Andy Paul's Blog, page 19

669: Stop recruiting and attract top candidates instead w/ Brad Owens | Summer Reading for Salespeople w/ Bridget Gleason.

 

Brad Owens, the self-styled Robin Hood of Hiring and host of the Small Business Hiring Podcast and Bridget Gleason, VP of Sales for Logz.io and my regular partner, join me on this episode of #Accelerate!

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

First guest: Brad Owens

Brad spent a decade as an external recruiter for Fortune 500 companies. In his company, he uses the best practices of the big guys to serve small businesses.
The best companies don’t hire — they attract. Marketing and recruiting should be working side-by-side. What about your company attracts the right kind of candidates?
People are driven to find new jobs because of the impact they might have, the potential for personal growth, the challenge, autonomy, and flexibility. A magnetic, corporate culture attracts good employees.
To screen candidates, meet them and understand who they are. Take them to lunch. Have the difficult conversations. Talk about their difficult conversations.
People need to know what working for you is like. Put information on LinkedIn about what it is like working for your company. LinkedIn has a place just for that.
Steps candidates take to investigate you: read your ad online (It should market you.); search your website to see what it’s like to work there; search your social media profiles; search Glassdoor or other company rating sites.
Make sure you are selling your job (why people would want to work there), and getting the message out. This is employer branding. Every company should be doing this.
Give candidates homework. Put in your job ad something like: We will not look at resumes for this job unless you go to our website, find a core value you identify with and tell us why. (This requires you first to spell out your core values!)
Brad does not use personality type assessments to promote a diverse workforce. Instead, he recommends more homework and conversation. Test for skills, if needed. Trainability is more important than skills.
Brad recommends attributional interviewing to check for: attitude, aptitude, adaptability, accomplishments, appreciation, and amiability. These six attributes indicate a person who will be a long-term fit for your organization.
Andy reminds companies to develop the questions, and if four people interview a candidate, have them ask the same questions in the same order, and then compare notes. The hiring manager dives deeply into the resume.
Brad’s last suggestion: Have a system. Tune the system as your results indicate.

 

Second Guest: Bridget Gleason

Bridget just came back from a great Canadian vacation/family reunion. Her time in Banff wasn’t long enough. Andy’s family reunion is in Bar Harbor Maine.
The topic is the summer reading list. Bridget’s team is reading New Sales Simplified, by Mike Weinberg. Bridget’s CMO is doing it as well. It integrates sales and marketing.
Andy just re-read by Swim with the Sharks without Being Eaten Alive, by Harvey MacKay, in preparation for interviewing him. It focuses on relationship-building. Sales reps have to fill out a long prospect questionnaire.
Andy also read Barking Up the Wrong Tree, by Eric Barker. It explains what really happens to make a person successful. Andy highlighted the book almost solid yellow. Valedictorians follow rules but business has few rules.
Bridget likes her assumptions to be challenged. Research shows salespeople who are too responsive don’t do well, but the most successful ones are more ‘givers’ than ‘takers’ or ‘matchers.’
Bridget likes Barking to the Choir, by Gregory Boyle. It is a remarkable story about gang intervention. It made Bridget challenge her own concepts of success. Success is more than revenue generation. Be in service to others.
In Barking up the Wrong Tree, Eric Barker says as little as two hours of volunteer work each week can be transformative for people who are pessimistic, fearful, or inner-directed. They can see they have an impact.
People remember story-telling. To love what you do, communicate it and find joy in it is contagious. Prospects are “pieces of cake” compared to gang members. Getting a gang member to trust you is an accomplishment.
Eric Barker stresses knowing yourself means knowing what you do well. Understand your story and your vision of yourself. If you can believe it, you can do it.
Bridget would like to spend more time and get more involved, for the next version of herself. Giving time is more than giving money.

668: The Chemistry of Winning w/ Kevin Freiberg & Be Brilliant at the Basics w/ Bridget Gleason

 

Kevin Freiberg, co-author with his wife, Jackie Freiberg, of Bochy Ball! The Chemistry of Winning and Losing in Baseball, Business, and Life and Bridget Gleason, VP of Sales for Logz.io and my regular partner, join me on this episode of #Accelerate!

