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Take the time to listen to this hugely popular, classic episode packed with sage sales advice. Joining Andy for the roundtable discussion today are Richard Harris, Founder of the Harris Consulting Group, Mark Cox, Founder of In the Funnel Sales Coaching and host of The Selling Well Podcast, and Matt Dixon, Wall Street Journal best selling co author of The Challenger Sale, The Effortless Experience, The Challenger Customer, and his new book, The Jolt Effect. They begin by discussing some of the best ways to offer value to clients, the role of technology in enhancing sales, the challenge of being constantly pitched by vendors and the lack of interest in product details, and they propose a "common sense revolution in sales," where the focus is on improving clients' businesses. They challenge both traditional sales training methods, and current compensation structures, and argue that ROI is more crucial than simply offering a cheaper price. The group turns its focus to the essential skill of asking open-ended questions, which can separate the best sellers from the rest, the significance of listening and truly understanding the client's pain points in their specific context, how to earn the right to ask questions, and being one step ahead and adaptable to shifting buyer behavior.Connect with Richard, Matt, and MarkHost Andy Paul is the expert on modern B2B selling and author of three best-selling, award-winning sales books, including his latest Sell Without Selling Out. Visit andypaul.com to subscribe to his newsletter for even more strategies and tips to accelerate your win rate!
Back by popular demand, Brent Adamson, the mind behind The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer, returns to our podcast for another encore. In this episode, sponsored by Physician Growth Accelerator, Brent continues to unravel the complexities of modern sales dynamics specifically tailored to the unique challenges faced by surgeons and medical practitioners. As physicians focus on patient care, the need for clear and concise information from sales reps becomes crucial. Brent delves into effective strategies that sales professionals can employ to not only enhance the decision-making process for surgeons but also to secure their trust and confidence in an increasingly competitive market. Join us for more on: Tailoring sales approaches to meet the sophisticated needs of medical professionals The critical role of transparency and simplicity in medical sales Strategies for aligning with buying groups to streamline purchasing decisions Overcoming common obstacles that healthcare providers face during the buying process Empowering sales reps with deeper knowledge of their customers' operations and challenges Resources from this episode: Get the free MedTech Talk Tracks for Action Physician Growth Accelerator Brent's Breakdown Customer Value Community Challenger Sale Challenger Customer Social Media: Connect with Brent on LinkedIn Connect with Zed on LinkedIn Connect with Clark on LinkedIn
Send us a textW 179 odcinku podcastu Business Marketer opowiadam o metodzie Commercial insight. Czyli podejściu zapewniającym nie tylko edukację klientów, ale i zachęcających ich do działania. Niestety treści zbyt skupione na produkcie czy dostawcy, często są cenione przez klientów, ale badania firmy Gartner (wczesniej CEB), dowodzą, że nie zachęcają klientów do działania. Na podstawie tych badań specjaliści z CEB, potem kupionego przez Gartnera opracowali metodę Commercial Insight, o której opowiadam w tym odcinku.Dowiesz się między innymi: Dlaczego większość treści nie skłania klientów do działaniaCzym różni się metoda Commercial Insight od tradycyjnych sposobów budowania przekazu marketingowego i sprzedażowegoJak zaprojektować treści tą metodąJakie korzyści wynikają ze stosowania metody Commercial Insight w marketingu i sprzedażyJakie są warunki przygotowania skutecznego przekazu tą metodąLinki do materiałów i źródeł omawianych w tym podcascie:Książka "Sprzedawaj jak Challenger"Książka "Challenger Customer"Aplikacja ScoreAPP do tworzenia narzędzi typu samodzielna diagnoza, autoanaliza, checklistaPolecam Ci mój kurs "B2B Marketing Manager"Dowiesz się z niego między innymi:Jak budować strategię i plan marketingowyJak skutecznie pozyskiwać klientów biznesowychJak integrować działania marketingowe i sprzedażoweJak skutecznie mierzyć działania marketingu B2BJak zarządzać i rozwijać zespół marketingowyJak korzystać z nowoczesnych narzędzi marketingowychPo więcej materiałów o marketingu B2B zapraszam na mój blog: https://businessmarketer.plMasz pomysł na odcinek podcastu? Napisz do mnie: lukasz.kosuniak@businessmarketer.pl
Consolidating sales and marketing into the office of the CRO might be a controversial topic, but it can be healthy for demand and sales functions to become enmeshed.In this episode of the SaaS Backwards podcast, our guest Cliff Simon, CRO of Carabiner Group, explains how aligning demand and sales functions can create a more cohesive and effective go-to-market strategy.Cliff shares his belief that companies need to have a unified leader at the very top of everything go-to-market. He breaks down how sales and marketing are two sides of the same coin, and why looking at everything through a revenue lens is critical for success.We also discuss Cliff's collaboration with Nick Toman, author of The Challenger Customer and Carabiner Group's Chief Product and Strategy Officer. Cliff highlights Nick's expertise in market research, referencing his latest report, "Commercial Success in 2025 Hinges on GTM Strategy."Topics covered in this episode include the evolution of enterprise sales as SaaS companies scale, achieving capital efficiency in go-to-market strategies, and measuring progress in enterprise sales.Looking for ways Carabiner Group can boost your Revenue Operations? Check out the GTM Tech Stack Audit and Analysis Workbook—a valuable resource for mapping the relationship between your GTM strategies and technology stack.Key takeaways from this episode:Advantages of combining sales and marketing under the office of the CROThe state of go-to-market and insights on how to achieve capital efficiencyHow to measure progress in the enterprise saleOther resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You're Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today's b2b buyer.And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting---Thanks for listening to the SaaS Backwards Podcast, brought to you by Austin Lawrence Group. We help SaaS firms reduce churn, accelerate sales, and generate demand. Learn more at AustinLawrence.com.---Is your messaging a sales ally or sneaky saboteur? Let us help with our free messaging audit.We'll look at your website's messaging, content, and conversion potential from the eyes of today's buyer and deliver a presentation with new combinations to more sales conversations and demos. And the best part? It's absolutely free. Get started today!
This is the interview all you entrepreneurs and sales professionals have been waiting for! Are you wondering how to master the art of sales in the age of AI and influence educated modern buyers like a pro? I sat down with the sales genius himself, Brent Adamson, coauthor of “The Challenger Sale” and “The Challenger Customer,” and a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review. Get ready to gain valuable insights from his extensive sales knowledge, expertise, tips, and tricks. Brent is a thought leader who has reshaped the sales landscape. His work initiated the Insight Selling movement and has sold over 1,000,000 copies worldwide. In this episode, you'll learn about: -Turning prospects into loyal customers
Buyer's are tired, frustrated and want to make a purchase decision, but they need help making sense of all the information and processes internally and externally.Guiding them, being a sherpa, helping them confidently make a decision is our role. Being empathetic to their situation of overwhelm and validating their feelings goes a long way.Connect with them to build trust, show your true desire to help over your desire to pitch and close the deal.Tune in where world renowned researcher, co-author of The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer and now Global Head of Research at Ecosystems Brent Adamson shares his knowledge and experience. He dives in to what we should be doing as sales professionals to create a memorable experience for our buyers and the various dimensions to understand to align our solutionBrent's bio:"Brent Adamson is a world-renowned researcher, author, presenter, trainer, and advisor to B2B commercial executives around the world. Known as having the “biggest crystal ball in B2B sales,” Brent is the co-author of the best-selling, industry-changing The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer. He is also a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, featuring his recent articles, “Sensemaking for Sales” and “Traditional B2B Sales and Marketing Are Becoming Obsolete.” Passionate about “productive disruption,” Brent served as the “chief storyteller” for CEB, now Gartner's, sales, marketing, and customer service practices, from 2003 to 2022, where he introduced industry-leading concepts such as Buyer Enablement, Sense-Making, and Customer Decision Confidence." (https://ecosystems.io/leadership/)Brent Adamson Shownotes00:49 Introducing Brent Adamson04:35 Welcome Brent!05:29 The Big picture: Buyer's Journey08:03 Navigating Systems10:10 "Socratic Guidance"11:48 Co-Creation, Intent, and Buy-In13:16 "As Diversity Increases, So Does Dysfunction"13:56 Brent's Breakdown15:11 Acknowledging Problems and Prioritizing Needs18:40 Adding Complexity and 5 Dimensons24:02 Leading with Understanding: Where are Buyers At?26:00 Empathy30:40 Guiding the Buyer 33:01 Expedient36:15 Reciprocity39:02 Leading with Ourselves: Acceptance and Insecurity42:36 Connecting to Your Purpose & Aligning Incentives46:30 Disarming and "Others-focused"47:22 Setting Yourself Apart: Show Up As A Human Being50:15 The Human Element: Showing Up with Your True Authentic Self52:45 Get In Touch with BrentGet In Touch with Brent AdamsonBrent's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentadamson/ Ecosystems.io:https://ecosystems.io/Email Brent: badamson@ecosystems.ioFor more content like this, join hundreds of other subscribers to The K2 Sales Academy. Our subscription based on line sales training platform. $495/year unlocks the Fundamentals of Sales program with built in knowledge checks, resource folder with scripts, templates and checklists as well as regular webinars. 1:1 and group coaching packages available as well. To access our free one week Trial visit The K2 Sales Academy
Today's guest is an influential thought leader, researcher, author, and advisor. Brent Adamson is the Co-Author of the best-selling book, The Challenger Sale along with The Challenger Customer. Brent and Host Matt Benelli discuss how to commit to coaching by making the time, what coaching really means, and why being supplier-agnostic is more important than being customer-centric.Takeaways:Although time is often cited as a reason for not coaching, this is reflexive. Coaching is a necessity for improved sales performance and higher engagement, especially among the core performers. The impact of coaching varies with the performance level of the individuals being coached. Core performers show the most significant performance improvement as a result of effective coaching, while top performers evidence greater engagement. Care should be taken to further coach low performers on possible performance obstacles. The most effective way to boost sales lies not in changing buyers' opinions about the company, but in enhancing their confidence in their decision-making process. Empathy and humility are imperative to effective leadership and coaching. This human-centered approach to management allows for more effective coaching and an increased level of trust between managers and their team members.The concept of "Frame Making" helps customers make sense of all the information coming at them. Instead of just providing more insights or content, the focus should be on helping the customers fit all the information into a clear, holistic view that can guide their decisions.The most effective sales approach is not to focus on how customers see the suppliers but lets the customer make decisions that work best for them. It's about leading to the supplier, not with the supplier.Quote of the Show:“We're all just humans” - Brent AdamsonLinks:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentadamson/ Website: https://www.brentadamson.net/ The Challenger Sale: https://a.co/d/fPv2tlF The Challenger Customer: https://a.co/d/5fflIvQ Shoutouts: Linda RichardsonMatt DixonTed McKennaThe Jolt EffectHank BarnesWays to Tune In:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0Yb1wPzUxyrfR0Dx35ym1A Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/coach2scale-how-modern-leaders-build-a-coaching-culture/id1699901434 Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy50cmFuc2lzdG9yLmZtL2NvYWNoMnNjYWxlLWhvdy1tb2Rlcm4tbGVhZGVycy1idWlsZC1hLWNvYWNoaW5nLWN1bHR1cmU Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/fd188af6-7c17-4b2e-a0b2-196ecd6fdf77 Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/coach2scale-how-modern-leaders-5419703 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Coach2Scale CoachEm™ is the first Coaching Execution Platform that integrates deep learning technology to proactively analyze patterns, highlight the "why" behind the data with root causes, and identify the actions that will ultimately improve business results going forward. These practical coaching recommendations for managers will help their teams drive more deals, bigger deals, faster deals and loyal customers. Built with decades of go-to-market experience, world-renowned data scientists and advanced causal AI/ML technology, CoachEm™ leverages your existing tech stack to increase rep productivity, increase retention, and replicate best practices across your team.Learn more at coachem.io
Join us for one of our most exciting episodes yet, as we welcome Brent Adamson to the Sales Code Leadership Podcast. Brent is a globally recognized researcher, author, presenter, trainer, and advisor to B2B commercial executives worldwide, is celebrated for possessing the "biggest crystal ball in B2B sales."Co-author of the groundbreaking The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer, Brent is a frequent contributor to reputable business publications like the Harvard Business Review. His recent articles, "Sensemaking for Sales" and "Traditional B2B Sales and Marketing Are Becoming Obsolete," showcase his expertise.Over the past 19 years, Brent has had the honor of collaborating with leading thought leaders in both B2B and B2C sales and marketing. He has adeptly built and led exclusive communities of highly progressive commercial executives.Recognized as a world-class facilitator and speaker, Brent has addressed tens of thousands of commercial leaders globally, presenting to diverse audiences, from executive leadership teams to large keynote gatherings, both in-person and virtually.The podcast is brought to you by Sales Code, a MEDDICC MEDIA production, helping revenue leaders unlock added value in B2B SaaS sales teams. Your views on our podcast are always welcome, as well as any questions you might have for our podcast guests.Connect with the show host Kevin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinthiele/
Physicians can't be expected to know everything while they're tirelessly doing what they trained their whole lives to do – save lives. That's where world-renowned researcher Brent Adamson, co-author of bestselling books The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer, comes in. In this encore episode, sponsored by Alpha Sophia, Brent shares how the role of salespeople continues to change. In the interview, we discuss how salespeople can close more deals simply by making it easier for the customers to understand all available options more clearly, the layers behind decision-making that impacts sales, and the dimensions of struggle that every customer struggles with. Join us for more on: How sales reps can differentiate themselves by providing more clarity How to provide customers with the confidence to make decisions Buying group alignment and how it impacts sales The dimensions of struggle for customers and how to overcome them Knowing a customer's business better than they do Resources from this episode: Get the free MedTech Talk Tracks for Action Alpha Sophia Brent's Breakdown Customer Value Community Challenger Sale Challenger Customer Social Media: Connect with Brent on LinkedIn Connect with Zed on LinkedIn Connect with Clark on LinkedIn
For our 100th episode, we're excited to interview Brent Adamson, the global head of research with Ecosystems, a SaaS platform for collaborative customer value management that helps its users quantify and align with customers based on the value being delivered.Adamson is most known as the co-author of the books The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer. And as marketers, both books have been instrumental in shaping our view of content development as an agency and the role it plays in furthering the B2B sales process.But with everyone trying to teach customers something new and lead with insights (whether they've read Challenger or not) the overall impact on customers is less likely to enlightenment, and more likely to overwhelm. So, instead of seeing your content and thinking, “Oh wow, I've got to do something different,” they're thinking, “Oh no, here's another thing I have to worry about.”Adamson takes the role of content a step further in this episode, explaining that both the marketing and sales process today not must only build trust for the supplier, but also within the prospect's mind so that they can accomplish the implementation on their end. Key takeaways from this episode:Why B2B marketers should focus on creating a collaborative and value-based conversation with customers, rather than simply presenting ROI calculations, and generating content.Why it's important to help customers feel confident in their decision-making process by providing context, connecting them to relevant content, and addressing their concerns about implementation.Empathy is a crucial skill for salespeople, as understanding how customers think about their business and helping them feel better about themselves can lead to successful sales outcomes.Other resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publishes a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You're Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today's b2b buyer.And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.
