The Death of a Salesman

Do you know what your Technology Quotient score is?

I am delighted to welcome Justin Michael on to this week's Podcast.

Justin is currently an RVP at ReAppi, a top 3 mobile retargeting platform, that drives double-digit incremental lift to clients like Amazon, HomeAdvisor, and Postmates.

He aspires to be one of the world's foremost experts on sales automation and a thought leader in mobile marketing. This requires a deep exploration and understanding of Machine Learning (ML), AI, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Deep Learning AI, and Neural Nets, in order to bridge toward Singularity as a technologist.

He has been a pivotal force in explosive pipeline generation for the top mobile AdTech and MarTech startups by category over the past decade including Tune (double acquisition), Kochava, and Swrve as well as working for Sean Parker (Causes), LinkedIn (selling Sales Navigator), and Salesforce Marketing Cloud (ExactTarget). He is an expert in User Acquisition, Mobile Marketing Automation, Attribution Analytics, and Revenue Operations.

His new book, is set to release in 2021 entitled "Tech-Powered Sales." published by Harper Collins.

In this episode, we dive into his journey through to today.

What inspired him to co-author his book with Tony J Hughes (author of Combo Prospecting).

The challenges faced by sales today.

How sellers and sales leaders need to get a firm grip on the technology platforms they have in place today.

Why automation in sales is a positive thing and when deployed well and at scale can drive massive top of funnel gains.

Now is the time to up your TQ.

Follow and connect with Justin in LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeljustin/

or 

Twitter - https://twitter.com/adtechmartech

Lazy AI is just that, lazy.

Delighted to welcome Nigel Willson on this week's episode.

Nigel is the founder of www.awakenai.org and former CTO for Professional Services at Microsoft, he describes himself as Global Speaker, Influencer and Advisor on Artificial Intelligence, Innovation and Technology (Ranked amongst top 20 AI Influencers in the World) - ex European Chief Technology Officer but now an independent voice on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning - and he is genuinely all of these things.

I met Nigel at a Microsoft event where he blew my mind and most of the audience, on the future of AI and quantum computing. He is also the first person that has been able to explain what quantum is in terms that are easy to understand, and the potential impact this is going to have on society and business.

In this episode we discuss :

What is Artificial Narrow Intelligence vs Artificial General Intelligence?

The ethical challenges facing AI as a technology.

Is the Terminator a reality.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and how business is using it today and where it may go.

The potential impact of AI on the workforce.

The dangers of lazy AI.

As a leader of a business, what do you need to be thinking about right now on AI for you and your company to remain relevant.

Connect with Nigel on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelwillson/

Follow him on Twitter - https://twitter.com/nigewillson

What is Sales Enablement?

 

"Nobody has the answer to every question"

Delighted to welcome Delfim Pereira on to this week's episode. Delfim describes himself as a "Sales and Enablement Leader who mobilizes sales organizations to effectively differentiate the value proposition, coaches sales leaders to inspire greater discretionary effort and helps clients to make the most impactful buying decisions"

He has the background to back this up too, having "carried the bag" as he says, through to leading sales and sales enablement functions for global brands. Most notably for me, he spent several years at CEB who shaped the thinking behind the Challenger™ Sale, whose research a lot of social and digital selling programs are predicated on.

Over the next 30mins or so, we chat through what his view is on Sales Enablement is and isn't.

How technology now plays a big part of this and why social selling should not become a ‘commodity'.

How not only Sales needs to embrace Enablement, for it to truly work, it needs to be an organizational play.

He has an interesting take on how clients and prospects may need "un-teaching" based on what research they have done on a product or service, as this could hinder you rather than helping you. (The 57%).

If you want to learn more about Delfim, please do connect with him on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/delfimpereira180/

Know me, not about me.

“Experience is not what happens to you – it’s how you interpret what happens to you.” Aldous Huxley

I discuss with Peter Dorrington of Xmplify what Customer Experience is in the modern world.

Peter has unique experience in combining data science with behavioural science to understand what really matters to people and the practical experience to help business know how best to serve them and drive business impact.

On this podcast we have a fascinating delve into the world of data, buying behaviours and what business needs to be thinking about right now as they look at the next 6 months and beyond on their digital strategy. 

Are you listening to what your customers are really saying? 

What are you doing about it?

What investments in Customer Experience are you considering?

How is the CFO reacting to this?

As Katrina Neal tweeted back in 2017 "A marketer who says "I think" in front of data-driven execs may be asked to leave"

Social & Digital are great places to get a sense and feel of what the voice of the market is saying.

How are you then tieing this in with your operational data?

There is now an expectation of true 121 marketing.

We don't want a "Note from the CEO" landing in our inboxes.

We want you to know me not about me.

Connect with Pete on his website - www.xmplify.co.uk or on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterdorrington/

Who is the anomaly influencer in your business?

In this episode, I discuss this and more with Tim Williams, the CEO of www.onalytica.com

Onalytica describes itself as “Connecting brands and influencer communities to create inspiring content.”

I discuss with Tim, what is social influence on Social Media? How can you really measure it? We discuss how leadership needs to look at social engagement metrics in a different way to a spreadsheet of numbers.

We discuss how B2B businesses can leverage the voice of their employees and the potential marketing power this has through Social Advocacy.

How do you get people to engage?

Is your target audience listening?

