Podcasts about Conversica

#updateai #customersuccess #saas #business Amy Oilman, SVP of Customer Success at Conversica, joins hosts Jon Johnson, Principal CSM, Key Accounts at UserTesting, and Josh Schachter, Co-Founder & CEO at UpdateAI, to share insights from her experience building and leading customer success teams at industry giants like Google and Salesforce. Drawing from her time at these powerhouse companies, she reveals how to create the most effective customer success teams, emphasizing the importance of a well-defined team vision, the core values guiding her teams, and innovative approaches to battling churn and ensuring customer satisfaction. Timestamps 0:00 – Preview & Intros 4:10 – Priorities for 2025 7:07 – Rules of the Road 8:40 – The #1 Rule of the Road 11:23 – Collaboration with Internal Teams 13:00 – Showing Up with a Point of View & Being Engaged 15:37 – Identifying and Hiring Potential Candidates 17:20 – "The Best in the Universe" 21:37 – Amy's Experience at the CS100 Conference 23:40 – Personal Branding and Growth ___________________________

Conversica is an AI company that is helping teams and leagues with their sales and marketing through large language technology.

Conversica is an AI company that is helping teams and leagues with their sales and marketing through large language technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever thought about how Artificial Intelligence could transform the world of work and wealth? That's exactly what we're exploring with Jim Kaskade, CEO of Conversica, a trailblazer in the world of AI. With Jim's expert insights, we promise you a journey through the transformative power of AI, its potential to enhance human productivity, and create a new panorama of employment opportunities.Our time with Jim Kaskade is not just about what AI can do, but also about the human side of the equation. We examine how AI is radically altering customer journeys and how this tech marvel supports the intricacies of team dynamics.  Jim shares his personal journey and the crucial role of mentorship in his rise to tech CEO. Plus, get ready for our informative chat about the invisible matrix that executive teams use to evaluate their members, the importance of self-awareness, and the art of constructive feedback. But the conversation doesn't stop there. We probe into the potential of AI to engage the younger generation effectively and how businesses can leverage this. Hear it straight from the horse's mouth as Jim shares how he systematized approaches to create impactful change within his businesses. All this while discussing the joys of hiking and how it influenced his leadership style. This episode is a gold mine of insights, stories, and a fascinating voyage into the world of artificial intelligence, team dynamics, and business growth.

In this episode of "Business of Tech," Dave Sobel discusses the top 10 cloud trends of 2023 as revealed by Forrester research. These trends include AI dominance, the integration of AI into operations, the evolution of web assembly, digital sovereignty, subscription models by IT hardware vendors, FinOps, multi-cloud networking with Zero Trust Edge, advancements in cloud security, industry clouds driven by system integrators, and transformative deals by managed services providers. The episode also covers a survey highlighting the challenges faced by IT decision-makers in terms of adverse events compromising IT systems, such as hardware failure, network failure, and malware. The need for automation and orchestration of recovery processes is emphasized, as well as the increasing risk posed by ransomware attackers targeting backups. He also highlights the upcoming availability of the Meta Quest 3 mixed reality headset through TD Synnex and the lag in responsible AI implementation. Additionally, Conversica reveals that only 6% of firms have guidelines for AI usage. Dave also explores the topic of IT compensation and how it stacks up in the industry. The podcast includes an analysis of Q3 2023 earnings calls from over 4,000 U.S.-listed firms conducted by IoT Analytics.Four things to know today00:00 Top 10 Cloud Trends of 2023: What Forrester Research Reveals02:57 Meta's Quest 3 Mixed Reality Headset Soon Available Through TD Synnex04:12 Responsible AI Lags Behind: Conversica Reveals Only 6% of Firms Have Guidelines05:43 How Does Your IT Compensation Stack Up? Service Leadership Survey Aims to Find OutThis is the Business of Tech.Advertiser: https://gozynta.com/Looking for a link from the stories? The entire script of the show, with links to articles, are posted in each story on https://www.businessof.tech/Do you want the show on your podcast app or the written versions of the stories? Subscribe to the Business of Tech: https://www.businessof.tech/subscribe/Support the show on Patreon: https://patreon.com/mspradio/Want our stuff? Cool Merch? Wear “Why Do We Care?” - Visit https://mspradio.myspreadshop.comFollow us on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/28908079/YouTube: https://youtube.com/mspradio/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mspradionews/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mspradio/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@businessoftech

Welcome to the latest edition of the Edge of AI Podcast! Join us for the exclusive 1st installment of a singular episode featuring our Edge of AI Dispatch segment. Powered by Metaverse Post, this segment is your trusted source for the latest in cutting-edge tech and AI news. In just 5 minutes, you can dive into timely headlines showcasing the ever-evolving landscape of AI & tech.In this episode, we delve into the unstoppable dominance of NVIDIA in the tech market, revealing a staggering year-over-year revenue increase and a commitment to generative AI. Experience the future of enterprise operations as ChatGPT takes center stage, offering advanced data analysis and customization options to revolutionize businesses.Venture into the funding world, where Modular secures $100 million to simplify AI infrastructure, while Hugging Face raises a jaw-dropping $235 million in a Series D funding round. Explore how ethical considerations shape the adoption of AI as Conversica's survey reveals a division in corporate responsibility.Witness the rise of South Korean giant Naver's generative AI tool, HyperCLOVA X, and how Yahoo's AI tools are transforming user experiences. And don't miss Uber's foray into the AI chatbot realm with a hidden gem in the Uber Eats app.Stay tuned for the Edge Of AI Dispatch to be released as it's own weekly episode with more captivating stories on the horizon. This Edge of AI Dispatch episode is your gateway to the latest in current events, powered by Metaverse Post. Tune in for unparalleled coverage of the most compelling tales in tech, industry, and culture.Key Takeaways:Nvidia's dominance in the tech market continues to soar with remarkable Q2 2023 results.ChatGPT makes a groundbreaking move into Enterprise, catering to next-gen business needs.Funding news showcases Modular's $100 million investment and Hugging Face's impressive $235 million Series D.Ethical considerations play a pivotal role in the adoption of AI, as revealed by Conversica's survey.Naver introduces HyperCLOVA X, a powerful generative AI tool, and Yahoo's AI tools redefine user experiences.Uber takes a leap into AI with an upcoming chatbot aimed at enhancing food-delivery experiences.Quotes:"Nvidia's commitment to generative AI and accelerated computing is evident, as the company returns $3.38 billion to shareholders and approves an additional $25 billion for share repurchases.""ChatGPT Enterprise, boasting a 32k token context window, takes the mantle as the most powerful version of the chatbot.""This brings Hugging Face's valuation to an impressive $4.5 billion, a substantial increase from its valuation in May 2022.""Speaking to Metaverse Post – Jim Kaskade, CEO of Conversica, stressed the importance of organizations establishing their own ethical frameworks due to the absence of comprehensive government regulations in the AI domain.""Yahoo claims that nearly half of U.S. adults have at least one unused gift card, gift voucher, or store credit.""Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi hinted to Bloomberg Television earlier this month that his company was working on an AI chatbot without sharing details of its capabilities. He said Uber has already been using AI to match users to drivers and couriers."____More from Edge of AI

This week GGR dusts off another gem from the past, this one from December 4, 2019.  A strong CS Ops team can make a huge difference within an organization and be a force multiplier for the entire CS team. Jennifer Kirkland (formerly VP of CS Ops and Professional Services at Conversica, currently Executive VP of Client Success at Axero) joins Jeff and Jay to talk about how Jennifer used her account and product management experience to create a process that made a difference and helped the CS team build effective 1:many processes. How are you using your CS Ops team to increase your team's efficiency and effectiveness? ----- Gain Grow Retain exists to connect people, knowledge, and ideas to advance the state of customer success. We're on a mission to connect B2B SaaS customer success leaders so that we can learn from one another. Check out more at GainGrowRetain.com! Or follow our GGR LinkedIn page. GGR was co-founded by Jeff Breunsbach and Jay Nathan - be sure to follow for customer success content.

This week GGR dusts off another gem from the past, this one from December 4, 2019.  A strong CS Ops team can make a huge difference within an organization and be a force multiplier for the entire CS team. Jennifer Kirkland (formerly VP of CS Ops and Professional Services at Conversica, currently Executive VP of Client Success at Axero) joins Jeff and Jay to talk about how Jennifer used her account and product management experience to create a process that made a difference and helped the CS team build effective 1:many processes. How are you using your CS Ops team to increase your team's efficiency and effectiveness? ----- Gain Grow Retain exists to connect people, knowledge, and ideas to advance the state of customer success. We're on a mission to connect B2B SaaS customer success leaders so that we can learn from one another. Check out more at GainGrowRetain.com! Or follow our GGR LinkedIn page. GGR was co-founded by Jeff Breunsbach and Jay Nathan - be sure to follow for customer success content.

Today's guest is Conversica Chief Marketing Officer David Greenberg. Together with Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello, David explores the biggest challenges for sales and marketing teams trying to turn leads into opportunities. Later, they examine where data is making a difference in solving those challenges in helping enterprises grow their outbound in a manageable way that insulates themselves from the friction of high SDR turnover. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!

In this episode, we dive into the world of Conversational AI Automation and its potential impact on various industries with Eron Sunando, Chief Revenue Officer at Conversica. Conversica is a Salesforce partner specializing in AI-powered conversational automation and intelligent virtual assistant technology that helps companies scale their messaging efforts across various channels.  We discuss how their technology can help industries manage the challenges of an aging and shrinking human workforce by automating tasks and supplementing the efforts of sales, marketing, and customer success teams. We explore the capabilities of Conversica's Revenue Digital Assistants (RDAs) and their ability to generate more pipeline than traditional Sales Development Representatives.  We also discuss the relevance and potential of Conversica's AI technology in various industries, particularly B2B, where there is a need for personalized messaging at scale. Additionally, we explore how Conversica can be integrated into the marketing cloud customer journey, allowing for more personalized follow-ups after marketing automation efforts.  Show Highlights: Conversational AI Automation AI Lead Qualification Intent Analysis Automated Engagement Systems AI for Equality and Merit Collaborative Opportunities With Commerce Cloud Innovations Follow and Review: We'd love for you to follow us if you haven't yet. Click that purple '+' in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. We'd love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast. Supporting Resources: Conversica: https://www.conversica.com/  *** Episode Credits If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com. Let them know I sent you.

A surprising number of the daily activities that take place on revenue teams remain manual. Sellers still create reminders to follow up with prospects or customers. Data is manually entered into CRM applications and other tools, increasing the likelihood of human error in the process. It's a little hard to believe when you think about it. The combination of automation and business process tools was supposed to save us from all of this, wasn't it? In this episode of the B2B Nation podcast, Jim Kaskade, CEO of Conversica, joins us to talk about Revenue Digital Assistants (RDAs). These assistants are AI-powered bots that can take some of the manual, time-consuming tasks that hold back marketing, sales, and customer success teams. They don't get tired, sick, or stressed. And they can work at a scale that most revenue teams can't replicate. RELATED EPISODE: How to Succeed in the Age of the Anonymous Buyer Jim also discusses the cultural shifts that make it possible for companies to deploy AI-powered assistants, the messaging that helps his team appeal to revenue leaders, and more. Episode Guide 5:22: Why do revenue organizations still have so many manual processes? 9:28: How do digital assistants work for revenue teams? 21:31: How comfortable are businesses using AI in their revenue organization? 26:03: Which messages are resonating with Conversica's customers? 30:18: What is Jim's favorite tool

Featuring Ella Dillon, Chief Customer Officer of ConversicaShe possesses deep expertise in Customer Experience design for fast-growing pre-IPO SaaS companies rooted in loyalty-driven retention and expansion. Before joining Conversica, Ella ran Global Customer Support and Global Customer Success at Outreach.io, supporting their growth through $150M in revenue. Episode quote:“People are starting to think about an integrated revenue journey, not siloed. The old marketing was top of funnel get new, get hot leads.” Visit the complete episode page to learn more. Or subscribe to the GRIN Gets Real podcast where you listen to podcasts.

David Greenberg, CMO at Conversica (a leading provider of Conversational AI for business), shares a few marketing and sales best practices for B2B teams; Key topics covered: Enterprise marketing and sales alignment practices What it takes for B2B marketers and sales people to drive online buying experiences The future of salestech/martech

Today, David is speaking with Bill Binch.  Bill, a veteran technology leader with nearly three decades of global sales and go-to-market experience, is an operating partner based in Battery's San Francisco office. He serves as a coach and mentor for sales executives and CEOs in Battery's portfolio, helping software companies scale through various stages of growth, effectively expand overseas and create multi-product sales platforms. Bill's operating experience spans key roles at fast-growing private software companies, such as Marketo and Pendo, as well as billion-dollar public enterprises such as Oracle and PeopleSoft. Before joining Battery, Bill was the chief revenue officer of Pendo, where he helped grow annual recurring revenue to nearly $100 million in three years. Prior to that, he spent more than nine years at the marketing-tech company Marketo. There, he held multiple roles, including EVP of worldwide sales, managing director of APAC, and board director of Marketo Japan. At Marketo, Bill was the 16th employee and led the company's sales teams through its private stages of growth to an IPO, and until the company's 2016 acquisition by Vista Equity. Before Marketo, Bill held senior sales roles at Avolent, BEA, PeopleSoft, and Oracle. He has also been a member of the board of directors at Qvidian and advised companies including Birst, Conversica, Integrate Inc., and Node.io. Bill holds a BS in marketing from Arizona State University and completed Harvard Business School's strategic sales program. What You'll Learn: Being an Operating Partner at a VC firm  Day-to-day Activities of an Operating Product Lead and Sales Lead Companies  Freemium vs. Product Lead Growth Understanding the Concept of Having the Buyer Control the Sale Steps to test a PLG as a go-to-market strategy Consumption vs Per Seat Model Tips on How to Choosing Your First VP of Sales  Tips on How a founder/CEO can measure a VP of sales Tips on how long a founder/CEO should give a VP of sales to present a sales plan after hiring  Favorite Quote: “In an interview, I commonly ask this question: If you were on a desert island and you could only have three dashboards what would be the three things that you would like to see?” --  The Capital Stack All Things Tech Investing and Value Creation Early growth investor David Paul interviews the world's greatest ecosystem, learns how to start and scale your own business, and finds an edge in today's capital markets.  To connect with David, visit:   Twitter -https://twitter.com/davidpaulvc ( CLICK HERE) Substack -http://davidpaul.substack.com/ ( CLICK HERE) LinkedIn -http://linkedin.com/in/Davidpaulvc ( CLICK HERE) IG -https://www.instagram.com/davidpaulvc/ ( CLICK HERE)     DISCLAIMER: David Paul is the founder and general partner at DWP Capital.  All opinions expressed by David and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinions of DWP capital.  This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for decisions. David and guests may maintain positions in the securities discussed on this podcast.