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

First guest: Kevin Freiberg

Kevin and Jackie were introduced to Bruce Bochy by a mutual friend 21 years ago. Bruce wanted their help with communicating with the media. After working with Bruce for over a year, they saw a potential book in his story.
Bruce is one of the most successful managers the San Diego Padres have ever had, in terms of getting more out of less. He did a better job of coaching players to a higher potential with little payroll than any other manager.
The coach does have a large influence on the team. Bill Belichick has a well-defined system that makes the most of the Patriots team he has, with no superstars besides Tom Brady.
Having a process doesn’t mean everyone has to be a star. Belichick does an incredible job of expressing people’s responsibilities and the expectations on them. Removing ambiguity frees people up to perform at the top level.
Bruce Bochy begins Spring Training going back to the fundamentals and role responsibility and accountability. When you know your role and how to execute it, there’s a freedom and creativity to act as the game unfolds.
Lombardi believed in freedom within structure. Andy sees the loss of freedom to salespeople through managing them to the metrics instead of coaching them to the fundamentals. The fundamentals have to be internalized.
Bruce has always stressed, with the Giants and the Padres, that one size doesn’t fit all. Bruce manages the players within the system very differently. You have to read your people.
What made the Giants pick Bochy for the job? Brian Sabean said when Bochy came to San Francisco, they needed each other. The Giants were in the rebuilding mode. They saw ‘the fire in the belly’ in each other.
Key takeaways for business — hire for experience that shows there’s even greater potential than what has been demonstrated. Hire for attitude and passion.
Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines says he would rather have a company bound by love than bound by fear. Why is talking about love taboo in business? Senior managers don’t know how to talk about it. What metrics do you use?
Kevin sees having a point of view as being cause-driven. You have to be conscious of your numbers, but if you are too conscious of the numbers, you play tight, not loose. Play for a cause bigger than your numbers.
2017 was a painful year for the Giants. What do you do when things are down? Bruce Bochy put people in different roles to shake things up and remind them of the fun and camaraderie of the game. Change your view.

 

Second Guest: Bridget Gleason

Bridget’s new glasses take it up a notch and make her look more serious. A CEO once called her a martinet; she wears it as a badge of honor. Don’t cross her. Andy bought glasses in Paris once but hated them back home.
Today’s discussion: Do we make sales too complicated? We talk about everything but the customer. The longer Andy spends in sales, the more he finds that simple and direct methods drive up the odds of success.
Anthony Bourdain’s talent was being able to find the story in another person. That is the salesperson’s job, to find out and learn the story of the customer and understand them and what they are trying to achieve.
Bridget reminds us to be brilliant at the basics. If you don’t know the basics, then methodologies and tools won’t do the job. Don’t over-script the process. Know what the customer is doing and how you can help them.
“An honest curiosity about what the locals think is the best food is going to be welcome. When you eat their food and you seem happy, people sitting around the table open up and interesting things happen.” — A. Bourdain
Show up and be authentically interested in the other person and they open up.
Andy suggests you go BALD. Be human. Ask great questions. Listen slowly. Deliver value. That’s the operating system for any relationship.
We misunderstand the purposes of training. We really need to educate our sales reps to think in the moment while listening carefully.
Your objective as a salesperson is to not be like any other salesperson … but to be the best version of you possible.  — paraphrased from Og Mandino
Be in the habit of learning. Read all the time. Listen to podcasts. Companies need to take a bigger role in the education of reps. Some companies earn employee loyalty by setting aside time to read and learn as a group.
Read half-an-hour a day in your field to become one of the top 1% of earners in your field, according to Brian Tracy. Bridget recalls going to the library every week for seven books. Now she rents library Kindle books.
They are still building public libraries. Training doesn’t make you smarter. Having a mentor and educating yourself both increase knowledge and ability.

 

The post 668: The Chemistry of Winning w/ Kevin Freiberg & Be Brilliant at the Basics w/ Bridget Gleason appeared first on Andy Paul | Strategies to Power Growth.

668: The Chemistry of Winning w/ Kevin Freiberg & Be Brilliant at the Basics w/ Bridget Gleason

 

Kevin Freiberg, co-author with his wife, Jackie Freiberg, of Bochy Ball! The Chemistry of Winning and Losing in Baseball, Business, and Life and Bridget Gleason, VP of Sales for Logz.io and my regular partner, join me on this episode of #Accelerate!

