"If you want someone who can make an impact, look no further." - Will Anderson, President at Resolver Inc. | A Kroll Business | www.dhirubhai.net/in/willalexanderson/ ?? WHAT I DO I figure out what's not working in your GTM and fix it with you. It's never one-size-fits-all and I get in and do the work, too — I don't assign it to you. A client that hired me at three companies said, "you're like a Swiss Army knife consultant." ?? HOW I DO IT I dig into everything about your GTM. I collaborate with your team. We determine what needs to be done and we do it together. ?? THE RESULT Sustainable, scalable, predictable revenue. Plain and simple. ?? WONDERING IF I'M THE RIGHT RESOURCE? Please review the testimonials and recommendations located at the bottom of my LinkedIn profile, and reach out to a selection of my clients for further validation. "Tom's ability to quickly assess any situation, understand it's complexity, and provide a possible solution is second-to-none. In the business world, there are very few people who combine razor sharp intelligence, tireless energy, and infallible ethics better than Tom.” - Cole Baker, Senior Global Alliance Manager at Logitech | www.dhirubhai.net/in/cole-baker-651b408/ “Over the last two years, Tom’s work with our marketing and sales teams has been invaluable in improving our penetration of the small business market. Tom brings a rare, in-depth knowledge of both marketing and sales. In particular, he has a unique ability to transform executive strategy into meaningful training for sales reps. His efforts have brought alignment to our marketing and sales organizations, giving them the foresight and understanding needed to execute complex strategic moves – with skill and confidence.” - Jennifer Downes, CMO, Global eCommerce, Lenovo | https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/jennifer-downes-442bb76/ ?? READY TO TALK Connect with me here on LinkedIn; email me at [email protected]; or call me at +1 508-736-1873 Check out my website for more in
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As your business scales, recruiting and onboarding often prove more challenging than you might anticipate. Most scale-ups wait too long to invest properly in these areas. A solid investment doesn’t have to be expensive. It’s about thoughtful planning and disciplined execution. For how to do this right, get the playbook here: https://lnkd.in/eDsjK4sT #scaleup #hiring #onboarding
Some tactics for creating empathy between your sales and marketing teams.
I ran a small, unscientific experiment a few years back to improve alignment between marketing and sales. The setup: I had our marketing team take inbound calls when the sales team was tied up. There was some initial hesitation, but over time, the marketers got good at it. Even better, two important things happened: 1. Empathy grew. Marketers saw firsthand the challenges of sales—even the “easier” inbound calls. 2. Our marketing programs improved. Direct customer interaction led to sharper insights and more effective messaging. Then, I reversed the experiment: I created weekly contests for sales reps to generate inbound leads via social media. Again, two things happened: 1. Sales’ respect for marketing grew. They saw the effort it takes to build leads organically and began to value marketing-generated leads more. 2. Team cohesion improved. There was a new level of respect for each other’s challenges and contributions. (And sales respected those MQLs a whole lot more!) In my experience, marketing and sales alignment—and even basic respect—often lack simply because each side doesn’t fully understand the other's struggles. I invite Maria Mercedes (Marimer) Guevara, Molly Pastore, Joshua Berndt, Jarred Young, Dave Henry and others from that team to add their memories of this or to correct the record if I got it wrong. And how do you empathize with your counterparts in sales or marketing? Share below! #sales #marketing #salesandmarketingalignment?