Josh Pickus is the CEO of Net Health, specializing in EHR Software and Services. Prior to joining Net Health, Josh served as CEO of Optima Healthcare Solutions, as CEO-in-Residence at Alpine Investors, and as CEO of high-growth software companies Niku and Support.com. Josh has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the software companies DemandTec, Conversica, and Meta Software. Josh is passionately committed to delivering solutions that enable customers to improve healthcare for their patients. John Duisberg sits down with Josh to talk about his overarching WHY, how Net Health is building a remarkable culture around a “Work From Anywhere” model, and Josh’s practical pieces of advice around how to continue to attract and retain top talent. RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE Visit NetHealth.com Follow Josh Pickus on LinkedIn Join the mailing list to receive Net Health’s Blog Follow Net Health on LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter CREDITS Theme Music

In this episode we are so blessed to be speaking with an Uber talent, in perhaps the most impactful business fields today, the cutting edge of AI, crypto, and all things tech. A towering figure in the head hunting industry, Steven Skinner is humble when speaking about his contributions and accomplishments as only a true gentleman could be. From knowing the who's who, and having the rolodex to match any top 100 C-suit list in the world, when Mr.Skinner calls you're switching jobs! We are so pleased to learn about this elusive and exciting world, so listen close to gain some insider intel on the coming waves of technology, what to look out for, and how to stay ahead of the curve in this ever changing world.Steven Skinner, Founder of Millennium Solutions, is a 25 year veteran credited for helping build the most progressive Hi-Tech companies in the United States and around the globe. Venture Capitalists in Silicon Valley have relied on Mr. Skinner and Millennium Solutions for their most vital C Suite and Executive searches to ensure proper execution and long term success. Skinner's work has helped launch over 140 technology IPO's listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ which contributed over $7.1 trillion in market capitalization. As a supplement to hunting game-changing talent, Mr. Skinner had provided equity investments within specific Artificial Intelligence companies headquartered in the US, Romania, and Germany. Notable hits include - Amazon, Oracle, SAP, Salesforce, i2 Technologies, Metreo, Certus, OpenPages, Conversica, Coursera, Corio, USinternetworking, Agilera, Sabrix, Whoknows, Orchestria, LinkedIn, Deliv, Google, Facebook, SNAP, Vendavo, Boomerang Commerce, Tesla, Savi, Matrix, Zendesk, Currency, MessageOne, Dell, Nutanix, PSS Systems, Looker, Snowflake, MuleSoft, Slack, Vertex, Workboard, DruidAI, Bryter, and UiPath. Today, Skinner is called on by top Venture Capitalist for his proven go-to-market strategies and headhunting expertise. His passion is helping companies to achieve billion dollar valuations by his strategic directions and unmatched recruiting services. Skinner's most recent success is building the North American Sales program for UiPath. Skinner delivered over 200 hires including the top producers in Sales, Partner & Alliance, and Strategic program(s) which have resulted in over $300 million in ARR since 2016. Currently Steven Skinner is working behind the scenes to help launch new start-ups in the AI, Data Mining, and the No Code space. Millennium Solutions has offices in Atlanta, Georgia and Menlo Park, California. Steven Skinner can be reached at skinner@millenniumsolutions.com and 404-786-2007

This week we interviewed Dr. Werner Koepf, a successful organization leader and AI Practitioner. Currently the Senior Vice President Of Engineering at Karat, Dr. Koepf has served as a tech. executive and CTO at numerous companies, including Expedia, Ticketmaster, and Conversica.We chatted with Dr. Koepf about his background in theoretical physics, and how he transitioned to working in software and product development. Dr. Koepf shared some of his experiences that have shaped his approach to AI and what successful companies should do—and not do—to integrate AI into their business models. 

however, industry experts agree that AI and ML have changed the game for businesses looking to grow efficiently. Jim Kaskade, CEO of the conversational AI company Conversica, is at the front of the pack when it comes to uncovering AI's real role in the evolving workplace for modern and growth-focused businesses. With years of experience running data, identity management, and IT service organizations, Kaskade helps lead a company at the forefront of digital data innovation and assists companies in growing in the process. In this episode of the Growth Enablement Madness Podcast, Kaskade chatted with host Jim Ward about how tech innovations in AI and ML are positioning businesses to streamline their processes and drive growth with less. The two also discussed how AI augments aspects of the workforce rather than replacing employees and ruining livelihoods.

It is now possible to radically grow your business by improving the hand-off between marketing, sales, customer success, and even finance through the use of advanced intelligent virtual assistants. In this podcast, we’ll talk to Jim Kaskade, CEO of Conversica about how they’re helping their 2000 global customers speed up communications, improve customer satisfaction, get better lead coverage, qualify prospects more effectively, and increase deal close rates (up to 400% improvement!) -- Timing – 00:00 Introduction01:21 Sales and marketing have been traditionally misaligned and out of sync03:00 Unpacking the marketing to sales process03:20 Marketing often has a low return on investment and a lot of waste04:19 Lead nurturing might need two follow-ups but probably more likely needs ten or maybe twenty to be successful05:14 Sales teams are drowning in in-bound “marketing qualified leads”07:15 There are over 8,000 marketing apps and many sales apps, what’s the gap here?09:05 Digital transformation and marketing automation has caused a volume problem that the human sales reps can’t handle10:46 Sales teams now have a filtering and prioritizing problem11:56 If you haven’t automated marketing, you don’t have these problems yet!13:55 Automating the back office is about cost optimization, optimizing the front office (sales, marketing, customer experience) is about increasing revenue14:20 Solving this overload and filtering problem with AI15:06 From Clippy the paperclip to Intelligent virtual assistants, it has been a long road17:07 Moving way beyond the initial IVA use cases of technical support and into marketing and sales18:30 You could have a conversation with an IVA for weeks or months until you’re ready to buy20:43 Deep learning has significantly changed the game 22:04 Applying and productizing AI to solve a problem…is harder than solving the AI at the core of the product23:46 Where do Amazon, Microsoft, and Google fit into the picture in terms of providing Natural Language Processing engines?25:07 How does a customer operationalize something like this? How do they install and use it?26:01 Platforms are too hard for many customers so we deliver this as an application27:30 We sell in a way that’s understandable and budgetable – by the “virtual assistant” – assigned to a departmental budget29:24 You have actual working inside marketing reps, SDRs, and inside sales agents?30:21 Are these IVAs replacing people? Or augmenting them?32:04 What if every human member of their team had an assistant who could help move business along?34:00 Can these assistants replace field sales people or people working high-touch, complex, multi-buyer deals?35:29 What it’s like when you have virtual team members and how they can hand-off customers to other virtual assistants or to humans39:30 This all sounds like science fiction41:00 Use cases – educational course selection, technology conference attendance42:50 The value of true intelligent virtual assistants – increased close rates (up to 4x improvement); reconnecting with customers who are dropping off usage (CX); 176x pipeline growth; 10x revenue; higher customer retention rates; faster cashflow from receivables and more45:35 On the internet nobody knows you’re an intelligent virtual assistant – the ethics of disclosure49:18 98% of the time, people think they’re talking to a real human50:03 The present and future markets of intelligent automation, robotic process automation, chatbots, conversational AI, and intelligent virtual assistants53:58 Where is Conversica focused?57:34 Wrap up and contact info59:01 Sign-off -- Links --https://conversica.com

Ep 17: The Role of Intelligent Automation in the Future of Work featuring Rashmi Vittal, CMO of Conversica

With 25 years in the tech industry, Conversica CMO Rashmi Vittal knows a thing or two about sales and marketing alignment. She knows that it’s about “company-wide enablement” as opposed to “sales enablement.” She knows the value of a simplified product message. And she knows the common excuse, “Well, I gave leads to sales and they just didn’t do anything with them,” just won’t cut it. In this week’s episode, Drew and Rashmi discuss her nine-square “Alignment Between Sales and Marketing” grid (see below). It’s a simple yet thorough model, one that recognizes that achieving alignment is about constant evolution and clear communication. Be sure to tune in to hear how Conversica applies this grid in action, as well as how they’ve pivoted in 2020.

Erroin Martin led sales at Conversica, an artificial intelligence driven platform for processing inbound leads. He talks about ways that SDRs can inoculate themselves against the future of AI extinction. Also, the best ways that ML and AI can be leveraged for inbound and outbound – also sharing practical tips for SDRs seeking to make to VP of Sales.

Tech companies are still evolving how they approach marketing in the COVID-19 economy. In part 1 of “CMO Insights: Strategies for Getting Back to Business,” our panel of experts -- Rashmi Vittal of Conversica, Russ Cobb of IronNet Cybersecurity and Matt Selheimer of PAS Global -- shared perspectives on messaging, content and measurement as well as aligning with sales and the C-suite. In part 2, they provide more insights on realigning marketing resources, map out the future of events, but give actionable recommendations you can apply today.

Keeping the economy moving in the COVID-19 environment is driving a lot of change and confusion in how tech companies go to market. In part 1 of “CMO Insights: Strategies for Getting Back to Business,” our panel of experts—Rashmi Vittal of Conversica, Russ Cobb of IronNet Cybersecurity and Matt Selheimer of PAS Global—give insight into how companies can adapt their marketing and sales approaches to keep customer relationships intact and growing while we navigating these difficult and uncertain times.

Subscribe to Modern Marketing Engine on your app of choice If you haven’t heard of AI sales assistants, chances are you may have interacted with one and didn’t even know it. That’s especially true if you’ve purchased or leased a car in the last few years and made your contact with the dealership by digital means. Automotive dealerships are becoming increasingly more tech-savvy and AI sales assistants are one of the newest tools in the marketing plans of many dealerships. But while this week’s podcast conversation showcases the automotive industry as an example, it's not just about the automotive industry - it’s about how many industries around the world are increasingly deploying AI sales assistants. On this episode of Modern Marketing Engine Bernie speaks with Micah Burgess, Vice President of Sales at Conversica, the only provider of sales conversion management software for marketing, inside sales, and customer service groups. In this conversation they speak about the current state of the automotive industry, the marketing pivots many dealerships are making, and how AI technology is one of the newest ways dealerships are handling incoming sales calls at scale and converting them to sales. This episode is sponsored by Conversica, AI software for marketing and sales that fosters real conversations to discover the most qualified sales opportunities. Learn more at https://conversica.com An Old-School Industry Goes Modern Automotive dealerships traditionally approach marketing and sales in tried and true ways. Newspaper inserts, television and radio spots, and even billboards are the mainstay in traditional automotive marketing. But many dealerships have recognized that the internet has changed everything and that there are major gains to be made as a result. To take full advantage of the technologies available today, mindsets had to change. That mindset change is well underway. Auto dealers are thinking less like they are in the “car” business and more like they are in the business of business. That means they are thinking more about customers, customer experience, multiple touchpoints, and how to make the most of every opportunity. Data and technology are driving many of those decisions.  Is Your Organization Making The Most Of Every Opportunity? The typical automotive dealership is doing business in a very competitive space. Not only are there multiple brand dealerships within a given metropolitan area, but there are also other automotive brands in the area. That being said, the typical buyer is not walking into the dealership as the first step of their buying journey. They research online, price their selected automobile online, and most will eventually contact the dealership that has the automobile of their choice through a digital channel as well. This is one of the first touchpoints for dealerships, making the most of the opportunities automotive buyers give them through digital contact. When it comes to digital connections made through dealership websites or automotive comparison sites like Carfax or Cars.com, many of these dealerships are making use of AI sales assistants. Keep reading to learn more about how they work and listen to hear more details of how dealerships are putting them to use. Could Your Team Handle Thousands Of Incoming Leads Per Week? Volume and scale are two of the reasons businesses of all types need to make use of automation. With the ease of communication that digital technology provides comes massive opportunities that human beings simply can’t respond to efficiently. As an example, Micah explains that many automotive dealerships receive thousands of incoming leads through their websites, comparison sites, social media, and more every single week. No sales team can adequately handle that volume of leads. That’s where AI technology makes a difference. An automated “sales assistant” can interact with the potential buyer conversationally, answering questions, providing information, and making connections. “Speed To Lead” Is THE Deciding Factor In Getting The Sale Most Of The Time In the digital economy, buyers only reach out to the dealership itself when they are already well along on their buying journey. They are a warm lead at that point, which makes it even more important for the sales team to respond to each lead quickly. But more importantly, the buyer has likely reached out to multiple dealerships at the same time which means the one to respond first is likely to get the sale. Micah refers to this dynamic as “speed to lead” and says that it is the dominant factor in determining which dealership gets the sale. Is your industry similar? Do you need to put more focus on the timeliness with which you respond to leads when they come into your business? The difference between a quick response and a delayed response could be the difference between making the sale and losing it to a competitor. Listen to this episode to understand the impact of an AI sales assistant. It might be just what your business needs.  Featured on This Episode MIcah Burgess on LinkedIn Follow Micah on Twitter: @Mader44 www.Conversica.com Conversica on Twitter: @MyConversica Outline of This Episode [1:22] What Conversica does in the B2B marketing and sales industry [2:59] The shift in the automotive industry and how technology is driving it [4:52] Major shifts in how automotive business are running their operations day to day [7:10] Marketing approaches the automotive industry is using these days [11:01] The role conversational AI is playing in the automotive industry’s marketing [18:23] The impact of digital marketing on traditional marketing channels Resources & People Mentioned This episode is sponsored by Conversica, AI software for marketing and sales that fosters real conversations to discover the most qualified sales opportunities. Learn more at https://conversica.com The Modern Selling Podcast with Vengreso CEO, Mario Martinez, Jr Connect With Bernie and Modern Marketing Engine https://www.Facebook.com/modernmarketingengine/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernieborges/ https://twitter.com/bernieborges https://instagram.com/bernieborges https://Twitter.com/MMEnginePodcast Subscribe to Modern Marketing Engine on your app of choice

Subscribe to Modern Marketing Engine on your app of choice When it comes to creating and successfully implementing an International business expansion strategy, there are numerous variables that must be addressed. Wouldn’t it be great to have a seasoned International expansion advisor on your team? On this episode, Bernie speaks with an executive who has overseen or been a part of International expansions for many companies. Most importantly, he’s done so successfully and can share lessons-learned that will be of great benefit to anyone seeking to expand to International markets. On this episode, Bernie speaks with John Pincott, GM of Conversica Europe. John has extensive experience with International expansion and is very passionate about the nuances of expanding a successful business into another region of the world. Listen to learn how to know if your company is ready to expand, what it takes to do so, and pitfalls to watch out for along the way. This episode is sponsored by Conversica, AI software for marketing and sales that fosters real conversations to discover the most qualified sales opportunities. Learn more at https://conversica.com If You’re Looking To Expand Be Thoughtful, Not Opportunistic Many companies have a “go global” ambition. There is nothing wrong with that but you need to ensure that your organization as a whole is ready for expansion. John believes 4 things should be considered.  Is the organizational maturity level ready for expansion? John says you need to honestly assess whether your team is ready, if your company is in the right stage of business for expansion, and whether your product is truly ready for the “big time.” In his words, “If you haven't cracked the nut’ in your domestic market, the thought that you’re going to be successful in a foreign market is very slim.” Do you have the resources in place to expand? It’s alluring to think of International expansion but if your systems and other resources are not to the point that they are working well in your current market, you’ll be better off in the long run if you don’t export an offering that is less than ready. John says this applies to the areas of technology, human resources, and virtual resources. Is there a team commitment across the organization to expand? If expansion is a siloed exercise that doesn’t have a clear strategy across the organization, then what you’re considering is not going to work as well as it should. A company-wide focus will make success more likely.  Are you ready to adopt a startup mentality as you enter a foreign market? John points out that even though you might be entering a new market as a mature organization, you have to change the way you think as you move into a new market. In many ways, you are truly going back to the startup stage, almost as if you’re launching your company all over again. Be Sure You Do Your Homework Thinking of International business expansion can feel very “glamourous” but John points out that you can’t let the exciting things keep you from doing what he calls “the boring work.” What would this include? Be sure to ask questions like these... What do we do best? Is our product offering an established category in this region? Do we know the TAM (Total Addressable Market)? Do we understand the geography, verticals, and market segments? What are the routes/channels to market and their relative cost? Have we done a S.W.O.T. analysis - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats. What do we understand about the culture in the new market? What do we know about the competitive landscape? Is the talent we need available in the region? What are the legal issues we need to be aware of? When Conversica expanded its AI Assistant technology solutions into Europe they discovered that there was not much competition on the ground in this market. There wasn’t even an existing category for their product. That may sound like a dream, but it requires that the organization’s approach focuses to a large degree on educating potential buyers on the merit of their solution. John has extensive advice that he shares on this episode, particularly about cultural differences and the route to market. You won’t want to miss his advice. Be Clear About What Success Looks Like And Set Goals And Budgets John says agreeing on success metrics is a huge part of reaching it. Alignment has to be achieved around the definition of success because it will dictate whether or not everyone on the expansion team is rowing in the same direction. With alignment on a success plan everyone can establish realistic expectations and time frames. Expansion efforts frequently take longer and cost more than expected. A phased approach is the way to go rather than trying to accomplish too much too fast.  You might start with U.S. based benchmarks such as cost of customer acquisition, conversion rates, and other KPIs. - but you’re actually using it as a thesis that you’re testing in the new market. Your success will look very different in a new region, so take a long term perspective. As John describes it, “Take a land and expand mindset.” Begin To Prove Your Thesis Through Execution The premise of any International business expansion strategy must be to leverage the expertise you have domestically into the new market abroad. As you do, you’ll have to iterate and adapt to the new culture and business market. This is what John calls the “test and learn” stage - use the approaches to assessment what you already have in place domestically and begin applying them to your International business expansion strategy. You’ll discover ways you need to modify your approach. You want to do ongoing assessments regarding your execution, how it evolved, and whether you hit your goals. When you achieve your goals, you can expect to get the green light to keep going. If not, you’ll want to change your approach using data to steer your decision making so you increase your success in your strategy. This episode is packed with insights from John Pincott, GM of Conversica Europe based on his rich experience in expanding companies Internationally. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from him.  Featured on This Episode Follow John Pincott on LinkedIn Follow John on Twitter Check out John’s company - Conversica Outline of This Episode [1:30] Get to know John Pincott and his company, Conversica [3:50] Discerning whether your organization is even ready to expand [20:20] Is it smart to pull personnel from your domestic branch to get started? [26:56] Bernie’s recap of the topic of International Expansion [30:45] When you get into the new market, things will be different than you expect  Resources & People Mentioned HSBC Cultural Differences Campaign The Modern Selling Podcast with Vengreso CEO, Mario Martinez, Jr This episode is sponsored by Conversica, AI software for marketing and sales that fosters real conversations to discover the most qualified sales opportunities. Learn more at https://conversica.com Connect With Bernie and Modern Marketing Engine https://www.Facebook.com/modernmarketingengine/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernieborges/ https://twitter.com/bernieborges https://instagram.com/bernieborges https://Twitter.com/MMEnginePodcast   Subscribe to Modern Marketing Engine on your app of choice