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

First guest: Kevin Freiberg

Kevin and Jackie were introduced to Bruce Bochy by a mutual friend 21 years ago. Bruce wanted their help with communicating with the media. After working with Bruce for over a year, they saw a potential book in his story.
Bruce is one of the most successful managers the San Diego Padres have ever had, in terms of getting more out of less. He did a better job of coaching players to a higher potential with little payroll than any other manager.
The coach does have a large influence on the team. Bill Belichick has a well-defined system that makes the most of the Patriots team he has, with no superstars besides Tom Brady.
Having a process doesn’t mean everyone has to be a star. Belichick does an incredible job of expressing people’s responsibilities and the expectations on them. Removing ambiguity frees people up to perform at the top level.
Bruce Bochy begins Spring Training going back to the fundamentals and role responsibility and accountability. When you know your role and how to execute it, there’s a freedom and creativity to act as the game unfolds.
Lombardi believed in freedom within structure. Andy sees the loss of freedom to salespeople through managing them to the metrics instead of coaching them to the fundamentals. The fundamentals have to be internalized.
Bruce has always stressed, with the Giants and the Padres, that one size doesn’t fit all. Bruce manages the players within the system very differently. You have to read your people.
What made the Giants pick Bochy for the job? Brian Sabean said when Bochy came to San Francisco, they needed each other. The Giants were in the rebuilding mode. They saw ‘the fire in the belly’ in each other.
Key takeaways for business — hire for experience that shows there’s even greater potential than what has been demonstrated. Hire for attitude and passion.
Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines says he would rather have a company bound by love than bound by fear. Why is talking about love taboo in business? Senior managers don’t know how to talk about it. What metrics do you use?
Kevin sees having a point of view as being cause-driven. You have to be conscious of your numbers, but if you are too conscious of the numbers, you play tight, not loose. Play for a cause bigger than your numbers.
2017 was a painful year for the Giants. What do you do when things are down? Bruce Bochy put people in different roles to shake things up and remind them of the fun and camaraderie of the game. Change your view.

 

Second Guest: Bridget Gleason

Bridget’s new glasses take it up a notch and make her look more serious. A CEO once called her a martinet; she wears it as a badge of honor. Don’t cross her. Andy bought glasses in Paris once but hated them back home.
Today’s discussion: Do we make sales too complicated? We talk about everything but the customer. The longer Andy spends in sales, the more he finds that simple and direct methods drive up the odds of success.
Anthony Bourdain’s talent was being able to find the story in another person. That is the salesperson’s job, to find out and learn the story of the customer and understand them and what they are trying to achieve.
Bridget reminds us to be brilliant at the basics. If you don’t know the basics, then methodologies and tools won’t do the job. Don’t over-script the process. Know what the customer is doing and how you can help them.
“An honest curiosity about what the locals think is the best food is going to be welcome. When you eat their food and you seem happy, people sitting around the table open up and interesting things happen.” — A. Bourdain
Show up and be authentically interested in the other person and they open up.
Andy suggests you go BALD. Be human. Ask great questions. Listen slowly. Deliver value. That’s the operating system for any relationship.
We misunderstand the purposes of training. We really need to educate our sales reps to think in the moment while listening carefully.
Your objective as a salesperson is to not be like any other salesperson … but to be the best version of you possible.  — paraphrased from Og Mandino
Be in the habit of learning. Read all the time. Listen to podcasts. Companies need to take a bigger role in the education of reps. Some companies earn employee loyalty by setting aside time to read and learn as a group.
Read half-an-hour a day in your field to become one of the top 1% of earners in your field, according to Brian Tracy. Bridget recalls going to the library every week for seven books. Now she rents library Kindle books.
They are still building public libraries. Training doesn’t make you smarter. Having a mentor and educating yourself both increase knowledge and ability.

 

667: The Value of Sales Enablement, with Pat Lynch and Do We Need Commissions? with Bridget Gleason.

 

Patrick Lynch,  VP of Enablement Excellence and Innovation at MindTickle! and Bridget Gleason, VP of Sales for Logz.io and my regular partner, join me on this episode of #Accelerate!

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

First guest: Patrick Lynch

On the last run of the second-to-the-last day of skiing, the wet snow grabbed Patrick’s skis. He went flying and broke his wrist in two places. As a former ski patrolman, he used to tell people to take it easy on the last run.
To continue the conversation from Episode 656 on sales training, Andy sees a great divide between training and education. Training has largely outlived its purpose. More education is needed.
Over the years, Patrick has been through six sales methodologies. They all teach basically the same principles. The only effective ways to give training life are through execution, application, and reinforcement.
Corporate sales training copies classroom teaching. Sales training in the U.S. is decades old and hasn’t changed much in 50 years. It’s still instructor-led training (ILT) with a workbook. Less than 20% is remembered and used.
To reinforce sales training takes help from a coach or the sales manager, and maybe a sales tools technology platform. Without reinforcement, sales training is as broken as Patrick’s wrist.
There is not one true way to train. Andy is the sum total of the various programs that trained him. Pay attention and pick and choose what works. Patrick has shelves of sales books he has highlighted but doesn’t use.
Patrick sees great potential for MindTickle and other sales training technology to genuinely help salespeople. Salespeople need help. Almost all sales metrics are down, according to research from CSO Insights.
Why don’t sales leaders focus on increasing the closing rate from 20% to 21% or 22%? It’s not that more leads are needed but that more of the existing leads need to close. Productivity (quota attainment) keeps going down.
MindTickle is an enablement platform. Salespeople need to be enabled to achieve more, faster. Salespeople need to learn so they can achieve good outcomes. There is a big education gap. The top performers are learners.
Patrick discusses a sales enablement workshop he gives to sales leaders. MindTickle has micro-learning, video role-playing, coaching, gamification, quizzes, badges, certification, leaderboards, and more.
With the MindTickle platform, you can start to see the correlation of learning outcomes to performance outcomes. This is powerful for sales leaders. The second highest in-demand skill across industries today is selling.
According to Deloitte, in 2020 salespeople will be learning in the flow of work. This requires a platform like MindTickle to allow the salesperson to learn while they sell. Education plus fun equals MindTickle.