9 Years, 9 Lessons - Insights from Scaling GTM Teams... 1. Recruiting and onboarding are harder to scale than you think. Most companies wait too long to take this seriously. You might think, “I’m only hiring a couple of reps at a time; I don’t need to invest in this yet.” That mindset leads to short employee tenure and a costly cycle of wasted time and money. 2. The types of people you’ll need to hire will change. As your team scales, your hiring strategy must evolve to meet new demands. Many of the people who contributed to your company’s early success may not have the skills required for its next phase of growth. 3. You probably don’t know how you win deals—and that’s a problem. If you want to replicate your success, you need to uncover and document your winning formula. 4. Design your sales process to handle a much larger team. A scalable sales process will speed up the ramping period for new reps and give you the ability to measure, learn and improve as you grow. 5. Narrow your ICP but design it to scale. When reps are given too much freedom. This when you find you're in trouble. Defining a clear Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is crucial, but ensure it allows for long-term growth. 6. Fix your CRM now or face expensive consequences. In the early stages CRMs get filled with good and bad data, intentional and unintentional fields, stages and processes. Without a deliberate plan and cleanup it only gets worse and more expensive. 7. Align your marketing and sales team before it’s too late. Avoid the dreaded silos forming by taking deliberate action to unite these departments. 8. Culture matters the most. A strong, intentional culture is the foundation of everything else. Take the time to define, document and practice it and it will sustain itself. 9. Transparency strengthens culture. Being open about everything—good or bad—helps reinforce a strong culture. Get the full blueprint here: https://lnkd.in/eCymFEHq What lesson have you learned the hard way? #sales #gtm #scaleup #salesstrategy #strategy #gotomarket
If you're a scaling company, these lessons are here to help...
9 Years, 9 Lessons - Insights from Scaling GTM Teams. Over the past 9 years of working with fast-growing companies, I’ve noticed some consistent obstacles that continuously trip up leaders. 1. Recruiting and onboarding are harder to scale than you think. Most companies wait too long to take this seriously. You might think, “I’m only hiring a couple of reps at a time; I don’t need to invest in this yet.” That mindset leads to short employee tenure and a costly cycle of wasted time and money. 2. The types of people you’ll need to hire will change. As your team scales, your hiring strategy must evolve to meet new demands. Many of the people who contributed to your company’s early success may not have the skills required for its next phase of growth. 3. You probably don’t know how you win deals—and that’s a problem. If you want to replicate your success, you need to uncover and document your winning formula. 4. Design your sales process to handle a much larger team. A scalable sales process will speed up the ramping period for new reps and give you the ability to measure, learn and improve as you grow. 5. Narrow your ICP but design it to scale. When reps are given too much freedom Defining a clear Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is crucial, but ensure it allows for long-term growth. 6. Fix your CRM now or face expensive consequences. In the early stages CRMs get filled with good and bad data, intentional and unintentional fields, stages and processes. Without a deliberate plan and cleanup it only gets worse and more expensive. 7. Align your marketing and sales team before it’s too late. Avoid the dreaded silos forming by taking deliberate action to unite these departments. 8. Culture matters the most. A strong, intentional culture is the foundation of everything else. Take the time to define, document and practice it and it will sustain itself. 9. Transparency strengthens culture. Being open about everything—good or bad—helps reinforce a strong culture. What insight do you have that isn’t on this list? #sales #gtm #scaleup #salesstrategy #strategy #gotomarket
If you're a sales leader looking to boost revenue growth or rapidly scale your team, don’t miss Tom's insights on Kieran Krohn's Growth Unlocked Podcast. You'll get a blueprint for scaling properly and several pitfalls to avoid. Link directly to the podcast in the first comment. #SalesLeadership #SalesLeaders #SalesStrategy #B2BSales #SalesManagement #RevenueGrowth #SalesExcellence
