SBI, The Growth Advisory

Welcome to the SBI Sales and Marketing podcast. We're joined by Elissa Fink, the chief marketing officer at Tableau, to discuss how she develops a comprehensive content marketing strategy. In our first segment, Elissa takes us step-by-step through developing a marketing plan for each aspect of your team, while using examples from her own company to guide the process. We examine the market research needed to make a successful marketing strategy, including content audits, trigger events and distribution practices. We then discuss how to develop a calendar and an organizational system for the marketing strategy, to ensure all aspects of it are covered by the correct team members. Finally, we take you through turning your strategy into an executable marketing plan, and how to include your research into your planning process.

Welcome to the SBI Sales and Marketing podcast. We're joined by Omar Choucair, CFO of MultiView, who has successfully integrated multiple sales forces, each with a unique sales strategy. One of the biggest problems companies encounter is employee turnover and customer defection post-acquisition. In order to combat this, Omar lays down his step-by-step process for examining the current strategy for both companies, then leveraging your knowledge to prevent sales upheaval. In our first segment, Next, we discuss the transition of sales operations from the former companies into a single cohesive strategy. Restructuring your sales team to accommodate both old and new teams and developing new best practices is a vital part of retaining the best employees and customers. In our last segment, we discuss product strategy and what products you should keep versus cut. Despite potential losses, it is important to determine which products will aid your organization and which will hinder it. Any that are not vital should be removed.

Welcome to the SBI Sales and Marketing podcast. We're joined by Jim Wetekamp, the CEO of BravoSolution, to discuss how he developed a corporate strategy that made strategic alignment a breeze and revenue growth the norm. In our first segment, we discuss how Jim was able to steer his company through 14 straight years of revenue growth, despite market obstacles such as the dot.com crash and the one of the most severe recessions in the history of the U.S., by staying adaptive to market needs with a creative product strategy. Jim also talks about how his background in product strategy and development helps inform his decisions as a CEO, which leads to a look at the DNA makeup of the average Fortune 100 CEO. Next, we delve into how to get CEOs and sales leaders on the same page so your company can enjoy the benefits of strategic alignment by involving them in 3-year-long range planning and product strategy, so that all eyes see where the annual sales strategy and numbers fit in. In our last segment, we look at the importance of having an adaptable marketing strategy when facing market changes and conclude by outlining the first three steps a CEO can take today to get started on making a new annual plan.

Welcome to the SBI Sales and Marketing podcast. Today, we're joined by Scott Cook to discuss how the right hiring practices can help ease the way to your team hitting its mark, year after year. After all, sometimes it’s not about finding the right tool for the job but, rather, the right team. During this interview, we’ll discuss how to: - Define your hiring profiles - Assess current talent and select new talent - Design the compensation program to attract and retain the right employees - How to get the most out of your interview process We’ll use SBI’s workbook titled “How to Make Your Number in 2016” to guide this conversation. Specifically, pages 197-213 which detail SBI’s 7 Step Talent Strategy Methodology. We walk Scott through this model, and he explains how he uses his version of it at his company to streamline their hiring strategies. The benefit to you all is you get to see a “demo”, if you will, on how to use this tool. At the end of this show, if you want to use the SBI Workbook yourself, I let you know how to get it. If you want to develop a best-in-class hiring process, listen to this podcast to hear how one of your peers built theirs.

Welcome to the SBI Sales and Marketing podcast. Today, we're joined by Spencer Hodson to discuss developing a cohesive sales strategy using the SBI 5 Step Sales Strategy Methodology. During this interview, we discuss how to: - Set sales quotas using market segmentation, customer type, product category, and sales team. - Drive adoption of your sales methodology. - Design the org chart and determine the head count number. - Staff the sales operations and sales enablement team. We use SBI’s workbook “How to Make Your Number in 2016” to guide our conversation. Specifically, pages 155-192 which gives the details of SBI’s 5 Step Sales Strategy Methodology. We look at how Spencer uses his version of it at his company. The benefit to you all is you get to see a “demo”, if you will, on how to use this tool. At the end of this show, if you want to use the SBI Workbook yourself, we show you how to get it. If you want to develop a best-in-class sales strategy, this episode is a can’t miss.

Welcome to the SBI Sales and Marketing podcast. Today, we're joined by Vincent Gatti to compare our perspectives on putting together a cohesive sales strategy. During this interview, Vincent walks us through SBI’s 5 Step Sales Strategy Methodology, demonstrating for us how he has applied his version of this to his sales process to: - Collect the needs of the market, accounts, and buyers. - Connect the CEO’s corporate strategy to his sales strategy. - Work with the product team to understand which products should be sold to what customers at what price point. - Partner with the sales and marketing departments to cover leads into revenue. - Get the HR department to help him put a team of A players on the field to win the game. If you are building your sales strategy for next year, listen to hear from one of your peers how to use the 5 Step Sales Strategy Methodology.