Who should lead these programmes?

Is this something new or has it always been around?

Who are your anomaly influencers?

Please connect with Tim on LinkedIn to find out more https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamstim1979/

 

 

 

How do you act on Feedback?

I am delighted to host Stuart J Barnett on this episode.

Stuart describes himself as Thought partner and confident to lawyers. He shares his story of what led him to what he does now. Whilst the focus of the discussion is around Lawyers and Law firms, having worked across multiple industries, his insight and advice is valuable to all.

We discuss the importance if internal influence if you are looking to get promoted, can you answer these 3 questions?

Who needs to know you?

Who do you need to know?

What do you want to be known for?

We also discuss how to deal with feedback as a leader. His comment "It's information that already exists, it's just new for you" really stood out for me.

You can connect with Stuart here on LinkedIn, if you do, please mention this podcast! https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartjbarnett/

Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoy it.

This is no April Fool's Day.

In this episode, I ramble. It's been an up and down couple of weeks, therefore I just wanted to talk. I cover off a few things around what I am hearing in the market. My take a few things I have seen - what not to do. 

What I am doing with the time that I have, learning a new skill.

How running virtual workshops has changed my perspective on coaching.

I talk about how you can use a word cloud to see how good your digital profile is.

And I ramble, so will not be offended if you switch off half-way through.

Thanks as always for taking the time to listen. I really do appreciate it.

Show me you know me.

In this episode, I am joined by the wonderful Samantha McKenna. I have followed Sam's career over the past couple of years to her now launching her own sales consulting business. 

She describes herself as overly enthusiastic, amongst other things. This is more like an almost obsessive passion for bettering sales and the sales community.

In this podcast, we discuss the dos and do not's of selling. What tips and techniques Sam uses to keep the conversation moving forward. We also discuss how sales should be reacting to and behaving in the current Covid-19 global crisis.

The #samsales Consulting's mission is to make a positive impact on the sales profession by helping organizations, large and small, to better operationalize the most important aspects of their businesses – sales, marketing, demand generation, and finance. Utilizing the skills and tactics that have made Sam a record-breaking and award-winning Enterprise sales executive and leader at some of the most recognizable names in SaaS, we quickly assess the current state of affairs for your organization or team and put into practice tangible processes and ideas that make an immediate impact.

You can connect with Sam on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/samsalesli/

Link to Ben Smith's blog from Reachdesk https://www.reachdesk.com/post/how-bdr-s-can-book-meetings-remotely

Link to Partners in Excellence blog http://partnersinexcellenceblog.com/should-we-be-selling/

Being Memorable, the Sales Tech Stack & your favourite biscuit.

I am delighted to be joined by Tom Boston from SalesLoft. Tom is an SDR, where he leans on his experience of being a former Radio DJ, Genius in an Apple Store, to the hard yards of cold calling businesses to sell Gas. He now works for SalesLoft, educating the market on Sales Tech. 

Tom is also leveraging modern sales techniques through social as part of his overall sales process. In particular, his videos, which are brilliant.

We discuss how he has seen the world of selling change from the "Smile & Dial" days to the 21st Century processes and technology that can be used to get the attention of your buyer or create awareness online so that when the prospect picks up the phone or responds to an email, they already know who you are.

Tom shares his tips on being memorable, how he does it and what his learnings have been, and more importantly, is it working? Or is he just messing around on LinkedIn to get the likes? How does his Sales Director react to all of this?

We also discuss what "Sales Tech" is and how it can drive efficiency gains for the modern seller to become "Pleasantly Persistent" - yes I raised a virtual eyebrow at this phrase too. 

We also discuss biscuits. Pink Wafer, Custard Cream or Jaffa Cake. Is that even a biscuit?

To find out more about Tom, and more importantly, see his videos, connect with him on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-boston/

"Sales is more than smiles and dials. SalesLoft powers all the stages of your revenue lifecycle while optimizing the customer’s experience." To find out more https://salesloft.com/why-salesloft/

What is a Personal Brand? Can a CEO have one?

I am joined by the wonderful Mary Henderson, where we discuss what is a personal brand, how do you present it, we also venture into how a CEO can use it to their advantage.

Mary is an internationally recognised Personal Branding Expert who knows how to commercialise a Personal Branding into a monetisable online (and offline) business. She is a speaker and author of a number of fictional & non-fictional books and the founder of Lights Cameras Action – an end to end online coaching program exclusively designed for coaches, consultants, startups and business owners that take them from idea to productisation and monetisation in months.  

Mary helps service-driven experts unpack & define their area of expertise into a Personal Brand so they can position themselves as an authority in their industry and social media by creating a bespoke business solution or methodology so they target a specific market or industry, deliberately and strategically.  She is regularly invited to speak to leaders & decision makers in the corporate landscape on why positioning their customer-facing people and senior executives from job titles to Personal Brands impacts their culture and bottom line in a positive way. 

In this episode, we discuss Mary's background which has led her to where she is now. How she turned around a Sales Team in early 2000 to leverage their personal brands in a more effective way. A concept way ahead of its time.

We also discuss how CEOs can learn from what Satya Nadella does at Microsoft to leverage their Personal Bran, or as she describes, their Reputation Brand.

You can connect with Mary on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryhendersoncoaching/

Find more about what she does and how she can help you on her website - https://www.maryhendersoncoaching.com/