Inside Sales Enablement

Welcome to Inside: Sales Enablement Episode 63 How do we make sales today and one of the things that we need to concentrate on is selling the value of what is actually value mean in the first place? No human being on the planet can live without water. But water is cheap, and prevalent, and inexpensive in most places. Whereas none of us need diamonds to survive. But diamonds are expensive. So what actually is value? In this episode, the guys are joined by Jen Burns who runs sales enablement globally for IQVIA. The reason the concept is so important today is as we move into a digital into the digital economy where customer experience becomes so vital. The key questions you must be able to help your sellers answer are: What actually is valuable? Is the product and service that you have, is that what is valuable? Or is it the outcome the customer achieves? Is that what's valuable. That's what we're talking about today.

In this episode , we're joined by Brian King. Sales Enablement leader who brought a cross-functional team together to develop and clarify the value of his team at Intercontinental hostels. In this podcast, we talk through bringing together cross-functional leaders (all who have a myopic lens of "value") as well as understanding the commercial ratio and how to leverage to elevate the strategic conversation and strategies.

Welcome to Inside: Sales Enablement Episode 61 In this episode we're joined by long-time listener Erik Host-Steen who appreciates getting into the meat of some issues. Since we like introducing ideas and inviting people to participate and push back, Erik reached out to discuss business outcomes and business impact of Sales Enablement. Erik finds that sales, marketing, and product leaders are often working at cross-purposes. One way to get alignment is through business impact measures. What are the goals of the organization? And certainly, growth is usually a part of that. And that growth is for some purpose, value creation, profitability, etc. And then if it's a venture capital backed, firm, there's an exit. So then we have to have an eye toward valuation. And the top typical valuation models have many other factors involved rather than the Commercial Ratio we discussed on the show. What does the Commerical Ratio really add to the toolkit in terms of being able to solve growth problems being able to drive toward a particular valuation or profitability? Find out as we walk through the top-down view of business impact measures so you can quantify your business impact of the sales enablement function.

We're in the experience economy and Sales Enablement Orchestrators are working to bring together the valuable contributions of multiple departments in their organization to improve the customer experience. How are they doing that? By pulling together people, processes, technology, and information to benefit sellers and address the gaps in the selling eco-system. Curiosity is the new competitive advantage, as savvy leaders are taking a "how do we figure it out" approach and learn by doing. Forgoing the big-bang efforts for laser beam experience "labs" to figure out what works. In this episode, we’re joined by Bill Ball, a founding member, and one of the members of the Sales Enablement Board of Directors. As sales enablement society founders and members Scott, Brian, and Bill share their examples of creating an all-digital organization of volunteers through a shared and common experience to elevate the role. As Bill shares in the podcast; "We're navigating an evolving profession together. We have to get to know people and to help people, to figure it out together." Listen in as the guys share what they're seeing, and more importantly, what they have learned to help your own organization orchestrate and bring together people through a common and shared experience SES EXPERIENCE 2020 - Forward Momentum for a New Decade October 26 - 29 Virtual Join the members of the Sales Enablement society at their annual conference http://ses2020.sesociety.org/ Make sure you join Scott Santucci (SES Founder) in the Founders Room on Wednesday, October 28, 2020 at 4:15pm Eastern.

Laying the foundation is critical to Sales Enablement Orchestrators. Laying the foundation is a foundational step to create the survival kit for an enablement leader. It's absolutely mandatory for the enablement leader. In this episode, we're joined by Tamara Schenk. Tamara talks with us about the blueprint Sales Enablement Orchestrators need to create with all teams and roles that are involved. Laying the foundation requires approval by senior executives so that this is your blueprint you're going to achieve. Laying a foundation is not an exercise you do for somebody else, it's not something you you do for finance or controlling. And it's definitely not filling out a form. That's the absolute the last step, when you put all the pieces together. It's a creative process of creating the blueprint you need in your organization, in your context, where you're currently at to achieve your goals. You You have to achieve an enablement to meet your company's sales objectives.

One thing that we like to do on our podcast is to make this very conversational. And the reason that we want to make it conversational, as we go through a structured format, it can get overwhelming. The things that we're all talking about are very, very complex. In this episode, the guys are joined by Steve Goas who is passionate about co-creating value in the Message Enablement. Topics: The vision of message enablement programs Creating routes to Value Orchestration across the organization Defining what "good" looks like with Sales

Are you embracing real-world reality? What is the impact of change on your customer’s conversations right now? Think about it: Are best practices really going to help you move forward when those practices were built and defined before COVID? Who really KNOWS the customer today and what are you going to do about it? Join Louis Jonckheere - President and Co-Founder of Showpad, a leading sales enablement messaging platform - as he talks about the ingredients of successful message enablement initiatives, the buy-in required to get results, and what it takes to gain a broader perspective – to elevate and improve messaging. He also talks about what it means to be customer-centric in a COVID-impacted world. Topics include: Why perspective matters The evolution of the sales enablement market Using technology to improve the quality of sales conversations Being a leader with the courage to act and engage The impact of COVID on “Best practice” What it means to be customer-centric Additional Resources: The Commercial Ratio Watch the Sales Enablement Is at a Cross Road Webinar ON DEMAND Join us at Showpad's Transform2020 Virtual Conference Oct. 1-2 to learn more about the future framework of sales enablement 

