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Business Insights & Strategies From Experts: Unveiling Simple Truths Behind Success. I’m always grateful for Reviews and remember to Subscribe
Episodes
Thursday Apr 14, 2022
Thursday Apr 14, 2022
Eric Steeves is someone who has really impressed me. In the past 2 weeks he has opened my eyes to the future of #SalesManagement and #RevenueOperations. His approach is one I find deeply refreshing. Listen and you'll understand why. He is measured, humble and committed to helping others succeed. Hear how differently he approaches sales, how he involves others, his diagnosis of the true problems his customers need to addess. Listen to his approach towards competition, cooperation and partnering.
Eric is a deep thinker who spends time patiently understanding the problem and the intended outcome to create elegant solutions that deliver the intended result, are widely adopted with minimal friction, and sustain the ravages of time and use.
And if you ever wondered how to create a fair compensation plan that rewards all those who contributed to the successful execution of the sale all the way through to the customer reporting they have accomplished their intended outcome, bring a pen and notepad. We may just have cracked the compensation problem!
Contact Eric via linkedin.com/in/eric-steeves
Websites
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trailblazer.me/id/esteeves (Salesforce Trailblazer Profile)
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trailblazers.salesforce.com/_ui/core/userprofile/UserProfilePage?u=0053A00000FVGyK&tab=sfdc.ProfilePlatformFeed (Salesforce Community Profile)
Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dW6kPwaQ
Apple: https://lnkd.in/dXxF5vBB
ListenNotes: https://lnkd.in/dTsbprp6
Amazon: https://lnkd.in/dwniAAbB
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We'd love your thoughts. Please comment and tag someone who needs to hear this episode. Get in touch with either of us with questions. Share and please do subscribe to #TheInquisitor podcast
If you want to get hold of me marcus@laughs-last.com
Tuesday Apr 12, 2022
Tuesday Apr 12, 2022
Johan Taft is half Swedish-English-Belgian. He left school at 16, and after a couple of years in the navy, he left and worked his way up the fast food industry. At the age of 19 was managing the world's busiest restaurant. In this high pressure, fast, paced environment he developed his management approach. Deeply spiritual and a martial artist, Johan's thinking is disciplined, humane and is focused on building people up, helping them meet their true potential.
Contact Johan linkedin.com/in/magnifyyourgreatness
Websites
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magnifyyourgreatness.com (Company Website)
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sportingmindmastery.com/ (Company Website)
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Contact me on marcus@laughs-last.com
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Get in touch if you are looking want to talk about how sales is going to evolve in the future, you think you'd be a good guest or you've read a really good book you think our audience would like to learn about
Thursday Apr 07, 2022
Thursday Apr 07, 2022
Patrick Boucousis is a veteran salesman, sales manager and sales leader. He's been in the trenches and managed from the front. And he has led from behind creating the conditions for many moving parts to work in unison, and many people to thrive, grow and do their best work towards common purpose.
We explore his mistakes and lessons learned selling locally, nationally and internationally from selling farm equipment to farmers through to complex strategic investments by global multinationals. And we dig into the importance of building a well developed, emotionally evolved management layer operating an inquiry led management style.
This is a robust and frank discussion that points to so many of the most common blindspots and frequently unasked questions that are holding back the vast majority of salespeople from meeting their full potential.
Contact Pat via linkedin.com/in/value-selling-coach
Websites
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salesroad.com (SalesRoad B2B CRM)
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thesalesnatural.com (Sales Training)
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Contact me on marcus@laughs-last.com
Thursday Mar 24, 2022
Thursday Mar 24, 2022
Rahul Chauhan says you have to, "Only 1 in 200 start ups become scale up. Start by defining your market fit. Who is the customer you are intending to serve? How do you know whether you have uncovered your true market fit? Do what you do better. Innovate with purpose"
Rahul is Group MD at Foresight Digital, a digital consultancy for scale ups and challenger brands. He explains why you need to be thinking Now - New - Next
- Is your product fit for now? (70%)
- Is your product able to innovate with purpose? (20)
- Are you testing entirely new products? (10)
Rahul warns, if you don't keep one eye on the horizon you quickly become irrelevant. He reminds founders on the need to keep their feet on the ground and remember the price of vanity and ego. Knowing what you shouldn't do is more than half the battle.
What is your value exchange with your customer - 1. price, 2. social currency, education (smarter), 3. speed (core problem relates to lack of time), 4. Do you fit within an ecosystem or package (sticky, easy to connect, complement)
Have you iterated your product? Is it future proof? What's its shelf life?
