associated subjects are actually the most crucial and can greatly impact search engine rankings.

To support this point, Carl shares his experience launching a new website. He explained that by correctly incorporating associated keywords into their content, they were able to achieve first, second, or third rankings on Google without relying on backlinks or having an established website. This demonstrates the power of optimizing for associated subjects and topics alongside the primary keyword.

Furthermore, Carl mentions that they now utilize AI to automatically generate pages based on keywords. This indicates that they have recognized the value of incorporating associated subjects and topics into their content creation process.

[00:01:53] Ticketing Hub creation process.

[00:03:10] Resilience and overcoming challenges.

[00:06:38] Scaling a consulting business.

[00:09:31] Building trust in sales.

[00:10:16] Lost in London days.

[00:14:09] Creating genuine connections through networking.

[00:16:02] SEO and marketing as lost leaders.

[00:18:09] Validating email addresses.

[00:20:27] Understanding customer problems through experience.

[00:23:31] Tracking user behavior and optimization.

[00:26:06] Handling a major platform failure.

[00:28:05] Nothing is free.

[00:30:10] Transparency in business.

[00:33:30] Retention during COVID.

[00:35:01] Alternative to fair Harbor.

[00:38:19] SEO and keyword density.

[00:41:05] SEO and bootstrapped companies.

[00:43:01] Building websites on a budget.

[00:45:35] SEO and website improvements.

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The episode highlights two types of segmentation: demographic segmentation and behavioral segmentation.

Demographic segmentation categorizes individuals based on common demographic information such as their role, industry, and annual revenue of their business. This type of segmentation focuses on basic characteristics that can typically be found online or through data enrichment platforms. It helps businesses understand the makeup of existing customers and allows them to prioritize certain segments in their sales funnel.

On the other hand, firmographic segmentation involves segmenting individuals based on their actions, behaviors, and interactions with a product or service. This type of segmentation goes beyond basic demographics and focuses on understanding how customers use the product, who gets the most value out of it, and who pays the most. By analyzing customer behaviors and interactions, businesses can identify their ideal customer profile and optimize their marketing strategies accordingly.

Both demographic and firmographic segmentation are important for businesses. Demographic segmentation provides a basic understanding of the customer base, while firmographic segmentation delves deeper into customer actions and preferences. By combining these two types of segmentation, businesses can gain a comprehensive understanding of their customers and prospects, prioritize their sales efforts, and optimize their marketing strategies to attract more of their ideal customers.

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Duane Dufault and Adam Jay discuss the importance of prioritizing tasks and having a realistic understanding of timeframes to achieve better outcomes and avoid falling into the trap of impatience. They highlight the common problem of founders and venture capitalists who believe that everything is urgent and a priority, leading to a sense of impatience and unrealistic expectations. Adam Jay emphasizes that if everything is urgent, then nothing is truly urgent or a priority.

They explain that it is crucial to listen to experts who can provide realistic timelines and expectations. By understanding how long it will realistically take to make changes or achieve certain goals, founders can set more achievable targets and avoid the disappointment and frustration that come with unrealistic expectations. Adam also mentions that impatience is a mindset that often stems from the desire for immediate returns, but it is not necessarily the best approach for long-term success.

The episode also touches on the idea that fast growth does not always equate to good growth. While there are examples of companies that have experienced rapid and successful growth, Adam suggests that slow and steady growth is often more sustainable and ultimately leads to better outcomes. They compare the journey of building a business to a marathon rather than a sprint, emphasizing the need for deliberate and thoughtful growth strategies.

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The episode also touches on the mindset of sales managers. Duane Dufault points out that many first-time sales managers, as well as senior sales managers, often have a misguided perspective on their role.

They may focus too much on managing from a numbers perspective, constantly monitoring metrics and performance indicators. Duane suggests that true sales leadership involves helping the team develop and become more effective sellers rather than solely focusing on managing their behavior and adherence to goals.

One of the key responsibilities of a sales leader is to understand and address the roadblocks that hinder their team's performance. These roadblocks can range from skill gaps to inefficient processes or tools. Duane suggests that one of the biggest roadblocks in sales is the lack of necessary skill sets among sales leaders and managers. Therefore, a servant-minded sales leader should actively work on developing their team's skills by providing coaching, training, and support.

[00:00:20] Sales leadership misconceptions.

[00:04:24] Sales roadblocks.

[00:08:21] Serving your sales team.

[00:10:07] Servant-minded leadership.

[00:12:16] Improving product for better deals.

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Sam Jacobs and Duane Dufualt discuss the concept of "growing at any cost" in the tech industry. They question whether this strategy of aggressively grabbing market share and spending large amounts of money actually pays off in the long run. They mention companies like Slack and UiPath as examples of successful businesses that have grown rapidly. They also explore the influence of boards and competitive pressure in driving this mentality.

Duane Dufualt discusses the idea that strengthening a business's position doesn't always require spending more money. They emphasize the importance of solidifying relationships with existing customers and forming partnerships as a way to create value without incurring additional costs.

They highlight the significance of understanding customers and creating the relationships that customers need. This involves prioritizing the right actions and taking the time to do the unsexy things that put a business in the best position in the long term. Flashy widgets and expensive marketing campaigns are not sustainable strategies for enhancing a business's position.

[00:01:31] Competitive pressure and anxiety.

[00:03:06] Mark Roberge's acceleration formula.

[00:05:39] Understanding business sustainability.

[00:10:37] The expectation for growth.

[00:11:25] The Fed printing money.

[00:15:58] Strengthening position without spending.

[00:18:15] Wartime versus peacetime mindset.

[00:20:29] Sophisticated revenue growth strategies.

[00:24:09] The risk of limited perspectives.

[00:28:19] Building a network outside of work.

[00:30:36] Side hustles and loyalty.

[00:34:10] Building a community.

[00:36:55] Understanding the piano and financial statements.

[00:39:10] Making data-driven decisions.

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They emphasizes the importance of always being prepared and practicing in sales. They mention that in order to perform at a high level when it counts, one must put in many hours of practice beforehand. They argue that simply showing up and practicing on the spot is not enough. Matt, believes that this mentality of continuous practice is missing in most professional situations today.

Duane Dufault mentions a quote that has stuck with them: "You're always preparing whether you like it or not." They relate this quote to sales and highlight the importance of always being ready, rather than waiting until you think you're ready. They believe that individuals who understand this concept and have a mentality of continuous practice are the ones who achieve success in sales.

Furthermore, They discusses the importance of leaders creating a coaching culture in sales organizations. They suggest that leaders should prioritize practice and training, rather than reprimanding or pushing people into training environments. They argue that this approach will create a "pull effect" where individuals are motivated to invest in their own professional development and continuously improve their skills.

[00:01:37] Conversion rates and metrics.

[00:03:23] Taking time to unpack data.

[00:07:29] Investing in human capital.

[00:10:03] Practice to performance ratio.

[00:14:52] Motivation for professional development.

[00:17:01] Creating a training environment.

[00:19:53] Building a culture of sales readiness.

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Duane Dufualt emphasizes the importance of asking better form questions on lead forms in order to determine the potential ROI of leads and target higher value leads. The host suggests that simply asking for a name and email is not sufficient and does not provide enough information to assess the potential value of a lead.

To determine the potential ROI of a lead, the host recommends asking questions that are directly connected to how the business charges for its product or service. For example, if a company charges based on the number and type of features used, the form could include a question about the specific features the lead is interested in. If the company charges per seat or user, the form could include a question about the number of users the lead intends to have.

By asking these types of questions, businesses can gather valuable information about the potential value of a lead. This information can then be used to prioritize leads and determine which ones should be immediately sent to the sales team, which ones should be nurtured through marketing campaigns, and which ones can be put on hold.

[00:00:31] Inefficient lead acquisition process.

[00:04:11] Usage bands and pricing.

[00:07:10] Efficient sales process through lead forms.

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This episode touches on the ongoing focus on top-of-funnel lead generation for organizations, regardless of the target audience. Matt Green acknowledges that this has been a challenge for organizations even prior to Q3 of the previous year. However, with the introduction of AI-based tools like chat and GPT, coupled with the fact that every organization now has a BDR team or equivalent, the space has become increasingly crowded.

The emphasis on top-of-funnel lead generation stems from the goal of retaining existing customers and maximizing revenue, particularly in the B2B SaaS and startup sectors. The speaker highlights that the industry is finally recognizing the importance of making informed decisions rather than simply increasing sales reps or marketing efforts without considering the conversion rate of leads.

[00:01:00] Founding Sales Assembly

[00:05:02] Community learning.

[00:08:30] Top of funnel challenges.

[00:12:40] VC versus private equity.

[00:15:07] Thinking long-term for success.

[00:18:22] Rev ops as first hire.

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In the episode, Duane and Jordan discuss the importance of learning from and observing successful sales reps to develop the necessary skills for success in sales. They mention that many sales training programs and resources focus on building habits and skill sets around specific metrics and strategies. However, they argue that once a sales rep has developed these habits and skills and finds themselves in a new sales environment, these habits may actually be detrimental.

Instead, Jordan suggests that one way for a sales rep to transition into a new style of selling is through observation and learning from successful reps within their organization. They highlight the importance of listening and being curious, and mention that some BDRs within their company have risen through the ranks by adopting these qualities.

Jordan also emphasizes the value of challenging executives and asking tough questions. They observe that many executives enjoy a challenge because so many people around them just listen to them. By being able to match executives intellectually and ask thought-provoking questions.

[00:01:53] Heavy research and strategic outreach.

[00:04:26] Hyper focus on quality.

[00:08:58] Confidence and intellectual curiosity.

[00:11:03] Insecurities and self-doubt in sales.

[00:14:09] Tough times and highlighting the good.

[00:18:37] Dialing in on the data.

[00:20:03] Reaching for career opportunities.

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Duane emphasizes the importance of integrating product usage data into the CRM, particularly in a sales-led motion within a product-led growth strategy. He highlights the significance of sales teams having access to this data and knowing how to leverage it during the sales process. By having visibility into the prospect's product usage, sales reps can better guide and support the prospect, leading to a more effective sales approach.

Key Takeaways:

Get a tool that's focused on the ideal outcome, not just what you're good at.
Stop trying to piece everything together, making it hard to get to that outcome. Simplify your tools.
Make it easy for your sales team to execute.
Use Hubspot to get everything in one place.

Overall, this episode sheds light on the challenges faced by salespeople when managing multiple tools and data points. It underscores the need for a consolidated tool that streamlines and simplifies the sales process, enabling sales reps to be more effective and efficient in their roles.

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Jordan Kennedy discusses the importance of focusing on the outcome and value of a product or service rather than solely on its functionality. They explain that when companies become too focused on demonstrating product features and conducting feature-heavy demos, they can lose the emotional connection with the customer and hinder the sales process.

By shifting the conversation to emphasize the desired outcome and the value that the product or service can provide, companies can create a sense of urgency and accelerate the sales process. He also mentions that this shift in conversation has marked a significant change in their sales approach. They highlight that by focusing on outcome and value, they have found success in sales across different markets and segments.

Additionally, he mentions that this shift in conversation also affects the types of conversations and individuals they engage with. In the past, the focus was on selling product features and engaging with internal guides, but now the emphasis is on value-led sales and engaging with decision-makers who are interested in the business change and transformation that the product or service can bring.

[00:02:19] The dark web and tracking.

[00:03:22] Proving the value of SEO.

[00:07:04] Transitioning to enterprise sales.

[00:11:41] Shifting sales conversations.

[00:14:40] Intellectual curiosity in sales.

[00:18:28] Tailoring solutions to businesses.

[00:20:02] Seasonal impact on sales cycle.

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In this episode, Michelle Benfer underscores the importance of meaningful thinking and strategic thinking as opposed to simply focusing on tasks. They express the need for time to think and concentrate on reports and strategic work without being constantly tied up in meetings. They acknowledge that having too many meetings does not benefit their team or the people they interact with.

She believes that dedicating less time to tasks and prioritizing meaningful and strategic thinking can lead to greater rewards. They explain that meaningful thinking involves contemplating important topics and making decisions based on careful consideration. Strategic thinking involves planning and developing strategies to achieve long-term goals.

[00:02:10] Setting up systems for success.

[00:04:36] Taking a month off.

[00:08:47] Simplicity and reducing clutter.

[00:10:24] Differentiating coaching plans and development plans.

[00:15:40] Maintaining trust and authenticity.

[00:18:33] Moving to a four-day workweek.

