Podcast appearances and mentions of jim obermayer

There are over 1,000,000 podcasts, the vast majority, however, fail to get beyond the 8th podcast.  Veteran radio and podcast producer Paul Roberts discuss with Jim Obermayer how to avoid being in the graveyard of podcasters. This week’s Behind the Mike with Jim and Paul Paul Roberts is the founder and station manager of OC Talk Radio, the powerhouse internet radio and podcasting channel for Southern California with over one million listeners a year.  Jim Obermayer is the founder of the Funnel Media Group which produces internet radio and podcasting programs for thirteen companies.  FMG has reached half a million listeners since its inception.  Funnel Radio Channel's Behind the Mic is hosted by James Obermayer, which is a program on the Funnel Radio Channel.    

  There are many types of Podcasts, from drama to advice, and brand building to training. The behind the Mic Guys, Paul Roberts and Jim Obermayer, discuss the many types of podcasts that are popular with listeners.  This is for marketing and sales management in B2B companies. This week’s Behind the Mike with Jim and Paul Paul Roberts, founder and station manager of OC Talk Radio, the powerhouse internet radio and podcasting channel for Southern, California with over one million listeners a year.  Jim Obermayer is the founder of the Funnel Media Group which produces internet radio and podcasting programs for thirteen companies.  FMG has reached half a million listeners since its inception.  Funnel Radio Channel is hosted byJames Obermayer, which is a program on the Funnel Radio Channel.    