 

Second Guest: Bridget Gleason

Captain Fantastic’s power is being great at sales. Bridget is going to Florence Italy and then the Amalfi Coast on vacation. She will continue to walk or swim daily. Andy just missed being in a 10K in Florence.
The topic is whether the commission is still relevant. Fewer than 50% of reps attain quota. Are commissions still having an impact on performance? Big CEO salaries have no impact on the performance of a company.
Would you have gone into sales if it didn’t have the financial potential? Andy says, probably, yes. He usually worked for startups that historically underpay.
Bridget would love to get rid of commissions. They take a lot of time and energy to work out. But she wouldn’t have the same reps she has now.
Bridget feels the pressure of her position. She values the pay she gets for it. If she were paid less the pressure would still be there. Andy wonders if companies paying a straight salary create less pressure on the salesperson.
Some companies are successful with a team approach instead of commissioned sales. Andy says that customers tend to make decisions without a salesperson present. Salespeople add a lot to the process.
What constitutes a salesperson; what do we want salespeople to accomplish; and are we moving that forward by paying a commission as opposed to salaries?
Bridget is on her way to close a deal.

 

The post 667: The Value of Sales Enablement, with Pat Lynch and Do We Need Commissions? with Bridget Gleason. appeared first on Andy Paul | Strategies to Power Growth.

667: The Value of Sales Enablement, with Pat Lynch and Do We Need Commissions? with Bridget Gleason.

 

Patrick Lynch,  VP of Enablement Excellence and Innovation at MindTickle! and Bridget Gleason, VP of Sales for Logz.io and my regular partner, join me on this episode of #Accelerate!

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

First guest: Patrick Lynch

On the last run of the second-to-the-last day of skiing, the wet snow grabbed Patrick’s skis. He went flying and broke his wrist in two places. As a former ski patrolman, he used to tell people to take it easy on the last run.
To continue the conversation from Episode 656 on sales training, Andy sees a great divide between training and education. Training has largely outlived its purpose. More education is needed.
Over the years, Patrick has been through six sales methodologies. They all teach basically the same principles. The only effective ways to give training life are through execution, application, and reinforcement.
Corporate sales training copies classroom teaching. Sales training in the U.S. is decades old and hasn’t changed much in 50 years. It’s still instructor-led training (ILT) with a workbook. Less than 20% is remembered and used.
To reinforce sales training takes help from a coach or the sales manager, and maybe a sales tools technology platform. Without reinforcement, sales training is as broken as Patrick’s wrist.
There is not one true way to train. Andy is the sum total of the various programs that trained him. Pay attention and pick and choose what works. Patrick has shelves of sales books he has highlighted but doesn’t use.
Patrick sees great potential for MindTickle and other sales training technology to genuinely help salespeople. Salespeople need help. Almost all sales metrics are down, according to research from CSO Insights.
Why don’t sales leaders focus on increasing the closing rate from 20% to 21% or 22%? It’s not that more leads are needed but that more of the existing leads need to close. Productivity (quota attainment) keeps going down.
MindTickle is an enablement platform. Salespeople need to be enabled to achieve more, faster. Salespeople need to learn so they can achieve good outcomes. There is a big education gap. The top performers are learners.
Patrick discusses a sales enablement workshop he gives to sales leaders. MindTickle has micro-learning, video role-playing, coaching, gamification, quizzes, badges, certification, leaderboards, and more.
With the MindTickle platform, you can start to see the correlation of learning outcomes to performance outcomes. This is powerful for sales leaders. The second highest in-demand skill across industries today is selling.
According to Deloitte, in 2020 salespeople will be learning in the flow of work. This requires a platform like MindTickle to allow the salesperson to learn while they sell. Education plus fun equals MindTickle.