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This episode underscores the importance of candidates possessing business acumen and a genuine interest in understanding the inner workings of the company they work with. Michelle discusses how this is vital for selling to mid-market, enterprise, and even some SMBs. They acknowledge that candidates, especially younger ones, often lack interest in the business aspect. However, they emphasize that having business acumen is essential for effective selling and linking the value of a product to the customer's business.

They also highlight the significance of experimentation and the commitment to adapt, evolve, grow, and innovate in sales strategies. Michelle emphasizes that running experiments is necessary to explore uncharted territories, acknowledging that some experiments will succeed while others may not. Despite the possibility of failure, the commitment to experimentation is crucial for sales strategies to adopt new approaches and evolve.

Michelle suggested that companies may be hesitant to experiment due to the pressure of meeting revenue targets and the challenges of keeping up with demand, particularly in the context of digital transformation. However, they emphasize the importance of embracing experimentation and learning from both successes and failures to drive growth and innovation in sales.

[00:02:21] Transition to SaaS

[00:04:11] Behind the scenes tech experience.

[00:09:54] The pioneers within organizations.

[00:10:41] Commitment to experimentation in sales.

[00:16:18] Reps facing challenges and learning.

[00:19:15] Lack of business acumen.

[00:20:57] Reps' impact on retention.

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Duane Dufault discusses the tier one MQLs should be the sales team's top priority for outreach and engagement during the trial phase. These tier one MQLs are identified as the leads with the highest potential for ROI. Duane emphasizes the importance of promptly contacting these leads, as it greatly increases the likelihood of conversion. The sales team should approach these leads, follow a sales process, conduct a discovery call, provide a demo, and assist them throughout the trial. By doing so, Duane suggests that the leads will have a much higher chance of converting.

This approach contradicts the traditional product-led growth strategy, where leads are not contacted until they have completed the trial and paid their first invoice. However, Duane argues that waiting until high usage activation and PQL measurement is a lagging indicator of conversion for enterprise accounts. Therefore, for higher ROI deals or leads in the product-led growth funnel, it is crucial to prioritize reaching out to tier one MQLs and guiding their trial experience.

[00:00:56] Selling upstream challenges and myths.

[00:03:10] Transitioning to sales-led process.

[00:08:25] High usage activation and PQL measurement.

[00:09:52] Product led growth strategies.

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Steffen Hedebrandt discussed the benefits of diversified thinking in a team and suggested that pairing intuitive and rational people together can be beneficial. They explain that having a mix of different perspectives and approaches can help a team think differently and come up with more innovative solutions. They also emphasize the importance of finding complementary skills and strengths in team members to achieve better results.

They noted that detaching oneself from emotions and passions can also be important in making objective decisions and executing strategies effectively. Overall, the episode highlights the benefits of having a diverse team and emphasizes the importance of balancing intuition and rationality in decision-making.

[00:00:26] Poor sales process and product market fit.

[00:03:32] Importance of collecting data.

[00:06:22] Marketing accountability and revenue.

[00:11:49] Hiring for effectiveness, not credentials.

[00:15:02] Passionate Marketing Skill Sets.

[00:16:11] Detaching from the creative process.

[00:19:14] Obsessions in business.

[00:22:39] Revenue and decision-making process.

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In this episode, they also discuss the gap between cool marketing tactics and their actual effectiveness. Duane points out that there is a lot of fluff on LinkedIn and other platforms, where people talk about optimizing chat, G.P.T., and A.I. However, the challenge lies in measuring the effectiveness of these tactics. Duane emphasizes the importance of understanding how to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and how to create the proper UTM parameters to put on the URL.

Duane also discusses the challenge of measuring the effectiveness of dark social media, which is often considered untrackable. However, they argue that this is not true, and it is possible to measure the effectiveness of brand and SEO by optimizing for the right things and having the right tooling in place. Overall, the episode highlights the importance of understanding how to measure the effectiveness of marketing tactics and the challenge of bridging the gap between cool tactics and their actual effectiveness.

[00:02:32] Diminishing return in marketing.

[00:03:45] Connecting activities to revenue.

[00:08:02] Account-based data modeling.

[00:11:02] Multi-touch understanding in marketing.

[00:14:13] Direct vs. Organic Marketing.

[00:17:38] Measuring marketing effectiveness.

[00:20:43] False business growth.

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The episode highlights the significance of founder-led sales for startups. The founder must understand how different personas frame the problem they are solving, as there could be various versions of the problem.

This understanding is crucial in developing an appropriate sales pitch for each role. Customer feedback obtained through founder-led sales also helps prioritize the next set of features and ties back into the product roadmap. Melissa Kwan emphasizes that founder-led sales should be the top priority for startups.

Melissa also stresses the importance of spending time interacting with customers and listening to calls for effective product marketing. They argue that many product teams do not spend enough time gathering feedback from customers and instead come up with ideas on their own in closed-off meeting rooms.

She suggests that product marketers conduct customer interviews to gain a better understanding of the problem they are solving and how different personas frame the problem.

00:02:07 Retention is revenue, not cost.

00:07:45 Focus on effective time management.

00:10:31 Be omnipresent for success.

00:14:54 Organic and SEO for startups.

00:22:36 Founder-led sales is crucial.

00:24:30 Do what gives you energy.

00:29:57 Be promotional and provide value.

00:34:12 Talk to customers for product marketing.

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In this episode, Duane Dufault, talks about the process of going from an inbound, product-led growth SMB type of company to outbound and upstream. He explains the six primary steps to do that, starting with heavy segmentation of the internal customer base to figure out who fits the criteria of larger customers.

He also talks about the importance of creating a more effective sales process to help companies become more profitable as a business. This episode is helpful for B2B SaaS companies looking to optimize their go-to-market strategy.

[00:01:16] Segmentation for larger customers.

[00:02:54] Channel Partnership Program.

[00:05:37] Sales-led outbound approach.

[00:08:08] Upstream enterprise patience.

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The episode emphasizes that customer success is the most important department in a company. While acquiring new customers is important, it is equally important to focus on keeping existing customers. The revenue generated from a customer who stays with a company for a long time is exponential compared to the revenue generated from a customer who only stays for a year.

The customer success team plays a crucial role in training and educating customers, ensuring their satisfaction, and potentially upselling them in the future. However, many businesses tend to spend most of their budget on sales and neglect what happens after a customer is acquired. As a bootstrap founder, the Melissa Kwan is concerned about how to keep customers and win them over.

The episode highlights the importance of having a customer-centric approach and making sure that the product can actually solve the customer's problem.

[00:00:18] Importance of hearing feedback.

[00:04:17] Building a go-to-market.

[00:08:45] Sales organizations and curiosity.

[00:09:38] Product feedback and improvement.

[00:13:43] HubSpot lacks basic functionality.

[00:16:13] Marketing automation platform woes.

[00:19:21] Project management tools.

[00:22:06] Hiring engineers is challenging.

[00:25:42] Value of doing work first.

[00:29:07] Customer Retention Strategies.

[00:32:49] Revamping onboarding and activation.

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This episode also stresses the importance of self-awareness and intuition for entrepreneurs. Martin believes that self-awareness is the most valuable trait he possesses as an entrepreneur, as it allows him to know when he is doing the right thing and when he is not.

He advises trusting your gut 100% when making decisions and suggests that intuition is something that most successful entrepreneurs have. Duane Dufault coaches people on how to train their intuition by going through all the little bumps, problems, and annoying things, which will help them identify what's good, what's bad, and what to look out for.

00:03:48 Empower your team for success.

00:05:41 Overcoming failure leads to success.

00:14:17 Self-awareness is key.

00:17:00 Trust your gut instinct.

00:25:34 Building a brand humanizes products.

00:29:08 Alfred is moving into white-labeling.

00:32:18 Trust in AI is lacking.

00:38:12 Outsourcing can revolutionize tech.

00:42:50 Clearly communicate expectations for success.

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The conversation shifts to entrepreneurship and the mindset of problem-solving. Duane emphasizes the importance of being a problem solver first and foremost, and how this skill can lead to finding business opportunities. They discuss the obsessive behavior that comes with solving problems and the challenge of determining which problems to prioritize. The host shares their experience in coaching and consulting and how they had to figure out which dominoes to knock down to make the biggest impact.

The conversation concludes with a discussion on the importance of going through the process of solving small problems to build the habit and intuition needed to solve bigger problems. Duane also touches on the risk tolerance and leadership skills required for entrepreneurs and the lack of experience criteria for receiving seed funding. Overall, this podcast episode offers valuable insights into the mindset of problem-solving and the journey of entrepreneurship.

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The conversation covers the use of trust to accelerate sales cycles and create new opportunities. A strategic sales rep might use the same approach to expand into new buying centers or a customer success rep might use it to retain customers by doing a relationship audit.

The user experience has been reimagined with an introduction request into somebody who knows the person and can then forward a ghost email. This creates a less presumptuous approach as the connector feels like they are adding value, and they don't have to sell.

The ghost email describes why the two people should meet and is a consistent payload. The connector can then ask the person to take a look at the email, and if the introduction is timely and relevant they can introduce them, otherwise they can move on.

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This conversation discusses the use of AI in sales and how it can help automate and scale the process of identifying relationships and crafting messages. It is stressed, however, that AI should be used to prepare the sales rep to take action and not to overpersonalize emails at scale. It is acknowledged that AI without human intervention is not as effective and that salespeople may become untrusting of emails if they are all written perfectly. The conversation concludes by emphasizing the need to use AI and human intervention together to ensure authenticity.

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Some of the conversation between Duane Dufault and Dan Goodman talks about how to identify red flags when selecting a new company to work for. Dan suggests that one red flag is if the CEO is adamant about only having themselves talk to the Board of Directors. He suggests that this is a sign of the CEO's narcissistic and egotistical attitude.

Duane adds that another red flag is if the CEO is only willing to allow themselves to lead all hands and monthly meetings. Dan advises people to ask tough questions during the interview process in order to get a better understanding of the leadership team and their mentality.

He also encourages people to ask questions of recruiters before they even begin the interview process. Ultimately, the conversation is about being aware of the potential red flags and taking the time to ask the tough questions in order to make an informed decision.

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The conversation discussed the importance of focus when it comes to marketing and gaining customers for a business. It was noted how companies often go too broad and try to market to everyone, leading to unrealistic growth numbers. It was advised to find a repeatable process to gain customers and build a product that solves an important problem.

An example was given of a company from South Africa that was initially a drone business focused on farming. It was highlighted that understanding the nuances and differences between countries can be important when it comes to marketing. Overall, the conversation stressed the importance of focus when it comes to marketing and gaining customers.

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In Ton Dobbe's book, he has connected business with sports and used an anecdote of his own experience of visiting Nazareth in Portugal and witnessing the enormous waves there. He then explains how he used this experience as the basis for his story in his book. He then goes on to explain how he used big wave surfing as the theme and storyline behind his story, and how there are many things to connect with these big wave surfers.

He believes that success in business and life can be achieved by having a passion and connecting it to the storyline. By having a strong foundational focus and taking action, people can have a high level of success.

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Enablement plays an important role in any organization, as it sets the strategic vision, demystifies success, and helps equip people to go to market in the best way possible. Revenue enablement, as it is now termed, supports the entire organization, not just go-to-market teams. It educates the entire organization on the importance of their role and how it contributes to the success of the company.

Enablement should be operating six months ahead and should be in an organization to support product engineering, marketing, sales, and other teams. Enablement should have the resources it needs to succeed and have a long-term, positive impact on the company.

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This conversation is about how to use the data from sales pipelines to increase success. To do this, one needs to find the wins in the sales pipeline. This can be done by looking at the conversion rate from connected calls and scheduled meetings. Additionally, one should track the total calls, successful calls, and follow-ups to see what is working and how that success can be replicated across the team.

Highlights:

Using Data to Coach Your Sales Team: Strategies for Success
Tracking Everything for Sales Success: Strategies for Creating a Repeatable Process
Pro Tip: Leveraging Data to Identify and Train High-Performing Sales Reps

Key Takeaways:

Use the metric manager playbook to help you build the two sales pipelines you need to be tracking.
And then use those reports to see where you need to dive in deeper.
Keep your coaching simple and focused.
And use the metrics you’re trying to improve as a success marker.

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Part of their conversation is about the biggest challenge a non-technical, non-product founder faces when building software. The founder has been doing this full time since July, and their main concern is to make sure that the software they are building does not become employee tracking software. The founder has learned that the implementation, setup, and training of the software are what make it successful, and that most companies rarely get it right. Furthermore, the founder has been trying to find a product-market fit since they started the startup nine months ago and has been making cold calls to find potential customers.