Jay and Jeff are joined by Jennifer Kirkland, Vice President of Customer Success Operations and Professional Services at Conversica and an experienced leader in CS Ops, account management, and product management. Tune in to hear her talk about her approach to CS Ops and change management throughout an organization.--Big shout out to Jennifer and Conversica:https://www.conversica.com/Jennifer Kirkland: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferdkirkland/--This podcast is brought to you by Jay Nathan and Jeff Breunsbach of Customer Imperative, where we help B2B SaaS organizations build growth & retention strategies. Learn more at https://customerimperative.com/Jay Nathan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaynathan/Jeff Breunsbach: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreybreunsbach/

Jay and Jeff are joined by Jennifer Kirkland, Vice President of Customer Success Operations and Professional Services at Conversica and an experienced leader in CS Ops, account management, and product management. Tune in to hear her talk about her approach to CS Ops and change management throughout an organization. -- Big shout out to Jennifer and Conversica:https://www.conversica.com/ Jennifer Kirkland: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferdkirkland/ -- This can be found on our website: https://customerimperative.com/jennifer-kirkland-conversica/ -- This podcast is brought to you by Jay Nathan and Jeff Breunsbach of Customer Imperative, where we help B2B SaaS organizations build growth & retention strategies. Learn more at https://customerimperative.com/ Jay Nathan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaynathan/ Jeff Breunsbach: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreybreunsbach/

Subscribe to Modern Marketing Engine Apple Podcasts |Stitcher |Google Play | Google Podcasts Bernie and his guests have discussed using AI assistant technology for increased marketing efficiency several times on the show and each time in a slightly different way. Bernie’s guest today is Kevin Colosimo, Senior Director, Digital Strategy and Innovation, North America Marketing at Oracle. Kevin describes how his team is augmenting their workforce with virtual sales assistants powered by AI to produce more conversation-ready leads, aka CoRE. Oracle is best known as the world’s leading provider of database software, but after investing over $6 billion in research and development today it’s recognized as the global leader in business software with a broad portfolio of solutions for companies of all sizes. Kevin is part of the North America Marketing team reporting directly to sales. His goal is to help marketing and sales work more effectively together to achieve better results. One solution his team is implementing is identifying conversation-ready leads faster with AI assistant technology from Conversica. If your company has considered integrating AI sales assistants into your sales and marketing workflow, you won’t want to miss this episode.  This episode is sponsored by Conversica, AI software for marketing and sales that fosters real conversations to discover the most qualified sales opportunities. Learn more at https://conversica.com What Are Conversation-Ready Leads And How Do They Impact Sales And Marketing? Kevin defines conversation-ready leads as those that are ready to talk with sales; they are actively in a buying journey. The issue that Oracle faced prior to implementing AI powered sales assistants was that marketing brought in tons of leads, but approximately 80% weren’t ready for a sales conversation. Neither sales nor marketing were happy because the leads weren’t converting fast enough into opportunities.  Oracle’s sales and marketing teams approached the problem in two ways. The first was to identify qualified leads through a machine learning lead scoring system. This system ended up being less than effective because the lead scoring model identified leads that hit several of the metrics, but they weren’t resulting in more conversation ready leads. The second was through implementing AI-powered virtual assistants. Rather than funneling more non-CoRe or non-conversation ready leads through the nurture campaigns, they pushed them towards the virtual assistant programs.  How AI Assistants Have Altered The Oracle Team Structure Oracle now has four virtual assistants that the marketing team funnels potential leads to when they are not conversation-ready. The four assistants Cynthia, Nicole, Isabella, and Wendy answer questions in a prompt and polite manner with responses specifically designed for certain projects. They also reach out to customers on a consistent and persistent basis that the human element cannot maintain. Through their conversations with the leads, the virtual assistants identify CoRe leads and automatically funnel those leads to the sales team.  By augmenting their workforce with AI assistants, Oracle has opened up opportunities for their reps to become more efficient and effective in their roles. Rather than nurturing leads that are not yet ready to be delivered to sales because they’re not yet ready to have conversations, the sales reps can focus solely on those leads who are “conversation-ready” because they’re in the buying mindset. The reps have more meaningful conversations with those buyers because of the information obtained by their virtual assistants. The result is faster conversion to opportunities. Of Course There Were Challenges When Implementing The New Program... As with all major infrastructure changes, there were certain challenges to overcome. The North American Marketing team at Oracle put in place three key principles that increased their level of success when implementing the AI assistants. Those principles were: 1) building an internal support system with program champions, 2) selecting the appropriate use cases for their pilot program, and 3) redesigning their email messaging to support helping versus selling.  Instead of moving the entire sales and marketing department to the virtual assistant program at once, they created specific scenarios in which to use the assistants. By starting small and selecting the right lead development reps and managers to work with, the transition to the use of virtual assistants was fairly seamless. When you show the positive impact a program has had on one group of reps, the rest of the teams are more likely to want in. The Results Of Implementing AI Assistants Into The Lead Workflow Oracle’s AI-powered virtual assistants have been operating for about a year as of this episode and their results have been positive to say the least. They are generating a high quality conversation-ready leads that convert faster into pipeline. While their sales teams receive fewer leads overall, the quality is much higher. They also KNOW that their AI assistants are better at identifying CoRe leads that convert into opportunities than their traditional nurture programs, which both the sales and marketing teams love! Cham - Insert image #3 here from the PPT supplied by Kevin. For more insights on how you can implement AI assistants into your lead generation programs, listen to this episode. Kevin gives an in-depth look at the process Oracle uses to implement the technology and how that implementation is positively impacting their sales and marketing results. Listen in for a unique look at the AI conversation. Featured on This Episode Kevin on LinkedIn Kevin on Twitter: @kcolosimo Oracle on LinkedIn Oracle on Twitter: @Oracle Outline of This Episode [00:53] Bernie introduces today’s guest, Kevin Colosimo of Oracle. [02:15] Kevin provides a quick background of Oracle and his role there. [05:07] What are the drivers that have pushed Kevin’s team towards an AI assistant? [06:58] How are “conversation-ready” leads defined?  [09:39] What approaches did Kevin take to define a model to produce more leads? [10:41] Why machine learning models reveal holes in the lead scoring approach. [13:30] How augmenting the marketing and sales teams with virtual assistants increased human capacity and efficiency. [15:17] Why the combination of AI and human resources led to increased volume. [19:40] How did Oracle overcome the challenges faced when implementing AI assistant tech? [23:35] Did the change in processes equate to increased conversation-ready leads?  [27:04] How the virtual assistants have changed Oracle’s messaging strategy. [28:18] Any unexpected outcomes from augmenting the workforce with AI assistants?  [29:55] What’s next for sales and marketing at Oracle?  [31:42] What is marketing’s role in building awareness and engaging customers?  [33:13] Hear Bernie’s summary of the conversation. [36:16] Kevin provides his final thoughts for the conversation. Resources & People Mentioned This episode is sponsored by Conversica, AI software for marketing and sales that fosters real conversations to discover the most qualified sales opportunities. Learn more at https://conversica.com Episode 188 of SBE - How Conversational AI Provides Marketing And Sales A Competitive Edge Oracle The Selling With Social Podcast with Vengreso CEO, Mario Martinez, Jr Connect With Bernie and Modern Marketing Engine https://www.Facebook.com/modernmarketingengine/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernieborges/ https://twitter.com/bernieborges https://instagram.com/bernieborges https://Twitter.com/MMEnginePodcast   Subscribe to Modern Marketing Engine Apple Podcasts |Stitcher |Google Play | Google Podcasts There are TWO WAYS you can listen to this podcast. You can click the PLAYER BUTTON at the top of this page… or, you can listen from your mobile device’s podcast player through the podcast subscription links above.

One of the hottest topics in the mortgage industry right now is in the area of using Artificial Intelligence in order to grow your business! For that reason, we have Roman Vinfield on the program today as our guest in order to run through the essentials for what you should know in this growing area of technology for the Mortgage Industry! Roman Vinfield, of Ai Assist powered by Conversica, is an A.I. technology sales and marketing expert focused on lending and financial services.  Comprised of conversational, human-like Artificial Intelligence innovation, AI Assist's suite of solutions is powered by Conversica—an AI-driven, machine-learning software that engages customers in personalized, 2-way dialogue. Together with several other leading AI companies, AI Assist enables organizations to transform their business and achieve significant growth through digital innovation. As usual, the first half of the program will feature our Weekly Reports: we've got Rob VanRaaphorst with his MBA Mortgage Minute, and then Les Parker's TMSpotlight, a macroeconomic perspective on the economy with a music parody. That leads to Joe Farr providing you a rate & market update, followed by Alice Alvey of Union Home providing a regulatory & legislative update, Allen Pollack giving us a Tech Report of the latest technology impacting our industry and then we wrap up the first half the program with Andy Schell, a/k/a “Profit Doctor” sharing ideas on how to improve your bottom line. One of the hottest topics in the mortgage industry right now is in the area of using Artificial Intelligence in order to grow your business! For that reason, we have Roman Vinfield on the program today as our guest in order to run through the essentials for what you should know in this growing area of technology for the Mortgage Industry! Roman Vinfield, of Ai Assist powered by Conversica, is an A.I. technology sales and marketing expert focused on lending and financial services.  Comprised of conversational, human-like Artificial Intelligence innovation, AI Assist's suite of solutions is powered by Conversica—an AI-driven, machine-learning software that engages customers in personalized, 2-way dialogue. Together with several other leading AI companies, AI Assist enables organizations to transform their business and achieve significant growth through digital innovation. As usual, the first half of the program will feature our Weekly Reports: we've got Rob VanRaaphorst with his MBA Mortgage Minute, and then Les Parker's TMSpotlight, a macroeconomic perspective on the economy with a music parody. That leads to Joe Farr providing you a rate & market update, followed by Alice Alvey of Union Home providing a regulatory & legislative update, Allen Pollack giving us a Tech Report of the latest technology impacting our industry and then we wrap up the first half the program with Andy Schell, a/k/a “Profit Doctor” sharing ideas on how to improve your bottom line.

One of the hottest topics in the mortgage industry right now is in the area of using Artificial Intelligence in order to grow your business! For that reason, we have Roman Vinfield on the program today as our guest in order to run through the essentials for what you should know in this growing area of technology for the Mortgage Industry! Roman Vinfield, of Ai Assist powered by Conversica, is an A.I. technology sales and marketing expert focused on lending and financial services.  Comprised of conversational, human-like Artificial Intelligence innovation, AI Assist’s suite of solutions is powered by Conversica—an AI-driven, machine-learning software that engages customers in personalized, 2-way dialogue. Together with several other leading AI companies, AI Assist enables organizations to transform their business and achieve significant growth through digital innovation. As usual, the first half of the program will feature our Weekly Reports: we’ve got Rob VanRaaphorst with his MBA Mortgage Minute, and then Les Parker’s TMSpotlight, a macroeconomic perspective on the economy with a music parody. That leads to Joe Farr providing you a rate & market update, followed by Alice Alvey of Union Home providing a regulatory & legislative update, Allen Pollack giving us a Tech Report of the latest technology impacting our industry and then we wrap up the first half the program with Andy Schell, a/k/a “Profit Doctor” sharing ideas on how to improve your bottom line.

Getting results from sales and marketing execution isn’t only about data, analytics and software. In fact, it’s more about process, methodology and systems than ever before. We sit down with Rashmi Vittal, CMO at Conversica, to talk about the importance of process in revenue growth. We cover a wide variety of topics, including the critical nature of sales and marketing alignment, helping sales by building process and how to make sales more efficient.

 Subscribe to Modern Marketing Engine Apple Podcasts |Stitcher |Google Play | Google Podcasts The marketing and sales teams in fast-growing technology companies must be aligned to produce measurable results. Conversica is a fast-growing tech company with a leadership team dedicated to marketing and sales being tightly aligned. Learn what it takes to create united marketing and sales groups and how unity produces measurable results, with Rashmi Vittal, CMO, and Gregg Ames, CSO of Conversica. This episode is sponsored by Conversica, AI software for marketing and sales that fosters real conversations to discover the most qualified sales opportunities. Learn more at https://conversica.com How Traditional Marketing and Sales Alignment Is Defined Traditionally, marketing and sales have been organized independently of one another in an organization. The marketing team is responsible for brand building, lead generation and attracting opportunities in the market for a company. The sales team is responsible for diligently following up on leads to meet revenue targets. Historically, each department handled their individual tasks with individual goals rather than working collaboratively. Separating marketing and sales activities and goals has led to distrust and disagreement over many topics ranging from the quality of leads to the meaning of data and metrics. Each team sought to achieve their results based on their own goals. At Conversica, marketing and sales leadership works very collaboratively. In fact, their mindset is one of unity between marketing and sales with a shared focus on meeting the needs of their customer. The Ideal Customer Profile Explored And Defined Gregg explains that marketing and sales work closely together to define the ideal customer profile, aka ICP. Additionally, the success and delivery teams also play a key role in understanding their ICP. They have created a bullseye chart to define and illustrate their ideal customer profile. They constantly monitor their achievement in winning customers within their ICP and even explore winning outside their ICP bullseye. The leadership team at Conversica invests heavily in training and enablement. The more knowledgeable their teams are, the more effective they are in their sales conversations. Investing in ongoing training and in industry knowledge empowers and enables the sales team to grow their lead conversions. Both Gregg and Rashmi believe that collaboration has strengthened their vision of the ideal customer profile and the message they use to attract companies to learn how Conversica’s AI assistant technology can help improve their business results. Feedback From The Customer Success Team Fuels Change Deriving and interpreting feedback from the Customer Success (CS) team is critical to ongoing success. Customer Success interacts directly with the client and is the gateway through which both marketing and sales garner information about how they use Conversica. These insights enable them to be responsive to the needs of the customer during the buyer’s journey. The collaborative work between marketing and sales enables them to revise the sales process as needed. Customer Success teams also play a paramount role in reducing “churn.” Their feedback on how the customer uses Conversica‘s products, allows the marketing and sales teams to take action to minimize churn and maximize winning best-fit customers. How Mutual Accountability Drives Performance Gregg and Rashmi are impressively passionate about how their teams are accountable to each other and to the company. They both want Conversica to succeed and stay profitable and they understand they must win together through collaboration. Digging into the data together, evaluating operational details, and working together on a shared view of the business allows them to optimize their time and make adjustments where needed. Rashmi explains how working together through open lines of communication builds and maintains mutual respect and trust. This allows the teams to work more effectively. Gregg touches on how marketing and sales are not static. United marketing and sales teams continuously adapt and refine their processes. Building integration and collaboration across marketing, sales, and customer success play a huge role in Conversica’s ability to create measurable results while being adaptive to evolving market dynamics. Featured on This Episode Rashmi Vittal on Twitter: @rashmivittal10 Rashmi Vittal on LinkedIn Gregg Ames on LinkedIn Conversica on Twitter: @MyConversica Conversica on LinkedIn Conversica on Facebook: @conversica Outline of This Episode [1:07] Welcome Rashmi Vittal, CMO, and Gregg Ames, CSO at Conversica [2:19] What is Conversica? [2:40] How is AI assistance providing value for sales and marketing teams? [3:48] Rashmi discusses the traditional definition of marketing and sales alignment. [4:57] Gregg defines the ideal customer profile for Conversica. [8:32] Gregg and Rashmi unpack the role of the customer success team. [10:45] What does it look like to be united in marketing and sales at Conversica? [14:42] How do you create mutual accountability in moving toward performance goals? [17:22] Stronger alignment is more collaborative and creates better results. [18:56] Sales and marketing is a process of continuous improvement and collaboration. [19:28] How alignment affects team staffing. [21:36] Bernie’s summary of the conversation about sales and marketing alignment. [25:20] Rashmi notes that Conversica is at the beginning of the journey to unity. Resources & People Mentioned This episode is sponsored by Conversica, AI software for marketing and sales that fosters real conversations to discover the most qualified sales opportunities. Learn more at https://conversica.com Conversica The Selling With Social Podcast with Vengreso CEO, Mario Martinez, Jr Connect With Bernie and Modern Marketing Engine https://www.Facebook.com/modernmarketingengine/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernieborges/ https://twitter.com/bernieborges https://instagram.com/bernieborges https://Twitter.com/MMEnginePodcast   Subscribe to Modern Marketing Engine Apple Podcasts |Stitcher |Google Play | Google Podcasts There are TWO WAYS you can listen to this podcast. You can click the PLAYER BUTTON at the top of this page… or, you can listen from your mobile device’s podcast player through the podcast subscription links above.

