Sales Talk for CEOs

If CEO, Julian Lumpkin, learned one thing from his sales career it was to follow what the most successful sellers were doing and do that. It paid off.Before starting SuccessKit, he learned to use case studies to sell and realized that his company didn’t have a way to produce these. All of the successful salespeople had collected these stories, memorized them and used them over and over. Knowing that all salespeople need case studies throughout the sales cycle, SuccessKit was born. Julian quickly realized that knowing how to sell did not equip him to run a company and successfully scale sales at the same time, so he needed an easy way to get his first customers and he used his network, did an outstanding job and built his sales on referrals. Recently, he realized that the referrals he was getting weren’t going to power his growth to meet his goals so he added another way for customers to find him and started a series of highly successful online events where he trains salespeople on how to use case studies. Julian is still working on the barriers to increasing sales, so listen to what he has done, including launching a new product line, one that his customers really needed. Chapters02:54 Importance of customer success04:23 Authentic language from clients10:50 Developing case studies and using inexpensive paid advertising to get leads15:37 Importance of having a formal referral strategy in place16:07 The importance of collecting and organizing case studies19:56 Organizing case studies by significant challenges and important problems20:59 Building and owning a library of case studies23:23 Best practices for using case studies in the sales process24:28 Importance of understanding prospect's unique concerns and priorities33:18 Hiring salespeople without a good process for inbound and outbound leads38:48 Tips for getting started on creating case studiesAbout GuestJulian has been in the sales world for over 14 years. He started his career in tech sales, moved to management, and then founded SuccessKit in 2016. He serves as the point person for new clients, ensuring that each project is initiated, executed smoothly, and delivered on time. With a strong passion for entrepreneurship, Julian has established himself as a key figure in the business world. His leadership and expertise have led to the founding of SuccessKit, where he plays a crucial role in bringing on new clients, ensuring their success, and overseeing project management.Julian's entrepreneurial journey is fueled by his commitment to delivering exceptional results and his ability to foster strong client relationships. Through SuccessKit, he has created a platform that provides clients with the tools and support they need to thrive in their respective industries. Julian's dedication to client success has earned him a reputation for excellence, and he continues to make a significant impact in the business community.About CompanySuccess Kit is a B2B company that creates case studies and customer success stories in written and video formats to help salespeople provide relevant examples of customer success during the sales process. The company encourages its clients to read and categorize their case studies appropriately based on verticals, personas, and the most significant challenges solved. According to SuccessKit, the best case studies start with a problem and build a story arc using Joseph Campbell's story arc to create a good story that people can lean into and recognize themselves.Social Links You can learn more about and connect with Julian Lumpkin in the links below.Connect with Julian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julian-lumpkin-b845aa15/Check out SuccussKit’s website: 

Can you imagine saying goodbye to confusing spreadsheets and emails that track partner relationships and sales?Imagine the possibility of your team instantly identifying sales opportunities in your partners' networks? Cassandra Gholston, CEO of PartnerTap,  joined me on the podcast to share her journey building a data sharing application that allows companies to leverage the strengths of their partners and expand their reach into new markets. She also shares how she overcame startup challenges in implementation and marketing and built a thriving revenue team.Cassandra recounted those early days saying, "We started to understand the difference between mercenary sales and missionary sales. And this was missionary sales."Chapters05:36 Referral selling is important.22:29 CEOs can train sales teams to properly prepare and bring them in at the right time for customers or prospects.23:03 CEOs should be involved in sales to show they care about their customers.24:44 Cassandra started Fempire to bring powerful women together and promote women leaders.28:06 Outdated sales strategies like cold calling and spamming on LinkedIn are not effective.31:29 CEOs can feel like they're on an island by themselves, but the podcast and networking can help.33:47 Co-selling is a big deal, and every company is looking to do it.34:44 Customer success is important for high user adoption and making customers successful.35:46 Ongoing customer success is necessary for customer renewals and growth.39:48 Tenured customer success teams are important for success in a down market.About Guest Cassandra is a customer and partner-obsessed CEO who has been driving revenue with and for partners her whole career.As an enterprise software sales rep, she knew her secret to success was working with partners. Helping partners get into new accounts, leveraging her relationships to accelerate partner deals, and sharing insights helped her build a web of trusted partnerships around her accounts. This approach propelled her to the #1 enterprise sales rep spot three years in a row.At the height of her enterprise sales career, and with two young kids at home, Cassandra had an epiphany for a new software product that would help every B2B sales rep save time, sell more, and crush their quota with partners. She quit her job, co-founded PartnerTap, and built the industry’s first ecosystem sales platform. Today PartnerTap is the leading partner ecosystem platform empowering channel, partner and sales teams at HPE, Lumen, Genesys, ADP and SAP Concur to share data and co-sell with partners.About CompanyPartner Tap is a data sharing application that allows secure sharing of CRM data between companies, automating account mapping and pipeline sharing. The platform helps companies identify new logos to target and where they have existing customers or inroads. The company works with all large CRMs and even some smaller ones, and has been successful, working with some of the largest companies such as HP, ADP, and SAP.Social Linkshttps://partnertap.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassandragholston/Fempire | We’re on a mission to activate and grow women’s power at every level of society. (fempireecosystem.com)You can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.Website: https://AliceHeiman.comConnect with Alice on LinkedIn