Key Topics:

Exploring the Benefits of AI-Powered Sales Analytics
Conversation on Leveraging Slack Activity to Lead a Team Forward
Conversation on Leadership, Product Development, and Startups
Exploring Leadership Solutions for Frontline Leaders in Growing Companies
Exploring Leadership Development Strategies to Measure Impact and Increase Value
Conversation on Listening to the Echo and Finding Market Fit
Pivoting Outreach Strategy to Increase Product Adoption: A Conversation with a Founder
Conversation on Listening to the Echo and Finding Market Fit

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Duane discussed the importance of conducting regular funnel analysis for marketing and sales. He suggested that this should be done at least once a month and could be done as often as once a week, depending on the sales cycle and the number of exposures for the marketing and sales cycles. Additionally, he mentioned that there is a version of this analysis that can be done on a per-rep basis to get more detailed insights.

He then discussed why it is important to have a process like this in place and mentioned the two pipeline approaches he has discussed in the past. Finally, he mentioned that more information on the metric manager can be found on the website.

Remember, two key outcomes of Revops and data in your GTM

Shows you where the holes are.
Makes the fix obvious to see.

Duane: "Data provides answers to questions about your business; you just have to know what questions to ask. Stay paranoid"

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The conversation is about the toxic working environment found in many businesses. Dan Goodman, who has heard many stories from people in confidence about their experiences with toxic workplaces, Since their experiences have frequently left them feeling defeated, the people who are telling these stories are searching for sympathy, understanding, and a sense of belonging. Duane is ashamed that such a toxic environment still exists in the business world. Dan believes it is due to a lack of awareness and the power dynamics of the workplace, where those in higher positions are able to take advantage of those below them.

Dan Goodman shared about a financial advisor who was taken advantage of by a financial institution he worked for. The institution changed the payout for their reps, taking a larger percentage from their clients' books of business. As a result, the advisor's recurring income dropped by six figures. He attempted to bring in his own lawyers but was unable to match the power of the institution's lawyers and was quickly drained of legal fees. He eventually had to walk away and start his own business, which is now doing well. This story has become more common, and people are now more comfortable discussing it. The advisor has amassed an engaged following in recent months.

Heading: Conversation on the Comfortability of Discussing Toxic Workplace Experiences
Heading: The Problem with Nondisclosure and Nondisparagement Agreements
Heading: Red Flags to Watch Out for When Joining a New Employer
Heading: Taking Action to Avoid Regret: A Conversation on Wage Theft

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In this episode, Duane defines go to market and funnel as the steps in customer acquisition, starting from lead to churn. Duane then explains why it is important to do a funnel audit and a customer audit to understand where to focus time and resources. This can help determine if the company has product market fit, message market fit, and go to market fit before scaling. Doing this will help the business understand where to spend time and resources in order to grow.

Key Takeaways:

You need to be auditing your customer funnel on a regular basis, and you should be looking at the primary conversion points in the customer cycle.

You don’t need to audit every single connected SDR call when doing this.
The audit should point you in the direction of where you need to put more effort.
If you have a high MQL conversion but a low OP conversion, you get to spend time in sales.
If you have a low MQL conversion, then you need to spend time in marketing.
If nothing is going well, then you don’t have PMF.

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The conversation between Duane Dufault and guest Sarah Filipiak focuses on effective leadership and coaching. Sarah believes that in order to unlock someone's potential, a leader needs to understand their individual motivation and create a holistic approach to coaching.

They discussed that while some may say a lack of skill is holding someone back, it is more likely that the coach is not effective enough to discover what motivates the individual. The speaker emphasizes that each person is led differently and requires a unique internal framework in order to reach their potential.

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This conversation emphasizes the importance of having a clear product-led growth strategy when launching a product. PLG is a great way to establish product-market fit, but it requires a well-defined messaging strategy and a clear activation path that is easy to follow.

The product team, product marketers, UI people, and data analysis people are all key parts of a product-led growth strategy. To get buyers to stay with the product long enough to see the value, the salespeople should be engaged early on and not be picky and choosy. If someone submits a trial form, they should be called, and an in-trial nurture campaign should be set up to engage with them, guide them, and learn about where they came from. This is an essential part of the product-led growth strategy, especially if the product is early stage and the messaging and positioning are not yet perfected.

Exploring Product Led Growth and the Role of Sales Reps
Product-Led Growth: The Benefits of Including Sales"
Product Led Growth: How to Achieve Activation and Conversion
The Benefits of Engaging with Prospects During the Early Stages of Product Development

Key Takeaways:

1) Just because you have a PLG strategy doesn't mean you shouldn't have sales reps call on leads.

In fact, if you’re within your first two years, you’re losing out if you don't.

2) Sales is there to help fill the gaps between your product and your prospect.

I appreciate you being here; if you want more info, go to sellingsaasplaybook.com to get your free founders course; leave a review on the show

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Mark Kosoglow discusses how the traditional approach of acquiring new customers using large amounts of money and resources is no longer viable in the current climate. Instead, Mark suggests investing in existing customers to improve retention, increase referrals, and reduce deal cycles, as well as lowering marketing budgets. This 'friends and family' approach is a better way to drive growth and will result in a more sustainable business model. The traditional model of hiring more salespeople and spending heavily on lead generation is no longer effective due to the large number of decision-makers involved in deals and the higher risk associated with it.

Mark and Duane discussed that if you are focusing on acquisition and not taking care of your existing customers, you will lose money in the long run. They argue that you need to focus on taking care of what you already have and not just acquiring new customers. They also point out that companies like Salesforce have successful customer retention strategies that involve having robust customer success, account management, and support teams.

They said that you cannot just monetize everything on the front end, and if you don't take care of your existing customers, you will have negative churn. Finally, they add that listening to customer success teams, phone calls, and account review meetings is essential for growth.

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Hiring a new sales rep for a startup can be tricky. It's important to have the proper process and foundation in place before doing so, or things can quickly go wrong. The whole company may have fewer than ten employees, and most startups don't know what questions to ask to scale. A sales rep needs leads, a market to call into, a CRM, and a sales process. With a tight budget, startups may only be able to afford young and inexperienced sales reps who won't have experience with a well-developed CRM. It is important to have everything set up in a way that allows the representative to function without having to manually create everything every day.

When hiring a new salesperson, there is much more involved than just the CRM. Companies need to consider the impact it will have on their current team, as they will need to take a break from their own sales to help onboard and train the new person. Companies should also have a sales playbook that outlines the process, including how many calls each lead should get, how long to follow up, what questions to ask in the discovery phase, how to run a successful demo, and how to measure the effectiveness of the demo. Additionally, companies should have a database or resource library for the new person to study and assets and software available for demos. Hiring a new person is an upfront expense and a decrease in production, and it usually takes three to four months for the new person to start paying for themselves.

Unpacking The Challenges Of Scaling A SaaS Business
The Challenges of Hiring Additional Sales Reps for Startups
Creating a Systematized Process for Your Sales Team
Exploring the Impact of Adding a Sales Rep and Doubling Customer Acquisition

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The conversation discussed the core fundamentals of management and how they can be improved.

He then discussed how there are two core aspects to management: team meetings and one-on-one meetings. Nick noted that at large companies, it was difficult to get managers to show up for one-on-one meetings as they prioritized customer meetings over them.

Nick suggested that when working remotely, there is less randomness and spontaneity than working in the office, so it is important to be intentional with how you are managing your time with the team.

This could include having one-on-one meetings with team members, leaving an hour open for customer calls, and being present with the team when they need you. Being intentional with time management is an important aspect of successful remote team management.

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The conversation discusses the stages of a SaaS sales process. The first stage is Connect, which involves the sales team, automated outreach processes, or product-led growth strategies. The second stage is discovery, which is different from qualification, which happens during the connect stage. Discovery is about understanding the prospect and their fit—whether they have a problem that can be solved and if they'll be a good prospect to work with. The third stage is prep, which happens after discovery and involves preparing for the demo stage. Finally, the demo stage occurs when the prospect is presented with an opportunity. The demo stage should have an associated deal with it, and the lifecycle stage should be in the demo stage.

Understanding the Customer Acquisition Funnel for Startups
Exploring the SaaS Sales Model: Connect, Discovery, Prep, and Demo
Closing the Deal: Understanding the Difference Between a Qualified Prospect and a Customer
Overview of SaaS Sales Framework for Creating Happy and Healthy Customers

We encourage listeners to share the show and access the video version of the model at sellingsaasplaybook.com for further information.

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Katie discusses the gap in her experience when transitioning from college to a sales role, having spent her time in college singing and dancing instead of studying a tech or business background.

She learned that it was okay to ask questions during sales conversations, even if they didn't have the background knowledge that the person they were speaking to had. She also learned that it was okay to challenge assumptions and ask impact questions to really understand the customer's needs. She suggests that the fear of what the person on the other end would think of them was what was stopping them from being genuinely curious and having the it factor.

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This conversation is about vanity metrics and how to identify them. Duane explains how they were looking at the trial of a SaaS business, and the motto was more trials equals more revenue, but that wasn't the case. Therefore, understanding what drives the best customers and optimizing those KPIs and metrics are the keys to success.

Duane emphasized that it is important to connect campaigns to revenue in order to understand which campaigns are working and which are not. Vanity metrics, such as likes, shares, and comments, are not reliable indicators of success. Businesses should define their own metrics for success in order to effectively measure progress.

Understanding Vanity Metrics in SaaS: A Guide to Avoiding Common Pitfalls
Understanding the Value of Connecting Campaigns to Revenue in SaaS
Exploring Common Ways to Measure KPI: A Focus on MQLs
The Dangers of Vanity Metrics in Revenue Acquisition

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Mark suggested that sales reps need to give a bit back to the prospect to balance out all the questions they are asking. They can do this by sharing an article or study that is relevant to the conversation or by asking the prospect if they have seen any of the trends mentioned. In this way, the sales representative can avoid feeling like they are interrogating the prospect.

Interview with Mark Kosoglow Exploring His Journey from Shoe Salesman to Go-To-Market Strategist
Exploring the Reasons Behind Fear of Asking Questions in B2B Sales
Applying Sales Experience to Early Stage Startups
Conversation with Outreach and Catalyst Alumnus on Transitioning from Sales to Customer Success

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The key is to find a balance between the two methods. Paid marketing can be used to quickly drive traffic, and organic marketing can be used to create relationships and build trust. It is also important to measure the success of each method and adjust your strategy accordingly. In the end, the best strategy is to combine both paid and organic marketing to maximize your results.

Duane emphasizes three key points when it comes to marketing: it is never just one lever that creates growth; high tides raise all ships; and you need good quality data. Duane then talks about understanding what works in your marketing channels, looking at the big picture, and establishing clear outcomes. To help with this, he recommends paying attention to metrics such as MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) and SQL (Sales Qualified Lead), as well as conversions. With these metrics, marketers can better understand the success of their campaigns and initiatives.

Exploring the Argument of Paid vs Organic Marketing Strategies
Understanding the Three Factors of Successful Marketing
Exploring MQLs, SQLs, and Conversion Rates in Paid and Organic Marketing
The Impact of Paid vs. Organic Marketing on Lead Generation and Conversion
Understanding the Benefits of Combining Paid and Organic Strategies for Growth

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Jonathan Mahan says that you should focus on certain parts of a role play to make it more realistic and help you practice it better. They suggest breaking down the role play into key moments and practicing them individually, such as focusing on the response to a trigger phrase or particular questions to ask. They suggest focusing on the tone and the questions that are being asked.

He also suggest zooming in on specific moments of a demo and paying attention to key moments, such as what to say after sharing a feature or what to do next. By doing this, it will help build a strong association between a question and the response, and it will help with the outcome of the role play.

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This episode of the Selling Saas podcast discussed the importance of taking time to review and measure data to ensure that the output produced is strategically aligned and has an impact.

This requires slowing down and blocking off time to look for correlations between data points and then measure the results of the output produced. This is the challenge of constant output versus targeted, strategically aligned output.

This can help to ensure that the output is effective and has the desired impact.

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Scott Stouffer, the founder of Scale Matters, joined the Selling SaaS Podcast to discuss the importance of agility in business leadership. He believes that leaders need to be able to assess and adjust quickly to changing circumstances rather than getting stuck in a rut. He also discussed the importance of being able to communicate difficult decisions and the ability to recognize when a decision is wrong.

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The conversation focuses on the importance of managing expectations in coaching. Mark explains that it should be a positive experience, as professional athletes are used to having fun while training, and that it is important to read the room, as not everyone may be in the right mental state for coaching.

He then explains that they try to have a friendly relationship with their team so that they can talk about their personal lives as needed.

He goes on to say that because everyone has an inner critic, it's important to recognize when someone needs encouragement or a nudge in the right direction and to ask the right questions to help the individual come to the right conclusions on their own.

