The Digital Utopia Podcast: Recent Episodes
Frank Cowell and Joseph Freeman
Ready to conquer the chaos and accelerate growth? This show is for business leaders and department heads looking to refocus on revenue growth and align efforts across Marketing, Sales, and Customer Service to maximize revenue potential. Listen in to weekly episodes that dive into the strategies, philosophies, tools, and tactics that will support your approach to organizational growth. Co-hosted by Frank Cowell and Joseph Freeman, co-founders of Digitopia, a RevOps (revenue operations) firm dedicated to supporting B2B organizations implement a consistent client acquisition and delight program called The Digital Utopia Methodology™ on the HubSpot platform.
As organizations grow, so do the number of unique functions within a Sales Department. Do you have a framework in place to support each function? Do you have insights into how each function is performing? In this episode, Frank Cowell and special guest Krystina Gillenwater explore the benefits of having separate sales pipelines in your business. Krystina talks about how using separate pipelines can help you better manage your team and forecast revenue.
Topics covered in episode:
- Sales Pipeline versus Sales Funnel
- Benefits of separate pipelines
- Key metrics you review in your pipelines
- Tips and recommendations around pipeline management
For more information about the podcast, visit BuildingYourDigitalUtopia.com
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Are you tracking all of the interactions a prospect has with your brand as they progress through your buyer’s journey? Do you know which interactions trigger action and which interactions don’t? In this episode, Frank and Joe talk through the in’s and out’s of marketing attribution. Understand what it is and its function. Explore when an organization should start looking into marketing attribution, how to get started, and several common pitfalls to avoid when utilizing attribution.
For more information about the podcast or Building Your Digital Utopia, visit BuildingYourDigitalUtopia.com
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Do you know how likely your customer base is to refer your business to their peers? In this episode, Frank and Joe break down the net promoter score (NPS) function and why it's an insightful metric for your entire organization. Walkthrough how you calculate your NPS, who should be tracking the metric, along with what actions you can take with each group. Also, get answers to questions like, how often should you gather NPS scores? Or, what size should your organization be before you start utilizing NPS?
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
In this episode, Frank interviews Don Crow. Don previously ran his own agency and currently helps B2B organizations activate a RevOps approach on HubSpot so they can maximize their revenue potential.
Don shares his experiences working with B2B organizations and talks through 3 common processes they often lack that limit their growth potential.
- No feedback loop between Customer Service and Marketing
- No sales nurturing
- No agreement on lifecycle stage definitions or processes
Frank and Don explore the impact of each process on the organization and what steps to take to activate the missing pieces with the overall goal to improve the customer experience and streamline the organization's revenue engine.
Connect with Don Crow:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/doncrow/
https://twitter.com/doncrow
Featured Resource: Technical Lifecycle Journey Map
For more information about the podcast or Building Your Digital Utopia, visit buildingyourdigitalutopia.com
In this episode, Frank and Joe go back on forth on the function of RevOps in an SMB. Who is the right person to fill the RevOps leader role in an SMB? Additionally, what core skillsets should they have, and what background makes the best RevOps leader? The debate explores if the RevOps leader in an SMB should focus more on tech or business dev, and where the line should fall between the two skillsets.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
In this episode, Frank and Joe talk about why hunting and closing should be separate functions in your sales team and how you hold each role accountable. They also dive into how you can separate your pipelines to gain better insights into your business performance and the overall customer experience.
Access and download your copy of the Technical Lifecycle Journey Map, the episode's featured tool. This resource will help you outline your customers' macro experience as they move from one lifecycle stage to the next and ensure your teams are aligned around the criteria and triggers the change.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Do you oversee the processes responsible for turning prospects into customers? In this episode, Frank and Joe talk through common hurdles organizations face that limit the flow of your contacts moving from one lifecycle stage to the next.
One example in the episode dives into how the process responsible for managing contacts in the sales pipeline is actually built around the sales team in many organizations. As a result, the sales team ends up being the group with the frictionless experience instead of the prospect due to the sales team having the most input.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Have you heard Growth Hacking and RevOps used interchangeably? It is understandable as there are a lot of similarities between the two approaches.