 

Second Guest: Bridget Gleason

Captain Fantastic’s power is being great at sales. Bridget is going to Florence Italy and then the Amalfi Coast on vacation. She will continue to walk or swim daily. Andy just missed being in a 10K in Florence.
The topic is whether the commission is still relevant. Fewer than 50% of reps attain quota. Are commissions still having an impact on performance? Big CEO salaries have no impact on the performance of a company.
Would you have gone into sales if it didn’t have the financial potential? Andy says, probably, yes. He usually worked for startups that historically underpay.
Bridget would love to get rid of commissions. They take a lot of time and energy to work out. But she wouldn’t have the same reps she has now.
Bridget feels the pressure of her position. She values the pay she gets for it. If she were paid less the pressure would still be there. Andy wonders if companies paying a straight salary create less pressure on the salesperson.
Some companies are successful with a team approach instead of commissioned sales. Andy says that customers tend to make decisions without a salesperson present. Salespeople add a lot to the process.
What constitutes a salesperson; what do we want salespeople to accomplish; and are we moving that forward by paying a commission as opposed to salaries?
Bridget is on her way to close a deal.

 

666: The Science of Lead Gen, with Tom Poland and Why AEs Must Prospect, with Bridget Gleason.

 

Tom Poland, author of LEADSOLOGY®: THE SCIENCE OF BEING IN DEMAND and Bridget Gleason, VP of Sales for Logz.io and my regular partner, join me on this episode of #Accelerate!

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

First guest: Tom Poland

Tom is accompanied by Monty the Marketing Wonder Dog. They take walks on the beach where Monty inspires Tom with new marketing ideas and “herds” seagulls.
Tom ‘cut his teeth’ in sales and marketing 41 years ago; next, he joined the corporate world in sales. In ‘95, he started his own business, where he continues to sell.
LEADSOLOGY® was inspired by a line from one of the Rocky movies. In writing it, Tom wanted to document his lead generation experiences, help other people, and get new clients. This is Tom’s third book.
Andy notes the conversion tool of questions in the book to assess the current situation. Andy compares it to his lead deficit tool. Always know the challenge ahead. Many companies skip this step.
Ready, fire, aim works fine under ambush in a jungle war zone, but a business is not under ambush. Figure out how many leads you need, your ideal revenue target, and how many consults you need before you start chasing them.
Ready, aim, fire is a more effective way to prepare to sell. Know what you are trying to accomplish. Know the one number — how many leads from inquiries you need to generate each week. Inquiries are Oxygen to the body.
Not all qualified leads convert. How many qualified leads do you need? A qualified lead has had an immersive experience with your brand, knows your fee range, and considers you their best choice. That is more than BANT.
To qualify a lead, you demonstrate to them your value and their ROI in buying your brand. When they agree in principle, they are a qualified lead. Coco Chanel talked about being different. Tom says desirable differentiation.
Salespeople are not Hugh Jackman. Don’t sell as if you are irresistible. Sell with a method.
Tom and Andy discuss mistakes companies make. Random acts of marketing occur when there is no strategy or predictable system of lead generation. Know your ideal customer profile. See the right people.

 

Effective marketing sets a salesperson before highly qualified prospects all the time. Tom tells of one of his VA SDRs. The SDR does lead generation for video conferences through messages on sites such as LinkedIn.

 

Educational events such as video conferences create reciprocity, all other things being equal. Hire a VA through a freelancer site. Hire a person, not an agency. Consider how a VA offshore can feed your funnel economically.

Second Guest: Bridget Gleason

Andy just joined a gym. Running half marathons and biking every day isn’t enough.
Today is another opportunity to succeed.
Andy tells of an account executive he overheard who smirked at the idea of prospecting. Other people tell Andy their AEs refuse to prospect. Should AEs be expected to prospect?
Some companies are getting rid of SDRs and turning prospecting over to the AEs. Should sales remain hyper-specialized? Bridget would ask an AE if they want to hit their number? Do you want to bring home the money?
You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. The days of prospecting are still with us. Bridget’s top performing reps prospect daily. They don’t talk about it; they just do it. Andy talks about figuring the number of leads they need.
At some companies, AEs are accustomed not to prospect. The prospecting muscle needs to be exercised or it atrophies.
Andy talks about controlling risk and being in control of your fate. That’s what took him into sales — the need to be in control of his career and income.
We’re in a generation of managers who act as helicopter managers. They manage every detail. They don’t let the AEs go out and figure it out.

 

The post 666: The Science of Lead Gen, with Tom Poland and Why AEs Must Prospect, with Bridget Gleason. appeared first on Andy Paul | Strategies to Power Growth.