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Scott Stouffer also discusses the disconnect between the mindset of growth at all costs and the reality of how long it takes for results to show.

He attributes this disconnect to the revolving door of heads of sales and marketing, who are expected to make their numbers every month and cannot take the longer-term view that a CEO or CFO might.

He encourages leaders to take the time to understand the controlled environment and to iterate on changes one at a time in order to achieve the desired results.

Highlights

Duane: If they hear 10%, they're like, well, I'm looking for 30 month over month growth in like, four months. I'm like, what movie did you watch that said, that's possible even in high growth, primetime 2020 or 2019, even that would have been a pipe dream. And so it's like hearing because I like those numbers, and I think like six to nine months is when you would start getting meaningful data to be able to take action on.

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Sales managers need to give their reps more positive feedback to help them do well and boost their confidence. This is especially important for new reps who may be feeling anxious, and it can help them sleep better and work better with their managers.

Recognizing behavior, processes, and skills is very important. It was pointed out that recognition should include these three elements rather than just the result. It was also discussed that when rewarding behavior, it should be done in balance with rewarding results. Additionally, it was highlighted that as leaders, it is important to recognize that everyone is different and that trying to lead and work with others the same way that you would like to be led and worked with is not always realistic.

Finally, the importance of the phrases I am not you" and "You are not me was emphasized, as they can help shape how leaders approach their teams and work.

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Benedikt Parstorfer discussed two epiphanies in their career. The first was to approach customers with a focus on their challenges and current processes, rather than pushing the features and benefits of the product. The second was to have realistic expectations of what could be accomplished independently versus the input that would be needed from multiple stakeholders.

They also discussed how enabling professionals have the opportunity to bridge the gap between different departments and help break down silos.

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The environment created by sales leaders often puts an emphasis on showing competency rather than practicing and growing skills. This can make reps nervous and can lead to them performing worse than they would in a real customer situation.

Roleplay often takes the form of a live group setting or a training module which can be recorded to be assessed. This is not practice, and is more like a test. Traditional practice in other disciplines zooms in on particular motions and gives immediate feedback on how to do it differently.

As Jonathan Mahan explained, role-playing is an effective way to build skills, but it is often used incorrectly in sales. To make role-playing worthwhile, the focus should be on small, specific areas.

As he has given this example, when practicing discovery, the rules of the game are different when role-playing versus when engaging with a real customer. To make role-playing effective, reps should focus on a specific area and focus on immediate feedback and repetition. This type of practice, referred to as deliberate practice, helps build competency from one repetition to the next.

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It’s great when we have team members transfer departments and learn a new skill, but often times we dont take the time to teach them whats needed to be successful in this role. It’s a particular problem when we look at data and the insights we glean from data. If you’re coming from a data science role in product and engineering, and going into Revops, you MUST take the time to learn what “good data” looks like. Its really easy to exclude missing data points if you dont know what to look for, which could lead to poor decision making by the leaders.

Getting the right data from Revops from the relevant experience

the importance of connectivity and integrating programs to support customer acquisition and all GTM functions

Needing to maintain a level of healthy skepticism in data to make sure you’re capturing all data points and conversion moments

Take over three years to understand where the gaps are and building a produce

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The conversation focuses on the importance of positive reinforcement and how it can be more effective in creating lasting change than negative reinforcement. The speaker explains that they have a big shift in their leadership style and focus on more positive reinforcement than negative. They give an example of positive reinforcement by talking about how they would give feedback in a role play session. Instead of giving negative feedback, they would explain what was needed to be done and then praise the person for their accomplishment. The speaker ends by saying that when giving feedback, it is important to end on a positive note as it can help the person to remember the feedback

The Importance of Accepting Feedback

The Benefits of Positive Reinforcement in Leadership

The Benefits of Positive Feedback in Coaching and Training Sessions

How to Prioritize and Give Recognition

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No matter how good you are, how smart you are, how hard you work, stuff is going to happen that you just cannot influence, you can't change. And so just focusing on controlling what you can control, keeping some humility, I mean, that is a huge part. Like, no matter what stage of your career you're at, you can always use a little dose of humility and just recognizing that things won't always be how they've been and they won't be tomorrow what they are today

Being coachable and being a life long learner
The Importance of Coaching in Sales Management
Sales Role Requirements and Benefits of Curiosity

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The mindset that many sales reps have which is that they already know what they're doing and don't need to get better. The argument is that reps should have a hunger to get better and a willingness to get outside of their comfort zones in order to improve in their practice. It is important for reps to be willing to make mistakes and look like a fool in front of their practice partner in order to learn and get better. Having both the hunger to get better and the willingness to get uncomfortable will lead to success in practice.

The Story Behind the Creation of Practice Lab
Exploring the Gap Between Knowledge and Skill
The Gap Between Understanding and Performance
Exploring the Benefits of Deliberate Practice in Sales

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The conversation explored the importance of having revops data connected to enablement teams, processes, and protocols in customer facing roles. It discussed how sales managers often need to react quickly to customer needs and how having access to the data in salesforce can help enablement teams develop a plan of action. How to quickly assess gaps in core competencies and skills across their go-to-market organization, which helps to identify areas of strength and areas of improvement.

Slower levers to pull that have a major impact on growth, that nobody seems eager to pull

Unlocking the Power of Second Layer Teams in Sales

Connectivity of RevOps Data and Enablement Teams

Creating a Competency Framework for Organizational Alignment

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The people who let adversity weigh them down, are the ones that let that story happen to them instead of for them. And, how leadership isn’t about you at all, its all about the team.

Living through times of adversity that ends up shaping your life
Our responsibility as a leader to help others translate their adversity into winning.
Getting into Leadership? Make sure you WANT to do it.
Understanding what leadership is and knowing its not what you think it is

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The challenges of implementing new technology to streamline sales processes. There has been an influx of people hired to help startups with this task, but they often lack the sales experience to truly understand what is needed. The technology is complex, with CRMs, marketing automation platforms, Cadence tools, and other tools often purchased by sales and marketing people without the IT organization's input. As a result, the tools are often not implemented correctly, leading to a lack of data and misguided efforts.
The challenge is that most sales and marketing leaders are not technically skilled enough to do it properly, while those who have the technical skills may not understand the nuances of the go-to-market motion. To bridge this gap, companies are employing go-to-market analysts who understand both aspects. These analysts are data analysts who started in the sales and marketing world, rather than data operations. They understand the technical products and can use them to reflect the nuances of the go-to-market process.

Why is process compliance so important: data and measuring pipeline efficiency.

Overly complex tech stacks that get in the way of things and not investing in skilled enough people to make use of them

Improving the Opportunity Pipeline Through Tech Stack Optimization

even though it may be “easier,” is it hurting data to help progress.

the only IT product that isnt bought by the IT department.

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When calculating the cost of sales its important to not just add in the head count and the tools, but also the resources and materials supporting the customer facing teams. And a simple way to reduce sales cost is by making the team and the resources more effective by proper training and centralizing resources.

One of the key ways to take the pressure off your customer facing teams

reducing the cost of sales without simply reducing head count

acquiring skillset and then working hard to apply leads to exponential growth and the ultimate leverage

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When we as sales reps fail, its hard to look inward for improvement, we tend to point the finger at the company we’re at or just jump ship thinking its going to be better on the other side, but then its the same everywhere we go. If the only constant in the equation is you, wouldnt you think that you are the one that needs to improve?

Wasting time with people who don’t want it
What the combination of desire and attitude can get you
Challenges are part of the game and you must be willing to play if you want to win at a high level

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Early-stage founders should focus on the bigger problems that their prospects have, and if their product isn't solving one of the top five problems, it's likely to fail. He used Salesforce as an example, as it is used every day and typically one of the last products to go when a company is struggling. To conclude, he suggested looking at product positioning to determine the success of the product.

In terms of sales, asking prospects about their daily usage of an app to better understand the impact it has on their business. And, asking better questions to evoke emotion from prospects and increase the chances of getting a sale.

OTHER TOPICS:

Indicators of how well of a fit you have in your market and where in the business cycle does your product sit

What problems in the business come before yours for your clients?

Why Simplifying your approach and the way you describe your business should be a massive priority

Leadership, the difference between the leader you were in the beginning vs the one you are now.

Money motivated sales and being top performers? That’s easy, but its only 10% of the sales reps in the business.

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Sales enablement and how to make it successful. It is noted that there is no universal definition of enablement, and as a result, enablement teams often struggle with how to best leverage their services. It is suggested that enablement teams should focus on the strategic goals of the organization, such as the CRO's goals, in order to better prioritize their own goals. It is also recommended that enablement teams should focus on how their services can help salespeople reach their individual and company KPIs, as this will have a positive impact on the overall goals of the organization. Finally, it is suggested that enablement teams should focus on how their services can improve the skills and behaviors of salespeople, as this will lead to improved KPIs and ultimately better results for the organization.

The Reactive Nature of Sales and Customer Success Teams

Exploring the Role of Sales Enablement in Achieving Business Goals

Exploring the Benefits of RevOps and Data-Driven Enablement

Conversation Summary: Leveraging Data to Measure Impact and Make Decisions

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Raising the rep's level of pain tolerance to a high enough point that they are prepared for the real sales process. This approach has proven successful but obviously the reps don’t appreciate what the coaching process. We need to ensure that the coaching process is a positive experience and that reps are prepared for it before they join the company.

Asking the question “What did you hear?” as a way to gain insight into a person’s understanding. Ultimately, taking the time to listen to your inner critic and ask questions can be a powerful tool for growth and success.

OTHER TOPICS:

Intentionally Being Too Harsh in Sales Coaching Call

Heading: Finding the Snapping Point in Interviews to Increase Pain Tolerance for Salespeople

The Importance of Reading the Room When Coaching Professionals

Activating Your Inner Critic to Improve Performance

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Businesses need o pay more attention to data and create efficient processes. It is argued that there needs to be a shift away from the mindset of 6 months to a 18-24 month time frame. To achieve this, it is important to have specific, tactical goals and focus on executing quality actions. The discussion then moves to the importance of data in creating an efficient process, with the investor community often questioning the productivity of sales and marketing spend in tech companies.

OTHER TOPICS:

Navigating Layoffs and Difficult Times

Conversation on Data, Time Horizons, and Efficiency in Tech Businesses

Measuring Conversion Rates and Establishing Process Compliance in Sales

Modeling the customer journey through iteration and real data

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The importance of creating an environment of trust, which will help employees achieve the best results. Finally, they advise to focus on employee engagement, as this will help create a culture of collaboration and innovation. Overall, the conversation highlights the importance of investing in talent development and creating an environment that is conducive to learning and growth.

In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane chats with Corey Kossack from Aspireship about How difficult and challenging it is to go through the hiring process. When hiring someone, traditionally, the first thing to ask is who has experience in the same industry and in the same role. But often times, the employee is burned out and or has acquired numerous poor habits they are just carrying from role to role. There’s been more success hiring for domain experience than industry experience.

OTHER TOPICS:

"Understanding the Person Behind the Problem: A Discussion on Selling SaaS"
Conversation on Connecting with Customers and Finding Out What They Truly Need
Conversation Summary: Coaching for Improved Performance
"The Impact of Coaching on Sales Performance"

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Companies are now looking to be cost neutral when it comes to buying software, meaning that they have to get rid of one tool in order to buy another. It is speculated that this recession is of our own making, due to low interest rates. It is also noted that the essential workforce is not affected by the recession and is in fact doing better. The conversation closes with the idea that luxury problems are now being blown up out of proportion.

The conversation discusses the effects of the recession and how it is impacting venture capital funding. It is noted that the majority of venture capital money comes from large university endowments, state employee retirement pension funds, and other organizations which have to maintain certain portfolio allocations. It is suggested that the situation is similar to a Ponzi scheme, with funds from one source covering the losses of another. The conversation concludes by noting that a lot of these organizations have to set aside a portion of their money for alternative investments with higher risk, such as venture capital and real estate.

TOPICS:

"Exploring the Mindset Behind 'Growth at All Costs'"
Discussion on the Growth at All Cost Mindset in Bootstrap Companies
"The Impact of Low Interest Rates on the VC-Backed Economy"
Heading: Exploring the Impact of the Recession on Venture Capital Funding
"The Impact of Public Markets on Venture Capital Funds"

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It's important for businesses to empathize with their customers and employees and use natural language in their marketing and conversations. Meagan Davis, Director of Sales Enablement from Hunters, advised that businesses should be cognizant of the potential of their customers and employees to learn and grow. Enablement can aid in improving customer experience, as well as taking pressure off of individual customer success reps. Additionally, by considering the metric of the total cost of sales, and how enablement can reduce that number through more effective training and centralizing resources

OTHER TOPICS:

"Enabling the Whole Customer: A Discussion on GTM Strategies, Sales, and Product Growth"
"Exploring the Benefits of Enablement for B2B SaaS Companies"
Heading: Interview with Megan, Sales Enablement Expert

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Join Duane on Todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, where he sits down with Corey Kossack, the Co-Founder/CEO of Aspireship. Todays conversation starts with how to hire the right sales rep for a startup. It is important to look at the individual's skill set and strengths, rather than just what the job description says.

