Evolution of Sales Specialization

To help you wrap your head around the rapidly evolving technological landscape as a revenue leader, we have a very special guest today. Mary Shea is the former Principal Analyst at Forrester and is currently advising and coaching multiple high-growth companies. Mary joins Hosts Craig Rosenberg and Matt Amundson to discuss the technology-enabled future of B2B sales organizations, which stages of the funnel should be automated first, and understanding “Signal-based Selling.”

Also, Craig relishes getting a great compliment and Matt is put on the hot seat for one of his takes on B2B sales. 

Takeaways:

• Investing in sales training and enablement is vital, both internally and via third parties. This focus on upskilling is critical during times of change, especially as enablement professionals are among the first to be let go when budgets are tight. Consistent investment in enablement is key to maintaining a high-performing sales team.
• Look beyond point solutions to vendors who offer comprehensive support for the sales cycle. Try to work with vendors who possess an exciting vision for the future, particularly those who incorporate embedded and generative AI into their offerings, allowing for a more consolidated and efficient tech stack.
• Focus on insights over mere data to improve buyer-seller interactions. It’s much more important to extract meaningful insights from data, than just collect data for its own sake. The term 'Signal-based Selling' highlights the need for sales and marketing professionals to focus on actionable insights that drive meaningful engagements with prospects and customers.

Chapters:

• 00:00 - Craig is called a “Living Legend”
• 01:23 - Introducing special guest Mary Shea
• 03:30 - The Agile, Tech-Enabled Salesforce
• 10:51 - Are Smaller Sales Teams the Future?
• 13:12 - Can You Scale Back on SDRs & Sell More?
• 17:41 - How Sales Leaders should Think about Automation Today 
• 21:19 - Is Greater Specialization in Sales the Solution?
• 29:18 - The Emerging SE Tech Stack
• 34:05 - Embracing Gen AI in the Enterprise
• 44:51 - Understanding Signal-Based Selling

Quote of the Show:

• “If I’m a revenue leader …  I need to think about technology as another arrow in my quiver.” - Mary Shea

Sponsor:

• Ringmaster Conversational Marketing - The Transaction is sponsored and produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through Branded podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/

Connect with Mary:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryshea/ 

Shoutouts:

• Andy Hoar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyhoar/ 
• Testbox: https://www.testbox.com/ 
• Outreach: https://www.outreach.io/ 
• Gong: https://www.gong.io/ 
• Salesloft: https://www.salesloft.com/ 
• Apollo: https://www.apollo.io/ 
• Drift, a Salesloft Company: https://www.drift.com/ 
• Seismic: https://seismic.com/ 
• Mediafly: https://www.mediafly.com/ 

Follow the Show:

• Craig’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigrosenberg/ 
• Matt’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-amundson-91657236/ 
• The Transaction on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-transaction/ 
• The Transaction Website: https://thetransactionpod.com/ 
• Substack: https://thetransaction.substack.com/ 

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• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3i3r3WLacRZiSa7dOaOgDz 
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-transaction/id1734518309 

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