Rahul says, "Focus on scale. Turn funds into actionable growth. Structure your people and roles for growth. Make sure your team is ready to support scale because when you scale, customers expect delivery at speed - if your services are not delivered at the pace they want, you're creating the conditions for churn."
Contact Rahul on linkedin.com/in/rahulchauhan1
Websites
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foresightdigital.com.au (Company Website)
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Contact me on marcus@aughs-last.com.
Ever wondered if there is a better way to sell than selling cold? Imagine a 14-18x higher close ratio. Contact me via email or DM me on Linkedin
Tuesday Mar 22, 2022
Tuesday Mar 22, 2022
"Prospecting is an opportunity to have a profound engagement on both sides", says Denis Champagne, former multidisciplinary international sportsman, practicing Buddhist and founder of #LotusCommunications. Having made hundreds of thousands of #coldcalls, Denis is more qualified than most to talk on the subject. Prospecting by phone is alive and well.
Companies buy sales training to improve results. Mostly, they're disappointed. The needle might jump for a couple of weeks and then almost everything reverts back to how it was before, almost as if the training never happened. Denis discusses his TEAMMS sales framework and the critical importance of #reinforcement, #PRACTICE and #COACHING.
Kindred spirit, Denis is frustrated with the training industry for considering such an outcome as acceptable. He's been prospecting on behalf of clients on the phones since 2006. He works with individuals and teams in Spanish, French and English to help them become competent and consistent prospectors.
We dig into the psychology of refusal vs rejection, leaderships' inability to see a perspective that is not their own, challenges with retention and recruitment, management blindspots, the misguided reliance on the wrong metrics, selling tactics, and what good training and coaching should be. A fun, irreverent interview with one of the greats. No fluff, no faff, just straight talking.
Contact Denis on linkedin.com/in/denis-champagne
Websites:
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lotuscomm.com (Company Website)
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theculturemaker.com/ (Company Website)
Twitter: Sprinter14
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Contact Marcus@Laughs-Last.com or DM me on LinkedIn if you want to talk about how to grow your sales by selling through #Ecosystems, #StrategicAlliances, #OperationalCoaching, #MicroCoaching, #PredictiveHiring, #ManagementEnablement, #MicroPractice #EmployeeEngagement, #ScaleUp, #Marketing and #Sales #ForceMultipliers.
Thursday Mar 17, 2022
Thursday Mar 17, 2022
You are in for a treat. My guest is Majid Zafer. He's one of the next generation of business leaders that is ambitious, competitive and love to win but without the sting in the tail.
Listen to how he has created an ecosystem of trusted partners which produces a steady flow of hot, inbound customers for his business and his partners' businesses. There is a healthy volume of reciprocation which means that a good proportion of everyone's business comes from within the ecosystem.
This creates intimacy and high performance standards between partner; clients value the relationship for the steady stream of disruptive thinking, innovative ideas and insightful discussion. They feel safer having Majid on their buying journey than they do without him. And he is OK whether they buy from him or not. His philosophy is that his role is to help the customer reach the best decision for themselves, for now and the future, whether they buy from him or not. When you learn about the volume of sales generated you might start questioning whether if makes sense to worry so much about the competition, and start wondering "What if we work together?"
Majid's selflessness gives him the right to engage in high support/high challenge relationships with customers and partners alike. They know he only has their best interests at heart and every senior buyer wants someone as a reliable sanity and vanity check. That is a beautiful place to earn for yourself, as your customer's ally, and a true partner.
An inspiring and uplifting episode because the formula is simple. Executing it is harder because you have to overcome your fundamental greed, selfishness, entitlement, attachment and fragile ego. But as my pal Keith says, "Ee-by-gum, but it's worth it!.
Contact Majid on LinkedIn via linkedin.com/in/majidzafer
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Get in touch with me on marcus@laughs-last.com if you reckon you'd be a great guest, or you want me to guest on your podcast (did that hit you between the eyes like a diamond bullet with its subtlety?)
Tuesday Mar 15, 2022
Tuesday Mar 15, 2022
Ian Meharg delivers impact by focusing on what is real and controllable. He challenges you to focus on the how you get things done. We dig into how buyers really buy, why buyers really buy, and why you're missing more than hitting your prospective customers' buying triggers. Are you exploring what happens if …
It does/doesn’t go ahead?
Who…?
Can trip you up?
Has another agenda?
What kind of drama can you expect? How do you prevent it?
