Revenue Builders

The buyer champion is a crucial part of any deal, but especially important in a challenging sales environment. In this episode, Richard Rivera, Founder of GENNOW Sales Consulting, joins the show to discuss his book The Champion Sell and his insights on what makes a great buyer champion. In his conversation with John Kaplan and John McMahon, Richard shares his view on the different archetypes of champions, along with the risks and benefits of each. The episode contains advice for sellers and leaders on how to incorporate stronger champion practices into their sales rhythm. Don’t forget to tune in next week to catch Part 2 of Richard Rivera on Revenue Builders. Here are some key sections to check out: 03:01 Why Richard decided to write The Champion Sell 06:44 The three common selling habits for reps10:49 Criteria for defining a champion18:25 Sales in the information age26:19 The four champion tendencies34:19 Working with someone that blows past the buying process Additional Resources:Connect with Richard Rivera on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-rivera-44532b1/Read The Champion Sell by Richard Rivera: https://www.thechampionsell.com/Resources to Help Your Salespeople Enable Champions: https://forc.mx/41wD9zC QUOTESDifferentiating the power and influence of a champion: “Typically power is a trait of strength. I can move something, I can make something happen. So power is really about authority whereas influence is about people. So I may have an enormous amount of authority but I can't influence people.” Find evidence that they're doing the work: “The third part of the definition that they have the willingness to sell for you when you're not there or sell on your behalf. That means that you have evidence that they're taking action for you. Then I started relating to my experiences. Regardless of what I'm doing, there's a certain people that don't have a tendency to take action as much as we'd like.”  Check out John McMahon’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Understanding the CFO perspective is becoming increasingly crucial to closing deals in today’s economy. This week, we’re sharing some highlights of the best wisdom shared by financial leaders on our show.Tune in as Six-time CFO and Board Advisor Murray Demo, Drift CFO Jim Kelliher, and Managing Director of Madrona Venture Group Hope Cochran talk forecasting, budgeting, and what a CFO’s priorities really are when the economy presents challenges. Whether you’re a seller, a champion, or a leader, you’ll get a valuable glimpse into the mind of a CFO on this episode of Revenue Builders. Here are some key sections to check out: 02:14 Murray Demo on giving the decision-making power to the CIO20:51 Jim Kelliher on value, forecasting metrics, and accurate forecasting29:50 Hope Cochran on balancing forecasts, accuracy, and transparency Additional Resources:Connect with Murray Demo:https://www.linkedin.com/in/murray-demo-59a31117/Connect with Jim Kelliher:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-kelliher-8a3100/Connect with Hope Cochran:https://www.linkedin.com/in/hope-cochran-96433738/Help Sellers Chart The Buyer Landscape: https://forc.mx/3mGU5Eq QUOTESMurray on giving the decision-making power to the CIO: “I would never take a CFO job unless IT reported to me. So in any software purchase, I felt that if I got too involved too early, I undermined the CIO, and instead of it being sort of their decision and their commitment to the success of implementing that software, because I got too involved in it, I let them off the hook.” Hope on balancing forecasts, accuracy, and transparency: “I want to establish the ability for everyone to be as transparent and honest as they can and to take the game plan out of it. I know that's hard, and I know that there are a lot of reasons why the game plan comes in, people have career ambitions, etc. But that's the moment where we can all help each other.” Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Your existing customer base is a vital part of your future sales pipeline. Today’s conversation with Allison Pickens explores how to reduce churn and ensure that your retention revenue pipeline stays full. Allison is an experienced investor, board director, and customer success expert. She joins John Kaplan and John McMahon today to discuss the importance of viewing customer success not as a separate activity from sales, but as an integral part of the sales process and, ultimately, the value of your solution. Allison shares strategies for assessing customer health during economic uncertainty, harnessing the power of AI for customer success, and aligning customer success with your overall sales objectives.Here are some key sections to check out: 00:56 Introducing Allison Pickens: Investor, board director, and CS expert01:48 Why has customer success become so important?06:43 Why are companies slow to adopt customer success?10:48 Importance of understanding the customer’s ROI15:18 How do you monitor and manage customer health?25:55 How do you measure customer success?29:38 The importance of strong product documentation and user support35:33 Understanding the root cause of churn42:25 How can CEOs and founders learn from churn?48:53 Injecting CS into the businessAdditional Resources:Connect with Allison Pickens: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allison-pickens/Get Allison’s book The Customer Success Economy: https://www.amazon.com/Customer-Obsessed-Company-Competitive-Advantage/dp/1119572762Make QBRs more valuable for your customers: https://forc.mx/3Ukt7PbTaking care of customers in a down economy: https://forc.mx/43esCuc QUOTESAllison - You need to invest in supporting your customers: “The revenue model has shifted and because you can't just sell a customer and ignore them after the fact, you actually need to pay