What if you could keep your customers for years and continue to grow with them? What if everyone in your company was responsible for customer retention? What if everyone in your company sold?When a culture of caring permeates your company everyone takes responsibility for the customer’s success and helps to solve for customers so they buy - sales. If the answer to every question about building a successful sales team came back to the process of delivering successful outcomes for customers, how would that change your company?. Adam Miller recounts his 30 year journey at Elevate building an organization where every team member takes responsibility for the success of the customer and everyone sells. Chapters:00:00 Sales is Solving Problems 08:06 Scaling Sales 14:160 Sales Skills are Teachable 15:11 Hybrid Selling and Hiring Remote Sellers 19:38 Retaining Talent 22:54 Hunters, Account Managers and Customer Success 27:31 Measuring Customer Success and Corporate Courage 32:40 Selling is a Team Sport 34:56 Adapting to Self Service Buyer BehaviourAbout Our Guest:The ELEVATE Group - Chief Executive Officer ELEVATE Capital - Private Equity Investor Bahamas Air Sea Rescue - Northern Bahamas - President An innovator and a visionary, Adam has offered cutting edge scalable solutions for the world’s most prestigious forward-thinking companies for over 25 years. Earning a reputation with an insatiable appetite for building things, he is the Founder and Chief Executive of The ELEVATE Group, the strategic & tactical partner to ambitious leaders looking to drive business success. As a private equity investor and adventurer at heart, Adam consistently pushes boundaries and seeks opportunity to meet the needs of rapidly changing industries. Sales. Marketing. Data. Breakthrough Business Strategies. He never strays away from a challenge. Analytical in his approach to breaking down complex processes, Adam is a leader who believes in constant self-improvement, giving back, and helping those around him succeed. Outside of his passion for delivering tangible results, this Airplane & Helicopter Pilot/Sailor leads the Bahamas Air Sea Rescue’s growth and has an active role as SARDO (Search & Rescue Duty Officer) as well Airwing Rescue Captain. Social links:https://www.linkedin.com/in/millerjadam/https://thinkelevate.com​​You can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.Website: https://AliceHeiman.comConnect with Alice on LinkedIn

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here to stay. Will your sales organization utilize it or will they be left behind?AI is having a big impact on B2B sales by empowering salespeople to focus on what they do best: building meaningful relationships with their prospects. But wait, don't worry about AI replacing human sales reps! Usman Sheikh, Founder and CEO of xiQ, a Silicon Valley-based AI-powered SaaS platform explains how AI can be a game-changer for sales leaders who embrace it as a tool to gain a competitive advantage.In this podcast, we dive into the cutting-edge applications of generative AI in B2B sales, including how to create hyper-personalized emails and communication that resonate with your target audience.If you want to stay ahead of the curve in this rapidly evolving landscape, you won't want to miss this must-watch interview.Chapters:00:00 Introduction to AI and ChatGPT 06:05 Combining ChatGPT With Up To Date Data Sources 10:26 How Sellers Can Use ChatGPT 18:42 The Role of AI in the Shift From Lead Quantity to Quality 24:08 Techniques To Make Your Sellers More Productive28:58 Understanding How To Write Effect Prompts 35:48 What CEOs Need To Know & Do About AI44: 50 Using AI Along The Entire Lifecycle Of The Customer47:40 How To Live With AI About Our Guest:Usman Sheikh is the Founder and CEO of Silicon Valley-based xiQ, Inc. a next-generation, AI-powered, SaaS platform for B2B sales and marketing. Prior to founding xiQ Inc, Usman served as Vice President with SAP, SE, where he held leadership positions in Product Management, Sales Enablement, and Digital Commerce globally. He left SAP to pursue his passion for developing next-generation technologies using AI at the intersection of B2B Sales and Marketing.About xiQ:xiQ Inc. is a Personality-driven Sales and Marketing Platform™ that combines neuroscience, psychology, and AI to understand the buyers’ mindset. xiQ reinvigorates b2b sales and marketing by doubling down on industry-leading personality and behavioral science to provide broader, deeper, and more actionable insights. Companies using xiQ are able to increase their sales win rates by 4x, increase client engagement by 10x and realize ROI within weeks.xiQ Inc. won the award for ‘Best Use of Martech for Demand Generation’ in 2022, was recognized as a Leader in ‘G2 Enterprise ABM Category’, and was named a ‘Cool Vendor for Marketing Technology’ by Gartner. Social links:LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/usmanmsheikh/Website: https://www.xiqinc.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/xiqincYou can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.Website: https://AliceHeiman.comConnect with Alice on LinkedIn 

