Playing the Long Game: Recent Episodes
Jennifer Lund, CMO, SuperOffice
Welcome to Playing the Long Game, a show that's dedicated to helping B2B companies create long-lasting customer relationships.
Playing the Long Game is about being human and leading with empathy through every touchpoint in the customer journey, both human and digital.
I want to inspire you to think of buyers and customers as people, not as just a number. In each episode, I will bring you conversations with leading business professionals and experts who share tips, stories and advice on how to create long-lasting customer relationships through every step of the customer journey.
Whether you’re on an internal team, in sales, marketing or service, this podcast can be your masterclass to learning everything you need to connect and build trust with your customers.
Frank Wedde is a brain trainer, an author, a speaker and the CEO of Memolife, an accelerated learning platform that helps people master new skills, knowledge and habits at super speed.
This episode is jam packed with tips, tricks and stories of how we can all reduce stress and level up both our personal and professional lives.
And who doesn’t need that right now?
Many people think that the brain stops changing by the age of 25, but that’s actually not true. By just using brain training and going 4% out of our own comfort zone, we can be more creative and productive.
In this episode, we talk about:
- How to become more creative and productive by calming the fight/ flight/ freeze brain mechanism
- Why having fun creates magic in your brain (and you shouldn’t feel guilty about it)
- Why being encouraged to fail leads to success
- Why going 4% out of your comfort zone is the sweet spot for creativity and performance
- How to calm hard criticism and defensiveness with “cozy” words
- How to get in “flow” to turn off the inner critic and reduce stress
You can connect with Jennifer on Linked In and Twitter @jenniferlund.
You can connect with Frank Wedde on Linked In and by email, frank@memolife.com.
Marianne Bratt Ricketts is CEO & Founder of Vibbio, a software-as-a-service video creation and management platform for companies of all sizes.
Her passion for visual and communication and branding led her to create Vibbio, which was recently named as one of Norway's most promising start-ups for 2012 by Kampanje magazine.
She’s an experienced entrepreneur, art director, graphic designer by trade and former editor-in-chief of several magazines.
In this episode, we talk about:
- How you can use video to create stronger human connections
- The difference between branded videos and personal videos and when you use each
- Why you should think of your initial video like a Netflix teaser
- How to use different content formats to pull people through a journey
- How to deal with people’s short attention spans
- Why you shouldn’t let your fear of being imperfect stop you from creating video content
Vibbio lets everyone in your organization become a visual content creator. Visit vibbio.com to get a free trial and see how it works.
You can connect with Jennifer on Linked In and Twitter.
You can connect with Marianne on Linked In and through her email address, marianne@vibbio.com.
Nils Apeland is one of Norway’s most popular and experienced public speakers and PR and communication consultants.
With over 25 years experience in the field of public speaking and corporate communications, Nils has helped all types of companies and business leaders, both in Norway and throughout Europe, improve the way they communicate and present themselves to their audience.
His genuine love of public speaking led him to create Talerlisten, a speaker’s bureau that consists of some of the country’s most engaging and interesting speakers on a variety of topics, from A to Z.
You can imagine that Talerlisten is like a TripAdvisor for public speakers, complete with ratings, videos and recommendations. The goal is to help you find find the right speaker for your company events.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- How to influence people’s behaviors with good communication
- How speaking with authenticity builds trust with your audience
- Why shorter messages enable people to remember more
- How to use stories during your presentations to activate people’s feelings
- How and why you should adapt your message to your audience and to the medium you’re using
- What to do if you really want to become good at public speaking
You can connect with Jennifer on Linked In and Twitter @jenniferlund.
You can connect with Nils Apeland on Linked In and by email, nils@talerlisten.no
Christoffer Omberg is CEO & Co-founder of Oslo Business Forum (OBF), a networking and business leadership conference.
Founded in 2016 by Christoffer and business partner, Marius Wang, OBF has become one of the most significant business conferences in the world in just four short years.
Every year, around 3,000 business leaders gather from all over the world to hear speakers such as Barack Obama, Randi Zuckerberg, Sir Alex Ferguson and David Cameron, just to name a few.
They say the following on their website:
“We believe that inspiring and equipping business leaders who want to make the world a better place is the single most effective way in which we can make an effect on the whole society at large.”
We go behind the scenes to hear:
- How two university dropouts with only 1 MNOK between them ended up creating Norway’s largest networking and leadership conference
- How good storytelling moves people to action
- How great content helped them to build trust and long-term relationships
- How customer feedback helps them to create content that resonates
- Why face-to-face meetings are still the backbone of strong relationships
- Why the best relationships are built on giving, rather than receiving
You can connect with Jennifer on Linked In and Twitter @jenniferlund You can connect with Christoffer on Linked In.
Visit www.obf.no to sign up for the conference.
Mikko Honkanen is CEO & Co-founder of Vainu, a Helsinki based company data platform.
Mikko studied at the Helsinki School of Economics and at the University of Oxford and has spent the past 15 years building, scaling and managing Software as a Service companies in the Nordics, Central Europe and in the USA.
In his spare time, he likes to play beach soccer (he’s the Finnish Champion) and enjoys spending time with her wife and two young daughters.
In this episode, we talk about:
The importance of finding your ICP (ideal customer profile)
Why and how B2B companies should use account -based marketing (ABM)
How the data-driven approach helps B2B sales and marketing teams succeed
Sales & Marketing playbooks and why every company should have them
The importance of customer data platforms and how they affect your sales strategy
Why sales and marketing alignment is crucial to every company’s success
You can connect with Jennifer on Linked In and Twitter @jenniferlund You can connect with Mikko on Linked In, Twitter and at mikko@vainu.io.
