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We feature the brightest minds in B2B sales and marketing, sharing secrets to driving greater volume, velocity and conversion of sales pipelines in any industry. We cover the entire pipeline– demand generation, lead management, sales effectiveness, technology and more– all focused on helping you find, manage and win more business.
Episodes
Tuesday Nov 08, 2016
Tuesday Nov 08, 2016
Our guest today is Jim Ninivaggi, Senior VP of Strategic Partnerships at Brainshark, Inc. Some of what we are covering in this episode is:
- How do you define sales enablement?
- Can you walk us through the evolution of the sales enablement function? What did it look like five years ago? What’s the state of sales enablement today?
- Where do you see sales enablement one year from now?
- What are some key, top-of-mind issues that sales enablement leaders are focused on?
- What are some issues they may not be focused on but should be?
About our guest:
Jim Ninivaggi is senior vice president of strategic partnerships at Brainshark, Inc., a leading sales enablement solutions company. He has three decades of experience studying and driving sales productivity. Prior to Brainshark, Jim founded and led the sales enablement research practice at research and advisory firm SiriusDecisions – publishing hundreds of research briefs, reports, and blog posts during his 10 years at the firm, and helping shape and raise awareness for the sales enablement space.
Ways to connect with Jim Ninivaggi and learn more about Brainshark:
- Brainshark, Inc. (www.brainshark.com) – a leading provider of sales enablement solutions for training, coaching and buyer engagement, helping companies close more deals faster.
- Brainshark Integration Engine – newly announced, this connects all the content, data and applications in organizations’ sales enablement ecosystems.
- Continual enhancements to Brainshark for Coaching, Brainshark’s award-winning sales coaching solution. Brainshark for Coaching empowers sales managers to coach their teams anytime, anywhere – so reps are prepared to capitalize on every sales interaction.
Monday Oct 24, 2016
Monday Oct 24, 2016
Campaign refined emails are the key. Can't just put it in the byte bucket. Everyone is too busy. Lead Gnome is that solution to find the pockets of value the rest of the market is ignoring. Matt didn't see any solution to accomplish what he needed, so he built it. It's looking for insights into the internal buying machines. Surprising enough you can gain a lot of insights from "out of office" messages. You will basically be given the org chart of the company.
They looked at trigger events and campaigns around bounces. A bounced email happens when someone leaves the company. "Matt's no longer with the company, but Sally is here..." This gives you a lot of information and opportunity for an introduction and you can look for Matt at his next company, which is probably in a similar position. You can get two contacts from the one bounce. Who did Matt replace? Where did Sally leave to take Matt's old job? This is 4 contacts from one bounce.
This is about unpacking the information in the body of the email, this is not scraping. This is human written information in the body.
This was just in the first 8 minutes. You need this replay!
Matt Benati is the CEO and Co-founder of LeadGnome, an innovative Account Based Intelligence web service that mines email responses to deliver account-specific contacts, enhance existing leads, and provide actionable sales intelligence. Matt is a passionate believer that sales and marketing alignment, transparency, and communication optimize revenue generation, and he champions this philosophy in his teams and writings. He participates actively in the market-changing FlipMyFunnel, Account Based Marketing, and Account Based Everything communities. Matt is a contributor at the Account-Based everything hub. Matt’s previous positions include VP Marketing at LogMeIn, VP Global Marketing at Attunity and senior roles at Netezza and IBM. You can follow Matt on Twitter at @mattbenati.
Tuesday Oct 18, 2016
Tuesday Oct 18, 2016
Our guest, Jamie Shanks tells us he was doing Sales 2.0 and went BK doing so. He needed to change with the buyer and he was missing that step. Social Selling became a survival mechanism. He reversed the selling process to leverage social media. That's how it started.
03:45 :
Matt asked, "What is your definition of social selling in late 2016 and what does it mean for professional sales people?"
Jamie asked us to picture three circles, like a Venn diagram.
The intersecting middle is what social selling is.
There are three types of sales processes
- Insight based selling
- Trigger based selling
- Referral based selling
Conversion of those three processes is what social selling is.
05:45
Matt asked if Jamie still sees the companies that continue to block social media sites in house and see it as a distraction. REALLY? That still goes on? You may be surprised at Jamie's answer. You'll have to tune in to hear his observations.