In this episode, Frank and Joe talk through the difference, similarities, and use cases of Growth Hacking and RevOps. First, dive into the origin of each process to better understand the function and focus of each approach. Then learn what types of organizations and business models are best suited to implement each function.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
See how you can uncover revenue optimization opportunities in your organization and address the hurdles limiting your growth with a proven method to manage bottlenecks.
In this episode, Frank and Joe walk through the RevOps Triage Tree. A process to systematically work through bottlenecks. This method uses a series of questions to help you identify if the challenge is rooted in your technology, business processes, or the people.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Are people just renaming Inbound Marketing as RevOps? Sparked from a recent article titled, "I'm Afraid for our RevOps Community" Frank and Joe explore a potential fear for the future of RevOps. The RevOps community is losing sight of two big questions as it relates to the RevOps function:
- Why does RevOps exist within the organization?
- Where does the function live within the organization?
In this episode, hear how Inbound Marketing talk tracks are working their way over to dilute the core functions of Revenue Operations in an organization and how these mislabels are falsely representing RevOps. The hosts also outline the core responsibility of your RevOps Champion (aka RevOps Leader) in an organization and where the RevOps role land in an organization structure.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
B2B leaders, have you heard yourself say, “Our process isn't working!”.
In this episode, Frank and Joe dive into process, and why process is the first problem you need to address in your organization. Without the right process in place, your people and technology are going to struggle to achieve their objectives. They also walk through steps to identify a process problem and discuss real-life examples of organizations that have overcome process issues. See what steps you can take to make sure your organization's processes help you hit your growth goals.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Is your operations team currently stretched thin or are you looking into activating a RevOps position in your company? In this episode, Frank and Joe talk through the question, what is the difference between RevOps and Ops?
Walkthrough mission and function of each role in the organization as well as who each role is responsible to report to in an organization.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
How can RevOps help a B2B organization address, reduce, and recover from Tech Debt? In this episode, Joseph Freeman and guest, DJ Shirley explore the topic of Tech Debt from a revenue operations perspective. Walkthrough the origins of tech debt, what it is, and how it is defined in the RevOps world. Learn the impact of tech debt, its sources, and how it can be avoided when desired.
Episode's Featured Resource:Technical Lifecycle Journey Map - A tool to help organizations create an overview of the technology and processes that span their customer journey so they can identify gaps and overlaps in their technology platforms. Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
The HubSpot platform is a regular mention on the show so in this episode Frank and Joe dive why HubSpot is the go-to platform for Digitopia. Listen to a walkthrough of the reasons the team encourages organizations to utilize HubSpot when they are looking for a platform that will support and enable the activation of RevOps in the company.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Does the technology in your company empower RevOps? In this episode, Frank Cowell and Joseph Freeman talk through the 5 technology categories your organization must have in place to support a RevOps strategy. The five categories of technology include:
- Service Software
- Sales Software
- Marketing Software
- Middleware
- Reporting/Dashboarding Software
Only through the collection of these software applications can your company begin to create an accurate and actionable overview of your entire customer journey so you can gain clarity around the experience your customer has as they move from one lifecycle stage to the next.
Does the technology in your company empower RevOps? In this [Quick Hit] episode, Frank Cowell and Joseph Freeman provide a brief overview of the five technology categories you need active in your organization to support a RevOps strategy. The five categories of technology include:
- Service Software
- Sales Software
- Marketing Software
- Middleware
- Reporting/Dashboarding Software
Only through the collection of these software applications can your company begin to create an accurate and actionable overview of your entire customer journey so you can gain clarity around the experience your customer has as they move from one lifecycle stage to the next.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Implementing a Revenue Operations growth strategy in your organization is a large undertaking and will require buy-in from your organization's leadership. In this episode, Frank Cowell and Joseph Freeman walkthrough the hurdles an organization can face when activating RevOps and what steps to take to support the adoption. Firstly, explain and drive home the WHY! Dispell any misconceptions about the impact the activation will have on your teams during the onboarding and ongoing process. Next, get your strategic and tactical foundation in place as quickly as possible. Finally, establish a rhythm with your team to regularly meet, review, and collaborate.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Why is alignment such a difficult challenge for B2B organizations, and what are the common sources causing misalignment? In this episode, Frank and Joe explore 3 sources responsible for creating misalignment across an organization. Cause 1 - People are focused on their role's specific function, not how it impacts the company/customer experience as a whole. Cause 2 - Varying data between departments and across internal platforms. Cause 3 - Department KPIs don't compliment each other or leave gaps in the customer journey, negatively impacting the customer experience and causing friction between your teams. Dive into how these sources of misalignment gain footing in a company and how you can best address them.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Are you looking into integrating RevOps (Revenue Operations) into your organization? In this episode, Frank and Joe talk through the needed commitments and expectations an organization needs to be aware of before activating the business function of RevOps. Walkthrough the focus and impact RevOps brings to an organization. Ensure your team can accommodate the time commitments and needed flexibility to adopt a new lens on how they view customers and coordinate with fellow departments.
