TheInquisitor Podcast with Marcus Cauchi

How to Boost Your Time To Coach and Maximise Your Talent

#KateLewis is founder and CEO of #e4enable. She is a passionate advocate of coaching of developing your salespeople and equipping your managers to coach.

We discuss what coaching is and what it isn't, why it is so critical to the success of any business. especially ones looking to scale at speed or survive the imminent economic depression that will kick in around September 2020.

Kate has led many successful sales teams throughout her career and has seen first hand the impact good coaching can have on the lives and performance of individuals and teams. She has also seen the negative impact that a lack of coaching or bad coaching and management can have. Bad coaching or no coaching cost companies their future, depress morale, limit the potential of high flyers and encourage cultures that tolerate blame and excuses, avoidance and politics.

Kate can be contacted on 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/katellewisWebsite: e4enable.com  (Company Website)Twitter: katellewis--

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#TheInquisitorPodcast

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The #ScaleupsAndHypergrowthPodcast

Podbean: scaleupsandhypergrowth.podbean.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3t0Gge9e5XaB8REaqkiQ6u

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/scaleups-and-hypergrowth-podcast/id1508754065

Do You Choke On The Stench Of Fresh Paint On Ridealongs?

The Queen probably thinks the world smells of fresh paint because whenever she shows up, they've spruced the place up for her. When you go out into the field on #ridealongs with your salespeople, do you ever get the sense something similar is happening? Do your salespeople line up friendly customers and everyone is on their best behaviour?

Ridealongs are NOT just for new salespeople to shadow an experienced salesperson. Nor are they a gotcha moment to try and catch out veteran salespeople. Veterans are NEVER the finished article. Every salesperson ALWAYS has room for improvement.

A sales manager has 4 functions:

1. Hire the best salespeople
2. Get the best out of them
3. Make sure they have the tools and resources they need to do their best work every day
4. Help by clearing the path of road blocks and protecting them from acts of idiocy from your own senior management

We discuss why ridealongs are important, what the roles of seller and manager are, and the importance of strong, clear, up front contracts and effective debriefings after each call.

You can buy #The21stCenturyRidealong from Amazon where you can learn about the tools of management. You cannot identify a salesperson's development needs from a monthly report. You need to understand whether they need help with behaviour, attitude or technique.

Antonio shares a template for an effective ridealong. Have a pen and paper to make notes

Contact Antonio on:

LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/antoniogarrido

Website - absolute.sandler.comTwitter - SandlerASDMiami--

Book a confidential 1 to 1 call with me: https://calendly.com/marcuscauchi/linkedin-discovery-call

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#TheInquisitorPodcast

Podbean: marcuscauchi.podbean.com

Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/7C3pmVfHbwu84oZCqUQq81

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/welcome-to-theinquisitor-podcast/id1341867086

 

The #ScaleupsAndHypergrowthPodcast

Podbean: scaleupsandhypergrowth.podbean.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3t0Gge9e5XaB8REaqkiQ6u

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/scaleups-and-hypergrowth-podcast/id1508754065

Juliana Vida: You Sell More When You Think As The Customer

#JulianaVida is Chief Technical Advisor to #Splunk's #PublicSector sales team. 27 years in the US Navy, combat pilot, deputy CIO to the US Navy, 3 years at Gartner advising governments, and special advisor to Washington Cyber Roundtable, Juliana is the voice of the customer for sales. She's not technical by background and spends much of her time reminding salespeople that their buyers are human beings! She reminds them that to have an executive level conversation you have to invest time on the human level of discovery if you want to avoid being sent to Siberia, stuck in the IT department.

We have a very robust conversation about why buyers really buy and what salespeople do to prevent them from buying. Juliana is an advocate of thinking AS THE CUSTOMER instead of about the customer - if you think about the customer you are making assumptions and those assumptions are probably wrong. We discuss what managers need to do to recruit diverse teams who have breadth and perspective that transcends sales and engineering. Look outside for people who come with different experiences, who think differently, who ask questions your specialists would never think of. We discuss training managers and salespeople, the value of constructive conflict, the need for planning, rehearsal to get ahead of any problems that might occur in the sale. 

Splunk has created a fun, creative, innovative culture in a mature business to drive the constant feeling that everyone has to be very creative, embrace different opinions, stand up for what they believe to best serve the customer, to offer a better solution. We explore how to identify top talent by how they present their personal brand on platforms like LinkedIn.

