Conquer Local Podcast

SaaS Channel Partners are coming in hot, what and how does it affect our sales teams. Janet Schijns, CEO of JS Group and a former Fortune 500 C-suite executive, is our guest this week on the Conquer Local Podcast and we are talking about SaaS channel partners. We define was a channel partner really is, why companies are making the shift to incorporate a tech sector, and what it takes to to make that shift. Schijns was named Channel Influencer of the year in March 2019 beating out a slate of nominees from the top tech firms in the world. She most recently was EVP and CMSO at Office Depot, where she led a major transformation to drive traction in IT services, generating recurring revenue from higher margin solutions. Prior to that, she was the Chief Channel Executive, Chief Marketing Technologist and ran business products for Verizon Business. She is a visionary leader who through innovation and transformational action-oriented plans drives tangible results. Schijns is dedicated to the advancement of Women in Technology, founding her not for profit “Tech World’s Half” in 2017 to address the issue of women dropping out of technology.

Battlecards are never done. Battlecards are trial and error. Battlecards are usually not pretty. But, battlecards are also a highly effective way to mobilize information from research, mentors, coaches, and more, into powerful sales assets. In this edition of the Master Sales Series we are talking about sales battlecards. What is a sales battlecard? It sounds like a buzzword, but probably because it is a buzzword. They originated as a competitor analysis tool, but today, battlecards are applied in a variety of contexts, including story development. For example, in large organizations, collaborating to build battlecards can bridge gaps between different stories being told and drive alignment through the entire sales floor. Subscribe to the podcast now, on iTunes goo.gl/8vPm1B and Google Play goo.gl/uyDsij

How to fix a broken Customer Journey after the sale is no easy feat, but we have the man who did just that.  Originally from Australia, Michael Watkins VP of Partner Success at Vendasta, packed up his family and took on winter in Canada. Watkins takes us through the customer journey by reviewing all of the talk tracks, all of the scripts, and all of the vignettes, or whichever word you want to use for your customer success teams. It's important that it's not just a one and done, but instead takes iteration after iteration. It requires listening to the team, listening to customers, watching the conversion points, and seeing what's working and what's not. Once that process is defined, be prepared to make constant changes to refine it. Watkins is passionate about helping business owners and marketing professionals understand the digital ecosystem as it continues to evolve. His recent highlights include: - 11% Digital revenue growth benefit through successful digital sales transformation program. - $2.35 Million in revenue growth delivered through tactical webinar project. - Leader of 17 talented individuals, responsible for: 50+ Sales tools, L&D and customer experience. - Developed strategic partnerships with global vendors to improve and progress sales development. With over 10 years professional digital marketing experience, Watkins remains focused on expanding his skills, and continuing his career progression towards a Strategic Marketing/ Program Management role within Innovative Digital Products.

The average SMB is worried about staying open in today's competitive market. The Google Guarantee can help.   Justin Sanger, Chief Revenue Officer at OMG National, provides insight on what the Google Guarantee means for SMBs. Sanger refers to it as a game charger because it has an overall effect on how SEO keywords and pay-per-click ads function. An SMB doesn't always to hear the gritty details of lead measures and tactics, they often want a salesperson to cut the chase to know how it is going to effect their business. SEO has been changing at a rapid pace being at the will of the Google algorithms. Sanger shares how dealing with a fragmented and crowded landscape can hurt your agency and speaks to verticalization.

Thriving in routine by Optimizing the Sales Day and nothing will be forgotten. Work smarter not harder. Steve Benson, CEO and Founder of Badger Maps, kicks off the first Conquer Local episode in 2020! Steve provides conquerors the insight in how to optimize the sales day, from the salespeople on the floor, sales managers, and at the executive level. Steve also tells us how his failures helped him succeed because frankly, SaaS startups are hard.

Three steps to get the conversion inside the sales funnel, getting the lead, qualifying the lead, and finally acquiring the customer. Listen to learn more! We spoke with the SDRs, the BDRs, and now it's time to talk to the big kahuna, the VP of Revenue, Doug Campbell. He sits down with George to discuss managing a sales teams of 40+ and soon to be 90+ by the end of 2020. Doug explains that because they are growing so quickly they needed a scalable and repeatable training model. There is a term Dougs team uses, called the Unicorn Lead.  Doug got his start in the newspaper industry selling advertising, which he quickly excelled at and branched out into sports marketing, jack of all sales you might say. Doug is widely recognized as an award-winning leader in driving revenue growth via successful teams throughout his 20+ year career. He is currently is the VP of Revenue with Vendasta where he continues to drive hyper-growth working with businesses across the globe.