W 168 odcinku podcastu Business Marketer kontynnujemy naszą serię o generowaniu leadów, ale skupimy uwagę na generowaniu leadów w dużych organizacjach.Opowiem o specyfice procesów decyzyjnych w dużych firmachZaproponuję mniej typowy sposób podziału procesu deczyjnegoPoznasz dobre praktyki działań markeitngowych nastawionych na rozbudowane komitety zakupoweDowiesz się dlaczego warto inwertować we wczesne etapy procesu decyzyjnegoDowiesz się jak globalny CMO PWC projektuje plan generowania leadówPolecam również:Książka - Challenger Customer - o sprzedaży skomplikowanych produktów i usług do skomplikowanych klientówKsiążka Transforming the B2B Buyer Journey: Maximize brand value, improve conversion rates and build loyaltyInne odcinki podcastu, które mogą Cię zainteresować:Jak prowadzić marketing B2B bez własnego produktu. Dla firm usługowych, resellerów i software houseJak utrzymać wartościowych klientów stosując metodę "Jobs to be done"Jak przekonać zarząd, CFO, sprzedaż i innych decydentów do automatyzacji marketinguSupport the showPo więcej materiałów o marketingu B2B zapraszam na mój blog: https://businessmarketer.pl
Recently, Mark was a guest on Andy Paul's The Win Rate Podcast. Joining Andy for the roundtable discussion today are Richard Harris, Founder of the Harris Consulting Group, Mark Cox, Founder of In the Funnel Sales Coaching and host of The Selling Well Podcast, and Matt Dixon, Wall Street Journal best selling co author of The Challenger Sale, The Effortless Experience, The Challenger Customer, and his new book, The Jolt Effect. They begin by discussing some of the best ways to offer value to clients, the role of technology in enhancing sales, the challenge of being constantly pitched by vendors and the lack of interest in product details, and they propose a "common sense revolution in sales," where the focus is on improving clients' businesses. They challenge both traditional sales training methods, and current compensation structures, and argue that ROI is more crucial than simply offering a cheaper price. The group turns its focus to the essential skill of asking open-ended questions, which can separate the best sellers from the rest, the significance of listening and truly understanding the client's pain points in their specific context, how to earn the right to ask questions, and being one step ahead and adaptable to shifting buyer behavior.Connect with Richard, Matt, and Mark. Connect with Mark Cox https://www.inthefunnel.com/ https://ca.linkedin.com/in/markandrewcox https://www.facebook.com/inthefunnel markcox@inthefunnel.com SPECIAL OFFER for our Listeners! Check out the In The Funnel Sales Academy for B2B salespeople, sales leaders and entrepreneurs and recieve 50% off your first month on any of our subscriptions. Go to https://www.sellingwell.com/podcast and use the promo code: PODCAST Call to Action In the Funnel Sales Workshop Free Sales Tools How to Listen: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify
Joining Andy for the roundtable discussion today are Richard Harris, Founder of the Harris Consulting Group, Mark Cox, Founder of In the Funnel Sales Coaching and host of The Selling Well Podcast, and Matt Dixon, Wall Street Journal best selling co author of The Challenger Sale, The Effortless Experience, The Challenger Customer, and his new book, The Jolt Effect. They begin by discussing some of the best ways to offer value to clients, the role of technology in enhancing sales, the challenge of being constantly pitched by vendors and the lack of interest in product details, and they propose a "common sense revolution in sales," where the focus is on improving clients' businesses. They challenge both traditional sales training methods, and current compensation structures, and argue that ROI is more crucial than simply offering a cheaper price. The group turns its focus to the essential skill of asking open-ended questions, which can separate the best sellers from the rest, the significance of listening and truly understanding the client's pain points in their specific context, how to earn the right to ask questions, and being one step ahead and adaptable to shifting buyer behavior.Connect with Richard, Matt, and MarkHost Andy Paul is the expert on modern B2B selling and author of three best-selling, award-winning sales books, including his latest Sell Without Selling Out. Visit andypaul.com to subscribe to his newsletter for even more strategies and tips to accelerate your win rate!Thank you to our sponsors:AllegoClozdCognism
There's nothing like an economic slow-down to thin the herd. Companies take longer to buy, consolidate resources, and rethink their go-to-market strategy.So why are companies doubling down on yesterday's strategies?Normally the host of SaaS Backwards, Ken Lempit, President of Austin Lawrence, sits in the guest seat this week to answer questions about how SaaS leaders need to approach marketing to engage today's buyer. Key Takeaways from this episode:Demand generation involves both demand capture (or lead generation), which is a short-term focus, and demand creation, where you're creating relationships over the long term with potential customers not yet in a buying motion.Creativity is back. With the proliferation of content and generative AI, it's the creatives that are going to figure out how to stand out from the crowd. Why all B2B SaaS marketers should read "The Challenger Customer" if they're using thought leadership content. Other resources to check out:Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publish a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You're Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today's b2b buyer.And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.
Stop the Sales Drop Podcast with Kristina Jaramillo and Eric Gruber
Matt Dixon (Wall Street Journal bestselling co-author of The Challenger Sale, The Effortless Experience, The Challenger Customer and The JOLT Effect, a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review and Founding Partner at DCM Insights) recently joined Kristina Jaramillo and Eric Gruber on the ABM Done Right Podcast. During this podcast, you will learn why ABM and the Challenger Sale go hand-in-hand, why accounts go dark and how GTM teams can win against the status quo -- and indecisiveness.
A seller's greatest enemy? It's not “no.” It's “We'll see.” The average seller loses between 40% and 60% of their qualified pipeline to no decision. Matt Dixon, founding partner of DCM Insights and co-author of The Challenger Sale, The Effortless Experience, and The Challenger Customer. Matt and his co-author analyzed 2.4 million sales calls over the course of 18 months, which they turned into the definitive guide to overcoming customer indecision — The JOLT Effect. They dove into the underpinnings of no-decision losses, uncovering exactly how they happen and the surprising approaches that top-performing sales professionals take to shift customers out of hesitation and into action...In this bonus episode, Matt joins us to talk about what The JOLT Effect uncovered about buyer psychology and intent, the role fear of failure plays in customer indecision, and how sales teams can employ the JOLT Effect to push customers past their fear of failure to an unqualified yes.We discuss:The three major drivers behind the fear of failure that leads to no-decision losses (and how the JOLT process can help mitigate them)Creating flexible, shared decision-making for buyers while taking inaction off the tableCounterintuitive habits that set high performers apart from the rest
A seller's greatest enemy? It's not “no.” It's “We'll see.” The average seller loses between 40% and 60% of their qualified pipeline to no decision. Matt Dixon, founding partner of DCM Insights and co-author of The Challenger Sale, The Effortless Experience, and The Challenger Customer. Matt and his co-author analyzed 2.4 million sales calls over the course of 18 months, which they turned into the definitive guide to overcoming customer indecision — The JOLT Effect. They dove into the underpinnings of no-decision losses, uncovering exactly how they happen and the surprising approaches that top-performing sales professionals take to shift customers out of hesitation and into action...In this bonus episode, Matt joins us to talk about what The JOLT Effect uncovered about buyer psychology and intent, the role fear of failure plays in customer indecision, and how sales teams can employ the JOLT Effect to push customers past their fear of failure to an unqualified yes.We discuss:The three major drivers behind the fear of failure that leads to no-decision losses (and how the JOLT process can help mitigate them)Creating flexible, shared decision-making for buyers while taking inaction off the tableCounterintuitive habits that set high performers apart from the rest
In this podcast episode, Roger Dooley chats with Matt Dixon, author of The JOLT Effect and founding partner of DCM Insights, about the concept of effortful experiences and the impact of customer indecision on sales. They discuss how companies often create friction and wasted effort for customers, despite knowing it is detrimental. Matt shares examples and insights on understanding the impact of customer effort on loyalty and how to fix it. They also delve into the problem of customer indecision in sales, exploring the reasons behind it and providing strategies for salespeople to overcome it. Matt introduces the JOLT framework and discusses key behaviors that can help salespeople close the sale. Show notes, resources, audio, text: https://www.rogerdooley.com/matt-dixon-jolt/ Matt Dixon is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of three of the most important business books of the past decade: The Challenger Sale, The Effortless Experience and The Challenger Customer. He is also a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review on sales and customer experience. He is a founding partner of DCM Insights, a boutique consultancy focused on using data and research-backed frameworks to help companies attract, retain, and grow their customers. Previously, he has held numerous global leadership roles at organizations like Tethr, Korn Ferry Hay Group, as well as the research firm CEB (now Gartner).
Sponsored by TrackableMed How often do we hear people say the customer is always right? While the idea behind the phrase goes a long way, do your customers really know what's best for their practice? It seems like there's a new product or solution every day. Physicians can't be expected to know everything while they're tirelessly doing what they trained their whole lives to do – save lives. That's where world-renowned researcher Brent Adamson comes in. He's the co-author of bestselling books The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer, and joins us on this episode, sponsored by TrackableMed, to share how the role of salespeople continues to change. In the interview, we discuss how salespeople can close more deals simply by making it easier for the customers to understand all available options more clearly, the layers behind decision-making that impacts sales, and the dimensions of struggle that every customer struggles with. Join us for more on: How sales reps can differentiate themselves by providing more clarity How to provide customers with the confidence to make decisions Buying group alignment and how it impacts sales The dimensions of struggle for customers and how to overcome them Knowing a customer's business better than they do Resources from this episode: Get the free MedTech Talk Tracks for Action Brent's Breakdown Customer Value Community Challenger Sale Challenger Customer Social Media: Connect with Brent on LinkedIn Connect with Zed on LinkedIn Connect with Clark on LinkedIn
Buyer's are tired, frustrated and want to make a purchase decision, but they need help making sense of all the information and processes internally and externally.Guiding them, being a sherpa, helping them confidently make a decision is our role. Being empathetic to their situation of overwhelm and validating their feelings goes a long way.Connect with them to build trust, show your true desire to help over your desire to pitch and close the deal.Tune in where world renowned researcher, co-author of The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer and now Global Head of Research at Ecosystems Brent Adamson shares his knowledge and experience. He dives in to what we should be doing as sales professionals to create a memorable experience for our buyers and the various dimensions to understand to align our solutionBrent's bio:"Brent Adamson is a world-renowned researcher, author, presenter, trainer, and advisor to B2B commercial executives around the world. Known as having the “biggest crystal ball in B2B sales,” Brent is the co-author of the best-selling, industry-changing The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer. He is also a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, featuring his recent articles, “Sensemaking for Sales” and “Traditional B2B Sales and Marketing Are Becoming Obsolete.” Passionate about “productive disruption,” Brent served as the “chief storyteller” for CEB, now Gartner's, sales, marketing, and customer service practices, from 2003 to 2022, where he introduced industry-leading concepts such as Buyer Enablement, Sense-Making, and Customer Decision Confidence." (https://ecosystems.io/leadership/)Brent Adamson Shownotes00:49 Introducing Brent Adamson04:35 Welcome Brent!05:29 The Big picture: Buyer's Journey08:03 Navigating Systems10:10 "Socratic Guidance"11:48 Co-Creation, Intent, and Buy-In13:16 "As Diversity Increases, So Does Dysfunction"13:56 Brent's Breakdown15:11 Acknowledging Problems and Prioritizing Needs18:40 Adding Complexity and 5 Dimensons24:02 Leading with Understanding: Where are Buyers At?26:00 Empathy30:40 Guiding the Buyer 33:01 Expedient36:15 Reciprocity39:02 Leading with Ourselves: Acceptance and Insecurity42:36 Connecting to Your Purpose & Aligning Incentives46:30 Disarming and "Others-focused"47:22 Setting Yourself Apart: Show Up As A Human Being50:15 The Human Element: Showing Up with Your True Authentic Self52:45 Get In Touch with BrentGet In Touch with Brent AdamsonBrent's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentadamson/ Ecosystems.io:https://ecosystems.io/Email Brent: badamson@ecosystems.ioWe are excited to launch The K2 Sales Academy, an online subscription based sales training for both individual sales professionals as well as sales leaders and their team. Access our LMS for bite size asynchronous learning modules, knowledge checks to apply the learning and the ability to submit your work to your leader if working with a team. To sync up regularly with your manager, discuss your progress, course correct and connect with your manager, use the LMS to book a coaching call. Access our Resource folder for templates, scripts, check lists and join us for Virtual Live Webinars and Live Q & A, all on the LMS. To access our free one week Trial visit The K2 Sales Academy
POV: You're a salesperson trying to sell your product to a customer, but they are just not making a decision because they're scared… they have been consumed with the enemy of indecision. Let's face it. Sometimes it's just hard to get a customer to close a deal for a number of reasons, but the leading factor is fear. So what's the trick to helping your hesitant customers overcome their fear so you can close that deal you've been waiting for? Matt Dixon is the co-author of The Challenger Sale, The Challenger Customer and The Effortless Experience and is also the founding partner of DCM Insights. In this episode of the Run Revenue Show, Matt shares the challenges that salespeople face when customers express hesitation and objections during the sales process, he explores the concept of the omission bias and shares insights from large-scale studies on sales effectiveness, he provides practical advice on how to overcome indecision, and more. Here's what's inside: Understanding the “omission bias” is a priority!: Understanding this is crucial for salespeople to help customers overcome their fear of failure and make the right decision. Customers are often okay with doing nothing and having a bad outcome but not with doing something and having a bad outcome, even if both result in the same loss. Use ‘pings and echoes' to make the customer feel safe: The majority of customers don't feel safe to discuss their indecision due to fear of embarrassment or failure to make the right decision. ‘Pings and echoes' involve high-performing salespeople trying to articulate the fears they think the customer is struggling with in a way that doesn't out the customer or make them feel embarrassed. Guide your customer to a narrower consideration set: Doing this and advocating for a specific course of action while still reinforcing the customer's autonomy involves being brutally honest with the customer and showing that their job is to get the customer to the right decision, even if that means buying from a competitor or not at all. Grab this week's Checklist Check out RunRevenue.Pro for tips, playbooks, and advice for stopping revenue leak and achieving revenue precision. See how Clari's Revenue Platform can help you win more deals, protect your customer base, and achieve revenue precision—even in a downturn. → Clari.com
Our guest this week is Matt Dixon, co-author of The Challenger Sale, The Challenger Customer and The Effortless Experience, Matt is a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review and an experienced advisor to senior executives on sales, service and customer experience.Matt and Ted McKenna have just written a new, must read, book for anyone interested in professional selling – “The JOLT Effect – how high performers overcome customer indecision”. It's massively well researched as the result of listening to millions of sales calls analysed using 8300 unique factors.Listen to this episode of the Sales Code Podcast to find out why:customer indecision occurs.doing nothing doesn't mean the customer is happy with status quo.too many questions and too much listening can actually hamper sales.Professional sellers who talk more than they listen can still add valueFUD doesn't help customers who are more afraid of messing up than missing out.Listen to this episode to find out how to:Judge the IndecisionOffer your recommendationsLimit the exploration andTake risk off the tableAnd, close more sales!Thank you, Matt for a great conversation about what elite sellers do.