666: The Science of Lead Gen, with Tom Poland and Why AEs Must Prospect, with Bridget Gleason.

 

Tom Poland, author of LEADSOLOGY®: THE SCIENCE OF BEING IN DEMAND and Bridget Gleason, VP of Sales for Logz.io and my regular partner, join me on this episode of #Accelerate!

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

First guest: Tom Poland

Tom is accompanied by Monty the Marketing Wonder Dog. They take walks on the beach where Monty inspires Tom with new marketing ideas and “herds” seagulls.
Tom ‘cut his teeth’ in sales and marketing 41 years ago; next, he joined the corporate world in sales. In ‘95, he started his own business, where he continues to sell.
LEADSOLOGY® was inspired by a line from one of the Rocky movies. In writing it, Tom wanted to document his lead generation experiences, help other people, and get new clients. This is Tom’s third book.
Andy notes the conversion tool of questions in the book to assess the current situation. Andy compares it to his lead deficit tool. Always know the challenge ahead. Many companies skip this step.
Ready, fire, aim works fine under ambush in a jungle war zone, but a business is not under ambush. Figure out how many leads you need, your ideal revenue target, and how many consults you need before you start chasing them.
Ready, aim, fire is a more effective way to prepare to sell. Know what you are trying to accomplish. Know the one number — how many leads from inquiries you need to generate each week. Inquiries are Oxygen to the body.
Not all qualified leads convert. How many qualified leads do you need? A qualified lead has had an immersive experience with your brand, knows your fee range, and considers you their best choice. That is more than BANT.
To qualify a lead, you demonstrate to them your value and their ROI in buying your brand. When they agree in principle, they are a qualified lead. Coco Chanel talked about being different. Tom says desirable differentiation.
Salespeople are not Hugh Jackman. Don’t sell as if you are irresistible. Sell with a method.
Tom and Andy discuss mistakes companies make. Random acts of marketing occur when there is no strategy or predictable system of lead generation. Know your ideal customer profile. See the right people.

 

Effective marketing sets a salesperson before highly qualified prospects all the time. Tom tells of one of his VA SDRs. The SDR does lead generation for video conferences through messages on sites such as LinkedIn.

 

Educational events such as video conferences create reciprocity, all other things being equal. Hire a VA through a freelancer site. Hire a person, not an agency. Consider how a VA offshore can feed your funnel economically.

Second Guest: Bridget Gleason

Andy just joined a gym. Running half marathons and biking every day isn’t enough.
Today is another opportunity to succeed.
Andy tells of an account executive he overheard who smirked at the idea of prospecting. Other people tell Andy their AEs refuse to prospect. Should AEs be expected to prospect?
Some companies are getting rid of SDRs and turning prospecting over to the AEs. Should sales remain hyper-specialized? Bridget would ask an AE if they want to hit their number? Do you want to bring home the money?
You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. The days of prospecting are still with us. Bridget’s top performing reps prospect daily. They don’t talk about it; they just do it. Andy talks about figuring the number of leads they need.
At some companies, AEs are accustomed not to prospect. The prospecting muscle needs to be exercised or it atrophies.
Andy talks about controlling risk and being in control of your fate. That’s what took him into sales — the need to be in control of his career and income.
We’re in a generation of managers who act as helicopter managers. They manage every detail. They don’t let the AEs go out and figure it out.

 

665: Scaling High-Growth Sales Teams, with Patrick Purvis, and, Increasing Close Rates, with Bridget Gleason.

 

Patrick Purvis, Chief Revenue Officer at DiscoverOrg and Bridget Gleason, VP of Sales for Logz.io and my regular partner, join me on this episode of #Accelerate!

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

First guest: Patrick Purvis

Patrick joined DiscoverOrg in 2011 as the 34th employee and third sales rep. He saw it as a resume-builder but learned a lot as they grew over seven years. They’ve acquired their biggest competitor and employ 500.
Patrick believes DiscoverOrg has one of the greatest SaaS sales teams and marketing machines in the market.
There is pressure on salespeople to be self-learners. DiscoverOrg is investing in training their salespeople with a Sales Enablement leader and Gong.io scorecards.
Patrick had two mentors — Henry Schuck, DiscoverOrg’s CEO and Steven Wernke, their number one account executive. DiscoverOrg’s target audience is sales and marketing leaders. Patrick learns from his customers.
The Challenger Sale is the sales book that was most influential for Patrick. Another influential book he’s reading now is Thinking, Fast and Slow.
According to Brian Tracy, if you read 12 books a year in your chosen field, you join the top 1% of experts about it. How do we motivate people to do that? Reading, in general, has a massive impact on your vocabulary.
Millennials read less than other generations because they are more influenced by screens. Patrick would like them to pick up and enjoy a physical book, whatever it may be.
Andy admires Thomas Huxley’s quote: “In life, you should try to learn something about everything and everything about something.”
Patrick looks for values, character, grit, and work ethic, in the interview process but the interview process is flawed for hiring. DiscoverOrg uses the OmniaGroup math and verbal cognitive test to select for interviews.
DiscoverOrg hires SDRs and promotes them to Account Executives after about a year. Hitting the numbers is the top factor. Next, are they good people? Do they help others around them succeed? Do they have good ideas?
DiscoverOrg is experimental. The system they’ve built can withstand new players and change. Patrick notes some statistics about their process. It starts with hiring the right people. Don’t select hires from a small candidate pool.


