EP. 17 - Effective Strategy Shows Where To Play And How To Win To Win w/ Steve Patti

This episode I speak with Steve Patti who brings a wealth of knowledge to the show about sales, marketing, and business development. He has held roles as a CMO, sales leader, and entrepreneur in companies ranging from $10 million in revenue to several billion. He has also built and teaches Entrepreneurial Selling as part of Trinity University’s Forbes Top 10 ranked Entrepreneurship Program.

What you'll learn from our conversation:

• The relationship between business, brand, and sales strategy

• What CMOs really think about the current state of MarTech

• Sales and Marketing must learn how to effectively leverage the CRM to be able to meet the demands of the modern buyer

• What the real purpose of content should be

Additional Links:

“Playing to Win” by A.G. Lafley and Roger Martin (book)

Growth through Focus: A Blueprint for Driving Profitable Expansion (article)

MarTech Landscape 2018 (article)

Creating “togetherness” to Drive Revenue Growth (The Alignment Blog)

Connect with Steve on LinkedIn or Twitter

Music/Production: Chris "KID" Robinson, Hitmakuzz Productions
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EP. 16 - Leverage Transparency To Shorten Sales Cycles w/ Todd Caponi

This episode I speak with Todd Caponi, Author of “The Transparency Sale” and Principal at Sales Melon. Todd pulls from his vast experiences as a sales leader at companies like Power Reviews and Exact Target (Salesforce) to help modern sellers understand the importance of transparency in closing more deals with customers.

What you'll learn from our conversation:

• Showing what your product is not good at can actually help you increase trust and shorten the sales cycle

• The Review Economy’s influence on how b2b buyers make decisions today

• The importance of knowing the content about your product on 3rd-party websites

• Buyers are not good at assessing their own pain and need sellers to act as personal trainers to help them find their true business issues

Additional Links:

“The Transparency Sale” (Todd’s book)

Todd’s Keynote Speaker Reel (Video)

Connect with Todd on LinkedIn here

Music/Production: Chris "KID" Robinson, Hitmakuzz Productions
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EP. 15 - Get More Buy-in By Connecting Alignment With Business Strategy w/ Maggie Sarf

This episode I speak with Maggie Safro, CEO of Meres Consult located in London. She is an author, speaker, advisor and consultant that focuses on transformation, business growth, and peak performance.

Maggie has significant cross-industry experience with a special interest in high-growth B2B tech companies embarking on ambitious growth strategies and digital transformation. Her more recent work with world class advisory, research, and consulting firms like Gartner and WPP has led her to partnering on numerous strategic sales/marketing growth programs.

What you'll learn from our conversation:

• Importance of tying alignment efforts to corporate strategy to get better CEO and stakeholder buy-in

• Most relevant KPIs to focus on for an aligned revenue growth effort

• Alignment must start with decoding the buyer’s journey using insights from both Sales and Marketing

• The #1 question the CEO should be asking every head of Sales and Marketing

Additional Links:

Maggie’s Blog

Evolution of the Buyer – Steps to 6X Client Spend (Book)

Hey, CEO! Alignment Is Worth It (The Alignment Blog)

Connect with Maggie on LinkedIn here

Music/Production: Chris "KID" Robinson, Hitmakuzz Productions
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EP. 14 - The Neuroscience Of Human Collaboration w/ Moran Cerf, Ph.D

This episode I speak with Moran Cerf, Ph.D. He is a professor of Neuroscience and Business at Northwestern University. His research uses methods from neuroscience to understand the underlying mechanisms of our psychology, behavior changes, emotion, decision making and dreams.

He holds multiple patents and his works have been published in wide-circulation academic journals such as Nature and Journal of Neuroscience, as well as popular science journals such as Scientific American Mind, Wired, New Scientist and more. Additionally, his work has been portrayed in numerous media and cultural outlets such as CNN, BBC, Bloomberg, NPR, Time, MSNBC, and dozens of others. He has been featured in venues such as the Venice Art Biennial and China's Art, Science and Technology association, and has contributed to magazines such as Forbes, The Atlantic, Inc., and others.

What you'll learn from our conversation:

• What neuroscience teaches us about human collaboration

• Multiple types of empathy are needed for a team to be optimally effective

• Methods to improve trust between sales and marketing teams

• How to construct reward systems that actually incentivize better collaboration and higher performance

Additional Links:

Moran Cerf’s Background and Research Focus

Neuroscience and Marketing on Velocitize Talks (Video)

Hackers, Empathy, And Neuroscience: A Conversation with Moran Cerf @ 1871 (Forbes)

Connect with Prof. Cerf on LinkedIn here

Music/Production: Chris "KID" Robinson, Hitmakuzz Productions
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EP. 13 - How To Choose The Right Sales Tech w/ Nancy Nardin

This episode I speak with Nancy Nardin - Founder of Smart Selling Tools and Co-Founder of Vendor Neutral - a company that helps enterprises identify technology requirements and discover practical industry solutions personalized for where they are in their technology journey.

