Sales Talk for CEOs

HIGHLIGHTS1:20 Changes to hiring during the pandemic8:25 Growth of sales operations during the pandemic11:25 How to integrate roles on your team to serve customers better14:10 The CEO’s unique role in sales18:38 Balancing a CEO’s many responsibilities22:40 Switching your sales strategy when inbound calls increase25:07 Growth opportunities on the horizon  “The customer wants it to be seamless. They don’t want to have your services coming from 15 different directions and different messages. They know what they want, and they want it to be seamless. They don’t really care what happens behind the scenes. They just want good results, a good outcome.”   Connect with Bronwyn Allen in the links below:Website: http://www.highprofilestaffing.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bronwynallen/ You can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.Website: https://AliceHeiman.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman/

HIGHLIGHTS3:19 The journey to becoming the CEO of basketball8:24 Knowing CEO skills, playing the sport and understanding the fans10:57 Finding solutions for the first challenges you have to face as a CEO19:10 Holding each member and each department of the organization responsible for revenue and the customer’s experience27:35 The CEO as the spearhead and pivot of the organization30:35 Keeping sports stakeholders engaged during the pandemic through innovative thinking QUOTES3:25 “If I wrote down a piece of advice to myself: specializing in a particular area is helpful as you move through.”9:23 “You need to be authentic. In anything, authenticity is key. Because people buy from people at the end of the day. If you have strong knowledge of your product, your services, and you understand your customer, you obviously are going to be more successful.”20:28 "If we don't collaborate, the customer may choose to work with somebody that's easier to deal with than our organization. Simplifying that for all the people and strategically working more... systems on actually putting the customer on the center... and everybody in that value chain have responsibility for the customer"35:05 “That innovative thinking and people putting themselves and making themselves available has been the beauty of what this pandemic has brought about in a number of different areas”   Connect with Maria Nordstrom in the links below.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-nordstrom-89b71a8Website: https://www.bnsw.com.au/Twitter: https://twitter.com/marianordstrom3 You can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.Website: https://AliceHeiman.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman/

HIGHLIGHTS2:50 How Sendoso started - finding creative ways to connect with people5:20 Interviewing for creativity 15:10 Building a strong company culture 20:20 Adapting to modern sales 24:58 Following up with customers27:41 Why stay with named accounts?  QUOTES4:57  “Creative thinking is one of those soft skills that are underutilized and undervalued… add creativity or if you want to be more creative that’ll be a skillset that will stand out”5:32 “I think creativity is something that all you CEOs out there - make sure that your sales leaders are interviewing for creativity”15:57 “I’m really trying to create a culture where it’s a ‘one team, one dream’ and the CEO is not too cool for school, he’s in the trenches working with everyone else.” 24:25 “People should not just disappear from a customers life, they should be around and the customer knows they're available and a part of a team that's helping lift everybody up.”26:51 “Any day can be ‘we love our customers day’” Connect with Kris Rudeegraap in the links below:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rudeegraap/Website: http://www.rudeegraap.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/rudeegraap You can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.Website: https://AliceHeiman.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman/

HIGHLIGHTS1:20 What exactly is Xactly and who are their ideal customers? 7:00 Sales journey to CEO 11:55 Entrepreneurial enthusiasm26:42 Sales organization’s evolution after 16 years30:10 The balance of having partners and direct sellers 38:20 From private company to public, then to private and going back to being public  QUOTES11:30  “So many things could go differently, so many startups fail for so many different reasons - but that never entered my mind. Looking back, I didn’t understand that - but at the time the idea of it not working was never ever in the realm of possibility”11:55 “I call that entrepreneurial enthusiasm, if you didn’t have it - you won’t make it. You have to believe, you can’t even look back and think that it’s not gonna work - that’s not the way we think as entrepreneurs”24:24 “CEOs can really be the chief evangelist for their company and it makes a huge difference. It’s more about that networking and developing and drawing people to you because they see you and they see “oh, this CEO isn’t afraid to be out there, is available we can talk to him” Connect with Chris Cabrera in the link below.Website: https://www.xactlycorp.com/LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophercabrera/Twitter: https://twitter.com/cabrera You can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.Website: https://AliceHeiman.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman/