Subscribe to Modern Marketing Engine Apple Podcasts |Stitcher |Google Play | Google Podcasts   A marketing executive’s go to market strategy depends on whether their company is in an established category — going after market share gains — or if they are in a new category that requires awareness building for the category itself. Utpal Bhatt is the SVP of marketing at Qubole, a SaaS platform that processes cloud data and provides support for many large companies such as Oracle and Lyft, as well as many start-ups. Utpal heads up marketing and is responsible for brand awareness, product marketing, and lead generation. In this episode, Bernie and Utpal discuss the different go to market strategies that should be used when entering a cold market versus a hot and happening market. Listen to learn how to determine if you should create a new marketing category or if you are in an existing category and need to differentiate your product. This episode is sponsored by Conversica, AI software for marketing and sales that fosters real conversations to discover the most qualified sales opportunities. Learn more at https://conversica.com Where Should You Start When Creating A Go To Market Strategy? According to Utpal, the first thing a marketing leader must decide when determining how to market a new product is whether the product belongs to an existing category or needs to be defined as a new category. All subsequent decisions such as team building, content strategy, and marketing direction stem from this initial decision. Determining if your product belongs in a new category versus an existing category requires looking at your competitors. Do you have competitors that have very similar products and services? If so, you’ll likely be entering a “hot” market. If you do not have direct competitors, then you will need to consider building a new category to market your product or service. How To Create A New Category If you find that the best strategy is to create a new category, prepare to build the audience for the category. The key to successfully creating a new category is to drive awareness, encourage adoption, and look to capitalize through monetization. Driving awareness requires having the right spokesperson, someone able to describe and articulate the value of the category and how it addresses a business problem for your target customer. You then need to build awareness by creating content that supports the thought leadership of your product within the category and provide training initiatives. Once you have a spokesperson and content for this person to share, you then need to create a platform for your speaker to market from. Hosting events and creating a social media platform are just two of the ways that your spokesperson can reach your audience. After you have driven awareness to and about your product within the category, you then need to encourage adoption of that product. This is done by creating a community of people who are excited and motivated to spread the word about the value of the product. Your community will want to write blogs and post on social media because they “love” the product and the category. Finally, the goal of every marketing campaign is to capitalize on monetization. When creating a new market category, monetization is a long game that is best enhanced with appropriate targeting and segmenting of the community you built during the adoption phase. As awareness grows and adoption solidifies, monetization occurs with a portion of the loyal community you have built. Differentiation Is Key To Marketing In A Hot And Happening Category If your product already has a category to market within, then the key to a strong go to market strategy is differentiation. How does your product differ from others in the category, and how are those differences beneficial to your target customer? Take hold of market-share by creating content and a messaging strategy that works together to differentiate your offering from the rest of the competition. Should Your Go To Market Strategy Change Based On Category Heat? Going to market in a new category versus one in a hot and happening category requires a very different team building strategy. When you are building out a category, you initially need a renaissance sales rep, a person who will approach all aspects of the product and can hand-hold each prospect through the entire process. Once the category is established and built out, the type of salesperson you need to hire is very different. In a hot market, the category has already been created and built out. Rather than explaining the value of the category to a prospect, the salesperson needs to identify the most likely prospects based on recognized need. The goal is not to go after every single person in the category but to target those businesses and prospects who are most likely to recognize how your product meets their need in the category. For example, when analytics was a new category, the renaissance sales reps explained the value of analytics. Now, data analytics sales reps sell the unique virtues of their specific analytics system to prospects who are best-fit candidates for their analytics product. If you are creating a new category, your content needs to speak to the benefits and of your product and how to use it within the category. In a hot market, your content needs to show how your product is unique and valuable as measured by authorities in your niche. While there are many other concepts and ideas to consider when evaluating entering a hot versus new market, this conversation provides a wonderful high-level overview of considerations when choosing your marketing category and strategy. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from this conversation with Utpal Bhatt! Featured on This Episode Connect with Utpal on LinkedIn Utpal Bhatt on Twitter: @bhatt_utpal Qubole - the company where Utpal serves as SVP of Marketing Qubole on Twitter: @qubole Qubole on Facebook: @qubole Connect with Qubole on LinkedIn Outline of This Episode [1:50] Introduction to Qubole and Utpal’s role as SVP of Marketing [2:54] Should you create a new category or enter an existing category? [4:20] Where do you start when creating a new marketing category? [5:30] The three-step approach to creating a new category [5:55] What does it look like to drive awareness, adoption, and monetization? [7:00] Awareness: You need the right salespeople, content factory, and exposure plan? [10:10] Adoption: Easy to access education, training, tips and tricks, and samples [12:00] Monetization: Requires targeted audience segmentation based upon the community that was built in the adoption stage [14:55] Build your team gradually beginning with the awareness and adoption groups [17:58] When in an established category the strategy should be differentiation-centric [20:10] Distinction in going to market in a new category versus an established category [25:15] Bernie’s summary of the conversation Resources & People Mentioned This episode is sponsored by Conversica, AI software for marketing and sales that fosters real conversations to discover the most qualified sales opportunities. Learn more at https://conversica.com Hubspot’s 2019 Inbound Event The Selling With Social Podcast with Vengreso CEO, Mario Martinez, Jr Connect With Bernie and Modern Marketing Engine https://www.Facebook.com/modernmarketingengine/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernieborges/ https://twitter.com/bernieborges https://instagram.com/bernieborges https://Twitter.com/MMEnginePodcast   Subscribe to Modern Marketing Engine Apple Podcasts |Stitcher |Google Play | Google Podcasts There are TWO WAYS you can listen to this podcast. You can click the PLAYER BUTTON at the top of this page… or, you can listen from your mobile device’s podcast player through the podcast subscription links above.

Subscribe to Modern Marketing Engine Apple Podcasts |Stitcher |Google Play | Google Podcasts Marketing and sales alignment in manufacturing has undergone an evolution as digital transformation has become more pervasive. Some tried-and-true methods have become less effective because of the change in buyer habits. In this episode, Bernie speaks with the head of sales and the head of marketing at Kadant Johnson - a manufacturing company - about their digital sales transformation journey. You won’t want to miss this episode as Dr. Wes Martz, VP of Marketing, and Carl Howe, VP of Sales, discuss how embracing digital transformation at Kadant has positively impacted their marketing and sales alignment and practices allowing their teams to reach customers previously unavailable to them. This episode is sponsored by Conversica, AI software for marketing and sales that fosters real conversations to discover the most qualified sales opportunities. Learn more at https://conversica.com How Tried And True Traditional Marketing Strategies Have Evolved Kadant Johnson is a manufacturing company that has been in business since 1930. They manufacture and distribute mechanical sealing devices that allow their industrial manufacturing customers to create paper towels, aluminum foil, corrugated cardboard boxes, etc. Traditionally their marketing and sales strategy has focused heavily on printed collateral, public relations, trade shows, and focusing on long-standing relationships in their key industries. Their message of value has not changed but how they communicate their messaging has changed. Dr. Martz discusses Kadant Johnson‘s evolution from print media to their website in the 90s, to their content marketing strategy and SEO focus providing them greater visibility in the online space. Their time and marketing spend are significantly directed toward their digital marketing platforms and being present in the major social media channels. These changes have increased the Kadant Johnson brand’s reach, which lends itself to a warm, direct selling environment. Digital Transformation Has Fostered Greater Marketing And Sales Alignment Carl speaks on how the Kadant Johnson sales force focuses on selling its products to three primary industries. Their brand name recognition is strong and recognized within those core industries, and each customer relationship leads to the next. They struggled, however, with building relationships in their secondary markets because the relationships were not there and the buyer has changed. Digital transformation is allowing his sales teams to reach out to the potential customers they want while also allowing them greater access to their company. In this approach, marketing and sales are aligned to create greater reach through digital practices and processes. The marketing teams build various funnels by generating appropriate content. When the customer moves through the funnel, the sales team takes over and maintains the message while providing further value that builds confidence in the brand. The sales team has also developed a greater ability to reach customers through digital channels that were previously unattainable, creating much greater marketing and sales alignment. Has The Changing Buyer Persona Affected Manufacturing Sales? At Kadant Johnson the traditional relationship-centered marketing and sales approach is as strong as ever, but how they foster the relationship has changed. Dr. Martz discusses how customers have evolved along with changes in the digital marketing world. Many times the buyers have also already researched Kadant before they ever look to engage with a salesperson. Dr. Martz takes this one step further in discussing the changing demographics of their customer base. The modern buyer is more educated, well read, younger, and brand focused. Rather than the buyer wanting to foster long-term relationships, they are looking online to find effective solutions that do not require a great deal of time to learn about and getting quick answers to questions.. How Digital Transformation Is Revolutionizing Sales Alignment And Processes Carl further discusses the changes that the increased online presence has made on the sales processes at Kadant. Traditionally, their sales team would drive down the road, see a smokestack, and reach approach the receptionist to find the gatekeeper at the company. Their sales team now uses LinkedIn and other platforms to find their potential customer’s information and to reach out through social media. The sales team has evolved from being focused mostly on face-to-face sales conversations to seeking out initial online engagement to start a conversation. From LinkedIn’s 3rd Annual “State of Sales Report,” one of the data points is that 62% of decision-makers read a salesperson’s LinkedIn profile looking for an informative profile before deciding to talk with that salesperson. Carl mentioned how surprised he is that customers and other people reach out and find him on LinkedIn and his salespeople without them always having to reach out. Kadant’s Digital Transformation Journey Unveiled Dr. Martz discusses the Kadant digital transformation more fully by bringing the conversation back to their updated LinkedIn profiles. Many businesses now use LinkedIn to research their potential vendors. Just as Kadant researches their potential clients, they know that they too are being researched and have arranged for their entire sales team to have their LinkedIn profiles made over into a resource for their current and prospective customers. The next step in their journey is to increase engagement between their sales teams and their prospective buyers on LinkedIn. The goal is to focus their traditional method of targeting their ideal industries and use that focus in digital channels, engaging with people in their target industries. Dr. Martz also wants to increase recognition of their company wins to create more excitement among the sales and marketing teams and increase their momentum through their use of LinkedIn. Carl Howe and Dr. Wes Martz expect to see the changes in behavior in their sales and marketing departments continue to build momentum accelerating their ability to sell and market Kadant Johnson in this new digital age. They have already seen some big wins and are looking forward to more. They have also noted a positive response from others in their organization. While Kadant Johnson has a decentralized corporate structure, their peers have noticed and are interested in learning how they too can benefit from the digital transformation that Dr. Martz and Carl have launched. Featured on This Episode Connect with Wes on LinkedIn Connect with Carl on LinkedIn Kadant Johnson on LinkedIn Kadant Johnson on Twitter:@Kadant Outline of This Episode [2:20] Introduction to Kadant Johnson, what they do, and who they serve [4:25] How Kadant Johnson started their marketing efforts [5:25] Traditional marketing practices that are still effective - Targeting [6:15] Marketing strategy has always been value-based but the medium has changed [7:25] Keywords and consistent presence have transformed Kadant Johnson’s outreach [8:43] Sales targeting is focused on 2 to 3 industries with long-established relationships [9:55] Digital marketing has revolutionized the relationship building side of the sales process [11:43] Evolution of the customer and how that affects sales and marketing strategy [14:30] The modern buyer is more educated than in the past; they do their research [17:10] How does the sales group get in front of potential customers? [19:30] How is LinkedIn providing avenues for market research and customer outreach? [20:55] Digital transformation is a journey - where is Kadant Johnson on the journey? [23:35] Digital transformation comes down to a behavior change [24:30] Discuss how the C-Suite views the digital transformation in sales and marketing [27:03] Bernie’s summary of the show Resources & People Mentioned This episode is sponsored by Conversica, AI software for marketing and sales that fosters real conversations to discover the most qualified sales opportunities. Learn more at https://conversica.com Byron Matthews, CEO - Miller Heiman Group - “The modern buyer has become better at buying faster than sellers have become at selling.” LinkedIn 3rd Annual State of Sales Report The Selling With Social Podcast with Vengreso CEO, Mario Martinez, Jr Connect With Bernie and Modern Marketing Engine https://www.Facebook.com/modernmarketingengine/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernieborges/ https://twitter.com/bernieborges https://instagram.com/bernieborges https://Twitter.com/MMEnginePodcast   Subscribe to Modern Marketing Engine Apple Podcasts |Stitcher |Google Play | Google Podcasts There are TWO WAYS you can listen to this podcast. You can click the PLAYER BUTTON at the top of this page… or, you can listen from your mobile device’s podcast player through the podcast subscription links above.

This week we learn from Kharisma Moraski, Vice President of Sales for Conversica. Kharisma started selling at age five and continued an amazing career as a sales leader. Learn how she and her team recognize and utilize the milestones on the path to success. Kharisma talks about how to assess the skill and will on your team, and build a team that can move mountains and creates great leaders. She espouses a work-life balance and fosters the growth of her people.

Sales Reinvented Podcast Episode 124: Erroin Martin. Erroin is the VP of Sales for Conversica which is an artificial intelligence platform that presents itself as your human sales assistant. Your assistant will reach out to every single one of your leads and engage with each of them in human conversation, people truly feel as though they are interacting with a real person. Erroin is a former US Military Intelligence officer of more than 10 years and has spent more than 10 years in professional selling, he is an artificial intelligence evangelist, who speaks four languages and was voted the 2018 Sales Leader of the Year by Insidesales.com.

If you've been tracking along with the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence technology you've likely heard of the implementation of AI software for marketing, sales and customer success. It's a growing Hot Topic, and that's why we've got Roman Vinfield, President of AI Assist powered by Conversica here today to discuss what this could do for the mortgage industry. Comprised of conversational, human-like Artificial Intelligence innovation, AI Assist's suite of solutions is powered by Conversica—an AI-driven, machine-learning software that engages customers in personalized, 2-way dialogue. Together with several other leading AI companies, AI Assist enables organizations to transform their business and achieve significant growth through digital innovation. Read more... If you've been tracking along with the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence technology you've likely heard of the implementation of AI software for marketing, sales and customer success. It's a growing Hot Topic, and that's why we've got Roman Vinfield, President of AI Assist powered by Conversica here today to discuss what this could do for the mortgage industry. Comprised of conversational, human-like Artificial Intelligence innovation, AI Assist's suite of solutions is powered by Conversica—an AI-driven, machine-learning software that engages customers in personalized, 2-way dialogue. Together with several other leading AI companies, AI Assist enables organizations to transform their business and achieve significant growth through digital innovation. Read more...

If you’ve been tracking along with the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence technology you’ve likely heard of the implementation of AI software for marketing, sales and customer success. It’s a growing Hot Topic, and that’s why we’ve got Roman Vinfield, President of AI Assist powered by Conversica here today to discuss what this could do for the mortgage industry. Comprised of conversational, human-like Artificial Intelligence innovation, AI Assist’s suite of solutions is powered by Conversica—an AI-driven, machine-learning software that engages customers in personalized, 2-way dialogue. Together with several other leading AI companies, AI Assist enables organizations to transform their business and achieve significant growth through digital innovation. Read more...