She is an expert in Sales Technology and Sales Transformation backed by 25+ years of experience as a sales executive in information technology and services. Her customer list includes Fortune 100 companies such as Microsoft, Intel, and Hewlett Packard as well as many of Silicon Valley’s hottest start-ups.

What you'll learn from our conversation:

• It’s no longer about MarTech or SalesTech, it’s about building an effective Revenue Tech Stack

• The basic Revenue Tech you need to empower your team to close more deals

• How AI is helping us sell smarter and more efficiently

• Why leadership needs to invest more budget in SalesTech immediately

Additional Links:

Vendor Neutral (Company)

Is it Time to Automate Sales Demos (Linkedin Article)

What I Learned About the Future of AI and Sales (The Alignment Blog)

Connect with Nancy on LinkedIn here

Don’t forget to leave a 5-star review on iTunes if you found our conversation valuable!

Music/Production: Chris "KID" Robinson, Hitmakuzz Productions
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EP. 12 - Buyers Want To Hear From You Early In Their Journey w/ Mike Schultz

This episode I speak with Mike Schultz. He is the Founder and President at RAIN Group - a global sales training and performance improvement company that unleashes sales potential by delivering transformational experiences for clients. Beyond being a world-renowned speaker, researcher, and sales expert, he is also the author of the Wall Street Journal best-seller “Rainmaking Conversations”.

Business Week, Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, American Express OPEN, MSNBC, and hundreds of others have interviewed and featured Mike's original articles, research, and white papers. He has often appeared on top-ranked radio, TV, and podcast programs to discuss various sales topics and research findings. 

What you'll learn from our conversation:

• The fact that buyers actually want to hear from sellers much earlier in the buying process and why

• How the Paradox of Choice is killing your deals and what to do about it

• The 2 most important questions you must be able to answer for b2b buyers today in order to get their attention and actually close business

Additional Links:

Rainmaking Conversations: Influence, Persuade, and Sell in Any Situation (Book)

5 Sales Prospecting Myths Debunked(White Paper)

How Sales Can Win Before 57% of the Buyer’s Journey is Over (The Alignment Blog)

Connect with Mike on LinkedIn here

Don’t forget to leave a 5-star review on iTunes if you found our conversation valuable!

Music/Production: Chris "KID" Robinson, Hitmakuzz Productions
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EP. 11 - Fix Misalignment By Indentifying The Root Cause w/ Peter Strohkorb

This episode I speak with Peter Strohkorb - Founder/CEO of Peter Strohkorb International. He is a consultant and author of "The OneTEAM Method". He focuses on aligning Sales, Marketing, and Customer Experience (CX) with the way customers want to buy to make companies a customer magnet. 

What you'll learn from our conversation:

• Peter's "aha" moment about the way Sales and Marketing interacted with each other in the corporate setting

• An alignment test that shows you how well your Sales and Marketing teams are actually collaborating

• What happened in the 90's that caused today's current state of misalignment

• Who should "own" alignment between Sales and Marketing within the company

Additional Links:

The OneTEAM Method (Peter's Book on Amazon)

http://www.peterstrohkorbconsulting.com/

The Moment I Knew Sales + Marketing = Genius! (The Alignment Blog)

Connect with Peter on LinkedIn here

Don’t forget to leave a 5-star review on iTunes if you found our conversation valuable!

Music/Production: Chris "KID" Robinson, Hitmakuzz Productions
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EP. 10 - Decreasing Time To Revenue Requires A Focus On Customer Value w/ Roderick Jefferson

This episode I speak with Roderick Jefferson - CEO of Roderick Jefferson & Associates, LLC which is sales enablement company focused on driving growth in small/mid-size companies and Fortune 500 corporations. He is also a founding member of the Sales Enablement Society which has the goal to better define the sales enablement functions and roles that currently exist within organizations and ultimately solve the vast disparities that exist in the profession today

What you'll learn from our conversation:

• The relationship between Sales Enablement and the strategic alignment of Sales and Marketing

• A phased approach to decreasing time to revenue

• The importance of focusing on customer value throughout the entire customer journey

Additional Links:

Sales Enablement in Action with Roderick Jefferson (Selling Power)

http://roderickjefferson.com/ 

What I Learned at the Sales Enablement Society Meeting (The Alignment Blog)

Connect with Roderick on LinkedIn here

Don’t forget to leave a 5-star review on iTunes if you found our conversation valuable!

Music/Production: Chris "KID" Robinson, Hitmakuzz Productions
Subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | RSS