Driving B2B Sales Revenue: Recent Episodes
David Masover
Interviews and insights about driving B2B sales revenue and growing successful sales organizations from sales leaders at the front lines of modern B2B selling.
ABOUT THE GUEST: Ryann Dowdy, CEO & Co-Founder at Social Sellers Academy
Sales Expert, Ryann Dowdy, helps 7 and 8 figure CEOs generate daily sales on demand WITHOUT more of their time, by building + training high-performing sales teams.
Ryann is passionate about helping successful business owners take back control of the revenue in their business, their time, and their freedom by building a profitable sales team. With her business partner, Kelly Roach, they are on a mission to free CEOs from the role of salesperson in their business.
Before starting her own business, Ryann spent 15 years in the corporate world building multi-million dollar sales organizations for start-ups in the digital marketing and advertising space. From sales rep to individual contributor to Director of Sales - Ryann has mentored, managed, and trained thousands of sales reps.
Ryann’s first crack at entrepreneurship was Uncensored Consulting, where she helped hundreds of women get their first clients, leave their day jobs, and take back control of their lives. By teaching tried and true sales strategies that aren't dependent on social media or trendy tactics, Ryann focuses on the art of building relationships and human to human connection.
Now, building her second business, she’s on a mission to change the lives of CEOs - by giving them back their time, financial peace, and the ability to multiply their revenue through a high performing, empowered sales team.
You can find Ryann on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanndowdy/
And can learn more about The Social Sellers Academy here:
https://dailysalesondemandforceos.com/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
What is social selling?
Is it different than other kinds of selling - and if so, how exactly?
And why is it that so many folks hate the idea, while others get it so wrong (maybe that’s the answer right there).
In this episode, Ryann Dowdy digs into all of that and more from a real, practical, and thoughtful perspective. Her work is completely focused on helping sales teams succeed with social, and her approach is practical, strategic, and completely grounded in reality.
If you ever wondered what all of the fuss is about social selling, and more importantly how you can think about it - and succeed with it if you choose to do so, Ryann is a great resource and she shares plenty of solid and valuable insights in this episode for you to consider.
ABOUT THE GUEST: Mark Thompson, Co-Founder of PayKickstart
Mark Thompson is the co-founder of PayKickstart an industry-leading billing and affiliate management platform for subscription-based businesses. Mark loves the subscription-economy and helping startups and mature businesses maximize revenue.
As a 10-year online Entrepreneur, he has created and sold multiple 6 and 7 figure businesses, while generating over $20M dollars online.
You can find Mark on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrthompson/
And you can learn more about PayKickstart here: https://paykickstart.com/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
To automate or not to automate - is that a question for your sales org to consider?
We’ve all been on the receiving end of crappy automation. Nobody wants to be associated with that...
...but, most of us have also suffered the drudgery of muscling through repetitive tasks as part of the sales flow that we wish we could automate.
So where is the sweet spot, and how do you A) strike the balance, and B) get from here to there?
This is exactly what we explored in this episode of the podcast with guest Mark Thompson.
Mark has a long history of tinkering with automation within his own sales organization and on behalf of others - which is exactly what it takes to succeed.
Not sure how to even begin thinking about it?
This episode of the podcast can help a lot - Mark really knows his stuff here and has some great insights about getting started and the benefits when you do.
So check it out - I think you’ll enjoy it.
ABOUT THE GUEST: Ken Lundin, Founder of Ken Lundin & Associates
Ken Lundin found his mission while standing in his front lawn in Atlanta in 2011, when he learned from the people who had purchased it that his house had been sold by the bank. With his business - and the last 6 years of his life - up in smoke, he took a mid-level sales position and over the course of the next 2 years was offered 2 promotions attaining the role of SVP of Sales within two years. With his unique perspective on thriving during difficult times and his considerable sales acumen, he soon became a consultant in order to bring his systematic process to other companies, helping them adapt to difficult changes and to thrive in uncertain times.
Check out Ken on the web here: https://kenlundin.com/
Or connect with him on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kglundin/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Is sales training and consulting broken?
Ken Lundin thinks so. In this episode he starts by painting the picture with a car analogy - where all four tires go flat at once - and if the car is your business and each tire is one part of your sales org, you are not going to get back to driving by fixing just one tire!
Sales organizations are systems, and to help them thrive you need to take a systemic view of them and approach to fixing them.
When sales training or coaching focuses on just one thing, which is usually the case, it just doesn’t work.
Listen in as Ken unpacks not only the problem with this myopic approach so prevalent in the sales training and consulting industry, but the way to fix it and a better approach to sales team improvement efforts.
ABOUT THE GUEST: Lee Hackett, CEO of BluprintX
Lee Hackett is a professional footballer turned entrepreneur and investor. He has successfully grown 3 companies to $10m+ in sales and engineered trade sales to FTSE200 listed corporations.
Lee advises global CMOs on B2B sales, marketing, and advertising strategy, using his 7-Step C-Suite Framework to build thought leadership, effective funnels, and revenue attribution.
Lee has invested in SalesTech, MarTech, and AdTech startups in the UK, Middle East, Australia and Singapore.
You can find Lee on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehackett/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Sales and sports analogies - love ‘em or hate ‘em, there are a lot of them!
But maybe there is a good reason? Former professional athlete Lee Hackett explores some of these ideas in this episode of the podcast and digs deep into things like team versus individual performance, resilience, and other key crossovers between the worlds of sales and sports, both places where Lee has spent plenty of time and found plenty of success. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it!
ABOUT THE GUEST: Shawn Rhodes, Chief Sales Sergeant at Bulletproof Selling
Shawn Rhodes leveraged his former life as a war correspondent to become an international expert in how the best teams continuously improve pipelines and performance. He's a Tampa-based TEDx speaker and his work studying teams in more than two dozen countries - some of the most dangerous places on the planet - has been published in news outlets including TIME, CNN, NBC, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, and INC. His clients have included Deloitte, ConAgra, John Deere, and dozens of similar businesses. Shawn is also a nationally syndicated columnist with the Business Journals and author of the books Pivot Point: Turn On A Dime Without Sacrificing Results, Universal Export: A Guide For Overachievers in Working Less And Enjoying More, and newest book, Bulletproof Selling: Systemizing Sales For The Battlefield Of Business.
You can find Shawn on Linkedin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnrhodes/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Here’s a riddle for you - what’s the connection between a Marine in Fallujah, Iraq who is not very good at following directions, and a B2B sales consultant?
Well, in this case, the connection is that it’s the same person - episode guest Shawn Rhodes.
While in the Marines, Shawn was embedded in different units who were working in very challenging urban environments to observe, document, and help codify what was working, what was not, and how to improve.
And sure enough, the process of observing, documenting, and working to improve is a perfect approach to sales team improvement as well - especially over time as the knowledge base of documented observations keeps growing.
In both the military and in business environments, Shawn learned and now teaches how systems and processes built on the successes and failures of past ventures is an incredibly effective platform for sustained improvement and ongoing excellence in execution.
In this episode, Shawn peels back a lot of what all of that means, how it works, and how it can work for sales organizations - you definitely don’t want to miss this!
ABOUT THE GUEST: Emmet Florish, CEO at Ctrl.io
Emmet Florish co-founded Ctrl.io for plate-spinning sales managers to channel the time they spend with their team day to day into sustainable, longer term performance.
He knows what it takes to get a team firing on all cylinders, performing over and above quota, from being a successful individual contributor to first sales hire on the ground. Emmet has led and expanded sales teams to contribute millions of dollars of revenue and quadruple digit year over year growth on multiple occasions.
Through Ctrl.io, he wants to bring that hard won expertise to sales managers in B2B SaaS businesses at scale. By filling the gap where they are managing their teams beyond the CRM with docs, spreadsheets and email and giving them a deceptively simple platform to build a culture of commitment and visibility.
Find out more at Ctrl.io or connect on LinkedIn for regular sales management related updates: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmet-florish-8217172/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
“Developing sales teams one sales manager at a time”
That’s Emmet’s LinkedIn headline, and it hits very close to home with everything I’ve learned about sales teams in my three decades in B2B sales.
Emmet talks about front line sales managers as a “Force Multiplier” - a term I fully intend to steal.
And this episode - it’s all about that.
The power of a good front line sales manager who has the time, ability, and inclination to help their team thrive - and the challenges of getting that done consistently - both personal and organizational that can get in the way.
If you are a sales manager, work for one, have one, or just want to hear a solid perspective about why the role matters and how it can deploy more effectively, then I’m sure you will enjoy listening to this episode just like I enjoyed participating in it.
ABOUT THE GUEST: Jeroen Corthout, CEO of Salesflare
Jeroen is co-founder and CEO of Salesflare, an intelligent CRM built for SMBs selling B2B, mostly popular with agencies and fast-growing startups.
Salesflare was founded when Jeroen and his co-founder Lieven wanted to manage the leads for their software company in an easier way. They didn’t like to keep track of them manually and built Salesflare, which pulls customer data together automatically.
It’s now the most popular CRM on Product Hunt and top rated on review platforms like G2 for its ease of use and automation features.
You can learn more about Salesflare here: https://salesflare.com/
Connect with Jeroen on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeroencorthout/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
CRM has been around for decades, but talk to a few reps and you’ll find at least a few who hate it (see what I did there).
But why? And what can be done to change it?
CRM - or any tool that helps reps stay on top of the many things reps need to stay on top of can supercharge productivity, but only if they are used and used consistently.
CRM innovator Jeroen has some ideas about how to make CRM more usable and as such more useful, and he has baked those ideas into Salesflare, an intelligent CRM built for SMBs selling B2B. He shares many of the creative ways it helps overcome obstacles to CRM adoption in this episode of the podcast.
ABOUT THE GUEST: Dan Englander, CEO of Sales Schema
Dan Englander is a New York-based author and entrepreneur. As the first employee and Senior Account Manager, Dan helped launch IdeaRocket, the premier studio for high-quality animated explainer videos. He brought in business and managed productions for Fortune 500s and startups like Venmo.
He’s the founder of Sales Schema, a site that helps companies win by melding sales and digital marketing. He’s the author of "Mastering Account Management" and other business books. In addition, he teaches high-level online courses on B2B sales and marketing.
Previously, Dan was Account Coordinator at DXagency, where he increased digital exposure for clients like Monster Cable and Marc Ecko.
You can find Dan on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danenglander/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
“Sales is all about relationships” - it’s an expression you hear all of the time from experienced salespeople, you know - those who seem to know better.
“We need to scale” - it’s an expression you hear all of the time from business owners and other interested parties. If a business is growing fast, that’s a very good thing and working on making it happen is an awfully smart place to focus.
But can the two ideas work together?
Intuitively not, which is why it’s so intriguing to speak with Dan Englander about what he calls Relationship Sales at Scale. I’ll let him articulate the ideas in the episode which he does well. If the concept is intriguing to you, you should definitely check it out!
ABOUT THE GUEST: Dr. Tom Tonkin PhD, CEO of the Conservatory Group
Dr. Tom Tonkin PhD is an executive in the Professional Services and Software Sales arena and has over 30 years of business and technology experience. He is currently serving as the CEO of the Conservatory Group as well as the Co-Founder and Dean of Students that the Sales Conservatory. In addition, he is also the Head of Strategic Accounts at SAMI Games, the first crowd-sourced global solution for soft skills, and the CRO at the Liderança Group offering consultative services that identify areas for sustainable growth with actionable strategies to ignite change.
Dr. Tonkin holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership from Regent University (Virginia Beach, VA) as well as a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership, with a focus on Leadership and Management from Regis University (Denver, CO). Dr. Tonkin holds multiple business certifications and is a leadership expert. In addition, Dr. Tonkin was an Adjunct Professor at the Forbes School of Business at Ashford University where he taught Leadership in Organizations, Organizational Behavior, and various other leadership and management courses. Dr. Tonkin is an award-winning researcher and author with several blogs, articles, and interviews to his name focusing on Leadership, DE&I, Learning and Development, and Sales Acumen.
You can find Tom on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drtomtonkin/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
There are not enough really smart, bold, experienced, and downright radical people in sales enablement. Luckily, there is one who made a guest appearance on this very podcast, this very episode.
Dr. Tom Tonkin PhD isn’t a sales enablement practitioner like you’ve ever known. Razor sharp, a mind built for critical thinking, and the presumption that salespeople need to experience things in their inner world to be able to internalize any kind of meaningful learnings as a result of sales training.
As for his methods - sorry kids, you’ll have to check out the episode to get a taste of that, but I assure you - you’ll be glad you did.
So brace yourself for sales enablement like you’ve never known it before, but probably should - thanks to our guest in this episode, Dr. Tom Tonkin, PhD.
ABOUT THE GUEST: Henry Kaminski Jr., founder of Unique Designz
Henry Kaminski Jr. is the founder of Unique Designz, a full-service design, branding, and digital marketing agency that is dedicated to helping personality brands; coaches, consultants, influencers, speakers + authors design / grow their brands, scale their profits + increase their exposure online.
He’s is the host of the popular “Brand Doctor’s Podcast” where he talks about strategiesthat help entrepreneurs design reputable and profitable personal brands. As a self-taught graphic designer and brand consultant, he's overcome all the odds to build a wildly successful multi-million-dollar business over the past 12 years. He has worked with a diverse range of business owners and professionals, including celebrities like Jon Bon Jovi + Fabio Viviani as well as Internet marketing expert Russell Brunson who has named Henry the "Million Dollar Brander” and recently has been inducted into the Click Funnels 2 Comma Club, by generating over $1 million with one single sales funnel, using the Click Funnels software.
Learn more about Henry’s work and how he helps brands thrive at https://uniquedesignz.net/
If you want to take Henry’s free branding master class, here is the link to sign up:
Uniquedesignz.net/levelupmybranding
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Personal Brand - all of the cool kids seem to have one these days, but what about salespeople?
It’s actually a bit of a contentious issue.
Some companies are pretty OK with the idea of letting their reps establish a unique personal brand, others worry that a reps online presence might not be consistent with or might conflict with their role as a company representative.
And what about the salespeople themselves? Some seem to throw themselves full boar into the idea and work hard to have a social presence - many swear they even get business from it - while others see spending time on social as something that takes away from time pursuing quota.
So a real mixed back of opinions and ideas - luckily, we were able to have Henry Kaminski Jr., founder of Unique Designz on the podcast to unpack some of these questions and to talk about the value of and the importance of having a personal brand - even for a quota carrying rep and the companies that employ them.
I think you’ll really enjoy this episode - I sure did!
ABOUT THE GUEST: James Trezona, Author of Humanizing B2B and the Chief Punk and Founder at Rooster Punk
James co-founded Rooster Punk with the mission to become the world's most admired B2B storytelling agency. As James puts it, “with the purpose of HumanizingB2B driving us, we've grown quickly - working with amazing marketing visionaries as clients and talent as peers. The proof of the power of leading with empathy was that we doubled in team size during the pandemic - which we also used to create a distillation of what we have learned over the years - writing ‘Humanizing B2B’ - launched in 2021.”
You can find James on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-trezona/
And find his book Humanizing B2B here:
https://www.amazon.com/Humanizing-B2B-truth-marketing-transform-ebook/dp/B08Y95QY4D
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Vulnerability. Empathy. Psychological security.
We’re hearing terms like these more and more often in relation to professional selling, but what are they really, and how the heck is a salesperson supposed to incorporate these concepts into a job that has traditionally been about anything but these kinds of squishy concepts?
In this episode, James Trezona, Author of Humanizing B2B and the Chief Punk and Founder at business storytelling agency Rooster Punk goes deep into these concepts to help sellers and sales leaders not just understand what these concepts really mean in the context of professional sales, but why they matter so much and how to incorporate them into your work to help boost results where it counts - in relationships and results!