Second Guest: Bridget Gleason

At the time of the interview, it is Spring in Boston. Bridget is happy with it.
The topic is how to increase your close rate from 20% to 25%. Andy had an interview recently with a CRO who hadn’t even thought about that. Instead, he wanted to fill the funnel with brute force instead of increasing the rate.
Sales asks Marketing for more leads and Marketing asks Sales to close the leads they get. You have to start closing business, not burning leads. Bridget stresses getting better-qualified leads in the top of the funnel.
Andy states that a 20% close rate is unacceptable. The SDRs need to filter out the unqualified leads to avoid wasting the Account Executives’ time with bad leads. Bridget wants to the increase the closes at every step.
In SaaS, there is an unwarranted acceptance of a 20% close rate. No one has an infinite market size. Eventually, you will run out of large numbers of leads to fill the top of the funnel. Bridget calls this scorched earth.
The way it works now is not the way it’s always going to work. Today’s methods will change as the world changes. To Bridget, innovation is the fun of sales. She likes a tight alignment between marketing and sales.
A VP of Sales told Andy that their low close rate was due to too much competition. Andy reflects that they didn’t have a handle on discovery to find good fits for their product and service. They were not qualifying prospects.
Sales is a numbers game, but find out which “numbers” are not a good fit. Bridget talks about Logz.io recently hiring a CMO. They are taking a more targeted approach on a smaller number of accounts. It’s sustainable.
Andy has talked to a lot of Sales Managers who don’t like to sell to customers. They like the sales machine process and dashboards, instead. Bridget loves the ‘hands-on piece’ of sales, which is why she likes smaller companies.
This is Bridget and Andy’s 137th episode together. Come back next week for another Wiley Wednesday (as Bridget calls it).

 

 

The post 665: Scaling High-Growth Sales Teams, with Patrick Purvis, and, Increasing Close Rates, with Bridget Gleason. appeared first on Andy Paul | Strategies to Power Growth.

665: Scaling High-Growth Sales Teams, with Patrick Purvis, and, Increasing Close Rates, with Bridget Gleason.

 

Patrick Purvis, Chief Revenue Officer at DiscoverOrg and Bridget Gleason, VP of Sales for Logz.io and my regular partner, join me on this episode of #Accelerate!

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

First guest: Patrick Purvis

Patrick joined DiscoverOrg in 2011 as the 34th employee and third sales rep. He saw it as a resume-builder but learned a lot as they grew over seven years. They’ve acquired their biggest competitor and employ 500.
Patrick believes DiscoverOrg has one of the greatest SaaS sales teams and marketing machines in the market.
There is pressure on salespeople to be self-learners. DiscoverOrg is investing in training their salespeople with a Sales Enablement leader and Gong.io scorecards.
Patrick had two mentors — Henry Schuck, DiscoverOrg’s CEO and Steven Wernke, their number one account executive. DiscoverOrg’s target audience is sales and marketing leaders. Patrick learns from his customers.
The Challenger Sale is the sales book that was most influential for Patrick. Another influential book he’s reading now is Thinking, Fast and Slow.
According to Brian Tracy, if you read 12 books a year in your chosen field, you join the top 1% of experts about it. How do we motivate people to do that? Reading, in general, has a massive impact on your vocabulary.
Millennials read less than other generations because they are more influenced by screens. Patrick would like them to pick up and enjoy a physical book, whatever it may be.
Andy admires Thomas Huxley’s quote: “In life, you should try to learn something about everything and everything about something.”
Patrick looks for values, character, grit, and work ethic, in the interview process but the interview process is flawed for hiring. DiscoverOrg uses the OmniaGroup math and verbal cognitive test to select for interviews.
DiscoverOrg hires SDRs and promotes them to Account Executives after about a year. Hitting the numbers is the top factor. Next, are they good people? Do they help others around them succeed? Do they have good ideas?
DiscoverOrg is experimental. The system they’ve built can withstand new players and change. Patrick notes some statistics about their process. It starts with hiring the right people. Don’t select hires from a small candidate pool.


