SBI, The Growth Advisory

Creating customer success is more than just sales, it’s about creating value before you arrive at the negotiating table. Give your customers a vision of what they would need, and demonstrate how you would be the best fit for them. In this episode, join SBI Senior Partner and TMT Practice Leader, Tony Erickson as he resumes the discussion with symplr CEO, BJ Schaknowski and President, Nicole Rogas on how the provider of enterprise healthcare operations software and services succeeded in building a large, consolidated brand with a focus on customer success. Key Talking Points: • The current state of the healthcare industry and opportunities to come • Adopting a consultative approach that creates positive impact for customers • How symplr positions itself within customers’ existing investments

At the surface level, it seems obvious that top-line growth plays a big role in creating value for a company—but different conditions and factors may affect how much top-line growth affects value creation, and the strategies that can effectively generate that growth may also differ. In this episode, SBI CEO, Mike Hoffman hosts Jake Silverman, CEO of Kroll and a Board Member at SBI, as the two discuss the role of top-line growth in value creation and contemporary topics on the minds of CEOs, including cybersecurity. Key Talking Points: Factors affecting the value created by top-line growth in different contexts The value of skeptical opinions to keeping CEOs in check on key decisions Key themes for CEOs to consider in planning their 2024 growth strategy

Companies should never underestimate the value of customer success, which can significantly increase upsell and cross-sell opportunities. Invest in your customers, and your customers will invest in you. In this episode, SBI Senior Partner and TMT Practice Leader, Tony Erickson talks with symplr CEO, BJ Schaknowski and President, Nicole Rogas to learn how the provider of enterprise healthcare operations software and services succeeded in building a large, consolidated brand with a focus on customer success. Key Talking Points: How symplr continues to tell a consolidated brand story after 15 acquisitions The payoff of heavily investing in customer success, which reduces churn Hiring the right go-to-market talent that aligns with the company’s GTM strategy

Episode 5: Empowering Sales with AI AI development continues at a breakneck pace, with the number of use cases increasing by the day. This raises the question for many Go-to-Market leaders: how do we use AI to help sales? How do we ensure smooth adoption of AI? And what value does it bring to the business? In this episode, SBI Managing Director of Talent Services, Ray Makela meets Conor Grennan, Head of Generative AI at NYU Stern School of Business to take a deep dive into the state of generative AI today, its use cases, and key considerations in business. Key Talking Points: Use cases for generative AI in Sales and how it augments various tasks Overcoming resistance to AI use, and key considerations such as data privacy Ideas for effective AI enablement, as well as other new use cases for AI

Episode 4: Growth at Any Cost is Over Understanding the right design and execution of GTM levers in uncertain markets could help CEOs propel their revenue growth by making efficient use of existing resources. In this episode, Pilar Schenk, Cisco COO, Global Specialists, and Mike Hoffman, SBI CEO, discuss strategy, execution, and activation against a backdrop of those who had a growth thesis in tech of growth, at any cost.

Episode 3: Know to Grow Sales Talent A crucial driver of an organization’s revenue growth plans is the people that work there and how they perform. The importance of understanding how to develop top talent in go-to-market teams cannot be understated. In this episode, Senior Partner and TMT Practice Leader at SBI, Tony Erickson meets with Director of Global Sales Enablement at Nearmap, Karen Mattice to talk about Nearmap’s approach to talent development through its Know and Grow strategy. Key Talking Points: Assessing talent and creating individual OKRs in line with corporate OKRs Developing standardized training that focuses on gaps in key competencies How Nearmap leverages AI to analyze and optimize sales conversations

Podcast: Increasing Sales Talent Productivity Through Effective Coaching Subtitle: (None) In the current landscape, where business leaders are strategically shifting their focus to recovery, the role of sales managers has taken on a critical new dimension. Join us for an interactive webinar to discuss the transformative power of sales coaching in driving commercial excellence. In this webinar, you'll learn about: The crucial role of sales coaching in attaining commercial excellence. Moving beyond ad-hoc coaching: Effective alternatives and solutions. Cultivating a world-class sales coaching culture. Key sections to include in your Sales Coaching Playbook. Maximizing coaching ROI through insightful metrics. Harnessing collaborative learning for advancing sales coaching skills.

Episode 2: Delivering Sales Velocity Understanding the types of seller behaviors that have been most successful in today’s slow-moving market could help CEOs create value by improving the commercial productivity of their GTM teams. In this episode, Chief Strategy and Product Officer at SBI, Nick Toman, and SBI General Manager of Talent Productivity, Ray Makela, discuss how top CEOs are adopting effective seller approaches and generative AI to push the sales margin. Key Talking Points: The winning seller profiles that drive increased commercial productivity Findings from SBI’s latest report on seller approaches and sales velocity How generative AI can support sellers in understanding customer needs

Episode 1: Wait and See is Over CEOs are no longer waiting to see what will happen next. They are taking control of what they can to be optimally positioned for what comes next. There are many aspects of business outside the control of CEOs; and many have recognized this and are no longer waiting to see what will happen next. In this episode, SBI CEO, Mike Hoffman, and SBI President of Consulting, Scott Gruher, discuss how CEOs are taking control of three major challenges to position their companies for what's to come. Key talking points: How CEOs are focusing efforts in the face of increased operating costs, slower sales cycles, and low morale Back to the base and aligning sales, marketing, and customer success Evaluating capabilities - are the skills and experience that brought the company here what it needs in the future?

How CEOs Maximize Value CreationCEOs must make rapid, critical business decisions while being increasingly inundated with data, trends, and conflicting information. In this age of information overload, how can you make sound judgments for your organization without the threat of falling behind? On today's show, we are joined by Frank Cespedes, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, recurring contributor to Harvard Business Review, and author of Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World that Never Stops Changing. Frank discusses key insights from his book and ultimately how leaders can separate fact from hype.