AI is everywhere, but how does it pertain to Sales Development? Will robots take our jobs, is it a passing fad, or are we headed toward a future of Ironman JARVIS type of thing?Join our expert this week, Addison Lee (formerly of @Conversica now with @Pantheon) who has spent several years living and studying the interaction of Sales Development and AI, and how it can benefit your performance. If you’re in Ops, Leadership or an SDR/BDR looking for the latest info on this topic, tune in. Also, be sure to check out The Sales Development Conference 2019, August 23rd in San Francisco! Three tracks this year, Leadership, Operations, and Rep Training. Early Bird tickets are almost sold out so grab them before they’re gone too, right here → https://tenbound.com/conference/ Big thanks to @Darryl Praill of @VanillaSoft for making this podcast possible. Check out their new Sales Engagement solutions here... https://www.vanillasoft.com/solutions/business-function/sales-engagement-platform/#SDR #BDR #salesdevelopmentrep #salesdevelopment #prospecting #coldcalling #salesloft #outreach #sales #tenbound #salesforce #salesappointment #revenue #salesops #salesdev19#marketingops #salesforce #tech #salestech #marketingtech #salestraining #brighttalk#salesenablement #discoverorg #leadgeneration #accountbasedmarketing #abm

Subscribe to Social Business Engine Apple Podcasts |Stitcher |Google Play | Google Podcasts   There are many ways to apply artificial intelligence in content marketing. Bernie’s guest on this episode of Social Business Engine is an expert when it comes to the intersection of content marketing and the application of AI to it. Paul Roetzer is the CEO of PR 20/20, author of “The Marketing Performance Blueprint,” and the creator of the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute. When asked why he launched MAII Paul says it was…’to translate the buzz around AI into real-world knowledge and actionable insights for marketers, so that it’s approachable and tactical.” Paul regularly translates the concepts behind AI-related technologies into terms marketers can understand. He does this to help them know why AI matters and how to use it (or not) in day-to-day marketing. On this episode, Bernie and Paul discuss practical ways to get started with AI, specifically in content marketing. This episode is sponsored by Frost & Sullivan. Join Vengreso at STAR, February 11-13, 2019 to mix and mingle with forward thinking sales executives and thought leaders. We're extending a $250 savings to all Vengreso subscribers. For full details visit: frost.com/vengreso and use discount code MARIO at registration. Those Who Embrace Content Marketing AI Now Will Be At An Advantage Recent studies show that only 18% of companies have figured out how to use AI to the point that they are scaling it in their operations. That means that no matter what area of marketing you work in, or what level of knowledge you have about AI, you are NOT behind the curve. There are still amazing opportunities on the horizon for marketers who are willing to learn and embrace artificial intelligence. Those marketing professionals and the companies they work for will have a distinct competitive advantage in days to come. In this conversation Paul provides a number of helpful use-cases for AI at this stage in the game, demonstrating how it can be used to simplify workflows, offload repetitive tasks to save time and money, and even enhance the strategic parts of what we do as marketers. You won’t want to miss what he shares. It’s very easy to understand and makes perfect sense for marketers of all stripes. The 2 Main Reasons Marketers Should Be Using Artificial Intelligence If you are interested in using artificial intelligence to enhance your marketing efforts, where should you begin? Paul says there are two primary models you should consider to determine how to use AI in your content marketing. The first model is surrounding problems that are time intensive or data intensive for easy wins when it comes to applying AI as a possible solution in your content marketing strategy. The second model is what Paul refers to as a use-case model. AI is built to do narrowly defined tasks, so look at daily marketing activities such as reporting, editing and analytics, then discern the benefit you'd receive if those things were done automatically. In both cases, look for ways you can drive efficiency or increase revenue by doing things better. AI is often best used to enable cost reduction or revenue generation. How The Average Marketer Can Get Started With AI If you are eager to get artificial intelligence into your content marketing mix, you first need to look at repetitive, manual tasks in your marketing workflow. It doesn’t matter your area of specialty. Make a list of use-cases, identify which ones could be intelligently automated, then start looking for a solution. Check the MAII website for possible solution providers (see the link below). Next, look at ways you can get more out of your existing data. Most companies have tons of data from CRMs, Google Analytics, and more that sits on servers doing nothing. AI can help you utilize that data to gain greater insights, predict outcomes, determine smarter strategies, and more. Finally, look at the core technologies that are already a part of your marketing tech stack. How are those providers using AI? Do they have AI features as part of their solution that you are not implementing? Perhaps they have ideas about how you can better use their solution coupled with AI from another source? Don’t miss this great conversation. Paul concludes by addressing how AI is going to impact marketing careers in both the short-term and long-term. You’ll want to hear what he has to say about that. Featured on This Episode Paul Roetzer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulroetzer Paul on Twitter: https://Twitter.com/PaulRoetzer PR 20/20: https://www.pr2020.com/ The Marketing Artificial Intelligence Conference: https://www.marketingaiinstitute.com/events/marketing-artificial-intelligence-conference-2019 The Marketing AI Institute: https://www.marketingaiinstitute.com/ Paul’s book: The Marketing Performance Blueprint: http://a.co/d/3YsKwak Outline of This Episode [2:39] The current status of how AI is impacting the marketing world [6:37] AI is biased by the data and how it is trained. That means we have to be careful [8:30] Models marketers can use to harness the power of AI [12:34] Guidance for getting started with AI in your marketing workflow [16:14] The vision behind the Marketing AI Institute [20:47] Trends regarding the kinds of marketers who are embracing AI [22:03] What impact will AI have on marketing as a career? Resources & People Mentioned This episode is sponsored by Frost & Sullivan. Join Vengreso at STAR, February 11-13, 2019 to mix and mingle with forward thinking sales executives and thought leaders. We're extending a $250 savings to all Vengreso subscribers. For full details visit: frost.com/vengreso and use discount code MARIO at registration. Conversica: https://www.conversica.com/ SBE episode with Victor Belfor: https://vengreso.com/blog/victor-belfor-modern-marketer The Selling With Social Podcast with Vengreso CEO, Mario Martinez, Jr IBMs Watson goes on Jeopardy: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/ibm-watson-the-inside-story-of-how-the-jeopardy-winning-supercomputer-was-born-and-what-it-wants-to-do-next/ BOOK: Automate This: http://a.co/d/7pULneT Ai.google: https://ai.google/ Connect With Bernie and Social Business Engine https://www.facebook.com/socialbusinessengine/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernieborges/ https://twitter.com/bernieborges https://instagram.com/bernieborges https://twitter.com/sbengine   Subscribe to Social Business Engine Apple Podcasts |Stitcher |Google Play | Google Podcasts There are TWO WAYS you can listen to this podcast. You can click the PLAYER BUTTON at the top of this page… or, you can listen from your mobile device’s podcast player through the podcast subscription links above. This podcast originally appeared on Social Business Engine

Subscribe to Social Business Engine Apple Podcasts |Stitcher |Google Play | Google Podcasts Does your organization have a clear sales enablement strategy that is aligned with your customer’s journey? According to Bernie’s guest for this podcast conversation, Tamara Schenk, you’ll experience more sales wins if you do. Tamara is Research Director for CSO Insights, the research division of Miller Heiman Group. She is focused on global research regarding all things sales enablement, CX, and sales effectiveness. The book she’s co-authored with Miller Heiman Group CEO Byron Matthews, “Sales Enablement – A Master Framework to Engage, Equip, and Empower a World-Class Sales Force,” provides incredible insight into the value of effective sales enablement. On this episode, Bernie and Tamara discuss the influential role of content in sales enablement as well as the evolving role of sales enablement in the modern organization. You’ll learn about the critical nature of sales enablement for modern sales and how it can provide the tools needed in order for marketing, sales, and internal processes to work together to win more deals. This episode is sponsored by Conversica, AI software for marketing and sales that fosters real conversations to discover the most qualified sales opportunities. Learn more at https://conversica.com What Is The Role Of Sales Enablement In Modern Sales? In order to engage in this topic effectively, let’s begin with a definition of the term, “Sales Enablement.” Tamara says it’s a strategic, cross-functional discipline with the goal of increasing predictable sales results. It does this by providing scalable enablement services such as training, content, coaching, and a variety of tools for customer-facing professionals and their managers. This enables them to serve as relevant and valuable sources of expert knowledge in every buyer interaction. As you can see, sales enablement is a focused role that seeks to equip all members of the sales team with key understanding of the buyer’s journey. In order to be effective, it requires clear insight into the buyer’s needs, and the various roles buyers play in their organizations. Listen to learn what Tamara and her team have discovered about the role of sales enablement in the modern sales environment. Content Plays A Powerful Role In Sales Enablement As Miller Heiman Group’sCEO, Byron Matthews often says, “The modern buyer has become better at buying faster than the seller has gotten better at selling.” That means sales teams need to adapt their sales approach so they can meet the buyer where they are and how the buyer wants to engage. It’s a process that relies heavily on the type and quality of content they have at their disposal. The creation and distribution of that content is one of the major responsibilities of the sales enablement team. Through the research of customer personas, the enablement team creates content aimed at various stages in the buyer’s journey. The sales team uses that content to serve the buyer in relevant ways. Blog posts, podcasts, and media of various sorts are used to gain trust, build credibility, and carry the conversation in ways that directly address the buyer’s needs and questions. But that’s not everything we mean when we refer to “content” produced by the sales enablement team. There is also internal enablement content the customer never sees but that serves as vital tools to make sales teams more effective. Tamara mentions things like playbooks, comparison guides, objection guides, solution configuration tools, pricing tools, and closing/order templates as some of those possible resources. Tamara's insights on this subject are research-based and detailed, so don't miss this conversation. Organizations With A Clear Content Strategy Have Higher Win Rates Does a clear content strategy exist in your sales organization? If so, you’re in the minority. Tamara says that only ⅓ of organizations have a clear, relevant content strategy in place. To be clear, we’re talking about a plan to create and use specific content that addresses questions and needs buyers have from the beginning of the customer journey all the way to the close of the deal. It’s content that helps to evolve the relationship with the buyer in valuable, relevant, and unique ways. The impact of having a clear content enablement strategy in place is huge. Companies with a clear content strategy experience a 55% win rate as compared to 43% win rate for organizations without one. As you can see, it makes sense (to the tune of a 12% increase) to organize content creation and management to achieve better sales results. But be careful: Just because an enablement team creates content resources doesn’t mean the sales team is automatically going to know how to use them. Training is required to make the best use of the resources. Tamara recommends you champion the members of your sales team who have been highly successful - empower them to record short videos showing how they use the content assets in various buying situations. Don’t let it get too complicated, just focus on things that will be practically helpful to your team. Tamara and Bernie wrap up their conversation with a discussion of the main pitfalls to watch out for as you implement your sales enablement strategy, so be sure you listen to get all the details. Featured on This Episode Tamara on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/TamaraSchenk Tamara on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TamaraSchenk https://CSOInsights.com Tamara’s book: Sales Enablement: A Master Framework: http://a.co/d/3DliT7t Outline of This Episode [2:24] The role Tamara plays as Research Director at CSO Insights [4:12] What is sales enablement - and why Tamara is able to speak about it [6:00] Customer engagement isn’t only about sales conversations [9:10] Content has a crucial role in sales enablement efforts [13:55] Win rates are higher for companies that have a content strategy [16:00] Sales teams need to learn how to use content effectively [21:34] Pitfalls that can be avoided in sales enablement development [23:56] Where does sales enablement usually fall in organizations? Resources & People Mentioned This episode is sponsored by Conversica, AI software for marketing and sales that fosters real conversations to discover the most qualified sales opportunities. Learn more at https://conversica.com  Tamara’s article Bernie mentions: https://www.csoinsights.com/blog/customer-engagement-irrelevant-content-lowers-win-rates/Why You Need A Sales Enablement Content Strategy (blog article): https://www.csoinsights.com/blog/why-you-need-a-sales-enablement-content-strategy/ The Selling With Social Podcast episode with Miller Heiman Group CEO Byron Matthews hosted by Vengreso CEO, Mario Martinez, Jr Subscribe to Social Business Engine Apple Podcasts |Stitcher |Google Play | Google Podcasts  

Victor Belfor, Senior VP of Channel Sales and Business Development, joins the show to talk about Conversica and the rise of AI-powered virtual assistants. Listen as Victor and I dive into all the use cases for conversational AI and how virtual assistants are being used to automate personalized outreach, schedule meetings, and take on the role of an SDR. Tune into this episode to learn more about conversational AI and whether or not you should be adding it into your sales and marketing outreach strategy.

On today's episode of The Sales Evangelist, Erroin Martin shares what he has learned about artificial intelligence and how sales professionals can increase sales faster using AI. Martin is the vice president of sales at Conversica, with 20 years of experience in sales. Conversica does conversational artificial intelligence for B2B and B2C. Robots? Artificial intelligence […] The post TSE 951: How To Increase Sales Faster Using AI appeared first on The Sales Evangelist.

Subscribe to Social Business Engine Apple Podcasts |Stitcher |Google Play | Google Podcasts Modern marketers have what seems like an ever-changing and highly demanding role in today’s B2B world. There are big challenges to address - including ABS (Account Based Selling), the role of analytics, and application of AI. For this episode, Bernie invited Victor Belfor SVP of Channel Sales and Business Development at Conversica to describe what he’s seeing in his interaction with CMOs and marketers across a variety of industries. From his seat as a business development exec at a marketing tech company, Victor is exposed to marketers across many companies. That means he’s got a strong read on the pulse of the modern marketer. Victor calls it like he sees it and offers suggestions you can use, on this episode. This episode is brought to you by CONVERSICA: AI software for marketing and sales that fosters real conversations to discover the most qualified sales opportunities. You can find out more at http://Conversica.com Today’s CMOs Have The Most Integrated Role In The Company It’s not easy being the Chief Marketing Officer at a company today. That’s because digital channels have blurred the lines between marketing and sales. Modern marketers are tasked with producing results for multiple stakeholders within the organization, which requires additional expertise. They also have to integrate with product marketing, tie directly into sales, and adapt to ABS (account based selling), and more. Top all this off with the reality of reporting directly to the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) or the CEO in many cases and you see why it’s a tall order for anyone. Victor Belfor says the role demands a person who is willing to embrace the new mindset of modern marketing along with the toolsets and apply different tech stacks to produce the results the company needs. But more than anything, the CMO MUST have the passion drive and grit to be a marketing evangelist who can shape company culture to embrace and support the new role that marketing plays in the digital economy. Join Bernie and Victor as they discuss how marketing professionals can adapt to their ever-expanding role, on this episode of Social Business Engine. How To Cope With Marketing Difficulties Caused By Increasing Analytics Better analytics is undoubtedly a good thing. Every business needs to know the data behind what is working and what is not working. But the ever-growing tech stack is producing challenges too. How do you take flows from all the tech stack solutions and interrelate them to produce a coherent marketing plan that is data-driven? How can marketers measure what really matters to the business? That’s an important thing to nail down, but it’s not the only challenge. There’s also the plethora of channels from which leads are coming in - events, webinars, social media, field marketing, PPC, SEO, and even from employees. How do you run cohort analysis and how do you track attribution from all these unique sources? How do you track costs? A good tech stack can start chipping away at it, but it also requires consistent effort to change company culture to embrace marketing’s expanded strategic role in the organization. In this podcast conversation, you’ll hear Victor share what he’s seeing marketing leaders do to address these challenges. Can AI Solve The Problems of Modern Marketing? AI has grabbed a lot of attention - and you might be tempted to say that AI is - at least in part - what is putting the pressure on modern marketers. But Victor is convinced that AI is not the cause of the marketing chasm. He says the problem when it comes to AI is that while many are interested in experimenting with AI, they are leary either because they don’t know how to use it properly or are feeling threatened by it. They want to experiment but are not completely certain if the outcomes of using AI will be better than what they are currently doing. Hearing this, Bernie asked if marketing leaders should be doing experimental, low-risk AI trials to become familiar with its benefits. But Victor says dipping your toes into the water of AI may not be the best way to get started. Why? Because with AI, the larger your dataset or time of use, the better your results will be, which in turn will give you a better idea of how AI can benefit your marketing efforts. You simply can’t accomplish that with a short-duration test, or a small dataset. You can hear what Victor recommends instead, on this episode. 3 Specific Use Cases For AI Implementation For Marketing Victor says there are three primary areas where AI can benefit the modern marketing approach… #1 - Analytics - AI allows you to build models, predict what your best customers will look like, and analyze your pipeline to anticipate what deals are most likely to close - and all this is done without human bias or false assumptions. #2 - Recommendations - AI can suggest topics for sales conversations by analyzing a variety of data sources (social media, email, CRM contacts, etc.) to help you move prospects toward sales conversations. #3 - Conversational AI - AI-powered bots can reach out to prospects, start conversations, and get as much as 20 times the ROI a human can, and can do it at scale because unless humans, AI conversationalists never call in sick. These are just some of the ways AI can address the needs of the modern marketer and you’ll hear Victor expand on them in this podcast conversation. Tune in. Share it with a friend. Featured on This Episode www.Conversica.com Victor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victorbelfor/ Victor on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vbelfor VictorB (at) Conversica.com Outline of This Episode [0:43] The insights Victor has to share about the challenges marketers face today [5:04] Two culprits that make analytics a difficult thing for marketers to handle [8:34] What is the role of AI for the modern marketer? [15:26] Use Cases where AI may be best used for modern marketing [23:56] How conversational AI can be scaled beyond any human marketing attempts [27:18] Why the marketer is the most integrated role in the modern company Resources & People Mentioned This episode is brought to you by CONVERSICA: AI software for marketing and sales that fosters real conversations to discover the most qualified sales opportunities. You can find out more at http://Conversica.com Einstein: https://einstein.ai/ Recent Episode with Basile Senesi of Fundbox: https://vengreso.com/blog/fundbox-ai-human-great-customer-experience-basile-senesi The Selling With Social Podcast with Vengreso CEO, Mario Martinez, Jr Connect With Bernie and Social Business Engine https://www.facebook.com/socialbusinessengine/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernieborges/ https://twitter.com/bernieborges https://instagram.com/bernieborges https://twitter.com/sbengine Subscribe to Social Business Engine Apple Podcasts |Stitcher |Google Play | Google Podcasts There are TWO WAYS you can listen to this podcast. You can click the PLAYER BUTTON at the top of this page… or, you can listen from your mobile device’s podcast player through the podcast subscription links above. This podcast originally appeared on Social Business Engine  

