Kyle Diamond

It's out! Thank you, Lifetime Value Media Dillon Young, Rob Zambito, and Jean-Pierre Frost, for the fun and lively discussion on CSMs Selling and standardizing CS as a profession. Consider: Instead of thinking the only options are relationship management-experienced CSMs' own sales, account managers' own sales, or both, evaluate eliminating the AM role. Create a new role under CS. This would give CSMs sales ownership but provide them with a resource/ a new role, CS sales support, and the applicable sales training. If you eliminate the awkward dance where everyone is stepping on toes, and you eliminate the customers' utter confusion. Creating a new role under Customer Success (CS) and eliminating the Account Manager (AM) role could streamline the sales process and enhance customer experience. Here's a structured approach to evaluate and implement this idea: I would love to hear your perspective. https://lnkd.in/e8RS_2KS

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Calling All SALES People – YOU HURT YOURSELF WHEN YOU DO THIS!! A huge piece of advice to all of you included in SALES process for your business including CEO’s, MD’S, SALES Directors, Client Directors, Head of Sales, EVP’s, VP’s, SVP’S…I think you get the drift. If your business is taking part in an official RFP process and the RFP states the lines of communication to be used (which it will) i.e. people you should contact (probably a #Procurement person or maybe a Stakeholder)…then abide by it! Now sometimes during the RFP process you may learn of other more senior people who may have an impact on the RFP outcome. This may be via demos or chemistry sessions, or your senior people already know and have a relationship with senior people in the business… BUT please, no matter how desperate or brilliant you think you are…. DO NOT CONTACT THOSE SENIOR PEOPLE DIRECTLY (unless requested to by the contact in the RFP!) It may in your mind seem like a smart thing to do, as you can influence the outcome and get advantage…and I get that is the SALES person in you, and you’ve seen it pay off sometimes… But here’s what actually happens: If the Procurement team are valued and are in charge of doing the official RFP - then take it as given!! All that will happen by your actions is that the senior person will reach out to the Procurement team and tell them…. and guess what that does to your proposal…? Don’t think for one second, your proposal goes to the top of the pile. IMHO, IT’S A HUGE BLACK MARK! What your actions have actually managed to achieve are: 1.     You will have annoyed the Procurement person managing the RFP 2.     You will have annoyed the CPO or Head of Procurement 3.     You will have annoyed the Senior stakeholder who is sponsoring the RFP 4.     You will probably annoy the Senior person you contacted… after all there’s a Procurement function to deal with this stuff! So, SALESPEOPLE…no matter the temptation, do yourself a favour and abide by the RFP rules of communication. You have been warned! _________________________ 😃 Hi I'm Steve Walton. I help companies to fully realize the value procurement brings in terms of cost savings, risk mitigation, supplier innovation and sustainability. DM me if you’re ready to move procurement beyond a tactical purchasing function, and need consultancy and training. 💸📉📊

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I’m always interested in where industry leaders are investing their resources. Remi Dubreuil, Director of Sales at Uniphore, has shared his strategic allocations for 2024, and it’s insightful. 10% in marketing-led growth 30% in community-led growth 30% in partnership-led growth 20% in customer-led growth 10% in event-led growth Remi says that partnerships are key to staying top of mind. These partners can introduce Uniphore to new markets and opportunities. Community and customer focus are equally important.  When prospects come into the pipeline already warm, the conversion rates are significantly higher. Remi leans heavily into referrals and building strong community ties to ensure a steady flow of warm leads. On the episode, Remi also shared his 2024 strategy for getting hyper-specific with intent data. Remi's full episode is packed with actionable tips. If you’re in B2B sales, you need to check it out 😊 TO WATCH 👀 → Click the link in the comments TO LISTEN → Find "B2B Pipeline Pioneers" on Spotify and Apple #b2bsales #communitygrowth #partnerships #intentdata

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A question for Sales Leaders re: quotas - A friend in Medical sales just got their quota...halfway through May (almost halfway through the year). As a territory manager they hustled in 2023 and achieved 111% to quota. They were #4 in Canada and #1 in Ontario. Great, right? Wrong... As a reward, they were gifted with a 12% increase in quota not from previous year's quota, but from previous year's achievement, and to me this just doesn't make sense. 👉 This type of quota calculation rewards those who achieved 90% (or even lower ) 👉 Demotivates those high achievers - They used their relationships to get orders in before quarter/year end and those doctors won't be needing those products perhaps for 18 months 👉 Promotes #quietquitting - doing the minimum requirements of one's job and putting in no more time, effort, or enthusiasm than absolutely necessary 👉 Promotes mediocrity - the more I sell the more will be expected of me next year My friend is understandably demotivated. They are the first ones to help with any events, often being away from home on a weekly basis to help other colleagues with their events/sales. They no longer want to put in any extra work and are questioning the company and whether it may be time to leave. I would love to hear from Sales Leaders out there as to how you calculate quotas, what systems/products you use, and how you deal with employees who have questions.