Who can help you? Who will fan the flames?
Who cares enough to put name to it and will make it happen?
Where can you uncover untapped potential for your customers?
So many excellent questions, make sure you bring a notepad and a pen. Listen more than once. A class act.
Contact Ian via LinkedIn on linkedin.com/in/ian-meharg-5574631
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Drop me a note. Say hi. If you want to improve your sales results predictably and with certainty, email marcus@laughs-last.com
Thursday Mar 10, 2022
Thursday Mar 10, 2022
John Smibert, co-author of bestselling #TheWentworthProspect, silver medal winner at the #TopSalesAwards 2021, #TSA21, and more than 30 year veteran selling complex, high value, multi-decision maker, strategically important technology enterprise sales. He's seen and perpetrated the good, the bad and the ugly. We chart his journey, the impact having a coach and mentor early in his career has had on his personal performance and his approach to management.
We offer insights into the causes of failure in enterprise selling and how to prevent them, work around them and eventually turn them into strengths. A frank, pragmatic approach to leading and building competent, reliable, consistent high performance enterprise sales teams.
If you want a synopsis of The Wentworth Prospect by John Smibert, Wayne Moloney and Jeff Clulow, type "Synopsis" in the comments
Contact John via linkedin.com/in/smibert
Websites:
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salesleaderforums.com (Company Website)
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edvance.com/the-book (B2B Sales Novel)
Twitter: johnsmibert
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Get in touch if you want to be my guest on #TheInquisitorPodcast via marcus@laughs-last.com
Curious to understand how being part of the right ecosystems can help accelerate complex, high ticket, multi-stakeholder enterprise sales and increase the certainty of winning by more than 10x email me with "BP/Smibert" in the subject line
Wednesday Mar 09, 2022
Wednesday Mar 09, 2022
Nadja Komnenic head up sales for bootstrapped scale up, LEMlist. She is an elite sales leader who has helped LEMlist grow from $0 to $10m in ARR in 4 years. We discuss her approach to hiring, developing and listening to her people.
She is competitive, driven, ambitious and truly collaborative. She discusses the importance of demonstrating vulnerability as a manager to encourage individuals in her team to have a voice, and reach their full potential. In a time when 15% of salespeople are reported to be hitting quota, Nadja's team are ALL achieving or exceeding quota consistently. Her people innovate once they have some basic skills. Her onboarding and training is practical, their process is developed through guided questioning, experimentation, intentionally allowing people to fail and learn. She ensures they have permission to speak freely, innovate, experiment because she recognises failure as her best teacher. She lets them fail in role in the moment, and is there to support them if they ask for help. She's ready to step in if the business is at risk of failing, and then when they have enough to work out their own solution, she steps back and hands them the pen.
She also breaks down taboos and walls. It's got her into trouble in the past but is serving her well in her current role. And what is exciting to see is Nadja is a shining example of just how far, how fast and how much can be accomplished by one person with the correct support, challenge and investment by leadership, in talent. Nadja beat the odds given her likely career path growing up when she did in Serbia. Yet in 6 years has made a speedy rise into management and sales leadership.
A rare quality is how she is passing on her depth of understanding of why people behave the way they do to her team. Her coaching on the job, in the moment, at the point of need is a quality you see in only around 2-6% of managers
This interview is a beacon of hope for the future. Nadja represents the best of the future of sales leadership and management. If you are new to management or aspire to rise to such a position, you would do well to listen to his episode. If you are an old school command and control style manager, listen to the difference in how Nadja manages, and the environment in which she and her team work.
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES: Nadja is growing her team so, if you want to work for a great boss in a fast growing company where you can develop your career and never be pressured to hard sell or pressurise a prospect so your investors can make a worthless valuation target, drop her a line. Remember, she gets strangers to engage every day, so be creative, memorable and relevant in your approach to her.
Contact Nadja via linkedin.com/in/nadjakomnenic
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I am looking for more interesting guests. Could you be one? Do you have someone you're itching for me to interview? Let me know and send me details at marcus@laughs-last.com
Thursday Mar 03, 2022
Thursday Mar 03, 2022
Shelley O'Donovan gives a deep dive on building the soft skills that give leaders resilience and their team confidence. She shares several leadership triage approaches. We dig into psychology, values, and beliefs. As always, Shelley is great value for your time.
Contact Shelley via linkedin.com/in/shellyodonovan
Website: authenticinfluencegroup.com (Company Website)
Twitter: ShellyOdonovan
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Contact me via DM or marcus@laughs-last.com