HIGHLIGHTS3:30 Before Clarity Voice: how Gary had started as tech support and then trained in sales6:08 The CEO being the first salesperson of the company15:13 Realizing the need for a sales leader 20:18 When the CEO manages his own sales team26:46 Technology doesn’t solve all problems 30:01 The richness of business QUOTES3:30 “With any entrepreneur, when they look back to when they started the company and what led up to it, there were many things that happened that built them to where they are ready to move on to an opportunity.”5:48 “If I could hit moderate success in pitching non-sales people to pay for the privilege of joining a direct-selling organization, it should be a breeze to talk to small businesses about having better phone communications”14:40 “It took me some time to really get through my thick skull that hiring superstars wasn’t gonna work.”15:10 “I was resistant to hiring a sales leader because I couldn’t see or justify such a large expense for someone who wasn’t a direct producer. Huge mistake, that mistake probably caused me millions of dollars over the last ten years” 22:20  “I had to make the real decision: ‘do I wanna be small and in control of everything or do I wanna grow?’ And that was my choice…you really have to ask yourself ‘do you have to grow?’” 30:01 “The richness of business is the journey getting there. Some of it is in the struggle and in figuring things out. But it’s also in enjoying the successes, recognizing the achievements and liking what you’re doing and whom you’re doing it with - both your team and your customers.” Connect with Gary Goerke in the links below:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-goerke-cfe-4611424/Website: www.clarityvoice.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClarityVoice1/Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClarityVoice1 You can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.Website: https://AliceHeiman.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman/

HIGHLIGHTS2:18 How and why Jamie started Proactivate8:45 Recognizing when to hire people 12:39 Strategically building and maintaining partnerships16:00 Partnerships versus cold-calling 19:23 Mindsets that are helpful for serving clients and growing your business - mindset versus skillset QUOTES5:26 “It was me selling, for sure, in the beginning and doing a lot of it. In the first week I got 25 appointments”9:26 “Adding a salesperson would be worth a million dollars in revenue to my company… I hired some sales team member and then took them through a very specific sales bootcamp because I knew that they would be the lifeblood of my company”11:10 These client relationships and referral partner relationships, they’ve been really key. A lot of them have been great friends and partners in business. I work really hard in just maintaining that and growing some of those strategic relationships. 15:34 “If you’re thinking, ‘how can I find some partners?’ Jamie has just laid it out for you: think about who else sells to the same audience that you sell to, what would be important to them in having a partner and how you would build that. Start with one and see how it goes. Be strategic about it and pick up a few more.” 20:55 “80% of our success is based on mindset and yet we spend all this time interviewing people based on skillset and training people based on skill set.”  Connect with Jamie Crosbie in the links below:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamiecrosbie/Website: https://www.proactivate.net/ | http://www.jamiecrosbie.com/Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/www.proactivate.net/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/proactivate/Twitter: https://twitter.com/jmcrosbieYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC39bcl4OzWzBBJE-Wbw5Lfg/videos You can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.Website: https://AliceHeiman.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman/

HIGHLIGHTS[3:06] Being a business owner with a sales background[6:59] Getting people onboard in your company - what you can do as CEO[10:50] Building the sales organization in your company[20:41] Supporting sales and the CEO's growing role[25:51] Making your customer feel important, secure and happy[31:00] Hiring outside help to communicate more freely in the office QUOTES[6:30]  “It's really useful to have a sales background starting a company, at first you are not just selling a product, you're selling for people to join a company”[7:00]  "If you're a CEO you better be good at sales and telling your stories if you want others to come to your company right now"[12:56]  "You do need to have experience with hiring sales people and it's definitely a skill"[20:43]  "If I keep my toe on the water too much, it hurts the company from a sales perspective because I'm spread too thin… you see this a lot in companies, whatever the CEO is really great at is what their company is weak at"  [24:46] "Talking to your sales people is a great way to keep your fingers on the pulse of the business" Connect with Steve Benson in the link below:Website: https://www.badgermapping.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenbenson/ You can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.Website: https://AliceHeiman.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman/