"I get that we have those tools and that they can amplify our messages and brand to our customer..."
About our guest, Jamie Shanks, CEO, Sales for Life:
Jamie Shanks is a world leading Social Selling expert, responsible for pioneering the space. Jamie Shanks has trained 1,000’s of sales professionals from Fortune 500 companies to solopreneurs.
Tuesday Oct 11, 2016
Tuesday Oct 11, 2016
Sales and sales training have been our guest, Deb Calvert's, passion since she was a child earning money for extra weeks at summer camp. You need to catch the beginning of this show to hear how she was originally motivated to get into sales.
She talked about 8 reasons we'd ever ask a question are summarized in DISCOVER (this is an acronym). Most sales people only ask questions for 3-4 reasons. If you open it up to all 8, you open yourself up to be of real value in the conversation and prospects will share the same with you.
Let's start within the first five seconds of meeting someone to make you more elegant and effective at advancing sales.Shoot her an email and she'll send you this list of questions. [email protected]
Her site has a lot of free tools to getting prospects to the point of curiosity fast to learn more about what you are offering. Visit PeopleFirstPS.com
She has a great book: DISCOVER Questions(tm) Get You Connected – LISTENER SPECIAL! BOOKMARK this page. It is continuously updated. Some of what she and Matt are talking about the survey that asks you "When were you at your personal best?" This goes through March. This is how she gathers valuable information.
A bit about Deb Calvert:
Deb Calvert, “DISCOVER Questions® Get You Connected” author, Top 50 Sales Influencer, UC-Berkeley instructor. Deb leads the Stop Selling & Start Leading movement and offers sales training, coaching and leadership development programs. Deb is certified as an executive and sales coach and is a Certified Master of The Leadership Challenge®.
Building Organizational Strength by Putting People First. We focus on the people parts of business, including:
- Coaching for Executives, Managers & Sales Teams
- Leadership Development for Leaders at Every Level
- Training for Managers and Sales Professionals
- Consulting on Team Effectiveness, Sales Productivity, Sales Selection
- Keynote addresses on DISCOVER Questions®, sales productivity, leadership connectivity
Specialties:
- MBTI Certified Practitioner
- Certified Executive Coach, the CEC (ICF)
- Full curriculum for sales team training, customized to your industry & market
- Author of the DISCOVER Questions® book series and questioning model
Tuesday Oct 11, 2016
Tuesday Oct 11, 2016
Our guest is Lara Shackelford of Altify. Altify sells to sales professionals. With their software, every sales rep can sell like your BEST sales rep. More reveals followed at DreamForce as it ties to AI and Einstein.
Matt asked what AI means to sales and marketing leaders. Lara told us, "It's important to bring the augmented intelligence piece to help humans perform better. An example - a sales rep is working 4-5 deals critical for the quarter, with our software they can be notified if a change is noticed affecting their influence on the sales decisions by looking at more than past data."
Matt then asked if there is there a difference between augmented and predictive analytics and intelligence. Lara gave a quick overview:
- Predictive - predicts what will happen in the future based on a lot of data. This involves high quantity of data.
- Augmented takes knowledge and context into providing a solution and be able to flag insights to alert the human to be more effective and generate results based on the data and knowledge.
This has been the missing piece - the CONTEXT. This helps guide the next best step. Catch the replay of this show to get more insights from Lara Shackelford.
More about Lara Shackelford:
Tuesday Sep 27, 2016
Tuesday Sep 27, 2016
Our guest today is Joe Chernov. He's VP of Marketing @InsightSquared. He also lends a hand to startups and wildlife causes when he can. Diving right in, he says, "It's unbelievable what you can get done if you don't care if you get fired!" Talking about his experience at Eloqua, "If we were to publish something that is valuable, we could edge our way into deeper coverage by the media."
Scorecard - even though we're not supposed to keep score:
16 articles after spending 2 years developing a product and writing up the release.
An infographic got 800 articles. Very eye-opening.
Joe says, "Content marketing is what happens when a marketing department shifts its thinking from knowing that the company that signs their paychecks needs to shift to the customer signs the paycheck." That shift in mindset turned collateral into an ebook, a self-serving whitepaper into a more valuable, lengthy piece of content.
Shifting strategies from serving the executive to serving the buyer changes everything.