As sales reps and managers most of what we know to advance our deals is the need to overcome or defeat status quo. When we start seeing gaps in communication with our prospects, deal momentum started to slow down, we dial up FOMO. Reignite the burning platform, the shiny features we showed them in our demo, the 10% end of quarter discount. Sprinkled with a little bit of fear to remind them there is a better way, lets move them away from current state, “the pain of same"When the deal still doesn't advance, we scratch our head as this is all we knew.Fast forward to the release of @Matt Dixon and @TEdMckenna book The Jolt Effect and Voila there is another hurdle we have to overcome, oh and it's bigger than status quo!Nearly 60% of deals end in no activity due to indecision. Even though they have articulated they want to move forward, with you, status quo is no longer an option the deal stalls. Tune in to my conversation with the amazing Matt Dixon where he shares what we should do in these instances to dial down the FOMU, fear of messing up and help our buyers feel more confident in their decision making."Matt has held executive leadership positions in product, research and consulting for many global organizations. An accomplished business researcher, he is a sought-after advisor to corporate leadership teams around the world on topics ranging from sales and marketing effectiveness to customer experience and customer service strategy. Matt is the author of three Amazon and Wall Street Journal bestsellers: The Challenger Sale, The Effortless Experience, and The Challenger Customer. His latest book, The JOLT Effect: How High Performers Overcome Customer Indecision, was co-authored with Ted McKenna was released in September 2022."(Bio via https://www.jolteffect.com)Matt Dixon Shownotes00:49 Introduction02:47 Introducing Matt Dixon03:54 Introducing K2 Sales Academy04:23 The Jolt Effect09:12 Status Quo & Cold Feet12:48 Three Fears of Failure & FOMO21:48 Omission Bias34:08 JOLT - The Four Behaviors46:22 Labelling58:53 Own Your Expertise66:09 Get In Touch With Matt!Get In Touch With Matt!LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewxdixon/The Jolt Effect: https://www.amazon.com/JOLT-Effect-Performers-Overcome-Indecision/dp/0593538102Jolt Effect Website: https://www.jolteffect.comWe are excited to launch The K2 Sales Academy, an online subscription based sales training for both individual sales professionals as well as sales leaders and their team. Access our LMS for bite size asynchronous learning modules, knowledge checks to apply the learning and the ability to submit your work to your leader if working with a team. To sync up regularly with your manager, discuss your progress, course correct and connect with your manager, use the LMS to book a coaching call. Access our Resource folder for templates, scripts, check lists and join us for Virtual Live Webinars and Live Q & A, all on the LMS. To access our free one week Trial visit The K2 Sales Academy
40-60% of deals are lost due to no decision. This is typically after a purchase journey with you, demos, legal - the whole lot, and they still don't make a decision. Taking a large amount of time on both sides. They have stated the status quo is not good enough, but nothing ends up happening. You need 2 playbooks - one for the status quo and one for no decision. Too many salespeople dial up the FOMO of missing out. 84% of the time, using this technique will kill the deal. This is why you need a no-decision playbook. Matt walks us through the three fears of no decision. Fear of not knowing what to buy Fear of not having enough homework You might not see the benefits And how to overcome them. Laid out in the name of the book - The Jolt effect. Judge = Judging the level of indecision. Offer = Offering your recommendation. Limit = Limit the exploration. Take = Take the risk off the table. Matthew Dixon is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of three of the most important business books of the past decade: The Challenger Sale, The Effortless Experience, and The Challenger Customer. He is also a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review on sales and customer experience. He is a founding partner of DCM Insights, a boutique consultancy focused on using data and research-backed frameworks to help companies attract, retain, and grow their customers. Previously, he has held numerous global leadership roles at organizations like Tethr and Korn Ferry Hay Group, as well as the research firm CEB (now Gartner). He is a sought-after speaker and advisor to management teams around the world, including many of those in the Fortune 500 Links 444 - Show Notes Matt's website Matt's LinkedIn Matt's Book Cloud Consultants Collective SendSpark Join our newsletter Connect With Paul On LinkedIn On Facebook On Twitter: @PaulHiggins555 On Instagram: @paulhigginsmentoring Email: Paul@paulhigginsmentoring.com Thank You for Tuning In!
In this week's episode of the Scale Your Sales Podcast, My guest is Jen Allen. She is the Community Growth at Lavender and Co-Founder of Social Social. Jen Allen was the Chief Evangelist of Challenger Inc for four years ., The company behind the best-selling books The Challenger Sales and The Challenger Customer. Jen Allen also hosted the weekly podcast, Winning the Challenger Sale. Where they discuss approachable recommendations to break down the Theory of Challenger, The Podcast helps people refresh their selling skills and learn new sales strategies. Welcome to Scale Your Sales Podcast, Jen Allen. We discuss: 01:15 – Post-Pandemic: Adaptation of Companies in Changes Regarding Sales 04:07 – Redirection of No Decisions and Status Quo Buyers' Mind 07:53 – Advice for Salespeople Who Can't Get Out of the Hole 11:20 – The “Buyer” That Does Not Initiate 13:12 – Strategies That Enable Potential Clients to Buy 15:54 – Jen Allen's Vision in Diversity 26:32 – Utopia for Sales Industry in 3-5 Years Like and subscribe to captioned show on Youtube: bit.ly/3JilQvM Rate and review on iTunes: bit.ly/3ZQWgnL Visit my podcast website: bit.ly/3XOSIAv https://www.linkedin.com/in/demandjen1/ Janice B Gordon is the award-winning Customer Growth Expert and Scale Your Sales Framework founder. She is by LinkedIn Sales 15 Innovating Sales Influencers to Follow 2021, the Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Customer Experience Nov 2020 and 150 Women B2B Thought Leaders You Should Follow in 2021. Janice helps companies worldwide to reimagine revenue growth through customer experience and sales. Book Janice to speak virtually at your next event https://janicebgordon.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janice-b-gordon Twitter: https://twitter.com/JaniceBGordon Scale Your Sales Podcast: https://scaleyoursales.co.uk/podcast More on the blog https://scaleyoursales.co.uk/blog Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janicebgordon Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScaleYourSalesJBG
Fear can be a powerful emotion that can cripple an investor's ability to make sound investment decisions. Whether it's fear of losing money, fear of missing out on potential gains, or fear of messing up, this emotion can lead to indecision and inaction in the market. How can investors overcome their fear of making investment decisions? In this episode, Steve talks with Matt Dixon, Founding Partner of DCM Insights. He is also a Wall Street Journal bestselling co-author of The Challenger Sale, The Effortless Experience, The Challenger Customer, and The JOLT Effect. Matt previously served as the Chief Product & Research Officer of Tethr and spent time as a Senior Partner and the Global Head of Sales Force Effectiveness Solutions at Korn Ferry Hay Group. A speaker and advisor to corporate leadership teams in sales effectiveness and customer experience, Matt talks with Steve about his 'aha' moments in sales, the investor's fears when making investment decisions, and how advisors can help clients overcome these fears. Key Takeaways [03:24] - Matt's biggest 'aha' moment in sales. [10:47] - How people decide what to invest in or do business with. [15:17] - How advisors can build extraordinary businesses by doing the ordinary. [19:29] - Why clients rarely mention the positive experiences they have with advisors. [21:35] - The three fears investors have. [27:44] - How advisors can help clients overcome their fear of making a choice. [34:47] - Matt's approach to helping clients overcome their fear of choice. [40:03] - Why advisors should limit the use of outside experts. [44:18] - How highly effective people manage their time. [49:06] - What motivates Matt to write books. Quotes [06:57] - "As wealth managers and advisors, we need to shift from being bartenders to personal trainers with our clients. Don't just be there to react, respond, take orders, and do whatever your client wants." ~ Matt Dixon [07:10] - "As wealth managers and advisors, you earn your client's business, keep clients investing with you, and recommend you to their friends, neighbors, and colleagues because you teach them things they need to learn about attaining their objectives and outcomes." ~ Matt Dixon [1148] - "Dialing up the FOMO (fear of missing out) isn't a great technique for moving people forward. Clients are concerned about the FOMU (the fear of messing up). They're less concerned about missing out on a golden opportunity. They're concerned about making a decision that doesn't pan out and having it reflect poorly upon them." ~ Matt Dixon Links Matt Dixon on LinkedIn Matt Dixon on Twitter DCM Insights The Challenger Sale The Effortless Experience The Challenger Customer The JOLT Effect The Paradox of Choice Gartner Connect with our hosts Steve on LinkedIn Buckingham Strategic Partners Subscribe and stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Steve on LinkedIn Follow Buckingham Strategic Partners on Twitter Disclosure For informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as specific investment, accounting, legal, or tax advice. Certain information is based upon third party data which may become outdated or otherwise superseded without notice. Third party information is deemed to be reliable, but its accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. Some analysis presented is based off current economic information and may become outdated or irrelevant without notice. Individuals should speak with their qualified financial professional based on his or her unique circumstances. Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) nor any other federal or state agency have approved, determined the accuracy, or confirmed the adequacy of this podcast. © 2022 Buckingham Wealth Partners, LLC. Buckingham Strategic Wealth, LLC and Buckingham Strategic Partners, LLC (collectively, Buckingham Wealth Partners)
Heading into 2023 companies are preparing for larger buying teams, and increased scrutiny on every purchase. I could not think of a better backdrop to speak with Brent Adamson, the author of The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer.The Challenger Customer is based on research focusing on the different "profiles" of the buying team in a considered "SaaS" purchase. This is one of my all-time favorite books focusing on how to understand the buying process and charting the sales process accordingly.We started the conversation with a comment Brent recently made on another podcast, and that was "the SaaS industry has broken sales". As we double-clicked on this comment, what Brent was highlighting was that due to the large influx of capital and thus the number of companies increased so quickly, sales became more of a volume-centered process versus the more traditional, value-based, solution selling that traditional software companies used before the "growth at any cost" phase of the SaaS industry evolution.Another variable that impacted the volume-centric approach was the rapid evolution of "Sales Technology" which automated many of those processes that were traditionally executed manually by a sales professional. As a result, many sales professionals over-indexed activity and volume and lost some level of attention to what makes each target account and the individual members of the buying team unique.When Brent conducted the initial research to write The Challenger Sale, one consistent truth uncovered was that no single buyer, not even the executive decision maker wants to make a decision isolated from the broader team. Their driving need is to gain team agreement or consensus on strategic purchases - such as SaaS solutions.In the initial book, it was discovered that there were 5.4 individuals in every strategic purchase decision, and that number has consistently increased over the last few years - hitting 11 or even more in 2022. Though even though this number is significant, the more important aspect of this reality is the "diversity" of the profiles, functions, roles, and decision criteria for a strategic purchase. The above was the basis for Brent's second book, The Challenger Customer. The first topic we discussed was the different profiles of members of the buying team who are "mobilizers".What is a mobilizer? Based upon a survey of 2,000+ B2B Sales Professionals, the top performers identified that the most important attribute of a buyer persona was their ability to build consensus and willingness to drive change in their organization. This is much different than the standard, find a coach, champion, or executive decision-maker in the sales process. What are the different types of "mobilizers":- Skeptic- Go-Getter- TeacherSkeptics typically are the most difficult to accept the value proposition of your solution and how it will work in their environment. However, once the skeptic is won over, they will be the best advocate for your solution being purchased and implemented. On the other hand, the "friends and the guides" may want to talk with you more than anyone else at the potential customer, but are not good at mobilizing change in their company.Next, we discussed the importance of tapping into the "emotions" of the buyer. It comes down to the concept of "Identity Value" and goes beyond company value or professional value. Identity Value is the value that sponsoring a purchase will impact how a person feels they are viewed and how they view themselves. Once a person feels your solution impacts their "identity value" it will dramatically increase their desire advocate purchasing your solution.As we enter 2023 and encounter a "cautious capital" approach to purchasing new solutions, I cannot think of a better use of time than listening to Brent AND reading The Challenger Sale!
My next guest on Sales Talk For CEOs is Brent Adamson and he's got some revolutionary ideas about B2B enterprise selling. Brent explains decision maker confidence is the main barrier for B2B teams to close deals. The three factors eroding confidence are complexity, information overload and value opacity or consensus on the value of the desired outcome.So stop selling product benefits. You need to propose a framework that starts with consensus on the value that the solution will deliver and builds a picture of the steps, and barriers to delivering that value. By the same measure, help the customer make the best decision and if that's not your product, get to that answer as quickly as possible.Stick around to learn what your sales teams need to do to overcome this crisis of confidence. Highlights:5:48 The number one thing we need to solve in B2B commerce is customers' lack of confidence in their ability to make complex decisions on behalf of their company.6:12 There are three forces eroding buyer decision making confidence: complexity, information overload and value opacity (outcome clarity)8:16 The value discussion has to start significantly farther upstream than your capability or benefits.10:24 (the old way of selling) was based on this idea of frame breaking. You map a customer's mental model of how their business works, and you find places to displace or disrupt that model to break that frame and show them a better, different way to think about their business.11:12 I think there's an opportunity for us today to move from frame breaking to frame making.11:59 Travel agents went out of business because I could do it all online. And all of a sudden, I tried to do it online and was overwhelmed. And I realized, you know what I need? I need a travel agent.13:15 Now they're stuck and really frustrated. What if you were the company that helped them anticipate that obstacle, helped them avoid it to begin with? What if you took them by the hand and guided them through a decision making process, gave them a heads up? By the way, the phrase I use all the time, “in working with other customers like you, one of the things we've found is…”15:17 Let's see if we can, in our case through software, put a framework around, okay, what are you trying to do? Why is that valuable? By the way, do your three colleagues agree with you that that's what they're trying to do?20:49 …notice everything we're talking about here isn't about selling and buying, it's about humanity.32:35 A faster close comes from confident customers. There's our bumper sticker.34:04 Because if we're going to lose, we want to lose early so we can move on to better opportunities. About Our Guest:Brent Adamson is a world-renown researcher, author, presenter, trainer, and advisor to B2B commercial executives around the world. Known as having the “biggest crystal ball in B2B sales,” Brent is the co-author of the best-selling, industry changing The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer. He is also a frequent contributor to well-known business publications, including the Harvard Business Review, featuring his recent articles, “Sensemaking for Sales” and “Traditional B2B Sales and Marketing Are Becoming Obsolete.” Across the last 19 years, Brent has been privileged to work with some of the greatest thought leaders in B2B and B2C sales and marketing, building and leading exclusive communities of highly progressive commercial executives. Known as a world-class facilitator and speaker, Brent has presented to tens of thousands of commercial leaders both in-person and virtually all over the world, ranging from executive leadership teams to large keynote audiences. Especially well known for his passion for “productive disruption,” Brent served as the “chief story teller” for CEB, now Gartner's, sales, marketing, and customer service practices from 2003 to 2022. Across that time, Brent's research has focused most closely on the critical, boundary-spanning intersection of selling and buying, seeking to understand the rapidly changing nature of effective commercial collaboration. Most recently, Brent and his colleagues at CEB, now Gartner, have introduced industry-leading concepts such as Buyer Enablement, Sense Making, and Customer Decision Confidence. As of June 1, 2022, Brent now services as the Global Head of Research and Communities at Ecosystems, a cutting-edge SaaS platform designed to help companies identify and track dimensions of value creation with their customers. A native of Omaha, Nebraska, Brent received his MBA with distinction from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. Prior to that, he served on the faculty of Michigan State University as a Professor of German and Applied Linguistics. In addition to his MBA, Brent holds a B.A. with distinction in political science from the University of Michigan along with M.A.s in political science and German, and a Ph.D. in applied linguistics from the University of Texas. Brent resides in Leesburg, VA with his wife, two daughters, and rescue dog.Show Links:Value Blueprint Downloadhttps://info.ecosystems.us/value-blueprintHBR Articles:End of Sales and Marketing: https://hbr.org/2022/02/traditional-b2b-sales-and-marketing-are-becoming-obsoleteSensemaking for Sales: https://hbr.org/2022/01/sensemaking-for-salesInterview with SMART Technologies on how they built a unified commercial engine https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-smart-technologies-grew-revenue-by-40-with-a/id1343815847?i=1000558641573You can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.Website:https://AliceHeiman.comLinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman/
Our guest this week is Matt Dixon, co-author of The Challenger Sale, The Challenger Customer and The Effortless Experience, Matt is a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review and an experienced advisor to senior executives on sales, service and customer experience.Matt and Ted McKenna have just written a new, must read, book for anyone interested in professional selling – “The JOLT Effect – how high performers overcome customer indecision”. It's massively well researched as the result of listening to millions of sales calls analysed using 8300 unique factors.Listen to this episode of the Sales Code Podcast to find out why:customer indecision occurs.doing nothing doesn't mean the customer is happy with status quo.too many questions and too much listening can actually hamper sales.Professional sellers who talk more than they listen can still add valueFUD doesn't help customers who are more afraid of messing up than missing out.Listen to this episode to find out how to:Judge the IndecisionOffer your recommendationsLimit the exploration andTake risk off the tableAnd, close more sales!Thank you, Matt for a great conversation about what elite sellers do.