Corey talks about how he believes the biggest factor to consider when hiring is the desire of the individual. They need to have a clear understanding of why they want the job and be enthusiastic about it. When interviewing, Corey looks for candidates who are willing to put in the hard work and are not just playing hard to get. They emphasize that even though it is important for people to have a nine to five, it is helpful for the startup if the employees have the passion and desire to put in extra work when necessary.

Other topics:

Using personality assessments like DISC to create and analyze hiring roles and interview templates
Reflection on the Benefits of Hiring a Personable Sales Rep
Hiring for Startups: The Importance of Desire and Capability
The Power of Conviction in Sales: A Conversation with reps who care

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Interviewing for sales is a tough job, but it has to be done right if you want actual quality, but its not what you think it should be. Just looking for "closers" isn't going to get the job. Like at all. Role plays in the interview, conversations around tough feedback, and how to handle not doing well before doing great.

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00:03 - Understanding the Person Behind the Problem

0:01:00 - Conversation on Connecting with Customers and Finding Out What They Truly Need

0:02:38 - Conversation Summary: Coaching for Improved Performance

0:06:52 - "The Impact of Coaching on Sales Performance"

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The best way to build confidence is to build skill, and the best way to do that is through practice, repetition, feedback, coaching and time. The idea that you just have to go do it and learn by experience is just wrong, as getting rejected does not teach someone how to not get rejected - it just teaches them that they got rejected. To become better, they must learn why they got rejected and how to get better at it. Kevin Dorsey from Winning By design and host of Live better Sell Better Podcast.

0:00:51

Conversation on Building Confidence for Sales Reps

0:02:44

"Exploring the Role of Mindset in Achieving Confidence and Success"

0:04:43

Conversation on Addressing Performance Issues and Developing Mindset for Growth

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Scott Stouffer Co-founder/CEO from Scalematters joins Duane on the SellingSaas Podcast to talk all data and RevOps as it relates to the entire GTM function

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

2:00 - How a 5 time CEO developed a passion for GTM and built software to enable it but also the consultancy tp back it up

3:30 - using the process of working with non-profit organizations to learn how to efficiently grow and get really good using data

4:20 - Over spending on GTM that led to 70% waste and generating non-ICP leads

5:30 - How getting PMF is great, but not getting message fit drives up waste and has a major impact on growth.

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Enabling your teams to grow and get better is the ultimate leverage point for your business, and all the energy shouldn't just be on recruiting, it can and should be on skill acquisition for team as well as longevity in culture.

1:00 - using enablement to reduce the pressure from your success team and other customer facing teams

2:00 - Using the total cost of sales to help with training, resources, and truly enabling the team to function better

3:20 - We're all human, using the language resonates and matters not just what fits

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane chats with Corey Kossack from Aspireship about his take on the recent layoffs, his vision for how companies will get valued in the near future, and what they ultimately need to do in order to pull themselves out of it.

2:00 - How companies hired too many too fast without first establishing product market fit

3:30 - what Evaluations have done to staffing at start ups and what companies can do to control growth

4:30 - how the rules of growth have the same for the last decade, but now have changed so dramatically and struggle to make that change

6:30 - how to shield yourself from an economic winter, regardless of what's going on with the economy.

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In this episode, Duane Default interviews Mark Ackers from MySalesCoach.com that has a similar background to his own in terms of working in customer-facing roles. The guest discusses their experience in selling retail and working in cafes and bars, and how this experience has helped them in their current career. The conversation provides helpful advice for those looking to get into sales or grow their career in this field

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:00:55

The Advantages of Experiencing Adversity in Your Career

0:03:42

The Impact of a Good Mentality in the Workplace

0:05:10

How I Found Success: Sales Teacher and Entrepreneur

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Kevin Dorsey is a sales leader with a focus on building startup sales teams. He has extensive experience in coaching, consulting, and training sales managers and leaders. He has helped several companies scale to over 100 employees. His advice for other sales leaders is to focus on building systems and processes in order to achieve scale.

If I diagnose at its close rate, it's 15%. I don't need to wait six months to know if my close rates are going to go up. I can create processes around systems and all of that. If anyone is seeing the results that we're looking for, I diagnose it there first. Now, if nobody is seeing the results that we expect, then I'm flipping it to the other side, right? And that's where I go to BHS.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:00:49

The Success of a Sales Team: A Conversation with Kevin Dorsey

0:02:33

The Importance of Systems and Process in Scaling Sales Teams

0:06:02

Leadership Methodology: BHS

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EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:00:53

The Benefits of a Product-Led Approach to Customer Enablement

0:02:42

The Importance of Enablement in Customer Success

0:05:24

The Importance of Customer Enablement and Retention

The conversation discusses the difference between customer enablement for a product that is easy to use, versus one that is more complex. Salesforce is cited as an example of a complex product that has certification programs to help users learn how to use it. The conversation also mentions the idea of customer enablement as a way to help users understand how to use the tool to achieve specific goals or solve specific problems.

Having enablement in place for customer success also makes customer success reps more effective. If they can, instead of having to hop on the phone and just deal with problems that are coming up on the call, if there's a more programmatic approach or training materials or recorded training materials.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with Corey Kossack from Aspireship in wide ranging conversation about the struggles of launching a business right before COVID hit and had to learn how to survive on very minimal revenue coming in, but the lessons learned from that time period are ones they wouldnt trade for anything.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

1:45 - Surviving with close to zero revenue as a business and how non-conventional of a start up its been

2:20 - learning how impactful and important it is to truly connect to your customers and your ideal customers.

4:40 - Using the experience of launching right before COVID and using it to take action before something strikes, instead of waiting until its too late.

6:20 - Telling the story of skill acquisition and how it MUST become the number 1 controllable action we all can take, regardless of economy

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with Meagan Davis, Director of Sales Enablement from Hunters. One of the most under utilized topics in business today is Customer success and its impact on revenue, and how important and effective it is to have messaging aligned across all departments, especially for the success teams because they MUST have support for themselves, but more so for the customer.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:00:47

The Importance of Messaging Alignment in Sales Enablement

0:02:55

Sales Enablement: The Different Facets of the Business

0:05:12

Customer Enablement: The Key to SaaS Success

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with Mark Ackers from MySalesCoach.com to talk about the mindset of a successful sales leader: helping them understand the inner critic, getting them to the next level, and being there for their team, even when things aren't going well.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:00:54

The Importance of Feedback in Sales

0:03:20

The Importance of Communicating Expectations in the Workplace

0:05:05

The Benefits of Having a Diverse Work History

0:07:45

The Selling SAS Podcast: A Conversation with Lucky Cafe Owner

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane is going deep on the topics of why goals are important, the difference between having just a set of goals vs an action plan, and then the steps to actually apply these mindset in your life.

No Guest on Todays episode either, it will be a solo round with Duane

Episode Highlights and Topics:

How everyone responds differently to different energies, which is why you MUST know what you respond best to
SMART goals are a great start, but it can't stop there. If you want to actually achieve something great, you HAVE to get 10x more specific. On both the outcome of the Goal AND the action steps you need to take to make it happen.
Our minds are wondering generalities, but they thrive in routine, regardless of what you tell yourself.
Why having detailed action plans for your goals are vitally important
How to get specific in sales, marketing, and growth. Example of how to set and execute on a revenue target for your company.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane chats with Tim Geisenheimer about how as the CEO of Correlated, he leans on their existing customers as product advocates in sales cycles instead of just the traditional GTM strategies to have a major impact on closing rates, customer belief and some the highest confidence in product usage.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

1:00 - Leaning on Existing customers as a advocates in the sales cycle

2:00 - when good fit customers ask for it, why would you fight it?

3:15 - the two most important things to consider when adopting PLG or selling into a market using a PLG strategy

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with Corey Kossack the founder and CEO of Aspireship and talks about how Aspireship came from a constant problem he was experiencing within the company that acquired his previous start up, and the surprising amount of people who long for a career change, but have been "stuck" for many years without any real plans on how to make the change, even within their own org.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

1:30 - Getting type cast for roles, even when you kind of fell into that job right out of college.

2:15 - Hitting constant road blocks when trying to learn new skills for a promotion or a complete role change in your company

3:15 - How so many issues and blockers of growth in a business stem from "people issues" but with no tangible process to get people to the next level

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with Mark Ackers, the author of best selling book "Problem Prospecting," and previously the Director of Sales at Allego. The conversation talks about the shame one feels when getting into sales and how society looks down upon the industry, how you try to hide the fact you're in it by creating different descriptions and titles for yourself, and how you can get passed the internal anxiety you have from that conversation.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

1:30 - Just because you're not Digging holes or some labor intensive job, doesnt mean sales can't be a noble and amazing profession.

3:00 - Trying to hide being in sales by masking your title or shying away from the career question.

4:30 - How do you get passed the internal anxiety or feeling of shame when you first get into sales, or if its something that has never left you.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with Meagan Davis from Hunters to chat about the need for patience when implementing sales enablement and understanding the real timeline involved, and how important it is to define the measurable's you're looking to impact so you can track how effective it is over time.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:48 - Losing patience in the enablement plan when its hard to connect the strategy directly to new revenue.

2:15 - How long does it take to actually rollout a sales enablement strategy and why?

4:15 - defining the metrics and the key results you're looking to impact will make the biggest difference when rolling out enablement

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with Tim Geisenheimer from Correlated to talk about some of the growth they're seeing in the market as it relates to product-led growth, non-traditional GTM strategies, and some of the things that are working for them as a startup as well.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

1:05 - Can't just be sales getting feedback for "what works," needs to be every one rallying around the customer journey and optimizing for product adoption and usage.

2:30 - How to start the conversation with product and engineering to get onboard with and prioritize the work for product-led growth.

4:30 - including product and engineering teams in the GTM strategy discussions so they understand the need

5:50 - Traditional campaigns are 't working anymore, so what is? Word of mouth.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with Meagan Davis, and chats about the different expectations of customer-facing teams, and how most of the time it is just sales that is expected to bring in results. Support reps need to be able to handle chats and fix problems, while customer success managers are responsible for keeping accounts executives happy.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:01:03 - The Different Roles of a Customer Facing Team

0:02:49 - Sales Enablement: The Biggest Challenges Facing Revenue Teams

0:05:21 - The Importance of Sticking to a Plan in Sales

The conversation discuss sales enablement from the perspective of improving mindset and skillsets to help revenue teams. They discuss some of the challenges that sales reps and revenue teams face, including the no decision cop out, and how sales enablement can help address those challenges. Finally, they talk about the importance of mindset in sales enablement, and how it can help sales reps push themselves further.

Meagan talks about the importance of having a sales mindset in order to stick to a sales plan and be successful. They talk about how a sales plan takes discipline and patience to execute, and how it can be helpful to have a mentor or coach to help with guidance.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with Tim Geisenheimer from Correlated, and discuss the importance of Customer Success Managers (CSMs) and how they are often undervalued or ignored by product development teams. They also lament the lack of information and education available to CSMs, making it difficult for them to properly measure the health score of their customers.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

1:20 - Health Score: A New Way to Measure Customer Engagement

2:30 - Using specific tools to automate messaging and re-engage customers and cross sell opportunities.

3:20 - Who owns the health scoring process in a Saas company?

Companies can use health scoring to improve their marketing and sales strategies. Health scoring can help identify areas where customers are disengaged, at risk of churn, or ready for cross-sells. The goal is to help teams prioritize accounts and winnow down lists into more manageable chunks.

And, discuss who is responsible for monetization within a company. They explain that it is often a collaborative effort between different teams, including product, engineering, design, marketing, growth, sales, customer success, and ops. They note that growth marketing teams and sales teams often work closely with monetization efforts, as they are responsible for conversion and expansion.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with Meagan David from Hunters to chat about necessary its become over the last few years and how its over looked until a company puts a process in place, then it becomes an asset they can't do without.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:01:03- Sales Enablement: The Importance of Training and Development

0:02:15- Sales Enablement: The Biggest Misconceptions

0:05:02- Basics in onboarding with new hires, and the ongoing check ins as they progress in their employment.