Books mentioned in the episode:
Traction by Gino Wickman
Principles by Ray Dalio
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Does your organization have a framework that fosters accountability, structure, and vision? Explore the value EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) can bring to an organization. Unpack the importance of running 90-day rhythms for your major initiatives and RevOps efforts. Align on the best practices and uses for company scorecards. Gain clarity around who should be on your leadership team and the responsibilities they carry. Lastly, review the impact of your people by utilizing the People Analyzer so you can make sure you have the right people in the right spots.
Books mentioned in the episode:
Traction by Gino Wickman
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
What changes have RevOps (Revenue Operations) brought to the organizations in recent years? In this episode, Frank and Joe dive into "The State of RevOps Report", a joint effort published by HubSpot and ProfitWell. Unpack the 5 key shifts RevOps has triggered in strategies and processes carried out by business organizations.
- Multi Move Thinking
- Focus on the lifetime value (LTV) of bookings
- Product led growth and consultive sales
- Customer service and success are profit centers
- Sales and marketing work as one
State of RevOps Report Link - https://offers.hubspot.com/rev-ops-report
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Is revenue operations (RevOps) a dedicated responsibility within your company? Is responsibility dedicated to a single role or shared among several team members? Today Frank and Joe talk through the question, Who Owns RevOps in your company? Explore the typical roles that take on the responsibility of leading and overseeing RevOps in the business.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Do you meet and review established KPIs regularly to make sure your organization is on track or making adjustments to stay on target? In this episode, Frank and Joe dive into common KPIs and metrics a revenue operations team should be tracking across the varying customer lifecycle stages within the customer journey.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Is your sales team spending more time sifting through incoming leads versus actually talking with them? If you don't have processes to help manage your lead flow, you will waste time connecting with unqualified leads and neglect the individuals who are ready to talk. In this episode, Frank and Joe dive into Lead Scoring. A process marketing and sales departments use to rate incoming leads based on known information and behavior. Explore the basics of lead scoring, its function, and when you should look into activating the process in your business? Lastly, review the essential criteria needed in your calculations and what information and behavior you should consider incorporating based on your specific industry and business model.
Read a collaborative article by the team breaking down the question What is Lead Scoring for additional details and insights into the practice.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Is your organization utilizing automation in your sales and service departments so you can optimize your team’s time and prevent routine tasks from falling through the cracks? In this episode, Frank and Joe talk through when and where you can be using automation across your organization.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Are you empowering your website traffic with enough value to inspire them to take the next action? In this episode, Frank and Joe outline the processes and best practices needed to generate traffic to your website. Learn the benefits of empowering your visitors through education and value to inspire them to take action. And lastly, once you have your funnels to convert strangers into leads, explore what activities you should be doing to test and optimize the experiences to yield maximum impact.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Do you have a proven process to mature qualified contacts to opportunities and beyond? In this episode, Frank and Joe continue to detail the various processes, activities, and tracking metrics you can put in place to foster a healthy and consistent customer journey through the qualified and opportunity lifecycle stages. You can avoid wasting time and effort reinventing the wheel on methods to mature your prospects by capitalizing on an already proven framework outlined in the customer growth matrix.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Have you established a tried-and-true process for how you turn your sales opportunities into customers? In this episode, Frank and Joe talk through strategies you can implement within your organization to help turn the right sales opportunities into customers. How to identify common bottlenecks or issues that may be converting the wrong type of customer. And, ways you can make sure they are delivering a great handoff between your Sales and Customer Service departments. As a bonus, Frank and Joe also explore how to best utilize case studies: When are the best times to present a case study to a prospect and which formats work best at the different phases of the buyer's journey.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Does your organization have a dedicated system in place to turn your customers into raving fans? Discover why fan creation is the number one place you start when you are focused on growing your organization's revenue. In this episode, Frank and Joe talk through their framework for converting customers into fans. Learn the 8 different categories of activities to practice when breaking down fan creation and what you are striving for with the outlined activities.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Does every department in your organization focus on maximizing the revenue potential of your company? In this episode, Frank and Joe breakdown RevOps (revenue operations) and explore the factors responsible for the creation of RevOps? What was the need in the marketplace that catalyzed the need for RevOps? And how RevOps can integrate into your organization?