This episode dives into how large organizations scale their sales teams. But do these approaches work for smaller organizations? Absolutely! Radhika Shukla has worked in a sales leadership role at some of the largest tech giants including Microsoft and IBM. She takes us through the entire gamut of building high performance sales teams.From an ‘Always be learning’ mindset to customer focus, hiring, execution and motivation she lays out the entire playbook. Every sentence could be its own chapter.Chapters:00:00 Radhika’s Background - Always Be Learning 06:53 Sales Growth Strategies 10:33 Five Pronged Approach to Customer Focus 13:14 Three Part Execution Plan 19:29 Five Rules For Hiring the Right Sales People 27:19 Hiring Mishaps 34:09 Intentional Diversity 40:00 Advice for CEOsAbout Our Guest:Radhika is a Senior Sales Executive/Leader with 21 years of extensive experience in strategic sales leadership and business management serving customers across diverse industries in Auto, Manufacturing, Retail/CPG, Financial Services, SLG and Healthcare. Having worked at tech giants like, IBM and Microsoft, she has extensive experience in mentoring and leading high performing teams across North America and Asia providing strategic guidance/coaching to craft cost-effective solutions addressing critical business needs and accelerating customer digital transformations. She has an MBA in Strategy from the prestigious University of Michigan-Ross School and is a renowned Community leader serving on the Boards of 4 nonprofits: MAI Family Services, Michigan Crisis Services, Pioneer Medical Research, and Interfaith Leadership Council of Metro Detroit. She was recently named No 1 In the Top 10 Women in Manufacturing by the UK publication Manufacturing Global. A strong believer in being a "learn-it-all", she has 14 technical cloud and industry certifications under her belt with a deep appreciation for leading teams in solving a customer's technical challenge through the lens of the economy and business benefits. She is a 4-time National Pageant winner and has been crowned:Mrs. India 2018Mrs. Entrepreneur International 2019Mrs. Michigan North America 2020Top 5 Mrs. North America 2020Mrs. Congeniality North America and People's Choice North America 2020Mrs. Michigan USA 2021Mrs. USA 2nd Runner Up 2021Besides being a well-respected Industry thought leader, keynote speaker, career coach, she is passionate about giving back and is an active ambassador/advocate for DEI, women empowerment, and STEM education. A dynamic, results-driven, passionate Sales Leader with a proven track record of successfully driving up cloud solution sales, substantial ROI and profitability, delivering remarkable results for Fortune 500 companies and creating growth strategies eliciting best from contributors, she has been featured on several podcasts for her leadership principles/mantra: “Inspire, Empower, Appreciate”Accomplishments: Recognized No 1 in Top 10 Women in Manufacturing; Microsoft Hero Empathy in Action award recipient; Microsoft US National Gold Standard Excellence for Customer Obsession; Microsoft Worldwide Community Award FY22; FY22 Microsoft Top Sales Manager (sole US recipient to receive Technology Solutions Excellence Diamond Award); IBM's Manager's Choice and Voice of the Customer AwardsMrs USA 2nd Runner Up, Mrs Michigan USA 2021, Mrs Michigan North America 2020, Top 5 Mrs North America 2020, Mrs India Michigan 2018.Social Media link:LinkedIn:  Radhika Shukla | LinkedIn ​​You can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.Website: https://AliceHeiman.comCon