Subscribe to Social Business Engine Apple Podcasts |Stitcher |Google Play | Google Podcasts A great customer experience is at the heart of customer loyalty and support - and we all want OUR customers to have that "Wow!" experience. As technology improves there are more and more ways to deliver experiences customers remember and tell others about... even in industries as long-standing and conservative as lending. Bernie’s guest on this episode of Social Business Engine is Basile Senesi, head of sales and support at Fundbox. As you listen, you’ll hear how Fundbox has taken an innovative approach to providing a solution to a long-standing need in most businesses – access to credit. They do it with both data automation AND the human touch. It’s a winning combination and you’ll hear all the details from Basile on this episode. This episode is sponsored by Conversica, AI software for marketing and sales that fosters real conversations to discover the most qualified sales opportunities. Learn more at http://conversica.com The Lending Business Hasn’t Changed Much Over The Years, Until Now If you’ve ever completed a loan application - personally or for business purposes - you know there are a great many points of data collected about you and your financial situation. The problem is that the lending industry hasn’t evolved much since the 1950s, which means there is a great deal of data about your financial situation that loan applications simply can’t capture. Bernie’s guest, Basile Senesi highlights how Fundbox challenges traditional underwriting standards by looking carefully at the new sources of info available rather than just credit history and collateral. They do it through AI integration with accounting software, bank accounts, and more. Harnessing the power of AI enables Fundbox to serve clients who may have previously been “unqualified” for funding and provide a tailored customer experience that is nothing short of “great.” Find out more from this podcast conversation. Getting Into The Middle Of A Business Owner’s Workflow Much of what businesses need when it comes to cash flow is determined by their daily workflow and procedures. But the evaluation of risk associated with small business lending doesn’t typically take workflow and operational patterns into account at all. That’s why Fundbox is so unique. Through the smart use of AI, the company is able to get into the middle of a customer’s day to day workflow to discover data points about the WAY that customer does their business that will support modern lending decisions. But there's more AI can do besides help you get qualified for funding. Imagine what it would be like for your customers to have such a great experience with your company - because the solution you provide is a perfect fit for their needs - that they become an enthusiastic ambassador for your company. AI can make it a reality. Listen to learn how Fundbox is making it happen, and use their experience to stir up ideas for how you can use AI to enhance the customer experience you are delivering. This episode is sponsored by Conversica, the sales assistant that engages every lead, 24/7/365, and never calls in sick. The Real Power of AI Comes By Pairing It With The Human Touch Much of the noise you hear about the coming AI revolution in business has to do with the fear that machine learning and artificial intelligence will replace jobs now done by humans. Basile says that while that may be a concern in some sectors, he believes that the smart integration of AI alongside the human characteristic of intuition is a winning combination that will always be of benefit. In this podcast, you’ll hear Basile describe how that approach works for Fundbox as they provide financing solutions for small business. They are not only able to better analyze credit risks using this AI/Human partnership, they are also able to create better solutions for their customers, equip their team members to use human intuition more effectively because of the data AI provides, and provide a customer experience that is tailor-made to each situation. It’s amazing how well it works, be sure you listen. AI Is Here To Stay: Learn How To Use It To Enhance What You Do Best In his closing comments, Basile points out how the growth and development of AI is not going to slow down. His suggestion: Rather than fear the advent of AI, those of us in the business world need to learn how to harness its power to our advantage, to make our human interactions even better because of the efficiency and insight AI can provide. AI enables us to make better decisions - in Basile’s case, in terms of credit risks and customer needs. AI helps us understand customer needs better so we can create solutions to move their businesses forward. AI empowers product development, marketing, and customer support in deeper, more meaningful ways - especially when coupled with the human touch. Overall, AI makes for great customer experiences, which will fuel success in any industry. Featured on This Episode Fundbox: https://fundbox.com/ Connect with Basile on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/basilesenesi/ Conversica AI Sales Assistant Outline of This Episode [1:51] Small business funding: Fundbox does it in a unique way [2:43] The innovative way Fundbox has approached the lending industry for small business [7:16] Leveraging AI to give Fundbox a competitive edge [13:35] Using the AI available to fuel marketing and product design [20:30] Lessons learned from using AI for marketing and workflow enhancement [23:20] Bernie’s summary of this episode [27:24] AI is here to stay, so use it as a tool to enhance what you do best Resources & People Mentioned This episode is sponsored by Conversica, AI software for marketing and sales that fosters real conversations to discover the most qualified sales opportunities. Learn more at http://conversica.com Gusto - online HR services: https://gusto.com/ Quickbooks - accounting software: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/ Freshbooks - accounting software: https://www.freshbooks.com/ Eventbrite - event management platform: https://www.eventbrite.com/ Conversica - AI Platform: https://www.conversica.com/ Cortera - Business Credit Reports: https://www.cortera.com/ Wells Fargo - https://www.wellsfargo.com/ Citibank - https://online.citi.com/US/login.do Experian - https://www.experian.com/ TransUnion - https://www.transunion.com/ Pardot - Marketing Automation: https://www.pardot.com/ Sales Navigator - Sales Software: https://business.linkedin.com/sales-solutions/sales-navigator The Selling With Social Podcast with Vengreso CEO, Mario Martinez, Jr Connect With Bernie and Social Business Engine https://www.facebook.com/socialbusinessengine/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernieborges/ https://twitter.com/bernieborges https://twitter.com/sbengine Subscribe to Social Business Engine Apple Podcasts |Stitcher |Google Play | Google Podcasts There are TWO WAYS you can listen to this podcast. You can click the PLAYER BUTTON at the top of this page… or, you can listen from your mobile device’s podcast player through the podcast subscription links above. This podcast originally appeared on Social Business Engine

Lisiten to Alex Terry, CEO of Conversica as he joins us to talk about the findings of the highly regarded 4 P's Report.    For the third year in a row, Conversica commissioned an in-depth study tracking lead follow-up efforts of B2B and B2C companies across a number of different industries. In 2017, they found that a staggering 77% of companies under-touched their leads. ABOUT OUR GUEST:   Terry is an accomplished and award winning Internet business veteran with strong track record of driving results and growth. He founded or co-founded three companies and one division within Fortune 100 corporation. From idea to revenue generation, to profitability to exit... he is able to manage all aspects of consumer or enterprise service or product business. Focus has been on SaaS, operationally complex services which required disruptive new technology development.  He holds multiple patents for Internet services.  Alex received his MBA at Harvard Business School and his BA at Dartmouth College. About Conversica Conversica is the leader in conversational AI for business and the only provider of AI-driven lead engagement software for marketing and sales organizations. The flagship Conversica® AI Sales Assistant helps companies find and secure customers more quickly and efficiently by automatically contacting, engaging, qualifying and following up with leads via natural, multi-channel, two-way conversations. Used by more than 1,200 companies worldwide, Conversica's sales assistants are built on a proven AI platform integrating natural language processing (NLP), natural language generation (NLG), and machine learning (ML) capabilities. Recognized by Gartner as a Cool Vendor, Conversica is a portfolio company of Providence Strategic Growth, Kennet Partners and Toba Capital and is headquartered in Foster City, Calif.