attention to them in order to generate revenue for them later. You now need to invest in actually supporting them. So I think that, you know, we go where the revenue goes.”Allison - Not taking customer success seriously will cost you getting left behind: “Nowadays, I would say that we're in the late majority stage of the adoption curve of customer success that, actually, if a company hasn't really started taking customer success seriously, they will probably be left behind in pretty short order.”Allison - Documentation is a product itself: “I think the best companies think of documentation as a type of product in itself where they release updates to documentation in a structured way. They think about the impact of a new release on past documentation and past documentation that was written and ensure that it's kept up to date.” Check out John McMahon’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The problem with most negotiation training approaches is they often fail to account for the nuances of a sales negotiation based on value. In this episode, Tim Caito, Senior Partner at Force Management, joins John McMahon and John Kaplan to discuss competencies and common pitfalls associated with negotiation. The conversation covers the perception of power and emotions, early preparation and value-building throughout the sales process, the role of champions in negotiation, handling give-gets and package options, and many more negotiation topics. Learn how these concepts apply to your sales team and the current economic environment in this episode of Revenue Builders. Here are some key sections to check out: 01:58 Introducing Tim Caito, Senior Partner at Force Management05:47 Time, Power, and Knowledge in negotiations09:46 The power of emotions and perception of power14:40 Perceptions of value vs. better alternatives21:00 Power and knowledge and the power of champions28:38 Negotiation is a process, not an event56:03 The concept of multiple options Additional Resources:Connect with Tim Caito: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-caito-b9045951/Help Sellers Negotiate Successfully in a Shifting Economy: https://forc.mx/40BrxLhHow to Align Cross-Functional Teams on a Negotiation Strategy: https://forc.mx/40CP4M4Our Top Negotiation Resources: https://forc.mx/3ZAVNVg QUOTESTim - Negotiations are a battle of perceptions: “In a negotiation, the side that is perceived to have the better alternative is perceived to have more power, and the science and negotiation are pretty clear on this, the side that is perceived to have more power almost always captures more value in a negotiation.”Tim - Start negotiating before they believe you’re negotiating: “Start the negotiation process before the other side believes we're negotiating, and the good news for our sellers out there; when you are executing an effective sales process, you're simultaneously executing a negotiation process, you just got to be aware of it.” Check out John McMahon’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A company's ability to recruit and hire top talent is directly related to its ability to scale effectively. In this episode, we pulled together some of the best moments from three of our best interviews on recruiting and hiring in a growing organization.  These leaders share their top tips for getting beyond the resume, creating efficiencies in the hiring process, and key things to look for when hiring sales talent and sales leadership. Join us as we take look back on the best moments from Mike McSally (Talent and Recruiting Expert), Hollie Castro (Chief People Officer at Miro), and Bill Cea (Managing Director at Foster Beck) in this latest episode of Revenue Builders.Here are some key sections to check out: 01:55 Mike McSally on challenges with the recruitment process07:58 Hollie Castro's efficiency method for team interviews19:38 Bill Cea's interviewing components, including the importance of quantifiable success and hiring for cultural fit Additional Resources:Connect with Mike McSally: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikemcsally/Connect with Hollie Castro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hollie-castro-mba-nacd-dc-6526452/Connect with Bill Cea: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-cea/ QUOTESMike - The Six-Second step of checking resumes: “The average recruiter, even with all the advancement in technology and machine learning and AI, their eyes are trained to look for two or three certain buzzwords. And they're going to spend about six seconds determining my 30 years of domain expertise.”  “If those buzzwords don't pop out and make it easy for them, they're just going to move right on to the next candidate. So, you know, not only does it just suck the life out of talented people that are trying to engage with the right employers, employers are missing out on great talent because of this broken six-second step that happens all too often.”Hollie - Embedding values into career competency: “Our values are embedded in our sort of career competency. Each team is given a competency that they are supposed to test that aligns with our leadership competency. So we've embedded that all the way through.”Bill - The importance of past performance: “Past performance is not indicative of future results, but there has to be a past performance because we can determine the attribute that's most important, which is a quantifiable success.” Check out John McMahon’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