Leading indicators, lagging indicators, qualitative data, and quantitative data might sound like boring topics for your sales meetings. Quite the contrary, Michael Ingram of SalesOps.io explains the role that each one plays in achieving predictable revenue growth.Sales revenue is a lagging indicator of success. By the time you know it, it’s too late. You need data daily and weekly that tells you what to do before it’s too late. Leading indicators give you a chance to fix problems before you miss the quarter.Chapters:00:00 What Is SalesOps? 08:27 Moving On From Anecdotal To Leading Indicator Data 14:04 Qualitative Customer Data Capture at the Front Line 20:20 Activity-Driven Approach to Sales Metrics Worked 10 Years Ago 24:26 It's All About the Conversation 30:15 Scaling SalesOps GracefullyAbout Our Guest:Michael is the Founder and CEO of SalesOps.io (rev ops talent marketplace), as well as the Co-Founder of Productal (product talent marketplace). He has helped build marketing, sales, and customer success operations for hundreds of organizations over the last 10 years, with a focus on high-growth B2B technology companies. He previously led sales operations, business development, and sales development teams at Axial, an online network connecting the lower middle market of private equity. Prior to Axial, Michael led enterprise sales operations and strategy at Zocdoc, helping structure the systems and processes to scale the sales and success organization to over 250 team members. Before recognizing his passion for startups, he spent 4 years in management consulting for biotech and pharma companies with ZS Associates. Michael graduated from the University of Alabama (Roll Tide) with a Masters in Applied Economics and a BS in Operations Management.Company Overview SalesOps.io is a revenue operations talent marketplace. We have a network of over 500 rev ops experts that we place into fractional and full-time engagements with tech companies and other organizations that have a gap in operational resources. Our work largely falls into the buckets of commercial process, tools, and analytics across the customer journey. Productal is a similar talent marketplace focused on the Product side of the house - staffing product managers, designers, advisors, and analysts into orgs that need product-related experts.Social links:Michael Ingram’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelsalesops/SalesOps LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/salesops.io/Productal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/productal/about/​​You can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.Website: https://AliceHeiman.comConnect with Alice on LinkedIn

It's not surprising that Bronwyn Spira, after trying many different sales strategies, landed back on the founder-led model. In mission-driven companies, founders often deliver the most compelling pitch.She then set about recruiting a sales and marketing team to support the sales process across the entire customer journey.Stick with us to the end where Bronwyn leaves us with her three growth tips for every CEO.Chapters:00:00 A platform for patients and practitioners04:20 Getting Sales Started08:32 Back to Co-founder Led Sales12:25 The Importance of Strong Marketing16:56 Finding the Right Sellers - Hungry and Driven24:15 Building Relationships and Trust Over Time30:42 Customer Success at Scale33:40 The Future of Force 38:25 Executive Sponsors 42:53 Three Tips for CEOsAbout Our Guest:Bronwyn Spira is a physical therapist and the founder and chief executive officer of Force Therapeutics, a provider-prescribed digital care management platform that empowers patients throughout an episode of care. Bronwyn is passionate about improving patient engagement and satisfaction with rehab and recovery by delivering high-quality, clinically validated remote care to patients, regardless of access challenges.Social links:https://www.linkedin.com/company/force-therapeutics/https://twitter.com/FORCETherExhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/bronwyn-spira-40578815/ You can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.Website: https://AliceHeiman.comConnect with Alice on LinkedIn 

LeanData’s sales organization’s head count might seem too costly to some. It was derived out of a constant quest to map internal resources to support customer success - not revenue, yet it is highly profitable.  One example, split the customer success manager role into two positions. One checking in to monitor the account health and ensure renewal. The other, a coach to provide ongoing best practice advice to customers.Join us to learn the customer-centric sales enablement process that makes LeanData recession-proof.Chapters:00:00 LeanData - Revenue Orchestration 04:08 Pitching the Problem Not the Solution 06:17 Scaling the Sales Team 08:10 Hiring a VP Sales 11:51 Letting Sellers Sell: 1 to 1 ratio of SDR to AE 16:41 Adding Enablement & Customer Virality 18:57 Revisiting The Customer Journey - Adding Coaches 23:09 Certified Users Have Higher Renewal Rate 27:40 What’s Next for LeanDataAbout Our Guest:Evan Liang is the Co-founder and CEO of LeanData. Prior to launching LeanData in 2012, Evan worked in product, strategy, and business development roles at Microsoft, Ebay, Caring.com and Smart Modular Technologies as well as associate positions with venture capital firms Shasta Ventures and Battery Ventures.About LeanData:LeanData is an essential element of the modern revenue tech stack. The LeanData Revenue Orchestration Platform simplifies buyer journeys while accelerating time to revenue through no-code, drag-and-drop lead routing, lead-to-account matching, automated meeting scheduling, engagement analytics, and strategic integrations.Social links:https://www.linkedin.com/company/leandata/https://twitter.com/LeanDatahttps://www.facebook.com/LeanDatahttps://www.youtube.com/@leandatainc​​You can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.Website: https://AliceHeiman.comConnect with Alice on LinkedIn