ABOUT THE GUEST: Colson Steber, Co-CEO of Ag Access and Communications for Research (CFR)
Colson Steber is the visionary of the research logistics services business, leading sales, marketing, and finance. Colson is a relentless optimizer, always learning and improving on leading the team to be put in a position to succeed. After completing his Mizzou MBA he joined CFR in 2012 and bought the company in 2016. Colson has served on the Insights Association Great Lake Chapter board for 8 years, serving as President in 2020. He is a board member of Entrepreneur's Organization (EO) Tampa Bay.
You can find Colson on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colsonsteber/
ABOUT THE EPISODE
It’s a common story. A CEO/Owner/Founder starts a company, works relentlessly to get it off the ground and drive growth from scratch, and years later is putting in overwhelming hours doing more than they should, and specifically - most of the selling.
Makes sense - the person who starts the company has more drive, passion, credibility, and subject matter expertise than almost anyone, but it’s hard to run a company (let alone have a life) when you are doing it all.
This is where Colson Steber was in 2017, and he was wise enough to recognize his dilemma and to take deliberate action to change it. It didn’t all come fast and easy, but in this episode, Colson walks us through how he helped his company go from just him and his partner doing all of the selling to the seeds of a truly professional and scalable sales organization.
ABOUT THE GUEST: Sam Ovett, Co-Founder of Mobile Pocket Office
Sam Ovett was a professional whitewater guide who turned his passion for exploration into an obsession with business automation. He Co-Founded Mobile Pocket Office with his father. They help rapidly growing and established businesses grow by leveraging human resources in the form of automated business processes in the five areas of business systems: Attract, Convert, Fulfill, Delight, and Refer to streamline productivity and increase revenue. Sam has translated his experience as a whitewater kayaker navigating Class V rapids to business ventures where he leads businesses towards profitability at scale while staying focused on risks that could jeopardize their bottom line - making him one cool dude!
You can find Sam on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/samovett/
And you can learn more about Mobile Pocket Office here:
https://mobilepocketoffice.com/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
When you are selling anything with any complexity whatsoever, there’s a lot to do as you work through the prospecting and sales process with your prospects.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could put some of that on autopilot so that you can concentrate on the parts that you can’t?
Great idea, but what? And how? And what might go wrong? And how can I be sure that it doesn't?
Sam Ovett has spent his professional career answering just those kinds of questions for sales organizations and he shares a whole lot of that wisdom here in the episode.
If you’d like to streamline your B2B sales work - for yourself or your team - this is an episode that you’ll want to check out!
ABOUT THE GUEST: Heidi Solomon-Orlick, Vice President of Global Sales at VXI and Founder and CEO of GirlzWhoSell
Passionate Business Development leader with 30 years of global BPO experience. Proven professional skilled in solving customer challenges through thought leadership, innovation, active listening and problem solving, team collaboration, exceptional and sustainable service delivery.
I am a Diversity and Inclusion champion and change agent, entrepreneur and mentor. I am committed to supporting women and girls by continuing to push for racial justice, workplace and inter-sectional gender equity. I invest in the leaders, companies and products I want to see in the world. I am an active aging advocate who believes that older women (and men) are not obsolete. Age = Wisdom and Experience. I am committed to closing the gender gap in B2B Sales! My mission is to make a difference, affect change and leave this world a better place for the generations behind me.
Connect with Heidi on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidisolomon1/
If you want to learn more about GirlzWhoSell go to https://girlzwhosell.com/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Women in sales. Very under-represented in a field where anyone with experience has seen no shortage of great sellers who happen to be female and significantly underpaid in a field that should be all about performance-based compensation.
Not fair, not right, not even smart - but it still is very much this way. So how did we get here and more importantly what can we do to move towards not just equity, but an intelligent approach to our craft based on things that matter, not just things that happen to be?
In this episode, Heidi Solomon-Orlick digs deep into all of that and more. With over three decades of sales and sales leadership experience and as the Founder and CEO of her passion project GirlzWhoSell, Heidi has a lot to offer on these topics and she brings it all to this episode. If these issues are important to you, I think you’ll enjoy this conversation a lot. I sure did!
ABOUT THE GUEST: Priscilla McKinney, CEO at Little Bird Marketing
Priscilla is the fifth of five girls. She and her sisters traveled the world singing which involved matching dresses, puppet shows and a lot of road trips. Thirty four houses, three countries, five states, four high schools and a degree in Cultural Anthropology later, Priscilla has miraculously found her way into her most ideal place in the world - at the intersection of MARKETING, BUSINESS and MARKET RESEARCH.
You can learn more about Priscilla and reach out to her on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/priscillamckinney/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
What is digital transformation and why should salespeople - let alone the companies they work for - care about it?
Well - don’t get me started, but REALLY don’t get Priscilla McKinney, CEO at Little Bird Marketing started...
Why?
She’s got some answers to that question that will challenge your thinking and most likely will motivate you to rethink what you are doing in our digitally-driven world to enhance not only your image, but also your chances for getting into more conversations that are more likely to win more new business.
Priscilla is passionate and articulate on the issue, so check it out and let your digital transformation begin!
ABOUT THE GUEST: Jon Ferrara, Founder & CEO of Nimble
Jon is a serial entrepreneur and noted speaker about social, sales, and marketing. He has re-imagined CRM by building Nimble - The Simple CRM for Office 365 & G Suite. Ferrara is best known as the co-founder of GoldMine Software Corp, one of the early pioneers in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for Small to Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs). He has been recognized by Forbes as one of the Top 10 Social CEOs, Top 10 Social Salespeople In The World and Top 100 Marketing Influencers.
Want to learn more about Jon? As he suggested on the podcast, Google him!
If you want to find out about Nimble, here you go: https://www.nimble.com/
And if you want to reach out to Jon directly, here is his email address; jon@nimble.com
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
CRM is a contentious issue in sales. Some salespeople swear by it, some hate it - but why? It’s supposed to be a tool that helps salespeople do their jobs, so what’s the problem?
Our guest Jon Ferrara knows all too well! Jon is a pioneer of the CRM industry and the creator of Goldmine, one of the first modern CRMs build in the 1980s. Back then, CRM was all about helping salespeople sell, but since then, it has become much more than that - and not necessarily for the better for many salespeople.
In this episode, Jon talks about what inspired him to create one of the first ever and very popular early CRMs, how so much sales tech has moved in a different direction and why that is not so great for reps or the sales organization, and ultimately why he build Nimble and the problems he set out to solve with it.
Jon is a very dynamic and charismatic guy - I think you’ll really enjoy this episode!
ABOUT THE GUEST: Don Markland, VP of Sales at 411 Local and CEO of Accountability Now
From Don’s LinkedIn Profile:
I'm an entrepreneur myself in addition to being a full-time Chief Revenue Officer. I own my own executive coaching and business strategy firm, Accountability Now™, so I can stay close to startups and businesses that are looking to achieve hyper-growth but can't seem to get over the hump. I help start-ups, particularly in the SaaS and FinTech industry launch, scale, and maximize sales and marketing operations. For this sales scaling work, I was named to Utah Business Magazine's Top 40 under Forty.
You can learn more about the 411 Local Affiliate program that Don mentions in the episode here: https://411locals.com/affiliate/
You can find Don on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donmarkland/
Or on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/donmarkland
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Accountability.
It’s one of those words that gets thrown around a lot, and it often feels really good when we do because it’s macho and proactive and tough - but according to our guest Don Makland, it is one of the most powerful concepts in sales leadership, but not when we get it wrong - and most do.
In this masterclass on accountability, Don takes us through how so many get accountability in sales wrong, what it should be, how to get it right, and how to think about it with his framework called “The Four C’s of Accountability”
ABOUT THE GUEST: Chad Burmeister, Founder & CEO of ScaleX.ai
Meet Chad Burmeister - Believer, Husband, Father of two teenagers, and lifelong rebel and rule-breaker. Chad empowers sales professionals to become the best version of themselves by focusing on their mindset, skillset, and toolset.
Find Chad on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadburmeister/
Here is where you can get his book AI for Sales for free: https://www.scalex.ai/ebooks
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Even before Google AI made a haircut appointment, folks have been talking about how AI is going to take away all of the sales jobs. Choosing to believe that feels like a big misunderstanding about what sales is, but to be fair, there are parts of the whole that is sales work that AI is getting better at, and if your job is predominantly that, maybe you should be worried.
In this episode, Sales AI expert Chad Burmeister talks about what’s happening in the field right now with sales AI, who should be worried, and why the rest of us have a huge opportunity with this emerging and fast-growing set of tools and technology.
ABOUT THE GUEST: Larry Trenwith, CMC - SMB Growth & Scaling Specialist
Larry has been solving business growth and scaling challenges in a myriad of markets and economic conditions for over 25 years.
Previous executive roles include CEO/President, COO and VP Sales for technology companies from start-ups to $70 million in annual sales. As a business advisor and Certified Management Consultant he has collaborated with the leadership teams of numerous small/medium enterprises and helped their businesses break through barriers to growth and significantly increase value.
Larry’s ability to blend strategic level thinking with pragmatic, results-oriented tactics and execution has helped organizations across several industry verticals effectively scale their business and achieve superior business outcomes in both domestic and international markets.
You can find Larry on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/larry-trenwith-cmc-02944/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
The word “scaling” in the context of business is one of those words that gets used a lot, but often isn’t really explained or understood. Scaling is used synonymously with growth, which according to Larry Trenwith represents a gross misunderstanding of what scaling is and how to enable an organization to scale in the true meaning of the word.
In this episode, Larry walks us through some common misunderstandings about scaling and what it takes for organizations to set themselves up for scaling success and they progress through various revenue milestones. It’s a masterclass in the right way to grow from someone who has been there, done that, and helped many others to do so as well.
ABOUT THE GUEST: Chris Beall, CEO of ConnectAndSell, Inc.
For most of the past 30 years, Chris has participated in software start-ups as a founder or at a very early stage of development. His focus has consistently been on creating and taking to market simple products that can be used successfully the first time they are touched, without having to take a course or read a manual.
His belief is that the most powerful part of any software system is the human being that we inappropriately call a “user,” and that the value key in software is to let the computer do what it does well — go fast without getting bored — in order to free up human potential.
Toward that end, Chris has been involved with Requisite Technology, GXS, Epiance, Qlip Media, Aptara, Cadis, Sun Microsystems, and Unisyn. He is currently CEO of ConnectAndSell, Inc., based in Silicon Valley, and hosts a podcast at MarketDominanceGuys.com.
Chris describes himself as “a little bit unavoidable” on LinkedIn, but just in case here is a link to his profile there: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-beall-7859a4/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
While you might know Chris Beall as the CEO of a very popular, effective, and highly visible sales tech company, originally he is a scientist - a physicist, a mathematician, and a computer scientist. Why does this matter? Because he brings a very thoughtful, precise, and analytical perspective to the world of sales and is very generous about sharing what he’s come up with.
One of the core themes of this episode is the idea that the core challenge in sales is gaining trust - so how do you approach that scientifically? How do you quantify and optimize for that? How do you train for that? What can you do in those first moments of contact to establish trust?
It’s a fantastic episode, I highly encourage you to listen and to follow Chris on LinkedIn and check out his podcast. He is one of the most thoughtful and insightful people talking about sales these days. It was an honor and a pleasure to have him on the podcast as my 50th guest.
ABOUT THE GUEST - ROSS RICH, FOUNDER AND CEO AT ACCORD
From Ross’ LinkedIn profile:
Currently building inAccord.com to move B2B sales from Vendorship -> Partnership 🤗
SF based, Canada raised 🇨🇦
Outside of work, I love to:
- Ski Tahoe, hike Marin, & play/coach soccer
- Explore meditation, yoga & mindfulness
- Adventure through new countries & cultures
Inspiring Reads:
- The Alchemist
- The Book of Joy
- A Short History of Nearly Everything
- Abundance
- The Making of the Atomic Bomb
- Siddhartha
- Creativity Inc.
- Losing My Virginity
- Man’s Search for Meaning
- Napoleon (Andrew Roberts)
You can find Ross on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rossrich/
ABOUT THE EPISODE
Ross Rich and the team at Accord have a vision for what sales is supposed to be and a told to help make that available for everyone who sells, and everyone who buys.
The best sales professionals understand that sales isn’t about ramming a value proposition down someone’s throat, but rather working together with the prospect or customer to co-create a solution that makes sense for everyone. But how do you enable and support that? What kind of salesperson is capable of that?
In this episode, we go into all of that and more around the issue of collaboration and co-creation as a selling model. It’s the way sales should be, the way we can all hope it will be in the future, and the future that Accord is working hard to enable for all of us.
ABOUT THE GUEST - ADAM RUBENSTEIN, CO-FOUNDER & CEO OF TRAQ365
Adam Rubenstein is a serial entrepreneur who has built 3 successful companies. In his current role as CEO and Co-Founder of Traq365, he oversees Sales, Strategy, and Operations. He most recently served as the Co-Founder & COO of MotionPoint Corporation.
Prior to MotionPoint, Mr. Rubenstein co-founded Convenience Products Corporation (“CPC”) to create a market for new technology-based products — prepaid calling cards and prepaid wireless. He conceived and implemented many of the merchandising, marketing, and technical innovations brought to retailers by the prepaid card industry. Convenience Products was purchased by ConQuest Telecommunications.
Mr. Rubenstein’s broad expertise includes conceptualizing and building cost-effective, scalable, rapid production and delivery processes for data management. He holds a bachelor’s degree from The Colorado College and an MBA from The Wharton School of Business.
You can learn more about Traq365 here: https://www.traq365.com/
Reach Adam here: adam@traq365.com
Or find Adam on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamrubensteinceo/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Luddites and skeptics like me are fond of saying that AI is just what we used to call software. In sales tech, there is a lot of truth to that. Many products and services that talk about AI for sales don’t do much more than identify, label, and count things at a pretty basic level. Sure there are pretty charts and cool sharing features, but is mostly just counting.
Adam Rubenstein and his team at Traq365 are looking to change that by analyzing sales calls individually and in aggregate with AI-enhanced with natural language processing and machine learning to help sales teams and leaders truly understand what happens in calls - one or very many - and to glean insights to help with each deal and with all deals at a strategic level.
If this kind of stuff is interesting for you - and it should be - and it is definitely the future that is rapidly approaching, you’ll want to check out this episode.
ABOUT THE GUEST - JOSH SWEENEY, FOUNDER OF FOUNDERSCALE
Josh Sweeney is a seasoned entrepreneur, who’s relentless drive has given him the platform to build big ideas, and even bigger companies. One of his successes, Atcore Systems, was acquired in 2016 by a leading partner in the CRM industry.
Experiencing the impact of various sales and marketing challenges over the years, Josh founded FounderScale. He has made it his mission to help founder-led organizations increase sales. Because of his passion for growth and forward-thinking, he donates his time to the Entrepreneur Organization of Atlanta, guiding and promoting other entrepreneurs through experience sharing and camaraderie. When he’s not driving his business or mingling with business leaders, you can find him in the recording booth, where he has recorded over 100 pieces of educational content about B2B sales and marketing.
Reach out to Josh via email: josh@founderscale.com
Or on the FounderScale website: https://founderscale.com/contact-us/
Or on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sweeneyjosh/
ABOUT THE EPISODE
Ah, CRM - the ubiquitous sales technology so many love to hate and so few have come to love!
According to Josh Sweeney, this is a HUGE missed opportunity, based mostly on the facts that there is no disciplined process behind the CRM, the CRM wasn’t designed to support how the salespeople work, and the CRM has not been deployed as the hub-of-the-sales-org wheel that it can be.
If you don’t use a tool right, don’t blame the tool!
In this episode, Josh shares experiences and perspectives about using CRM right and the power that comes from doing so. Check it out and see if it inspired you to rethink the way you and your team uses this underutilized sales tool.
ABOUT THE GUEST - PAUL LESSER, ENTERPRISE SALES EXECUTIVE AT NECTAR
Paul Lesser is an experienced enterprise software sales professional, selling subscription software to Fortune 1000s companies. Part of his expertise is provisioning enterprise collaboration environments that consist of Microsoft, Cisco, Zoom, Genesys, Avaya, or any other platform. Representing Nectar Services, his approach to sealing sales deals stem from adding value to his prospects and customer relationships. Among the many successful deals he has closed is selling Nectar Software to a global financial firm in a 60-month term commitment at $50,000.00 MRR with the opportunity to grow the MRR to $100,000.00+.