As sales reps and managers most of what we know to advance our deals is the need to overcome or defeat status quo. When we start seeing gaps in communication with our prospects, deal momentum started to slow down, we dial up FOMO. Reignite the burning platform, the shiny features we showed them in our demo, the 10% end of quarter discount. Sprinkled with a little bit of fear to remind them there is a better way, lets move them away from current state, “the pain of same"When the deal still doesn't advance, we scratch our head as this is all we knew.Fast forward to the release of @Matt Dixon and @TEdMckenna book The Jolt Effect and Voila there is another hurdle we have to overcome, oh and it's bigger than status quo!Nearly 60% of deals end in no activity due to indecision. Even though they have articulated they want to move forward, with you, status quo is no longer an option the deal stalls. Tune in to my conversation with the amazing Matt Dixon where he shares what we should do in these instances to dial down the FOMU, fear of messing up and help our buyers feel more confident in their decision making.About Matt"Matt has held executive leadership positions in product, research and consulting for many global organizations. An accomplished business researcher, he is a sought-after advisor to corporate leadership teams around the world on topics ranging from sales and marketing effectiveness to customer experience and customer service strategy. Matt is the author of three Amazon and Wall Street Journal bestsellers: The Challenger Sale, The Effortless Experience, and The Challenger Customer. His latest book, The JOLT Effect: How High Performers Overcome Customer Indecision, was co-authored with Ted McKenna was released in September 2022."(Bio via https://www.jolteffect.com)Matt Dixon Shownotes00:49 Introduction02:47 Introducing Matt Dixon03:54 Introducing K2 Sales Academy04:23 The Jolt Effect09:12 Status Quo & Cold Feet12:48 Three Fears of Failure & FOMO21:48 Omission Bias34:08 JOLT - The Four Behaviors46:22 Labelling58:53 Own Your Expertise66:09 Get In Touch With Matt!LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewxdixon/The Jolt Effect: https://www.amazon.com/JOLT-Effect-Performers-Overcome-Indecision/dp/0593538102Jolt Effect Website: https://www.jolteffect.comWe are excited to launch The K2 Sales Academy, an online subscription based sales training for both individual sales professionals as well as sales leaders and their team.To access our free one week Trial visit The K2 Sales Academy https://k2salesacademy.comAccess our LMS for bite size asynchronous learning modules, knowledge checks to apply the learning and the ability to submit your work to your leader if working with a team. To sync up regularly with your manager, discuss your progress, course correct and connect with your manager, use the LMS to book a coaching call.
What if the biggest competitor isn't the status quo but actually your prospect's inability to make a decision? Matt Dixon, co-author of The Challenger Sale, The Challenger Customer, and the new book, The JOLT Effect, shares an insightful conversation about how customers overcome indecision.If you have deals stuck in the pipeline, you'll appreciate the ideas in this conversation! Need inspiration? Join the Selling From the Heart INSIDERS Group for an upcoming up-close-and-personal with a free pass at: https://www.sellingfromtheheart.net/free-pass
What if the biggest competitor isn't the status quo but actually your prospect's inability to make a decision? Matt Dixon, co-author of The Challenger Sale, The Challenger Customer, and the new book, The JOLT Effect, shares an insightful conversation about how customers overcome indecision. If you have deals stuck in the pipeline, you'll appreciate the ideas in this conversation! Need inspiration? Join the Selling From the Heart INSIDERS Group for an upcoming up-close-and-personal with a free pass at: https://www.sellingfromtheheart.net/free-pass
Brent Adamson is one of the most influential researchers, authors, presenters, trainers and B2B sales advisors in the world over the last 19 years. Known as having the “biggest crystal ball in B2B sales,” Brent is the co-author of the best-selling, industry-changing books, The Challenger Sale and the Challenger Customer. He served as the Chief Story Teller for CEB, now Gartner from 2003 to 2022 and today is the Global Head of Research and Communities for Ecosystems where he works with iconic sales teams around the world. He joins the show today to share his insights on where sales is going and how sales leaders can best help their teams navigate the changes facing sales leaders worldwide in a must-listen episode. Subscribe to Brent's Breakdown at: https://youtu.be/YvArdwynS5Y Learn more about Ecosystem at: https://ecosystems.us/ Join Ecosystems rapidly growing Customer Value Community at: https://ecosystems.us/customer-value-community/ Register here for Brents webinar coming up next week on the “Blueprint of a World-Class Value-Based Commercial Operating System.” https://ecosystems.us/events/ For video snippets of this and other episodes, head to Sales Leadership United at www.patreon.com/salesleadershipunited.
Brent Adamson is the Global Head of Research and Communities at Ecosystems, as well as the co-author of The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer. A buyer's experience with a seller, from their ability to show fresh perspectives to plain human empathy, dictates the seller's win rates. Brent dives into the way companies and sellers should view their quotas and how to get unstuck from a lack of innovation. He also talks about the need for greater focus on buyer enablement to become better sellers, especially during an economic downturn, and new approaches to selling that tap into human emotion. HIGHLIGHTS Buyer enablement: Have a conversation on what's important to them Human empathy is behind every sales interaction The seller makes the difference in a sale Solve not just what you want the customer to know, but also what to feel QUOTES Your reputation and how you show up are the only factors sellers can control - Brent: "Do relationships matter or not? And the answer, funny enough, was always of course they matter. The question is what is the basis of that relationship? Is it familiarity and knowing where your kids went to college? Or is it helping understand your business in ways that you yourself haven't understood it on your own?" Differentiate yourself by bringing your best in your sales interactions - Andy: "You can't predict in advance what's going to be the peak event for the buyer. And so, you really have to bring the best of you every time you interact with them because every one could be the event that was most memorable to them." Understand why someone feels the way they do to change how they feel - Brent: "Ask yourself not just what do I want my customers to know, but what do I want my customers to feel. And that's a superpower." Find out more about Brent in the link below: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentadamson/ Website: https://ecosystems.us/ More on Andy: Connect on LinkedIn Get Andy's new book "Sell Without Selling Out" on Amazon Learn more at AndyPaul.com Sponsored by: Revenue.io | Unlock exponential growth with an AI-powered RevOps platform | Revenue.io Scratchpad | The fastest way to update Salesforce, take sales notes, and stay on top of to-dos | Scratchpad.com Blueboard | World's leading experiential rewards & recognition platform | Blueboard.com Explore the Revenue.io Podcast Universe: Sales Enablement Podcast RevOps Podcast Selling with Purpose Podcast
Today's interview is with Matt Dixon, the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of three of the most important business books of the past decade: The Challenger Sale, The Effortless Experience and The Challenger Customer. Matt joins me today to talk about his new book (The Jolt Effect: How High Performers Overcome Customer Indecision - co-authored with Ted McKenna), how they conducted their research, what they found out, how indecision is the biggest barrier to sales and decision-making in general and how a JOLT playbook could help. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Customer experience isn't about experience at all. It is about relationships – Interview with James Dodkins of Pega – and is number 442 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.
Matt Dixon is an accomplished business researcher and sought-after advisor to corporate leadership teams around the world. He is a Founding Partner of DCM Insights, helping organizations better understand the changing landscape of customer behavior. Matt co-authored three Amazon and Wall Street Journal bestsellers: The Challenger Sale, The Effortless Experience, and The Challenger Customer. He is also a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review, with over 20 publications in print and online. Join us as we discuss his latest book, The JOLT Effect, which addresses the common problem faced by salespeople of deals ending in “no decision” and offers strategies and approaches for salespeople to overcome customer indecision. Highlights What the JOLT Effect book is all about and how is it different from other books with the same theme? What happens when you challenge customer thinking? How did they handle the massive data source from a very large sample size while researching their book? The three things that customers get wrapped around the axle have nothing to do with the status quo. What are the four things that are unique and different from top-performing salespeople? How selling less upfront, but selling more overtime, works. How to learn more about Matt and connect with him. Episode Resources Connect with Mark Cox https://www.inthefunnel.com/ https://ca.linkedin.com/in/markandrewcox https://www.facebook.com/inthefunnel markcox@inthefunnel.com Connect with Matt Dixon http://www.jolteffect.com/ http://www.dcminsights.com/ http://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewxdixon/ Call to Action In the Funnel Sales Workshop Free Sales Tools How to Listen: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify
Jen started her sales career non-traditionally. She started as an account manager and customer service; then she decided to move into sales. What you should be teaching your new reps first and it's not about the product.The Challenger Methodology does not mean ignoring relationship selling How tonality matter How to value your worth as a keynote speaker You will never be excellent in sales What does the role of evangelizing role really mean
Brent Adamson is a former Harvard professor turned Wall Street Journal award-winning author and sales researcher. He co-authored "The Challenger Sale" and "The Challenger Customer" with my former guest Matt Dixon, and these days is challenging us to concentrate on making products easy to buy, not easy to sell. Here are some of the highlights of our discussion: 1. The Challenger Sale shook up the world of sales, but The Challenger Customer was the inevitable follow up They did further research after the first book and identified a new protagonist, the "Mobilizer", who can be your best advocate within the company (but not a champion!) 2. It takes 5.4 people within an organisation to make a purchase decision & the number's rising It's getting more & more complicated selling into organisations, and the buying journey has become like spaghetti. Finding the "economic buyer" is no longer enough to land the sale. 3. There's a difference between emerging demand and established demand If you're going after established demand and known solutions you're going to get dragged into a price-based bake-off. Challengers find unknown pains, challenge the status quo & break the frame 4. Some customers don't even know how to buy any solution, let alone your solution Buyer journeys are complex & some customers can be surprised when things get held up. But you're not, you've seen it all before! Give them the info they need to help close the sale from their side. 5. It's not good enough to just be insightful anymore, The smartness arms race ended in a draw Being really insightful is table stakes. You need to be able to help your customers frame their decision and give them confidence in the decisions they're making for their company. .. And much more! Check out Matt's episode I interviewed Brent's co-author and co-conspirator Matt Dixon about his work and how customer indecision is a critical problem for B2B sales. Check out the episode here. Buy "The Challenger Sale" "The need to understand what top-performing reps are doing that their average performing colleagues are not drove Matthew Dixon, Brent Adamson, and their colleagues at Corporate Executive Board to investigate the skills, behaviors, knowledge, and attitudes that matter most for high performance. And what they discovered may be the biggest shock to conventional sales wisdom in decades." Check it out on Amazon. Buy "The Challenger Customer" "In The Challenger Sale, Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson overturned decades of conventional wisdom with a bold new approach to sales. Now they reveal something even more surprising: the highest-performing sales teams don't focus on friendly, attentive customers. Instead, they target challenger customers. Challenger customers are sceptical, less interested in meeting and ultimately indifferent as to who wins the deal. But they also have the credibility, persuasive skill and will to challenge the status quo that will get a deal to the finish line far more often than customers who are easier to connect with." Check it out on Amazon. Contact Brent You can hit Brent up on LinkedIn.
Matt Dixon is a Wall Street Journal award-winning author and renowned researcher in the world of sales and customer success. He co-authored "The Challenger Sale" in 2011 which turned the world of B2B sales on its head, and encouraged salespeople around the world to take control of the customer conversation. He's now back with "The JOLT Effect" which tells us that our biggest problem with closing sales isn't losing to a competitor but losing to no decision at all. Here are some of the highlights of our discussion: There was a big gap in data-based, factual research on sales and it needed filling There are great sales books out there, but many of them are based on opinion and "what worked for me". Matt and his team took an outsiders' data-based approach and uncovered the surprising truth The Challenger Sale divided the sales community but resonated with founders Matt is not a salesman. This led some people to doubt his findings, but the data speaks for itself. The Challenger approach specifically resonated with startup founders who are natural challengers! All our assumptions about what makes good salespeople are wrong Sales have traditionally been taught to be relationship builders but in today's world of information overload, it's not enough to have a cosy conversation. Buyers need to be challenged, debated & given insight Up to 60% of Sales are lost not to a competitor, but to "no decision" & traditional approaches make it worse It's not enough to defeat the status quo. Buyers can be afraid to make a decision whatever the status quo. Traditional sales approaches make the problem worse. Customers are stuck and we need to JOLT them into action There's a playbook to defeat customer indecision that helps to take risk off the table & make buyers understand they're making a great decision. Product teams are crucial partners in helping sales teams do this. Buy "The JOLT Effect" "In sales, the worst thing you can hear from a customer isn't “no.” It's “I need to think about it.” When this happens, deeply entrenched business advice says to double down on your efforts to sell a buyer on all the ways they might win by choosing you and your business. But this approach backfires dramatically. Why? Because it completely gets wrong the primary driver behind purchasing decision-making: once purchase intent is established, customers no longer care about succeeding. What they really care about is not failing." Check it out on Amazon. You can also check out the book website. Buy "The Challenger Sale" "The need to understand what top-performing reps are doing that their average performing colleagues are not drove Matthew Dixon, Brent Adamson, and their colleagues at Corporate Executive Board to investigate the skills, behaviors, knowledge, and attitudes that matter most for high performance. And what they discovered may be the biggest shock to conventional sales wisdom in decades." Check it out on Amazon. Make sure you check out "The Challenger Customer" and "The Effortless Experience" too! Contact Matt You can hit Matt up on LinkedIn.
Are you losing deals to no decision? In recent research, it is found that 40% to 60% of deals for the average salesperson are lost to no decision due to the client sticking with the status quo. In 2020 after going 100% virtual overnight, sales calls went from in person to Zoom. Matt Dixon, while working at a machine learning company, was able to study sales meetings from several companies to determine some of the biggest pressing problems salespeople are facing. In this episode, Matt Dixon shares some insights from the research in his new Book, The Jolt Effect, to understand why salespeople often lose to the status quo. Matt and Ian discuss how to use these findings to better understand the seller and their fears or hesitance to implement change even if they believe in your products or services. Join us in this conversation to learn the best approach to increase your sales performance and business growth. If you're interested in grabbing your own copy of Matt Dixon's new book, The Jolt Effect, click https://www.jolteffect.com/ (here) Matthew Dixon is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of three of the most important business books of the past decade: The Challenger Sale, The Effortless Experience and The Challenger Customer. He is also a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review on sales and customer experience. He is a founding partner of DCM Insights, a boutique consultancy focused on using data and research-backed frameworks to help companies attract, retain, and grow their customers. Previously, he has held numerous global leadership roles at organizations like Tethr, Korn Ferry Hay Group, as well as the research firm CEB (now Gartner). He is a sought-after speaker and advisor to management teams around the world, including many of those in the Fortune 500 Quotes: “Beating the status quo is about dialing up the fear of not purchasing, overcoming customer indecision is about dialing down the fear of purchasing.” “We find that about 40 to 60% of deals for the average salesperson are deals lost to no decision.” Looking for more guidance and support on handling all your B2B sales struggles? You can connect with Ian Altman and learn more about the Same Side Selling Academy through the links below: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianaltman/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianaltman/) Twitter: https://twitter.com/IanAltman (https://twitter.com/IanAltman) Website: www.samesidesellingacademy.com Email : ian@ianaltman.com
Matt Dixon is the Chief Product & Research Officer of the Austin-based AI venture, Tethr. Prior to his role with Tethr, he was the Global Head of Sales Force Effectiveness Solutions at Korn Ferry Hay Group and, before that, held numerous global leadership roles in research, product development and management for CEB, now Gartner. An accomplished business researcher and writer, Matt is known for his frame-breaking and provocative work in the areas of sales, customer service and customer experience. He is the author of three Amazon and Wall Street Journal bestsellers—The Challenger Sale, The Effortless Experience and The Challenger Customer—and he is a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review with more than 20 print and online articles to his credit. He is a sought-after speaker and advisor to management teams around world, having presented his findings and insights at a wide range of industry conferences as well as to hundreds of senior executive teams, including those of many Fortune 500 companies. In this episode we deep dive into: Customer Indecision and how the fear of 'Missing Out' has shifted to 'Messing Up' Analysing 2.5 Million sales Zoom calls with surprising insights How COVID changed the sales world for good Strategies that used to work literally became counterproductive. This episode is sponsored by The Outbound Game. Turn your business goals into a coin collecting quest and game your growth today. Order The Jolt Effect here!
In this episode we are joined by the one and only, Matt Dixon. Matt is the Wall Street Journal bestselling co-author of The Challenger Sale, The Effortless Experience, The Challenger Customer and The JOLT Effect. Matt frequently contributes to Harvard Business Review and is also the founding Partner at DCMi. Matt joins us to discuss a topic that should be on all sales professionals radar right now......buyer indecision. Matt's research led him to author his new book, The JOLT effect. This book provides a framework and process to meet the challenges of modern buyer decision making and how to create better outcomes through the same effort by avoiding indecision as an outcome. Join us as we unpack the above topics and more. We hope you enjoy listening as much as we did recording this episode. If you'd like to connect with Matt, his LinkedIn account is https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewxdixon/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/presalesinapod/message
Today we're welcoming our first ever guest, Matt Dixon, to the show. If you don't know who Matt is, he is a Founding Partner at DCMi and is Wall Street Journal's bestselling co-author of The Challenger Sale. He has a new book out called The JOLT Effect which Doug gets into, and the conversation today goes on to talk about selling in today's world. If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Sales pros come from all walks of life. In this episode, you'll find our how an ex-Linguistics professor became an influential thought leader, making a permanent impact on our industry. Luigi is joined by Brent Adamson, researcher, academic, author of The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer, and Global Head of Research and Communities at Ecosystems. They explore why how you sell is the differentiator that matters most, sense making and its growing importance, what's more important to your customer than information, and aspiring in your career to have a material impact on people's quality of life.