If your boss is paying too much attention to the details of your work it means either: 1. They’re a micromanager. 2. They don’t have confidence in you. It’s wise to distinguish between the two. Naturally, we all tend to get defensive and assume we’re being micromanaged. But before jumping to that conclusion, take a step back and consider: - Is it new behavior? - Do they do this to everyone else they manage? If it's not new behavior and they do it to everyone they manage, they may be a micromanager, and you may need to consider if this is a long-term situation you want to stay in. However, if it's new and focused only on you, it may be a sign that your boss lacks confidence in your work, which means you’ll need to take action. Here’s how: 1. Have a direct conversation to uncover the real issue. For example: “I’ve noticed you’ve been more involved in the details of my work lately. Is there something specific I could improve or adjust to meet your expectations?” 2. Ask for clear direction on how to earn their confidence. “What can I do to give you the confidence to leave these details to me?” 3. Set a checkpoint to review progress. “Great, let’s establish some checkpoints over the next month to ensure I’m on track and meeting your expectations.” Taking these steps will help you address the situation head-on and improve your working relationship with your boss, whether it’s a case of micromanagement or a confidence issue. If the cause of the micromanagement was a lack of confidence, you’ll have effectively taken control of your own performance improvement plan. In summary: Don’t misread your boss’s intent. If they are truly a micromanager, you may want to consider whether this is the right environment for you. But if it’s about confidence, tackle it head-on. Address the issue directly, and you’ll not only avoid being fired or driven crazy, but you’ll also elevate your standing in the process! Conversely: If you're the boss, recognize what you're doing. If you're micromanaging, why? 1. Address it directly with your direct report. 2. Give them clear direction on how they can earn your confidence. 3. Set a series of checkpoints and allow them the freedom to gain your confidence back. 4. If they can't or won't, find a way to move them out of the role. Perhaps there's another role that would better fit their skills.
A healthy discussion on envisioning or re-envisioning what sales training should become.
An area I've often underestimated when teaching young reps to sell — and I know I'm not the only one — is on business acumen. In the rush to get reps productive, companies skimp on the deep learning reps need to understand their buyers' world. This is what is meant by business acumen. This isn't product knowledge, btw, though it's a part of it. On Andy Paul's recent Win Rate podcast, Mark Cox challenges me in this area and, I believe, the conversation gets quite interesting as Andy and Bridget L. Gleason weigh on re-imagining sales training. I really love Andy's concept on how we should train reps. And love Bridget's response! I encourage you to go have a listen for yourself. It's the Changing Sales for the Better episode. You can find it here: https://lnkd.in/e8B-NCAn You can also find it on Spotify. #sales #salestraining
Want to improve your ability to connect with customers on a human level using AI? This series is for you. Introducing SalesEQ? for AI – an ongoing series of lessons to help you integrate AI into your sales workflow. In these free lessons, you’ll learn how to: - Better understand your buyers and their challenges - Enhance your discovery meetings with AI-assisted analysis and question development - Save time by letting AI handle tedious tasks, so you can focus on the human side of selling Sinc these insights are too detailed* for a quick LinkedIn read, they’re available in the blog section of my website. To be notified when each lesson is posted, sign up for the SalesEQ Newsletter on my site. See the first three posts now at www.stearns.io/blog *another word for long #sales #ai #salesadvice #salestips
When a rep can see their activity has a positive result and that they're improving over time, they'll naturally be motivated to make more calls. Here's how:
4 steps to motivate your reps (or yourself) to make more cold calls… 1. Track the percentage of conversations that result in meetings. Create a monthly view of this. 2. Track calls and put this in the report next to the conversation:meeting ratio (step 1). This shows you that the number of calls directly correlates to an outcome over time. 3. Call-coach regularly. This improves the conversation:meeting conversion rate. It will steadily increase over time and typically plateau around 20-25% (though some reps do even better). 4. Review the report monthly, noting... There is typically a clear trend up in the skills to convert a conversation to a meeting. The correlation of call volume and skills improvement should motivate most anyone to make more calls. Outcomes can be predicted IF call counts are at or close to targets. BUT if call counts are low, it will be obvious even the best conversation:meeting rates won’t matter. Hence the motivation to call more! Watch the video for examples. Summary: 1. Track the conversations:meeting ratio and call counts monthly 2. Call coach weekly 3. Review monthly #sdr #bdr #coldcalling #Sales #SalesTips
How to hone your SalesEQ this weekend and have fun doing it. Subscribe to the SalesEQ Newsletter for more homework. Just kiddin'. Well, there will be some homework. https://lnkd.in/eDKM2DsT