Does AI hold the key to your end-of-year success? What are the effective ways that organizations are using it to drive results? Explore the role of AI in sales strategy, from identifying in-market accounts to streamlining processes, and discover innovative prospecting tactics that drive success, even in these challenging times.In this episode, Andee is joined by former NFL player turned sales leader Ernest Owusu, now senior director of sales development at 6sense, He shares his insights on building successful sales development programs. Join us as we discuss:What Ernest believes the NFL and B2B sales have in commonInsights into leveraging AI for personalized sales approaches and efficient decision-making.Effective prospecting strategies and team motivation techniques to keep your sales team on track for a successful year-end close.

What’s the key to creating end-of-year momentum? Creating the best buyer experience, prioritizing the right deals, and implementing feedback. Invest in these three strategies, and your sales team will optimize their performance in the final weeks of 2023 and launch into the new year with confidence.Sam Senior, co-founder and CEO at Testbox, joins the Andee this week to discuss all things necessary to finish the year strong. He emphasizes the importance of identifying red and green flags for sales focus, building better communications for sales enablement, and leaning into the “give-to-get” mindset. With limited time and resources, Sam shares the insights you need to close Q4 successfully.Join us as we discuss:Engaging the stakeholders who truly matter with customer-led buying experiences and personalized sales approachesImproving sales experiences with real-time communication — both digital and in-personSales strategies for startups to land on Day One lists

Think of your sales pipeline as less like a funnel and more like a subway map — your sellers can take multiple routes to close, as long as they head in the right general direction. It’s up to you to identify each customer’s unique journey — and that can’t be done without explicit efforts to foster relationships and customer-led growth. Building trust with customers is essential for the future — yet many sales professionals take a shortsighted view that extends only to closing deals. Moving away from a transactional mindset and toward customer-led growth is all about how we view and treat the pipeline, according to Matt Heinz, President of Heinz Marketing.In today’s episode, Andee and Matt confront the many misconceptions surrounding customer relationships, highlighting the necessity of challenging customers to uncover their true needs and the crucial role of the user committee and user journey alongside the buying committee in B2B deals. Matt underscores the significance of sales and marketing alignment for complex deals, shedding light on the collaborative approach between the two teams and the pivotal role of tailored content in securing customer engagement and loyalty. This episode is full of practical tips and examples of effective sales positioning, common pitfalls in discovery, and the transformative power of community in customer retention.In this episode:Challenging customer assumptions for business success and treating each customer like a VIPHow cross-departmental alignment around customer engagement bring clarity and profitabilityCrafting tailored content and community building to expand and deepen your customer base

Today’s market is complex and unpredictable, but one thing is certain — retention matters more now than ever before. By embracing the role of a trusted advisor and focusing on overall profitability over top-line growth, sales leaders can navigate the rollercoaster days ahead. In this episode, Andee Harris sits down with Marinus Maris, industry veteran and VP of international sales at Challenger. Marinus provides a unique perspective on the current landscape of sales culture, skills, and growth strategies. Drawing inspiration from his journey, Marinus provides details into the necessary shift toward profitable growth and the art of building and retaining customer loyalty.In this episode, Marinus and Andee break down:Why focusing on profitability is the new norm in sales.How sellers can leverage curiosity, storytelling, and proactive account planning to achieve profitable growthStrategies that prioritize profitable customer segments for long-term growth

How can sales leaders become trusted advisors and overcome the challenges of an elongated sales process while accounting for ever-evolving buyer behavior?In this episode of Winning The Challenger Sale, Krysten Conner shares effective strategies for building strong client relationships and solutions that drive retention and account growth. Krysten shares her remarkable journey from being a middle school teacher to becoming a top-selling expert at multiple unicorn companies. Together, Andee and Krysten explore the challenges sales leaders face, the shifting landscape towards better retention models, the power of personalization in customer relations, and the pivotal role of discovery calls in setting the stage for the future.Discussed in this episode:The obstacles and industry language challenges that sales leaders encounter and how to overcome them for better resultsThe quantification of the cost of inaction (COI)The role of personalized sales strategies using customer data, and the importance of understanding and addressing the unique needs of different customer personas