Marketers crave content, they are desperate for content, sometimes too desperate.  For this episode, the Behind the Mic Guys talk about why podcasts are the largest available source of content.  This podcast is for anyone that wants to offer insincere, storytelling, testimonial building, brand building, authentic content that can be used in 16 ways.  Behind the Mic's Podcast Guys Jim Obermayer is the founder of the Funnel Media Group which produces internet radio and podcasting programs for thirteen companies.  FMG has reached half a million listeners since its inception. Paul Roberts, founder and station manager of OC Talk Radio, the powerhouse internet radio and podcasting channel for Southern, California with over one million listeners a year. Read the Transcript (Literal).  You can use quotes but please attribute it correctly to the podcast. ----more---- Introduction:                   You're listening to Behind the Mic on the Funnel Radio Channel. Listen as Paul Roberts, Susan Finch, and Jim Obermayer talk B2B podcasting tips for companies, speakers, authors, marketing teams, and the C suite. Jim Obermayer:              Welcome to Behind The Mic. Today, we have me and Paul Roberts. To remind everyone, Paul Roberts produces all the programs in the Funnel Radio Channel. And on top of it, he has OC Talk Radio. That goes out to about 3 million people a year in Orange County, California, and a much broader audience. He has over 1 million downloads a year with all of his programs, including Funnel Radio, with the Santa Claus beard. Paul Roberts:                   Yeah, right. My Lincoln beard. That's trying to ... Abraham Lincoln famously grew a beard when a little girl wrote him a letter and said, "You don't look very good. I think you'd look better if you cover up your face." So I think that same applies to me here. Jim Obermayer:              We're going to talk about the many uses for podcasts from talk radio, to sales, marketing, HR, and customer service. There are long-term podcasts and short-term podcasts. There are over a million podcasts in the US now being offered, over a million. That's a big, big- Paul Roberts:                   Big jump from when you and I started. It was a quarter that five, six, seven years ago, there were only 250,000 podcasts. People were still trying to figure this thing out. Jim Obermayer:              And 29 million podcast episodes, so it's a substantial number, but you and I have found through the years that there are many types of podcasts. Why don't you take off here and talk to us about the many, many kinds of podcasts in both B2B and consumer? Paul Roberts:                   Well, let's start with an understanding. This is a new medium, and that I say that, it seems obvious, but it wasn't obvious to me when I started. I'd been in real radio 100 years ago, WMYKK 94, and thought this was just recorded radio.                                            This was something that we, like a radio show, you had a guest, you talked about a topic. The revolution was that was recorded and there were places storing these things you could do it. Webinars have been around as long or longer than podcasts, but there is no central repository for all the webinars taking place today. I don't know that you did a webinar unless you send me an invitation or you have it on your website, but I can go look up the podcast that you recorded today on iTunes, on Google, and a dozen other places, Stitcher, Spreaker, SoundCloud, and even places like iHeart that really were originally just for radio and music. Now they're collecting podcasts. Even Sirius XM is getting serious about podcasts. That's been the revolution in my understanding, that it's not just recorded radio. It's not just radio on demand.                                            It really opens up a whole world of things. For example, we know there's millions of storytelling podcasts out there. That's not something we heard on radio since the 20s, these serialized stories like serial the murder, did he really do it or didn't he? Each and every week we take a dive into this. The Great American Life, all the NPR shows are so popular. Comedy, I don't hear much comedy on radio anymore here, but there's tons of comedy. Politics, of course, all these different sorts of topics.                                            But types of shows, let's talk about internal versus external. There are a lot of people doing internal only podcasts. Cox Communication has one here in Orange County. They do a show. I don't produce it, but they do a show on meet our leaders and they get them to tell funny stories, insightful stories, tender touching stories so that you can actually feel like you get to know the people who run this company. They want to be a family, but it's an international organization spread out over multiple States, multiple countries. They don't have an opportunity to meet people. As we realize this is a new medium, we're finding new uses for it every day. Jim Obermayer:              Well, one of the things that attracted me to your platform, Paul, 11 years ago, pushing 12 now, was that it is a show that is broadcast live at a certain time every week. That's how we started SLMA, which has 556 episodes as of today, 117,000 listeners give or take a few. It started as that, certainly live program with the podcast replays. Most podcasts, they do it whenever they feel like it and it's in the garage or it's in the company studio, and they post it, but it's not live. Tell us a little bit about live versus podcasts that just podcasts, not a live venue, then the recorded podcasts. Paul Roberts:                   Having come out of real radio 8 years ago and discovering podcasting, I thought, "Well, on the surface is kind of like what we did. It's a half hour program, there's an interview. It's kind of like talk radio. What if we really did it live?" And everybody said, "Well, that's not what podcasting is. Podcasting is recorded and on demand." I said, "Well, you can still have that component, but what if you add a live component to it? What if you created a station where the Huffington Post, where we collect all these podcasts and we stream them live first and then turn them into a podcast. What does that do?" One, it finds an extra audience. I don't know why, but there are certain group of people that want to listen to things live. There's an urgency. As Mark Zuckerberg always says about Facebook, "You can see what my cat's doing anytime, but here's what my cat's doing right now."                                            So this creates an urgency to listen, an urgency to participate right now. The second thing is it does, and I think this may be the most important thing, is it changes the whole perception of it. You want to be in my podcast? It's in your bedroom. I don't know when it's going to come out. Okay. But it doesn't sound real important. You want to be on a radio show, that means it's a collection of shows all being live that somehow has built up an audience for that station. Don't listen to just one show, they listen to multiple, and it's live.                                            And the real thing that changes, it's how the guest reacts. If the guest comes on your podcast and you can start and stop and fix it up, there's not much pressure, but if it's live and it's going out to a certain number of people, it creates a whole different kind of conversation I think. And particularly in the guest's mind the importance of doing this, because they've told their friends and family and coworkers to listen. They're not sure how many listening, but they know some people who are listening and they will run red lights to get here.                                            When it's just a recording, "I'm busy," they cancel all the time. It's just a recording session, book another one. So it changes the perceived importance and it changes their whole reaction to it. If part of what you're doing is trying to get big people to come on that you want to meet and start a conversation with and get to know, what a powerful way to do it if you do it live. Much more powerful than if you just recorded. Jim Obermayer:              We found that to be true on the Funnel Radio Channel. When we talk about the kinds of podcasting, I guess it goes back to the reasons of why people do podcasts. Some people, granted, love to have a podcast that increases their brand and their thought leadership in the industry. Paul Roberts:                   Exactly, look at who I know and look at what I know. Jim Obermayer:              And they have their guests on and the guests help that. Those were very often talk radio type podcasts. Now you talked about one of the big telephone companies that has a podcast. Well, I know companies that the HR department has a podcast and it's private just for their employees. Paul Roberts:                   Exactly, like Cox does. I was actually on a panel with them here at the American Marketing Association. That's where I got to know they were doing this. And they said, "We just bought the gear and we started doing this, and we didn't know anything about it, but we wanted to create a connection. We wanted to create a conversation. We really wanted people to get to know the executives in this company. So how could we do that? Everybody can't come in and meet them. We put them up on stage and they don't really feel like they know them. What can we do where they feel like they have an intimate connection with them?" And the podcast was a powerful way to do it. And they've tracked their employee engagement and all these other things, it's gone through the roof. People suddenly feel like, "I know these CEOs and executives, and I feel more connected to them." Jim Obermayer:              Which means that sales people, sales managers, can do private podcast to train their people on new markets, new products, marketing people can do a series of podcasts every time they do a product introduction. Paul Roberts:                   Yeah. Right. It all goes back to the way we see the world and interact with the world. I don't read as much as I used to, I'm sorry to say. I listen or I watch. Even books, I listen to them now rather than read them in the car because we've moved to a mobile smartphone society and on that three inch screen it's harder to read than it is to listen or watch. That device was really designed to talk originally and to communicate. Now it's also watching because it's on all the time.                                            I don't know that we've adapted our marketing to fit that new medium. If that's where everybody's getting their information, if that's where they're learning about you and learning and downloading your information and doing their due diligence, if that's how they're getting to know you, then you've got to change all of your communication to be verbal or visual, and I think we're still living in a written world where we run, write pages and pages and pages of stuff. Maybe that's later where you give me the in depth info, but in the beginning, just talk to me and either show me, or tell me what you want me to know. Jim Obermayer:              Or shows on the Funnel Radio Channel are indicative of what's going on out there to a great extent in B2B. We've got INSIDE Inside Sales, Darryl Praill. He's got probably an average of 5,000 to 6,000 listeners a month. It's just for inside, inside sales. Paul Roberts:                   Right, as he says. Yeah. Jim Obermayer:              He's bringing people, salespeople to the program, sales managers, and consultants to give tips to inside salespeople. He doesn't want tactics. He doesn't want strategy. He wants tips for inside sales people. Paul Roberts:                   And don't you feel like you really get inside of his head, you really feel like you're in over listening on some intimate conversation? I mean, it's a very personal ... it doesn't feel like I'm watching a speech he's given. It feels like I'm really in a conversation with him or I'm listening to a conversation with ... I'm overhearing a conversation in the next booth here. Jim Obermayer:              Some of the producers love to have those high numbers. Matt Heinz over at Heinz Marketing gets 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 people a month. People can find that's public knowledge. Every month people go and listen to his programs going back four and a half years. Can you believe that, Paul? Four and a half years we've been doing this for Heinz marketing Paul Roberts:                   And he wouldn't do it just for fun. I mean, he's really into measuring and monitoring stuff. As all these guys are, he sees a real return on this stuff, and it isn't just the numbers. That's the mistake most people make. I don't care if it's your Twitter account, your Facebook, you can't just count how many people are subscribing or how many people are listening or watching. That's one metric, but the true metric is who's listening. It's not how many, it's who. If you only did a podcast and it reached only five people, but they were five big, important customers that you wanted to land or five important to counts that you already currently had, wouldn't it be worth the investment to have that kind of connection where they come back each and every week to listen to us? They make time in their busy schedule to listen to you for not 30 seconds, but for 30 minutes, where do you get that kind of access and uninterrupted conversation? Jim Obermayer:              When I speak to people about having a new podcast, first things they say to me is, "How many people will listen to me?" I will say, "Well, how big is your audience?" We promote the programs. We do it on social media and we get them out there, but the people that are most interested in listening to you are the ones that know about your product category, that are on your database, that are your customers, that are your prospects, that go to listen to at speeches, and that's how they build it. Matt Heinz speaks all over the country and he still gets 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 people a month tuning into his podcast to see what he has to say. Paul Roberts:                   And part of it is because it's a way to continue the conversation, not just the initial, meet me, here I am, listen to me. So he gives a speech in front of thousands of people at some trade show, okay, what's next? He packs up his dog and pony show and goes onto the next one here. But if he mentions to them, which I know he does, is, "You want to continue this conversation, listen to my podcast. You can certainly call me and schedule a meeting, happy to talk about that. But until that time, when you're ready to really sit down and talk to me about what I do, and if I can help you, you can keep connected to me. You can keep the conversation alive and going." For him, the introduction is to many of these people that they see in a trade show, the continuation of the conversation is the podcast. Too many people want it the other way round. They see it as just an ad to get leads. Jim Obermayer:              Well, this week, for instance, he's got Jim Benton, the CEO of Chorus.ai on. They're talking about your hired just in time for a pandemic. Q&A with Chorus CEO, Jim Benton. That is an interesting show that I'm going to listen to right after this one. Then we've got Asher Strategies coming on right after that. They're talking to Joe Benjamin CEO, CheetahIQ. How to spend less time researching and more time selling. Paul, we're going to have to interrupt things just a second, because we've got some commercials we have to give here. And when we come back, let's pick it up again. Then you can launch on why podcasts are so popular today- Paul Roberts:                   And so powerful. Jim Obermayer:              And so powerful. Paul Roberts:                   Yes, we do. And just a quick one to tell you that if you're intrigued by what we're talking about, you can join the conversation. You can start your own podcast. Have you ever thought about building your thought leadership? Have you ever thought about meeting people you couldn't otherwise connect with or creating content to fill up your website and your social media, then you've come to the right place. Funnel media makes podcasting easy. So you can be heard by hundreds or thousands or dozens or whoever you want to reach. Separate yourself from the crowd, contact Funnel media today to bring your story to life. We make it easy, convenient. You get the guest. We do the rest. We call it podcastmadeeasy.com, podcastmadeeasy.com. Let's do the rest of the conversation here. Jim Obermayer:              Well, we forgot about West Virginia University. They're a new digital marketing communications Master’s program. They have a new program out there. West Virginia university has been on our program for a couple of years. Every week they have professors and consultants come in to talk about how they teach their students. It's fully online, can be completed in a year. You can get a Master's program. It's with built in certifications from platforms like Google and Facebook. The program gives marketing professionals both strategy and skills to reach audiences on existing and emerging media, learn more at marketingcommunications.edu. That is, Marketingcommunications.edu. Paul Roberts:                   It's not easy to read all those letters. I try and do it every week. Jim Obermayer:              Wvu.edu. Paul Roberts:                   That's right. West Virginia university education. There it is, marketingcommunications.wvu.edu. Jim Obermayer:              Let's finish up our discussion about podcasting, why it's so popular. I want you to talk about the other programs you have on OC Talk Radio. What are the other kinds of shows that you have on? Paul Roberts:                   Well, let's talk about topics, because that's ... Most of our shows like the shows on Funnel Radio fit a certain format. They are to a certain degree like a talk radio show. And what makes them so interesting and informative is you're getting access to people you would never otherwise meet. You can't sit with those CEOs you just rattled off, but Matt Heinz can. And through him, you vicariously get to meet these people. Then it's a conversation. It's not just a scripted thing. They're really sharing some vulnerabilities. I think they get open. They get honest. They get real. Like most social media today, we're looking for authenticity by over just information. We want to know, get real about something, the problems today.                                            Okay. Well, how do we handle the fact that we're bringing you salespeople online during probably one of the most difficult, horrible times to try and go out and sell anybody, anything here? How do you handle that? It's really a conversation and not just an infomercial. Jim Obermayer:              What were the titles of some of your programs? Paul Roberts:                   So, we've got programs like Talent Talk Radio. Talent Talk is a show about HR directors. It's a company that puts out a background checks. Truthfully, they probably just wanted to meet all these people and start a relationship with them, but in the course of doing so, they found out, "Oh my God, people really want to tune in and listen to this stuff, who knew?" HR people can be the dullest people on the planet, in my opinion, but it's such a complex topic these days and the show host is so good at getting them to get real and get past the happy talk. "Oh, everything's perfect. We got no problems."                                            "Yeah. You're the only company in the world that doesn't then." How do you handle diversity? How do you handle all these issues that are hot button issues today here? And he gets them to open up and be real and really give some interesting insights. And he gets some really powerful people. It's amazing. He's had the HR director for Sears, for Vans, for Lockheed Martin, for Chipotle was on the other day. He had the HR director for General Motors on worldwide. You never get a chance to hear these people, so- Jim Obermayer:              How can someone go to his program? Where can they find it? Paul Roberts:                   They can go to OCtalkradio.net. Just click on the button for the program, it'll take them right to it there. And he's on, as all our programs, as all the programs that we syndicate from you and produce here locally, we're on iTunes, iHeart, TuneIn, Spreaker, SoundCloud, Stitcher, any place fine podcasts are found you can probably find ... you can probably find it multiple ways. You can look up the show, Talent Talk. You can look up our station and see the station feed with all of that, just as there is a Funnel feed for all the shows on the Funnel network. So all of those are ways to find them. Jim Obermayer:              What are some of the other shows that you've got on? I know you've got a whole bunch of them on. Paul Roberts:                   There's Riches And Niches. You ever heard that? We're not trying to get one show that gets 1,000,000 listeners. We're trying to have 1000 shows that get 1000 listeners. We're trying to own some subject, so we tend to drill down into very obscure things like alternative investment strategies. I didn't even know what that meant. I thought he was going to talk about odd ball things like baseball cards or coins. It turns out he interviews hedge fund managers and mutual fund managers, the people who come up with active investment strategies where they get in and get out of the market, no more timely topic today than that. They have many of these strategies, didn't see the giant downturns, because they're not just riding stocks and sticking them with them as they go up or down. They're trying to time the markets, trying to predict things, or they're trying to find things that don't fit the same patterns as the market.                                            They're trying to find business development corporations, or commodities, or other things that aren't correlated to the rise and fall of the market. Jim Obermayer:              Is the Charlie Hedges show? Paul Roberts:                   Charlie Wright. And Charlie Wright's an RIA, registered investment advisor, means he manages rich people's money for a percentage. He's not a financial guy that's trying to get them to buy something. They'd give him, I don't know, 1% or 2% of their assets and say, "Go play with it and make us all more money here." Jim Obermayer:              What's the Zandbergen Report. Paul Roberts:                   Zandbergen Report is another type of financial show. He is a financial advisor and he again handles extremely wealthy people here in Newport Beach. And he tries to give a more broad based understanding of many of the things businesses face today, inheritance, trust funds. He's done shows on how do you ensure your high value vehicles and other oddball topics that I thought, "I don't know, I guess I never thought about that," but it's for that group of people, most of whom have suddenly come into wealth. They've sold their company, they went public, and now what do I do with all this money? So he helps them diversify it and not just invest it properly, but to create an entire plan, how they're going to preserve it and pass it on and protect it from taxes and all these things. Jim Obermayer:              What's that program this morning that's on Thursday mornings before all the Funnel Radio Channel programs, the one at 8:00 AM. Paul Roberts:                   Health Talks with Dr. Trinh. Dr. Trinh, he's on the board of Alzheimer's here locally. He's a physician at Memorial Care, big chain here, and also a clinical researcher. So very active speaker in the community. He does just an open talk about health issues every Thursday morning, and hundreds of people. We do that through his Facebook channel. We not only stream it live, but we also go live on his Facebook channel. And, oh my God, hundreds of people participate and want to know, "Should I wear a mask or shouldn't I? Is this going to go away, or isn't it? Tell me the facts from the fiction," and he tries to break it down and give what, as he said, is an ever changing story on an ever changing subject here, but he tries to sift through it and simply tell you. So, that's more of a community based show. We have a lot of specific niche shows. Jim Obermayer:              What about Collective Wisdom? What is that all about? Paul Roberts:                   Collective Wisdom, the collective wisdom of ... Now, that's a topic I'm sure is near and dear to your heart here, Jim. It's the cannabis industry, the business of cannabis. Cannabis is a multibillion dollar business that's being born before our eyes. And as you can imagine, there's lots of rules and regulations being written as we speak. It's the Wild West. There are people who literally are going to make billions out of this, but there are people who are losing billions right now because they don't understand the complexities. They can't get credit cards because it's still federally prohibited. So banks won't let them, so it's a cash based business. Yet they're trying to be legitimate to retail stores, all sorts of craziness. Jim Obermayer:              Me made good on our promise today that there are many uses for podcasts, from talk shows to sales and marketing and HR. Paul Roberts:     And don't just think of it as a talk show. We do 99% of our talk shows, because that's what we all understand. That's the easiest to produce, but it could be a series. It could be a series that you sell. It could be a series of internal conversations. It could be a series like a giant ebook that explains something in great detail. Here's the four stages of growth. Here's the five steps to doing this. It can be fun. It can be informative, and it can be short. It can be long. It can be individual episodes or an arc of a story, but it's a new way of storytelling, which is what we're all looking for over a new medium that we all carry with us. That smartphone that's with you 24 hours a day, that's how you talk to people