Is your sales team struggling to have conversations with the right buyers? Better prospecting is the most direct path to increase sales conversations. Wendy Weiss takes us through the four steps to improve your sales team's ability to schedule sales calls.Her four steps are 1. The right list, 2. Great skills, 3. Strong process and 3. The right software. What can your team add to improve their prospecting?Chapters:00:00 Chapter 1: How do we get more conversations with buyers 01:50 Chapter 2: 4 things to move the needle 06:31 Chapter 3: The List 11:27 Chapter 4: The Skills - Prospecting versus Selling 17:19 Chapter 5: Skills - Researching the Buyer Need 22:15 Chapter 6: Skills - Leaving Voicemail 30:19 Chapter 7: Skills - Diagnosing Buyer Responses 37:16 Chapter 8: The Process 40:16 Chapter 9: The Software - Making Prospecting EasierAbout Our Guest:Wendy Weiss is the founder of the Salesology® Prospecting Method that generates predictable sales revenue results. Wendy has helped 775 businesses increase qualified appointments and sales faster, more easily, and more profitably. She is the author of The Sales Winner’s Handbook Essential Strategies to Skyrocket Sales Performance and Cold Calling for Women Opening Doors & Closing Sales. A former ballet dancer, Wendy believes everything she knows in life and business she learned in ballet class. From warmups to rehearsals, she shows her clients how to perform at their best and close all the sales they need.Company InfoSalesology® is a sales training and coaching consultancy, with expertise and solutions for developing new businesses. As a pioneer and leader in the crowded new business development space, Salesology® sets the standard for sales training. Owned and operated by Wendy Weiss, she and her team help sales leaders and individual contributors speed up their sales cycle, reach more prospects directly, and generate more sales revenue. Clients like Avon Products, ADP, New York Life, and thousands of entrepreneurs throughout the country have used and benefited from these time-tested techniques to amazing results.Social links:Twitter - https://twitter.com/wendyweissLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendyweiss/LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/gosalesology/Facebook -

How do you balance growth with quality service delivery? With no background in sales, Kevin Warner, Co-founder, and CEO, originally decided to hire someone who knew sales and put his focus on delivery. He realized quickly it wasn’t working and took the lead sales role. Once sales picked up, he built a sales team and grew exponentially but he watched  the quality of service delivery suffer, and client churn increased. What was the right size for the company where they could serve the clients with excellence, reduce churn and increase profitability? They had some tough decisions to make. They reduced the team and focused on the success of the customer. He went back to a founder-led sales approach with a sales team to back him. Under his renewed guidance healthy growth returned. Now at 10 years in, they have achieved low churn, high profitability and now have the valuation that creates the exit options every founder dreams of. You’re going to want to hear his story.Chapters:00:00 Introduction to Leadium 05:47 How to talk to humans 09:31 Start with proper segmentation 11:25 The McDonald’s Conveyor Belt of Outbound Sales 12:54 Founder led Sales 16:32 Sales is Not a Magic Bullet 19:51 Back to Founder Led Sale 24:07 Removing the Roadblocks 27:35 The Role of the CEO 29:54 Reducing Churn 32:34 The End of SDRsAbout Our Guest:Kevin Warner, the Founder, and CEO of Leadium an award-winning B2B lead generation agency.Kevin is a core visionary behind the rapid growth of the outsourced sales development industry. He has proven that top-of-funnel sales can be scaled through an agency model, by creating over $1 billion in revenue pipeline across 1200 organizations, playing a part in 76 acquisitions, and seeing clients receive $6.5 billion in funding and 5 IPOs. He has experience managing a global team of 600 sales reps, data researchers, content creators, and sales strategists.​​You can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.Website: https://AliceHeiman.comConnect with Alice on LinkedIn