Accelerate! With Andy Paul

Samantha McKenna is the Founder of #samsales Consulting. She recalls the lessons from her time as a lifeguard at Disney there that helped her achieve incredible success in sales. Then, Samantha discusses the moment she decided to start her own company and its growth into a 14-strong all-woman team. She digs into educating sellers on how to communicate better and become self-sufficient to achieve consistent levels of success. Samantha also gives actionable tips on how to improve your LinkedIn profile and the many unseen benefits this has for your career. HIGHLIGHTS Breaking sales records and taking the leap into entrepreneurship Hiring veterans and military spouses Teaching how to communicate across generations Invest in people and provide mentorship Top tips to improve your LinkedIn profile QUOTES Enablement starts with the basics of communication - Sam: "When we think about enablement and we think about what we're focused on. One of the things that I see a lot of organizations focus on is how to sell

Brandon Fluharty is the Founder of Be Focused. Live Great. Selling today leads to many unhealthy habits that result in the degradation of our health and well-being. Above all else, the top 1 consideration should be sleep. Brandon teaches others to take ownership of their sleep by adopting a healthy lifestyle and optimizing it with the help of apps. He is starting to see that a greater focus on sleep, skills, strain, and satisfaction are the critical areas in life that a seller must monitor to become the best version of themselves. HIGHLIGHTS Flexipline: Find the balance between flexibility and discipline A seller’s 4 key areas: Sleep, skills, strain, satisfaction Optimize and track sleep with apps Train sellers as athletes: Look at the human first and improve empathy QUOTES Sleep is the number 1 metric in a sellers' life- Brandon: "We inherit a stressful role. There's a demand for predictability in a very unpredictable role. So we have to carry that stress around and, by making a sleep a foundation, yo

Tom Stanfill is the Co-Founder and CEO of ASLAN Training and the author of UnReceptive. A customer's willingness to listen matters more than your ability to communicate. Tom discusses the concept of receptivity and how unreceptive buyers refuse to be influenced by sellers. Tom digs into identifying emotionally closed customers and honing skills beyond playbooks and strategies to influence a customer's willingness to listen. Andy also puts a spotlight on many sellers’ reliance on top of funnel and a rather lazy acceptance of low rin rates. HIGHLIGHTS Find common ground in the customer's whiteboard Observing a shift from salesy to authentic sales behavior Influence a customer's willingness to listen Low win rates: Product-market fit or bad selling?  QUOTES Persuading an emotionally-closed person will backfire - Tom: "It comes from this principle that I call the Cornerstone Principle because it's a cornerstone of everything we teach is that, when someone's emotionally closed, the more you try to persuade

Garin Hess is the Founder and CEO at Consensus and John Cook is the Director of Demand Gen also at Consensus. They discuss the recently published 3rd Annual Sales Engineering Compensation and Workload Report on where presales and sales engineering stand today. In particular, Garin and John highlight that buyers prefer interactions with sales engineers and that they spend less time engaging with vendors. They also go into detail on the role similarities and differences between SEs and sellers in buyer enablement, SE engagement with stakeholders, and SE compensation.   HIGHLIGHTS The 3rd Annual Sales Engineering Compensation and Workload Report Buyers prefer dealing with sales engineers vs their sales counterparts Profile differences between SEs and sellers The attributes of a top SE: Industry fluency, acumen, and selling skills Measure the probability of success based on the buyer’s journey QUOTES A greater focus on sellers becoming coaches to buyers- John: "It's not just the roles of the SE getting st

Customer Experience and the Buyer's Journey are essential aspects to understand when building a RevOps org. Karen Steele, former CMO and executive from companies like LeanData, VMware and Marketo, joins Howard and Alastair to discuss the importance of 'experience'. Follow the Hosts on LinkedIn: Alastair Woolcock (CRO, Revenue.io) Howard Brown (CEO, Revenue.io) And our Special Guest: Karen Steele (Founder & Advisor, Alloy) Sponsored by: Revenue.io | Powering high-performing revenue teams with real-time guidance Explore the Revenue.io Podcast Universe: Sales Enablement Podcast Selling with Purpose Podcast RevOps Podcast *If you'd like to ask the guys a question that could get answered on the show, call our new message line at (323) 540-4777. Just leave your name, where you're from, and your question and we'll do our best to answer it on an upcoming episode.