With a customer-centric approach, Paul’s passion is about finding the root of his customer’s problems and moving into the opportunity of providing the solution through the sales process that leads to closure.
You can know more and reach out to Paul Lesser through his LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/paullesser/
ABOUT THE EPISODE
Paul got his start in sales behind a black piece of felt on the counter of a jewelry store a lot of decades ago and he hasn’t stopped selling since. Soon enough though, Paul transitioned to selling B2B and in the last decade or so selling at the enterprise level.
Paul was very deliberate about not going into management - it was the selling and the people that he loved, and that’s where he’s excelled throughout his career.
Paul shares a ton of wisdom in the episode gleaned from his three-plus decades in professional, B2B sales. It’s a great episode from a veteran bag carrying rep - check it out, I think you’ll enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed having the conversation and learning about Paul, his journey, and some of the lessons he’s learned along the way.
ABOUT THE GUEST - ANDREW BUTT, CEO AT ENABLE
From Andrews LinkedIn Profile:
Founder & CEO of Silicon Valley venture-backed SaaS platform. My vision is for intelligent deals to connect every trading relationship to drive mutual success.
My mission is to digitize the deal economy by creating the best product, operational excellence and a unique sustainable high performance culture driving team retention, growth and customer success.
Enable is a Series-A funded SaaS product for companies across 50+ sectors to analyse, negotiate and execute complex trading agreements to drive profitable growth. Much more than rebate management software, Enable is the number 1 solution in construction products distribution, and is rapidly growing in North America. Proud to have two top Silicon Valley VCs as our partners: Menlo Ventures and Sierra Ventures.
Served on the Board of Directors of several other companies and not-for-profits. I have started and grown multiple businesses into profit and positive cash flow, including exit to PE.
- Founded 4 businesses, and demonstrated traction and growth in every case
- Grown revenues every quarter without exception - now a permanent team of 130
- Co-founded and sold business to private equity
- Served on main board of directors for 3 years for Helicopter Club of Great Britain
- Served on main board of directors for 3 years for a $300m business
You can find Andrew on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/awbutt/
And you can learn more about Enable here:
https://enable.com/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Do you know what a Saas startup and a rocket ship have in common? Andrew Butt thinks it’s a lot - and it’s all about escape velocity. Rockets burn most of their fuel just trying to get into space, and from there it’s much less of a push. Not to say that it is easy...
In this episode, Andrew discusses what it takes to lay the foundations in a startup for success - before taking funding, while establishing the foundations for success, and while the company is growing fast. Andrew’s success with Enable and the companies he’s led prior give him huge credibility to address this important topic, it’s a great episode - I think you’ll enjoy it.
ABOUT THE GUEST: COLLIN MITCHELL, CEO OF MONSTER VOIP AND HOST OF THE SALES HUSTLE PODCAST
Collin Mitchell is a serial entrepreneur who is passionate about technology and his mindfulness practice. His first entrepreneurial project was with his wife in their apartment living room which they bootstrapped together to 5 million dollars of revenue within 26 months. Most recently, he has been working on Monster VoIP, a nationwide unified communications provider that gives enterprise features at an SMB price. Personally, Collin is an early riser, consistent meditator, and swimming enthusiast.
Collin is the host of The Sales Hustle Podcast which you can find here:
https://pod.link/saleshustle
Or reach out to Collin on LinkedIn Here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/collin-saleshustle/
ABOUT THE EPISODE
Businesses run on revenue, and in most B2B Companies revenue is driven in large part by sales. In this episode, serial entrepreneur Collin Mitchell shares lessons learned in building and growing successful, proactive, and highly effective outbound sales teams.
ABOUT THE GUEST: ZAFER KARACA, VP at IBM
Zafer Karaca, currently serves as Vice President of the Cloud and Services business in Enterprise & Commercial segments for IBM US. Mr. Karaca is responsible for a segment serving 100,000 IBM clients in North America, driving ~$1.6B business on an annual basis. Mr. Karaca is also managing New Client Acquisition, Red Hat Synergy and other key Growth Initiatives for Enterprise go to market teams in his current capacity.
Prior to that, Mr Karaca was leading Red Hat acquisition for IBM US, where he was responsible for assuring success of a $34B acquisition from a go to market perspective. Delivering innovation and transformation to customers in Americas, based on Open Hybrid Multi Cloud technologies leveraging F2F, Digital Sales and Ecosystem Partners for IBM and Red Hat.
And prior to assuming that role, Mr. Karaca was the Director of Digital Sales Strategy and Transformation Globally in IBM Digital Business Group. He led the strategy and transformation initiatives for a global digital sales force with over 4,000 employees supporting the entire portfolio of IBM products, offerings, and solutions. He was responsible for driving revenue growth and client expansion via multiple Digital channels.
Mr. Karaca held several executive and senior managerial positions in North America, Europe, and Middle East & Africa. Led Services, Systems, Software as well as Cloud businesses. Built several new teams and businesses in key strategic growth areas such as IoT or Public Cloud. Led multiple senior sales and business development teams. Built successful client relationships, strategic ecosystem partnerships and digital sales capabilities.
Mr. Karaca has a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Istanbul Technical University in Turkey and a Master of Science degree in Business and Economics from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. He currently lives in New York.
You can find Zafer on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/karacazafer/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Zafer Karaca has been a part of a lot of growth and a lot of change in his 10-year career at IBM, working his way from Sales Specialist to Vice President in a short period of time. During that time, IBM was going through enormous changes, and Zafer was able to adapt, innovate, and thrive in this dynamic environment helping the company to excel and rapidly climbing the org chart along the way.
In this episode, Zafer talks about some of the challenges to sales organizations as they navigate change, and some of the strategies, concepts, and philosophies he has found most effective for helping teams, individuals and companies succeed through periods of transition.
ABOUT THE GUEST: KENT LEWIS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER AT ANVIL MEDIA
As President and Founder of Anvil Media, Inc., Kent Lewis is responsible for managing operations, marketing and business development towards its purpose of creating meaningful impact for Anvil’s clients, community and its employees through creative problem-solving, making and leveraging connections and educating others. Under his leadership, Anvil has accumulated the following awards and recognition since inception in 2000:
• Inc. 5000: Fastest growing private companies in America
• Oregon Business Magazine: 100 Best Places to Work
• Portland Business Journal: Oregon’s Most Admired Companies
• Portland Business Journal: Fastest Growing Private 100 Companies
• Portland Business Journal: Corporate Philanthropy Awards winner
• Clutch: Top Pay-per-Click and SEO Agency in America
You can learn more about Kent at the Anvil Media web site here:
https://www.anvilmediainc.com/about/team/kent-lewis/
Find him on Twitter here:
https://twitter.com/kentjlewis
Or find him on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kentlewis/
ABOUT THE EPISODE
You don’t have to go far to find people who will give you ALL kinds of advice about how to use LinkedIn to generate business. It’s such an over-discussed concept that I always resisted the idea of having a guest talk about it on this podcast, but then along came Kent. We were having a discussion, and he said the magic words. He said, “when I look at the lead source for new business every month - because we track that - the vast majority of the time it’s from LinkedIn”
So how does he do that? Kent was gracious enough to share his methodology and how that’s worked out for him over the years in this episode. It’s not the standard routine, and it’s probably not for everyone, but if you are serious about generating new business from LinkedIn, Kent is someone who has found a formula that works for him. Give a listen to the episode and see if some or all of his approach might work for you as well.
0:25 - What’s the best sales advice that Kent has ever received?
1:59 - What’s the worst advice that Kent has ever received?
4:00 - David sets up the episode theme about LinkedIn
5:06 - What categories of activity is Kent doing on LinkedIn that is leading him to convertible leads in his pipeline (hint, it’s not just one thing)?
9:35 - Kent explains how he got to 20,000 followers
15:37 - Kent explains how he stays within LinkedIns rules for connecting while maximizing outreach
17:45 - Kent describes his 3-6 month horizon for building trust before asking for a conversation with a potential prospect on LinkedIn
19:50 - Kent talks about how mindset has impacted success in business and how that same mindset impacts his approach to LinkedIn new business development
21:24 - Kent talks about what he does during the 3-6 months between the time he connects with a prospect and makes his first outreach effort
24:20 - Kent articulates the connection between content and pipeline
27:12 - Kent talks about how a focus area for content drives multiple exposures, pipeline, and a service offering in his new business development ecosystem
29:42 - Kent talks about how he incorporates outreach into his LinkedIn strategy
31:04 - Where (other than LinkedIn) is the best place to connect with Kent
ABOUT THE GUEST: JENNIFER HASAN, PRINCIPAL AT PROSPECTING WORKS
From Jenn’s website:
“I’m on a mission to change how we go about setting appointments that benefits everyone involved, even the gatekeeper. I help B2B companies schedule more qualified appointments by building a customized prospecting process that is perfectly executed and accurately measured.”
You can reach Jenn on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferhasan/
Or here at her website:
https://www.prospecting-works.com/
Or just give her a call here:
845-831-2831
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Call reluctance. Just hearing the phrase is like a punch in the gut. If you are a rep and you suffer from it, that’s bad news. If you are a sales leader and your reps suffer from it that’s pretty bad too. It’s a huge problem and it isn’t talked about enough, but in this episode, Jennifer Hasan takes it on front and center and gets into what it is, how big of a problem it is, where it comes from, and most importantly - what you can do to get past it.
0:21 - What’s the best sales advice that Jennifer has ever received - it’s about showing up every day
1:12 - What’s some of the worst advice that Jennifer ever received - that cold calling is dead
1:31 - Jennifer addresses the size and scope of call reluctance among salespeople
5:15 - Jennifer and David discuss the idea about how the fear of cold calling can express itself physically as well as emotionally
6:36 - Jennifer discusses how traditional cold call training can actually make learning cold calling harder for many salespeople
8:42 - Jennifer and David discuss what is at least as important as the words you use when you are engaged in sales communications
11:05 - How cold calling can be made even more intimidating by the environment you are calling from and the degree to which you can be present with a call?
13:17 - How the ever-popular volume and velocity model without a lot of sales coaching and support can be exactly the wrong way to be successful with cold calling and reaching your business objectives?
15:15 - Jennifer talks about how cold calling problems extend to the prospects end of the deal as well
18:08 - Jennifer talks about the importance of not being part of the noise or the bad behaviors so often associated with cold callers
19:35 - What can callers do to try to be more successful when there is a “gatekeeper” sitting in between them and the person they are trying to reach?
21:20 - Jennifer talks about the power of combining voice mails with emails as a way to connect with a person you are trying to reach for the first time
22:16 - What kind of attitude or philosophy or attitude or internal positioning should a cold caller embrace to make themselves as effective as possible when making cold outreach?
23:42 - Jennifer talks about her outbound oriented motivational flip book called “You’ve Got This. I Promise.”
25:47 - Jennifer closes the interview by reminding listeners to challenge their thoughts about cold calling, and to embrace it for the potential it has when you do it properly
27:15 - Where is the best place to reach Jennifer
ABOUT THE GUEST: BOB GRAVELY, CERTIFIED PRACTICE LEADER AT GROWTH 10
Bob started his career in the insurance industry and spent 15 years traveling the world as a reinsurance broker ending as a specialty insurance agency owner. He has also owned and operated 3 companies outside of insurance, served as COO for two, served as CSO for another, and worked as a sales and management consultant for many others.
Bob takes a process and people-first approach to business He believes that successful businesses focus on their people first and processes second knowing that getting those 2 aspects “right” will make the clients journey the best, which is what it takes to set up the win for all involved.
You can find Bob on LinkedIn here:
linkedin.com/in/robertmgravely
Or reach him by email at Bob@growth10.com
And you can learn more about Growth10 here:
https://growth10.com/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Role plays - can’t you just hear the collective groan from your salespeople? We all have. But some people swear by them - as the best way to interview, train, and learn about how to help salespeople improve performance. So what’s with the disconnect?
In this episode, sales and business veteran Bob Gravely unpacks what makes role plays so effective for hiring and sales development, how to do them right, and what mistakes to avoid if you want to get the most out of them.
0:48 - What’s the best sales advice that Bob has ever received
2:20 - What’s some of the worst advice that Bob ever got?
4:40 - David sets up the episode about role plays
5:02 - Bob offers a bit of background about his career and his work at Growth 10
6:40 - Bob talks about the importance of having a hiring process for all roles, especially for sales
6:50 - Bob talks about what he looks for in a role play to help him make a decision about a sales candidate
9:57 - What are some of the “creative” reactions Bob has seen when he asks candidates to do a role play
10:50 - What are some of the best practices that help make role plays effective as a part of the hiring process
12:50 - Is “sell me this pen” a good role play?
13:50 - Should a role play in a hiring interview be about the job you are hiring for or the job the candidate most recently had?
15:32 - What should you look for in a role play beyond how a salesperson handles the sales situation
16:30 - What are some other creative elements that Bob has used in a sales hiring interview
18:48 - With respect to role plays as a sales development tool after a rep is on board, why is there so much resistance to the idea of role plays and how can sales coaches, managers, and leaders get past that?
20:30 - What are some of the other best practices for making role plays an effective part of an ongoing sales development program.
22:00 - How can sales leaders, managers, and coaches become better at leading role plays?
23:40 - What is one of the myths about sales management that Bob would like to debunk
25:51 - Can a manager have credibility as a manager if they have not been one of the best sales leaders?
29:55 - Where is the best place to reach and learn more about Bob
ABOUT THE GUEST: JON SCHRAM, PRESIDENT OF THE PURPLE GUYS
Jon Schram is a husband, father, and entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of The Purple Guys, a Midwest-based information technology support company. The company has grown since 2001 to become the Midwest’s premier IT support company with more than a 96% customer satisfaction rating. Jon and his wife, Jill, have three children and have founded two businesses.
You can find Jon on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/purpleguy/
And find The Purple Guys on the web here:
https://www.purpleguys.com/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
How do you stand out in a noisy world? How do you make sure that your prospects know to call you when your solution is pain-driven, and you never know when that pain will strike? For Jon Schram and The Purple Guys it’s all about staying top of mind, and being purple doesn’t hurt - in fact, it can help a lot!
In this episode, Jon talks about how not only being creative but also being disciplined and consistent with your offering and your message goes a long way to making sure that the phone keeps ringing and your business keeps growing. It’s a great episode - you should check it out!
0:40 - What’s the best sales advice that Jon ever received? It’s about curiosity and authenticity
1:32 - What’s some of the worst sales advice that Jon has ever received? It’s about alphabet soup
2:52 - David sets up the theme of the episode
3:30 - Jon gives some background on The Purple Guys
4:39 - Jon talks about how getting attention is particularly challenging in the outsourced IT support space and why creating opportunities to demonstrate value is an important part of sustaining client relationships
6:38 - How to focus and polish messaging across a wide range of departments so that prospects and clients get a consistent message and experience
10:12 - Jon talks about the importance of being disciplined about what you don’t do
13:46 - Does drawing a hard line about what you don’t do and articulating that to the market instill confidence in a prospect?
14:49 - Where did the name “The Purple Guys” come from?
16:30 - How has the brand of The Purple Guys helped to get attention and initiate new business conversations?
20:37 - What is Jon reading right now?
23:30 - Where is the best place to reach Jon and The Purple Guys
ABOUT THE GUEST: SEAN CAMPBELL, CEO OF CASCADE INSIGHTS
From Sean’s LinkedIn Profile:
*“I've been mentoring and educating business professionals for over 20 years. Whether it's the Fortune 50, unique startups, business school students, or the team at Cascade, I've greatly enjoyed any opportunity I've been given to train, educate, or mentor.
I've also been a professional services firm owner for more than 20 years. My work has spanned consulting engagements with tech giants and startups you’ve heard of, the sale of my first company, and the growth of delivery, sales, marketing, and operational practices inside professional services firms.