The biggest challenge with sales enablement is that there is no one clear definition of what it is, and where it fits into an organization. Additionally, there is a lack of understanding of why sales enablement is necessary. Without a clear understanding of what sales enablement is and why it's important, it's difficult to build a business case for it.

One way to overcome this challenge is to focus on specific programs, such as employee onboarding, and to attach it to specific metrics, such as the total cost of sales. By doing this, you can demonstrate the value of sales enablement and build a case for it within your organization.

The salesperson and account executive can own the entire deal process and close on their own a deal that was not inherited from someone else on the team or their manager. For an account executive, leading indicators of success can be practice activities leading up to that, such as being able to pitch the company they are with without any prompts. Everyone at every company should be able to tell a stranger what their company does.

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In today's episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with Brendan Short from Groundswell, and discusses the importance of user feedback and sales reps in figuring out how customers are using your product. He stresses the importance of getting user feedback in order to improve the product and make it more successful. He also talks about the sales reps and how they play a role in figuring out how customers are getting the AHA moment from the product.

Leaders should get all departments (e.g. marketing, product, sales, customer success) on the same page when it comes to product led growth initiatives.
Try to build out two plays: 1) a product qualified lead and 2) a good fit account.
Take action when those two things happen and track the results for a month.
CEOs should be bought in on building out the go to market motion around PLG.

Brendan and Duane discuss product led growth (PLG) and how it can be beneficial for salespeople. They also talk about how Groundswell, a company Brendan is involved with, can help with PLG strategies.

TIMESTAMPS

0:00:03 The Benefits of User Feedback and Sales Rep Input for Product Growth

0:00:55 Product Led Growth: What Go-To-Market Leaders Need to Know

0:03:43 Product Led Growth with Brendan Short

HIGHLIGHTS

I love product led growth in that whole sales world and go to market strategies because more people want to sell, more and less people want to talk to sales rep, so it kind of goes hand in hand.

So what does a product qualified lead look like? That means what are they doing in your product and then is it a good Fit account?. Just those two things are important for you to be able to say.

That means marketing product, marketing product ideally as well as well as on the sales side and customer success side. That already is like, okay, when have those people been in the same room and tried to kind of build an initiative out? It's tough, especially as you get to a bigger company.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane talks with Meagan Davis from Hunters. Meagan talks about what it means to master the employee experience and comments that this cannot simply be achieved by adding a few perks like a ping pong table in the break room. The goal is to create a positive experience for employees from the moment they are hired to the moment they leave the company. This can be achieved through thoughtful onboarding, development opportunities, and a focus on company culture.

In order to create an amazing employee experience, companies should consider hosting events and giving employees the opportunity to connect with one another on a personal level. Additionally, employees should be involved in the process of solving customer challenges, as this makes them feel more connected to the company's purpose. Finally, it is important for employees across all departments to have a clear understanding of the company's development roadmap.

The conversation is about how sales not just sales, but every department can work together to improve the product and the customer experience. They talk about how important it is to have regular meetings and how it can help the sales team to understand the product better. They also talk about how this can help the engineering team to understand the customer's needs better.

TIMESTAMPS

0:00:03 The Benefits of Mastering the Employee Experience

0:00:48 The Impact of Employee Experience on Business

0:03:30 The Impact of Sales and Engineering Meeting on a Regular Basis

HIGHLIGHTS

And it has this uphill effect that it's really hard to measure the impact of sales and engineering meeting on a regular basis or engineering listening to customer calls. It's one of those things that, like I said, it's hard to tie directly to revenue that you kind of have to buy into in order to believe it.

And so I started meeting with the head of engineering, like the head of Sales head of engineering meeting on a regular basis. And it started that whole conversation. And any time I talked to another sales leader about that, they're like, why do you spend time with the engineering team?.

And then on the flip side, with the customer experience example, people want to work for a company who that is really making a difference in the world. And I think if you're too far removed, I think sellers actually have the benefit of hearing directly from prospects about their challenges and the challenges that their business is solving.

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In today's episode, Duane Dufault and Tim discuss the importance of looking at unit economics when growing a business. He explains that if unit economics are in the positive, and above industry standards, then the business is likely headed in the right direction. Dufault also says that businesses should focus on win rates, as this is an indicator of success.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:00:03

The Benefits of Focusing on Your Unit Economics

0:00:50

The Impact of Product Market Fit on Customer Churn

0:02:13

The Benefits of Product Data for Customer Success Managers

0:04:05

SellingSaas Podcast: Using Data to Drive Upsells and Improve Customer Health

And so where at least we see value in kind of product data and some of the plays is good things and bad things. So on the good things front, if you see spikes in usage, spikes in spend, if you're a usage based billing company, things that are kind of inflecting in the right way, then that's when maybe someone on the CS or account management side can come in and say, hey, things are going well.

Yeah, so we see a number of our customers using us on the customer success or account management side. And I think where we see less usage for us at least is on the more the size of the book that you just mentioned, 50 to 100.

Well, most product like growth strategies that I've seen is all centered around go to market teams, growth, net new sales, and that type of stuff. But how does a CSM, let's say they've got a book of customers, they've got maybe 50 to 100 customers, and on the front end they were product led growth.

So I always look at product usage and churn to kind of help me really pinpoint, do we have product market fit? Because you could have a low conversion, right? You could be an enterprise type software or mid market where you've got three SDRs to one account executive type of scenario.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with Meagan Davis the Director of Sales Enablement from Hunters, and talks about how focusing on creating an environment that creates brand ambassadors across the whole company and how it has such a major affect on revenue.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

2:30 - disorganized efforts that felt like random acts of enablement

4:30 - Going from a start up to a super start up and how every person on the team has a huge impact on growth

5:45- How Service Now's head of enablement coaches and trainings every customer facing rep to act like a brand ambassador with a focus on customer experience so its a wonderful experience regardless of who they interact with

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane chats with Collin Mitchell from the Sales Transformation Podcast, and talks about how the funnel is broken. We need to look at revenue acquisition as a customer journey instead of just a marketing funnel, or sales pipeline or whatever. Its one customer which needs one "funnel."

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:45 - How product, sales and marketing all being on the same page

1:50 - The Value loop from your customer success team and how to feed than into the whole GTM engine.

2:30 - Measuring teams based on the impact of the customer instead of just vanity metrics like MQL and expansion

3:20 - understanding the cost of acquisition per channel, not just one source

4:30 - Utilizing your resources and data to make better decisions that drive growth

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In Todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with Brendan Short from Groundswell and breaks down the process of how to rollout a PLG strategy and then how to measure if its working or not.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

1:50 - How to take action on a PLG strategy

2:30 - PLG is much like product development, its never truly done

3:00 - The steps to take for implementing PLG

4:00 - pick the 2, measure, and let it run for a month to see if it makes an impact

4:45 - getting direct customer feedback to optimize PLG activation, and sales reps, so much knowledge from your customer facing team.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with Tyler Lindley from the Sales Lift Podcast, where we talk about a sales 1:1 vs a tactical coaching call.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:45 - coaching calls are data, but not just you talking at them

1:05 - Utilizing a role based SLA

1:35 - Treating coaching calls like your own management discovery calls

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In Todays episode off the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane Dufault Sits down with Collin Mitchell from the Sales Transformation Podcast, and goes through a quick history or Duane's journey into sales, selling door to door, and helping a bootstrapped company scale to an acquisition of $320 million.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

2:05 - Bein the first manager at t a company to lead them to an acquisition of $320Million

2:30 - bootstrap companies don't get enough credit in Saas

3:15 - how not having oversight on GTM on a regular basis can cause a lot of loss

3:45 - Selling Door to door sets you up to sell anywhere and builds suchs a work ethic

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In todays episode of the sellingsaas podcast Duane talks with Tim Geisenheimer about the current state of the economy, how reps should be thinking when it comes to targeting their accounts, and finding true product market fit

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

1:05 - less head count while still needing to hit targets

2:30 - what should sales reps do or prepare for going into 2023

3:17 - How can I be sure the deals you're working are going to close?

4:30 - how do you measure product market fit?

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EPISODE SUMMARY:

In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with Collin Mitchel from the Sales Transformation Podcast to talk about what its like building and scaling GTM teams in a PLG company.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

1:30 - Sales assist vs just using product and how its hard to scale this process

2:40 - ramp time for reps selling into PLG shouldn't be less than 60 days

3:45 - cutting through the noise by using PLG in your GTM approach, and cutting spend by getting rid of the waste

4:30 - Making decisions based on data and must be a unique seller

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down Tim Geisenheimer from Correlated to talk about the difference between a freemium tool with limitations vs a free trial of the whole product, and how the typical Saas company seems to miss the next phase after PMF which keeps them from hitting any kind of true scale.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:50 - Freemium vs trial, and how to figure out what works in PLG

1:40 - Getting users hooked so they're ready to buy

2:00 - Viral co-efficient? How can you expand usage based on other users like a Miro, Figma and Slack.

3:30 - Whats keeping people from seeing the other side of PMF and how to scale

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with Tyler Lindley and breaks down the art of a 1:1 thats focused on the rep and who they are, rather than jamming in a 15 min section in your once a month coaching session.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

1:00 - 1:1 vs a coaching call
1:40 - being intentional with how you lead vs manage
2:15 - Giving the team a platform to express themselves on their terms.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with Tim Geisenheimer from Correlated, a tool specifically designed to help Enterprise b2b Saas companies implement and scale a Product-led Growth strategy. The topic is around how sales people fit in a PLG strategy and where you can insert them at different points of the customer funnel.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

1:05 - When to insert the sales team inside the PLG strategy

2:10 - How a company like Calendly might better use a sales presence to sell into higher ACV

3:05 - Using the ABM mentality when looking at how to approach a PLG GTM Plan if you've never done it before, or thinking of doing it.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with Tyler Lindley about how you as a leader need to be the one understand each reps strengths, and not only place them accordingly, but coach them to that as well.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:45 - you don't always need to be outgoing to be successful in sales, sometimes its the quiet ones that go further.
1:00 - Being able to work with multiple personality types as a manager to build a diverse and success team.
1:35 - using their strengths to place the team where they will be most successful

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with Brendan short from Groundswell to talk about how GTM teams can better utilize the right data at the right time to better target and empower the sales teams to be more effective sooner.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

2:09 - How does the data from PLG fit into the GTM function

2:30 - Not having one specific owner of the data or the PLG function

3:45- should sales have access to or work out of the data warehouse?

5:00- Just off we are when it comes to using usage data on personalization and targeting.

6:05- Building intelligent dashboards based on market data AND usage data from their accounts.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with Tyler Lindley on how to look at what kinds of hires you need to make at which stage of your company

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:50 - Must be a deep generalist, especially in a start up.

1:15 - Bringing in the tenured sales specialist to one day be the sales leader

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane chats with Brendan Short from Groundswell. Brendan talks about the myriad of ways GTM teams are trying to us what data they have or have access to in order to win more business, but just how disconnected all the tools are when it comes to building a truly accurate targeting method.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:45 - Strike while the iron is hot, and NOT waiting for the perfect moment.

3:00 - Who truly owns PLG in the GTM function?

3:45 - Using a data warehouse in sales to create effective sales reps

4:45 - Targeting being the spot where data is the most underutilized and programs spread so thin

6:40 - Getting suggested "plays" to run when leads hit a certain threshold

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with the founder of Groundswell , Brendan Short. The conversation revolves around data and GTM teams, and all the things we need to be aware of so we can NOT push our buyers away

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

1:00 - Introducing PLG to sales reps and removing the thought that it replaces sales reps.

2:00 - Sales is much more consultative and being a guide in a PLG strategy

3:05 - Buyers are massively more educated about your product than ever before, and its only getting better for them

4:15 - Getting relevant as soon as you can so you're not annoying the buyer

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane chats with Tyler Lindley from the Saleslift Podcast Duane talks about what are the foundations of a good sales manager and where most new sales managers miss the boat when going from top producer to managing

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:50 - Managers process for running a 1:1, or lack thereof

1:20 - The tactical parts as well as the emotional connection

2:30 - Great sales reps CAN become great managers, but it takes different work

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with Tim Geisenheimer, the founder and CEO of Correlated. We talk about the common misconception of tech companies that build a tool and expect growth without sales and how 96% of the top Saas companies employ a large sales force

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:50 - Getting GTM teams connected to Data with PLG

2:00 - PLG is not the field of dreams, you still need to do the work

3:00 - 96% of PLG companies have an active sales team, you can get the company to a certain point of growth without, but ultimately to have the growth you want, you're going to need the presence of sales

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane gets to speak on the two most common reasons why customers churn. Its not what you think it is, and its something a lot of companies miss

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:50 - Where does churn come from? It's not price or sales... it's either they have a poor relationship with the company or the product isnt solving the need

1:40 - theres ways to reduce churn, but it takes time, it takes patience and it requires you to remove ego from the product.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane chats with Tyler about what kind of skills translate into sales management, if any... And, part of the mindset you MUST have as a leader in order to let go of control.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:45 - what skills translate into the sales management role from being a top sales rep

1:15 - The gap in mindset needed from leadership in order to successfully lean on your team to make your commission check, when it can't be you

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast Duane sits down with Tyler Lindley from Sales lift, and talks about the biggest gaps that we are seeing in sales leadership and how we are promoting people into sales leadership roles.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:46 - how we are not preparing our new sales managers for their new role and how just looking at the top rep for the path is broken.