Tiffani Bova is the Global Growth and Innovation Evangelist at Salesforce, a WSJ best-selling author, and the host of the What's Next! Podcast. The future of B2B selling is increasingly leaning on long-term customer relationships and building trust.  Tiffani digs into allowing sellers the autonomy to sell in the most agile and effective manner, either virtually or face to face. She comments on why sellers should meet buyers where they are in their buyer journey and read to gain insights on customers. She also offers the top 5 tactics for success in the next 1 to 2 years.  HIGHLIGHTS Engage with customers either virtually or face to face The buyer journey: Categorize your buyers into 4 Both brands and sellers need to earn the buyer's trust People processing: Manage sellers with more autonomy than control QUOTES Your reputation and how you show up are the only factors sellers can control - Tiffani: "The only thing a sales rep can control, the one and only thing, is the way they show up in front of a cust

Michael Pedone is the founder and sales training mentor of SalesBuzz.com. Selling is selling regardless of industry, and Michael breaks down the steps of a first-time sales call that leads to deeper conversations. In Michael’s experience, the basics of cold outreach are the same then as they are now. He also digs into why sellers have to redefine what success looks like and the key metrics that sales development managers should be focusing on.  HIGHLIGHTS Breaking down the first-time call 60 dials a day and/or 3 hours of talk time Learn the basics: Selling is selling regardless of industry Become great by investing in yourself QUOTES Selling to human beings is the same regardless of industry - Michael: "Even though the problems that your solution solves might be unique to that individual, the way they buy and make decisions is the same across the board, no matter what it is." The goal of a first-time call is to get the prospect interested - Michael: "First-time call, step one, you have to pique their i

Brent Adamson is the Global Head of Research and Communities at Ecosystems, as well as the co-author of The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer. A buyer’s experience with a seller, from their ability to show fresh perspectives to plain human empathy, dictates the seller’s win rates.  Brent dives into the way companies and sellers should view their quotas and how to get unstuck from a lack of innovation. He also talks about the need for greater focus on buyer enablement to become better sellers, especially during an economic downturn, and new approaches to selling that tap into human emotion. HIGHLIGHTS Buyer enablement: Have a conversation on what's important to them Human empathy is behind every sales interaction The seller makes the difference in a sale Solve not just what you want the customer to know, but also what to feel QUOTES Your reputation and how you show up are the only factors sellers can control - Brent: "Do relationships matter or not? And the answer, funny enough, was always of

Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus are the Co-Founders of The Presentation Company and Co-Authors of the book Everyday Business Storytelling. In connection to the basic elements of stories, sellers almost always focus on the resolution without even building the foundations and actually understanding their prospects. Today, Janine and Lee share their 4 basic elements of a story and why every story needs a big idea. They talk about applying these principles not only in presentations but even in some things as common as emails. They dig deep into the magic of storytelling in that you could even integrate data to deliver the best narrative for your prospect. HIGHLIGHTS Start with the customer and their needs and build a story from there  The 4 basic signposts for creating a story Who is responsible for creating stories? Applying the storytelling principles in emails Data is good but you have to wrap it in a story QUOTES The basic signposts help sellers build a story - Janine: "To me, it's like giving peopl

Alex Kvamme is the Co-Founder and CEO of Pathlight. With the tools and technology available, we already have enough data to work with for managing and improving performance. Alex talks about how you can get the right data to enhance the quality of coaching managers provide. He shares his insight into what productivity means in sales, especially when it comes to feedback and self-improvement. He then builds into looking at the metrics so that everybody knows how they are doing, not getting lost in all the data, and setting goals efficiently.    HIGHLIGHTS What does productivity mean in sales? Alex walks us through the performance intelligence platform The role of experience and intuition in a data-driven world There's now a sophistication around goal-setting   QUOTES One way to look at metrics in a performance intelligence platform - Alex: "Where do goals live right now? They live in spreadsheets. They live in color-coded dials on your Salesforce report. If you're on ops or you're a leader doing this for