For additional information on the topic visit the What is RevOps resource page on the Digitopia website. Learn the 3 foundational pillars that makeup RevOps: Process, Platform, and People.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Do you have specific steps outlined for each stage in your sales process? In this episode, Frank and Joe walk through the intent and function of the remaining 4 steps of their 5 step sales process when selling to B2B organizations.
- Step 1 - Introduction/Connect
- Step 2 - Discovery
- Step 3 - Planning
- Step 4 - Presentation
- Step 5 - Agreement
For an in-depth dive into step 1, listen back to episode 14.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Is your sales pipeline reliable and full of prospects that match your ideal customer profile? Do you have a tried and true sales process established within your organization? In this episode, Frank and Joe dive into a critical component that should be included at the start of an effective sales process, the introductory call. They expand on 3 crucial practices needed to shift your team's mindset with prospects, so every new contact feels like your team is there to help them achieve their goals.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Are your sales and marketing departments working together? Explore why most organizations are misaligned and what processes can be put into place to foster collaboration in the future. A first step includes understanding your company's engine. Are you a marketing-centric business or you're a sales-centric business? In turn, what does that mean in regard to your company's structure, focus, and priorities? Do you have SLAs (Service Level Agreements) in place? See how a straightforward agreement can create clarity and trust between Sales and Marketing.
Books mentioned in the episode:
- Ogilvy on Advertising - David Ogilvy
- Building Your Digital Utopia - Frank Cowell
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Do your platforms empower and inform your team to make strategic shifts to help push the growth of your organization? In this episode, Frank and Joe go over 3 considerations to always keep front of mind when building or reviewing your organization's platforms. Your platforms must provide:
- ALIGNMENT - How to use technology to align your marketing, sales and service teams
- INSIGHTS - How to get actionable insights...not just data...from your business analytics
- ENABLEMENT - How to use technology features to increase efficiencies and personalization at scale
Books mentioned in the episode:
- Never Lose A Customer Again - Joey Coleman
- Building Your Digital Utopia - Frank Cowell
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Are you interested in unlocking a new level of clarity and consistency around client acquisition? Does your acquisition process feel haphazard and elusive at times? In this episode, Frank and Joe walk through basic business math and marketing metrics every business leader should be tracking and sharing with their team. See how to evaluate the health and sustainability of your client acquisition programs. Learn the impact of aligning your marketing, sales, and service teams around your business math and client acquisition numbers. Explore how this newly gained awareness can empower each team member with an understanding of how they impact and support client acquisition processes.
Books mentioned in the episode:
- Good to Great - Jim Collins
- Building Your Digital Utopia - Frank Cowell
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Are you aligning a customer-centric approach, buyer personas, and content strategy to build one cohesive brand experience that will convert strangers into the ultimate brand fans? In this episode, Frank and Joe will walk you through the Digital Utopia Blueprint to help orient you further with the methodology and practice. Re-explore the seven relationship levels to help illustrate all the activities needed at each level. You will also review the content and offers at each of the levels so you can get a sense of the full brand experience.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Are you using content to elevate your brand, increase awareness, and generate sales? Listen to Frank and Joe talk through what makes content good or bad. Learn how to build a content strategy to support different stages in the buyer’s journey. What methods you can utilize to identify relevant content topics you and your team should create and how to operationalize a culture of content creation in your organization.