“The best sales leaders are actually business leaders.” Murray Demo joins John McMahon and John Kaplan on a new episode of the Revenue Builders Podcast. A six-time CFO and board director for Citrix, Easy Software, Centrify, Qualtrics, and Lacework, Murray joins us to discuss the importance of the big picture for sales leaders. He explores how leaders can start to zoom out from just sales success into constructing a full-scale business strategy, and shares advice for CFOs and CROs approaching economic downturn.Everything is a trade-off when you’re making complex business decisions, but how can you be sure you’re making the best decision for the long-term health of your company? Murray suggests getting on the ground meeting people and staying informed on what’s happening at every level of the organization. Dig into even more advice for sales leaders in this episode of Revenue Builders. Here are some key sections to check out: 08:29 The key metrics to look for in sales performance13:47 Balancing fiscal responsibility with agility20:40 Compensation programs’ impact on company performance29:37 Expectations of cost justification and commitment42:38 Defining a good company56:31 Defining a down round and how to handle it Additional Resources:Connect with Murray Demo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/murray-demo-59a31117/Visit the Lacework website: https://www.lacework.com/More resources for leaders facing economic change: https://forc.mx/3neLAR7 QUOTESMurray - Where the best leaders come from: “What I have found, though, is the best sales leaders are actually business leaders, they made a transition from carrying the bag and trying to make their number and tunnel vision and closing business, which is what you have to do to start your career, but as you progress up, the ones that are the most successful, they turn into business leaders and trying to solve a problem more at a company level than just for a specific sales oriented activity.” Check out John McMahon’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Sarah de Lagarde is a living miracle. Her story is one of resilience and is filled with lessons for all of us. Sarah is currently the Global Head of Communications at Janus Henderson in London, but last September her life changed forever when she was involved in a horrific accident that claimed her arm and leg. Somehow, throughout an ordeal that could have been fatal many times over, Sarah remained calm and refused to give up.In this episode, John Kaplan and John McMahon talk with Sarah about her journey, adjusting to a new reality, and the power of gratitude. They explore how her background in crisis communication helped her on the tracks that night, and Sarah shares some expertise for founders and leaders on how to handle internal and external communications for their teams, particularly in times of crisis.  Here are some key sections to check out: 03:15 Sarah’s miracle story06:09 Gratitude above all emotions after the accident10:42 Pushing through the pain of an accident16:38 Journey to recovery and raising money21:38 Sarah’s background in crisis communication32:26 Advice for companies that don’t have a corporate communications team38:35 Resilience and living in the moment44:06 The psychological immune system and living in the present Additional Resources:Support Sarah’s GoFundMe campaign for a bionic arm: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-sarah-get-a-bionic-armConnect with Sarah de Lagarde on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-delagarde-comms/Visit the Janus Henderson Group website: https://www.linkedin.com/company/janus-henderson-group-plc/ QUOTESSarah - choosing gratitude every day: “It's a very conscious decision that I make every day when I wake up. When something like this happens, there's a whole range of emotions that you feel every day, and one overwhelming emotion is that of gratitude, and that is because I could have died so many times that night, and yet I didn't, I clung on to dear life, I made it. And now, everything I see is 10 times more beautiful than before, because I'm here, because I could have not seen it.”Sarah - Take time, no shortcuts: “If you want to do this, right, you have to take your time, there are no shortcuts, you have to just go and accept it.” Check out John McMahon’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What’s the ultimate factor to success? A competitive and committed mindset, according to today’s guest JR Butler. A lifelong athlete, he saw the opportunity for sales teams to recruit from groups with a next-level work ethic and passion for growth: athletes and veterans. Drawing on his own experience of transitioning to the sales world, JR founded Shift Group, a company that develops these specially qualified groups into elite sales professionals. Today he joins John McMahon and John Kaplan to discuss how leaders can build a success-driven culture, develop A-Players, and make great hires in today’s challenging market. Dig in to great insights for building an all-star team on this episode of Revenue Builders. Here are some key sections to check out: 03:48 The impetus for starting Shift Group07:40 Learnings from being coached by his father19:15 The pros and cons of hiring athletes in sales24:52 The mindset of an athlete who wants to be great30:07 The importance of having a culture of success34:21 Why would somebody want to work for this company?38:54 Practice starts from the top down42:44 What is a sales boot camp?52:30 Rapid fire questions and answersAdditional Resources:Support the Line In the Sky Foundation: https://www.lineintheskyfoundation.org/Watch “The Russian Five” hockey documentary: https://therussianfive.com/Connect with JR Butler on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jrbutler/Visit the Shift Group website: https://www.shiftgroup.io/QUOTESJR - Learnings from his dad: “My dad has a saying, he says plant tomatoes, get tomatoes, and what he means by that is sports, hockey specifically, is a meritocracy. Like nobody really cares what your parents accomplished, what you did, where you're from. It's like, how hard are you willing to work to get better every single day? And that's what you're gonna get rewarded for.”JR - Being a great teammate: “When I think back to every team I've ever played for that was great, everybody in that locker room played for each other. And that was it, like a full stop. It was like the old Patriot saying, you did your job because you knew the guy next to you was going to do their job.”Tony - Leaders walk the talk: “What I see is great leadership is like, you're not just telling people what to do, you're showing them what to do, and you're not afraid to do what you're asking your team to do.” Check out John McMahon’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