1:30 - the 3 month halo effect, that most managers experience

2:00 - how to unpack whats going on inside the sales team in order to tactically coach each rep and how to look at data.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas podcast, Duane chats with Brandan Short who is the co-founder and CEO of Groundswell, which is a Software company created to help bridge the gap between product usage data and GTM teams. And, how Brendan started his career as a SDR and worked his way up to being an AE, and on to a sales leader. His first company was acquired after 18 months, and after some consulting went on to work with Zoom where he ran sales ops. Which is where he came up with the idea for Groundswell.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:52 - Brendan's long background in Enterprise SaaS and how it led to Groundswell

2:19 - The Benefits of a data for Sales Teams and using it to operationalize outreach and prioritization.

3:59 - The Challenges of using for data warehouse tools to automated GTM functions

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane talks about some of the broken systems in the world of Saas because the focus seems to be only on "growth at all costs" with little focus on actually taking care of the customer.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:40 - Growth at all costs, and leaning on CSMs on pushing growth instead of focusing on customer health

1:10 - companies hiding behind legal contracts in their contracts to trap them into another year long contract

1:30 - the disconnection on what drives growth and retention

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In this episode of the SellingSaas podcast, Duane talks about how buyer perception is a hard thing to overcome and they are measuring you right from the beginning. And, are we as a GTM team agile enough in our funnel to meet the buyer where they're at?

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:40 - being quick to respond to support and help makes a huge difference with customer perception

1:15 - every buyer has their own process, and we need to be agile to capture more of the market

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas podcast, Duane talks about how to look at the sales process in order to define when to introduce the sales rep in the customer onboarding process. Using ACV is a great way to start, but not the only metric to use when making that decision for your customer.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:40 - The human element and the trust factor it brings and where the line is on ACV for when to bring a rep into the process

1:30 - how the effort and impact from the product & Marketing teams should reduce the effort needed from sales in a PLG world

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane sits down with CMO James Gilbert from the Spamming Zero Podcast, and talk about the person argues that content should be written in a way that is easy to speak. They say that this is how they write best and it is also how they talk best.

The question is whether we should write our copy in a verbose, SEO-friendly way, or in the way that we actually talk. The concern is that if we write in the latter way, we may be hurting our chances of ranking high on search engines. There is no easy answer, but it is important to consider both the needs of the algorithm and the needs of the buyer.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

Timestamps

0:00:03 - Voice Search and Its Impact on Content Writing

0:01:18 - The Impact of SEO on Sales Strategy

Highlights

Are we hurting ourselves by not ranking it's the algorithm? And so is there a happy medium? Like, that would be my question for you guys or anyone that kind of does that stuff, because I'm on the sales and I'm on the go to market side, which is like, we tend to craft strategy and then be on the recipients of those leads that come in.

And I don't have the answer to the question, but it's like if we do put the verbose language on our landing pages that encourages organic and high valued SEO, then the algorithms inside of the search engines like that.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane finishes up his conversation with Brandi Starr from the Revenue Rehab podcast, with one final thought that should be the focus of all marketing teams, all product teams, and frankly everyone at the company.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:50 - Talk to your customers, and talk to your customer facing people. Not just leads and trying to sit in on a Demo or listen to a recorded demo.

1:35 - What re you hearing? what are the successes, the failures, the confirmations of what you're doing, and then the things you weren't expecting to hear.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In today episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane continues the conversation with Brandi Starr about the importance of understanding what goes into a quality definition of the KPI of "MQL," and how it varies in great detail from company to company, from product to product, and even down to the buyer types.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

1:15 - What are the KPI's other than MQL's that Marketing should be tracked on?

2:00 - The definition of the MQL Needs to be expanded and molded to fit the multiple types of leads and customers you serve.

2:50 - Measuring way too many metrics inside a single customer journey to know what actually works.

3:15 - MQL's can't just be New sales, there needs to be expansion MQL's well.

4:30 - Making sure to compensate teams on what actually drivers growth across the customer journey

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane and Kevin Hopp chat about how to utilize product-led growth in your sales process by needing to understand your buyer and the numbers in your business in order for it to work, as well as other topics around how old school relationship sales is the only true way to make an impact, while the new age slick "sell me this pen" mindset is just creating more and more problems for the sales industry as a whole

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:50 - Leaning into PLG and using more self led mechanisms to drive high quality leads

1:15 - understanding how the buyer interacts with you and your product, and using your metrics to drive the strategy

1:40 - does the new age of "sell me this pen" actually work?

2:15 - using outbound in PLG, and having the demand gen team alongside it

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In this episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane and Brandi talk more about how comp plans can make a massive impact on the company, not just the sales team. How in marketing, when the bonus was based on actual conversions, the team did the work to learn what made them convert. Control the money, control the focus.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

1:00 - How do we measure the behavior we want them to exhibit.

1:45 - Methods of incentivize product teams and engineers?

2:55 - out of 22 years in marketing, only seeing only 1 comp plan that was connected to performance

4:00 - being forced to pay attention, changed how marketing performed, which led to massive growth

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In this episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane and Brandi talk about how you can actually get more departments to align to revenue. There are too many ways that the different functions of the business are incentivized to perform at their job, but sales is the only department that is paid more for getting better. There is definitely a huge miss on this. Guess what, that doesn't mean make sales all salary either.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:50 - revenue alignment starts at your buyer and the market you're selling into

1:35 - When you use a cookie cutter acquisition process for all your customers, you run into uncertainty and pain.

2:15 - Where you need to align in order to encourage each step of the process, and then pay teams based on that.

3:15 - Should we remove commission and go straight salary for sales?

4:00 - Level set expectations and bring on variable comp for others, not just sales.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In this episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane chats with Kevin Hopp on the Hopp on calls Podcast about why its important to have some degree of money motivation, cold calling is NOT dead but and how you just need a half way decent strategy for it to pay off, and then we find out what's more important for a start-up to focus on, sales or marketing?

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:40 - Being money motivated and controlling your income, being able to strive in order to succeed in sales.

1:10 - is cold calling dead?

2:30 - Hoe PLG MUST be used to help find PMF before you scale hiring, or you're going to be faced with a lot of pain.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In this episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Duane chats with Kevin Hopp about the experience of hitting rock bottom in sales and how that led to learning how to harness the darkside of life to propel him forward and find ways to be successful which became the foundation of his mindset towards sales today.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:50 - Facing all your insecurities as a sales rep by being face to face

1:40 - a claw back to make your head spin, 3-4 months after the money was spent.

2:30 - the things you learn about yourself when you're at rock bottom, will be the things that build you up

3:20 - Sometimes the hopes of goals doesnt pull you out of the darkness, but the fear of staying there pushes you forward.

5:00 - Finding that minimum viable effort, and then scaling that

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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This episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Kevin Hopp from Hopp on Calls Podcast and Duane Dufault get right into some heavy topics in regards to how they got into sales and the hard lessons they learned that led to having a calloused mindset and skillset that will never leave them.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

0:40 - Being Arrogant and conceded

1:45 - Getting back to the bottom, being entry level and doing the work

2:20 - how Getting nocked down hard teaches you valuable lessons, and how being 100% commissioned forces you to learn

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In todays episode of the SellingSaas Podcast, Tom Alaimo from the Pavilion Podcast and Duane Dufault talk about attrition. It's always going to happen but there are some sure fire ways to help prevent it from happening or at least not let it hit so hard when it does happen.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

1:10 - Keeping your talent pool active by always being in the market and keeping tabs on who is doing what and where.

1:40 - How to keep low attrition on your team even if the culture of the company isn't great. "Shield, protect, and fight for them"

3:15 - Preparing your team for the next level, wither its with you or somewhere else.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In this Episode, we sit down with Tom Alaimo, Host of the Pavilion Podcast, and talk about what you can do as a sales manager to make an impact on the team right out of the gate, and frankly, the whole time as your in that role. Most of the time its not about the big flashy strategies that make the biggest impact in sales, its focusing on the fundamentals. There are 2 pipelines in sales, regardless of team make up, and you MUST dial down on the basics in order to win more, and win more consistently

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:40 - The 2 pipelines of sales.

1:10 - What reps can actually control

2:15 - Dialing down on the effective activity which actually make the impact and how they're slightly different for each customer.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In todays conversation with Brandi Starr, The host of the Revenue Rehab Podcast and COO of Tegrita, we talk about how Customer support and success should be included In how you shape the GTM strategy to both learn what the customer actually values and how to further reduce churn by attracting better fit buyers.

0:50- feature selling going wrong down the line

1:30 - the challenge to listen to sales calls, and support calls to get the missing feedback

2:30 - customer lifecycle coaching based on disqualification to reduce churn from the beginning.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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In todays episode, Duane sits down with Brandi Starr, host of the Revenue Rehab Podcast and COO of Tegrita, and talks about the potential issues with GTM and how its not aligned with the customer journey.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

1:00 - the steps in the customer journey

1:40 - How customer success can play a major role

2:00 - More ways to acquire revenue than just net new

3:00 - What might be possible when all GTM departments align for the customer journey

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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Episode Highlights:

1:05 - Patterns of impact

1:25 - Frontline management being the pattern of "implementation" and execution.

1:40 - Director level with pattern "recognition" and spotting trends and being a tools master

2:45 - VP/CRO and it being about pattern "creation," from trends within the market that influence strategy.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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Most people think that getting into a leadership role is how you progress your career as a seller. Unfortunately, in most cases, this cannot be farther from the truth. Tune in to this episode to learn if you have what it takes to be a leader, and why earning more money cannot be your motivation.

HIGHLIGHTS

In this episode, we discuss the following:

00:56 Getting into leadership is not how you make more money

02:10 You'll probably make more money as a sales rep

02:21 What leadership truly entails

We cover some wide-ranging topics, including getting the most out of your team as a leader and building frameworks for them to thrive within.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

Go to www.SellingSaaspodcast.com to get episodes sent directly to your inbox and get the weekly newsletter.

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Most sales leaders nowadays are winging it, trying to turn their direct reports into versions of themselves because that's the only way they know how. The problem is, no two people are exactly the same, and there is no one-size fits-all approach to sales either.

Tune in to this episode to hear about Duane’s thoughts on what good leadership looks like, and what he plans to do about the lack of a real leadership education in business today.

HIGHLIGHTS

In this episode, we discuss the following:

00:35 Why Duane is passionate about sales leadership coaching

02:05 The typical problem with how sales leaders are chosen

03:23 How progressing through the sales leadership ladder should look like

04:41 Duane's experience with bad sales leadership

06:12 Leadership and management are not the same

We cover some wide-ranging topics, including getting the most out of your team as a leader and building frameworks for them to thrive within.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

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Through the years, Duane has seen a lot of organizations struggle with growth because of one simple thing: their different departments don't work together as effectively and efficiently as they could. One way to solve this is to ensure that people from different departments understand each other when it comes to data.

Tune in to this episode to learn how marketing can align its activities with sales, which if you truly look at it, are just two sides of the same coin.

HIGHLIGHTS

In this episode, we discuss the following:

00:26 Sales leaders need to be empowered to be successful

01:34 The relationship between marketing and sales, from a seller's POV

03:12 Leading indicators from marketing should be funneled to sales

We cover some wide-ranging topics, including getting the most out of your team as a leader and building frameworks for them to thrive within.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

Go to www.SellingSaaspodcast.com to get episodes sent directly to your inbox and get the weekly newsletter.

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It's often been said that nobody goes to school for sales, and even less people went to study sales leadership. Unfortunately, this has resulted in generations of sellers and leaders with poor to no understanding of what it means to make data-driven decisions.

In this episode of the Selling SaaS podcast, Duane talks about the lack of capabilities and skill sets needed to really drive growth in sales leaders today, specifically in interpreting the wealth of data and metrics available to us today. Duane focuses on the difference between the activity pipeline and the opportunity pipeline, and why knowing such things can really help drive growth in your organization.