B2B Podcasts have matured to reach a passionate narrowcast audience.  The Two Podcast Guys, Paul Roberts, and Jim Obermayer discuss the differences between broadcasting and narrowcasting and the benefits of narrowcasting for B2B Makreters.    This program’s audience is every B2B marketer. This week’s Podcast Guys Jim Obermayer is the founder of the Funnel Media Group which produces internet radio and podcasting programs for thirteen companies.  FMG has reach a half a million listeners since its inception. Paul Roberts, founder and station manager of OC Talk Radio, the powerhouse internet radio and podcasting channel for Southern, California with over one million listeners a year. Funnel Radio Channel is a program on the Funnel Radio Channel.  It is hosted by James Obermayer, Paul Roberts and Susan Finch. 

Podcasts continue to grow as a popular B2B media. The question is, What should my podcast frequency be to gain the largest audience?  This program answers the question that new and seasoned podcasters most often ask. With over one million listener downloads over 15 years, Paul Roberts and Jim Obermayer trade professional opinions on podcast frequency from their experience of producing thousands of podcasts.  

Some say direct mail has been superseded by digital ads.  Some say direct mail paired with digital ads brings results that exceed expectations for extraordinary results.  To find out if this is true and how it works, our host Jim Obermayer interviews the founder of Taradel, Jim Fitzgerald.  Taradel has a platform that uses the latest database disciplines for a defined target audience to bring higher results by using direct mail and digital communications.   About Jim Fitzgerald Jim Fitzgerald is the Founder and CEO of Taradel, a martech company located in Richmond, Virginia. The company's All-in-One platform integrates direct mail and digital advertising services which are used by thousands of SMBs in the U.S. and Canada.   Since 2003, Taradel has worked with over 17,000 small business customers and established "white label" partnerships with some of the biggest brands in the world - including the United States Postal Service, Canada Post, Staples and FedEx Office.  Under Jim's leadership, Taradel has been named the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing private companies for 12 consecutive years — an achievement held by only 22 companies nationwide. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimfitzgerald60/ About Taradel Taradel makes it easy to deploy highly targeted direct marketing campaigns for franchises and small to medium-sized businesses. Only Taradel combines easy-to-use software, proprietary data analytics, and direct marketing experts to maximize conversions. Strategic, Co-branded, and White-labeled Partnerships with FedEx Office, Canada Post, U.S. Postal Service, and franchises helped drive Taradel’s ten consecutive years on the Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing companies in America.   ___________________________________________ SLMA Radio is hosted by James Obermayer of Funnel Media Group which is a program on the Funnel Radio Channel.  Funnel Media Group is the sponsor of SLMA Radio    

Some say direct mail has been superseded by digital ads.  Some say direct mail paired with digital ads brings results that exceed expectations for extraordinary results.  To find out if this is true and how it works, our host Jim Obermayer interviews the founder of Taradel, Jim Fitzgerald.  Taradel has a platform that uses the latest database disciplines for a defined target audience to bring higher results by using direct mail and digital communications.   About Jim Fitzgerald Jim Fitzgerald is the Founder and CEO of Taradel, a martech company located in Richmond, Virginia. The company's All-in-One platform integrates direct mail and digital advertising services which are used by thousands of SMBs in the U.S. and Canada.   Since 2003, Taradel has worked with over 17,000 small business customers and established "white label" partnerships with some of the biggest brands in the world - including the United States Postal Service, Canada Post, Staples and FedEx Office.  Under Jim's leadership, Taradel has been named the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing private companies for 12 consecutive years — an achievement held by only 22 companies nationwide. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimfitzgerald60/ About Taradel Taradel makes it easy to deploy highly targeted direct marketing campaigns for franchises and small to medium-sized businesses. Only Taradel combines easy-to-use software, proprietary data analytics, and direct marketing experts to maximize conversions. Strategic, Co-branded, and White-labeled Partnerships with FedEx Office, Canada Post, U.S. Postal Service, and franchises helped drive Taradel’s ten consecutive years on the Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing companies in America.   ___________________________________________ SLMA Radio is hosted by James Obermayer of Funnel Media Group which is a program on the Funnel Radio Channel.  Funnel Media Group is the sponsor of SLMA Radio    

In this program, veteran Internet Radio Producer and Podcaster Paul Roberts and Jim Obermayer discuss the six questions you have to ask yourself before starting a podcast.   Obermayer the chief podcast producer on the Funnel Radio Channel reviews the latest statistics on podcasting and answers the six questions that must be asked before starting a podcast. 

In this program, veteran Internet Radio Producer and Podcaster Paul Roberts and Jim Obermayer discuss the six questions you have to ask yourself before starting a podcast.   Obermayer the chief podcast producer on the Funnel Radio Channel reviews the latest statistics on podcasting and answers the six questions that must be asked before starting a podcast. 