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My episode of SalesIntel.io B2B Pipeline Pioneers is now live! In this 15-minute episode, I discuss some of the strategies I've been leveraging and experimenting with my teams around intent to build pipeline in 2024, as well as some technics to battle the no 1 factor for close lost in recent years: "no decision". For me, "intent is everything", and what I mean by "intent" is always two-fold: 1) Intent from the seller side: reaching out with an intent / coming in with a detailed pov for a partnership (why should this account work with us and get value from it) 2) Intent from the customer side: with account-based and individual-based intent data. Going even further, which individuals have a history of actually making decisions and purchasing. Thank you, Manoj Ramnani for having me on the podcast, Ariana Shannon for being a great host, and Jason Hasenberg for helping with all things logistics and scheduling. It was a great experience!

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Happy 4th American friends 🇺🇸... for my fellow Canadians in SDR land here's some things I often find are a good use of time on a day like today: - Draft personalized emails - Find and/or research accounts and prospects - Sequence prospects - Self enablement/study - Admin work/reporting - Cold call/disco call role plays - Cold call/disco call game tape - Tweak chatGPT prompting for pmails/account research/etc - Prospect into your Canadian/EMEA/global accounts Also use the time to breath. Go slow today so you can go fast the rest of July. Food for thought. #sdr #salesdevelopment #sales

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YOUR OUTLOOK MATTERS 🤍 Building out one of the best business playbooks going… yet, in life there is nothing more important than your tone, curiosity and outlook …positivity is a conscious choice made daily ❤️ #SalesHackOttawa #SalesHack #SalesHackUSA #SalesHackCanada #MakeEveryDayCount #PositiveOutlook #Hiring

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Catie Ivey, CRO of Walnut, recently joined me on The GOATS of Growth to discuss the differences between selling in today's environment versus selling just a few years ago. Of course, as a GTM recruiter, the thing that stuck out most to me was what she says in this clip below about the level of talent required on the go-to-market team when budgets are tight. There's a big difference between great sellers and CSMs and everyone else--and it's never been more apparent. We also talked about: -Creating buyer-centric experiences -Unit economics and KPIs she tracks -Her transition from VP to CRO -Traits she looks for when hiring -Much more Access to the full episode will be in the comments, or just search for The GOATS of Growth online or in your podcast app. Catie, thanks again for joining me! Please follow Catie for more great content.

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Ashi from Gong is fast (😮‍💨10k) But not as fast as Gong Engage users when they use Lavender. Access to your Gong calls in our personalization assistant ✅ Access to our coach & "Ashi fast" personalization in Gong ✅ Better 🤝 Faster 3.0 (and so much more) coming soon

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In your cold call focus on not telling your prospect what your software is or does but instead tell them about the demographic of customers that buy from you. For example, “we sell a blank blank software that does blank blank.” This isn’t good. “We work with blank companies that have trouble either with blank or blank and I wanted to figure out if you are satisfied with how you handle those challenges today?” Then you can follow up with asking what they do to solve it. #sales

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Some great advice here for those in the Biz Dev world! Let's go!!!

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Great read from Sam Jacobs (Pavilion), did you know that according to some data, up 69% of sales reps aren't hitting their quotas? Today, excellence isn’t an option—it’s a necessity. With AI empowering us with unmatched tools—deep insights, personalization, and unprecedented data—success now hinges on disciplined adherence to a systematic process like MEDDIC or other proven methodologies. At Salesroom, we merge these elements seamlessly, providing a structured environment where sellers can consistently adhere to their sales plans with precision. Whatever the methodology, our platform ensures that every sales interaction is guided by data-driven insights and strategic alignment, empowering teams with the confidence they need to close. Always happy to chat about how Salesroom can help your team achieve success, every time.