HIGHLIGHTS:

In this episode, we discuss the following:

00:53 The problem that middle management has to solve

02:28 Looking at the data side of sales

03:22 The activity pipeline vs the opportunity pipeline

05:50 How sales managers can effectively leverage sales data

We cover some wide-ranging topics, including getting the most out of your team as a leader and building frameworks for them to thrive within.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

Go to www.SellingSaaspodcast.com to get episodes sent directly to your inbox and get the weekly newsletter.

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Every seller worth their salt is going to tell you this: you're going to make mistakes. Some are going to be funny, some are going to be really embarrassing, a lot of them will be a mixture of both. It's best to get them over with sooner than later. Listen to this podcast to hear about the three most embarrassing mistakes that Duane made as a young seller -- stories that he wishes he could take to the grave, but will gladly share on a podcast if it meant educating people.

HIGHLIGHTS

In this episode, we discuss the following:

00:32 Selling during a time with no CRMs

03:22 Getting mistaken for the mafia

04:36 When there's no need for the zoom demo

We cover some wide-ranging topics, including getting the most out of your team as a leader and building frameworks for them to thrive within.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

Go to www.SellingSaaspodcast.com to get episodes sent directly to your inbox and get the weekly newsletter.

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Everybody has different stories about how they got into sales. For Duane, his journey started with a bike, a newspaper route, and a dinged car. Tune in to this episode to hear how Duane got the Sales bug once and never looked back.

HIGHLIGHTS

In this episode, we discuss the following:

02:05 Duane's first ever sales experience

03:41 First taste of commission in college

05:29 Embrace the suck

We cover some wide-ranging topics, including getting the most out of your team as a leader and building frameworks for them to thrive within.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

Go to www.SellingSaaspodcast.com to get episodes sent directly to your inbox and get the weekly newsletter.

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The secret to a repeatable and scalable sales process is simple: good decision making based on good data — not more headcount, not more sales activity, not hiring a new guy to hold the reins. Tune in to uncover how good data interpretation can inform your next steps towards success, and why sometimes an abundance of funds through venture capitalist backing can do more harm than good.

HIGHLIGHTS

In this episode, we discuss the following:

00:46 The most common scenarios new sales leaders face

02:36 Duane's playbook for sales managers wanting to make an impact

03:42 How sales managers can truly make data-driven decisions

05:12 The problem with having a lot of money and no patience

We cover some wide-ranging topics, including getting the most out of your team as a leader and building frameworks for them to thrive within.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

Go to www.SellingSaaspodcast.com to get episodes sent directly to your inbox and get the weekly newsletter.

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Partner programs can sound like a radical solution for many, the message so powerful that founders often expect to see instant results. The thing is, it can take a while for the results to appear. But when it does, it can really take you by surprise. Tune in to this episode to see why many founders erroneously judge their partner program as a failure too soon, and why success is just waiting for you at the tipping point.

HIGHLIGHTS

In this episode, we discuss the following:

01:15 Most people are already considering partner programs

01:46 Where most clients argue about going full time with partner programs

02:34 When an old-school direct sales mindset makes sense

03:56 The first few months is all about waiting for the tipping point

We cover some wide-ranging topics, including getting the most out of your team as a leader and building frameworks for them to thrive within.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

Go to www.SellingSaaspodcast.com to get episodes sent directly to your inbox and get the weekly newsletter.

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There's simply no reason to make your customer go through several hoops just to buy from you. Tune in to this episode to learn why your pricing tier may need some revisiting, and why doing so benefits your customers as well as your sellers.

HIGHLIGHTS

In this episode, we discuss the following:

00:26 The difference between CRO and the COO

01:29 Just make it easy for people to buy

We cover some wide-ranging topics, including getting the most out of your team as a leader and building frameworks for them to thrive within.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

Go to www.SellingSaaspodcast.com to get episodes sent directly to your inbox and get the weekly newsletter.

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Yes it is that simple, folks: you can make partner programs work with just two salespeople, provided that they know what they're doing. Tune in to discover how to make partner programs work with minimal headcount, and what it takes to make the system work.

HIGHLIGHTS

In this episode, we discuss the following:

00:45 How channel partnerships can be effective with minimal headcount

01:37 Your channel manager needs to have actual sales experience

01:57 Your clients don't care about your features

02:34 The two people you need to make a partner program work

04:41 It's all about building relationships

We cover some wide-ranging topics, including getting the most out of your team as a leader and building frameworks for them to thrive within.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

Go to www.SellingSaaspodcast.com to get episodes sent directly to your inbox and get the weekly newsletter.

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It’s every seller’s dilemma: how do you make your product stand out in a sea of others? It may be tempting to think that product differentiation is the province of engineering, or even marketing. But as sellers in the SaaS space, this is simply not true. Tune in to this episode to discover the value of a good discovery process, and why even sellers can help differentiate a product from the competition.

HIGHLIGHTS

In this episode, we discuss the following:

00:57 A lesson in product differentiation through shovels

03:24 Don't underestimate the value of the 'human element'

05:04 The difference between a CRO and VP of Sales

We cover some wide-ranging topics, including getting the most out of your team as a leader and building frameworks for them to thrive within.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

Go to www.SellingSaaspodcast.com to get episodes sent directly to your inbox and get the weekly newsletter.

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A good demo not only allows you to show off your product's features, it can also help you disqualify leads who may not be a good fit. Tune in to hear Duane share tactical tips that you can apply on your next demo, especially the three things that you need to do critically well each time.

HIGHLIGHTS

In this episode, we discuss the following:

01:00 When to show the built-out account

02:00 When follow up and follow through is critical

02:56 Three things you need to well in a demo

We cover some wide-ranging topics, including getting the most out of your team as a leader and building frameworks for them to thrive within.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

Go to www.SellingSaaspodcast.com to get episodes sent directly to your inbox and get the weekly newsletter.

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There's no getting around it: the success of rolling out a channel partnership ultimately depends on how much it benefits your clients. But how do you ensure a good fit? Tune in to this episode to learn Duane's approach for rolling out a channel partnership, and why it makes sense to know what your client needs before building your own version of the field of dreams.

HIGHLIGHTS

In this episode, we discuss the following:

01:13 Start with figuring out what people actually need

02:21 See how their ecosystem works and where you fit in

04:57 Help them win business as a partnership

We cover some wide-ranging topics, including getting the most out of your team as a leader and building frameworks for them to thrive within.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

Go to www.SellingSaaspodcast.com to get episodes sent directly to your inbox and get the weekly newsletter.

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Spoiler alert: yes, your sellers should have the ability to give discounts; this shortens the sales process, and allows them to tailor-fit your products based on the customer's specific problem. However, this can also quickly become a crutch that when abused becomes a detriment to your bottom line.

Tune in to this episode to learn about empowering your sellers to unpack value through an effective discovery process, and why discounts are not the only way to close a deal.

HIGHLIGHTS:

In this episode, we discuss the following:

00:31 Why sellers should have discount authority

02:01 Your value prop should not be your price

03:51 Discounts do not supplant a good discovery process

05:33 Sellers should unpack value, not create value

We cover some wide-ranging topics, including getting the most out of your team as a leader and building frameworks for them to thrive within.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

Go to www.SellingSaaspodcast.com to get episodes sent directly to your inbox and get the weekly newsletter.

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The free trial and the demo are two of the most common lead generation methods in the SaaS world. While both allow you to show off your product's capabilities, it's helpful for sellers to know the best way to approach leads depending on which of the two methods were chosen. In this episode, Duane focuses on Free Trial Leads, and what sort of conversation a seller may need to make with them, especially in light of privacy concerns in this technologically-driven age.

HIGHLIGHTS

In this episode, we discuss the following:

01:11 Focus on your lead's specific use-case and desired outcome

02:01 Ask a lot of discovery questions

02:52 Talking about privacy in this technologically-driven age

03:46 Be upfront, transparent, and communicative

We cover some wide-ranging topics, including getting the most out of your team as a leader and building frameworks for them to thrive within.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

Go to www.SellingSaaspodcast.com to get episodes sent directly to your inbox and get the weekly newsletter.

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You don't like clicking on ads yourself, so why are you expecting your customers to do it for you? Tune in to this episode to discover why the days of transactional, repetitive, and often annoying (i.e. traditional) ads are over, and why partnered channels are the way to go — assuming that you would rather warm up the market, build trust and foster long-term growth.

HIGHLIGHTS:

In this episode, we discuss the following:

00:51 Duane's approach to a revenue audit

02:01 Stop using paid channels for customer acquisition

03:04 Why traditional marketing's days are at an end

05:08 The benefits of using partnered channels

We cover some wide-ranging topics, including getting the most out of your team as a leader and building frameworks for them to thrive within.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

Go to www.SellingSaaspodcast.com to get episodes sent directly to your inbox and get the weekly newsletter.

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In the SaaS world, it is crucial to come up with a pricing scheme that makes sense for your customer’s specific use-case and budget. If they don’t need something, they probably won’t buy it. While pricing is still primarily the product manager’s responsibility, the experience and data that your sales reps acquire everyday can just be the game-changer that you’ve been waiting for.

Tune-in to this episode to learn how to leverage data to create efficient pricing strategies, and why an effective pricing scheme is the product of a collaboration between sales and product management teams, among others.

HIGHLIGHTS

In this episode, we discuss the following:

00:24 Why sellers should be concerned with pricing

02:33 Experimenting on pricing strategies and tiers

04:39 The marriage of product management and sales

We cover some wide-ranging topics, including getting the most out of your team as a leader and building frameworks for them to thrive within.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

Go to www.SellingSaaspodcast.com to get episodes sent directly to your inbox and get the weekly newsletter.

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Sometimes, less is more. You can be showing off the most technically capable piece of software to a customer and still end up losing the deal. Listen to this episode and learn how to do a demo properly, and the few ways that you should avoid like the plague.

HIGHLIGHTS:

In this episode, we discuss the following:

01:21: A common but critical misstep that traditional sellers make

02:07: The two main ways sales reps are failing at the demo

03:25: This is how you do the demo correctly

We cover some wide-ranging topics, including getting the most out of your team as a leader and building frameworks for them to thrive within.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

Go to www.SellingSaaspodcast.com to get episodes sent directly to your inbox and get the weekly newsletter.

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In today's episode of the Sales Leader Network, we dive into it with Ben Rubin.

Ben is the Revenue Director at Remotish, helping making HubSpot awesome for companies of all types and verticals.

We cover some wide-ranging topics, including getting the most out of your team as a leader and building frameworks for them to thrive within.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

Go to www.salesleadernetwork.com to get episodes sent directly to your inbox and get the weekly newsletter.

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In today's episode of the Sales Leader Network, we dive into it with Mike Hook.

Mike is the Vice President of Sales at ChildcareCRM, bringing ten plus years of experience, high energy, and proven results to rapidly evolving SaaS companies.

We cover some wide-ranging topics including the learner’s mindset, self-awareness, role playing, mentors and role models, coaching and coachability.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

Go to www.salesleadernetwork.com to get episodes sent directly to your inbox and get the weekly newsletter.

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In today's episode of the Sales Leader Network, we dive into it with Stefani Pady. As a John Maxwell Certified Coach, Teacher, and Speaker, Stefani specializes in aiding personal and professional growth through study and practical application of proven leadership methods, as well as personality assessment. We cover a whole host of topics including growth coaching, building a sales culture, work life balance and the advantages of working from home, plus what particular traits help to make a great sales leader. If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society. Go to www.salesleadernetwork.com to get episodes sent directly to your inbox and get the weekly newsletter.

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In today's episode of the Sales Leader Network, we dive into it with Christopher Roche.

Chris is the CEO of Catalyst Consulting. Through proven sales strategy and marketing implementation, his clients are able to create a sustainable and scalable automated sales pipeline derived from paid social advertising.

We cover a wide range of topics including entrepreneurship, building relationships with clients, developing a personal brand, lead gen vs demand gen, and the importance of the patience game.

If you get value from this episode, be sure to subscribe and share the episode with your friends, as we all can benefit from more positivity and leadership in today’s society.

Go to www.salesleadernetwork.com to get episodes sent directly to your inbox and get the weekly newsletter.

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In this episode of the sales leader network, we sit down with one of my old bosses! (now who has the guts to do that…) We dive into a wide range of topics, from Aerins 13 years working for CARD, Chico Area Recreation District (Which is a city municipality focused on sports for the youth) to how there's literally no onboarding or training for sales leadership, it's way too much of “learn as you go.”

The Sales Leader Network: Recent Episodes

Duane Dufault