Welcome to the Inside: Sales Enablement Podcast Episode 56 The close of the 19th century found Samuel Pierpoint Langley and Orville and Wilbur Wright in a competition to create a powered and controllable flight. Langley worked with a lot of government support and enormous public exposure, while the Wright brothers worked quietly using their own resources. Langley built a monolithic 54-foot-long flying machine had two 48-foot wings -- one in front and one in back. It was launched from a catapult on the Potomac River in October of 1903 and it fell like a sack of potatoes into the water. Just nine days later, the Wright brothers flew a trim little biplane, with almost no fanfare, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Their advantage? They'd mastered the problem of controlling the movement of their plane by focusing on the environment in which they operated. Windy, uncontrolled, volatile, requiring the plan to harness those conditions. The results were remarkable, and as they say, the rest is history. In this episode, we're joined by Amy Benoit. An Orchestrator who is also focused on harnessing the often volatile, uncertain, and complex environment that salespeople operate within. While many (most?) organizations build out their monolithic sales engines with overlays, technology, and management support, Amy focuses on working "light and lean" to get moving and get results. There's a lesson in this episode for all of us, what do you think?

Welcome to the Inside: Sales Enablement Podcast Episode 55 Our focus is on you a sales enablement leader and orchestrator. In your role, you've got to be mission and goal-focused to drive results by design, not effort, unlocking energy, and creating momentum and catalyzing change through collaboration. In this episode, the guys are talking about utilizing social media to gather information and insight. Not with the purpose of amplifying what's already known, but rather, for the purpose of understanding different perspectives. A key concept of Orchestration.' In this episode, we're joined by Greg Smith, a long-time listener. He joins the show to talk about one of his most recent posts on "SDR bashing" and what happened when he posted, what he learned, and why the subsequent discussions were valuable. That's really what we want to talk about here is we have a great opportunity for an awesome topic that requires a good healthy exchange and conversation. When we think about digital, why are we treating it as a separate medium? Why are people using it to share information, instead of understanding different points of view?

Welcome to the Inside: Sales Enablement Podcast Episode 54 System thinking is a disciplined way of understanding dynamic relationships. It's an approach that enables you to make better choices and avoid unintended consequences. In this episode, we talk with Dr. Jerry Brightman, who teaches courses on systems thinking at Harvard University. The guys talk with Jerry to unpack a real-world example to understand the components and repeatable approaches to viewing the commercial system as an integrated system of people, processes, technology, and capabilities. In this episode: The definition of systems thinking The difference between managing and leadership The pros and cons of systems thinking The importance of short-term wins in service of the broader solution The best way to prioritize action in the day-to-day

Welcome to the Inside: Sales Enablement Podcast Episode 53 Nine 4x2 Lego blocks have over 9 Billion unique combinations. How many "legos" does your product, solution, or service have? No matter how you define a "lego" at your company, the permutations are astounding, and yet this is the challenge salespeople navigate daily. On top of this, your company is changing -- rapidly. Moving from one form or the other. This journey represents another challenge salespeople must navigate. In this podcast, Brian and Scott are joined by Chad Quinn, the CEO & Co-Founder, Ecosystems and Jason Cunliffe, Group VP Content Marketing Services at IDC. Chad and Jason have created a partnership. How did it form? By a shared client's definition of value and the blending of capabilities to help sellers navigate a complex buyer-seller relationship. In this podcast, you'll hear: The definition of value Ways company's evolve their value communication approach Ideas to make value clear Ways to relieve seller burden in the sales process

Welcome to the Inside: Sales Enablement Podcast Episode 52 What happens when you get people together remotely or in-person to build something to "help sales sell?". Take an Insider's look at what it takes to navigate internal perspectives, challenges, and vision to co-create value together. Doug and Imogen join the guys to discuss their work. They provide real-world examples that illuminate and provide structure to the challenges they overcome while working with marketing, sales, and product groups. You'll hear a lively discussion about what it means to orchestrate by blending together both strategy and tactics to simplify sales while achieving business objectives. Take a listen to learn more about: Why orchestration is valuable to executives What orchestration "looks like" to the leaders involved Ways to overcome internal bias and people who want to "steamroll" the solution Overcoming siloed thinking by creating clarity through the work

Welcome to the Inside: Sales Enablement Podcast Episode 51

Welcome to the Inside: Sales Enablement Podcast Episode 50 Theres a huge difference between analysis and synthesis. Analysis requires you to break things down, measure them, and understand what happened. The very nature of "analysis" is rooted in the past, and the assumption that understanding what happened helps you figure out what to do. But, what happens when a pandemic hits, your company is going through digital transformation, and what worked in the past is no longer working? That's where synthesis becomes critically important. Why? Synthesis provides you the interconnection of seemingly unrelated components and the ability to project what to do to help "skate to the puck" and add immense value as an orchestrator. In this episode, we're joined by Brooke Spatz, a Sales Enablement Orchestrator in the middle of a transformation to help her company move from selling products to selling a platform. Tapping into her background as an actor, the guys explore the difference between success in the past vs. success today by exploring what it means to analyze vs. synthesize to create value for the organization. Improvisation seems like it's free-flowing and the like, but really to make that art form, there is a whole slew of rules that you need to learn. Brooke helps us explore so you can Orchestrate in the flow of business.