Q. Is there a concern we are flooding the world with content so much so that it will no longer work at some point?
A. There is more content marketing happening which makes it more and more difficult for signals to be heard, but that's only the surface. 50% of a company's content never gets used. It puts more pressure on originality. We've rested on our laurels a bit.
Definitive guides, whitepapers - been done years ago by the industry leaders.
Q. What are the ways you distinguishing your efforts at InsightSquared to stand out?
A. Trying to apply some of the ethos that makes good content marketing - serving the BUYER. Applying it to direct mail. Rather than a coffee mug or t-shirt with logo on it. Something more original. If we close loosely - demo, in funnel - we try to accelerate them coming back. Postcard: Come Running Back - link on back to enter your shoe size. Gets them a pair of Nikes WITHOUT logo. The deal isn't done.
Think creatively. Be memorable. Keep the conversation, interest and value going.
Hear more solutions, reveals and ideas in the full replay.
Monday Sep 19, 2016
Monday Sep 19, 2016
Nationally respected business etiquette coach, Arden Clise is our guest for this episode. She has just published her book, "Spinach in your boss' teeth" available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and on her site: CliseEtiquette.com . This is a great gift for your team or for you. Many of the tips SHOULD be obvious, but perhaps you weren't paying attention when your mother tried to clue you in. She covers dining, online etiquette, business tips to make your value shine. Her specialty is assisting clients to confidently and comfortably navigate business situations.
Some of what we covered in this episode includes these highlights:
When is it appropriate to use your digital device in a meeting?
Boomers are really bothered by people pulling out devices in meetings, texting, etc.
If you are in a meeting, do not pull out your phones in the meeting. Start with that.
If you are leading the meeting, set the tone at the beginning of the meeting. "Please put your devices away during this meeting."
When you pull devices out, not only do you miss subtle clues and information, it signals to them that the phone is more important than the person in front of you. This should be obvious. It's become a pacifier for people in meetings - something to fidget with.
We know some people use it as a note taking device.If you have to use your computer/device - let them know that's what you are doing - taking notes and then ONLY TAKE NOTES - DO NOT get distracted.
IMPORTANT FACT:
Use pen and paper - you actually learn it better, retain more AND there is not doubt you are taking notes and not pretending to take notes while checking the game scores or Facebook.
When you are using a laptop/tablet to take notes, you are not able to be as present and you miss some of the non-verbal cues. Multi-tasking is a myth. Non-verbal cues can be the difference between building the relationship and wasting everyone's time.
On the phone: Without body language cues, we have to rely on our TONE on the phone - a warmer tone - really helps. SMILING while you are talking. It immediately puts warmth in our voices. Sounds corny, but it works.
PLEASE JUST STOP saying my name every few seconds - it is SO phony - it makes us cringe. Use the name of the person ONCE perhaps twice, beginning and end, but that's it.
Interrupting people. Without body language you can't tell when they are wrapping up. Let them pause and end before you jump in! You will get your chance. A bit of air in a conversation can draw more attention to what you say next. Use that to your advantage.
Dining etiquette:
Find out if your guest has food restrictions. No sense taking vegans to a steakhouse.
Don't put the decision of "where" on them. Suggest a great restaurant for them after you know their restrictions or preferences.
Make the arrangements - make it easy on them and arrive early.
Avoid the awkward check grab - have cashier/maître d run card as you're leaving and arrange with server ahead of time.
Round table full of settings - which parts are yours, which are your neighbor's? Simple thing to remember: BMW - Bread (left) meal (middle) WATER (glasses on the right).
Networking question: Hug or handshake?
Ask, "Can I give you a hug?" - let them make a move - if you already know them and have met.
Handshake is ALWAYS appropriate.
Who is the book for?
ANYONE who has ever wondered how to handle etiquette dilemmas in the workplace.
Amazon or Barnes & Noble or CliseEtiquette.com to buy the book. Visiting Arden's site will allow you to sign up for her newsletters, too.
You'll have to listen to the full episode and TAKE NOTES.
Tuesday Sep 13, 2016
Tuesday Sep 13, 2016
Jim Obermayer sitting in for Matt today with guest, Ken Thoreson, of Acumen Management Group. Their firm is focused on execution, discipline, accountability to the sales organization.
He has just published his fourth book in a series:
The other three in the series are:
Some of what is covered in the book includes:
- How do you on-board a new sales manager? Within 6 months, new sales managers are usually slammed.