Brent Adamson is a world-renowned researcher, author, presenter, trainer, and advisor to B2B commercial executives worldwide. He is the Global Head of Research and Communities at Ecosystems, a leading SaaS platform for collaborative customer value management. Brent is the co-author of the best-selling The Challenger Sale (2011) and The Challenger Customer (2015). He is also a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, featuring his most notable article, “Sensemaking for Sales” (2022). Join us as we discuss some key topics and challenges in professional sales today, including how customers are getting overwhelmed with information and options during the buying decision process. Brent provides some important insights regarding this topic, outlining the importance of helping the customer make sense of the information to instill confidence in their ability to make a large-scale decision. Highlights Who Brent Adamson is How got into the path of professional sales Why the podcast, The Selling Well, exists What the number one thing is that you need to solve for in today's world as vendors, suppliers, partners, or vendors What the paralysis of analysis means What the three questions to ask yourself to be more confident that you've made the right choices for you Where a lot of professional salespeople struggle How to extract the information and the knowledge or work with your existing base What the three approaches to information are Where to find more information about Brent and the Ecosystems Episode Resources Sensemaking for Sales (Harvard Article) The Challenger Sale (2011) Connect with Mark Cox https://www.inthefunnel.com/ https://ca.linkedin.com/in/markandrewcox https://www.facebook.com/inthefunnel Connect with Brent Adamson https://ecosystems.us/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentadamson/ https://twitter.com/brentadamson
On this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with one of the world's leading experts in sales, service, and customer experience.He is the author of three Amazon and Wall Street Journal best-selling books: “The Challenger Sale”, “The Effortless Experience” and “The Challenger Customer”¬—and is a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review."The Challenger Sale" is widely regarded as the greatest sales book of all time. In our conversation, he breaks down the major concepts in the book. He scientifically breaks down the ideal sales profile, strategy, and approach. We also discussed:· The 5 Sales Personality Types…· Who a Challenger IS…· 6 Steps to a Great Sales Pitch…· Sales Management Optimization… If you want to master the most effective sale that has been studied, this podcast is for you. PS - thought I should explain my black eye in this episode… wish I had a better story, but just happened to connect with an inadvertent knee during a Jiu Jitsu class
In this episode, I speak with Matt Dixon to learn how the best sellers consistently outperform even during volatile times and recessions. Matt is the co-author of a number of bestselling books in the Challenger series: The Challenger Seller, The Effortless Experience, and The Challenger Customer. He is ranked #8 in Global Top 30 Gurus and is regarded as one of the top global experts in sales effectiveness, customer management, and customer experience. He is currently the Chief Product & Research Officer of the Austin-based AI and machine learning venture, Tethr. Learn more about Matt at https://dixonspeaks.com/ Learn more about Tethr at https://tethr.com/ You can also find the video versions of some of our podcasts, plus many more topics like financial acumen and analysis on my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGQejy1U3NlAxvhWNg--VRw. You can also follow me on LinkedIn where I regularly share pertinent advice for professional sales https://www.linkedin.com/in/moeedamin/ and sign up for my weekly newsletter via https://www.proverbialdoor.com/ Finally, if you want to learn more about how my programs and services can help you and your team raise your sales & commercial success then you can contact me via enquiries@proverbialdoor.com
The trilogy is complete! James Korte returns to finish what we started almost a year ago with part three of our deep dive into the insights he gained from “The Challenger Customer.” This time it's all about finding people within the businesses you're targeting who can be the “cheerleader” and advocate for your product, service or company. First, we explore what kind of content and marketing helps reach the right people with the right message. Then, we discuss who to target within a buying group and how to make them fall in love with you and your offerings. Finally, how do you equip that “mobilizer” with the tools and talking points to help them fight on your behalf? #VARValue - How does BlueStar help with creating demand and equipping mobilizers to advocate on our behalf? TEConnecting with us: James - Bing ad targeting & Web3 Dean - TikTok stars out-earning CEOs & REvil is disbanded (wink, wink) John - Wordle Talk to us! Twitter - @TEConnectPod Email - TEConnect@bluestarinc.com Submit your topic ideas! https://www.bluestarinc.com/us-en/landing-pages/podcast-topics.html Sponsored by: Elo Edge Connect Peripherals Zebra DS3600-KD Rugged Barcode Scanner
Do you know what your customers and prospects will do after interacting with your brand without having to survey them over and over again? Are you taking control of the customer conversation? How do you make it easier for employees to deliver customer excellence? Featured DoingCXRight® guest, Matt Dixon, co-author of The Challenger Sale, The Challenger Customer, and The Effortless Experience shares valuable insights to advance your sales, service and customer experience beyond traditional methods. You'll want to take notes as he and show host, Stacy Sherman, reveal many actionable gems during the episode. Learn more at DoingCXRight.com/podcasts
James Korte, BlueStar's Digital Marketing Manager, returns for part 2 of his deep dive into B2B marketing and selling based on the book The Challenger Customer. Last time we helped you understand how B2B buying groups work. This time, we're going to tackle how to find and create demand for your products, solutions or services. It's not as simple as having brand recognition, the biggest selection or the best pricing. How do we find the true pain points of customers? What is the Mental Model and how do we convince customers that their status quo needs to change? What is Spark/Interest/Confront? #VARValue - What are some key takeaways and a practical example from this discussion? Revisit part 1 of our discussion TEConnecting with us: James - Alyce marketing "gift" platform Dean - Pavement "sunscreen" John - Are aliens tuning in during their Earth Transit Zone? Talk to us! Twitter - @TEConnectPod Email - TEConnect@bluestarinc.com Sponsored by: Elo M50 Touch Computer Zebra Fixed RFID Readers
The one and only James Korte is back and he did the homework for us! He’s been reading a book called The Challenger Customer, which explores the complexities of selling and marketing to buying groups rather than individuals. We’ll explore how these groups are formed, why they present challenges, and where breakdowns occur. Who/what are you actually competing with? What are the common roles in a buying group? How do you get into the process earlier and champion change with your customers? #VARValue – What are some key takeaways to consider when tackling buying groups? What's TEConnecting with us: James - Oribi Dean - 3D-printed housing community John - NOT TEconnecting - The Fox/Bally Regional Sports Networks debacle Talk to Us! Twitter - @TEConnectPod Email - TEConnect@bluestarinc.com Sponsored by: Elo In-a-Box Solutions Code CR7000 series Zebra TC21/TC26 Healthcare mobile computers
ebsGrowth & The Talent, Sales & Scale Show with host Bryan Whittington are joined by April Dunford, author of Obv!ously Awesome to talk positioning, branding, & messaging. Here's what we covered: 1. 3:11 – 4:08 Positioning, branding, & messaging – what's the difference? 2. 4:40 - 8:15 – Face your alternatives head-on! 3. 8:52 – 11:57 93% of buyers have never bought what you sell before – position your competition out of your way 4. 13:11 – 16:13 Define the space where you win to increase win rates 5. 16:36 – 20:06 Positioning thesis - create it, test it, tweak it 6. 20:56 – 23:24 Every market is competitive & has underserved segments 7. 24:57 - 28:30 – How to win with positioning – example 8. 29:52 – 33:12 using the 5 +1 to figure out your value 9. 33:15 – 35:35 - Defining the problem the wrong way 10. 35:39 – 42:32 How to define problem through competitive alternatives 11. 42:35 – 45:31Become a trusted advisor 12. 46:19 – 46:59 Don't get too tight too early, bring in the team & be intentional about positioning 13. 47:25 – 49:21 Scaling advice 14. 49:43 – Get to know these resources – The Challenger Customer & Sale & Positioning 15. 51:26 – 52:05 Need to get back to strategy & fundamentals ebsGrowth: https://ebsgrowth.com/ April Dunford: Twitter - @aprildunford Connect with Bryan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brywhittington/
JB: How did you get into sales?Way back into sales - formally started in 2004 in Print Media Advertising sales Understanding problems you see around you and how to solve them 8 years old, bucket soap and sponges to make some extra $$ to buy baseball cardsIdentify prospects in the neighborhood who has a car? Who’s car is dirty? Car is there, so they are home. He has a solution to work with them. Cold calling, opening up prospects, asking for the $$, digging into pain Interviewing for sellers and sales roles, that’s the kind of experience that can help someone be really effective. Any profession is a LIFESTYLE choice - why would you do it?Has to be a degree of shamelessness, have to be willing to ask questions, be comfortable to talk about $$$Most of the sales skills aren’t natural, but are nurtured at a young age, what have our parents taught us? What are their early experiences to understand their past to see if they are really doing something they want to do JB: If you don’t have some of these core drivers and skills. Have you seen this is why some folks struggle in sales?Love Challenger Sale, Challenger Customer, Miller Heiman - Great content and great learning - that is PRESCRIPTION INFORMATION - you first need to UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEMWhat is the underlying root cause of this issue? How do we attack that?Talk a lot on our team about FEAR, especially SOCIAL FEAR. They will give you the skills/tactics but if you can’t understand where your anxiety comes from, how to communicate, what’s appropriate what’s not? Let’s talk about the psychology of where the problem comes from then we can build the polish with objection Psychology of sales hasn’t been promoted much in the past. Sales is expected to DELIVER RESULTS NOW Oftentimes, Sales gets sucked into this paradigm to GO GO GO to get results and don’t take time to look internally, be introspective, take a breathe and think long-termSales teams are typically the highest compensated in an organization - not typically asked to think about the long-term gains you can get by investing in personal and self development. What will make you better a year from now? EXECS want you to be better NOW, this quarter, week, month. To change the trajectory of our performance in sales is thinking long-term. Think about our habits and behaviors that may not yield great results NOW, but will pay off over the long term!Very focused on Pleasure in the moment as a species. Always looking to satiate the immediate desire NOWSales people love the thrill of the kill, the win, they want the deal in now and don’t necessarily The Score Takes Care Of Itself - Bill WalshLong-term mindset sacrifice some results today for better results tomorrow - have internal buy-inLead by example, don’t just believe in it, but act that way as a leaderThing that you can bake into your own internal development so you can improve and show it for others Management, leadership and coaching courses Sales Manager is one of the least prepared, least trained jobs in the business worldYou can have great mentors, leaders and people to learn from but IT TAKES TIMEAct in a way you want others to act and be vocal about itSet-up a structure for your team so they can invest in their own skill building - set time for growthFollow a coaching agenda and formula that should have a long term focus looking for distinct and specific skills that build short term skills and go to long term goalFocus on 20 things and then break them down and focus on 1 at a timeJB: What is that skill many people haven’t developed that makes them successful at sales?Idea of ongoing skill building is the biggest IDEA people need to be working on. Your skill building never ends, they will get rusty over time. Something you may do well now can lose its’ veneer and you have to be a vigilant gardener of your ripe skills, cleaning out weeds, nurturing material and staying on top of itLearning and skill building NEVER ENDS - look at the best in sports and how they find coaches, ongoing growth and development of putting in the workPhilosophy of continuing to work on something every day and every weekTake all the different skills of what drives success - found 36 skills - refreshed to 50 - now to 100 smaller elements that sellers need to have excellent and mastery for all the time for any conversation we’re thrusted intoYou may only use 5-10 for a certain sales process but the next deal might need a different set The first question we need to ask ourselves in Sales is “Am I really committed to working on my skills to be ready for the next call that I might have?” JB: Talking about a growth mindset, how do you help look for that in hiring or build that with your team?Growth Mindset - the ability to look at yourself as an ongoing work in progressFail Forward! Failure is part of the pathway to successPeople can learn a growth mindset and exists in all of usSomeone in fixed mindset believing failure is permanent, can be changed if they have great coaching and great leadershipTest for ACCOUNTABILITY when you go through the HubSpot interview process- Great artists steal!What have you failed at? What did you learn from the last job that you would redo and do-over?Get honest stories from your prospective hires to have self-awareness and realize they have gaps on their own game and not take it as an attack on their own character as they work through their journeyYou can see someone is hurt by the question or uncomfortable talking about failure is a red flag for seeing someone may have a fixed mindset. How does someone take feedback during roleplay? Are they taking in the feedback and improving? People are wildly coachable with a growth mindset because they want to improve their own game to whatever the best way isInterview process in roleplay 1. Run it and deliver feedback 2. Did you put some of the pieces of feedback into your second attempt? See if they are coachable or not?What would you tell your earlier self to do differently?JB: How do you stay connected and avoid getting an ego as a sales leader?Keeping in touch with your people, nothing will replace the personal conversations that you will have?Can’t get so lost in the data that people are only a data pointEspecially now in covid world, you must be proactive, reaching out to people and checking in to see how reps, BDRs and of course your direct reports are doing. How’s it going? What’s working? What’s not?Allow for healthy conversation and healthy feedback where your team can challenge, create a culture of honesty so you can hear about the warts and ugliness so you can do your job!To a certain degree you have to do the job, Leaders shouldn’t carry quota, but doesn’t mean you totally divorce yourself from doing the job!Get a few leads from your BDRs to take a couple calls to lead by example and understand how that job is really tough and how you can do it yourselfHave your reps pull you into key callsYou can’t allow the excuse of priorities to have you completely abandon ship that are other priorities of the jobYou have to be a diligent time manager in a leadership role to understand the meaning behind the dashboards, the numbers, etc. Comes down to SYSTEMS building as a manager or leader. Can’t be about one-offs and just that one victory except for maybe a fantastic hire 50+ sales people on his team, not doing it to fuel the sales #, doing it to stay in connection with what that job really is, lead by example and show the team I’m willing to run the SYSTEM better, I can’t make excuses so neither can theyJB: Talk to me about some of the systems you build and utilize to be at your best?In order to do this we need to look at our systems and habits, the root cause as to why that happens. Why do things fail when they don’t take root in terms of building great habits?Technology can teach us a lot. What are the addictive apps we are using? Why visit Facebook 16 times a day? The game of the quarter understanding why people re so addicted to technology and psychology that we can learn from to get a head start on this so we can prime the pump to build better systemsBrain science has come a long way with fMRI and MRI to learn what happens to their brain that drives a virtuous cycleDopamine- pleasure seeking chemical, gamblers, etc. People that workout are there for the dopamine hit. People work out for a day because they feel great. How do we simulate that dopamine high in the professional world in a positive light to change their behavior over time? Then it becomes similar to going to the gym because you won’t feel you are living up to your potential. Identify the goal is the beginning then what is the process you can get into the break the goal achievement down for daily outcomes - Long-term goal is destined for failure if you don’t have micro goals along the way, find small wins along the way to get the endorphin and dopamine hitHow do I look at Skill building in a micro learning session and give people the thrill/dopamine hit to do that?Encourage team members to focus on skill development, run a score to see how people are doing? Who is practiced? Who is doing the best on skill building? Tons of LMS systems to build and upload training to run reports. Use technology and the short term process to get to long term goals and hinge behavior and celebrations over small wins!Facebook doesn’t get us every day because I’m thinking about that person I want to have a conversation with in 3 months. What’s the latest message that has popped up in my inbox? Is someone out there hustling harder than me? It’s all about the immediate hit!We need to cater to the way people’s brains are wired, now that we know Neuroscience and biology, if you aren’t doing that today as a sales leader you are failingJB: With learning and skill development hidden behind the scenes, people may be afraid to share where they are spending time. To highlight learning, development and growth help it become much more sustainable and successful. I talk a lot about working out and staying healthy. Yes to have the energy to feel good, etc. But whatever flavor it comes in, comes down to resistance. Getting out of bed to go for a run, we may not want to do that but we get up and do it. Lifting weights IS RESISTANCE now we get into the mental exercise of doing physical exercise now helps change how we look at the world. You can overcome adversity when working out and you bring that same attitude philosophy to sales and your career. Ask a lot about sports performance, always somebody that can beat you in almost every case, you got humbled, probably had defeats and understand what it comes back from loss, you understand long term work drives long term resultsJB: Talk to me about how you leverage Stoicism for your teams to perform at your best.Stoicism - Ryan Holiday - Marcus Aurelius - Epictetus, Greek and Roman philosophersUnderstand what parts of the world are controllable and what you can’t. Understand what parts of your life you can control. Getting to a point where you are at peace with this dangerous, uncontrollable world that is around you all the time. And focusing on that world as far as what you can control. Boston Guy, New England Patriots Fan- Huge comeback against the Falcons, a lesson in Stoicism, all the data shows you’re going to lose and what are you going to do? Focus on the next play, do our best (because that’s what we can control), there’s only so much time left on the clock and focus on what we can do again and again and again to turn an INEVITABLE LOSS INTO AN UNHEARD OF WIN! Lead by example, everyone is going to have down months, down quarters. How do you handle it as a leader? Are you showing frustration and taking it out on the team? OR are you looking back on a loss to see what we can learn from it, apply those learnings to today, month quarter and focus on moving on to the next sale and what I can control!The world is a controllable and uncontrollable place- Your focus needs to be on those controllables, apply all of your effort and energy to be accountable to worry about the things you can control will reduce stress and harness your energy to focus on your outcomesJB: Now Patriots are struggling and working to see how do they focus on their next move. James Clear- winners and losers have the same goals, it’s about the systems and processes they put in place that differentiates them. Monthly kickoff with their teams one slide he uses for every meeting is Belichick - “On to Cincinnati” (Pats got crushed in 2014, dynasty is over), on to the next game, focus on that! Super Bowl 51 - how does it feel, great! But 5 weeks behind in next season so have ground to make up - move on to what we can control and think about next year. Doesn’t matter if you had a great month or missed hard to DO in both scenarios!The masters out there, top notch A players enjoy the success and never relax. Enjoy success at the end of the month and then next day 7AM, right back at itJB: Do you love winning or hate losing more?RIGHT ANSWER= I LOVE WINNING- you’re positive mindset and you prime conversations with that great energy! But I don’t believe that for me. My reality is; I HATE LOSING. The losses weigh more heavily than the wins. The losses stick around a lot longer and the gravity of a loss is much heavier than a win! JB: What does success mean to you?Success comes down to a certain confidence and serenity that I am behaving in a way that I’m thinking of myself in quieter moments. -Cognitive dissonancePsychological condition- Idea of who we believe we are and want to be. There’s a gap between not living up to our own expectations. I am RIGHT NOW, in the moment living up to the person that I claim and want to be when I’m thinking in an ideological scenario …..ethically, may be tough choices that could hurt you short term, but it’s the right thing to do….to actually do it!LIVE UP TO THE PERSON THAT YOU HOPE TO BE!As long as we behave in the way our grandmother’s would want us to behave, we’re doing a great job. Links:Matt Doyon LinkedInRock ContentRyan HolidayMarcus Aurelius- MeditationsThe Score Takes Care Of Itself - Bill Walsh
Ryan O'Hara, VP of Marketing at LeadIQ interviews himself to start off 2021. He talks about retooling the podcast, reading the Challenger Customer, and what's next.