The best vendors make their customer the hero, help them become wildly successful. Juliana explains why salespeople must build relationships that matter, why they must act as if they have no fear, and the negative effects of ego.

A genuinely insightful conversation about #sales and #selling, #salesmanagement, #salesleadership.

Contact Juliana via LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/julianavida

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Book a confidential 1 to 1 call with me: https://calendly.com/marcuscauchi/linkedin-discovery-call

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#TheInquisitorPodcast

Podbean: marcuscauchi.podbean.com

Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/7C3pmVfHbwu84oZCqUQq81

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/welcome-to-theinquisitor-podcast/id1341867086

 

The #ScaleupsAndHypergrowthPodcast

Podbean: scaleupsandhypergrowth.podbean.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3t0Gge9e5XaB8REaqkiQ6u

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/scaleups-and-hypergrowth-podcast/id1508754065

Alex Moscow’s and Martin Lucas: Your Customers' Context Is At The Heart Of Their Decision To Buy

Pinpointing why your customer buys is critical to eliminate waste, inefficiency and lost sales. Only by aligning with your customer and the context in which they exist will you be able sell consistently and predictably to your customers. Recognising the buyer archetypes you attract as a brand will drive systemic growth.

As salespeople, it's incumbent upon us to adapt to our customers and prospects. If you're hiring and onboarding new salespeople, expose them to buyers; have them listen to their story, listen to the language they use, learn their preference for detail or big picture, fast or slow pace, people or result orientation. Listening is a creative act. Speak to your customers to understand what it's like to be them, what matters to them, what pressure they are under, what they consider important. Make it mandatory for your CEO, your CFO, your COO, your CMO, your CRO, your CIO, you middle managers, your marketers and your salespeople speak to your customers to eliminate the errors that creep into your theories and assumptions.

Controversially, we discuss why most big data programmes operating on theory are a waste of time because they are built upon flawed thinking. Inadvertently, they lead to focus on the wrong end of the problem, then to a blame culture, misalignment away from service and frustrated customers who are unhappy and disappointed.

Hot tip: Look at what your end user customer is NOT doing rather than what they are doing. The strongest indicators for how you will grow will come from looking at those gaps

#AlexMoscow (#9mmPR), #PaulAlexandrou (#ModernEquivalent) and #MartinLucas (#GapInTheMatrix) join me to discuss the duality of business to help you focus on what the best organisations are doing that the average vendor does not.

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Imagine Turning The Worst Performing Part of Your Business Into Your Best Performing

Let's pretend it is possible to implement 100% of your change programmes successfully!

#IanDodds has been a champion and practitioner of #inclusiveness and #diversity for the past 50 years. He started out life on a council estate in the North of England, and early on he realised he was different from others at school. He earned a place at Oxford University and quickly became inspired to create inclusive work environments as a manager within ICI. He was working in one of the worst performing factories in all of ICI. He realised that there was a void in communication between managers and employees. A branch of the Communist party had been established, industrial conflict, high staff turnover, low productivity were all symptoms of this symptomatic failure.

Ian started talking to workers without judgement or prejudice. The very fact they were being heard opened them up to trusting him. He did the same with management, eventually managing to get both sides to listen to each other. In under 5 years he turned the worst into the best performing factory in ICI and he rolled out his approach across the business. 

The impact? Great working environments, with happy, loyal, fully engaged staff operating in multicultural, employing the best local talent and attracting top performer internationally, increased profitability, optimised efficiency and enhanced shareholder value and profitability.

Have a listen to my interview with Ian and let me know what you think.

You can contact Ian via LinkedIn 

Website: iandoddsconsulting.com

Twitter: IanDodds--If you would like to talk to me in confidence you can arrange a 15-30 minute call hereYou can get notified about my events and receive my newsletter by subscribing here

Get notified when I release a new podcast interview here

Why Is Helsingborg A Model For Cities Of the Future?

Public sector innovation in Sweden is a shining example of what's possible with a small team of committed innovators, a modest budget and a mandate to make things better when government works in partnership with its citizenry. There are powerful lessons in this interview on #leadership, #management, #inclusiveness, #diversity, #hiringoutsiders, #accountability, #agilethinking, #agileteams, and #teambuilding every business leader and manager can learn from.