To learn more about what I'm up to today, check out: www.cascadeinsights.com*”
You can also find Sean on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/seancampbell/
Or reach him by email here: sean@cascadeinsights.com
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Sean and I got into a discussion before recording this episode to see what we should address on the episode. We pretty quickly homed in on sales enablement - and why a concept with such promise is such a disaster in practice in so many cases.
Sean does a ton of work around this in his practice, and has some solid ideas about why it’s a problem - but more importantly, what to do to move it back in a better direction. Check it out - a very solid episode!
0:39 - What is the best piece of sales advice that Sean has ever received - ABC done right
4:34 - What’s the worst advice about sales that Sean has ever heard?
7:26 - David and Sean start to approach the idea that sales enablement is a great concept that is all too often poorly executed within a sales organization
11:32 - The core problem with sales enablement and marketing communications problems - sales doesn’t have a seat at the table
13:30 - Why does it often go bad even when sales does get a seat at the table and how can sales turn that around by recalibrating the stories they tell to the rest of the company about what happens during customer engagement
18:47 - How sellers can better impact change based on what they see on the front lines by being more patient and deliberate about how the information is delivered to senior management and other departments
21:07 - Sean explains what he means by “the age of narrow” and the concept of “narrowing the aperture” and how that ties into the quest for more effective sales enablement
26:55 - Why a failure to “narrow the aperture” makes value propositions, mission statements, and other forms of client-facing communications weak and ineffective
28:52 - If someone is frustrated with sales enablement at their company, what’s the best way to start turning that around?
31:04 - Where is the best place to find Sean
ABOUT THE GUEST: ANDREW JELLISON, DIRECTOR OF SALES AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AT VOTACALL
Andrew joined Votacall in 2003 and is the Co-Director of Sales, tasked with leading the company’s revenue strategy and growth. He is responsible for the sales teams day-to-day operations and works with partners and clients alike to introduce the Votacall Customer Experience. Andrew resides in Marblehead, Massachusetts with his wife and three daughters. Outside of work, you can find him watching his kids play sports or attempting to play golf.
You can find and reach out to Andrew on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjellison/
ABOUT THE EPISODE
Andrew Jellison is a disciplined individual contributor and an equally disciplined sales coach, manager, and leader. Balancing those roles can be a huge challenge for many and in this episode Andrew shares some of his experiences, practices, and observations about what has worked for him when navigating his way to success while balancing the many hats he has to wear.
0:40 - What is the best sales advice that Andrew has ever received?
3:10 - What is some of the worst sales advice Andrew has ever heard?
5:56 - David sets up the episode - insights from a bag carrying, sales leader, and admitted sales process geek.
6:35 - Andrew offers some background about Votacall and his role to give some context for the call
8:32 - How do the roles Andrew iterates between - individual contributor and sales leader - complement each other?
10:17 - How do you balance the instinctive pull of your own sales opportunities with the responsibility to support the other members of the team who are relying on you?
13:15 - David and Andrew talk about the ideas of Roles and Goals and Big Rocks from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and Andrew talks about how he incorporates those ideas into his daily sales and sales management routine
16:09 - What drives Andrew more - being an effective coach, an effective leader, or an effective individual contributor?
17:17 - How does Andrew balance his natural competitive desire do to more and more with the need to focus on an increasing leadership footprint in his work - and what won’t he give up as all of that evolves?
18:29 - Does a sales leader need to sell in order to have credibility with their direct reports?
19:48 - If other sales leaders are trying to be more effective in finding a good balance between selling, managing, coaching, and leading - where should they start?
22:25 - What is one myth about sales management that Andrew would like to debunk?
25:33 - Where to find and connect with Andrew
ABOUT THE GUEST: JEREMY BURKE, DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AT DRYRUN
Jeremy Burke is the Director of Business Development at Dryrun. He excels at developing new market opportunities, communities and teams in the business world and comes to Dryrun after a decade with Intuit Canada, makers of QuickBooks. Jeremy has a passion for supporting small businesses, consulting with over 35K small businesses across Canada and training over 3K accountants and bookkeepers on a vast assortment of business applications, sales, marketing and strategic initiatives. Jeremy strongly believes educating the business owner to overcome the world’s biggest business pandemic “poor cash flow management” is the key to unlocking a wonderful world economy and success in business not only for owners but the employees and the families they support.
Reach out to Jeremy on LinkedIn at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremydburke/
Learn more about Dryrun here:
https://dryrun.com/
Find Ian Howell and learn about Rocket Reach here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rocketdevelopment/
ABOUT THE EPISODE
Jeremy Burke has some very strong ideas about how to do sales the right way - and it’s all about his way - and he’s been very successful by being disciplined and consistent in his approach. Jeremy suggested the title for this episode - Sales Died in 1997 - because that’s when the internet became widely available and that’s when salespeople were no longer the keepers of information about the products and services they sold. From there, sales had to change, and Jeremy does a great job of articulating how he has adapted his personal approach, and how that can and should apply to sales efforts across the board.
0:50 - What’s the best piece of sales advice that Jeremy has ever received - that sales is the transfer of enthusiasm
2:22 - What’s the worst piece of advice that Jeremy ever received? It starts with ABC
3:17 - Jeremy discusses the theme of the episode - what it means that sales died in 1997
10:25 - If “sales died in 1997” means that salespeople shouldn’t barf products, features, and benefits because the internet provides that, why do so many sales organizations have their salespeople still follow that model?
11:20 - Jeremy explains what he calls “The Client Decision Cycle”
17:35 - How can you get a buyer to go through a process like this when all the client wants is a demo?
20:10 - How to break out of “The Matrix” when all the client wanted was a demo and a few words about you and your offering to put into a box in a table, spreadsheet or chart?
21:48 - How can you beak out of salespeople’s instinctive, reactive nature with respect to requests for demos, pricing, and other customer requests when they come before a proper discovery process?
26:28 - How has Jeremy’s systematic approach to sales impacted his mindset?
29:01 - Jeremy talks about a sales experience with a microwave and a prospect that highlights his mindset towards sales - and it’s a good story
31:42 - Where is the best place to reach Jeremy
ABOUT THE GUEST: STEPHANIE COX, VP OF SALES & MARKETING at LUMAVATE
From Stephanie’s LinkedIn Profile:
"I’m a recovering perfectionist who believes you should “ship” new initiatives as fast as possible and constantly iterate on them based on the data. Speed > Perfection.
I have an endless amount of crazy ideas and I enjoy challenging what’s possible. Ask anyone who has ever worked with me.
I use the Oxford comma, love Coke, and hate crappy design. I speak candidly, have exceptionally high standards, and gravitate towards people who get sh*t done.
I have more than 15+ years of marketing and sales experience in B2B, B2C, and B2B2C. I’ve pretty much done about everything in my career: launched companies, brands, new products, geographic expansion, and more. I’ve driven phenomenal growth, spoke at conferences around the world, led incredible teams, and I’m just getting started.”
How to find Stephanie:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniecox/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephaniecox04
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
This episode was supposed to be about sales & marketing alignment, breaking down silos, and unifying everything in a company that touches the customer under one unified vision. Turns out that it was all of that AND a lot more.
In this episode, Stephanie walks us through the progression she made at Lumavate from VP of Marketing to the head of everything that touches the customer including sales, product, and service. From there we went pretty deep into sales management philosophy done right, but then we veered into something surprising and excellent: Leadership. Initiative. What it takes to grow and thrive in uncertainty by taking the lead and never looking back. It’s a fantastic episode. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
0:44 - What’s the best piece of sales advice that Stephanie has ever heard?
2:00 - How did Stephanie address the “you never carried a bag” objection as a sales leader who came from a marketing background?
4:20 - Stephanie comments about how the world has changed in these last few years and why that has shifted the idea of how sales and marketing and other customer-facing departments should align internally to address the full customer experience
6:47 - Stephanie gives some background on Lumavate to give context to the conversation
8:34 - Stephanie describes the more traditional silo oriented environment she found at Lumavate when she started in 2017, how it made sense at the time, and how a different way to think about leadership organization and alignment started to emerge
15:45 - Stephanie talks about how sales is about relationships, how the way that each rep gets there in terms of process and activity isn’t as important as whether or not they are getting results, and how good sales leadership is about helping reps make more money
18:30 - It’s important to get obstacles out of the way for those who are performing, but what do you do with everyone else?
24:24 - If there is a leadership movement to a sole owner of the customer experience, why is it that Stephanie got there from marketing while most others who evolve into the role seem to come from somewhere else in the organization
29:38 - How to power into leadership - fix the problems you see, especially if they are outside of your direct area of influence - and just do the work you can see that needs to be done until someone tells you to knock it off
31:45 - What is one thing that Stephanie wishes she knew at the start of her career that she learned along the way
33:58 - Where to reach Stephanie
ABOUT THE GUEST - JUSTIN GRAY, CEO AT LEADMD
Justin is a serial entrepreneur serving currently as the CEO and founder of LeadMD, the world’s largest marketing automation consultancy having implemented over half of the Marketo user base. Justin has made a career of launching successful companies and scaling them to success. In addition to LeadMD, Justin is also the Co-Founder of PaidSuite, a SaaS payment technology provider, and Greyson Organics, an organic farm in rural Missouri he co-owns and operates with his father.
Reach Justin directly by email at jgray@leadmd.com
On LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/leadmd/
On Twitter at https://twitter.com/jgraymatter
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Justin has been involved in a lot of successful business ventures - on the front lines, as a leader, and as an investor - just see his bio above to get a small taste! So we decided that in this episode, we’d talk about the difference between both people and organizations in a sales and business context who take action and those who prefer to sit around talking and thinking about it. Justin has a lot to offer on the topic, I think you’ll enjoy this episode!
0:40 - What’s the best piece of sales advice that Justin ever received - it’s about the desire to help
2:44 - What’s some of the worst sales advice that Justin has ever heard? That sales is a numbers game - there is more to it than that
4:58 - David sets up the episode and frames the conversation around the DIS-inclination to action
7:48 - Justin articulates the difference between a numbers orientation and a relationship orientation and why the disinclination towards a relationship orientation is both hard to measure and in some ways scary, even though it’s critical to real long-term success
9:43 - Justin articulates a similar principle around an instance of content creation that illustrates the psychological element of a disinclination to take the necessary actions that lead to success
11:53 - How do you develop an environment where leaders feel safe to create a level of autonomy that will support real and authentic execution from the front lines?
14:00 - Why startups struggle with building sales organizations that are not constrained by rigidity and limitations
17:46 - What is it that makes a salesperson successful?
20:10 - How do you bake a value and relationship orientation into a sales organization?
21:30 - Where does personality fit in as criteria for sales success?
22:28 - How does environment impact the potential for sales success?
23:05 - What is something that Justin learned along the way that he wished he knew at the start of his career?
24:45 - Where can people find and connect with Justin?
ABOUT THE GUEST: OLLIE SHARPE, VP OF REVENUE, EMEA AT SALESLOFT
Ollie Sharpe has an extensive leadership background in the technology space. He is known for developing high-performing sales teams with a strong focus on fostering talent.
Ollie is currently the VP of Revenue, EMEA at SalesLoft, following a tenure leading successful teams at LinkedIn in the UK. Ollie is passionate about the art and science of sales, delivering exceptional customer experiences, and shaping culture in hyper-growth businesses.
Learn more about and reach out to Ollie on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/olliesharpe/
ABOUT THE EPISODE
After 20 years in and around the recruiting space in a sales context, Ollie has learned a lot about what works for him when developing role specifications, screening, interviewing, hiring, onboarding and, leading sales teams (hint, there is some happiness mixed in there). If you hire and manage sales teams, this will be an actionable and valuable interview for you to check out!
0:40 - What is the single best piece of sales advice that Ollie has ever received - it’s about being a business advisor
3:30 - David sets up the episode which will focus on recruiting salespeople and sales culture
4:08 - At a high level, how does Ollie approach recruiting salespeople
7:08 - The importance of going deep on the role specification for a future sales hire and some key elements that should be considered
9:46 - The difference between selling “Why” and “Why me” and the value of simplifying the message to get that across
11:43 - What does Ollie look for during the interview process and how does he learn what he needs to as the interview goes a long - a great piece of advice about testing for coachability
14:05 - Ollie describes how he balances attitude and discernment during an interview
15:23 - Where does Ollie weigh in on the idea that Saas experience is required for selling Saas
17:26 - How role specification maps to specific sales roles and understanding how your specifications help to allow the flexibility to diverge from the list when you find a good candidate that might not be a complete match to the role ICP
18:23 - How the interview process is a funnel much like the sales process is a funnel
20:04 - Once you have someone on the team, how do you ensure that they will be successful? It’s about Ollie’s role as a “Happiness Officer”
22:50 - Ollie explains what he means by “Employer Brand” and how that helps recruit great salespeople and build great teams
25:24 - Where has Ollie found success projecting the Employer Brand that helps him succeed in recruiting great new team members
27:48 - What is Ollie reading right now?
28:50 - Where is the best place to reach out to Ollie?
ABOUT THE GUEST - JACOB GEBREWOLD, ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE AT KLUE
Jacob Gebrewold's claim to fame is that LinkedIn's CEO shared his update rap about getting his job as an AE @ Klue. If you asked him for the Coles Notes of his story, he'd tell you "Two Ethiopian refugees raised a rapping competitive debater who went into tech sales.”
For a story of how an unconventional background translated into a tech sales career, how a creative millennial leverages 2020-era prospecting strategy, and one of the craziest interview stories you've heard in a long time, tune into David's chat with Jacob.
Here are some links about the hiring process that Jacob orchestrated:
The LinkedIn post
A map of the process on Google Docs
Here is where to find Jacob on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobgebrewold/
ABOUT THE EPISODE
Finding a sales job in the era of Covid is rough. Full stop. Lots of salespeople looking, fewer companies hiring. So how do you stand out?
We don’t have a lot of individual contributors here on The Driving B2B Sales Revenue Podcast, but Jacob Gebrewold put on a masterclass in modern sales technique when pursuing his new AE job at Klue, and it was so epic that it had to be shared here.
Enjoy the episode and hear this sharp and articulate young sales professional map out what he did, how he did it, and the lessons that can be gleaned for sellers everywhere in this new decade in front of us all.
0:39 - What is the best piece of sales advice that Jacob has ever received - it’s about what to do after a sales call
1:32 - What’s the worst piece of sales advice that you ever received - it’s about what a salesperson should and shouldn’t care about
4:08 - David introduces the episode theme - Jacob’s hyper-creative approach to the pursuit and acquisition of his newly minted AE role at Klue
4:49 - Jacob explains what he means by “A Zombie Hire” and how he brought himself back to life in the hiring process
6:17 - How Jacob added some special elements into the hiring process that helped to differentiate him from other applicants and also to overcome some of the differences between the job spec as written and his relevant work experience
7:55 - How Jacobs approach to getting hired is a reflection of not only very modern and creative best practices in getting hired but also sales - and how that’s why it makes so much sense for both
10:38 - How differentiation in sales and hiring needs to go beyond generalizations at the ICP or job description level and into hyper-specific characterizations about the person or solution in front of you right now
12:24 - How the process of getting hired took an abnormally long time because of the Covid interruption and how Jacob remained visible and relevant during that time
14:10 - How did Jacob keep the opportunity warm without being obnoxious
16:02 - Did Jacob have a grand strategy for this creative approach to getting hired or was he just making this up as he went along?
18:35 - The power of showing rather than telling about sales skills in a sales interview
22:52 - The importance of guiding your prospect to say what it is that they need to hear in order to advance your cause - whether it’s a sale or a job interview
25:55 - The value of not worrying about the close, but rather about what leads to the close
27:52 - Where to find documentation of the entire getting hired process that Jacob posted on the web (see above for the links)
28:46 - What are some of the things that Jacob is struggling with right now?