Welcome to the SBI Sales and Marketing podcast. Today, we're joined by Amy Slater to discuss a new way to look at your annual strategic planning process. During this interview, we discuss with Amy how to translate high level corporate goals, such as revenue and EBITDA targets, into sales operations oriented goals, such as quota, sales forecasting, head count numbers, territories, sales planning, and comp plans. We use SBI’s recently released workbook titled “How to Make Your Number in 2016” to guide our conversation. Specifically, pages 217-220 which deals with the annual strategic planning process. This Q3 to Q2 “meeting rhythm” lays out how to integrate weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual meeting cadence to execute strategic planning as a sales ops professional. As a sales ops leader implements this process a wonderful thing happens - you get your life back. Gone are the days of frantically responding to urgent requests from random executives looking for data. We walk Amy through the model, and she explains how she uses her version of it at her company. The benefit to you all is you get to see a “demo”, if you will, on how to use this tool. At the end of this show, if you want to use the SBI Workbook yourself, we let you know how to get it. If you want to flawlessly execute the annual strategic planning process, listen and hear how one of your peers has done so.

Welcome to the SBI Sales and Marketing podcast. Today, we're joined by Bal Dail to discuss how achieving strategic alignment between your corporate strategy and sales strategy can lead to you hitting your number with little internal friction. Bal Dail is the Chairman and CEO of JDA Software, the provider of the broadest portfolio of supply chain solutions. During this interview, we discuss: - His opinion why very few CEOs have come up through sales and the problem this can cause when trying to make your number with an effective sales strategy. -A definition of the term “strategic alignment” and why it is critical to your success. - Ways upon which a CEO can: 1. Drive market research output into sales strategy 2. Educate the sales team on the markets to compete in, the accounts to sell to, the buyers to meet with, the products to position, and the competitors to beat. 3. Make sure the leaders of product, marketing, sales, and HR are working with strategic alignment. We use SBI’s recently released workbook titled “How to Make Your Number in 2016” to guide our conversation. Specifically, pages 51-70 which details SBI’s 8 Step Corporate Strategy Methodology. We walk through the model while Bal explains how he uses a version of it at his company. The benefit to you all is you get to see a “demo”, if you will, on how to use this tool. At the end of this show, if you want to use the SBI Workbook yourself, we let you know how to get it. If you want to make sure your sales strategy is in tune with your corporate strategy, listen to this podcast and hear how one of your peers has done so.

Welcome to the SBI Sales and Marketing podcast. Today, we're joined by Kim Mitchell to discuss how understanding the employee life cycle can unlock the secrets to employee retention and maintaining employee engagement. Kim Mitchell is the Chief People Officer at Renaissance Learning, the world leader in cloud-based assessment, teaching, and learning solutions. If anybody knows how to keep a sales and marketing team happy, engaged and open to new things, it’s her. Kim explains how the relationship a member of the sales team has with the company changes over time, or even across a business cycle. The relationship starts during the recruiting stage, which is a very different relationship from when a sales person is in on boarding, at year 1, during a promotion, and at key milestones, such as the 10 year anniversary. Employee engagement goes up, or down, based on whether the employee has an emotional connection with the mission of the sales force, and the company. And the adoption of a new sales team initiative is tightly correlated with employee engagement. So, how do you drive employee engagement in the sales force? What are the secrets to employee life cycle management? Tune in and find out.

Today on the SBI Sales and Marketing podcast we take a fun approach to a series topic: how to make the most of your honeymoon period as a new VP of sales. To guide us through these treacherous waters, we’re joined by Eric Vermillion, a Senior VP of sales who also happens to be in the thick of his honeymoon period with his company, Blue Cat. To frame today’s conversation, we’ll walk through a hypothetical use case starring Vic, a made-up persona who just finished his first six months at new company as VP of sales and is now ready to launch a set of initiatives. We look at why Vic should throw out his old sales playbook in favor of a sales strategy tailored to his new products, customers, competitors and channels. We talk about how Vic can ensure his initiatives have strategic alignment with his new company’s missions and values. We also look at hiring practices and how Vic can avoid the common pitfall of trying to fix problems by throwing fresh bodies at them. Other topics we cover: knowing when to ask for help, not passing the buck, getting too wrapped up with hitting big numbers, overbuying software, sales management, avoiding unnecessary consulting and how to handle the compensation plan. Tune in, and take notes as we walk Vic (and you!) through your honeymoon period and we’ll see you on the other side!