The most important thing with PR is asking your clients what business results they want to achieve. And then reverse engineering a PR program around that. Welcome to another episode of Better PR Now. This episode is sponsored by our official transcription partner, transcribeme.com. If you'd like to see an example of their terrific work, check out the "notes" page on the Better PR Now website. For a 25% discount on their services, go to transcribeme.com/betterprnow. Today, we're fortunate to be joined by Curtis Sparrer, principal at Bospar in San Fransisco. Bospar recently won the PR Week Boutique Agency of the Year award. Congratulations and welcome, Curtis. Thanks. Thanks for having me. So, as we jump in, I'd like to find out about how people got into public relations, how they started their career in communication. You graduated from UT Austin with a degree in Radio, Television, and Film. What's happened between graduation and ending up in San Fransisco as a principal at one of the nation's leading agencies? Well, I think what happened in the short term is I got smart. But the long-term is a much more complicated story. I went to LA, worked for Roger Corman. He's a famous B-movie producer and discovered that I just did not have the patience to pay my dues in Hollywood. When I was going to school at UT Austin, I worked as a video film editor for the local TV stations, and I used that skill to go back into news. And my first job as a producer was in Toledo, Ohio. I cut my teeth as a producer there for about three years rising up the ranks and even moonlighting as a restaurant critic and advice columnist. I then moved to Huston where I worked the overnight show there. And then I got an amazing offer to produce the 9 PM news at [inaudible] in San Fransisco. I worked there. I won a regional Emmy. And I was promoted to the executive producer. And then as I kind of ended my career at [inaudible], I was faced with the choice that I could either move to a different city, or I could change my career trajectory so I could stay with my friends. And I gave it a long thought and determined that it would be best if I took all my skills and applied them somewhere else. I applied at a lot of different PR firms thinking that would be the best use of my skillset. And I was really surprised by the obnoxious response of a lot of people. How so [laughter]? I got some responses like, "Oh, I couldn't possibly qualify to do PR. It was far too complex." "Oh, PR is just so difficult and you would not just understand it." A lot of self-satisfied responses about how complex PR was. And I didn't get a lot of encouragement. I answered a Craigslist ad for a PR position, an internship really, and I met this woman named Kris [Balkie?]. And after Chris and I had a very long conversation, she called me back and said, "I don't want to do an internship. I want to get married. I want to hire you as our senior associate and I want to get things started." And so I started as a senior associate and started learning, very quickly. And I learned that a lot of people in PR were really good at telling clients no. And I decided that my fastest route for survival would be learning how to tell clients yes. And I I treated clients like anyone would treat a television anchor, with the utmost respect, and I learned that really paid off well. I also learned that a lot of times the press release material that clients were trying to get in the media was not useful for any journalist having both been a TV producer and also having been a writer. So before we go any further. Why was it not useful? Was there a pattern there? Yeah. It was. A lot of the content was jargon-heavy. A lot of the content was something that would not fit in any kind of current narrative or current story that journalists were already talking about. It was very tone deaf. A lot of the content was just tone deaf and it was as if a bunch of marketers were thinking I want to have this content run in TechCrunch without really bothering to think well, what is TechCrunch right now? What's important to them? And so my point to all our clients was that we needed to understand what our journalist contacts were working on and then reverse engineer our story so we would better match their priorities. That sounds a lot like in the startup community where people are tempted to-- they have an idea and they say, "This is a really cool thing. Let me go find a market for it." As opposed to looking at the market, seeing where the pain points are where people are having challenges, and then coming up with a solution for those challenges. Absolutely. Just because I have a story I want to tell in a certain way doesn't mean that anybody is going to be interested in hearing it. That's exactly it. And that's the problem that a lot of companies have and they kind of-- the expression, of course, is drink their own cool-aid but it's kind of a reality distortion field where they seem to think that the news that's important to them will be important to other people and the thing that I try to tell our clients is that's not the case. And I even been so much as vulgar to one client and I said, "Knowing a plot until you masturbate [laughter]." That's true. So the client was— And how did the client take it? -- like, "That is pretty stark but point taken.” So were you able to convince them to take a different path? I have. I have been able to convince a lot of clients that the crazy thing they want to do is not really what they want to achieve and I think the most important thing with PR is asking your clients what business results they want to achieve and then reverse engineering a PR program around that. And I also counsel our clients that just because a story is published doesn't mean your target is going to see it and that you need to take that story and put it in front of your target's face so that the can actually see it. And I think it's resonated with me more now than ever since I'm a principal at my own firm and I use PR as our principal means of business development. Yeah. That's absolutely true and what you're talking about is helping them shift from focusing on tactics which is where all the bright shiny objects are to focusing on a more strategic level what do you want to achieve? And then, figuring out from there okay, how do we get there? Absolutely. And I find that when I do that that I am providing a much more full-service approach along the PESO model where some clients will say, "Well, I really want the sense at this convention that everyone's talking about us." And then I can say, "Well, that's really not going to be any story placement. What you're going to want is you're going to want to buy advertising space all over that convention so that you are the only thing people see." And  the client's like, "That's what I want to do. You're right." And sometimes it's a   matter about counseling a client out the bead idea. I remember one client wanted to have a press conference and if you're Facebook or Google or Apple you can probably do that but when you're a startup that's impossible. And so I had to work very hard to not insult the client but to convince him that that was going to provide the results he was looking for. Yep. That's absolutely right. And frankly, that's really challenging sometimes. That is really challenging sometimes and I think that it's one of the big things that all agencies and all people of marketing really face. Yeah. Absolutely. As you've been around the public relations world for a while you've seen people execute in ways that I'm sure are just [eyewateringly?] stunningly brilliant and you've seen I'm sure people do the opposite where they fall on their faces. And I'm not asking you to out anybody [laughter] but can you describe an example where somebody did something just incredibly dumb in public relations. And the reason is I think there's a teachable moment and good lessons for all of us every time we see something like that happen. You know, I think everyone has done something really stupid that they regretted. For me, when I think of all the dumb things I have done, I think the stupidest thing I ever did is I was trying to get a story placed because I had a crush on someone and I thought that this would be helpful and I had the whole backstory with the journalist about the crush and how great it was. And so finally the journalist coughed up the story and I was so excited about it that I forwarded the whole thread to said crush without realizing that I forwarded the whole thread to the [crush?] [laughter]. Talk about being transparent. Awkward. Yeah. Yeah. How'd that work out? Well, let's say I'm not married to them [laughter]. Okay. Got it. Got it. Okay. So flip it around. What's the most brilliant thing that you've ever done in your career or that you've seen somebody else do? You know, I will probably think of the brilliant things a lot later as I'm doing something else mundane and boring. I think one of the prouder yet smaller things I did is I was faced with this press release that needed approval from this marketing company and everyone from the marketing company had gone home for the day. Their New York line was closed, their San Francisco line was closed and I really was beginning to panic until I realized that this marketing firm was an international marketing firm. So I called their Australian affiliate. They were up. They were just starting their day and they managed to approve the whole thing. And while that not a, 'Oh, my God. I'm the next Einstein," sort of thing, it's that kind of thinking that has saved me time and time again where we get in the mode of thinking in just a very narrow, narrow focus and I think the more that you can expand your thinking and expand your approach the better you're going to do. Yeah. I think you're absolutely right there. You recently wrote a blog post on the [inaudible] blog about how audience targeting is changing in the age of digital transformation. In that article, you talked about turning brand ambassadors into influence. Can you tell me a little bit more about that? You know, when it comes to turning brand ambassadors to influencers it's all about increasing their reputation and their footprint. It's not just a matter of them to be kind of these solitary people who are working on their own. You really need to promote them as you would promote any brand or company. And you need to do your very best to amplify what they're saying, so that more people will see it and more people will see them as a respected third party who's credible. Yeah. That's absolutely wonderful. If you were talking to your younger self, as you [laughter] were getting ready to finish college and start your career, what advice would you give yourself? Or what advice would you give young people who are just getting started or contemplating a career in communications? Take more Botox; take more Propecia [laughter]. I've never heard that advice before. It's usually about "Hey, take more of these kind of classes." But, okay. I take them as an important thing that you can do is take an internship because  I think that everything is good in theory. But learning about something, that scholastic environment versus doing it are two different things entirely. And I think if I could have done something differently with how I was approaching that, I would have brought in the scope of my internships. I focused very heavily on a journalism set internships. And I wish I had done a public relations or marketing internship because I think that would have given more experience in the other side. And maybe I would have started off with PR instead of broadcast news. Just because the economics that are happening now, there are so many people moving from journalism into public relations. So that transition that you did, there are a lot of people doing the same thing. And so you look around the field of PR practitioners, and there are lots and lots of former journalists. People with journalism degrees, who, for whatever reason, made that change. Absolutely. And one of the things that I find is that I frequently counsel people who are looking to make the switch. And how they can do it and what they can do. And my number one advice to media people, journalists who are trying to transition to PR, is to start doing charity work. So that you can get your toes wet, and you could really get an understanding of how it works. And I also recommend that they start taking informational interviews. And finally, I recommend that they work at an agency, and they don’t go too big too quickly. I think the biggest example of a kind of Icarus falling situation was with one CNBC reporter was brought in to this war between Facebook and Google over privacy concerns. And it was revealed that the former journalist was trying to get people to place contributed content under various names of reporters that would raise privacy concerns about the two companies. And it just blew up in a space in spectacular fashion. And I think if he had been in PR longer, that would not have happened to him. Yeah. I mean, it sounds like the ethics lessons that we learned as we're studying public relations or earning our accreditation, ethics is a major component to that. And that would have helped, I think, stir that person away from whatever temptation there was to take that shortcut. I think there are a lot of marketers who want PR people to practice theblack arts. And I've always advised marketing people who brought that up that generally, there's always have a habit of blowing up in your face and just making you look bad, for lack of a better word. And I have recommended often that you should just stir away from that. That's just something that's going to haunt you. It's always the cover-up that's worse than the crime. Oh, that's absolutely true. And it always comes out. It always does. Whatever it is, It will always eventually come out, and it will be worse. Yup. What's your perspective on the importance of relationships in public relations practice [laughter]? It's only the second word in public relations [laughter]. I think that media relationships are so important because they give you a sense of what you can and can't do in a story. And they really give you the reality check you need outside of your experience with the client. And so I make sure that I attend journalism conference every year. I'm a member of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association. Your listeners may have been able to figure that out themselves by the butch tone of my voice [laughter]. But I find that being able to talk to journalists on a regular basis is the best way to inform a strategy and then come up with creative ideas. And so I encourage every one of my colleagues to meet journalists, to take them out for lunch, breakfast, dinner, drinks, whatever. And to really get to understand what they're up against professionally and personally, as well as understand what sort of story narratives are really important. And I find that those relationships are key in really making some stories really work well for our clients. That's right. You mean, you talked earlier about knowing what stories they're following or what they're interested in. And in reverse engineering, your plans to fit that when you only know if you're talking with them. Yeah. And you can only intuit, or even better, have them tell you, "Hey, here's what we're lookin for. Do you have anything that would fit?” Absolutely. And during a crisis situation, having one of the journalist friendlies to go and help you with your response or your reaction. Or even as a sandbox the testing's out is critical. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's spot on. When you think about this as a career, like any career, there are challenges. It's hard. It's busy. I know in every job I've ever had in communications, there's way more to do tha you can possibly get done in a day. What keeps you inspired? When you wake up in the morning, and you think about going to work, what really gets you psyched up to go and tackle everything again, one more day? The fear of being homeless [laughter]. You're very practical. No, I'm kidding. I think that the thing that makes me most excited is when we do something wacky or crazy that just might work, and it does. I think that when I hear my colleagues achieve something that they didn’t think they could do, I love being a part of that. Or saying that, I love cheerleading. I like to see people excited about what they're doing. And I like to see people overwhelmingly happy and feeling realised with what they're doing, and how they're doing it. So ultimately, I'm very, I guess, platonic, if you will, in the sense that I believe the end goal of life is to be happy and if people are getting that happiness out of their work, then I'm happy too. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's right. And if you think about, sort of, the real essence of public relations, it's to help organisations have better relationships with the publics that they depend on and that depend on them, and as a result, things should be better for everybody, everybody should be happier if we're really effective at doing our jobs. Absolutely. And so that, generally, is what gets me going. I think what is the challenging part of this job is that I get that what we're doing is of real value, and because what we're doing is of real value and is transformative and has the opportunity to make sales and make budgets happen, that there sometimes is high anxiety and high pressure and sometimes nerves are rattled and sometimes tempers get really, really, kind of, out of control. And so I bring that to bear when I'm working with these people who are some brilliant executives, some brilliant minds and sometimes are really needing PR to be transformative in their business designs, and I get that. If there was one thing that you could do better, what would it be? Everything [laughter]. I recently had a colleague call me and she was complaining about an email I sent that it wasn't deep enough, it wasn't thoughtful enough, and I'm not going to out her, and I said, sometimes I just suck, and I just suck because sometimes there's just not enough time to be as good as I need to be or as you need me to be. And so I think that if I had anything, it would be more time in a given day, and I know that's pretty pat and cliche, but I think that that is the one thing that you need in order to do your best work. That said, I think the thing that annoys me the most is people who let perfection be the enemy of the good and will sit on things forever, and ever, and ever til the moment is lost. I remember one colleague who met a journalist who said she was interested in any kind of pitch, and that colleague took two months perfecting her email [laughter] to the journalist until she sent it. And the journalist probably forgot who she was and never responded. And so I'm a big believer in get things out quickly, and fail quickly, and improve quickly. Yeah. I think that's right. The nature of the business we're in, those windows of opportunity close pretty quickly. And if you're spending too much time on perfection, the window of opportunity is closed. Yeah. I was a journalist and I didn't have time for you to come up with your Gettysburg Address. I just needed someone to cobble together five sentences so I could get it out and meet deadline. And I think a lot of marketers will fool themselves into thinking that if they write the Magna Carta or something, that that's really going to move the needle for them, and it's not that which is going to help them, it's being responsive and being quick. Sure. So there's that time component. There's also the expectation of what it is the journalist might need from us. They don't necessarily need us to write their story for them. They might just need a quote, or some facts, or something that allows them to complete their story on deadline. Yep. And I can tell you as a journalist that that's so important. I think the other thing that I'm seeing is since I'm writing for a variety of outlets as well, I'm seeing some very lazy pitching. I had this one person pitch me this story, and she wrote, "Thought you might be interested in this," and slapped the press release, and that was it. No personalization. No doing some homework, trying to figure out why you might actually be interested in it and making that obvious to you. I mean, in this very interview, Mark, you have shown that you have looked at my blog entries, my LinkedIn profile; you've done your homework. And this PR person did nothing. And so, I wrote back and said, "Why?" And I forced her e-mail after e-mail after e-mail to do the work that she should have done from the beginning. And I know that that's not possible in every pitch. I know that that's not something that can   scale, but I do think that a lot of our new crop of PR people are needing to put in a lot more energy and a lot more thought in what they write. And so, whereas, I'm seeing that more and more on those bar, for example, and of course I can plug my own company, I have seen a lot of people— This is a plug-friendly space [laughter]. So. I have seen a lot of people pitch me who clearly have not ever considered what a journalist would need for a pitch to be successful. You got to know what they need. It's no different than any other business. You have to understand what problem you're solving for somebody, and then make it easy for them to understand how you can solve that problem for them. It's no more difficult than that. Yeah, it's no more difficult than that. And yet it's still that difficult [laughter]. I hear you. [crosstalk] with time and just focus.I think even the simple things are hard. Yes, that's true. We talked about what kind of advice you would give to people starting their careers or to your younger self. What advice would you give or do you give to CEOs or other organizational leaders to help them be more effective in their communications? Talking to shorter sentences. Soundbite size. Very, very true. I find that a lot of CEOs are brilliant people, and because they're brilliant people, they think in a thought process that almost comes off like an impressionistic painting when they are talking. And yet, for a reporter who is trying to write it all down into short succinct sentences and thoughts, it becomes very difficult. And so, I find that the reporters who come back to me are the ones who've been exposed to CEOs who could speak simply and easily–like you would talk to any regular person at a bar. Is that more of a problem either sort of the brilliant people talking at a level that other brilliant people can understand or talking in search for [Bossidy?] that it is hard to keep up and extract the good sound bites and good quotes out of. Is that unique to the tech world? I don't think so. I think the higher up you go, the more likely brilliant you are going to be. And so, I would say that a CEO of Home Depot is going to be just as brilliant as the CEO of an AI company by virtue of all the work and talent required to get there. And I think the challenge they find is that they have been used to speaking in so many different kinds of dialects if you will; professional dialects. And so, whereas I as an AI scientist; might have a AI shorthand for all my researchers. When I'm talking to a journalist who may not have AI as his/her only beat, I'm speaking at a level that they can't possibly understand. And sometimes, that might actually be okay if the audience speaks the same language. But if the audience doesn't, if you're speaking not to your peers, but you're trying to speak to, say, consumers, it might go right past them. It absolutely might go right past them. And so I think that that's the real challenge is calibrating it correctly. And also, calibrating in a way that isn't obnoxious. When we trained CEOs and other executives   to talk to journalists, one of the things that we do is we say, "You should put the onus of selling your message on yourself." So instead of saying to the journalist, "Did you understand that," which makes it clear that the journalist might be the idiot in the room, you need to say, "Did I explain that well?” That's brilliant. So you're keeping ownership and responsibility for communicating. Absolutely. And one of the ways that this has really kind of come up is, I mentioned we are doing PR for ourselves just like we would do it for any of our clients, we practice what we preach at [inaudible]. And so when I went in to the hot seat to do a TV interview, I really had extra pressure. I wasn't just presenting this as the executive of a company, but I was also doing an interview as a expert in how to do an interview. When I was doing that, I really had to think about how I should take an interview and what are the best practices. And that made me super evaluate everything I did, from what I would eat that day and what I would avoid - like dairy, for example - to how I would stand and how I would react facially, physically to questions because this was on TV. And so I think that when executives are going in front of the camera, they really need to take an extra step to make sure that they are completely ready for the experience because TV interviews are the very interviews that could make you a internet meme forever if you goof it up. That's right. That's right. If you look 10 years or so into the future, how do you see public relations and marketing changing particularly in the tech space? think that PR is increasingly going to adopt artificial intelligence. We already use artificial intelligence in a lot of our sales communication. And one of my clients, Conversica, for example, is telling me that probably one in five Americans have already talked to its AI platform. And that's just one company. So if we're looking at one in five Americans talking to AI right now, that number is going to increase where it's a matter of how many times a day we're interacting with AI. And the reason why that'll be important for PR people is in their outbound communication. I mentioned the bad pitch I got from this random PR person. I   suspect that if an AI platform had crafted the pitch, in about 10, 20 years, it'd probably be way better than this person had ever written. And it would be thoughtful and filled with links. And I think that's one of the things that's going to happen is that AI will be increasingly used for outreach. I also think that AI is going to used for analytics that make the current analytics we're using seem like caveman-like drawings by comparison. And I think that while that will be scary for a lot of people, I think that just like any sort of computer or  technological revolution. It's those people who really lean into it who are going to do well. And so my advice to my PR colleagues would be to get smart about AI and understand what it does and what does not. And I think that's going to be the real challenge PR professionals face in the next 20 years. I think the other challenge, of course, is going to be just the variety of outlets. We always hear about outlets shuttering and outlets closing and people being laid off. And I think that that's going to continue to be a part of the PR landscape. And that's also going to be why social platforms are going to continue to grow importance as they replace in some instances the media content that new sites used to have. Is there anybody out there right now that you're aware of who's leading the charge on using AI for either analytics or for outreach? I would say when it comes to outreach, one of the companies that is leading the way is a client of mine, and it's called Conversica. And what Conversica is, is a sales assistant. And it will send people emails or text messages about something that they showed interest in. So if you were looking at a car, for example, on a website, you might get an email from someone who says, "Hey. I saw you're looking at this Lexus. And I was wondering if you'll be interested in a test drive? We can schedule something." I think that is going to be adopted more and more for our PR model. I think that it's going to take some further sophistication before we get to the point where a journalist gets a story like, "Hey. I saw you wrote about Battlestar Galactica. I thought you'd be interested in this prequel. Would you like to go and see a reel." But I could very well see the day when that does happen. Can you see a day when bots are pitching bots [laughter]? That there's AI on both ends, and we don't even have to be part of that. I do see that. I do see that. And I think that's interesting. And I'm not sure what we'll get. But I would very much like to see that experiment take place. I know that not all AI has worked out. I think the biggest example of AI that kind of blew up was Tay. And that was too bad. It did blow up because of humans were mean. But I think that bots pitching bots will happen. I think the question is, will they produce anything that people will find interesting to read. On a day-to-day basis, what tools do you use? And these could be hardware or software. What do you rely on to be successful every day? Caffeine. Don't we all [laughter]. Caffeine, and more and more caffeine. The other tools I rely on-- I really love email [laughter]. And I know it actually sounds very old school. I've never heard anybody say that. I do. I love— Seriously. I've never heard anybody say, "I love email.” I find it is effective not only as a means of communication but as a means of a public record, and as a means of organizing projects. And so I can follow a project from start to completion by an email thread. And I can make sure that things happen in a timely fashion. And so I know that there is a rush to go into all sorts of project software. But in my estimation, or at least for me, that seems like an extra step. Whereas the email thread is a perfectly fine way of following a project on how it's going. But I find that when it comes to looking at resources, I'm fond of Harvest. I think Harvest is a very easy way for us to track where time is being spent. It's also good for expenses because who's going to want to get all your receipts. At some point of the day, it's much better to expense as you go. And so Harvest is a great tool for that. I'm very fond of Zoom, and any kind of video conferencing service. And I find it to be so much more superior than any kind of pure audio conference. Because looking at people physically gives you clues and ques. I can tell when someone wants to interrupt me. I can tell when people are bored with me. And that's very useful for someone who probably is on a lot. That non-verbal feedback really is important. Absolutely. What have I not asked you about that I should have? I think that the big question that PR people have to face is not the coming AI invasion. It's really going to be what people read, and how people absorb information. More and more young people are reporting that they are just visual. And they are following Instagram. And they're getting a lot of their content from that. And so as PR people, I think the big challenge is how do we make an impact when words seem to matter less and less. And I think that's why video is going to have a Renaissance. Because if younger people are focusing less and less on words and more and more on pictures, then the best way to reach people will be through video. And that's what I see as important as the years go on. Curtis, this has been a fantastic conversation. I tell you what, I've learned so much from you. Shucks. Thanks [laughter]. And that was Texas coming out right there. Thank you so much for being on the Better PR Now podcast. And I look forward to hearing from you in the future. And maybe having you back on. Mark, I would absolutely love it. And I would love for you to talk to my PR colleagues, too. So let's see what we can work out. Yeah. Let's make it happen. Thanks for joining us for episode 14 of Better PR Now. I want to give a shoutout to professor Enrique Planells of the University of Valencia in Spain. He wrote a wonderful note expressing how he was using the podcast as complementary material for his students. He also noted how the podcast was bridging a gap between academia and the professional world. And that really is part of the main intent. Thank you so   much for listening and sharing the podcast Enrique. TranscribeMe is the official transcription partner of this podcast. And listeners can enjoy a 25% discount on transcription services just by visiting TranscribeMe.com/Better PR Now. They really do terrific work. And the turnaround is super fast. If you enjoy this podcast and find it useful, please pay it forward by sharing with a friend so they can get some good news too. I'll see you next time on the next episode of Better PR Now.

Mike Dullea, CEO of AutoAlert & founder of VinSolutions sits down with Joey Little from Modern Dealership Magazine at the NADA Show 2018. Mike discusses the Kansa City's Silicon Prairie for automotive software platforms including AutoAlert, VinSolutions, DealerQue, XTime, VinStickers, Conversica. Breaking down how Mike & AutoAlert is focusing on CXM (customer experience management) & multi-generational software platforms in automotive retail solutions. Plus we learn about Mike's love of @lolipupkc on Instagram. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/inthebox/message

Subscribe to Social Business Engine Apple Podcasts |Stitcher |Google Play We all want to have a full sales pipeline to fuel the success of our business. Toward that end, Bernie is doing something a little different on this episode. He recorded a conversation between himself and his co-founder and CEO of Vengreso, Mario Martinez Jr. The two of them speak about the “why” and the “how” of a strategy they are implementing at Vengreso that you might consider at your company. The "content for sales" method they are going to reveal is producing great results. In this conversation, you’ll hear all about those results as well as what they refer to as “the zit” - the area where they need the most improvement and are putting in a lot of effort to address. Bernie and Mario are being transparent with you about their approach to digital sales because they believe that their candor about these issues will provide great take-aways for your business. Don’t miss out on these “real world” scenarios being worked out in the Vengreso digital sales pipeline right now. This episode is sponsored by SAP. Download the ungated case study titled, “Savvy Social Selling the SAP Way.” You’ll learn how SAP sales reps fill their sales pipeline with deals that are 560% larger on average when using social selling techniques. Download the case study without a form to fill out. It’s ungated. One Of The Most Powerful Ways To Fill The Sales Funnel Is Through Content Content marketing is not a new concept, but most sales organizations don’t understand how to leverage content to fill their sales pipeline. The right content shared in the right ways, and utilized by the sales team to address buyer questions and needs is a powerful way to generate leads. In this conversation Bernie and Mario share how their content strategy has enabled Vengreso to reach a level of success unheard of in its short history - 43% website traffic from organic search and 12 Million People Reached Via Social Media. How have they done it? Through a carefully constructed and implemented content for sales approach. Find out how you can fill your sales pipeline using this same strategy, on this episode of Social Business Engine. If Your Content Strategy Isn’t Mapped To Your Buyers, It Will Miss The Mark “How are your salespeople currently using your content?” The most common answer Bernie receives when he asks that question is, “They’re not.” The reason that answer is so common is that the content has not been developed under a plan that identifies how the salespeople can use that content to connect with their buyers. It’s also not been implemented with a tool that enables them to share it easily. Most importantly, the strategy doesn’t take into account how the content being created maps to the people they are trying to sell to. And finally, in most cases, the sales leadership of the company was not involved in planning the content to be shared. That’s a recipe for frustration and in this episode Bernie and Mario walk through how they’ve avoided those pitfalls and are seeing amazing results. Could You Use 700 to 1200 Inbound Help Requests Every Single Month? 43% website traffic from organic search and 12 million people reached through social media sounds impressive, but if it’s not converting into real sales leads in the pipeline it doesn’t really matter. That’s why Bernie and Mario felt it was important to share exactly how those impressive numbers have translated into filling their sales pipeline. The Vengreso team is now receiving 700 to 1200 inbound requests every single month. It’s almost too much to handle but it’s evidence that a systematic approach that creates strategic content for sales and utilizes it effectively in a variety of ways will increase sale leads exponentially. To improve their ability to handle the volume of inbound leads Vengreso will soon be implementing a digital assistant from Conversica. You may remember meeting Alex Terry, CEO of Conversica, on episode 188. After learning about Conversica’s powerful AI capabilities to implement a digital assistant to follow up on high volumes of leads, Vengreso decided to partner with Conversica both as a technology partner and as a client. Learn all about the Vengreso pillar and cluster approach to content creation and publication, and learn how to implement this model to fill up your sales pipeline, on this episode. Outline of This Episode [0:31] Bernie’s overview of this episode: an approach to digital sales Vengreso is trying right now [3:12] Vengreso’s collective realization: content needed to be created for the sales team [7:01] Setting up a pillar and cluster strategy using the Vengreso site as a case study [12:30] How this content for sales approach fuels sales enablement [14:12] Traffic - social - engagement: how all 3 are working together to grow from 1000 monthly visitors to 15,000 per month [19:27] How to implement this approach within a corporate model [23:02] The sales pipeline impact these approaches are having on the sales pipeline [26:38] The problem: too much volume creates an inability to convert leads Resources & People Mentioned Be sure to download the case study that accompanies the podcast series - Social Business Journal Volume 11. It weaves together the narrative of social selling success factors at SAP. It’s available for download, ungated here. Mario on LinkedIn Mario on Twitter: @M_3Jr www.Vengreso.com Conversica - Vengreso’s new sales tech partner Social Business Episode about Conversica - 188 Selling With Social Episode 57 - Erroin Martin, Vice President of Sales from Conversica Grab your copy of “Savvy Social Selling the SAP Way” Everyone Social Gagalamp In Social Business Journal Volume 10, Lithium’s SVP of Marketing Dayle Hall, drops a ton of wisdom around the top 5 most influential topics in B2B marketing. The Selling With Social Podcast with Vengreso CEO, Mario Martinez, Jr Connect With Bernie and Social Business Engine https://www.facebook.com/socialbusinessengine/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernieborges/ https://twitter.com/bernieborges https://twitter.com/sbengine Subscribe to Social Business Engine Apple Podcasts |Stitcher |Google Play There are TWO WAYS you can listen to this podcast. You can click the PLAYER BUTTON at the top of this page… or, you can listen from your mobile device’s podcast player through the podcast subscription links above.    