31:53 - Where can
ABOUT THE GUEST - WARREN ZENNA, FOUNDER OF THE CRO COLLECTIVE
Warren Zenna has 20+ years of experience in the B2B sales and marketing industry as a top B2B seller, sales leader, and Executive PL buyer of B2B services.
He recently founded The CRO Collective as a resource to help ensure that CROs succeed - and that the CEOs who appoint them to do so in a way that maximizes success and mitigates the enormous risks.
Find out more about The CRO Collective on the web at www.TheCROCollective.com
Or on Warren’s LinkedIn page here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/warrenz/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
The CRO (Chief Revenue Officer) role is relatively new. It first appeared about 8 years ago according to Warren Zenna, and has yet to be widely understood, consistently deployed, and ultimately maximized in most sales organizations. Is the CRO just a glorified VP of Sales (that’s going to be a problem), is it someone who works with the CMO to coordinate sales and marketing (nope) - so what is it?
In this episode, Warren answers some key questions about what a CRO is and isn’t, what it can be, and how to set up the role for success from multiple perspectives including that of the CRO, the CEO, and the organization as a whole.
0:40 - What is the single best piece of sales advice that Warren has ever received. It’s about shutting up
3:44 - What is some of the worst sales advice that Warren has ever received - it’s about finding your own style
5:26 - David points out that Warren is the first service provider guest on the podcast, and Warren talks a bit about his company, The CRO collective to offer some context for the episode
7:40 - Why did the CRO role emerge and what was missing or what developed that required it to do so
11:03 - What is the difference between a classically defined VP of Sales or VP of Sales & Marketing and a CRO as the role should be deployed
15:00 - What are some of the challenges that a new CRO can expect when coming into an organization that hasn’t had one in the past
19:35 - Can a CRO and a CMO coexist?
22:26 - What does it mean to be a “CRO ready” organization?
26:15 - How should someone who thinks they might want to become a CRO at some time in the future prepare themselves for that, and specifically to recognize if it is a role they really want
28:03 - Where can people find out more about Warren and The CRO Collective
ABOUT THE GUEST - BRIAN SEXTON, HOST OF THE INTENTIONAL ENCOURAGER PODCAST
Brian Sexton is a seasoned veteran Sales, Sales Management, Territory Building and Customer Engagement Specialist of 25 years across four different industries. In his career, Brian has won numerous and has been nominated for Sales awards for Overall Territory Growth, Gross Profit achievement, Largest Customer gained and has set Sales records in his previous companies still unmatched.
Brian has built and managed Sales Territories from $2 to $25 Million in Annual Revenue and is recognized as a People-first leader. In his spare time, Brian is the husband of 24 years to wife, Tonya and is the father of a son, Bryce, a Sophomore at Marshall University. Brian is a minister, singer, musician, Guest-host and broadcaster for iHeart Media in Huntington, WV as well as being the “Voice of the Calvary Baptist Academy Patriots”.
In addition, Brian is the host of The Intentional Encourager Podcast, released weekly and is the author of the book, “People Buy From People” releasing December 2020.
Brian and his family reside in Barboursville, West Virginia.
Reach Brian on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/briansextonmba/
Or on Twitter here: @briansexton13 or @intentionalenc1
Or find out more about his Intentional Encourager Podcast on Facebook here:
https://www.facebook.com/Brian.TheIntentionalEncouragerPodcast/videos/1233395143673220
And finally, find The Intentional Encourage Podcast here:
https://intentionalencouragerpodcast.podbean.com/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Brian Sexton describes himself as a “People First Leader” and if you spend any time with him at all you will soon realize why - and that it is the real deal. In this episode, Brian talks about the importance of leading with encouragement in all walks of life, how his own set of experiences has led him to this foundational perspective, and how that shapes his current work and his vision of the future of sales and beyond.
1:30 - What is the best sales advice that Brian has ever received? It’s about people buying from people
3:16 - What is the worst sales advice that Brian has ever received?
7:34 - Brian explains what he means when he describes himself as a “People First” Leader
9:10 - Brian explains why he has focused his personal brand around the idea of Intentional Encouragement
15:03 - Brian chimes in on the idea that sales is broken
17:12 - Brian talks about the value of consistency in sales
18:50 - How can sellers work with a slow and steady, more consistent approach to sales and selling in an environment that is often driven by a volume and velocity sales model?
23:26 - How can a salesperson connect at a personal level in an age when social selling is becoming more and more prevalent?
25:39 - How to reach out to Brian
ABOUT THE GUEST - HAMP HAMPTON, CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER AT CADALYS
From Hamp’s LinkedIn Profile:
C-Level Sales Pro, experienced Player/Coach sales manager with extensive experience building new business units, managing pipeline growth and sales processes, skilled at C-suite negotiations and long sales cycle management; scaling current revenue centers to exceed quotas, hiring, training & managing sales teams while also finding new enhanced revenue opportunities. Extensive expertise in business strategy and Go To Market planning for startups and growth stage companies. Advanced knowledge of SalesForce/CRM.
Find Hamp on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamphampton3/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
One of the first things that struck me about Hamp was the recommendations he has on his LinkedIn profile. Full of high praise from direct reports about his leadership style, his dedication to his craft, and his commitment to those who work with him.
Hamp describes himself as a leader who leads from a set of principles, and he has had fantastic results from this approach. In this episode, Hamp shares many of these principles of excellent sales leadership. I highly recommend this one!
0:20 - What’s the best sales advice that Hamp has ever received - it’s about not asking for the order
1:50 - What’s the worst advice the Hamp has ever received - its about asking questions
5:27 - David offers some context for the conversation
7:06 - Hamp starts laying out some leadership principles that he believes should be “etched in granite” by talking about the importance of never asking someone to do something you are not willing to do yourself and the three components behind that core principle
9:30 - Hamp talks about the importance of listening and cooperative communication as core sales and sales leadership principles
11:59 - Does a lack of adherence to a set of core principles contribute to the short shelf life of some senior sales executives?
16:19 - What has Hamp found that works best when trying to create a solid sales culture
19:30 - How does a sales leader who is having trouble finding their footing take steps in the direction of a more principled and effective approach to leadership
24:00 - Hamp talks about a former direct report and his progression from a “reluctant rep” to a solid, highly effective, and well-rounded sales contributor and leader
29:20 - How to find and reach out to Hamp
ABOUT THE GUEST: ROSS NIBUR, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AT TOAST
In Ross’ own words:
I love solving the puzzles of scaling businesses and empowering front-line players to execute their jobs more easily. My idiosyncratic perspective is born from my entrepreneurial journey from prep cook to a sales rep, and now, operations leader at a Forbes Top 10 Cloud Company. My secret technique is the ability to scale the mix of data, process, and technology a modern team has to engage with to execute the core tasks that make up their day-to-day lives of their front line teams while generating the kinds of reporting that power executive leadership.
Speaker at Dreamforce and OpsStars 2019 on Revenue Operations and Cross-Functional Alignment
Panelist at Dreamforce 2018 on the impact of technology on Sales Leadership
2018 Top 10 Sales Development Leads in the World
2018 Top 100 Sales Coaches to Watch
Find Ross on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rossnibur/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Ross has been with Toast for four years and has had a fast rise up the org chart as Toast has gone through a very rapid expansion in terms of revenue, headcount, and market share. In this episode, Ross talks about how he has grown from a tactical execution-oriented front line sales manager into a more strategic sales leader - and how others can adopt the kinds of perspectives that will help them succeed in that kind of rise and those kinds of roles as well.
0:43 - What’s the best sales advice that Ross has ever received? It’s about curiosity
3:45 - What’s the worst sales advice that Ross has ever received? It’s about lying
6:45 - Some background from Ross, his current role and company, and the rapid rise of Toast for context
8:43 - Ross talks about what he looks for in a person who is new to management as a sign that they might be cut out for a more senior sales management role
11:12 - How does a sales manager grow beyond a tactical orientation and into a more strategic perspective in their work
13:36 - How do you address the discomfort of growing from a tactical role to a more strategic orientation and more importantly, how do you navigate the path from tactical to more strategic
17:22 - How following the metrics and/or the processes in your own organization and applying curiosity to how your business works can help you map an organization, understand your business, and excel
19:51 - How embracing and refining the way that you think about business issues is a critical step in coming to understand your business strategically. Ross brings it home with an analogy about making a hamburger
21:28 - What is leadership’s role in helping a rising sales manager navigate their transition from current to future roles. Check out how Ross makes a “yes and no” answer work!
26:40 - Ross talks about the importance of an operations perspective for sales management success. It’s not just about customers and numbers, but how does your organization work and deliver for customers - internal and otherwise
31:30 - Where to reach and learn more about Ross
ABOUT THE GUEST: ALLISON METCALFE, CRO AT DEMANDBASE
Allison Metcalfe is the Chief Revenue Officer for Demandbase. In her role, Metcalfe is responsible for leading Demandbase’s revenue operations.
Metcalfe joins Demandbase after a successful tenure at LiveRamp where she was responsible for building successful business lines and high-performing teams, including LiveRamp TV, the company’s multi-million dollar TV advertising division. Earlier in her career, Metcalfe was a Director of Customer Success at Demandbase. Furthermore, Metcalfe has held customer success roles at Salesforce (Data.com) and Equilar.
Metcalfe holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Sociology from the University of St. Thomas in St.Paul, Minnesota.
Find Allison on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonmetcalfe/
Or check out her cat videos on Twitter here"
https://twitter.com/allisonmetcalfe
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Allison steps into this episode fresh into a new role as CRO at Demandbase, a company that is having great success but is looking to take it to the next level. Allison was brought on as CRO to not only engineer massive growth, but growth from an integrated, silo-free organization focused on the customer experience. Her background in Customer Success is unique to a CRO role and could be just the perspective needed to reach these lofty goals. Allison is sharp, intense, and articulate, and in this episode, she elaborates on the philosophies, strategies, and tactics it will take to reach her goals and the goals of Demandbase from this new role.
0:40 - Allison talks about the pivotal moment that Demandbase is facing and where her new role as CRO, several strategic acquisitions and internal shifts, and the sales organization in general fits into that
3:55 - Allison talks about how her background in Customer Success impacts her perspective as a CRO, and why it matters - especially in a customer-centric organization
5:20 - What are some of the points of friction that an organization might experience when moving to a more integrated and silo free approach to customer success and how can they be mitigated?
7:30 - When a company is transitioning to a more customer-centric organization, how do you deal with the person-by-person issue of “that’s not how we do that here”?
10:30 - When moving towards a more customer-centric organization, do you need to hire differently and what do you need to look for in contrast with a more traditional sales organization?
13:58 - Is there something about the philosophy and methodology of sales itself that has to change when transitioning to a more customer-centric organization?
15:13 - What does Allison hope to be celebrating after a year on the job
15:55 - What are some of the resources that have helped Allison grow in her career along the way?
18:45 - How can people find and connect with Allison
ABOUT THE GUEST: DEJUAN BROWN, SR. DIRECTOR, GLOBAL SALES AT SEISMIC
In his own words...
“Since I started waiting tables in the ‘90s, I've always had a passion for people and service. That passion has translated, decades later, most naturally into sales. I've had significant success as an individual contributor, and as a sales leader, and still believe that sales is a human contact sport.”
Find DeJuan on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dejuanbrown/
Or on Twitter here:
https://twitter.com/StratusNow
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
DeJuan took a step in his career that is not something everyone wants to talk about - a step from a VP of Sales role back to an individual contributor, but what makes his story and this episode great is how he articulates the deliberate reasons for doing so, and the core philosophy that drives his sales journey and gives context and meaning to this recent move and all that he has learned along the way.
1:00 - What is the best sales advice that DeJuan has ever received?
2:05 - What is some of the worst advice DeJuan has ever received?
3:54 - If traditional objection handling approaches suck, what’s a better way to handle objections?
7:30 - David sets up the episode around DeJuan’s unique career path
8:19 - DeJuan gives some background about his career path to give context for the rest of the conversation
11:25 - DeJuan talks about how your career is like playing chess - and how the board and the game looks different as you grow as a player
12:56 - What did DeJuan learn as a sales leader that makes him better now as an individual contributor
14:55 - How does DeJuan balance the things he loves about sales leadership and the things he loves about being an individual contributor from the IC role
18:10 - David and DeJuan talk about the discomfort of selling when you don’t have confidence that your company can fully deliver for your customer
22:35 - What does DeJuan think salespeople can do and/or look for to make sure they find a great customer-focused organization when looking for a new role
26:15 - DeJuan talks about his sales philosophy in general and how it was influenced by his love of Hip Hop
29:55 - Where to find DeJuan, learn more about him and enjoy his content (or get his Hip Hop playlist)
ABOUT THE GUEST: STEVEN ANTONACCI, SENIOR TEAM LEAD AT SMITH AND ASSOCIATES
From Steve’s LinkedIn profile:
“In my role as Team Lead, I serve the team as mentor, teacher, and sales leader. My goal is to develop and maintain effective, mutually satisfying relationships and to bring my clients to the highest level of fulfillment by providing responsive service and addressing the full spectrum of their supply chain challenges. I do this through needs analysis, process review/improvements and establishing key cost saving programs.”
Find Steve on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-antonacci-0a733266/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Steve is a unique seller because he is 100% focused on a service attitude and because he has a partnership and leadership first perspective that has served him, his clients, and his self-created partner network very well even through the craziness of Covid. In this episode, Steve talks about what it means to walk the walk of a trusted advisor and how to sell from a service perspective. Way more than lip service here - this is the real deal at a very tactical and practical level!
0:45 - What is the best piece of sales advice that Steve has ever received?
3:48 - What’s some of the worst sales advice Steve ever heard (it includes spaghetti)
7:03 - David sets the context for the episode
8:12 - Steve discuses his background at Smith & Associates to set the context for the conversation
10:56 - Steve speaks more specifically about Smith & Associates and how they provide value
13:10 - Steve talks about prospecting in the time of Covid
17:35 - What are some of the unique challenges Steve is seeing in the marketplace among companies that are doing relatively well in this environment - those who are still selling and buying right now?
20:45 - How does Steve suggest that sellers overcome the uncertainty that most of us are feeling in the market right now?
22:35 - Does the way that a person expresses discipline in their free time correlate to the kind of discipline a person needs to succeed in sales and business?
26:19 - What are some of the resources that have helped Steve to sustain the momentum he demonstrates in his personal and business life?
28:11 - Where can you find and/or learn more about Steve
ABOUT THE GUEST - KEVIN MULRANE, VP MID-MARKET SALES AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE AT GLOBAL WEB INDEX
Kevin Mulrane has 15 years of sales experience specializing in building and scaling Saas revenue organizations. Kevin's expertise is with early-stage technology startups scaling from zero to $50+ million in revenue. Kevin is currently the Vice President of Mid-Market Sales Customer Experience at GlobalWebIndex. Kevin has had held key revenue leadership roles at Madison Logic, AOL, and Feedvisor. Outside of building powerhouse sales organizations, Kevin enjoys spending time with his wife, two boys, Crossfit, and eating pizza and drinking wine on Friday nights.
Find Kevin on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinmulrane/
Find Kevin’s Podcast “Addicted to Growth” here:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/addicted-to-growth/
ABOUT THE EPISODE
The idea for this episode started with a LinkedIn post by David about hiring salespeople and the frustrations that surround it. Kevin commented, the conversation continued in messages and then in a phone call, and Kevin has such a deep and innovative perspective on hiring that we just had to do an episode around it.
While most sales leaders think about how to hire in terms of ads, resume screens, and interviews, Kevin starts well before then by asking if it is the right time to hire, if the company is prepared to support new salespeople, and how they can make sure the new people win alongside the existing team.
Kevin shares some solid ideas and insights around all of that and more. It’s a great episode - enjoy!
0:45 - What’s the single best piece of sales advice that Kevin has ever received?
3:42 - What’s the worst advice about sales that Kevin has ever heard or received?
5:09 - David sets up the topic for the show - frustrations around hiring for sales roles
05:46 - Kevin starts his consideration for hiring into sales roles in a unique place - when to hire - and here he starts to unpack why that’s important
7:37 - What kinds of metrics should a company look at before considering whether or not it’s the right time to add more salespeople to the team?