Welcome to 2021, and the first episode of The 20% Podcast of the year! Before getting into today's episode, I'd like to take a step back and reflect on the past year, and thank everyone for all of your love and support of The 20% Podcast. I am very happy to say that this is the 19th episode of the show, and we just eclipsed my goal of 500 views for the year, so I can't thank you all enough for the support. I would also like to thank my beautiful wife Dana, and son Grayson who push me to be the best that I can, and continue to motivate me every single day! Today's guest is Matt Dixon, award-winning author of “The Challenger Sale, The Effortless Experience, The Challenger Customer”, and frequently contributes to Harvard Business Review. Matt is not only a World-Renowned Amazon and Wall Street Journal Best-Selling Author, he is also a sought-after speaker and advisor to management teams worldwide. He is also currently the Chief Product & Research Officer at Tethr. Matt was someone who I could have talked to all day, and has been so generous with giving me advice beyond the podcast as well. This episode is JAM Packed with valuable insights and ideas, ranging from: Challenger Sales Methodology The Importance of Being a Challenger and Creating Constructive Tension His Top Advise on Sales and Writing a Book and much More! Like the show? Subscribe to the email: https://mailchi.mp/a71e58dacffb/welcome-to-the-20-podcast-community I want your feedback! Reach out to 20percentpodcastquestions@gmail.com, or find me on LinkedIn (Tyler Meckes). If you know anyone who would benefit from this show, share it along! If you know of anyone who would be great to interview, please drop me a line! Enjoy the show!
Register for the ClientSide webinar Wednesday 9th December 3pm GMT: Will B2B sales ever be the same again? Heavyweight panelists: Brent Adamson - VP at Gartner & author of Challenger Sale and Challenger Customer Marie Bergfelt - Head of Marketing Portfolio & Communications at BOBST Geoff Phillips - Former Head of Marketing at Sage ____________________________________________________________________ David Smith is an International Telecoms Marketing Director. He has extensive experience in the global telecoms markets - especially small island telcos - with proven multicultural success across UK, Europe, Middle East, Asia & Caribbean. He holds a globally recognised MBA from Cranfield Business School. He has been a Board member for many years with P&L responsibility for growing and protecting revenue, business planning, mergers & acquisitions and company strategy. He was part of team that successfully floated Manx Telecom on London Stock Exchange in 2014 with a £220m market cap. David looks back on his globe-trotting career and how the mobile telecoms industry has changed in this time. Enjoy the interview
Register for my ClientSide webinar Wednesday 9th December 3pm: Will B2B sales ever be the same again? Guests include Brent Adamson - VP at Gartner & author of Challenger Sale and Challenger Customer Marie Bergfelt - Head of Marketing Portfolio & Communications at BOBST Geoff Phillips - Former Head of Marketing at Sage Tamara Littleton is the founder and CEO of The Social Element. They are a 300 person global social media agency providing social media solutions to some of the world’s biggest brands including Diageo, Toyota, Mondelēz, HSBC and Nissan. She founded the company in 2002, pre Facebook. By 2017, they had become the largest independent social media agency with the biggest global reach of anyone in this space. She also runs sister company Polpeo, that provides a unique crisis management platform. We discuss: Building first online communities Bootstrapping a 300 person agency "The Social Dilemma" Crisis management for brands Enjoy the chat
In this episode, we meet Cliff Dorsey, CRO of Welcome (formerly NewsCred).Cliff has been leading enterprise sales teams for over 23 years in a technology career that started at PTC in 1997 that was preceded by a spell in Biotech sales and before the as a Captain in the US Army (yup, wow!).Cliff picked up MEDDIC at PTC and it has been part of his playbook ever since.Cliff talks brilliantly about how to combine MEDDICC into the Challenger Sales and in particular the Challenger Customer. I feel as though I have come away from this conversation as a measurably better sales leader, and I am sure you will benefit from Cliff's wisdom too.Learn more about MEDDICC at https://www.meddicc.com .Masters of MEDDICC is a show where the world's best sales professionals are interviewed about all things enterprise sales and in particular relating to the MEDDIC framework, including MEDDICC and MEDDPICC.
We all know that the B2B sales process is becoming increasingly complex. Over the past many years, we have seen a shift in how B2B buyers make decisions. They are much more informed, have too many options, and are digitally well connected to validate their choices. Sellers struggle and often fail to provide their buyers with the right answers. This alignment gap between buyer’s expectations and seller’s skills continue to grow, and the new normal with COVID-19 isn’t helping.But, is the gap because the sellers are less capable, or is there something else that is fundamentally misaligned? We’re questioning everything – from old school sales practices to how we communicate with the buyer who knows it all. Let’s hear what an expert has to say.Hi guys, this is your host Ashish Jain, and you are listening to the ALYNMENT podcast, where we aim to expose the day-to-day misalignments between marketing and sales activities and discuss practical solutions to end this long-standing paradigm. Today’s guest is Spencer Wixom, the senior vice president of marketing and business development at Challenger Inc, an organization with many top-selling books on overcoming sales challenges, such as The Challenger Sale, The Challenger Customer, and The Effortless Experience. With over 15 years of experience at CEB, Gartner, and Challenger, Spencer has helped transform sales and marketing teams in some of the biggest and best companies in the world.He regularly authors articles on sales & marketing alignment – a passion that we both share. I am hoping to gain some insights from him around what is “good” sales enablement and how sales and marketing should align during these trying times.
Last week Matt Dixon, co-author of The Challenger Customer, presented data that showed there are an average of 6.8 decision makers and influencers in a B2B buying team. This week, Carson Heady, Senior Enterprise Account Representative for Microsoft, takes it a step further. He works in sales environments where not only are there teams on the buyer side, there are also teams on the seller side. He shares field-level strategies to maximize team selling effectiveness. Carson is the best-selling author of The Birth of a Salesman Series and widely regarded as a top sales influencer.
Last week Matt Dixon, co-author of The Challenger Customer, presented data that showed there are an average of 6.8 decision makers and influencers in a B2B buying team. This week, Carson Heady, Senior Enterprise Account Representative for Microsoft, takes it a step further. He works in sales environments where not only are there teams on the buyer side, there are also teams on the seller side. He shares field-level strategies to maximize team selling effectiveness. Carson is the best-selling author of The Birth of a Salesman Series and widely regarded as a top sales influencer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How do we sell in an economic downturn? The closest example in recent history is the 2008/2009 crisis. During that time, Matt Dixon and Brent Adamson wanted to find out why some reps were succeeding while many failed. This research led to the Challenger Sale and then, The Challenger Customer. These books are packed with insights on the type of sales reps (challengers) and the corresponding type of buyer (mobilizers) that will drive the most results. In this episode, you'll hear Matt's perspective on what salespeople and marketers should be considering as we work to recover and grow revenue.
How do we sell in an economic downturn? The closest example in recent history is the 2008/2009 crisis. During that time, Matt Dixon and Brent Adamson wanted to find out why some reps were succeeding while many failed. This research led to the Challenger Sale and then, The Challenger Customer. These books are packed with insights on the type of sales reps (challengers) and the corresponding type of buyer (mobilizers) that will drive the most results. In this episode, you'll hear Matt's perspective on what salespeople and marketers should be considering as we work to recover and grow revenue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sales and marketing are in a constant state of change—driven by technology, talent, customers' expectations, digital disruption, and more. In this episode of the Manage Your Message Podcast host Jim Karrh welcomes one of today's clearest voices for understanding those changes in the context of selling. Brent Adamson is best known as the co-author of the best-selling (and trend-setting) books The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer. Brent is also the “Chief Storyteller” at Gartner, and hosts Gartner's influential podcast “Lessons in Sales Leadership.” His academic credentials include the MBA from the University of Michigan and a PhD from the University of Texas. Much of his work for Gartner involves understanding what world-class business-to-business (B2B) sales and marketing practices look like today. As Brent relates, “Marketing and sales are becoming less synchronized with how buying is happening.” Jim and Brent discuss a number of sales topics including… Why customers are feeling overwhelmed—not just by the volume of information, but the volume of high-quality information The state of sales and marketing evolution today The types of disruption that B2B organizations are dealing with—and how they are doing Brent's assessment of the impact of The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer The profound differences among sales reps who adopt “giving,” “telling,” or “sense-making” approaches with customers Links: Learn about Gartner and what they do: https://www.gartner.com/en See Brent's LinkedIn profile and connect with him: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentadamson/ See Brent's author page on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Brent-Adamson/e/B005TYSQTY Learn more about Jim Karrh's speaking topics and testimonials: https://jimkarrh.com/speaking Check out a sample of Jim's new book, The Science of Customer Connections: Manage Your Message to Grow Your Business: https://jimkarrh.com/books Follow Jim on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jimkarrh?lang=en Connect with Jim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimkarrh Sign up for the Message Manager Memo weekly email https://jimkarrh.com/ or email jim@jimkarrh.com
According to recent research, over half of B2B buyers seek out content from the brands and industry they are interested in before making a purchase. And 47 percent view three to five pieces of content before they engage with a sales rep. 71% of B2B buyers actually start their research with a generic search, and that, on average, they do 12 searches before engaging on a specific brand’s website. In this episode, I share the key takeaway from the Challenger Customer and my thoughts on the best content marketing strategy for sales professionals. JOIN US ON SALES CULTURE LINKEDIN PAGE Connect with Joe Lemon Joe IG: www.instagram.com/joealexlemon/ Joe Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/joealexlemon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/sales/message
Part of sales and marketing alignment is having the same goals. Should “High Quality Deals” be one of yours? Hank Barne’s of Gartner certainly thinks so. Hank and I chat about everything from educating buyers, to why the 50K deal is no easier than the million dollar one, and how to align and run your sales and marketing. Low quality deals lead to longer sales cycles, disappointment in deployment and churn. And while many of the issues have to do with buyers and their process, as Hank says, “if it’s a buyers problem it’s sales and marketing’s problem too.” And what we really learn is it all comes down to confidence, communications and empathy, both between sales and marketing, and between us and our customers. This is research driven heady stuff, but can really change the way you think about pipeline, revenue and lifetime value. The last take away, “get the buyers confident in their ability to buy!” I’m guessing many of you will hear this podcast and want to see Hank’s full webinar on High Quality Deals. Watch and Enjoy. Hank recommends getting smart about Behavioral Economics. Books like Decisive from the Heath Brothers and the Challenger Customer by the CBO folks. You can follow Hank at all the usual places, Linked In, Twitter and at Gartner.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Brent Adamson serves as the “chief storyteller” for Gartner’s sales and marketing practices. He is the co-author of the best-selling book The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer and a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review and Forbes. He is a sought-after speaker, researcher, author, and facilitator with more than 25 years of experience. Across the last 16 years, Brent has been privileged to work with some of the greatest thought leaders in both B2B and B2C sales and marketing and has worked with hundreds of senior executives across virtually every industry, geography, and go-to-market model. Brent’s’ history Distinguished vice president of Gartner CEB - 14 years MBA in corporate strategy and general management - Ross School of Business PHd in German and applied linguistics - University of Michigan
Storytelling for Sales Podcast|Sales Training | Sales Techniques
Jamie Shanks is a world-leading Social Selling expert and author of the book, "Social Selling Mastery - Scaling Up Your Sales And Marketing Machine For The Digital Buyer". A true pioneer in the space of digital sales transformation, Jamie Shanks has trained over 10,000's of sales professionals and leaders all around the world. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE: The meaning of Social Selling revolution How Jamie built his firm from a laptop, a stack of business cards and a tank of gas Top 10 Do's and Dont's for Social Selling How to incorporate social media triggers, insights, referrals and competitive intelligence into the daily sales cycle SHOW NOTES [00:15] Introduction [01:26] Business stories that inspire Jamie [01:38] Building his firm from scratch [03:06] How he got into sales [05:31] Business development engine [06:16] Favorite Sales failure [06:30] Commercial real estate Lesson [08:18] The Importance of Social selling [08:40] Business to Business companies [09:14] Triggers, referrals, insight and competitive intelligence [10:48] Why some companies are yet to embrace social selling [11:00] Fear of change [13:15] The Role of LinkedIn [15:49] Do’s and Don’ts [17:32] The emerging power of video in SM space [19:56] The Art of Storytelling [20:08] Building a storyboard [21:26] The STAR process [22:52] About Jamie’s book, Spirit Selling [23:40] Contact info [24:35] Outro SHOW TRANSCRIPT Ed Bilat: Jamie Shanks. Welcome to the show. Jamie Shanks: Thank you so much for having me. Ed Bilat: I'm delighted. Jamie, I’ve been watching your videos from all over the World, exotic places, airports, helicopter, castles. I've been following you for quite some time so it's an honor to have you on the show and congratulations on your new book, Spear Selling. So that's wonderful and would love to hear your story. But before we do this, let me ask you our traditional question, which is, what business success story inspires you and why? Jamie Shanks: The business success story that inspires me is any entrepreneur that has built something from scratch. For me, as somebody who built his company from an idea and a failed consulting practice at that in my first couple years, I am inspired by anyone who is a founder, owner, operator who took a business from zero to millions of dollars. In fact, you know, you can read books about those that have built billions of dollar businesses, I'm less inspired by those that take over businesses more about those that started from scratch. Ed Bilat: Wonderful. Yeah, I watched the video where you described the experience, I believe you were getting married at the same time. Right. And starting the company. So just a total start from nothing. Correct? Jamie Shanks: I mean all I had was a laptop, a stack of business cards and, you know, a tank of gas in my car and that was it. I really didn't understand and it took me years to really understand the financial and operational rigor and acumen necessary to run a professional services company. I had to learn it the hard way. Ed Bilat: Hmm. Wow. That's very interesting. You came to the consulting practice from the sales world, right? So like, you’ve been the director of business development, however, this is different. Right. So how did you even get into sales originally? Jamie Shanks: Well, it was by accident. I didn't want to be a sales professional. So when I was at university, I went to the University of Ottawa. I volunteered at the bank of Montreal, Nesbitt Burns in Canada, Ontario. And then I would spend my time as a volunteer, that gave me a summer job that turned into a full-time job and at the same time finishing my undergrad degree. So what I didn't realize, my dream as a kid was to be a stockbroker. I mean I did job shadow days at the stock brokerage firms. This is all I ever wanted it to be. And then in 2000 when the market collapsed and I was an investment representative, I didn't know that a stockbroker is actually a self-professional that advises on, you know stocks that are out in the market but also advises on stocks that the bank has underwritten and their job is to sell the inventory that the bank owns. Nobody told me this. So what I didn't realize is I was already a sales professional, just, I was like a wolf in sheep's clothing or whatever that saying is. Anyways, I left the bank and went on to do my master's degree and when I came back, the only company