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The phone is a salesperson’s best friend. Over 92% of all customer interactions happen over the phone. How many cold calling attempts does it take to finally reach a prospect? Sales staff have to make an average of eight attempts. To work efficiently and get results— Your team must use the best sales dialer tools as Aircall 😎 . Sales dialers help assist sales professionals in boosting results. They help them make more efficient and effective phone calls. To learn more about Aircall Dialer 👉 https://lnkd.in/ech3yyeu

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How many people on your team hit their quota in Q1? What about in all of 2023? When you're building your goals for the year, you need to factor in how many people on the team will actually achieve them. Too few and you're going to see disappointment and employee churn, too many and you likely set the goals too low - which will mean an upset executive team. According to The State of Partnership Leaders report, 58% of respondents had 50%+ of their team achieve quota and 35% of teams had 75%+ hit goals. When looking at the biggest reason for missing numbers, the vast majority of respondents stated 'Misalignment of Goals' inferring their team were set up to fail from the beginning. Make sure to tune into the launch webinar for The State of Partnership Leaders tomorrow where I'll be joined by Kelly Stratman of EY and Jack Grey of Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to discuss our findings and recommendations for goal setting and alignment. For now though, how many people do you think you should expect to be achieving quotas each quarter? #partnerships #leadership #strategy

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Automation is the way to go. So much to be gained by using the right tools for the right job.

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By simplifying their Quotes, we saved over $300K for our first client at RevSolutions. If you’re a VP, you know that: Accurate quotes close deals. But getting them right is a major challenge. Sales teams often struggle with: → Inconsistent pricing, → Manual errors, and → Lengthy approval processes. These issues erode trust and can cost you business. That’s where the Q of the CPQ system comes in handy; Especially if you’ve complex pricing structures. CPQ tools make the quoting process efficient, ensuring consistency and accuracy across the board. → Automate complex pricing calculations → Standardize discounting practices → Speed up quote approval times With accurate quotes, you build trust with your clients. They know they can rely on your pricing, which makes them more likely to do business with you. Moreover, your sales team can respond faster, turning leads into customers with minimal friction. Accuracy in quoting means credibility and efficiency. How reliable are your quotes? #cpq #quote #pricing

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It should not be so hard to empower your sales teams. But, in 2023: 📉 53% of CROs struggled to increase sales velocity and rep productivity 📉 72% of salespeople spent time not selling 📉 28% of sales reps expected to attain quota This year, learn how to leverage the power of sales enablement 🚀 https://lnkd.in/eHDKVJ_J #salesenablement #change #saas

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Multi-threading... A skill that's fast becoming the most critical in a sales reps arsenal. Why? 🤔 The market is tough at the moment. 🤔 Buyers are more budget conscious. 🤔 CFOs are asking teams to reduce spend and cut back on investment. 🤔 Prospects that once had buying power and sign off capability now have to get approval from C-Suite. It sounds like an uphill battle 🏃‍♂️‍➡️⛰️ but the truth is, multi-threading is not as daunting as you might think. ⭐️ Here's some tips that have worked well for me in the last 6 months ⭐️ 🗺 Map out your accounts. Org charts are critical for multi-threading. You need to understand who your prospects are, who they report to, and who holds decision making power. Tip - LinkedIn SalesNav let's you build drag and drop org charts! 🗣️ Check with your your champion. Confirm your org chart is correct. Ask them what the process is for bringing on a new vendor. If they don't know, 🆘 they are not a true champion. 📧 Share content early. Begin introducing yourself to key stakeholders quickly. Tip - Connect on LinkedIn with a short and sweet connection request, something like "Wanted to put a face to a name following some great conversations I've been having with (champion name) re (challenge). I'll send over some content via email shortly. I look forward to hearing your thoughts." 🎺 Make sure your content is personalised, engaging, and stands out. TOP TIP - Using a tool like trumpet 🎺 (digital sales room) is a sure fire way to encourage stakeholder engagement. Upload clear and concise value props, how you can solve their businesses challenges, client case studies and more. Ask these contacts to bookmark the page as you will regular update it with content as the deal progresses. And, track their engagement, so you can meet them in the moment. So far, my prospects have been LOVING it! 📞 Pick up the phone. Once you've connected on LinkedIn and sent content, call prospects to ensure that they have seen it. Ask what questions they have and tell them about next steps. By doing the above, when it comes to negotiation these stakeholders will be informed and aware of the entire process to date, and you and your product will be top of mind 🧠 Tenured AE's in my network (I know there are a lot of you), what do you do to successfully multi-thread? P.S. You can guess what I'll be doing in the office today :😉 #multithreading #sales #digitalsalesrooms #dsr #aestrategies

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The sales leaders of today have announced that outbound is dead for one very simple reason: Every, single, one, of, you, doing, it, currently… …Are exactly the same. Why should anyone meet with you over the other 10,000 sales reps they hear from on an annual basis? All the while Rebels are setting appointments with huge brands like Lee by giving a better experience Standing out from the sea of sameness Causing undeniable curiosity While the rest of you continue to bury the sales profession and your place in it Rebels will keep it alive and well Through the experiences they give others And their unique approach to standing out “Like a sore thumb” 😎🥳 #ChangeTheGame

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