9:58 - How hiring at the wrong time or for the wrong reasons has a negative impact on team culture
11:12 - What are some of the other big pieces that a sales org should have in place before deciding to add new salespeople to the team?
13:05 - Most companies don’t have the kind of well-established ecosystem Kevin describes to hire into, so what’s the big deal? What’s the negative impact of hiring when the company they are hired into doesn’t have their duck in a row?
16:07 - Kevin explains the idea that “a good marketing team is actually a really well-trained sales team” and the power and impact of a first impression with prospects in the market
16:49 - Is there a connection between bad sales hiring practices and the short shelf life of the average VP of Sales?
19:18 - How organizations who are hoping for a sales miracle within an siloed environment can start to take a more integrated approach to customer success from multiple departments?
20:54 - The future of successful sales organizations is bigger than the future of successful sales organizations
23:11 - What advice would Kevin offer to someone who is in sales now and who might be considering a move into sales management
26:08 - Where is the best place to find Kevin and his content
ABOUT THE GUEST - RAKHI VORIA, DIRECTOR, IBM GLOBAL DIGITAL SALES DEVELOPMENT
As the Director of IBM Global Digital Sales Development, Rakhi Voria manages a team that is responsible for the strategy, implementation, and revenue of the Digital Sales Development (DSD) function globally. Within the DSD sales force, there are ~350 Digital Development Representatives and Business Development Representatives responsible for driving client engagement, deal progression, and closure of select deals. Rakhi previously worked at Microsoft and most recently served as the Chief of Staff to the Corporate Vice President of WW Inside Sales, where she played a key role in building a new digital sales force for Microsoft, growing the team to 2,000 digital sellers globally and the business to over $5B in under 3 years.
Rakhi has a strong passion for advancing women in sales and millennials in business and regularly shares her thoughts on these topics by speaking at conferences and writing publications in Forbes as a member of the Forbes Business Development Council. She currently serves as Executive Co-Chair of Women@IBM NYC, which is focused on attracting, retaining, and advancing women.
Rakhi has been featured in Geekwire, The Seattle Times, Career Contessa, and other publications. She was named a Top Sales Woman to Watch in 2019 and a Top Woman in Sales Keynote Speaker in 2020. She earned her M.Sc. from the University of Oxford and her B.A. from Colorado College. Rakhi is based in New York City.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rakhivoria/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rakhivoria
Forbes articles: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/people/rakhivoria/#48e2218175a1
Women in sales documentary feature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHAnPbQJSHQ
ABOUT THE EPISODE
In this episode, Rakhi and David focus their conversation on hiring salespeople and issues around women in sales.
0:35 - What is the best piece of sales advice that Rakhi ever received?
3:25 - What’s the worst piece of advice that Rakhi ever heard?
6:00 - Rakhi shares some thoughts about why hiring salespeople is different from other kinds of hires and why a generic approach to hiring salespeople isn’t the best approach.
8:50 - How can you identify the best potential salespeople, specifically those who have the grit it takes to succeed in modern sales roles?
10:40 - How can you identify whether a prospective candidate for a sales role CAN sell and WILL sell?
12:40 - What are some of the things that have surprised Rakhi when hiring for sales roles?
15:15 - Should there be a different approach to hiring women into sales roles than men?
18:21 - Is non-diversity bias always deliberate or is it at least sometimes a blind spot?
20:24 - Why does it matter if there are more women in sales or not?
22:47 - What are some of the unique challenges that women face in sales?
25:59 - How can an organization get started to move in the direction of increased diversity and decreased internal bias?
27:54 - What is one thing that Rakhi learned during her professional journey that she wishes she knew at the start of her career?
30:35 - Where to learn more about and connect with Rakhi
ABOUT THE GUEST: ALFRED “AP” PARKER IV, DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AT DUPRÉ LOGISTICS
Alfred “AP” Parker IV is a self-described servant leader who has leveraged his time in multiple operations roles to become a successful complex logistics sales and marketing leader. AP recently started a podcast called "The Driving Force Podcast" for aspiring logistics, transportation, and supply-chain professionals. AP along with Matt Loggins, interview guests to share their journeys of success, and to share things they wished they had known early in their careers. AP recently celebrated his 11th wedding anniversary to Kelly Parker. They are the proud parents of Quinn, Aldynn, and Kaden.
You can find AP on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/aparkeriv/
Learn more about his company Dupré Logistics here:
https://www.duprelogistics.com/
Or check out his podcast called “The Driving Force Podcast” here:
http://thedrivingforcepod.com/
ABOUT THE EPISODE
Our guest this week, AP, had a very non-typical path into sales. Prior to taking on a sales role, AP was part of the sales operations team at Dupré Logistics, which is an asset-based provider of transportation and logistics services. In this episode, AP talks about how his background in operations set him up for success in a direct sales role, and how an operations-oriented perspective can help all of us who drive revenue to do so more effectively.
0:59 - What’s the best piece of sales advice AP ever received?
3:10 - What’s the worst sales advice AP ever received?
4:37 - AP talks about Dupré Logistics to offer some context for describing his operations and sales roles later in the episode
5:01 - AP gives an overview of his operations roles as context and contrasts that with his current role in complex sales
6:15 - AP starts to talk about the contrast between operations roles and sales roles and what were some of the early big differences that AP noticed between the roles
9:03 - What were some of the early challenges that surprised AP when he moved from sales to sales operations?
10:43 - What are some of the elements of sales operations that have been a big benefit to AP in his direct sales role?
13:03 - Why is it a problem that many managers and VPs of sales are not strong enough in operations?
15:57 - AP talks about the importance of lining up internal stakeholders with their external counterparts to ensure a smooth deal flow before and after the contract is signed
17:45 - David talks about The Border and the importance of getting all of the questions answered before a proposal is put on the table
19:29 - How can an organization create a better synergy between sales and sales operations?
22:40 - What does AP know now that he wishes he knew when he started?
24:58 - How to reach out to AP and find him online
ABOUT THE GUEST - IAN MOYSE, EMEA SALES DIRECTOR AT NATTERBOX
Ian Moyse is EMEA Sales Director for Natterbox. He has sat on the boards of a number of industry bodies; FAST (Federation Against Software Theft), CIF (Cloud Industry Forum) and Eurocloud.
He was awarded the accolade of BESMA UK Sales Director of the year and in 2019 was listed in the top 50 Sales Keynote speakers by Top Sales World .
Ian was rated #1 Cloud influencer Onalytica and has been recognized as a leading cloud Blogger, listed in the EMEA top 50 influencers in Data Centres, Cloud & Data 2017 and Top 50 Cloud Computing Blogs 2020.
Find Ian on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianmoyse/ or here ianmoyse.co.uk
Or at his personal website here:
https://about.me/imoyse
Or on Twitter here:
ianmoyse.cloud
ABOUT THE EPISODE
“Social Selling” is an expression that means different things to different people, and some have pretty strong feelings about it one way or the other, whatever it is they think it is. Ian Moyse has a very specific way of thinking about and more importantly using social media as a strategic tool in his sales toolbox. In this episode, Ian shares a lot of great practices that he has used himself, with his team, and with his clients to leverage the sometimes overwhelming amount of information we have available to us into solid techniques, tactics, and processes for getting into a conversation with prospects for whatever it is that you sell.
0:45 - What is the best piece of sales advice that Ian has ever received?
4:16 - What’s the worst advice that Ian has ever received?
7:08 - How does Ian define social selling - and what’s the right way to leverage it in sales?
17:46 - How social selling is about finding the right reason to reach out and start a conversation with a prospect that could lead to a sale
21:15 - How can someone leverage social media to get into a real conversation, which is a much better medium for selling than a message exchange
22:20 - Ian offers some examples of social selling in the real world
30:20 - How Ian uses these social methodology principles with his sales team
33:05 - How to reach Ian and find him on social
ABOUT THE GUEST - JENNY KNIGHTING, FOUNDER AND CEO AT THE NUTCRACKER AGENCY
Jenny has worked with a number of ambitious start-ups, leading commercial strategy and making bold business growth plans a reality. With a wealth of experience in media, manufacturing, services and events, Jenny brings a unique creativity and perspective to every launch, scale and strategy. As founder and CEO of Nutcracker Agency, Jenny has led her team to win multiple awards, including finalist in the Best New Business at The National Business Awards. Since launching Nutcracker in 2014, the business has grown 60% year on year, helping countless clients in a wide range of industries to fulfill their vision through targeted, exciting and results-driven marketing.
You can find Jenny on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-knighting-a948501/
You can find The Nutcracker Agency web site here:
https://www.nutcrackeragency.com/
You can reach Jenny by email here:
jenny.knighting@nutcrackeragency.com
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Jenny has a unique perspective as the main driver of sales at an agency focused on marketing. As such, sales and marketing alignment are as much a critical internal issue as it is a service they offer to their clients. In this episode, Jenny talks about how Nutcracker adapted their approach to new business development during the changes that arose at the start of the COVID crisis in the first half of 2020 and also about some general sales and marketing alignment issues that evolved from that experience as well as the experiences of a diverse range of clients.
0:50 - What’s the best sales advice Jenny has ever received?
2:46 - What’s the worst sales advice that Jenny ever heard?
6:15 - Jenny offers some background on Nutcracker pre-Covid to set up a conversation about how they adjusted to the changes that came with Covid
9:00 - How Jenny and Nutcracker addressed the negative revenue bump that came with Covid
11:00 - How Jenny and Nutcracker refined the approach of the BDR team to adjust to the new Q2 2020 reality we all faced
12:20 - How sales and marketing alignment supercharged outbound efforts
14:30 - What changed when sales and marketing became more aligned within Nutcracker?
16:30 - David talks about the importance of clear expectations about expectations and Jenny adds to the thoughts about how proper KPIs contribute to that
18:03 - Should the SDR/BDR be a part of sales or marketing and why?
21:00 - How to decide if the SDR/BDR role is a sales or a marketing function in your organization?
22:15 - How proper marketing can impact effective sales efforts and diminish the need for a high activity model, and allow organizations to move towards a more quality-focused approach?
25:50 - What are some of the best resources that have helped Jenny along the way?
27:45 - How to reach Jenny and Nutcracker
ABOUT THE GUEST - CATIE IVEY, RVP OF SALES AT DEMANDBASE
Catie Ivey is the RVP of Sales at Demandbase, which is a leading B2B marketing platform. Prior to joining Demandbase, Catie ran revenue teams at Marketo, Insightpool, Salesforce, and Meltwater, where she talks about getting her start as an ‘accidental salesperson’. With deep expertise in MarTech specifically and how to better leverage technology to scale revenue teams, Catie spends a ton of her time these days working with sales, marketing, and customer success leaders helping drive synergy across teams as they adopt a more aligned, account-based go-to-market and navigate the ever-expanding world of marketing and sales tech.
Catie is a huge advocate for getting more women into sales and sales leadership and has a unique passion for mentoring and working with sellers in the early stages of their sales careers.
Find Catie on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catieivey/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Catie has been a sales leader in the MarTech space for a decade and a half at marquee companies like Marketo, Salesforce, and now Demandbase - a fantastic perspective to witness the emergence of usable data in the sales space. From opt-ins to intent data and beyond, has access to this kind of data changed the way we sell and more importantly the skills required to be effective at sales in the modern era? Catie shares some great insights about all of that in this interesting and fast -paced episode.
0:42 - What is the single best piece of sales advice that Catie ever received? Level up and develop executive presence to help you excel!
3:07 - What’s the worst piece of sales advice that Catie ever received? That sales requires manipulation and deception as opposed to a problem-solving perspective
4:41 - Framing the conversation we’ll have about how sales has changed along with the changes in access to data over these last 10-15 years
5:20 - Catie tells us about Demandbase to give us a point of departure for the conversation about how access to data has impacted sales skills and strategies
5:55 - How does Demandbase help sales organizations with Intent Data?
7:35 - Is the statistic that the buyer is more than halfway through their purchasing journey before a salesperson shows up a good thing or a bad thing for salespeople? Catie’s answer isn’t what you usually hear!
9:55 - Has the abundance of data changed the skills required for salespeople to be successful?
12:03 - Can a salesperson be effective if they need to do both consultative selling and a velocity/volume based approach?
14:35 - How can sales leaders help their teams ride their strengths and train their weaknesses in terms of sales competencies?
16:14 - How can a salesperson who is not getting a lot of support from their organization level up their sales effectiveness on their own?
18:19 - How being remote has given reps an opportunity to shape what our work and career can be?
19:15 - How can sales organizations level up as a whole and fight against the inertia of “the way it’s always been done?”
21:42 - What’s one thing Catie wishes she had known at the start of her career that she learned along the way?
22:40 - How to find out more about Catie and Demandbase
ABOUT THE GUEST - ALEX OLLEY, CO-FOUNDER, HEAD OF REVENUE & MARKETING AT REACHDESK
Alex specializes in SaaS technology and using innovative ways to break through to prospects. He believes in treating customers like humans (rather than leads or opportunities) using ABM strategies, Direct Mail, Personalized Gifting, and a human element across every touchpoint.
If you want to get in touch with Alex, send him something...
- OR -
Find Alex on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexolley/
- OR -
Learn more about the great work that Reachdesk is doing and how they can help you break through the noise and reach the prospects you need in your pipeline at www.reachdesk.com
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
We hear it all the time - there is a lot of noise out there, and when we are making efforts to sell what we sell to new people, it can be VERY hard to break through. In this episode, Alex Olley shares his perspectives about where this noise came from, how it got so loud, and some innovative ways of breaking through.
0:44 - What is the best advice that Alex has ever received - to get better, surround yourself with strong people
2:08 - What’s the worst advice Alex has ever received - people will buy from you if they just like you
5:07 - Defining the problem - the level of noise in sales
5:52 - Who is Reachdesk?
8:25 - How Alex got his start in sales
11:38 - What happened over time to reduce the connect rate and increased the noise in sales for all of us who sell?
13:22 - Alex tells us about his first brainstorm idea about how to break through the noise with something physical, and how the seed of the idea led to Reachdesk
18:00 - Using the physical channel to break through the noise seems like a great idea, but how do you address the idea that it won’t work for someone?
19:48 - How is Reachdesk using their own methodology to grow their own business
22:13 - What are some of the creative physical channel campaigns that Alex has seen from Reachdesk customers
23:02 - How to use the physical channel at any budget level to break through the noise
23:37 - What are some of the mistakes that people make when they try to use the physical outreach channel on their own for the first time?
26:24 - What does Alex wish he knew at the start of his career that he knows now?
27:46 - How and where to reach Alex and to learn more about Reachdesk
ABOUT THE GUEST - JASON SMITH, VP ACCOUNTS AT LEAGUESIDE
Jason Smith has been with LeagueSide for over 3 years and currently oversees new business while also growing current accounts into new business lines. He has spent his career in the sport and entertainment space as part of two separate startup businesses as well as a stint as a Major League Baseball agent. His experience lies in Business Development, Marketing and Sales within organizations readying to scale. Jason studied Business Administration at George Washington University and in his free time you can find him hanging out with his family, playing with his dogs, or at a concert in the Philadelphia area.
You can learn more about Jason through his LinkedIn profile at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonhsmith1/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
LeagueSide is a very cool business focused on connecting large advertisers to local youth sports. The founders and early team members are VERY passionate about what they do and very deliberate about how they sustain a culture that supports that passion, but how does that scale? Jason and I explore that in this episode, and he shares with us some of the very cool things LeagueSide does to stay passionate as they grow.
0:42 - What is the best sales advice that Jason ever heard or received?
5:47 - What’s the worst sales advice that Jason ever heard?
7:45 - David maps out the target path for the episode - how does LeagueSide sustain passion as they grow
8:23 - Jason shares a bit about the background of LeagueSide, what is the mission and who they help
10:00 - Jason talks about how they got early traction with large clients based on the innovative nature of the value proposition and the natural passion that the team members have for the business
12:20 - How did the dynamic of the company change as they grew from a handful of people to a few dozen?