Second Guest: Bridget Gleason

At the time of the interview, it is Spring in Boston. Bridget is happy with it.
The topic is how to increase your close rate from 20% to 25%. Andy had an interview recently with a CRO who hadn’t even thought about that. Instead, he wanted to fill the funnel with brute force instead of increasing the rate.
Sales asks Marketing for more leads and Marketing asks Sales to close the leads they get. You have to start closing business, not burning leads. Bridget stresses getting better-qualified leads in the top of the funnel.
Andy states that a 20% close rate is unacceptable. The SDRs need to filter out the unqualified leads to avoid wasting the Account Executives’ time with bad leads. Bridget wants to the increase the closes at every step.
In SaaS, there is an unwarranted acceptance of a 20% close rate. No one has an infinite market size. Eventually, you will run out of large numbers of leads to fill the top of the funnel. Bridget calls this scorched earth.
The way it works now is not the way it’s always going to work. Today’s methods will change as the world changes. To Bridget, innovation is the fun of sales. She likes a tight alignment between marketing and sales.
A VP of Sales told Andy that their low close rate was due to too much competition. Andy reflects that they didn’t have a handle on discovery to find good fits for their product and service. They were not qualifying prospects.
Sales is a numbers game, but find out which “numbers” are not a good fit. Bridget talks about Logz.io recently hiring a CMO. They are taking a more targeted approach on a smaller number of accounts. It’s sustainable.
Andy has talked to a lot of Sales Managers who don’t like to sell to customers. They like the sales machine process and dashboards, instead. Bridget loves the ‘hands-on piece’ of sales, which is why she likes smaller companies.
This is Bridget and Andy’s 137th episode together. Come back next week for another Wiley Wednesday (as Bridget calls it).

 

 

664: Authority Marketing, with Adam Witty and Life-long Education, with Bridget Gleason.

Adam Witty, Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Advantage Media Group|ForbesBooks and Bridget Gleason, VP of Sales for Logz.io and my regular partner, join me on this episode of #Accelerate!

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

First guest: Adam Witty

Adam started in sales and became an entrepreneur by creating Advantage|Forbes Books 12 years ago. The mission was to help business leaders create and publish a book to use as a marketing tool to grow their business.
If you write a book on the topic of what you do, people will immediately see you as the expert on that topic. The next step is to learn to make money with the book.
Advantage|Forbes Books centers around being a business growth company. Their other businesses are The Authority Institute, News & Experts, The Oxford Center for Entrepreneurs, and The No BS Inner Circle.
If you want to get to the top more quickly, then waiting your turn is too slow. Authority can be manufactured. You have to know your topic; then position yourself as an authority on it. Leverage authority to grow your business.
Authority marketing today beats corporate brand marketing. People do business with people, not with corporations. No one else will toot your horn. Be the advocate for your business.
The Seven Pillars of Authority Marketing are Content Marketing, Branding, PR & Media, Speaking, Lead Generation, Referral Marketing, and Events.
To grow your business, (1), you need more customers and, (2), you need existing customers to do more with you. Offer them more products and services that they value and turn your business into a growth machine.
When you have authority status, the quantity and quality of leads you generate and referrals you get will be higher. The other five pillars are Content Marketing — content in any medium you produce of value to your customer.
PR & Media — free publicity. The media cares about bringing stories of interest to their readers or viewers. Create a story. People buy on perception and emotion. Build the perception of your subject matter authority.
Speaking — a superior way to build a business, especially if you love to speak on stage and credibly deliver great content to the right audience. After you speak, there is a line of people who want to talk to you.
Branding and Omnipresence — professional, great quality content seen everywhere. Retarget your content with ads that follow it to various pages.
Events — dynamic in-person or virtual places where people come together to see, hear and learn from you. You have authority if you are a category of one.

 

Second Guest: Bridget Gleason

Andy and his wife have been doing the Whole30® Eating Plan. Andy describes their progress. It has transformed how he thinks about eating. He feels great and is healthy.
Andy is more alert during the day. He is getting good sleep. He recommends listeners to try it to change their relationship with food.
Bridget has been following the 16/8 plan, where all food is consumed within an 8-hour period.
Andy’s son has started the Whole30® program to get back into shape.
In life or in sales, if you are not happy with the status quo, what steps do you take to improve it? Always strive to be excellent. Always apply curiosity toward finding ways to improve.
Andy recommends Who We Are and How We Got Here, by David Reich for a study of anthropology, and The Anticipatory Organization, for corporate learning.

 

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