Welcome to the Inside: Sales Enablement Podcast Episode 49; It's a given that the sales and marketing engine is full of waste and inefficiency. Despite the best intentions of very smart people, something is still not quite right. How do we know? The Commercial Ratio tells us that most companies get .15 cents of growth for every dollar they spend on sales and marketing. Scott and Brian are joined by Kunal Mehta from the Private Equity firm TCV. Kunal shares a behind the scene view of rolling out the commercial ratio to all TCV portfolio companies. What were those discussions? What was the focus? What happened? Find out why the commercial ratio is such a great starting point for addressing sales and marketing challenges and how you can use the metric to engage more strategically with your executive team. You can find out more about the commercial ratio at www.commercialratio.com Let us know what you think!

The value of Sales Enablement continues to elevate for those who orchestrate across the company to bring together the right solutions at the right time while addressing seller burden. In this packed episode, Scott and Brian are joined by Joe, a VP of Sales for a Mid-Sized services company that works with some of the largest media companies on the planet. Joe talks about the evolution of selling over the past 20 years and what's happening the sales right now. Especially, with the impact of COVID, and the complexity his team is dealing with. Against this backdrop, Scott, Joe, and Brian discuss the perceived value and impact of Sales Enablement. The discussion includes: Peeling back the layers of VP of Sales challenges and situations, so you can gain more empathy The perceived impact of Sales Enablement Orchestration Tips and ideas on how to role-play sales enablement value Join us at https://www.OrchestrateSales.com/podcast/ to collaborate with peers, join Insider Nation, participate in the conversation, and be part of the continued elevation of the profession.

Welcome to the Inside: Sales Enablement Podcast Episode 47 In this episode, the guys are joined by Tim Pisello, the ROI Guy who shares his thoughts on the commercial ratio. To calculate the commercial ratio of your organization (www.commercialratio.com): Take your current annual revenue  Subtract it from the annual revenue of the previous year  Divide it by the total sales and marketing spending  The guys talk about : Why value is so important to understand in sales Why value is critical to sales enablement programs How sales and marketing are viewed as "growth programs" by investors The relationship between strategy and tactics in creating ongoing programs to improve value communication with a portfolio of sales teams The fundamentals of calculating the commercial ratio How the commercial ratio is used by investors and executives The role of Sales Enablement in moving the needle on the commercial ratio

Welcome to the Inside: Sales Enablement Podcast Episode 46 There is a whole class of leader working in the gap between strategy and tactics, to blend together the right programs, actions, and processes to achieve outcomes -- often with people who don't report directly into them. In this episode, we're joined by Cathy - a sales enablement leader working in her company to bring together groups of people to drive outcomes. In this engaging discussion, we discuss: The value of orchestration to the sales organization Working with line managers who have the resources Enrolling people to achieve an outcome The difference between orchestrating teams and individuals The blend of strategy, process, technology, and information Examples of orchestrating people and groups The differences between project management and orchestration

Welcome to the Inside: Sales Enablement Podcast Episode 45 A Sales Enablement Orchestrator and Sales Enablement Insider joins our show to talk about blending strategy and tactics. Doug Clower is a 20 year Sales Enablement veteran with orchestration experience in companies like MicroFocus. Doug joins the podcast to talk about the changing sales landscape and how Orchestrating success with sales, marketing, and operations leaders requires bridging the gap between their company’s business strategy, and the way customers need to buy. This creates space: between your company and your customers between your growth plans and activities to drive quarterly results between accomplishing goals and driving daily priorities between the sophistication of know-how and the simplicity of action between managing individual contribution and customer experiences among specialized functional departments Companies are structured in hierarchical functional silos making them unable to react quickly to the business landscape.

Welcome to the Inside: Sales Enablement Podcast Episode 44 At the end of our anniversary show the guys talked with Sarah Fricke who is passionate about laying a path for other women to join us in the enablement field while also while promoting the fact that there are many paths into enablement. Sarah's joins the show to host a panel with: Amy Benoit - Renaissance Woman Catalyzing Change, consultant  Lindsay Gore- Microsoft Hang Black- Juniper Sarah Fricke - RingCentral Alicia Leach - Salesforce Stephanie Middaugh - Divvy Steph Bell - Salesforce The show topics include: Share how great women forged a path in sales enablement and why Share strategies of navigating career conversations within a male dominated organization that doesn’t have a definition for enablement To help improve businesses by creating an environment where everyone benefits by the ‘melting pot’ concept of bringing people together. The business case for diverse mindsets and cognitive diversity The importance of allies in the workplace Join us in this very important conversation!