15:25 - How do you effectively bring people into an organization with a fine balance between passion & innovation on one side and process & discipline on the other?
17:09 - How to embrace the fear of failure in a growing organization?
19:40 - Where does Jason see the company growing in the near term, i.e. until we are getting out of Covid and youth sports (the domain of LeagueSide) is back in full swing
21:11 - How does Jason envision institutionalizing the passion as the company scales to a much larger size?
23:05 - If Jason knew then what he knows now with respect to sales...
25:25 - Where is the best place to find Jason and to learn more about LeagueSide
ABOUT THE GUEST: SIMON TECLE, HEAD OF SALES AND CUSTOMER SUCCESS AT CITRUSLABS
The first startup I worked at went public and that’s where my passion for building and scaling sales teams was born.
12+ years experience working with great founders and teams.
Experienced with startups, growth and public companies.
Proven sales and leadership abilities that has enabled me to achieve a high level of success developing and executing sales strategies that acquire new clients, drive revenue and develop sales teams.
Find Simon on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/teclesimon/
ABOUT THE EPISODE
Simon has an approach to sales management that is intensely powerful in its simplicity and clarity - which inspired the “blank page” title for this episode. Whether it’s about KPI’s and activity, compensation, or team expectations, Simon isn’t content to do what’s been done before. That’s a great starting point, but the real work starts when you figure out how to apply it to your own set of circumstances with the goal of helping your entire team thrive.
0:45 - What is the single best piece of sales advice that Simon has ever received
4:05 - What’s the worst sales advice Simon has ever heard - never walk away
7:40 - Is it important for you to do things your own way or is it important to do things the way everyone else does? Simon says neither - there is a better way... Relevance!
9:22 - Simon talks about how he looks at activity metrics, how they might be useful, and how they are often abused - and how to use them to help reps succeed in getting results
11:52 - How does Simon strike the balance between activities & KPI’s and results
15:48 - Why are so many sales leaders fixated on activity metrics as opposed to results-oriented metrics?
19:18 - Why Simon presents comp and targets to each rep each year and has them sign it as a contract, why it’s important - and why there are no activity metrics at all in the document
23:56 - Simon talks about why quotas are broken and how to fix them
33:14 - What is one of the myths about sales management that Simon would like to debunk...
34:55 - What’s the best way to find Simon and learn more about him and his content
ABOUT THE GUEST - ADAM JAY, VP of SALES AT SPOTON
From Adam’s LinkedIn Profile:
I am recognized as an Executive Sales Leader with career hallmarked by multiple sales honors including 14 President’s Club Awards. I build and lead high-performance GTM sales teams accountable for $130M+ regions while coaching my team to effectively manage the sales process end-to-end.
Find Adam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adambjay/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Adam Jay has done a lot of hiring and a bit of firing during his career in sales management. In this episode, Adam shares some of the things he does differently to make sure he gets the best people on the team, helps them do their best when they are on the field, and how he approaches it when its time to consider making a change. It’s a great episode full of smart and actionable ideas - give it a listen!
0:58 - What’s the best sales advice Adam has ever received
1:49 - What’s the worst advice - under promise and over deliver - yes, that’s the worst!
3:46 - More and more sales leaders are hiring, but most struggle to do so effectively - what does Adam do to make sure he is hiring strong sellers
7:58 - How can you tell if someone has a strong work ethic and is coachable during the sales hiring process
10:15 - What kinds of answers to interview questions show you if someone has the right stuff to be successful in a sales role
12:06 - What’s different about the interview process when you can’t do it in person
14:29 - How does Adam approach managing in a remote environment
16:25 - What does Adam look for when it’s time to consider letting someone go
20:29 - How can you use most effectively use metrics to enhance sales effectiveness and performance
22:15 - Adam describes how he uses process and the conversions between the steps and balances the need for process and the needs for each salesperson to find what works best for them
24:50 - Adam talks about the myth that top performers do it all on their own
26:15 - Where to learn more about Adam and SpotOn
ABOUT THE GUEST - IAN VARLEY, CEO AT EAGLE BUSINESS CREDIT
Ian Varley is the CEO of Eagle Business Credit. Working capital funding is a way of life for him and his can-do approach when crafting a facility for his clients has kept thousands of companies in business and helped them grow. He is passionate about helping small business in America and believes that discount factoring and financing receivables is the simplest way a business can fund itself.
You can reach Ian to learn more about factoring and Eagle Business Credit at:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianwjvarley/
Web: https://www.eaglebusinesscredit.com/
Main Phone: 888-420-8318
Reach Ian Directly At: 678-905-1596
ABOUT THE EPISODE
Ian Varley is the CEO of his business and is heavily involved in direct sales, sales management, and sales leadership. The business provides factoring, a financial service Ian refers to as “The F Word” because of some stigma and friction often associated with the practice. In this episode, Ian not only clarified the benefits of factoring but articulates how he and his team overcome the natural resistance to this innovative financing tool in ways that are applicable to anyone selling pretty much anything.
0:39 - What is the best sales advice Ian has ever received - he has a few gems to offer, one has to do with throwing up!
3:48 - What’s the worst sales advice Ian ever heard?
5:49 - Ian talks about Eagle Business Credit, and how this great service with a bit of stigma creates a sales and messaging challenge
8:08 - How does Ian coach his salespeople to address the friction that comes up with prospects about having EBC interact directly with their customers
11:08 - Ian digs into the difference between a messaging challenge and a consultative sales approach
12:45 - What kinds of skills do salespeople need to have to deliver complex consultative sales efforts that are both consultative and effective from a sales perspective
15:03 - What does bad messaging look like for EBC, why that doesn't work, and what works better
17:12 - How does Ian uncover pain points and customer/solution fit when reaching out with a cold outreach
21:20 - What are some of the best resources that have helped Ian to become increasingly effective at sales and sales management
23:32 - How to reach Ian to learn more about factoring, business credit, and his company - Eagle Business Credit
ABOUT THE GUEST - ADAM SNIDER, SR. MANAGER, BUSINESS & CHANNEL DEVELOPMENT AT ENERCARE, INC.
Adam is a passionate, experienced sales leader with 19 years’ experience in sales and leadership roles, with practice in both product and service-based industries. Serving in individual contributor, Director, and Senior Manager positions throughout his career, he has been impactful with large corporations and a pivotal member at startup companies, by transforming under-performing teams to building sales organizations. He currently leads the Commercial sales department at a large HVAC company in Canada and is a sales trainer/coach with The Sales Rebellion, The Sales Experts Channel, and Quota International. Aside from keeping professionally busy, he invests as much quality time as possible with his wife and daughter. He also collects watches and can geek out talking about this and sales for hours, so connect with him today.
You can find Adam on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/leadingsalesresults/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Adam Snider is passionate about sales coaching. It is easy to see if you check out his LinkedIn profile or content, if you engage with any of his content, if you look at all of the different work he does, and certainly of you speak with him and the subject of sales comes up.
In this episode, Adam and I talk a lot about sales coaching. Here are some of the specific issues we touch on - but have a listen yourself. Adam has a lot of great insights into why coaching matters, and how to make it work best in your sales organization.
0:54 - What is the worst piece of sales advice that Adam has ever heard - it’s a classic - and it’s ABC
3:48 - David talks about trial closes
5:26 - What’s the best piece of sales advice Adam ever received?
8:19 - Adam talks about coaching and why it’s so important as a part of the sales development toolset
11:48 - If coaching is so important, why is it so common that there isn’t a coaching infrastructure or resource within an organization?
14:19 - Coaching often doesn’t happen as much as it could or should because coaching is harder to measure than other things that are
15:50 - How can a manager who wants to coach but can’t find the time make the case internally to prioritize coaching and how to make it measurable?
19:05 - How do you change the perception of coaching when managers think they are doing it but their reports think they are doing nothing more than counting and chastising?
22:19 - What is the one thing about sales management that a lot of people get wrong?
25:12 - Where to find Adam and his content
ABOUT THE GUEST - DAVID WEISS, ENTERPRISE SALES DIRECTOR AT OUTREACH
My guest in this episode is David Weiss, he is an Enterprise Sales Leader at Outreach, has spent the last 13 years working on sales process across small, medium, and large enterprises. He has been both a salesperson and sales leader and loves to help people have the best sales career possible. To that end, he has written a book called Your Definitive Sales Career Guide, he coaches people in sales, he is The Mad Scientist at The Sales Rebellion where he focuses on coming up with fun ways to teach sales process, and runs a podcast called PsychAndSales with his wife who is a psychologist to help salespeople with the mental aspects of sales.
In his spare time, you can find him in his kitchen cooking up some awesome food and spending time with his wife Ehrin and son Ian. He lives in Houston TX and vows never to shovel snow again, being thankful to no longer live in the frigid north.
Find David on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidlbweiss/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
David Weiss is methodical about how he sells and helps others to succeed at sales as well. His posts on LinkedIn include numbered lists of steps more often than not because this is how David thinks about problems and opportunities - break them down into parts, optimize the parts, and connect them together for the most efficient and effective path to success.
In this episode, David shares his thoughts about subjects like sales process, enablement, coaching, and management all around the theme of intentionality.
0:48 - David shares the single best piece of sales advice he ever received - “treat sales like a professional athlete”
4:16 - David shares the worst piece of sales advice he ever heard - “you have to close the deal”
8:05 - David talks about what the concept of sales process means to him and why it matters
12:41 - What do a lot of organizations get wrong when they try to implement processes?
13:45 - How enablement, coaching, and process work together
16:04 - David talks about sales enablement at Outreach
18:35 - David talks about who should be responsible for sales enablement
19:24 - David talks about the impact on his career when he went from winging it to being intentional in sales
21:46 - How to find and learn more about David Weiss
ABOUT THE GUEST - NED ARICK, VP of GROWTH at HALOS SYSTEMS
Ned is currently the VP of Growth at HALOS Systems, a healthcare analytics firm focused on furthering AI adoption in healthcare. Ned's career has spanned multiple industries and even more disciplines, from operations to product management to sales and marketing. Having worked in early stage start ups his entire career he's worn many hats but where he hangs his hat is on go to market strategy and building the initial team. Ned has been a part of two major acquisitions both in healthcare and fitness technology where he built and scaled the initial teams, marketing, sales and eventually, growth teams. He lives in Sarasota, FL with his wife, daughter and way too many animals (2 dogs and a cat).
Find Ned on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nedarick/
Ned's Bootstrapped Growth Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bootstrapped-growth/id1514487507
Find Ned on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Ned_Arick
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Ned is just a few months into a VP role at a startup in the healthcare industry - in fact - he’s the only person in sales or marketing right now, which means he has a lot of work to do and a lot of great perspectives to share.
In this episode, Ned talks about what he’s doing and where he’s focusing to get Halos Systems off on the right foot from the sales and marketing perspective. He also shares some great advice and lessons learned over a diverse and heavily service-oriented sales career.
0:45 - Ned’s best piece of sales advice - a counter-intuitive idea - give it all away!
2:33 - How the salesperson should be an important part of a purchase decision and how to set that up proactively from the outset with prospects
4:30 - Why “overcome objections” is the worst piece of sales advice that Ned has ever heard
7:01 - The difference between handling or overcoming an objection and diffusing an objection
11:52 - Ned talks about his new role at Halos Systems and what it’s like to be the first person in the sales and marketing organization
15:34 - How is Ned approaching first steps as the first person in the sales and marketing organization of a new enterprise designed for growth
18:48 - How is Ned conceptualizing the growth path for the company moving forward, and why it makes so much sense that customer success is the first place to focus
23:06 - Ned talks about why he doesn’t like the way the word “value” is used in sales
27:00 - Where can you find Ned, learn more about him and find his great content
ABOUT THE GUEST - JACK WILSON, DIRECTOR OF FRANCHISE DEVELOPMENT AT CINCH I.T.
From Jack’s LinkedIn profile:
“There are 2 things I'm incredibly passionate about, SMB's and Entrepreneurs. By empowering Small Businesses and their leaders to realize levels of success they thought were impossible, I strive to impact their business and their lives, as well as that of their employees, the broader community, and ultimately our world. Whether it's through Sales, I.T., Finance, or Strategic development I Challenge us all to find what success means!”
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackdwilson/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Jack is a deep thinker about sales, and in this episode, we start by exploring a concept that he calls “The Fallacy of Growth” and why it creates so many problems for so many sales organizations. Following that trajectory, Jack goes on to explain a more sustainable and holistic approach to growth, how it is embedded in his work at Cinch I.T., and how other organizations can benefit from a perspective shift towards supported and sustainable sales growth.
0:44 - Jack shares his best piece of sales advice - and you’ll love it - “don’t be a robot” - and how the meaning of that message has changed over time for him
2:45 - Jack shares the worst piece of sales advice he’s ever heard - which also changed in meaning for him over time
3:58 - What are the core drivers of sales success and how that relates to the perceptions of sales work
5:20 - Jack discusses the idea of “The Fallacy of Growth” and the better approach of growing sustainably for the longer term
8:39 - How does the concept of sustainable growth manifest itself at Cinch I.T.
10:40 - Jack elaborates on the quote “training gets you certifications, coaching gets you results”
12:42 - How sales process supports an approach to sustainable growth and Jacks concept of Minimum Viable Habits
15:34 - How process and metrics are not the end goal, but the start of an exploration into how to be most effective in sales, and how to balance process and creativity
17:35 - Jack talks about the importance of rest as a critical component of practice and effectiveness
19:01 - Why so much of the “what” oriented sales-oriented advice is misguided and limiting and what kind of content and advice is more valuable
23:15 - How to find and reach Jack and learn more
ABOUT THE GUEST: MARC BODNER, PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT, SITESTAFF CHAT
From Marc’s LinkedIn profile:
“I have dedicated my career in executing key initiatives that have resulted in multimillion-dollar deliverables, savings, and operational improvements. I consider it a privilege to elevate the standard of excellence at my companies and I remain deeply committed to raising leaders through professional development, training, and mentorship.”
Learn more about Marc and enjoy his sales-focused content at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mbodner/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Marc has held a number of high-level sales positions at a variety of VC-backed startups, and in this episode, he goes deep into exploring some of the frictions and disconnects between some established sales best practices and the velocity model so popular among many VC-backed ventures.
1:00 - Marc offers his best piece of sales advice - and it’s not at all what you would guess.
3:35 - Marc and David address the need to focus on the fundamentals and being present with active listening in a sales context.
5:45 - Marc offers the worst piece of sales advice he’s ever heard, and it’s a LOT more common than you would expect - hear him articulate why it’s not OK to think this way.
7:34 - Marc addresses how the perception of sales in a VC-backed startup matches up to the reality, and why the reality is often so disconnected from effective sales common best practices.
10:00 - The clash of quality over quantity in a sales context and the realities of the rush to scale, VC-backed startup mission.
13:49 - What should a salesperson or a sales manager who comes from a non-VC-backed startup expect in a VC-backed startup that’s going to be a surprise and quite possibly an uncomfortable one.
16:50 - Is this kind of warped VC-backed startup approach to sales something that can be changed somehow?
18:45 - Marc talks about his current gig at SiteStaff Chat and why he’s excited about helping to bring the company to the next level with a refreshed approach to sales strategy.
27:02 - I ambush Marc with the old “what would you have asked me that I didn’t” question, and he steps up with a great answer about the idea of whether everything in sales has changed or not, why it matters, and what reps should do with all of that.
31:05 - How to find Marc and his fantastic content.
ABOUT THE GUEST - SEBASTIAN VIVACQUA, SALES PRO AT HUUB
Sebastian Vivacqua is an empathic and mindful Sales Coach and Sales Professional with over 6+ years of sales experience in B2B selling and F2F sales, and the rest of his career spent in operations, customer service and back-office sales in the supply chain & logistics industry. Seb beliefs that exceeding budgets and quotas can and should only be through thinking sustainably because quick wins will create shallow companies that have big churns. His personal mission is to evolve and unlock the inner salesperson in everyone and his biggest reward in life is enabling others to think differently about the way they level-up their sales game.