One of our MOST requested guests is back for Part 2! Tony Parinello is the bestselling author of Selling to VITO - the Very Important Top Officer. A sales veteran, Tony knows how C-suite leaders think, what they look for in a sales conversation, and what it takes to get them on your side in a deal. Today, Tony is diving even deeper into this critical topic for sales success in 2023, when multiple C-suite leaders are getting more involved in every deal. John McMahon and John Kaplan talk to Tony about VITO priorities and how to win consistently with this stakeholder group in a game-changing episode for both sellers and leaders. Dig in and get in the mindset of how your team should be approaching these high-stakes conversations.  Here are some key sections to check out: 5:00 What’s on VITO’s To-Do List6:50 How to make sure you’re targeting the right VITOs10:00 what a company owes its sellers12:20 Speaking the language of VITO25:40 The three outcomes to strategize around when you try to reach VITO33:25 The right questions to ask VITO34:50 Voicemail best practices44:52 Active listening54:00 The problem with premature questions55:20 VITO Call Objectives1:05:40 How many slides do you need for a VITO presentation? Additional Resources:Listen to the Part 1 episode with Tony: https://forc.mx/3SxR5puTony Parinello on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sellingtovito/Selling to VITO on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Selling-VITO-Very-Important-Officer/dp/1580622240Register for the Selling to the C-Suite Webinar Series: https://forc.mx/3xZdFO9 HIGHLIGHTSVITO parameters in the sales processAccountability and OwnershipThe importance of speaking the language of the processThe importance of opening statementsThe 3 best outcomes of contacting VITOThe power of VITO’s voicemailThe right questions to askCall objectives for your first call QUOTESTony - Forget the word “I”: “Forget the word ‘I’. The up word ‘I’ should be totally out of your vocabulary like, I wanted to know where, I was wondering if or, I had an idea. These executives, these VITOs don't care about us until they understand what we could do for them, and so take the word ‘I’ out of your vocabulary, just replace it with the word we or our.”Tony - The importance of having a process: “Every successful VITO has a process in place for doing everything they want to measure and achieve. Processes are critically important for us to show VITO that whether we're leaving voicemail messages or we're sending them correspondence, we need to follow an identifiable process. So VITO sees what we're doing and can identify with it. So this is why examining our sales process and examining our prospecting process is so critically important.” Check out John McMahon’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

An inspiring story of love, perseverance and the power of football - Bob Kessler is in awe of where his family was and where they are now. His son Tyler is a walking medical miracle. Tyler suffered from kidney failure when he was just four years old and received a transplant from his grandmother. But, in 2000 he was diagnosed with cancer and his body rejecting the kidney. Suffering from Post Transplant Lymphatic Disorder, he was the only child in the U.S who was undergoing chemo and dialysis at the same time.But Bob didn't want Tyler's childhood memories to only be hospitals and doctors. That's why he set a goal to visit every NFL stadium in the country. Starting the year Tyler was diagnosed, they traveled the country meeting player after player and coach after coach. Their story is not only a football fan's dream, but a lesson to us all to never let our struggle define our story.Additional Resources:Get Involved or Donate to the Make-A-Wish foundation to help change kids’ lives: https://wish.org/Read about Tyler’s story in Sports Illustrated: https://vault.si.com/vault/2005/01/31/the-best-medicineSupport the National Kidney Foundation: https://www.kidney.org/donationListen to More Revenue Builders: https://www.forcemanagement.com/revenue-builders-podcastHIGHLIGHTSIntroducing Bob KesslerTyler’s background and storyStaying positive through the tough timesMaking tough decisions with your destination in mindVisiting stadiums with TylerThe value of being made to feel like you belongStories from inside the NFL locker rooms and busesFocusing on what you can do, not what you can'tAdvice for people facing challengesCommunity is more important than you realizeQUOTESBob - Remaining positive: “I will tell you, my wife and I, we agreed at a very early part of this journey that there's no complaining, there is no asking why? Because there's no answer there. All we know is what we can do.”Bob - Building community: “At first, you may be like, Hey, I don't need that. That's what we said, but give it a shot, and try to network and learn from others. You know, we learned a lot from families who have gone through, you know, you meet families in the hospital, who are going through similar challenges, some worse, and we've learned a lot by observing and talking to folks and sharing our story, and, what's the best way to work through all these challenges.” Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.