Subscribe to Social Business Engine Apple Podcasts |Stitcher |Google Play On this episode Social Business Engine podcast host Bernie Borges summarizes key take aways from recent episodes featuring digital sales and marketing practitioners at Adobe, Conversica, Oracle, Verizon and SAP. It’s undeniable that digital sales and marketing are here to stay. Any company that is going to be a competitor in the B2B environment has to provide its sales and marketing teams the digital tools and training needed in order to be successful. The Social Business Engine Podcast is the one resource where you can hear in-the-trenches examples of how companies large and small are creating their own digital transformation in marketing and sales. In this episode Bernie Borges, CMO of Vengreso and your host explains why digital transformation in sales, marketing, and customer facing functions of companies are so important to him. On this episode Bernie highlights his takeaways from recent episodes that demonstrate the focus of the Social Business Engine podcast and why you will continue to learn from it. This episode is sponsored by SAP. Download the ungated case study: Savvy Social Selling the SAP Way and learn how SAP sales reps have deals that are 560% larger on average using social selling techniques. This case study is available for download without a form to fill – just click to open the PDF in your browser at https://Vengreso.com/sap Spotlighting Those With Digital Sales Transformation Stories To Tell Many sales and marketing related podcasts feature authors or sales coaches who help individuals increase their sales skills to advance their careers. Those podcasts are great and very needed - but it’s not the focus of the Social Business Engine podcast. SBE’s host, Bernie Borges is excited to highlight those in leadership or management positions who have digital transformation stories in the trenches to inspire you in your own digital transformation journey. In every episode, Bernie speaks with practitioners who are capitalizing on the digital and social-media-driven nature of society to increase their company’s ability to engage their employees, prospects and customers more effectively. In this episode, you’ll hear how Adobe is infusing social media into every aspect of its business, how Conversica is using AI-power sales assistants to fuel sales, and more. After you listen to this episode you’ll understand why Bernie is so passionate about focusing the Social Business Engine podcast on the world of B2B sales and marketing digital transformation. Digital Sales Enablement: Infusing Social Media Into All Aspects of Business Episode 153 of Social Business Engine introduced listeners to Adobe’s Head of Social Business Enablement, Lauren Friedman. Her goal at Adobe is to infuse social media into all aspects of what Adobe does as a company. In the episode, Bernie highlights how Lauren and the team at Adobe are helping employees use social media to achieve their business objectives. This includes training courses such as Social Selling, Social for Product Management, Social for Talent Acquisition, etc. Her team also leads the Employee Advocacy program at Adobe where they work to enable all employees to effectively use social media personally and professionally. That last point is one that most companies are not doing very well to date. But it’s a mindset and strategy that is becoming more and more vital for B2B digital sales as we move into the future. Listen as Bernie explains why the topic is so relevant and why sales and marketing leaders must learn from examples like Adobe’s in order to empower their own sales teams. The SBE Podcast Introduced You To How Conversational AI Can Amplify Digital Sales Episode 188 of The Social Business Engine Podcast features Bernie’s a conversation with Alex Terry, CEO of Conversica. Conversica is doing some incredible things in the digital sales ecosystem through AI (Artificial Intelligence) in the form of digital sales assistants. Their AI-powered sales assistants become part of sales and marketing teams. These assistants can automatically contact and engage prospects via email at scale using natural language conversation until the prospect either turns into a willing sales conversation, or opts out. Episodes 197 through 201 feature SAP’s impressive global social selling strategy. There is much to admire about their digital transformation story. Among many achievements, SAP is succeeding at aligning marketing and sales in support of their global social selling program. They’ve trained 12,000 sales reps across the globe. The results are truly impressive with reps creating sales opportunities that are more than 5x the size of deals of those not created through social selling. Also impressive is the innovative approach SAP has taken to measuring results. Catch episode 201 to hear all about these innovative techniques. As the Social Business Engine podcast has move through the milestone of 200 published episodes, Bernie wants you to know that he is committed to delivering inspirational examples of digital transformation in the trenches. We can’t predict if there will be another 200 episodes to this podcast show. We can however commit to staying true to the mission of helping you learn from digital sales and marketing practitioners in the trenches. If you’re not subscribed to SBE, subscribe through iTunes or your favorite podcast player. Subscribe here to get our weekly updates delivered each episode to your inbox.. Outline of This Episode [1:03] The direction and purpose of the Social Business Engine podcast [3:42] A quick recap of the most recent episodes highlighting SAP [5:37] 5 episodes that highlight the focus of the SBE podcast [25:06] A final request from Bernie: Would you rate and review the podcast? Resources & People Mentioned This episode is sponsored by SAP. Download the ungated case study: Savvy Social Selling the SAP Way and learn how SAP sales reps have deals that are 560% larger on average using social selling techniques. This case study is available for download without a form to fill – just click to open the PDF in your browser at https://Vengreso.com/sap. Episode 153: Integrating Social Media Across the Enterprise at Adobe Adobe Episode 188: How Conversational AI Provides Marketing and Sales a Competitive Edge Conversica Episode 194: Harnessing Propensity to Buy Data to Create Sales Ready Conversations Oracle Episode 185: A Top-Down Approach to Employee Engagement on Social Media Centrica Business Solutions Episode 201: How SAP Is Innovating in Social Selling ROI Measurement SAP Get Your Social Selling Index Score The Selling With Social Podcast with Vengreso CEO, Mario Martinez, Jr Connect With Bernie and Social Business Engine https://www.facebook.com/socialbusinessengine/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernieborges/ https://twitter.com/bernieborges https://twitter.com/sbengine Subscribe to Social Business Engine Apple Podcasts |Stitcher |Google Play There are TWO WAYS you can listen to this podcast. You can click the PLAYER BUTTON at the top of this page… or, you can listen from your mobile device’s podcast player through the podcast subscription links above.   Download Social Business Journal Volume 11 - The case study where SAP tells all about their secrets to social selling success…Not a secret anymore. Their global enterprise software sales team is achieving billions in sales pipeline. Download the ungated case study – no form to fill out – just click to open the case study in your browser – go to https://Vengreso.com/sap and learn the secrets to sales success at SAP through social selling strategies.  

Subscribe to Selling With Social Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Play Every growing company reaches the point where a powerful and integrated sales stack is needed to manage the sales cycle. It's a necessity because there are many places within the sales process that a prospect or customer can fall through the cracks. Every time it happens, an opportunity is lost. But putting together an effective and efficient sales stack can be very difficult. For this episode of #SellingWithSocial, Erroin Martin of Conversica shares about the various elements of a sales stack that enable timely engagement, coaching, forecasting, and more. We talked about the role AI plays in the stack, how a great sales stack can drive out inefficiencies in the sales cycle, and why people will always be involved in the process in spite of the power of AI. This episode is worth much more than the time you’ll invest in it, so be sure you listen. This podcast is being brought to you by The 10th Annual AA-ISP Leadership Summittaking place this April 3rd - 5th, 2018 in Chicago, IL. Register Now by using the Vengreso only discount code "Leadership1095" for your deeply discounted rate. What If It Was Possible to Only Engage With Buyers When They Are Ready? One of the most intriguing things happening when it comes to sales software is the integration of AI. Software already exists that takes a good deal of the follow-up engagement off of the salesperson's plate until the timing is right for an actual sales conversation. These intelligent programs are able to take cues from social media, email and text interactions, and other data points to stay engaged with the prospect in meaningful ways until they are ready to respond. Erroin explains how it works and why this kind of engagement software is a vital consideration as you develop your own sales stack, so don't miss this episode. A Great Sales Stack Enables You to Know Your Buyer Before You Talk With Them As sales professionals, we know how important it is that our buyers feel that we understand the problems they are facing. It's that understanding that enables them to trust our expertise and feel comfortable with our solutions to their problems. That means we need to know our buyers as well as possible before we pick up the phone for a sales conversation. In this episode, Erroin and I chat about the different pieces of software available that enable us to do exactly that. It's one aspect of an effective sales stack that is becoming more and more powerful over time due to the integration AI. But it's not technology for technology's sake. It's for the purpose of an enabling us to build real relationships with our buyers that foster the kind of trust needed to establish a long-term relationship. If you're curious about the possibilities available today when it comes to sales software, you have got to hear this episode of Selling With Social. This podcast is being brought to you by The 10th Annual AA-ISP Leadership Summittaking place this April 3rd - 5th, 2018 in Chicago, IL. Register Now by using the Vengreso only discount code "Leadership1095" for your deeply discounted rate. Your Sales Stack Should Drive Out Inefficiencies in Your Sales Process Every sales professional knows the frustration of not being able to engage with buyers effectively. There are so many pieces in motion during the sales cycle it's inevitable that something will fall through the cracks if the problem isn't addressed. That is where an effective sales stack comes into the picture. The software your sales organization uses should drive out the inefficiencies in your sales process to enable the sales team to not only stay on top of engagement but increase sales as a result. If that is not happening in your sales organization, you've got to hear what my guest shares on this episode. AI Won't Replace Salespeople: Emotional Connections With Buyers Still Matter Every now and then an article is published that tries to forecast whether salespeople will ever be replaced by AI. Neither myself nor my guest on this episode believe that day will ever come. Why? Because there will always be a need for emotional connections with buyers. A piece of software simply can't do that, no matter how smart it is. Salespeople are the human element of the sales cycle, which is perhaps the most vital because it is what assures a buyer that they are more than a number and they are dealing with real people who are reliable and trustworthy. That's why Erroin, the Vice President of Sales for Conversica still trains his sales team in emotional intelligence skills even though their company produces AI-based software for sales that actually talks to customers. That makes his perspective not only unique, but incredibly valuable. I encourage you to take the time to listen to what he has to share on this episode. Outline of This Episode [2:10] Erroin’s history in sales and software tech [4:47] How AI can be used to make engagement and follow up happen [11:58] What is AI and why is it helpful for sales follow up? [14:16] Tech tools are needed to weed out inefficiencies in the sales cycle [22:55] Automating and predicting are two powerful functions of a good sales stack [24:10] Knowing your buyer before you even meet them using sales tech [32:19] How Erroin is building emotional intelligence into his sales team Resources Mentioned Erroin on Twitter: @Erroin Erroin on LinkedIn ErroinM(at)Conversica.com Conversica Hubspot Salesforce BOOK: Predictable Revenue SalesLoft Salesforce Inbox Chorus - Live Real-Time Transcripts Salesforce Einstein TopBox Data Hug InsightSquared CrystalKnows DISC Profile Sales Navigator by LinkedIn Erroin’s all-time favorite movie: Big Trouble In Little China Social Business Engine Podcast - Bernie Borges The 10th Annual AA-ISP Leadership Summit - April 3-5, 2018 - use the code “Leadership1095” USE THE BANNER IMAGE Connect with Mario! www.vengreso.com On Facebook On Twitter On YouTube On LinkedIn Subscribe to Selling With Social Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Play Join Mario at The 10th Annual AA-ISP Leadership Summit - April 3-5, 2018 - and use the code “Leadership 1095” to get a Vengreso-only discount  

Join us LIVE 11:30 am PST Thurs. 1/11/18 when Alex Terry, CEO of Conversica joins us to talk about the findings of the highly regarded 4 P's Report.  For the third year in a row, Conversica commissioned an in-depth study tracking lead follow-up efforts of B2B and B2C companies across a number of different industries. In 2017, they found that a staggering 77% of companies under-touched their leads. Check back here for the ON-DEMAND Recording of this broadcast -- no later than 1/16 or on the Heinz Marketing Blog on Mon. 1/22 along with the full transcript. AND--- Join us 1/23/18 11am PST for a free 60-minute, live webinar on this topic as well (on-demand afterward).  Terry will join Nancy Nardin of Smart Selling Tools and I to give our "lively" perspective from the Sales (Nancy) and Marketing (Matt) fronts on lead follow up failure AND share best practices for how to do it right.   ABOUT OUR GUEST:   Terry is an accomplished and award winning Internet business veteran with strong track record of driving results and growth. He founded or co-founded three companies and one division within Fortune 100 corporation. From idea to revenue generation, to profitability to exit... he is able to manage all aspects of consumer or enterprise service or product business. Focus has been on SaaS, operationally complex services which required disruptive new technology development.  He holds multiple patents for Internet services.  Alex received his MBA at Harvard Business School and his BA at Dartmouth College.

Alex Terry, CEO of Conversica is an accomplished and award-winning Internet business veteran with a strong track record of driving results and growth. Conversica, an award-winning SaaS software company, was recently named 2017 Best in Biz Enterprise Product of the Year in the sales software category. This award recognizes how Conversica’s AI-powered sales assistant is revolutionizing how businesses connect with their prospects and customers at scale. Listen to episode 188 to hear more about how Conversica's conversational AI product works at scale.

In this episode, discover how chatbots and conversational agents can provide you an advantage in the realms of customer support, product, support, lead engagement, and more, and learn the theory behind creating useful chatbots you can use in your own business. Right now, if we intend to find a piece of information or purchase something on the Internet, we might use a search engine that provides us with a list of sites we can browse in order to find ourselves a resolution for that intent. This week's guest, Chief Scientist at Conversica, Dr. Sid J Reddy, talks about how AI and ML can usher in the next a new era of search software, one that will bring you a faster, more accurate resolution to your intent. Most importantly, Dr. Reddy discusses how chatbot technology can be integrated into areas such as customer service, product support, and lead engagement. By the end of the episode, listeners will have a better idea of the importance of collecting data and how they can use that data to  to build chatbot templates they can use in multiple domains and applications. For more interviews on the business applications of AI, visit: www.TechEmergence.com

Conversica's John Ruble speaks with us about ways to avoid waste in your dealership's marketing spend.

Key Quote “A lot of people want that separation between their Facebook and work; and Workplace by Facebook blurs that line.” Time-Stamped Notes 00:02 – Introduction to OAO 00:19 – Workplace by Facebook is the new Slack competitor 01:03 – An intranet version of Facebook 01:34 – Slack is powerful because of their API 02:07 – Facebook Boot Camp for Less Doing – already moved to Slack 02:32 – It’s for a team that isn’t on any platform 02:52 – Workplace features: Newsfeed, Chat, Online Video, Search and more Admin Control 03:32 – One Night Standard for the night in a standard hotel 04:44 – Using TunnelBear VPN for more secure browsing 05:15 – Journy: travel tailored for you 06:23 – Conversica is an AI that will help you find your niche customer 08:27 – End of today’s podcast Less Doing Podcast Resources:q Trello Board - https://trello.com/b/jtqdNTp3/less-doing-podcast-resources

Conversica's Don Crawford joins us to discuss how to engage leads who turn into sales for your dealership.