You can learn more about Sebastian and his sales mission on LinkedIn at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivacqua-sebastian/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Sebastian Vivacqua is one of the hardest working sales pro’s I’ve met, and his work goes well beyond front line selling. Sebastian is tirelessly disciplined about applying design thinking, process mapping, data mapping, and iterative learning to his work and the work of his team. In this episode, Sebastian talks about how HUUB has worked through some recent changes in their strategic approach to the market and how many of the same principles are reflected in his work as a sales coach with The Sales Rebellion.
1:15 - What is the single biggest piece of sales advice you have ever received?
2:10 - Sebastian talks about the problem with fear of failure as an answer to the question - What’s the worst piece of sales advice you ever received or heard?
3:22 - How do you balance the need for adequate levels of sales activity and the need for strategic development and improvement as a member of a team.
7:10 - The importance of quality versus quantity in internal sales training.
8:30 - Getting better today than you were yesterday by following the pivot, pilot, fail, iterate model.
9:04 - Is the emphasis on quantity versus quality because quality is hard to measure? If so, how do you measure the qualitative and important parts of sales effectiveness?
11:39 - Baking data-driven approaches into things that are not necessarily easy to count.
14:12 - How his work with marketing impacts the holistic approach to internal improvement.
15:20 - How exactly are sales and marketing cooperating at HUUB to enable value proposition and market focus pivots and adjustments.
17:26 - How working in collaboration with sales and marketing when developing revenue initiatives can drive effective cooperation during execution as well.
18:11 - Why Sebastian started the Sales Network 1 podcast (not why you might think) and what it means to him to be a part of Dales Dupree’s Sales Rebellion.
20:19 - What is Sebastian’s advice for taking ownership of your sales career and bringing yourself to the next level.
23:45 - How to find and reach Sebastian and his inspirational sales-focused content.
ABOUT THE GUEST - MATTHEW TOTH, VP OF SALES AT THE NEAT COMPANY:
Matthew Toth has been with The Neat Company for over 12 years and currently oversees the company’s Direct Revenue Channels, Accountant Partner Program, Affiliate Marketing, as well as developing relationships with strategic partners. He has held roles focusing on virtually all aspects of sales including Inside Sales, Retail Sales, Logistics and Distribution, and Channel Sales. Matthew studied Finance at Rowan University and in his free time enjoys being a father, a husband, and playing with his yellow lab, Preston, and golfing when the opportunity arises!
You can learn more about Matthew and enjoy his sales-focused content on LinkedIn at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewjtoth/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
The Neat Company has evolved over the years - multiple pivots, and multiple big changes in strategic focus. For the last 12 years, Matthew Toth has been a part of that roller coaster ride and has helped The Neat Company grow, adapt, and thrive along the way. In this episode, Matthew shares his insights about sales in general but also lessons learned about sales, leadership, and what it takes to thrive as an individual and an organization in fast-changing times.
0:40 - Matthew offers the best piece of sales advice he’s ever received.
2:00 - Matthew talks about how personal development has helped to support his effectiveness as a sales professional and why the “Alpha Male” sales archetype isn’t the only (or best) approach for everyone.
4:33 - David and Matthew discuss how sales isn’t about a certain personality type, but rather finding how to make sales successful for the specific type of person that each one of us is.
6:24 - Matthew shares the worst piece of sales advice he’s ever heard from his days in the world of call centers and “high velocity” sales.
7:44 - David and Matthew discuss why “sink or swim” is (sadly) so prevalent in the world of sales and how to approach success from a different and more holistic and supportive perspective.
9:58 - Matthew talks about The Neat Company, what they do, and how they help companies thrive.
11:50 - How The Neat Company has evolved over the years and pivoted their way to the current configuration and go to market strategy they have today.
15:22 - Matthew talks about how the many pivots that he has lived through at The Neat Company have been enabled and supported by effective communication and most importantly a very clearly developed and communicated “why” - communicated both internally and externally.
16:46 - What kinds of employees does Matthew look for when considering the kind of employee that will do well in such a dynamic and fluid environment.
18:15 - Matthew talks about how he has embraced the expression “you can’t coach passion into someone but you can coach the passion out of them” and what it means as it applies to his work in sales and sales leadership.
20:55 - Why stand and deliver sales training and enablement doesn’t work and how you can get others passionate and effective about sales work in ways that actually work.
22:03 - Matthew talks about what he would do differently at the start of his career if he knew what he does now after more than a decade in sales and sales leadership.
24:55 - How to find Matthew and his sales-focused content and where to learn more about The Neat Company and how they help businesses stay on top of those messy things that keep you from doing the part of your work that you really love.
ABOUT THE GUEST - MIKE HOOK, DIRECTOR OF SALES AT CHILDCARE CRM:
Mike Hook is a high-energy senior sales leader with over ten years of experience driving revenue growth. As an individual contributor Mike has been a sales and sales management leader, closing over seven figures annually; and pioneering several departments including: SDR, cross-sell GTM strategy and ICP refinement, and Subject Matter Expert sales specialists. As a leader, Mike has built teams to scale by putting the right people in the right places, developing strategy, and implementing processes for growth.
You can learn more about Mike and enjoy his sales-focused content on LinkedIn at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-hook/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
In this episode, we cover a lot of great sales management and sales strategy fundamentals specifically related to how Mike and Childcare CRM address market needs in general and through the Covid crisis.
One area of particular interest is how Childcare CRM makes specific and deliberate efforts to get sales and marketing on the same page and all pulling in the same direction to maximize customer outreach and conversation effectiveness, and what Mike suggests as a way to improve the odds of making that happen in organizations that are seeking better collaboration between sales and marketing.
0:45 - Mike offers the best piece of sales advice he’s ever heard.
1:56 - David and Mike talk about active listening, how much work it is, how to do it well, and the need to be present.
3:12 - Mike offers the worst piece of sales advice he’s ever heard.
4:40 - Mike explains why the child care industry needs its own specialized CRM.
9:03 - Mike describes the construction of the team - and why having sales and marketing working well together has helped the company excel and thrive.
11:19 - How the role of director of sales contributes to the effective execution of the team as a whole, and how the rhythm of connection and communication with sales and marketing team members is a key part of the work.
14:08 - Mike talks about how Childcare CRM makes sure that sales and marketing work well together.
15:24 - How can an organization improve the synergy between sales and marketing.
17:38 - How do Mike and his team stay on top of all of the little pieces it takes to keep it all moving forward.
20:38 - What kinds of salespeople tend to do best in the kind of actively managed and highly integrated sales environment that Mike runs at Childcare CRM.
23:07 - Mike’s advice for what to do for anyone who wants to make the leap to sales management.
25:15 - How to find Mike and learn more about him and his work.
ABOUT THE GUEST - ANDY DEANGELIS, COO AT VOTACALL:
Andy DeAngelis is an experienced sales leader, business strategist, husband, and Father of three daughters.
With a passion for developing people, building fantastic teams, and designing customer-centric processes; Andy has helped Votacall become known for delivering an unrivaled Customer Experience.
Although Andy oversees all departments at Votacall, he is a Sales Coach first and believes that sales success can only happen when the entire organization is unified and functioning as one team.
You can find Andy and learn more about him, his content and Votacall on LinkedIn at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andydeangelis/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Four years ago, Andy was the VP of Sales at Votacall and saw an opportunity to unify the entire customer-facing operation around a unified goal of excellent customer experience and success for the customer at every stage of the sales process and the full business relationship. In this episode, Andy shares some ideas about what it takes to create the kind of internal vision, culture, and environment to support a deep and authentic - and excellent customer experience.
0:42: Andy’s background in sales and what motivated him to gravitate to the SMB market.
2:26: Why the focus on Customer Experience is critical to sales success and why that drove Andy to take on the COO role as an antidote to the all too common silo mentality.
4:45: Andy explains how his philosophy of “sell what happens after the contract is signed” drives positive Customer Experience at Votacall.
6:53: Leading with CX as a Blue Ocean strategy.
8:00 - How do you know if something as hard to measure as CX is working? What do you measure and monitor?
10:40 - What are the mechanics of looking at the quality of conversations and not just the quantity?
13:15: How do you find people who are capable of pivoting and rolling with the kinds of changes that all companies are facing right now during in the era of Covid-19?
15:40 - Andy explains why now is a great time to make a change because everyone is hungry to find some certainty and confidence in a (new) path forward.
17:05 - Andy’s special trick for interviewing great salespeople and team members.
19:58 - Andy’s advice about moving into sales leadership.
22:42 - How to learn more and reach out to Andy DeAngelis and Votacall.
ABOUT THE GUEST - ZACH SELCH, VP GLOBAL SALES AT PHARMAJET:
Zach Selch is the VP Global Sales for a high tech medical company and coaches and mentors Global Sales Leaders. Over 30 years he has sold in more than 135 countries, lived in 6 countries and has driven 4 digit sales growth multiple times while adding hundreds of millions of dollars to the value of companies by building their international footprint. Zach is an ex-paratrooper, a father of 3 and boxes, smokes brisket, and runs a soup kitchen when he isn’t on the road. Zach was in Germany when the wall went down, Jordan when peace with Israel was signed, has breakfasted with the Dalai Lama, and has been in the right place for a surprising number of right times.
Zach is a firm believer in the sales process, and that sales is an art and a science and isn’t something to be acted on impulsively or emotionally. Growing the international sales footprint is one of the very best ways to grow the value of a company, but when done poorly can also be one of the best ways to sink a small company or cripple a mid-market company. Zach will discuss how to avoid the common mistakes while navigating towards success.
You can learn more about Zach at his LinkedIn profile here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/zselch-internationalsales/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Zach has been working in international sales for his entire multi-decade career, and has the scars, stories and lessons to show for it! In this episode, Zach shares with us learnings about culture, communication, and tricky navigational issues that you must be on top of it you want to succeed in sales outside of the borders of your home country.
(0:45) Zach’s background as the VP of Sales at PharmaJet - a company that makes tools that facilitate mass vaccinations
(2:45) What drove Zach to focus on international sales - it was a choice from a very young age including multiple horizontal moves to cover as much of the globe as possible
(6:06) What is it that makes selling internationally different. Culture is big part of it - and the obvious part that most talk about, but you can’t forget the technical elements, which is a common and often costly mistake. and then there is the whole communication bit...
(10:14) Knowing how to sell is critical in all sales, including international sales, but how do you navigate the rest of the stuff specific to international sales that will make or break the deal - or your profitability
(12:50) Why your shipping guy needs to go to an international shipping workshop
(14:36) If you want to sell internationally, how can you start on the right foot. Zach explains how it is both simple and challenging, but how to make it more simple
(18:25) Most mistakes in international sales happen due to “don’t know what you don’t know” kinds of mistake. In light of that, Zach talks about how international sales related content is received on LinkedIn where he frequently shares content.
(20:08) Even trade show booth (stand) design varies culture to culture
(20:46) Zach talks about Global Sales Mentor, his consulting practice that helps companies expand and excel in international markets
(22:57) How to find Zach and to learn more about how he can help you with international sales
ABOUT THE GUEST - RUSS MACUMBER, STRATEGY DIRECTOR AT IMPRESSIVE DIGITAL:
With a passion for educating businesses large and small, Russ Macumber is recognized as a global Retail eCommerce Leader by SimilarWeb. Having grown up in small businesses, Russ is a business junkie that has been both client side and agency side; he's run his own businesses, been responsible for marketing budgets, thus has a 360-degree view when it comes to business and marketing.
For the past 15 years Russ has built his marketing career off the back of his ability to make complex digital marketing concepts simple, and strategically connecting business mechanics to digital marketing tactics in a fuss and jargon free manner. As a result, Russ regularly lends his expertise for podcasts and speaking engagements at world-leading events. Outside of his career, Russ is a proud husband and father of 4, NBA and hiphop head, and fitness fanatic.
You can find Russ and learn more about his great content on LinkedIn at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/russmacumber/
ABOUT THE EPISODE:
Russ has worked his way up at Impressive from a role as an individual contributor to a quota carrying front line sales manager (Team Lead). In this episode, Russ and I discuss a range of issues around selling, managing, coaching, and the challenges of balancing all three - and doing all three effectively simultaneously.
(0:57) A bit about Russ, his background and his work at Impressive Digital
(2:07) Russ discusses his take on the natural-born sellers versus those who had to work at it to be good at sales, and how he worked at it with a mentor to bridge the gap in his own career.
(3:59) Is the best and/or highest producing salesperson the best choice for a manager and/or coaching role or is there something else you should be looking for?
(7:00) How Russ balances selling, coaching, and managing at his current role.
(10:16) Being effective as a coach is based on similar principles as being effective as a salesperson.
(12:21) How can a salesperson who wants to get into management prepare to be successful in that very different role that often doesn’t get a lot of training and support.
(14:26) What is Impressive doing in response to the unique circumstances around Coronavirus, and how coming out of a recession depends on the philosophical and strategic position you take to get through.
(18:01) Russ quotes Bill Russell - “When the world changes around you, you can’t stay the same” and how Impressive is adapting to the changes and advising their clients how to do the same.
(18:49) How the Coronavirus changed Russ’s plan to move from Australia to lead the US office (it’s just a delay - so look out America, here he comes!)
(21:03) How the work from home has forced non-salespeople to get more comfortable with video.
(21:45) How to find Russ and to learn more about him and Impressive Digital.
ABOUT THE GUEST ANDY J SOLOMON
Andy J. Solomon is the Director of Sales Training for Associated Materials a 1.2 billion dollar manufacturing and sales organization. He's a father, a husband, a writer, and he enjoys creating content related to personal growth and sales advice.
You can find Andy and learn more about his great content on LinkedIn at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-solomon-ami/
ABOUT THE EPISODE
Andy is passionate, disciplined, and dedicated to creating effective sales enablement at his company and across the construction materials industry he serves. In this episode, Andy shares with us ideas about how to make sales training and enablement effective and targeted - well beyond the content of the training itself. If you are interested in helping the individuals in your sales team get better and in creating the infrastructure to make that happen, this episode with Andy is well worth listening to.
(1:10) A bit about Andy’s background and how he went from selling to sales enablement, almost by accident and definitely head of schedule
(3:55) How dabbling in social content creation led to a coveted career move
(5:10) Andy shares some thoughts about how to make sales training and sales enablement more effective
(7:40) The limitations of event-style sales training and the challenges of alternatives
(10:30) How to get reps up to speed by training the rep AND training the trainer
(12:30) Supporting the sales reps by supporting the sales manager (and vice versa)
(15:05) Sales enablement from the perspective of the entire sales team
(16:40) Advice for anyone who wants to succeed with sales enablement
(18:57) How to teach across a wide range of experience, personality, and skills
(20:30) Selling and sales enablement in the age of Covid-19
(22:12) Will things go back to normal after Covid-19 or is this the new normal
ABOUT THE EPISODE
This is a short (5-minute) episode to introduce the host and the concept for the show.
Host David Masover first talks about his own journey in B2B sales and how overcoming early struggles as a sales professional led him to the systematic and process-focused approach to sales force optimization that he is well known for now in his third decade in B2B sales.
David then spends a few minutes talking about the concept behind the podcast itself and why he created it. The podcast will focus on interviews with front line B2B sales leaders (managers, directors, VPs, etc.), the challenges they are facing against their sales goals and within their sales organizations and what they are doing to overcome them. In other words, what are they doing to Drive B2B Sales Revenue!
ABOUT THE GUEST
David Masover got his first sales job in 1991 selling commodity computer supplies. With no background in sales, no training and no clue how to get from staring at the phone to booking orders, David invented the sales process (he wasn’t the first, but he didn’t know that at the time).
Since then, David has found success in several front line sales roles; as a manager; as an executive; as the co-founder of Branders.com - a successful web 1.0 dot com start up; and as an author, consultant, and content creator.
You can learn more about David and his work as a Sales force Development Consultant at his web site www.davidmasover.com.