that would hire me or the only role that people would hire me for was a sales role because they said, well that's your previous experience. What are you talking about? I'm not a seller. And anyway, so I felt … Ed Bilat: Interesting. So obviously not expecting to be a full-time sales professional. So what was your major challenge earlier on moving into this? Jamie Shanks: I can tell you what my major strength was and then I'll work backward to everything else being the challenge. Ed Bilat: Sounds good. Jamie Shanks: So what I discovered about myself, I've always been a talker. When I was in high school, I owned a landscaping company. I make other people cut the grass and I just went door to door to win customers. So I had a neat skill of making feel people feel comfortable, creating a business opportunity for myself. So my strength, when I started in commercial real estate, it was a hundred percent commission I was really good at booking meetings, creating opportunity. I wasn't as great at the follow-through and actually doing the real estate transaction. I started partnering internally and I would become the business, development engine in a group of corporate real estate brokers. one person would maybe manage the customer, one person would do the real estate transaction and my job was business development. At that time business development was primarily done via telephone and face to face meeting. And so I could cold call the daylights out. I get to burn the phone up with cold calls. I was just strong at this. Ed Bilat: Yeah, the analog way, right. Jamie Shanks: The analog way. So every other skill became my challenge. Ed Bilat: Hmm. Okay. So do you have a favorite sales failure? Like can you give us an example of a failure which was actually a good lesson for you? Jamie Shanks: I have a story that I'll try to shrink down to podcast level, but essentially when I was in commercial real estate, I won a mandate, which means the opportunity to work on a piece of business for a large industrial company that wanted to build a building and the commission from this deal would have been enough to pay off my master's degree and buy me a house. Like it was massive. The long and the short of it is, the day that the landlord and my customer and their investors met to do this deal it turned into an all-out fistfight. And what happened was my customer… Ed Bilat: [laughs] so this is a closing appointment? Jamie Shanks Exactly. And my customer and investors fired me because they said I didn't do the due diligence on who this land low land[sic]. Ed Bilat: Oh no. Jamie Shanks So what I did is I actually googled the investor's name, look them up on Canada 411. I bought the most expensive bottle of Scotch I could afford, drove to this person's house. It's a gated community north of the city and a place called King City. I jumped the fence to their property, ran across the yard, the investor was sitting in his bathrobe smoking a cigar right on his porch and he and I proceeded to have a scotch together talking about rekindling our business partnership. That's when I realized I was willing to do just about anything. Ed Bilat: Unbelievable. Unbelievable. So he was okay to see you show up with a bottle of Scotch? Jamie Shanks: I guess so [laughs] Ed Bilat: Well, that's a very good, interesting story specifically for Storytelling for Sales Podcast. So thank you for sharing this. I know you’re a top expert in social selling and for our listeners, could you describe it? What is social selling? What is everybody talking about? Jamie Shanks: What it really means is whether we as sellers like it or not, our customers are going to learn with or without us. So a customer is going to go on a journey. And when I'd say my customers are primarily business to business companies Ed Bilat: B to B Jamie Shanks: Yeah. So let's say I'm vice president of information technology or a VP of HR is going to look at an initiative and a portion of their learning is going to happen without the sales professional. That means that they'll do online research. They’ll reach out to their social network and ask some questions. And so what a seller needs to do is to map and meet the customer where they are doing their due diligence, which is online and what they're doing is using four principals. They, reusing triggers, referrals, insights and competitive intelligence that can be found using social platforms or also using digital technology to aid in that buyer's process. So on a tactical level or as a real tactical example, one of the things that I as a seller could be doing to acquire customers is I take every existing customer of ours from our database and I map job changes every time somebody in our customer database from a company that we've worked with leaves that company and moves on to an organization we've never done business with that should, you know, create a trigger for my team to start a compelling sales conversation with them. And that is the purpose of what social selling is. You're just using data and new communication mediums to engage the customer in a bold and different way. Ed Bilat. Mmhmm Okay. So what I hear from now, you say that the sales cycle has already started before they talk to salespeople, right, for modern customers. So it could be 50% in, 60% before they dial the number or even start any kind of conversation. And it's the job of the sales professional to get into that sales cycle early and start influencing the process before they even talk for the first time. Is that correct? Jamie Shanks: 100%. That's exactly it. Ed Bilat: Hmm. Okay. And then why some of the companies have not embraced this yet? Like what's stopping everybody going from analog to digital? Jamie Shanks: There would be a few things. One would be, analysis by paralysis or fear of change. So there'd be a group of companies that have been doing it the same way for so long, the idea of altering back current sales motion is just impossible for them to fathom. Option number two is the companies are then, so that's kind of like the status quo. Then the next level would be they want to change, but they're so focused on working in their business, not on their business. Ed Bilat: Hmmm Lovely. I love that. Jamie Shanks: That they, unfortunately, can't pull their head up out of the sand and realize maybe I can work on things today that will dramatically affect me six to 12 months in the future and I am willing to go through learning and development and the hard things about, you know, a transformation. I'm going to do those things now even though I might be doing very well from a business development standpoint, I might be hitting my sales quota yet all indicators today show that we're doing well. That doesn't mean success in the future and great companies recognize that they need to be evolving today for their 2020 here. And that's just the difference. So many companies are so focused on their next 90 days in the quarter that they can't fathom planning beyond that. And it's also because remember the average vice president of sales stays in a company, something like 17 months. That's the average tenure of sales. So that VP of sales isn't really concerned about what it's going to look like a year or two down the road. They're focused a quarter at a time. Ed Bilat: That's right. And then if you want to drive magnificent, fantastic results, you have to change, right? Because what's the true definition of insanity in the medical term? It is continuing to do the same thing and expect different results and this is exactly why is it's such a challenge. So is there any other tools, any particular ways you recommend to doing this for somebody who is just evolving into a successful social selling as a strategy? Jamie Shanks: Well, absolutely. The most prevalent tool to start with is the tool of Linkedin. [sic] business to business. And then from there, think of Linkedin as two things. One, the world's largest database, sort of resource or research tool. And the second, a different type of communication platform. And when you think about it in those two contexts, then first start to evaluate how you can acquire more data that is beneficial to you. Strategic data such as, I could go into your social network, Ed, right now and see all the companies that you're connected to. So at the end of the day, think of what we use in the analog world and how you can apply it in the digital world. You think yourself referrals. Referrals are obviously a fantastic business development motion. Great. Where do I acquire referrals? Well, what if I dropped into Ed’s social network and I looked at the 3 to 5 companies that Ed knew the best. Now all of a sudden you're taking a sales to play and you're executing it through a digital medium like LinkedIn. So that's where I would get started. Think of how I would use it as that research tool. And then from an engagement tool, I would think to myself, okay, I want to target a company in Ottawa, Shopify. Well, if I wanted to get a hold of the C level executives at Shopify, instead of me calling my way in, what about if I use a medium like I make a video and I send it to those C level executives through Linkedin, that bypasses the gatekeeper. Again, you're just using the same process you would use in the analog world. You're just digitizing it. Ed Bilat: Yeah, that's very important because you mentioned three things; the trigger selling, referral selling and then insight selling. So in the find extend [sic] correctly, you’re asking, okay, these three things they did exist for centuries in the sales world. Now all you do is you taking them from analog to digital. So is that correct? Jamie Shanks: That's 100% what you're trying to do. In social selling, you're not inventing a whole new sales methodology. What you're doing is refining your existing sales motion. That's ultimately what you're trying to do. Ed Bilat: Yeah. Very cool. So because if we put it like that, that sounds less scary for our listener’s right. Jamie Shanks: Yeah, right. That’s when people get caught up because they think, oh, I’m doing less now becoming a social seller. No, no, you're not abandoning the way you sell. You're just evolving. Ed Bilat: Excellent! That’s excellent advice. So is there any particular do's and don'ts for people who are just evolving into this, for companies, for sales professionals, anything which you've seen through the years when you were leading this transformation? Jamie Shanks: I'll, maybe on some of the don'ts at the individual seller perspective. Don't try this once or for a week and then say to yourself, oh, this doesn't work. It doesn't work. You know, I live in Canada. And that would be like me trying hockey for the very first time for a week and saying, no, you know what? Nobody could ever learn to skate. This is, what do you mean blades on ice? Right? And so the reality is my company alone has trained hundreds of thousands of sellers who have made billions of dollars of sales pipeline around the world. So when somebody says this doesn't work for them, they're just making an excuse for themselves at the corporate level. 51% of success are of the digital sales transformation. Sit with frontline sales managers actually sit with sales leadership. If the sales leaders don't inherently believe this, know how it works, turn these into coachable moments and actually coach towards these in one on ones, then it doesn't really matter what you teach the sellers. You can teach the sellers these skills all they want, but if they're not being held accountable to them, it'll never happen. Ed Bilat: Yeah, that's right. They just wasted the training dollars for nothing. Jamie Shanks: Correct. Ed Bilat: Hmm. Okay. So these were do's and dont's Any particular do’s, like do this? Is there any particular favorite social selling story, the success of social sales story you can share with us? Jamie Shanks: What I would start experimenting with today, not tomorrow is the power of video and 95% of sellers that, I mean are scared out of their mind to start making videos to teach, tailor and take control of their customer conversation. And we'll take it from the book, the Challenger Customer or challenge them. The reality is how do you consume and learn? You Watch Youtube and the difference is that the sellers are, for whatever reason, don't see themselves in the same context. Take a moment, make a video around best practices, what-if scenarios, market trends, get it in the hands of your customers. You're going to humanize yourself in a completely different way. You're going to be able to synthesize all these best practices. Your customers are just going to view you differently. That's where I'd start. Ed Bilat: Okay, so definitely the video and don't be afraid to do the first tryout and then the second, then the third and nobody's watching, right? So you can make as many attempts as you like unless you are satisfied with the end results. I just got back from Cuba and I was filming a few videos and sometimes it takes 10-15 times to rerecord it, but in the end, it does look good. Right? Jamie Shanks: Yeah. I mean I've had a different view on this, so I try to record it only once. Ed Bilat: Only once? Jamie Shanks: Even with mistakes. because if you were on a cold call right now, or if you were in a boardroom or if you were on a discovery call on a conference call, you don't get to do it over again. Ed Bilat: That's right. Jamie Shanks: Just like this podcast, we're just talking, right. And there's no stop and start here. And so if you make videos with that mindset, you realize that the customer actually prefers that authentic nature. Ed Bilat: Okay. So they're all foolish. Jamie Shanks: Exactly. Ed Bilat: Just like from your videos from the airport. I have been watching the one you did in Australia I think. You had people around you, you're moving and you just delivered your message. Jamie Shanks: Yeah. Just deliver the message. Ed Bilat: I thought you probably practiced it is like 20 times. Jamie Shanks: No. Ed Bilat: You can do it from the first tryout. Wow. That’s great. So thank you so much for sharing this. So in terms of the storytelling, the digital storytelling, like what does the art of storytelling mean to you? What do you see in this world? Jamie Shanks: When I think of storytelling, one of the very first things that I try to do is take a step back and build a storyboard. If you've ever seen how a movie script is created or when I wrote two books, actually, for me, what I do is I draw out the scenes or the core parts of the story. I draw them up. I'm a visual learner. And that way I tell the story through those main visuals. And I think what's important as a seller is, storytelling is critical in your engagement communication. But that story needs to have been, you need to back up and ask yourself, number one, what part of the story are they going to trust? What part of the story is valuable to them? What is their call to action? So I like to back up, design and craft what that storyboard is going to look like and a variety of storyboards. So this is the other important thing, is that sellers will design one story, we'll deploy a customer, it won't resonate with the customer, the customer will get back to them. Well, it's like they're out of bullets now. So, why aren't you drawing out three, four, or five storyboarded plays? That way after the first message doesn't resonate, you move on to the next and the next and the next. Ed Bilat: Hmm. Okay. So the classical one is the one where you use the star acronym, right? So S-T-A-R, Situation, Trouble, Action, and Results, right? So you basically describe life as it is, then something happens, right? Oh, that's the trouble. And then what are the actions you took and the end results. So this is sort of the classical ways. So what you are saying is that scenario may not resonate with everybody so you need to have several, correct? Jamie Shanks: Correct. The process that you just described, the star process might work, but the content within that star process, the situation may not have resonated or the result may not be of value to that person. So you might need, if you like the star process, then you just need to devise multiple stories using that process. Ed Bilat: And the more details you put the more believable story is, right? Because on the other side, you know, the customer, they’re trying to evaluate did you just make this up, right? or is this is a real story? Jamie Shanks: Correct. Another point, social proof is really valuable when you have a link that can attach to a video or a blog that's written about it or a podcast. Now all a sudden there's some social proof to that story. Ed Bilat: That's right cause they are looking to validate it. Wow, this’s been wonderful, wonderful discussion. So Jimmy, thank you so much for connecting with us today. So tell us about your book and tell us about the best way to connect with you for our listeners. Jamie Shanks: The book that we published in January is called Spear Selling. Ed Bilat: Spear Selling. Jamie Shanks: So Spear Selling is the ultimate account-based sales guide for modern digital selling. What that really means is when I wrote Social Selling Mastery in 2016 it was about the overarching movement of social selling. But what happened is over the years customers are becoming more and more account-based focused. And so this book is very tactical and provides real sales plays that you can run and your leadership team can coach towards as a modern digital seller. And you can pick it up on Amazon in every format from audibles to Kindle to hardcover to softcover and you can also connect with me on Linkedin @Jamie shanks. Ed Bilat: Wonderful. Wonderful. So in terms of the account-based selling, everything you described the digital selling or the social selling, is that component included in this or is that separate? Jamie Shanks: Nope, it's completely covered inside this. Everything that we teach has a social and digital twist to it. Ed Bilat: That would be really cool to check this out, right? Because if you can see this as one strategy, as one approach, not as separate pieces, I think it would be very, very valuable for our listeners to try this out. So thank you so much for coming to the podcast it's been an absolute pleasure. So I will make sure we include your information. Again, ladies and gentlemen, Jamie shanks. Thank you so much. Jamie Shanks: Thank you so much.