HIGHLIGHTS2:00  From Goldmine to Nimble, Jon’s entrepreneurial journey8:20  Be present for your family's growth. Don't let your career get in the way of being with your loved ones. 18:17  The secret sauce to making connections and closing sales - listening more and being human29:24  Integrating more and more communication systems into Nimble 33:04  Making it easy for the buyer to buy from youQUOTES2:02  “It really starts with our first company that I co-founded called GoldMine. I started that company out of a personal need, I struggled as a sales person.” 8:20  “I came to the conclusion that I’m on this planet to grow my soul and the best way to grow my soul is to be present with people who love me and help them grow. So I decided to dedicate that time to being a present father, husband, and member of my community”15:55  If you share content… those influencers will start conversations with you and you have to reel them in to do one on one face to face”16:10  "You don't want to start talking about yourself and your products. What you want to do is prepare for the meeting, learn about them... ask some questions and shut the F up and listen... " 23:10  “You just have to be thoughtful, share what you believe in, interact with the people that you want to interact with you then it starts to work.” “You have to be human…”34:14  “I encourage every CEO listening today to go be their own customer, to go try to buy from their own company… pretend you’re your own customer and evaluate yourself from that perspective… many of you will be shocked.” Connect with Jon Ferrara:Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Jon_FerraraWebsite: http://www.nimble.com/Blog: www.nimble.com/blog   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonvferraraYou can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.Website: https://AliceHeiman.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman/

HIGHLIGHTS01:46 Starting RFPIO and helping companies respond to RFPs more efficiently10:07 Ganesh's sales experience was a natural progression to CEO 14:01 Trial and error: Changing company goals to figure out behavior19:21 Celebrate sales milestones and recognize the efforts of every team member23:15 Filling the organization structure with the right people at the stages31:45 Future forecast for RFPIO and success with an onboarding specialist38:46 Sales tips for fellow CEOsQUOTES08:27 "We realized salespeople never logged into those system. They have accounts already working on. They don't want to log in. So go with cheaper solution."14:26 "Compensation drives behavior. The second one is, time kills deals. Two things it is always in my mind. When we started scaling, we as an organization were looking at what is that year 1, what is the behavior that we want?"19:34 "We as a company celebrated every small milestone the sales team brought in. Everybody from top to bottom, even an intern who's on the engineering team was made part of the sales team."25:21 "My entire sales team knows it will change. Either the quotas will change, the territories will change, the industries will change, but not in between."39:07 "Make sure you're not creating a conflicting competition plan. Make it clean and simple, easy for sales team to understand, and go after it. It'll make your life so much easier." Connect with Ganesh Shankar in the link below.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ganeshshankarcr/You can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.Website: https://AliceHeiman.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman/

HIGHLIGHTS01:47 Innovating the training process with Spekit10:44 Melanie's background in supporting sales and overcoming self-limiting beliefs18:39 Learning how to sell a product and being deliberate with hiring a sales team26:55 Having a clear company vision and hiring the first head of sales37:30 Creating an online presence to evangelize and attract clients40:34 Building up the sales team and adapting to changing buyer behaviors48:32 Sales advice for fellow CEOsQUOTES09:16 "How do we reimagine the way that employees learn at work? And how we make that easier, more personalized, more data-driven experience for them."21:52 "I deeply, deeply, deeply believe that if you want to solve the problem better than anyone else, you need to understand the problem better than anyone else."25:28 "I'd just be intentional about hiring your first head of sales because they're going to shape your culture, your sales culture, but at the end of the day your sales team shapes the culture of your company."32:05 "For me to excel at my role, I need to grow personally to a level that's faster than the growth of the company and that's hard when you're on hyper growth mode. But learning how to be an effective sales manager is probably not the best use of my time."50:06 "I think it's really important to get super, super clear on the psychology and characteristics or whatever you want to call it of your buyer so that you can map out the kinds of sellers that I think are going to be the most successful."Connect with Melanie Fellay in the link below.Website: https://spekit.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniefellay/You can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.Website: https://AliceHeiman.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman/