Sales Game Changers | Tips from Successful Sales Leaders

Jillian Swenson, a sales leader at Amazon Web Services, discusses the dynamics of federal partnerships. She emphasizes how Independent Software Vendors can tailor solutions for government needs. The conversation navigates the challenges of lengthy sales cycles and compliance in the federal sector. Mike Blake shares insights on maintaining resilience in tough sales scenarios. Both leaders stress the importance of understanding customer needs and leveraging generative AI to enhance sales strategies and differentiate oneself in the competitive landscape.

In a lively discussion, Jason Adolf, Vice President at Appian, shares his expertise on engaging government customers. He urges sales professionals to break free from the COVID mindset and actively participate in events to foster relationships. Jason dives into the value of low-code solutions that simplify processes for government agencies. He emphasizes the importance of understanding budget dynamics and crafting tailored sales strategies. With a focus on trust and consultative selling, he explains how to adapt in a competitive federal marketplace.

In this engaging conversation, Marc Monday, Vice President of Global Partnerships & Alliances at Deltek, shares his insights into the power of partnerships in enterprise sales. He discusses the importance of understanding customer needs and leveraging local knowledge to navigate complex solutions like ERP systems. Marc emphasizes how AI can enhance partner management and sales strategies, while stressing the need for a customer-centric approach. He also warns against viewing marketing as separate from sales, advocating for an integrated strategy to drive success.

Theresa Caragol, Founder and CEO of AchieveUnite, is an expert on partnerships and author of 'Partnering Success'. She discusses the critical role of strategic alliances for growth in today's market. Theresa highlights the Partnering Quotient Index (PQI) to measure trust in partnerships. She also identifies five personality types that can improve collaboration. Additionally, she shares insights on fostering effective partner organizations using the 'five Ps' framework and emphasizes the changing dynamics with AI shaping partnership strategies.

Alan Versteeg, Global Chief Revenue Officer at Growth Matters International, and James Hickman, Director of Sales at Altron Digital Business, dive deep into revitalizing sales coaching in South Africa. They discuss the importance of investing in sales management for sustainable growth and the shifting landscape due to hybrid work models. Versteeg emphasizes the necessity for salespeople to adopt a professional mindset, while Hickman highlights the critical role of actionable insights. Together, they advocate for effective coaching and sales forecasting as keys to organizational success.

This is episode 702. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. Read more about the Institute for Excellence in Sales Premier Women in Sales Employer (PWISE) designation and program here. Purchase Fred Diamond's best-sellers Love, Hope, Lyme: What Family Members, Partners, and Friends Who Love a Chronic Lyme Survivor Need to Know and Insights for Sales Game Changers now! Today's show featured an interview with Anna Frazzetto, the former Chief Revenue Officer at Airswift, a workforce solutions (staffing and recruitment) organization. ANNA'S TIP: "With the clients that you currently work with, find out something that you don't know about them. Because there's going to be something that you don't know. Either about the individual that you sell to. Have you done research specifically? If you're selling to a C-level person, maybe they belong to a certain committee that you didn't know about. Find out something new. Every bit of information helps out."

This is episode 701. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. The Sales Game Changers Podcast was recognized by YesWare as the top sales podcast. Read the announcement here. Read more about the Institute for Excellence in Sales Premier Women in Sales Employer (PWISE) designation and program here. Purchase Fred Diamond's best-sellers Love, Hope, Lyme: What Family Members, Partners, and Friends Who Love a Chronic Lyme Survivor Need to Know and Insights for Sales Game Changers now! Today's show featured an interview with Mark Magnacca, President and Co-Founder, Allego, Inc. and Mark Lonzo, Director of Sales Development at The Hillman Group. MARK MAGNACCA'S TIP: "To take your sales career to the next level, pick a philosophy. In the same way that there's lots of great philosophies out there in terms of how to grow your business, how to be consultative, the key is to try to find one that you can actually follow. Trying to mix and match or mix religions, so to speak, is a lot harder than to pick one approach that you believe in and that you can hold onto and stay with over the long term." MARK LONZO'S TIP: " I have a sign in my office that says, "If we're not changing, we're dying." Always look for ways that you're always changing and evolving as a person. Don't become stagnant in your career. Always look for ways to improve. It's a constant self-improvement process that you need to engage in."

This is episode 700! Yay! Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. Read more about the Institute for Excellence in Sales Premier Women in Sales Employer (PWISE) designation and program here. Purchase Fred Diamond's best-sellers Love, Hope, Lyme: What Family Members, Partners, and Friends Who Love a Chronic Lyme Survivor Need to Know and Insights for Sales Game Changers now! Interviewing Fred for this monumental episode was LinkedIn Top Executive Voice Leader Kathy Obad. FRED'S TIP: "If one person listens to my podcast, then one person listens to my podcast, and I'm impacting one person. Now, I want thousands, but if you're making a difference with one person, and I know that the Sales Game Changers Podcast has done that, because people have told me. I know that the book has done that, because people have told me. Some people tell me they read it before they go on a sales call. The Love, Hope, Lyme book, I know that's impacting lives in a very, very challenging world. Anything we could do to make the world a better place is a good thing, even if it's one person at a time."

This is episode 699. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. Read more about the Institute for Excellence in Sales Premier Women in Sales Employer (PWISE) designation and program here. Purchase Fred Diamond's best-sellers Love, Hope, Lyme: What Family Members, Partners, and Friends Who Love a Chronic Lyme Survivor Need to Know and Insights for Sales Game Changers now! Today's show featured an interview with Insight Revenue CEO Zach Gropper and Jonathan Tice, CRO of WebPros. ZACH'S TIP: "If you're in a commercial leadership position, sales, marketing, go to the leaders across that team and make sure you have something on your calendar every week where you're getting together and talking across those functions about your customer. It's another way you can better align your organization. You're all playing, it's teams selling to buying teams, and that's how you can be a better partner and build better quality business." JONATHAN'S TIP: Rethink your role around how do you drive value for the customer in ways that they can measure and quantify."

Institute for Excellence in Sales Cofounder and Sales Game Changers Podcast star Fred Diamond and "Crossing the Zone of Fear" author John Knotts address how fear stops sales professionals from achieving the success they want to achieve. John takes Fred through book as Fred personally answers the questions john poses through the book. In episode seven of seven, they techniques, actions, and things you can do to cross the zone of fear to achieve what's possible in your sales, business, and personal life. John discusses 15 actions you can take in the book. On the podcast, Fred and John go deep into 4 of them, including addressing negative self-talk and visualization. The reality is that once you identify False Evidence Appearing Real, you achieve almost anything. Thank you for joining with John and Fred to overcome these fears and live your most fulfilled life and achieve what possible in business and your personal life!