Jonathan Friedman is the Co-Founder and CEO of Demostack. How quickly should your prospect see a product demo in their buying journey? How do you make your demos more memorable to your prospects? Jonathan shares valuable insights on these questions and how to create impactful demos consistently. He talks about the many functions and features of Demostack. He also digs into the power of storytelling and using stories to make your demos a reflection of your prospects and their needs. Above all, being consistent with the stories you tell throughout your buyer's process.    HIGHLIGHTS Everything you can do in Demostack Co-creating with your prospect with powerful demos Your buyer is an extension of your storytelling capabilities Congruency is essential when presenting your product   QUOTES Demo platforms help the seller bring the product into the conversation - Jonathan: "I can do a million things to know a little bit of who you are before we go on the phone. If I can translate that into the product and make

Brian Souza is the Founder and CEO of ProductivityDrivers, Inc. and the Author of the New York Times Bestselling Book The Weekly Coaching Conversation. There's a correlation between the quality and quantity of coaching that one receives and his/her level of performance improvement. Today, Brian shares about the situation of constructive coaching in teams and how most individuals report never really getting any developmental feedback. He dives into the reality of coaching and how to prepare yourself to be a remarkable coach whether you’re in a manager role or not. HIGHLIGHTS Why more and more are still defaulting to just wanting to be a manager  The influence of technology and strategy in solving the disconnect between sellers and their managers. A need for reinforcement in coach training in the skill and human levels Reset to create a high-performance environment conducive to coaching QUOTES There's often no incentive at the top to be better at closing deals - Brian: "It really boils down to efficiency

Chris Pennington is the Chief Customer Officer at SugarCRM. Creating the best experience for customers in their buying journey doesn't only fall on the one person facing them but on all the tools, strategies, and support behind the scenes. Chris talks about the roles and responsibilities of a Chief Customer Officer and how they measure customer experience. He shares his insight into the elements and overall process of building trust. By prioritizing trust, you're less likely to face customer churn and you also get proper feedback that enables you to deliver even better customer experiences. He also talks about how to use CRM most effectively to measure and improve the buyer's journey. HIGHLIGHTS What is Chief Customer Officer responsible for Measuring the customer experience in their buying journey   The critical elements of building trust  Avoid leaving yourself vulnerable to customer churn The value of technology that assists in delivering superior customer experiences QUOTES Using data and experie

Mercy Lee Bell is a Sales Enablement Manager at Webflow. There are distinct differences between traditional selling and product-led growth. Mercy digs into how PLG frames questions with insight and how to tell a story that visualizes the buyer's vision of success. Mercy shares how to frame discovery calls as more of a listening exercise than a speaking opportunity. She talks about presenting points of view that add value to your prospect and the need for sellers to adapt to the present environment of recession fear.   HIGHLIGHTS Product-led growth defined Selling in a recession requires changing selling behaviors Discovery in PLG: An opportunity to guide prospects with questions Tell a story about what success looks like for the buyer QUOTES PLG discovery extracts value from product Andy: "The difference is that the user's experience of the product in product-led growth is not just a demo or necessarily a trial. It's they're actually using it. There's a value being extracted from the product and that's

Chris White is a business coach, entrepreneur, and author of The Six Habits of Highly Effective Sales Engineers. SEs are one of the most underserved roles in sales enablement and training, and Chris shares the increasing role of the SE as a solution consultant in winning new business. Chris discusses his goal of getting technical wins, which is to help buyers see beyond a reasonable doubt that a particular solution is the right choice for them. He also digs into the 6 behavioral patterns of the best SEs, including how SEs can partner more effectively with their sales counterparts and how to conduct effective discovery. HIGHLIGHTS The technical win defined Buyers go through 3 stages: The What, The How, and The Who Influence how buyers look at problems so your solution is the logical choice The six habits of highly effective sales engineers  Change the perception of salespeople by prioritizing the buyer Sellers have two roles: Sell and connect with people QUOTES Realize what the buyer needs that is agn

Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus are the Co-Founders of The Presentation Company and Co-Authors of the book Everyday Business Storytelling. In connection to the basic elements of stories, sellers almost always focus on the resolution without even building the foundations and actually understanding their prospects. Today, Janine and Lee share their 4 basic elements of a story and why every story needs a big idea. They talk about applying these principles not only in presentations but even in some things as common as emails. They dig deep into the magic of storytelling in that you could even integrate data to deliver the best narrative for your prospect. HIGHLIGHTS Start with the customer and their needs and build a story from there  The 4 basic signposts for creating a story Who is responsible for creating stories? Applying the storytelling principles in emails Data is good but you have to wrap it in a story QUOTES The basic signposts help sellers build a story - Janine: "To me, it's like giving people a

Matt Melymuka is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at PeakSpan Capital. Growing a business does not follow a uniform path. Matt shares their different approach to venture investing that is, in his words, sane rather than shooting for the top at all costs. He digs into their incremental value creation method that aligns with where the company is and where it can reasonably go. Their philosophy is anchored on self-awareness and it is this mindset that they bring to the table when working with businesses in the emerging growth phase of their development. HIGHLIGHTS There is no one path to success: Bespoke growth maintains optionality Status quo KPIs are not always the best metric to measure a business Offering specialization and focus that has proven to grow companies Incremental value creation and selling better during an economic slowdown QUOTES Be self-aware that not every company is a billion-dollar company - Matt: "We are just huge believers in real transparency, thinking about not what are you goi

Fred Diamond is the Co-Founder of the Institute for Excellence in Sales, Author of Insights for Sales Game Changers and a nonsales book called Love, Hope, Lyme: A Book about Chronic Illness Support, and the Host of the Sales Game Changers Podcast. Top sales professionals have a mission to the customer—nurture the relationship and help them achieve their goals.  Fred shares that every sales interaction is a conversation that can lead to indispensable relationships which pay off for decades. He discusses how to develop an optimal mindset founded on curiosity, authenticity, and creativity, and shares some of the best sales quotes he has learned over the years. HIGHLIGHTS Urgency: Syncing the seller to the buyer’s journey Luck is when preparation meets opportunity Creativity in sales and the ability to pivot  Empathy and a sense of mission to the customer  Raising awareness on chronic Lyme disease QUOTES The mission of a salesperson is to help the client achieve their goals - Fred: “It's magical when the

Drew Neisser is the Founder of Renegade and CMO Huddles, host of the CMO Podcast, and Author of the new book Renegade Marketing: 12 Steps to Building Unbeatable B2B Brands. Marketing has become more complicated without necessarily becoming more effective.  Today, Drew talks about the tough environment of CMOs and delves into why a single clear and consistent message is far more likely to get the sale over a matrixed approach. He also discusses how and why clearing away the clutter of your messaging makes a world of difference for your buyer. HIGHLIGHTS Rising from setbacks: Drew enters content creation as he reinvents his business CMOs clear away the clutter and today work closely with the CRO Marketing has become way more complicated but rarely more effective An 8-word purpose-driven story statement is your North Star QUOTES A CMO focuses the organization’s product and messaging - Drew: "A great CMO, who is a leader, recognizes the sort of emotional impact of choice of words and visuals and design and

Mike Bosworth is the author of Solution Selling and co-author of CustomerCentric Selling. Buyers have resistance to sellers and today, Mike shares 2 kinds of avoidance known as proposal avoidance and negotiation avoidance.  He discusses why sellers must work towards a pre-proposal review instead of dropping all the details and decision-making at the moment of the actual proposal. He then talks about negotiation avoidance and what you as a seller can do to get in the mind of the buyer to reach an agreement without ever having to negotiate. HIGHLIGHTS Proposal avoidance: Confirm all details in the pre-proposal review Negotiation avoidance: The difference between cost and price justified Don't negotiate with procurement  QUOTES Proposals shouldn't have any new information in them so sell the pre-proposal review - Mike: "By selling them on the idea of a pre-proposal review a week before the proposal is due is when you do the surprise close. They haven't been thinking about risk. And if you leave, if I can,