It was just a matter of time before CRM Software took another hit with the breakoff of Sales Lead Management as a separate platform. This program is offered as a replay from CRM Radio’s show of January 23, 2020, where CRM Host Paul Petersen and Sales Lead Management Association founder, Jim Obermayer, discuss the modern definition of Sales Lead Management, how some companies are separating themselves from being defined as just CRM solutions and what salespeople expect from marketing and sales management.  They discuss the crowded fields of CRM, Marketing Automation, ABM, and the resurrected field of sales lead management.  Obermayer is also the President of the Funnel Media Group an internet radio and podcast production agency for B2B companies.  Jim is also the founder of the Sales Lead Management Association.  Paul Petersen is the Vice President and General Manager for GoldMine CRM and is the host of CRM Radio. The original program on CRM Radio is found here: Follow My Lead – Insights for 20/20 Lead Management  ___________________________________________ CRM Radio is hosted by Paul Petersen of Goldmine CRM by Ivanti which is a program on the Funnel Radio Channel.  GoldMine is the sponsor of CRM Radio.    

It was just a matter of time before CRM Software took another hit with the breakoff of Sales Lead Management as a separate platform. This program is offered as a replay from CRM Radio’s show of January 23, 2020, where CRM Host Paul Petersen and Sales Lead Management Association founder, Jim Obermayer, discuss the modern definition of Sales Lead Management, how some companies are separating themselves from being defined as just CRM solutions and what salespeople expect from marketing and sales management.  They discuss the crowded fields of CRM, Marketing Automation, ABM, and the resurrected field of sales lead management.  Obermayer is also the President of the Funnel Media Group an internet radio and podcast production agency for B2B companies. Paul Petersen is the Vice President and General Manager for GoldMine CRM and is the host of CRM Radio. The original program on CRM Radio is found here: Follow My Lead – Insights for 20/20 Lead Management

CRM Host Paul Petersen and Sales Lead Management Association founder Jim Obermayer discuss the modern definition of Sales Lead Management, how some companies are separating themselves from being defined as CRM solutions and what salespeople expect from marketing and sales management.  They discuss the crowded fields of CRM, Marketing Automation, ABM, and the resurrected field of sales lead management. Obermayer is also the President of the Funnel Media Group an internet radio and podcast production agency for B2B companies.   ___________________________________________ CRM Radio is hosted by Paul Petersen of Goldmine CRM by Ivanti which is a program on the Funnel Radio Channel.  GoldMine is the sponsor of CRM Radio.    

Program host, Jim Obermayer, read a recent press release from LeadMD and what caught his eye was the 133% growth figure for their year over year sales so far in 2019. “Why” is the question Obermayer asked the company. The answer prompted the interview for this program with Justin Gray the CEO of LeadMD. His response is both interesting and predictable for a company that counts several thousand companies as its clients. Justin Gray bio (Founder, CEO) Justin Gray is a serial entrepreneur who has launched four multi-million- dollar companies, become a recognized speaker and has been published over 350 times throughout his career. Justin is the CEO and founder of LeadMD, a role he’s held for the past ten years. He also co-founded PaidSuite, a SaaS payment technology provider, and led the company through a successful acquisition in 2017. He is the co-founder of Greyson Organics, an organic farm in rural Missouri he co-owns and operates with his father, as well. Justin and his wife, Jennifer, met over marketing in 2013, welcomed their first child, Grayson, in 2018 and are expecting a daughter in November 2019.  Bob Blount bio (Vice President of Sales) Bob Blount is a passionate sales/marketing and business development leader focused on profitability, accountability, and results. He has 20 years of sales and marketing experience and 10 years of business development, SaaS, marketing, account-based marketing, digital communications experience. He is a former Board Chairman of MedicAlert Foundation and has received recognition including top sales awards, most profitable sales team awards and has been named one of Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) top 100. Bob joined LeadMD as Vice President of Sales earlier this month. About LeadMD LeadMD is the number one performance marketing consultancy in the U.S. Launched in 2009, LeadMD empowers marketers to drive revenue and customer success. The company focuses on people, processes, and technology that create predictable and sustainable revenue for high growth and enterprise brands. LeadMD has helped thousands of brands improve and deliver value through strategy and proven tactics that work. For more information, visit https://www.leadmd.com or email at go@leadmd.com.  

Program host, Jim Obermayer, read a recent press release from LeadMD and what caught his eye was the 133% growth figure for their year over year sales so far in 2019. “Why” is the question Obermayer asked the company. The answer prompted the interview for this program with Justin Gray the CEO of LeadMD. His response is both interesting and predictable for a company that counts several thousand companies as its clients. Justin Gray bio (Founder, CEO) Justin Gray is a serial entrepreneur who has launched four multi-million- dollar companies, become a recognized speaker and has been published over 350 times throughout his career. Justin is the CEO and founder of LeadMD, a role he’s held for the past ten years. He also co-founded PaidSuite, a SaaS payment technology provider, and led the company through a successful acquisition in 2017. He is the co-founder of Greyson Organics, an organic farm in rural Missouri he co-owns and operates with his father, as well. Justin and his wife, Jennifer, met over marketing in 2013, welcomed their first child, Grayson, in 2018 and are expecting a daughter in November 2019.  Bob Blount bio (Vice President of Sales) Bob Blount is a passionate sales/marketing and business development leader focused on profitability, accountability, and results. He has 20 years of sales and marketing experience and 10 years of business development, SaaS, marketing, account-based marketing, digital communications experience. He is a former Board Chairman of MedicAlert Foundation and has received recognition including top sales awards, most profitable sales team awards and has been named one of Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) top 100. Bob joined LeadMD as Vice President of Sales earlier this month. About LeadMD LeadMD is the number one performance marketing consultancy in the U.S. Launched in 2009, LeadMD empowers marketers to drive revenue and customer success. The company focuses on people, processes, and technology that create predictable and sustainable revenue for high growth and enterprise brands. LeadMD has helped thousands of brands improve and deliver value through strategy and proven tactics that work. For more information, visit https://www.leadmd.com or email at go@leadmd.com.  

In recent years marketing has chipped away, usually unintentionally, at various steps of the sales pipeline to aid the salespeople. Most of this is made possible by marketing automation and telemarketing being managed by marketing. I respect, that the sales pipeline ownership has finally shifted from sales to marketing. Marketing in more sophisticated companies probably manages more than 50% of the pipeline steps now and to me, that means ownership has shifted. ----more---- In some instances, because marketing manages the telemarketing department, many sales functions are also done there under marketing's management. This started years ago. And of course, we have the on-line store, which marketing also manages.   The sales pipeline, aka the sales funnel, is the long-standing measurement of the past, present, and future for a company. In the not too distant past marketing dumped demand into the beginning (top) of the pipeline and sales took responsibility for the rest of the process. Marketing manages the CRM System, Marketing Automation, AI software, telemarketing, reporting and often the pipeline forecast. Sales is responsible for closes, if it is needed. Jim Obermayer is the host with the commentary this week.   ___________________________________________ SLMA Radio is hosted by James Obermayer of Funnel Media Group which is a program on the Funnel Radio Channel.  Funnel Media Group is the sponsor of SLMA Radio    

  Program host, Jim Obermayer, read a recent press release from LeadMD and what caught his eye was the 133% growth figure for their year over year sales so far in 2019.   “Why” is the question Obermayer asked the company.  The answer prompted the interview for this program with Justin Gray the CEO of LeadMD.  His response is both interesting and predictable for a company that counts several thousand companies as its clients. ----more---- Justin Gray bio (Founder, CEO) Justin Gray is a serial entrepreneur who has launched four multi-million- dollar companies, become a recognized speaker and has been published over 350 times throughout his career. Justin is the CEO and founder of LeadMD, a role he’s held for the past ten years. He also co-founded PaidSuite, a SaaS payment technology provider, and led the company through a successful acquisition in 2017. He is the co-founder of Greyson Organics, an organic farm in rural Missouri he co-owns and operates with his father, as well. Justin and his wife, Jennifer, met over marketing in 2013, welcomed their first child, Grayson, in 2018 and are expecting a daughter in November 2019.  Bob Blount bio (Vice President of Sales) Bob Blount is a passionate sales/marketing and business development leader focused on profitability, accountability, and results. He has 20 years of sales and marketing experience and 10 years of business development, SaaS, marketing, account-based marketing, digital communications experience. He is a former Board Chairman of MedicAlert Foundation and has received recognition including top sales awards, most profitable sales team awards and has been named one of Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) top 100. Bob joined LeadMD as Vice President of Sales earlier this month. About LeadMD LeadMD is the number one performance marketing consultancy in the U.S. Launched in 2009, LeadMD empowers marketers to drive revenue and customer success. The company focuses on people, processes, and technology that create predictable and sustainable revenue for high growth and enterprise brands. LeadMD has helped thousands of brands improve and deliver value through strategy and proven tactics that work. For more information, visit https://www.leadmd.com or email at go@leadmd.com.  