Brent Adamson interviews Maria Boulden, who just retired as Global Sales Director, Corian Design Business at DuPont. The two discuss highlights of her career, including a CSO’s first and last 100 days, when to step down and increasing diversity in sales.About Lessons in Sales Leadership:Go inside the minds of top chief sales officers. What are their stories? Their challenges? What drives them to succeed? On Lessons in Sales Leadership, sales and marketing guru Brent Adamson interviews heads of sales about the decisions they’ve made and the lessons they’ve learned on their journey to success as a sales leader.About the Host:Brent Adamson, Distinguished Vice President of Advisory, collaborates with heads of B2B and B2C sales and marketing around the world. Brent’s work spans a wide range of commercial challenges, including customer buying behavior, sales performance, marketing excellence, commercial strategy, content marketing, customer/consumer experience and understanding, sales management, personalization, leadership and coaching, organizational productivity, and both in-person and digital customer engagement. He is a sought-after speaker and facilitator, with more than 25 years of experience as a professional researcher, teacher, and trainer. He is also the co-author of The Challenger Customer and the best-selling The Challenger Sale and has written for a wide range of business publications including numerous articles in the Harvard Business Review, along with Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Selling Power.More podcasts from Gartner: ThinkCast: https://www.gartner.com/en/podcasts/thinkcast Talent Angle: https://www.gartner.com/en/podcasts/talent-angle Podcasts page: https://www.gartner.com/en/podcasts
Go inside the minds of top chief sales officers. What are their stories? Their challenges? What drives them to succeed? On Lessons in Sales Leadership, sales and marketing guru Brent Adamson interviews heads of sales about the decisions they’ve made and the lessons they’ve learned on their journey to success as a sales leader. About the Host:Brent Adamson, Distinguished Vice President of Advisory, collaborates with heads of B2B and B2C sales and marketing around the world. Brent’s work spans a wide range of commercial challenges, including customer buying behavior, sales performance, marketing excellence, commercial strategy, content marketing, customer/consumer experience and understanding, sales management, personalization, leadership and coaching, organizational productivity, and both in-person and digital customer engagement. He is a sought-after speaker and facilitator, with more than 25 years of experience as a professional researcher, teacher, and trainer. He is also the co-author of The Challenger Customer and the best-selling The Challenger Sale and has written for a wide range of business publications including numerous articles in the Harvard Business Review, along with Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Selling Power.
Matt Dixon is the co-author of The Challenger Sale, The Challenger Customer and The Effortless Experience--the book that launched Customer Effort Score (CES). He is also a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review, and experienced advisor to senior executives on sales, service and customer experience. Matt is curently Chief Product and Research Officer at Tethr, an Austin based company that provides an AI-powered communications intelligence platform that listens to, accurately transcribes and analyzes phone conversations, chat interactions and other asynchronous messaging in real-time, giving companies searchable, actionable insights that they can use to improve customer experience, sales, marketing, communications, product, service and compliance. Follow Worthix on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/worthix/ Follow Worthix on Twitter: @worthix Follow Matt Dixon on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/matthewxdixon/ Follow Matt Dixon on Twitter: @matthewxdixon Follow Mary Drumond on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/marydrumond/ Follow Mary Drumond on Twitter: @drumondmary
Notes Sales is an art form. There are many aspects to it and the buying/selling “dance” is amazing. The best way to train/coach sales people is to use real phone calls, not role playing. One of things you should be doing from the start is to record all your calls and video meetings so that you can go back and take better notes as well as to learn from the recordings. At the early stage, you should have a brief before the meeting, have the meeting then have a debrief afterwards so that you can get the best results. For SDR, he is looking for candidates that are hungry, driven and open to coaching. Account executive - Same as above but someone that has experience with the price point and sales cycle. Someone who has the ability to understand all the different software systems being used in their daily tasks. People with little to no experience can sometimes be better hires as they are more foldable and less stuck in their ways. Do reference checks on sales people, they interview well. Call mutual connections, not just the references provided. Interview success is the lowest indicator of potential high performance. During the interview, have a role play and after ask them to change one thing. Then do the role play again and see if they implemented the one thing you asked them to change. If they did not, it may not be a good candidate. You should document the top behaviours that a sales person should exhibit to be a top performer. Then when providing feedback, refer back to those behaviours. Get you customers personal email and cell phone number. When they live their company, you can still contact them as they go to a new company. Final Five What is your favorite sales or leadership book? The Challenger Customer by Brent Adamson Do you have someone that you follow/read for sales/leadership ideas? Jill Konrath, Tom Snyder Are you available 24/7? Do you have strict personal time boundaries? Very strict time boundaries What is your favorite tool used for sales? Truepeoplesearch.com What one piece of advice do you have for all the founders/CEOs/VP Sales out there? Go try things that are out of your comfort zone, study what the best people do differently and approach sales more like a science. Mentioned Books Steve's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saleskickoffspeaker/ Adam's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/springeradam/ Training: https://startupsales.io/training/
On this episode of Friday Fundamentals, we discuss skeptics and blockers. Identify your mobilizers. Find your skeptic: someone who tears down your idea. Find your blocker - someone who doesn't engage. How do you engage your skeptic and mobilizer? And why does this tactic matter? Brent Adamson discusses strategies to engage your skeptics and identify your blockers for better business.
On this episode of Friday Fundamentals, we discuss skeptics and blockers. Identify your mobilizers. Find your skeptic: someone who tears down your idea. Find your blocker - someone who doesn't engage. How do you engage your skeptic and mobilizer? And why does this tactic matter? Brent Adamson discusses strategies to engage your skeptics and identify your blockers for better business.
“If you think it's difficult to sell and market to customers imagine how hard it is for them to buy and purchase?” In the second podcast of the series, John talks the challenger customer – expands on the principles of the challenger sale and focusses on tailoring the message, teaching and constructive tension. John talks around the buying experience from the customers point of view and explains how we can all relate when we make our own buying decisions. Find out why it can be so difficult during the buying decision, how many people are actually involved and the processes they follow throughout.
Studies show that when people buy from a business the main attraction is in fact the overall buying experience. We welcome John Pittway (risual Sales Director) to risual radio to discuss the challenger sale. John will explore why as a business we have adopted the culture and how it provides new insights and learning to our customers. But what exactly is the challenger sale and how can you adopt it? Take a listen to the first podcast in this series as John explains the concept around the challenger sale approach and what it means for the customer. Stay tuned for the next podcast in the series – “The Challenger Customer”.
Best-selling author, Matt Dixon changed the selling world when he co-authored the Challenger Sale. Matt has coauthored three best-selling books, The Effortless Experience, The Challenger Sale, The Challenger Customer. Matt digs deep into insight selling in this podcast and we have a ton of fun talking about modern sales and negotiations practices. Currently, Matt serves as head of Korn Ferry's Selling practice. ALL SHOW NOTES AND LINKS AT: negotiations.ninja/podcasts
This week Cut The Crap Podcast features a break down of the Washington Post, New York Times, and Amazon Best Seller, "The Challenger Customer: Selling to the Hidden Influencer Who Can Multiply Your Results" by Brent Adamson. Together Brent and I discuss the five most powerful golden nuggets that we want you to take away from his book! ---------- Rate and review the show. Take a screen capture of your review. Send it to Ryan.Caligiuri@me.com and get entered into a draw every quarter for a prize over $1,000. Enter once and you're entered in the draw forever! ----------- Follow Ryan on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and SnapChat. *Theme song credit to Fall Out Boy: My Song Knows What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up). See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
W dzisiejszym odcinku podcastu "Rozmowy B2B" Igor Bielobradek i Wiktor Łyczko komentują kilka wybranych artykułów dotyczących marketingu B2B. Główną myślą przewodnią dyskusji jest to, że marketerzy B2B chyba nie doceniają wagi komunikacji z całym komitetem zakupowym (wszystkimi osobami wpływającymi na decyzję o zakupie) i zbyt często skupiają się na jednej tylko personie marketingowej. W tym odcinku omawiamy następujące artykuły: (00m 59sek) - II edycja badania Stan marketingu B2B w Polsce http://www.b2bleadway.pl/ Weź udział w badaniu, wypełnij krótką ankietę i zdobądź argumenty do dyskusji o marketingu w Twojej firmie. (01m 33sek) - A B2B Buyer Persona is Not an Island http://marketinginteractions.com/b2b-buyer-persona-island/ Artykuł Adrath Albee, autorki książki "Digital Relevance", która argumentuje, że zbyt kurczowe trzymanie się marketing persona, może być kontrproduktywne. (12m 30sek) - Avoid These Common B2B Content Marketing Mistakes https://hbr.org/2016/02/avoid-these-common-b2b-content-marketing-mistakes Artykuł Brent'a Adamson'a z CEB, współautora książki "Challenger Customer", który pisze o trzech częstych błędach popełnianych przy tworzeniu treści marketingowych B2B: - Mistake #1: The content focuses on “thought leadership” - Mistake #2: The content overdoes personalization - Mistake #3: The content doesn’t help sellers gauge purchase progress. (15m 50sek) - IDC's 2017 CMO FutureScape report https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/top-10-cmo-predictions-from-idc-gerry-murray Jak zmienią się priorytety związane z produkcją i finansowaniem treści marketingowych w B2B wg. samych dyrektorów marketingu? (23m 36sek) - Pracownik w social media – jak go zaktywizować? http://thinkkong.pl/pracownik-social-media-go-zaktywizowac/ Badanie przygotowane przez Grupę Think Kong wskazuje, że najliczniejsza grupa pracowników oczekuje wynagrodzenia finansowego, za umieszczenie treści pracodawcy na swoim profilu w mediach społecznościowych. (30m 38sek) - Czy w branży B2B content marketing to "silver bullet"?! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf4T45p0GUg Polemika z wypowiedzią Piotra Kaczmarka-Kurczaka z inndesign.pl, czyli o tym, że w marketingu B2B łatwo to już było ;-). (34m 23sek) - Pracowali w garażu, brakowało im na ZUS. Napisany w dwa dni tekst pomógł im zdobyć światowe rynki http://innpoland.pl/133277,pracowali-w-garazu-brakowalo-im-na-zus-i-podatki-napisany-w-dwa-dni-tekst-zrobil-z-nich-milionerow-i-najlepszych-speco-od-seo Przykład, że w content marketingu B2B liczy się jakość - a nie ilość. Czekamy na wasz feedback, polecenia, pytania oraz sugestie tematów do dyskusji. Zapraszamy do wysłuchania rozmowy!
Brent Adamson of the CEB is back :) You may remember my podcast with Brent from a few weeks ago where we looked at his research into the “Challenger Customer” and its implications for selling high-value products and services. You might also remember that we touched on the concept of “Commercial Insight”. It's perhaps the most effective method for individuals and firms to both differentiate themselves vs competitors and motivate their potential clients to take action. So I got Brent back for a second interview to dive into more details on Commercial Insight. In the interview we talk about: What […]
Brent Adamson of the CEB is back :) You may remember my podcast with Brent from a few weeks ago where we looked at his research into the “Challenger Customer” and its implications for selling high-value products and services. You might also remember that we touched on the concept of “Commercial Insight”. It's perhaps the most effective method for individuals and firms to both differentiate themselves vs competitors and motivate their potential clients to take action. So I got Brent back for a second interview to dive into more details on Commercial Insight. In the interview we talk about: What […]
This is a special podcast. Partially because my guest, Brent Adamson of the CEB, is such an expert and entertaining speaker. But perhaps more because the topic is so critical. As I mentioned in Why Being An Expert Won't Get You Clients, we're in an era where it's becoming tougher and tougher to sell premium solutions to our clients. Time and time again a service we know will bring huge benefits is turned down in favour of a cheaper option, or the client just doesn't move ahead and do anything. It's not just because of the way we're marketing and […]
This is a special podcast. Partially because my guest, Brent Adamson of the CEB, is such an expert and entertaining speaker. But perhaps more because the topic is so critical. As I mentioned in Why Being An Expert Won't Get You Clients, we're in an era where it's becoming tougher and tougher to sell premium solutions to our clients. Time and time again a service we know will bring huge benefits is turned down in favour of a cheaper option, or the client just doesn't move ahead and do anything. It's not just because of the way we're marketing and […]
Joining me on this episode of Accelerate! is Brent Adamson, Principal Executive Advisor at CEB and co-author of the bestselling books, The Challenger Sale and most recently, The Challenger Customer: Selling to the Hidden Influencer Who Can Multiply Your Results. Among the many topics Brent and I discuss are how the ‘challenger customer’ paradigm presents a challenge both for the buyer and the seller, how it forces sellers to adapt their processes, and strategies for creating a mental model of the customer’s business and strategy and how ‘selling low’ to establish stakeholder consensus is an effective sales strategy. MORE ABOUT BRENT ADAMSON Who is your sales role model? Steve Jobs, because I’m in the business of selling ideas. What’s one book that everyone should read? Any book that gets you to say, “Huh, I never thought of it that way before”. What music is on your playlist right now? O.A.R., Dave Matthews CONTACT BRENT ADAMSON Website: CEBGlobal.com CEB Sales Leadership Council CEB Marketing Leadership Council
Brent and I discuss how the ‘challenger’ paradigm presents a challenge for the buyer and seller and how it forces sellers to adapt their stratigies for creating a mental model of the customer’s business.
This podcast was recorded on site at the CEB Sales and Marketing Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada and dives into the Challenger Customer as well as the themes and trends from the conference. Guests include: Patrick Spenner, the Director of Strategic Initiatives for CEB's Marketing practice, Brent Adamson, Principal Executive Advisor at CEB, Nick Toman, Sales Practice Leader at CEB, and Jill Konrath, a frequent speaker, author, and influencer. Read more: http://technologyadvice.com/blog/marketing/behind-the-scenes-insights-from-the-2015-ceb-sales-and-marketing-summit/ Find out more about the Challenger Customer: https://www.cebglobal.com/top-insights/challenger-customer.html
"The Challenger Customer: Selling to the Hidden Influencer Who Can Multiply Your Results" by Brent Adamson, Matthew Dixon, Pat Spenner, and Nick Toman Click here for show notes! https://www.salesartillery.com/marketing-book-podcast/the-challenger-customer-patrick-spenner
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Fractional CMO, Digital Marketing Strategiest, and Leadership Keynote Speaker Michele Price brings you weekly access to the top minds to Master the Inner and Outer Game of business. Breakthrough Radio is a global business radio show that delivers high impact & pioneering knowledge for leaders in business. Entrepreneurs, startups, sales/marketing/IT professionals join us every Monday. Richard Dobbs, based in London leads research on global economic trends, urbanization, resource markets, capital markets, lifestyle diseases, productivity and growth. Nick Toman, co-author, The Challenger Customer - Selling to the Hidden Influencer Who Can Multiply Your Results. Don Cooper, The Sales Heretic (tm) brings us every first Monday of the month Breakthrough Sales tip, growing our revenue and profits. Jeff Shuey, Chief Evangelist K2, Jeff joins us after our featured guest, discussing technologies that impact our lives. Follow us & ask your questions via twitter using #BBSradio. We love rewarding engagement. You are invited to visit radio show blog at www.WhoIsMichelePrice.com
In 2011, “The Challenger Sale” rocked decades of conventional wisdom with a bold new approach to sales. Classic relationship building is a losing approach; salespeople who CHALLENGE their customers deliver consistently high performance. Pat Spenner & Nick Toman got in on the follow up, "The Challenger Customer: Selling to the Hidden Influencer Who Can Multiply Your Results", which just hit shelves on 9/8/2015! Being a Challenger seller is NOT enough. Your success or failure also depends on who you challenge. **************************************************************** THE WORD is a #live freestylin' event + live #twitterchat (#SalesJolt) w/ @keenan. Every two weeks, Keenan invites a special guest, experts in human behavoir and #psychology, #sales, rocking the #smallbusiness world, and so much more... Don't be alarmed if things get entertaining in here. Explicit language known to pop in. You've been warned. The #sales and LIFE training, with #swagger. **************************************************************** Website: www.asalesguy.com Twitter: @asalesguy @keenan Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/asalesguyrecruiting https://www.facebook.com/heykeenan Instagram: asalesguy
The CEB Sales and Marketing Podcast Series is a partnership with Technology Advice, a platform which helps buyers make well-informed purchase decisions through comprehensive product listings, industry analysis and user-generated reviews. We’re using the podcast series as a new way to share the latest insights from CEB and other thought leaders in the sales and marketing space. Listen to this panel of experts live from the CEB Sales and Marketing Summit 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Discussions range from the alignment of sales and marketing, The Challenger Customer, and other current trends.