Kara Smith Brown, CEO of LeadCoverage and author of The Revenue Engine, shares her insights from a successful B2B sales career. She highlights the importance of treating your career like a funnel, focusing on effective decision-making and eliminating unproductive elements. Kara explains why 'maybes' can be more detrimental than clear 'no's' in sales, encouraging resilience through rejection. She also discusses the concept of 'backwards math' for setting revenue goals and the value of genuine communication and collaboration in professional settings.
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Kara's Worst Meeting Experience
Kara shared her worst meeting where pitching branding to leadership failed spectacularly.
This moment drove her to focus on revenue generation and earning a seat at the table.
insights INSIGHT
Funnels and Flexion Points
Every decision and relationship flows through a funnel and you cannot move backwards in it.
Progression through funnels has critical flexion points where measurement and decisions happen.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Ask For No, Not Maybe
Ask clearly for a "no" instead of a "maybe" to free up your time and energy.
A hard "no" helps you focus on prospects or partners who are enthusiastic and likely to convert.
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The Revenue Engine: Fueling a B2B High Octane Pipeline
Kara Smith Brown
Kara Smith Brown's book offers a transformative framework for B2B go-to-market success, emphasizing three core strategies: sharing compelling stories and data insights to build relationships, tracking prospect interest to optimize pipeline flow, and maintaining consistent follow-up to convert leads. Packed with real-world case studies, the book provides CEOs and marketing professionals with actionable methods to measure success through pipeline volume, velocity, and value, replacing random marketing acts with a structured approach for executive-level impact.
The Four Conversations
A New Model for Selling Expertise
Blair Enns
In "The Four Conversations," Blair Enns presents a revolutionary approach to selling expertise in professional services. The book challenges traditional sales methodologies, emphasizing the importance of building genuine relationships with clients. Enns argues that successful selling is less about pitching and more about understanding client needs and positioning oneself as a trusted advisor. The four conversations outlined in the book provide a framework for navigating client interactions, fostering trust, and ultimately closing deals. The book's practical advice and insightful perspectives make it a valuable resource for professionals seeking to improve their sales and marketing strategies.
Go for No!: Yes is the Destination, No is How You Get There
Richard Fenton
Andrea Waltz
In 'Go for No!', Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz challenge conventional wisdom by advocating for the pursuit of rejection as a key to personal and professional growth. The book tells the story of Eric Bratton, a reluctant copier salesman who learns to overcome his fear of failure through interactions with his future self. The authors highlight the importance of viewing failure as a catalyst for success, introducing concepts such as the Five Levels of Failure and the need to desensitize oneself to the discomfort of rejection. The book encourages readers to set goals for the number of 'no's they receive, as each rejection brings them closer to a 'yes'[1][3][4].
The hard thing about hard things
building a business when there are no easy answers
Ben Horowitz
In this book, Ben Horowitz shares his personal and often humbling experiences in the tech industry to offer essential advice and practical wisdom. He addresses various hard decisions and challenges that business leaders face, such as firing friends, managing company culture, handling layoffs, and making tough strategic decisions. Horowitz emphasizes the importance of honesty, resilience, and adaptability in leadership, drawing from his experiences with companies like Loudcloud and Andreessen Horowitz.
Kara Smith Brown shares principles from her storied B2B sales career that help every professional make the most of their opportunities.
— YOU’LL LEARN —
1) How and why to think of your career like a funnel
2) Why “maybes” are more dangerous than “no’s”
3) How to develop and share a unique point of view that gets you noticed
Kara Smith Brown, LeadCoverage CEO and Founder, is a recognized supply chain, logistics, and technology thought leader. Her book, The Revenue Engine: Fueling a B2B High Octane Pipeline, is an Amazon Bestseller and offers readers effective revenue-generating strategies. Kara is a thought leader in the supply chain and go to market industries. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and two daughters.
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