80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customer base, and retaining those customers comes at a fraction of the price of acquiring new ones. Yet, many sales and marketing efforts are still locked on closing new leads with metric-centric objectives.While new customers will always be essential for growth, retention is the only way to achieve the status of a profitable, valuable, growth-oriented company.Therese Parkes, industry director for technology B2B at Google joins the show to share how to build a thoughtful retention strategy that allows you to get a deeper, wider concentration of customers across your organization to delight, retain, and pursue upselling opportunities.Join us as we discuss:Shifting your ABM strategy to move beyond leads to signals to meet the needs of the modern digital customerProven strategies for customer retention and holistic account health monitoringThe importance of understanding and retaining high-value customers with segmenting, listening, and iteration

The podcast discusses the top predictor of customer loyalty being an exceptional sales experience. It delves into aligning sales, marketing, and customer experience for success. The guest shares insights on identifying market gaps, building customer communities, and implementing growth strategies within existing accounts.

Here’s a controversial idea: Your SKO is not a massive training event. According to Peter Zink, Senior Director of Revenue Enablement at Sprout Social, it’s a time for people to come together, see each other, celebrate and align on a few critical concepts to take into the new year. To build an effective SKO today, Peter argues that you begin with a theme that can be used as a rallying cry, then build an event that pushes your business forward and sustains your trajectory throughout the entire year. Join us as we discuss:Creating a culture of top-down and bottom-up buy-inHow to design the perfect SKO theme to build consistencyThe importance of cross-team collaborationEmpowering managers with coaching tools and resources to ensure sellers keep up to date with takeaways throughout the year.

When you speak with a client, do they think you’re there to help them, or to drive them to a close? Because buyers can tell. They hunger for sellers who deliver insights that support their goals and their business — and not a pop-in with bagels and coffee. The most effective sellers understand that they need to sell with purpose — and It all starts with your SKO. Our guest, Lisa Earle McLeod, founder of McLeod & More and author of five bestselling books, including Selling With Noble Purpose, talks about the concept of selling with purpose and how sales leaders can bring this concept into their SKO.. She shares three tips for creating an unforgettable SKO that celebrates success, while bringing sellers together to achieve higher performance. Here’s a hint: it all starts with understanding the difference that selling makes in your customer’s lives. Join us as we discuss:Transforming SKOs and sales culture with a purpose-driven approachPrioritizing emotional connection throughout SKOs to drive home purposeThe importance of reinforcement

Q4 will be here before you know it — and right after those three months of excitement comes the sales kickoff. And if you want to make sure your SKO brings your sellers together and sends them into 2024 with clarity and purpose, now is the time to begin planning it. Covid continues to impact the SKO planning process, as many organizations balance the advantages of virtual and hybrid events with the community building that takes place when you bring your team together in one room. Whatever path makes the most sense for your organization, our guests today make it clear that the place to start is with a vision statement — and from there you can layer on the creative elements, education, content, speakers, and swag that makes for a standout SKO. Sailpoint continuously goes above and beyond as they deliver top-quality SKOs that fuel growth. So it was a genuine delight to bring in Barrett Sellers, VP of global revenue enablement, and Robin Barde, associate manager of global revenue enablement to discuss the practical and replicable approaches they take to designing a kick-ass SKO, which you can emulate as you launch your team into the new year. We discuss:Why you need a vision deck, a whiteboard (or two), and a t-shirt cannon to fully visualize your SKOHow to navigate the unexpected challenges in the shift from virtual to in-personThe importance of fun, creative elements, and networking opportunities throughout your SKO to create a sense of communityIdentifying the right speaker mix — from ensuring diversity to reinforcement and inspiration