In this interview with Pamela Muldoon, Revenue Marketing Coach with the Pedowitz Group, we find out that content does have a measurable ROI.  Really, it does. To hear some marketers complain, the ever ravenous bottomless pit of content consuming ne’er-do-well perspective buyers drain marketing’s budget with nary-a-proof of purchase.  But is the professed ignorance a ploy by marketers that simply don’t know how to prove that the content they create is worth the expense?    This is Part Two of the program:  Connecting Content Creation to the Bottom Line The host is Jim Obermayer. About the Guest Pamela Muldoon Pamela Muldoon is a Revenue Marketing Coach with The Pedowitz with over two decades of traditional and digital marketing experience. She specializes in campaign and content strategy with a passion for helping clients develop a content marketing culture across the organization. Her marketing career started over thirty years ago when she transitioned from on-air personality to Copy Director for a radio station in Wisconsin. Since then, she has taken on multiple marketing roles in her career, having worked with companies like ING, Prudential and Content Marketing Institute. Pamela was named one of the Top 50 Women in Content Marketing in 2017 and in 2018 one of the 20 Women to Watch from the Sales Lead Management Association. Pamela is also a professional voice over talent and podcaster. When not online working on digital marketing strategies, she can be found unwinding at a Las Vegas poker table or hanging out with her two dogs, Maddi and Copper. About the Pedowitz Group The Pedowitz Group (TPG) is a Revenue Marketing™ consulting firm headquartered near Atlanta, Ga. We believe that Marketing is the driver of customer engagement that fuels the revenue engine. Many of today’s successful CMOs are operationalizing business accountability, digital transformation and the customer experience through marketing operations. As your partner, TPG helps you plan, build and optimize your revenue engine by delivering services in MarTech, demand generation and marketing operations. TPG has worked with over 1,300 clients to enable marketing and sales. Our expertise spans the six major categories of MarTech, including marketing automation, CRM and content platforms. We specialize in helping mid-market and enterprise organizations in financial services, manufacturing, software, technology and business services.  The Pedowitz Group customers have won over 50 national awards for their Revenue Marketing excellence. To discover how we can help your organization become successful Revenue Marketers™, visit http://www.pedowitzgroup.com, or call us at 855-REV-MKTG or visit Revenue Marketer Blog. Related from Muldoon: Connecting Content Creation to the Bottom Line Sponsor for this show: SLMA Radio Sponsorship  Whether you're producing a seminar series, user's conference, lunch and learn, or exhibiting at a tradeshow, Validar has a solution. Call 888 784 2929 or visit us at www.validar.com

CSO Insight Study Results are Troubling – Has the Canary Died Yet? Seleste Lunsford, Chief Research Officer of CSO Insights discusses the startling results of their latest World-Class Sales Performance Study: All that Glitters is Not Gold, with Funnel Radio host Jim Obermayer.  Lunsford talks about how the respondents in the study reported increases in quota attainment and revenue last year, however, key metrics show a decrease in adherence to sales best practices from previous studies.  The authors of the study state that there is possibly a misleading nature of sales effectiveness metrics collected from the nearly 1,000 sales organizations.   Is this a canary in the coal mine scenario? The survey shows that world-class sales organizations have systems driving performance that smaller organizations lack. Why is the report so important this year? What was the triggering event that prompted the study? Is this study generally only about companies with large ticket products and services? What are the most startling results? What are the sales effectiveness metrics that alarmed you? Does the study tell the reader what to do about the failures?  About the report and how to get a copy:   “All that glitters is NOT GOLD” 2019 World-Class Sales Practices Study Sections: Section I: The Deceptively Shiny State of Sales Section II: Customer Engagement Section III: Performance Support Section IV: Strategy Alignment Study Parameters: The 2019 World-Class Sales Practices Study collected data from more than 1,500 respondents from January through March 2019. The analysis was conducted on responses from 949 sales leaders. This sample was global in nature and spans across B2B industries, with particularly strong representation from the technology, manufacturing, healthcare, professional services, and banking/finance sectors. GET THE REPORT GET THE REPORT SUMMARY About Seleste Lunsford Seleste Lunsford has consulted with sales and service organizations for more than 20 years, helping them acquire, grow and retain client relationships. As Managing Director of CSO Insights, Seleste guides CSO Insights’ research focus areas and define its market deliverables. She has co-authored two books, “Secrets of Top-Performing Salespeople” and “Strategies that Win Sales.” She’s proud to have supported some of the world’s most recognized companies including AAA, Alliance Bernstein, American Express, Arrow Electronics, Citibank, Convergys, U.S. Department of Defense, Office Depot, Traveler’s Insurance, and Verizon Wireless. About CSO Insights Independent research backed by one of the world’s premier selling and service brands  CSO Insights is the independent research arm within Miller Heiman GroupTM, dedicated to improving the performance and productivity of complex B2B sales. The CSO Insights team of respected analysts provides sales leaders with the research, data, expertise, and best practices required to build sustainable strategies for sales performance improvement. CSO Insights’ annual sales effectiveness studies, along with its benchmarking capabilities, are industry standards for sales leaders seeking operational and behavioral insights into how to improve their sales performance and to gain holistic assessments of their selling and sales management efficacy. Annual research studies address sales and service best practices, sales enablement and sales performance optimization.  

It depends on what report you read, but we know that CRM or sales automation installations are fraught with frustration and failure. It isn’t unusual that companies go through 2-3 CRM companies until it has a system that works for everyone. In this interview, host Jim Obermayer, asks Joe Scioscia, VP of Sales at VAI how to avoid common CRM installation failures. Joe Scioscia is a top flight expert on the subject and in 25 minutes he will guide us out of the corn patch maze known as CRM Implementation.  About Joe Scioscia, VP of Sales, VAI  Joe Scioscia is VAI’s Vice President of Sales. VAI is a leader in ERP Solutions for dynamic growth companies. Joe’s responsibilities include both direct and indirect sales, worldwide field support, field strategy and planning, sales operations, and product development. Joe has been selling Enterprise Management solutions to Distribution and Manufacturing companies for over 25 years, and has helped some of the industry’s most recognized companies improve efficiencies and responsiveness. Joe is an IBM Certified Specialist and has spoken at numerous events as an industry speaker.    About VAI (Vormittag Associates, Inc.)  VAI is a leading independent mid-market ERP software developer renowned for its configurable solutions and ability to automate critical business functions for the distribution, manufacturing, specialty retail and service sectors. An IBM Premier Business Partner, VAI is the 2012 IBM Beacon Award Winner for Outstanding Solutions for Midsize Businesses. The company continues to innovate with new solutions that leverage analytics, business intelligence, mobility and cloud technology to help customers make more informed business decisions in real-time and empower their mobile workforces.  VAI is headquartered in Ronkonkoma, NY with branch offices in Florida, Illinois and California.   

It depends on what report you read, but we know that CRM or sales automation installations are fraught with frustration and failure. It isn’t unusual that companies go through 2-3 CRM companies until it has a system that works for everyone. In this interview, host Jim Obermayer, asks Joe Scioscia, VP of Sales at VAI how to avoid common CRM installation failures. Joe Scioscia is a top flight expert on the subject and in 25 minutes he will guide us out of the corn patch maze known as CRM Implementation. ----more----  About Joe Scioscia, VP of Sales, VAI  Joe Scioscia is VAI’s Vice President of Sales. VAI is a leader in ERP Solutions for dynamic growth companies. Joe’s responsibilities include both direct and indirect sales, worldwide field support, field strategy and planning, sales operations, and product development. Joe has been selling Enterprise Management solutions to Distribution and Manufacturing companies for over 25 years, and has helped some of the industry’s most recognized companies improve efficiencies and responsiveness. Joe is an IBM Certified Specialist and has spoken at numerous events as an industry speaker.    About VAI (Vormittag Associates, Inc.)  VAI is a leading independent mid-market ERP software developer renowned for its configurable solutions and ability to automate critical business functions for the distribution, manufacturing, specialty retail and service sectors. An IBM Premier Business Partner, VAI is the 2012 IBM Beacon Award Winner for Outstanding Solutions for Midsize Businesses. The company continues to innovate with new solutions that leverage analytics, business intelligence, mobility and cloud technology to help customers make more informed business decisions in real-time and empower their mobile workforces.  VAI is headquartered in Ronkonkoma, NY with branch offices in Florida, Illinois and California.   

Let’s face it, we’d all like to think we’re great leaders, but thinking isn’t getting and I’ve heard managers admit that deep inside, they have doubts about their ability to lead. Our guest today, Professor Bryan Bennett,  believes that inside of every manager there can be Superpowers if tapped and nurtured. In this program with host Jim Obermayer, Professor Bennett tells us why you have superpowers that can be accessed and appreciated by your team. Professor Bennett is an author, professor, consultant and data scientist. What are leadership superpowers? How did you arrive at this concept? How many of these superpowers does a leader need to have to be effective? Explain how leaders can obtain these superpowers? Who are some of the leaders you’ve met who possess some of these superpowers? Are there any limitations to these superpowers?  About Our Guest Professor Bennett is the Executive Director and founder of the Healthcare Center of Excellence. He is the primary researcher and blogger for the Center of Excellence website as well as a blogger for the HIMSS Future Care website on the subjects of Big Data and healthcare technology transformation. ProfessorHe is a course developer and adjunct professor for Northwestern University’s School of Professional Studies where he is responsible for the development and teaching of predictive analytics management courses for international and domestic markets. He also teaches consumer behavior for West Virginia University’s Integrated Marketing Communications graduate program as well as leadership and analytics courses for Judson University’s Management and Leadership program. AuthorHe is the author of Competing on Healthcare Analytics: The Foundational Approach to Population Health Analytics. The book is a practical guide to implementing population health analytics and makes a clear argument for how an analytics initiative should be implemented using his foundational approach. Consultant / Data Scientist He started the Center of Excellence after hearing the challenges healthcare executives were having to implement predictive analytics programs. Many were concerned with ‘reinventing the wheel’ when it comes to analytics since successes experienced by other healthcare organizations were not being shared and they were challenged with identifying and keeping analytical talent. He is a certified data scientist and certified lean six sigma green belt.

Seleste Lunsford, Chief Research Officer of CSO Insights discusses the surprising results of their latest Sales Performance study with Funnel Radio host Jim Obermayer. She talks about how the 900  companies in the study report that 95% are on their revenue plan and yet other parts of the report show some disturbing sales performance outcomes that show there could be trouble on the horizon. It appears companies are hiring more sales reps, but sales performance is down per rep; this means sales expenses are up and with any downturn there will be large problems. About the report and how to get a copy:   Selling in the Age of Ceaseless Change: 2018-2019 Sales Performance Study.   Sections: Revenue Are up Sales Performance is Not. Customer-Centricity Separates Top-Performing Organizations Lead Generation Suffers from Organization Silos Planning improves New Account Capture Account Renewals Dominate Revenues Win Rates of Forecasted Deals Vex Sales Leaders Roughly 900 global sales leaders were surveyed to identify the four main objectives underpinning their performance improvement efforts in the coming 12 months. These main objectives were improving lead generation, capturing new accounts, expanding penetration into existing customers, and increasing win rates. The purpose of this report is to show how sales organizations today are performing in terms of these objectives, how that compares to recent years and what successful companies are doing that’s working for improving sales performance. GET THE REPORT GET THE REPORT SUMMARY About Seleste Lunsford Seleste Lunsford has consulted with sales and service organizations for more than 20 years, helping them acquire, grow and retain client relationships. As Managing Director of CSO Insights, Seleste guides CSO Insights’ research focus areas and define its market deliverables. An experienced business leader, Seleste has led a range of consulting, product development, professional services and operations functions. She has co-authored two books, “Secrets of Top-Performing Salespeople” and “Strategies that Win Sales.” She’s also written articles on sales effectiveness found in Selling Power, Entrepreneur, Chief Learning Officer and PharmaVoice, as well as DestinationCRM.com and HR.com. She’s proud to have supported some of the world’s most recognized companies including AAA, Alliance Bernstein, American Express, Arrow Electronics, Citibank, Convergys, U.S. Department of Defense, Office Depot, Traveler’s Insurance and Verizon Wireless. Seleste earned both her bachelor’s degree and MBA from Florida State University. _______________________________________________ Funnel Radio is hosted by James Obermayer and sponsored by the radio/podcast company the Funnel Media Group LLC.

Having your own personal brand, beyond words on a resume or your company biography, makes sense, is required and expected. It could be a sales management job, marketing management (of course); even CEOs, CIOs, CFOs and presidents have personal brand considerations.  When you consider creating your own personal brand, you’re investing in yourself and your future. ----more---- Your basic social media activities have their place, but we’re talking about something beyond table stakes.  What I’m referring to is the need to have marketplace visibility for your thoughts, philosophies, problem solving skills, and leadership.  A personal brand demonstrates what you stand for and what do others think of you.  The questions are, how can you break away from the crowd and make yourself visible in a sea of talented people?  How can you expand your network – the people who know and follow you?   In Albert-László Barabasi’s book, The Formula = The Universal Laws of Success, he says hard research proves that “Your success isn’t about you and your performance. It’s about us and how we perceive your performance.”  The larger your visibility the larger the network will be and the network will amplify your success.   More about that in a few minutes. Personal branding is a career necessity for many people. Branding can start with your blog, speaking, tweeting, developing followers, eBooks, and guest blogging.  These things make you visible to companies and maybe to employers who approach you, but it isn't enough if your aspirations are high.  What customers and companies seek today is thought leadership from their people, and from consultants and service providers. Thought leadership has grown for individuals. In years past, thought leadership was driven by writing a book, by speaking, and through speakers’ bureaus, research reports and PR effort. Today, thought leadership and an individual’s brand can be augmented through the wise use of social media in its broadest definition. If someone wants to increase their visibility, they can write a book. This is, however, hugely time consuming if it’s beyond the self-published, poorly edited, 50-to-100-page softcover effort made by many would-be authors. I’m talking about a 230-page, professionally copy-edited book from a major publisher, which can take several years of effort.  Being a speaker at conferences and workshops is a precursor to book publishing, and often easier once the book is published.   Speaker bureaus are great if you already have a recognized name or company, and you’ve published enough books. They can get you the gig, but it’s still time consuming.    Once you embark on this effort, you may find yourself devoted to this type of time-consuming branding instead of to your daily working career.   The Shortcut: Radio Podcasting There’s an easy method to creating your personal brand that doesn’t require travel, two years of book writing and editing, or mountains of research and article writing. The answer is to host your own internet-based radio program.  Radio and podcast replays dramatically expand your reputation and network.  As Barabasi says, “Performance drives success, but when performance can’t be measured, networks drive success.” Nothing builds a network faster, cheaper and broader than having your own radio podcast.    A podcast can be a simple recording you create and place on a service from a storage site. A radio program/podcast, a step up, can be broadcast live at the same time on the same day of the week, or on the same day each month, and then follow-on listeners come from the podcast recording posted on a hosting site.   It can be broadcast once a month, bi-weekly or more often. The key is consistency; the network will want to hear from you. As the network builds, so will your reputation and a perception of performance on your part.  You must also promote the program aggressively. These types of consistent programs create followers and listeners. At the Funnel Media Group’s Funnel Radio Channel, we have 19 hosts for various programs heard once a month, bi-weekly or weekly.  We call them the Real Personalities of Funnel Radio. Their programs might have a single speaker and topic, or guests who join the host.  None are longer than 30 minutes.  Listeners for these programs vary with frequency, time and how the programs are promoted.  Program startup numbers can be 50-250 listeners per program, up to 100-500 listeners.  Programs promoted over time can have 750-1,500 listeners.  Popular programs with typical social media exposure can have thousands of listeners. The size of the host company's database and current followers make a substantial contribution to the followers and program listener downloads.  These listeners are unique because they are no longer just at-work listeners; they are at home, walking the dog, climbing mountains, bicycling, exercising, or traveling listeners, at night and on the weekend. Listeners are domestic and international.  The “hosts” of these radio/podcast programs have followers, build databases, and create multi-use content for books, eBooks, case studies, blogs, articles, and speeches.   They build credibility.   Podcast programs are then registered with Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Blubrry and the B2B Podcast Directory so that they can be found by host name and subject.  Program guests, on talk-radio format programs, often provide the host with testimonials for his or her services or products, introduce the host and company to potential buyers, and build name recognition (brand recognition) for the host and their company.  Starting a radio/podcast is quick and inexpensive.   You need recording software and a place to store the podcast so listeners can come to the site or listen.  The embeddable players the site provides allow you to put the programs on your own website or blog (or a guest’s website or blog).  For $75-$100 per month you can have all of this and be in the business of podcasting and building your personal and your company’s brand.  It’s also time consuming, and if it’s not consistently broadcast it has little impact to build a network. However, there are radio/podcast agencies such as ours (Funnel Media Group LLC), that manage all of this for you except the actual host duties.   We encourage hosts to produce a consistent program that listeners can follow. Agencies offer a range of services including storage, live programming, digital streaming and production, a studio and announcer, editing, music, and a professional touch seldom found in self-produced podcasts.  One of our Funnel Radio Channel programs has been broadcasting for several years.  At first its programs were bi-weekly, and then weekly after a few months.  To date, this program has 152 episodes with 42,610 listeners, with a per-episode average of 280 listeners.  Some programs have had 875 listeners.   The fact is, this company CEO and author, and his program, have had 42,610 people hear him speak over 21,305 hours of on-air time. These numbers are drawn from public data.  He did this on his computer via the net, and by phone with the studio.  Guests, customers and non-customers, know his name, what he stands for, his judgement on marketing and sales, and something about his company services.  He has an extensive personal and company brand recognition. Of course, you can too, should you choose to take the "shortcut" to improving your personal brand by using radio podcasting.  For information about improving your personal brand, extending your network and hosting your own radio/podcast program, either once a month, bi-weekly or more often, contact Jim Obermayer at jobermayer@funnelmediagroupllc dot com, or call him at (415) 521 4278.

Salespeople will tell you that the most obscene thing they receive from marketing is a naked, unqualified sales lead. This is a stripped down sales lead that has nothing on it except what is mandatory and that usually doesn’t include budget, authority, need and time frame for purchase.     Why it Matters:   "The interesting thing is that no salesperson should receive a naked sales lead today.  It isn't necessary with the tools that are available to marketing." ----more----   In this live streaming CRMRadio.Today program Paul Petersen, VP and GM at GoldMine CRM discusses how to gain the salespeople’s unqualfied respect by sending them what they most desire: a qualified sales lead. The host is Jim Obermayer.     About Paul Petersen Mr. Petersen is the general manager and vice president of the GoldMine business unit of HeatSoftware Inc. His career spans working with sales & marketing systems and process having developed, managed, and sold for companies including McDonald's Corp, General Electric, Symantec, Allied Van Lines and now has 16 years with CRM background at GoldMine. Mr. Petersen holds a JD from Loyola University of Chicago and was one of the first to be awarded the Professional Certified Marketer designation by the American Marketing Association.   About GoldMine Headquartered in Salt Lake city, UT, GoldMine is “published” by Ivanti.  GoldMine is a leading provider of CRM Solutions for small and mid-sized businesses worldwide.  More than 25 years ago, GoldMine helped pioneer the CRM industry and they have been around for so many years because of their focus on being simple, affordable and proven.  www.goldmine.com Related:  Using CRM for Fun and Profit: How Sales Reps can use their CRM to Hit Quota Marketing Myths and ROI

Listen while you tip toe through the tulips on iTunes Extracted as a one minute + tip from Laura Patterson's interveiw on CRM Radio, Patterson discusses the importance of digital analytics as a skill for every marketer.  Why it's Important "I think that in today's environment, that is very data driven...the C suite is trying to make data derived insight based decisions; every marketer needs to have a solid base in analytics." Laura Patterson Tweet this More...----more---- Creative design must be made with data in mind It may be frightening for some creative types but they need a solid base in analytics Marketers must have some kind of prowess and proficiency around analytics Listen to the full intervew here:  The Marketers New Skill Requirement: Digital Analytics Marketing Analytics isn’t so much new as it’s a subject that is increasing hard for marketers to ignore. Over the past few years marketing ROI has headlined so many marketing conferences that someone remarked to me, “Enough already, we get the point.” And yet just knowing the issue isn’t solving the problem of how to get marketers fully up to a skill level that satisfies a growing demand by the c-level managers.  In this interview with marketing analytics pioneer, Laura Patterson we discuss how marketers must go about the business of measuring what they manage. The host is Jim Obermayer. About Laura Patterson As the president of VisionEdge Marketing, founded in 1999, Patterson is recognized as one of the pioneers and authorities in the Marketing Performance Management (MPM) discipline. Martechexec selected Laura as one of the top 50 women in marketing technology. Laura serves on the University of Texas McCombs School of Business Masters of Marketing Science Advisory Board. About VisionEdge Marketing Since 1999 VisionEdge Marketing (www.visionedgemarketing.com), a data-driven metrics- based strategic and product marketing company has specialized in improving marketing performance and helping organizations make better fact-based decisions when it comes to markets, products, customers and competitors. Our passion is to help companies of all sizes solve four critical business problems:  More: Why CEO’s and CFO’s are still beggars when it comes to marketing ROI an SLMA Radio interview with Laura Patterson. Why Marketing Management Must Master Deep Digital Analytics  Laura Patterson Salary: Digital Marketing Manager: Salary.com, PayScale and glassdoor  White Paper Review: Marketo's Marketing Metrics Guide - Must Reading You can get big insights from Little Data - an interview with Laura Patterson on Rooted in Revenue Sponsor for this show: Goldmine CRM  Get more from the cloud with GoldMine workspaces. Flexible sign up options for BYOL hosting or subscription with monthly or annual terms. Designed for customers with     Windows server-based applications but looking to off-load their on-premises server equipment.

Listen while you dance on itunes Let’s be honest with ourselves, Marketing Analytics isn’t so much new as it’s a subject that is increasing hard for marketers...----more----to ignore. Over the past few years marketing ROI has headlined so many marketing conferences that someone remarked to me, “Enough already, we get the point.” And yet just knowing the issue isn’t solving the problem of how to get marketers fully up to a skill level that satisfies a growing demand by the c-level managers.  In this interview with marketing analytics pioneer, Laura Patterson we discuss how marketers must go about the business of measuring what they manage. The host is Jim Obermayer. About Laura Patterson Laura Patterson of VisonEdge Marketing takes a practical approach to proving and improving the value of Marketing. Patterson began her 25+ year career in sales and had the great fortune of working across functions spanning customer relationship management and Marketing with a capital “M”. As the president of VisionEdge Marketing, founded in 1999, she is recognized as one of the pioneers and authorities in the Marketing Performance Management (MPM) discipline. Martechexec selected Laura as one of the top 50 women in marketing technology. Laura serves on the University of Texas McCombs School of Business Masters of Marketing Science Advisory Board. About VisionEdge Marketing Since 1999 VisionEdge Marketing (www.visionedgemarketing.com), a data-driven metrics- based strategic and product marketing company has specialized in improving marketing performance and helping organizations make better fact-based decisions when it comes to markets, products, customers and competitors. Our passion is to help companies of all sizes solve four critical business problems:  How to acquire and keep profitable customers How to successfully define and launch market-leading products and services How to create performance-driven marketing organizations How to accurately measure and improve marketing’s contribution to the business. You may also like: Why CEO’s and CFO’s are still beggars when it comes to marketing ROI an SLMA Radio interview with Laura Patterson. You can get big insights from Little Data - an interview with Laura Patterson on Rooted in Revenue Salary: Digital Marketing Manager: Salary.com, PayScale and glassdoor  White Paper Review: Marketo's Marketing Metrics Guide - Must Reading Why Marketing Management Must Master Deep Digital Analytics Sponsor for this show: Goldmine CRM  Get more from the cloud with GoldMine workspaces. Flexible sign up options for BYOL hosting or subscription with monthly or annual terms. Designed for customers with     Windows server-based applications but looking to off-load their on-premises server equipment.

Listen while you ride a unicycle on iTunes How to manage and simplify your separate business application tools so they don’t manage you!----more---- New business applications are bombarding businesses with promises of efficiency, but each has its own baggage of management and integration issues. The tools show promise and hundreds more are introduced each year, but somehow the tools have to be managed or each will individually suck the life out of your staff’s time. In this show with Bill Furlong, CEO of SquareStack, we discuss how business can manage a portfolio of business applications that can also be customized at the user’s discretion. The host is Jim Obermayer. About our Guest: Bill Furlong, CEO of  SquareStack founded the company in 2014. He has since been at the forefront of b2b digital media and marketing. Outside of leading the SquareStack team, Bill continues to work with early stage and small business owners in a variety of roles. Recently Bill was on the founding team of Bizo which was acquired by LinkedIn in 2014. He also worked for ten years at Crain Communications where he was Publisher of B2B Magazine and held various sales management roles with the Ad Age Group.     Sponsor for this show: Goldmine CRM  Get more from the cloud with GoldMine workspaces. Flexible sign up options for BYOL hosting or subscription with monthly or annual terms. Designed for customers with     Windows server-based applications but looking to off-load their on-premises server equipment.