- Leadership and management skills playing together don't usually get taught.
- Lifespan of a sales manager is about 18 months.Marketing will go back and write a new plan, but the sales managers get fired.
New sales managers seem to focus on micro issues, tracking numbers and activity, and forget they need to have emotional leadership and inspire people to execute. It is the manager's job to instill work ethic, intensity, high levels of performance and interest in creating high levels of results.
The sales manager typically will ask, "What are you going to do today? What are your goals for the day?"
The stunned sales person stammers a defensive reply, "I'm going to get on the phone...I'm going to call prospects.."
At the end of the day, what determines the level of success you had for the day?
On AcumenManagement.com there are a ton of free tools, including, Top 40 actions a sales manager must activate to create predictable revenue."
Jim asked Ken,"What is the biggest challenge you see a new sales manager has in the first 2-3 months?"
First, you have to set priorities based on the situation.
Assume you are walking into a turnaround role - sales are poor...observe, reflect, make a few changes so the team sees that things are getting fixed.
Then you go about setting priorities, goals and then expressing your vision of what you want to achieve over the next 90 days to 6 months.
Most act too quickly or chew off more than they can achieve.
If you are walking into a role where you are replacing someone successful. Then it's sitting back again and understanding the players, building trust first.
Ken finds that there is a lot of talk in struggling organizations about "them" and "us" or "those people." There is a line between WE as a team. That line needs to be broken down immediately for the vision, direction and belief of where you are going. This is building culture.
Listen to the full episode to get more insights.
Wednesday Sep 07, 2016
Wednesday Sep 07, 2016
Content Marketing, the term didn't exist 12 Years ago - let's review - We used to create a 10 second TV ad to send consumer to a website to fill out a form. We've evolved into industry, job level, geographic filters, rather than simply send the inquiry to IT.
The precision of targeting has become so much more sophisticated. There is then a splintering of attention. We are talking MICROSECONDS for the initial and ongoing conversations.
"The noise and clutter are at insane levels." NetLine addresses the HUMAN side of business. Problem-solving centric. You speak to the millisecond mindset. Perhaps you convey this with an image that displays the problem-solving you will do for them in the ONE glance to get them to stay and read more or take another action.
As you've grown in NetLine, what have you learned?
"DELEGATION is key. People take it for granted that it's easily done. This is something that would impede my success if I insisted on controlling all aspects. This includes being more communicative in my team and with our partners."
9:45: Where are you seeing some of these things going - precision of campaigns, splintering, attention span?
"This backs into the stage of the consumer lifecycle. Video is certainly really hot right now, but it's not predisposed to lead generation." He also covered infographics, user expectations that a lot of this should be ungated. eBook success has been huge. If they are done well, they take complicated topics and distill them into humanized value points with more personality." This is the evolution of whitepapers.
To get more "where we were, where we are going" insights, listen to the full episode.
About our guest, David Fortino:
David Fortino, SVP Audience and Product at NetLine Corporation brings a wealth of expertise in developing strategic distribution partnerships. His core strength lies in expanding targeted and contextually relevant audiences through strategic relationships and channel partnerships spanning leading industry marketplaces.
Thursday Sep 01, 2016
Thursday Sep 01, 2016
It starts with the sales managers, and it then goes to the training, coaching and support THOSE managers receive. How can they pass it down unless they know it as they breathe?
Steven Rosen has over 15 years of executive experience. His fresh approach to corporate leadership, strategy development, execution and team-building in the pharmaceutical and packaged goods sectors defined his success. His expertise in aligning sales and marketing initiatives to achieve key business results and exceed customer expectations has continually exceeded sales objectives from his days as a sales rep to his achievements as a VP of sales for Alcon and Biovail.
If you manage sales managers, check out starresults.com and sign up for any guide you can find there, including the The 2016 Managers' Survey:
Key takeaways
- Coaching
- Key performance
- Hiring
- Business acumen
- Leadership
The answer to sales related problems can be an app, a program, a widget - but it may not solve the problem of RESULTS.
- Sales Management coaching drives more sales.
- Managers ranked the lowest on coaching.
- 53% of companies are providing some sort of coaching, training and development.
- Only 44% of companies had a well-defined, well-understood coaching program.