Kudos to our listeners for providing this weeks topic! George pulls together best practices when it making Discovery Calls on this edition of the Master Sales Series. Imagine you had 200 leads that came in and you were only going to close 10% of them or if you are a rock star, 25% of them. We get the nitty gritty details and proven tactics when having that first discovery call. As salespeople, we need to be very careful and deliberate in the way we are communicating with a customer when having those first calls. George runs through everything from that first initial call to discussing how leads come into your funnel, there are some different tactics for different scenarios. In some instances, we have been doing this for a long time, we know we have the answers and we can solve the problems of any customer. We have a tendency to skip over very important pieces for building rapport and trust.

Being able to sell to multi location businesses is becoming a necessity, we have Mike Giamprini to give Conquerors the scoop. Mike Giamprini, Managing Partner of G Partners, shares his struggles and wins when it comes to selling multi location listings to SMBs. He shares his experience with 411 on the transition from traditional to digital media and how he had to completely retrain an entire sales force.  Mike tells us that if he were to go back in time and do it all over again he would focus more time on the educational piece because where there is confusion there is opportunity. Mike is a veteran of the “local” space and has been leading sales and marketing organizations focused on helping businesses of all sizes thrive in a digital world. Knowing that national brands need to connect with audiences at the hyper-local level, Mike founded G Partners in 2016 with a best-in-class digital marketing stack of products and services and combined that with a deep knowledge of G Partners’ clients’ businesses to effectively drive growth at every stage of their customer’s journey.

What is forecasting? It's about creating predictable revenue model—you need a plan, it needs to be concrete, and it needs to have a strategy behind it.  The Master Sales Series tackles the pain points of constructing a revenue model for a new year. We take a look at the three different personas of forecasting; the sandbagger, the sharp shooter, and the optimist. George shares from his own struggles and the times when he has missed his projected revenue. After doing extensive research and having conversations with industry experts George has developed a new approach to forecasting.  George is responsible for business development with Vendasta’s large channel partners, as well as managing our in-house sales team. As the host of the Conquer Local Podcast, George’s personal mandate is to make local sales better. A digital interpreter, George has preached the gospel of online reputation management directly to the local businesses of hundreds of cities across North America. He translates his knowledge of the digital landscape into accessible information for those still stuck in the rut of traditional media. With nearly three decades of experience in marketing, sales and promotion, George is a highly compelling speaker, always in demand across North America — vital content and emphatic delivery are combined for an enlightening presentation. George’s expertise in sales, training, networking, management and marketing comes from the numerous executive and ownership positions he has held across multiple media and service-related businesses. His track record of success is continued here at Vendasta.

Discipline leads results with eight key metrics to drive revenue. Steve Whittington, Executive Vice President of the Flaman Group, is back for a second time! After getting plucked off the face of a mountain by a helicopter Steve gave up mountain climbing and decided to channel is passion into his work. We get the inside scoop on Whittington's new book, Thriving in the Customer Age.  The book lays out the framework with eight key metrics that can be applied and used to measure the customer experience initiative results, tied directly to the bottom line. Whittington has over 25 years experience in the (B2C) business to consumer, (B2B) business to business and (B2A) business to any space. From consulting, marketing agency work and as an executive and board member for manufacturing and retail firms.He is also Managing Director of a boutique digital agency, Graphic Intuitions. Steve's current board work includes serving as Chair of the Board for Flaman Fitness Canada, a national retailer; President of the Glenora Child Care Society; and a member of the Marketing Program Advisory Committee for NAIT's JR Shaw School of Business. Outside his professional life, Steve is a leader in the mountains. An avid mountaineer, he has reached the summit of 50 mountains, including Mount Everest in 2013. On many of his climbs he has been the expedition leader and/or lead climber. Steve believes his leadership in the mountains has a direct application to his successful leadership in his business life.