Listen while you're trying to make the sales forecast look better on iTunes From the firm that has trained over 35,000 salespeople in 1,000 firms worldwide comes the consummate book, Close Deals Faster: The 15 Shortcuts of the Asher Sales Method . ----more----This is not a book just for salespeople, it is for both salespeople and sales manager. In 260 pages author John Asher doesn’t submit one idea and beat it to death over the first 100 pages, he submits a proven process for improving sales.   Salespeople don’t need tricks, or closing tactics, scripts or presentation skills, they need a process.  In this interview with the author we discuss how John Asher successfully developed the Asher Strategies method and why so many salespeople use it worldwide.  The host, Jim Obermayer asks why the book has received such a strong welcome in only its first month, what’s different about the Asher Strategies and who salespeople and sales manager benefit. The book sold 10,000 copies on its first day offer on Amazon.com Hardcover: $22.18 on Amazon 260 Pages – Three Parts: Ten Chapters About John Asher Asher is an experienced international speaker on sales, sales management and marketing for Vistage, a world-wide network of CEOs.  He is the #1 rated Vistage Speaker on sales and was awarded the Vistage Lifetime Speaker Achievement Award (2015) He co-founded an engineering firm in 1986. He and his team grew the company at a compounded growth rate of 42% per year for 14 straight years. During his tenure as CEO, the company acquired seven other engineering and software development companies. His team sold the company in 1997 after growing annual revenue to $165m. In 1998, he co-founded a sales advisory services practice, Asher Strategies that has grown into a global leader in sales strategies. These strategies include sales, sales management and marketing. His team has trained over 80,000 Executives, Salespeople and other customer facing managers in 22 developed countries over the past 19 years. Asher is a graduate of United States Naval Academy with degrees in mathematics and nuclear engineering. He served as the captain of two nuclear submarines.  He has a MBA from George Washington University.  He is the author of numerous sales training manuals and “Doing Business with the West”, published in China in 2012. About Asher Strategies With so many sales training firms available today, Why ASHER Strategies?  Start with the thousands of sales people enjoying proven results. It is simple and unique. The ASHER Strategies Five Factors for Sales Success Formula is easy to understand and loaded with tools that help organizations execute this formula for each and every one of their salespeople. The Five Factors for Sales Success was developed from over 35 years of studying sales and over 300 different books written about sales. The ASHER training manuals are literally “Sales Cliff Notes” giving you the best concepts and ideas written about sales all in one manual. ASHER Strategies sales expertise comes from experience in selling within commercial, government and government contractor sales environments and brings the best practices of each to your organization.  It works. After training over 50,000 sales people, in every situation when they have taught the sales skills to a sales person that has a natural aptitude for sales, an increase in sales has been the result. Companies who have had their salespeople trained by ASHER facilitators have experienced an average of: o   17% increase in sales from acquisition of new customers o   45% reduction in sales cycle time o   22% increase in sales of high-margin, add-on business to current customers You Can Relax...because we've done this before. Since 1997, ASHER Strategies has assessed the natural aptitude of over 50,000 sales people, trained over 35,000 sales people and improved the sales processes in over 1,000 companies. Sponsor for this show: Goldmine CRM Get more from the cloud with GoldMine workspaces. Flexible sign up options for BYOL hosting or subscription with monthly or annual terms. Designed for customers with Windows server-based applications but looking to off-load their on-premises server equipment.   This is the Tools And Technology report in The CRM Playbook For 2017.    

Listen while you're sipping milk from the carton on iTunes Large corporations have many stakeholders when customer acquisition strategies feed different regions of the country. ----more---- Getting buy-in for the corporate strategy can be an interesting quarterly challenge when there are six geographic regions and 16 different markets.  In this episode we discuss the challenges of being a media manager for Comcast West with Andrea Costello.  Andrea shares with us how to fill the funnel when sales are primarily on line (although Comcast is opening more brick and mortar stores).   The host is Jim Obermayer. The program covers: How she manages the different teams across the western region How to communicate with those who have a local interest in the media How they measure success for the media in sales How they are supported by the corporate media sciences department   About Andrea Costello Andrea Costello is an accomplished senior marketing manager with 19+ years in driving revenue through successful marketing and sales performance. She is skilled in developing traditional and non-traditional media and marketing strategy and able to translate strategic vision into effective marketing campaigns. Her specialty is marketing and media strategy, contract negotiation, and sponsorship management. Andrea spent the first half of her career in business to business sales/management, selling radio advertising (an intangible product) then switched sides of the desk and has spent the last 12+ years as a buyer/marketer.  She works in acquisition marketing and sponsorship to prime the funnel for salespeople by ensuring that Comcast has access to the right eyeballs/ears in the right environment to leverage its brand and acquisition messaging. Her work requires her to work closely with media buying and sports marketing agencies on behalf of the company, but also work directly with media vendors to negotiate placements.  She often works directly with teams to negotiate/manage multi-year sponsorships. Connect with her on LinkedIn Sponsor for this show: Goldmine CRM Get more from the cloud with GoldMine workspaces. Flexible sign up options for BYOL hosting or subscription with monthly or annual terms. Designed for customers with Windows server-based applications but looking to off-load their on-premises server equipment.   This is the Tools And Technology report in The CRM Playbook For 2017.    

Listen while you're golfing when you're supposed to be at church on iTunes As part of our ongoing series of interviews on what executives have learned in business and life we spoke with Stacy Gentile, Marketing Manager - Goldmine CRM (a division of ivanti). ----more----  With thirteen years in the US Army as a recon platoon sergeant (where dry socks were important for him and his men) and thirteen more years as an executive and president of an agency services company, Gentile shares what he has learned.  The host is Jim Obermayer.  Stacy is responsible for all global marketing operations, branding, campaigns and online efforts related to the Goldmine CRM platform. GoldMine is published by Ivanti About GoldMine Headquartered in Salt Lake city, UT, GoldMine is published by Ivanti.  Goldmine is a leading provider of CRM Solutions for small and mid-sized businesses worldwide.  More than 25 years ago, GoldMine helped pioneer the CRM industry and they have been around for so many years because of their focus on being simple, affordable and proven. Sponsor for this show: Goldmine CRM Get more from the cloud with GoldMine workspaces. Flexible sign up options for BYOL hosting or subscription with monthly or annual terms. Designed for customers with Windows server-based applications but looking to off-load their on-premises server equipment.   This is the Tools And Technology report in The CRM Playbook For 2017.    

Listen while you rub your tummy and head in opposite directions on iTunes This is an on-going series of interviews with executives on SLMA Radio and CRM Radio. His father gave him the credo of hard work, says, John Golden, Chief Strategist at Pipeliner CRM. In the interview, John shared that at a young age he needed greater self-awareness to succeed, honesty that never wavered (tempered by core principles), how to learn from good people, and how to always be aware of shiny objects. The host is Jim Obermayer.----more---- About John Golden John Golden, Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) with Pipeliner is the best selling author of two books "Social Upheaval: How to Win @ Social Selling" & "Winning the Battle for Sales". An acknowledged thought leader and speaker on sales and business strategy, he is the former CEO of Huthwaite(SPIN Selling) and Omega Performance, both global consulting companies and Focused Revenue Results, a management consultancy group. About Pipeliner CRM Pipeliner CRM is a software system that enables salespeople and teams to understand their sales process and accelerate opportunities toward a close, while saving time and maintaining focus. Pipeliner CRM overlays organizational features atop a visual interface, creating a worktool that adapts to and grows with the organization. Headquartered in Los Angeles, California and Vienna, Austria. Engage with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and @PipelinerCRM or visit us at PipelinerCRM.com      

Jim Obermayer sitting in for Matt today with guest, Ken Thoreson, of Acumen Management Group. Their firm is focused on execution, discipline, accountability to the sales organization. He has just published his fourth book in a series: SLAMMED: for the first time sales manager. The other three in the series are: Recruiting High Performance Sales Teams Leading High Performance Sales Teams Creating High Performance Sales Compensation Plans Some of what is covered in the book includes: How do you on-board a new sales manager? Within 6 months, new sales managers are usually slammed. Leadership and management skills playing together don't usually get taught. Lifespan of a sales manager is about 18 months.Marketing will go back and write a new plan, but the sales managers get fired. New sales managers seem to focus on micro issues, tracking numbers and activity, and forget they need to have emotional leadership and inspire people to execute. It is the manager's job to instill work ethic, intensity, high levels of performance and interest in creating high levels of results. The sales manager typically will ask, "What are you going to do today? What are your goals for the day?" The stunned sales person stammers a defensive reply, "I'm going to get on the phone...I'm going to call prospects.." At the end of the day, what determines the level of success you had for the day? On AcumenManagement.com there are a ton of free tools, including, Top 40 actions a sales manager must activate to create predictable revenue." Jim asked Ken,"What is the biggest challenge you see a new sales manager has in the first 2-3 months?" First, you have to set priorities based on the situation. Assume you are walking into a turnaround role - sales are poor...observe, reflect, make a few changes so the team sees that things are getting fixed. Then you go about setting priorities, goals and then expressing your vision of what you want to achieve over the next 90 days to 6 months. Most act too quickly or chew off more than they can achieve. If you are walking into a role where you are replacing someone successful. Then it's sitting back again and understanding the players, building trust first. Ken finds that there is a lot of talk in struggling organizations about "them" and "us" or "those people." There is a line between WE as a team. That line needs to be broken down immediately for the vision, direction and belief of where you are going. This is building culture. Listen to the full episode to get more insights.