If you’re looking for sales templates, playbooks and ABM guides, check out Vainu’s website.
If you’re looking for inspiration on how to level-up your sales, marketing or customer service game, you can also visit www.superoffice.com/blog.
Christine Calvert has worked with writing and communication for 30 years as a copywriter, a global web editor, lecturer and college professor.
As Norway’s only Text Doctor, she was voted as 2019 best keynote speaker by Confex, holds tons of communication courses, written two books about writing and is working on her third book, as we speak.
In this episode, we talk about:
- Our mutual love of books
- How brands can make themselves more human
- Why corporate B.S. can make your brand boring and what to do about it
- The story behind her signature golden shoes
- How anything can be interesting if you find the right angle
- Why writing to yourself is a mistake and why you should write to a persona instead
- How to find your own voice and make it heard
- Why the customer journey is a misnomer - there's no such thing as a linear buying process
Liked this episode?
Be sure to hit subscribe in your favorite podcast player and share the pod. :)
You can connect with Jennifer on Linked In and Twitter @jenniferlund
You can connect with Christine Calvert on LinkedIn or email her at christine@tekstdoctor.no.
With a hit rate is between 70-90% from call to booking a meeting. Martin has been a professional meeting booker, or what they call in the SaaS world, an SDR (Sales Development Representative) for over six years.
Martin is passionate about sales and the value that Sales brings to potential customers.
In December 2019, he was featured on the front page of Norway’s largest financial newspaper, Finansavisen, as Norway’s best professional meeting booker.
His success is not due to luck as many would like to think. It’s born out of self-awareness, purpose and a deep understanding of customer needs.
In this episode, we talk about:
- Why defining your purpose helps you to be a better sales person
- How getting a “no” as fast as possible helps you get a “yes” even faster
- How mindset factors into your success
- Why it’s unethical not to sell and how sales contributes to a bigger picture
- Why sales people are like brain surgeons and how this helps you to connect better with buyers
You can connect with Jennifer on Linked In and Twitter @jenniferlund
You can connect with Martin Da Veiga on Linked In, Facebook and Instagram
You can also contact Martin via mobile at +47 469 05 739
Karl Philip Lund, one of Norway’s leading digital marketing experts, has helped many companies such as Bli Vakker, Norwegian and Hurtigruten build online success stories.
He believes that one of the most important success factors to any company is a well-functioning team.
In this episode, we talk about:
- How stories of failure bring teams closer together
- Why psychological safety is crucial and how to foster it in your teams
- How the way you drink your coffee shows what kind of employee you will be
- Why you should set a general direction and let your team execute like hell
Liked this episode? Be sure to hit subscribe in your favorite podcast player and share the pod. :)
You can connect with Jennifer on Linked In and Twitter @jenniferlund
You can connect with Karl Philip Lund on Linked In or at Inevo AS
Michael Æro with Implement Consulting Group in Denmark, is “Sales Whisperer” to high performance sales companies such as Microsoft, Visma and Mastercard.
In his work with companies of all sizes, he sees all too many are focused on selling product features than selling value. When you walk into a meeting to only talk about product, people blank out.
In this episode, we talk about:
- Creating a foundation for trust even in virtual meetings
- What role empathy plays in sales relationship
- Why you can't teach an old dog new tricks when it comes to value-based selling
- Why women are better than men in consultative sales and what can men learn from women
- The skills that the modern sales person needs - active listening, empathy, and a higher purpose
- How asking the right questions have a more positive effect than what you say
Liked this episode? Be sure to hit subscribe in your favorite podcast player and share the pod. :)
You can connect with Jennifer on Linked In and Twitter @jenniferlund
You can connect with Michael Ærø on Linked In
Jeanette is an executive leadership coach and CEO of management consulting firm, FUTT Consulting.
For Jeanette, playing the long game means tolerance and accepting that people are all different - from the way they act, think and feel to ourselves.
Nominated as 2015’s Storyteller of the Year by Nordic Entertainment Group, Jeanette brings her own unique blend of authenticity and compassion to our conversation.
On this episode, we talk about:
- The difference between work and private relationships
- The definition of diversity in the workplace
- Why conflicts, misunderstandings and frustrations can occur on teams
- How to put together high performance teams
- How to interact and motivate people to perform their best even when they're different from ourselves
Liked this episode? Be sure to hit subscribe in your favorite podcast player and share the pod. :)
You can connect with Jennifer on Linked In and Twitter @jenniferlund
You can find Jeanette Luytkis atfutt.no, or email Jeanette at jeanette.luytkis@gmail.com
Grete Valseth is an executive partner at Dale Carnegie where she trains some of the largest companies in Norway about communication, sales and leadership skills.
In this first episode of Playing the Long Game, we talk about :
- Building trust, collaboration, and how to positively influence people around you
- Why going outside of your comfort zone helps you to grow
- What being "nice" in 2021 means and how it's totally different than what you think
- Why slide decks in sales meetings don't lead to better conversations
- What does "trusted advisor" mean and how to be one to your customers
Liked this episode? Be sure to hit subscribe in your favorite podcast player and share the pod. :)
You can connect with Jennifer on Linked In and Twitter @jenniferlund and with Grete Valseth on Linked In.
Playing the Long Game dedicated to helping B2B companies create long-lasting customer relationships by being human and leading with empathy through every touchpoint in the customer journey.
In each episode, I’ll bring you conversations with leading business professionals and experts who share tips, stories and advice on how to create long-lasting customer relationships through every step of the customer journey.
Whether you’re on an internal team, in sales, marketing or service, this podcast can be your masterclass to learning everything you need to connect and build trust with your customers.