Books mentioned in the episode:
- They Ask, You Answer - Marcus Sheridan
- Atomic Habits - James Clear
- Building Your Digital Utopia - Frank Cowell
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Wondering how to build a useful buyer persona? Wish your departments were better aligned? In this episode, Frank Cowell and Joseph Freeman talk through the process of creating a buyer persona that is routinely referenced by your various teams. Learn what steps to take to avoid the mistakes most B2B companies make when creating personas. See how you can actually make your Buyer Persona document useful day-in and day-out for your tactical teams along with why your sales, marketing, andservicedepartmentsneed to be operating off of your buyer personas.
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Do you know what emotions are influencing the buying decision of your B2B customers? Are you looking for methods to operationalize storytelling across your marketing, sales, and service teams? Frank Cowell and Joseph Freeman explore the impact of highlighting your buyers' transformation when they engage with your product or service. In this episode, gain clarity around why stories of transformation are likely the biggest missing link in your growth strategy.
Books mentioned in the episode:
- Never Lose A Customer Again - Joey Coleman
- The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell
- Building Your Digital Utopia - Frank Cowell
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Is your B2B organization committed and consistent when it comes to strategy and initiatives? In this episode, Frank Cowell and Joseph Freeman explore Commitment and Consistency, the 5th and final philosophy outlined in Building Your Digital Utopia. Explore the leading causes of why businesses fail in their first several years and how to avoid them. The difference between a goal and objective and how to best use them to align your team. Lastly, learn how you can instill the fundamentals of commitment and consistency to successfully breakthrough plateau and continually take your business to new levels.
Books mentioned in episode:
- Principals - Ray Dalio
- Building Your Digital Utopia - Frank Cowell
Brought to you by - Digitopia
Would you like to increase sales without investing in more traffic or awareness? In this episode, Frank Cowell and Joseph Freeman discuss "Top Down Optimization" philosophy #4 of the 5 core philosophies outlined in Building Your Digital Utopia. Learn how you can increase output by optimization your existing clients and turning them into raving fans.
Learn more about - Building Your Digital Utopia
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Do your client-facing teams see metics or relationships? Are they always busy and pushing to knock out initiatives, or are they taking the time to build relationships with prospects? In this episode, Frank Cowell and Joseph Freeman discuss "Slow Down to Speed Up" philosophy #3 of the 5 core philosophies outlined in Building Your Digital Utopia. Explore the common pitfalls that companies experience when they try to accelerate the sales process. Learn how slowing down your sales process results in faster, healthier, long-term relationships with your future clients.
Learn more about - Building Your Digital Utopia
Podcast Brought to you by - Digitopia
Are you the resource you strive to be for your customers? Does your team continually answer a common collection of questions or are they proactively answering questions your prospects haven't even asked yet? In this episode, Frank Cowell and Joseph Freeman discuss “Hyper-Specificity," philosophy #2 of the 5 core philosophies outlined in Building Your Digital Utopia. They dive into the importance of focusing on your target persona so you can truly understand and address the key pain point they are facing. Following this process allows you to stand out from all the noise in the marketplace and be the resource your prospects want to work with.
Is your organization committed to a service-oriented mindset? Are you delivering the value you know your company is capable of providing? In this episode, Frank Cowell and Joseph Freeman discuss the "Service Mindset," philosophy 1 of the 5 core philosophies outlined in Building Your Digital Utopia. Listen to explore the value of committing to a service mindset and review examples of brands who have dedicated themselves to a service-driven mindset as well as companies who have missed the mark.
Welcome to the first episode of The Digital Utopia Podcast. A show dedicated to supporting frustrated executives and leadership teams. Learn how you can simplify your strategy, and align your Marketing, Sales, and Service departments, so they’re part of one powerhouse growth team. In this episode, Frank Cowell and Joseph Freeman outline the strategies, philosophies, and tools that will change your approach to organizational growth. You will see how to activate a renewed focus and clarity, so you can build a brand that not only gains traction but achieves goals.