#PatrickLinqvist is chief innovation advisor for the city of Helsingsborg in Sweden. He's been tasked to make his city a centre for innovation and I am very much looking forward to 2022 when they host their innovation expo. Patrick and his team are asking the questions any modern city should be asking but probably isn't. The city government is investing SKR250bn (£21m) in thinking differently.

They are tackling the toughest questions around education, transport and an ageing population. They have been given permission to experiment and they are allowed to fail so they aren't constrained into playing safe. They have engaged the population from primary school children to pensioners, commuters to critics to design a better future for Helsingborg's citizens. Patrick discusses the challenges they face every day, the brilliant idea of "gap managers" whose job it is to bridge the gaps between groups to eliminate silo mentality and group thinking.

I cannot begin to thank Patrick for opening up my eyes to what is possible with enlightened city leadership and a willingness to imagine a brighter future. What could our government learn from following Helsingborg's lead? Bubble bursts...!

Patrick can be found on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/patricklindqvist

Check out his views on driving #change onYouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=rHF4hARZn38&feature=youtu.be  (Talk on Change)Twitter: patlindqvist--

Grab a 15 or 30 minute discovery or coaching session with me at: https://calendly.com/marcuscauchi

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Buy my book Making Channel Sales Work: https://tinyurl.com/Making-Channel-Sales-Work

 

Join me at one of my live clinics: https://calendly.com/marcuscauchi

Why Do You Have No Right Not To Sell Now?

#JodyWilliamson discusses the surprising aspects of #SalesEthics with me. We debate when you have no right not to sell, and it's not in a time of crisis.

Covid has made a lot of salespeople squeamish about selling and that is a HUGE mistake. There are people out there in your market who need help. Who the hell are you not to help them? We are seeing companies pull their foot off the pedal which is going to result in problems downstream if they aren't already killing companies.

Great managers will let you fail but will not let the business fail. There are a lot of managers who are in danger of doing precisely that, letting their businesses fail. They giving terrible direction and advice to their salespeople, they didn't use the lockdown to train and coach their salespeople, they encouraged stupid, damaging behaviours like premature, unnecessary discounting; they've let negative thinking take over and are moving the target instead of modifying their salespeople's behaviour.

Jody is one of the people I respect the most in sales and he shares nugget after nugget of sales and management genius in this episode. 

Jody can be contacted: 

LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/jodywilliamson

Website: jw.sandler.com  (Company Website)Twitter: _JodyWilliamson--

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Making Channel Sales Work: https://tinyurl.com/Making-Channel-Sales-Work

Making Channel Sales Work LI group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8553361/

Making Channel Sales Work Video Playlist YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzPfGo-0AZDq1whtTAJBUBy-IIMQvUGpq

Join me at one of my live clinics: https://calendly.com/marcuscauchi

How To Provoke Growth and Value Through Partnerships

#DavidDavies, the Cod Father, former #1 frozen fish salesman and international DJ has spent the past 35 years helping small technology businesses. Dave and I co-wrote #MakingChannelSalesWork #MCSW which has quickly become the go to bible for turning around and/or building successful #SalesChannels, #Alliances and #Partnerships.

Lack of Boardroom congruence, misalignment and an unhealthy focus only on empirical data, silos and empire building instead of focusing on having the biggest positive impact. Dave introduces the idea of developing a #ValueProvocation instead of a #valueproposition. This is only possible if you have a clear, singular vision. A failure to have that cohesive vision and aligned focus, means that teams you will suffer from organisational Chinese whispers.

People step as led. Executives often send unintended messages with how they behave and what they measure but these fly in the face of their stated intent. In the channel, this is amplified and the positive or negative impact is even greater.

We discuss what makes for successful channel development, the importance of being committed to developing and growing other people's businesses, the vital qualities of being able to train and coach how to sell to your end user. Developing channels is hard. Really, really hard. What are the mistakes vendors make when building their channels, hiring channel managers and channel chiefs, identifying the right kind of partners, the critical importance of understanding how to run a partner's business. Hiring channel managers who were big, swinging enterprise Richards at a megalithic vendor rarely work out.

How will Covid impact sales, and what is the opportunity this represents to capitalise by building your channel with cultural experts locally? We discuss the faux pas trap faced by non-local salespeople and culturally unaware leadership.

This episode is packed with warnings signs, real world advice that has been learned from our 70+ years combined scar tissue, great advice that works when building a partner-centric, customer-centric channel to deliver a win-win-win outcome. BRING A PEN AND PAPER to this episode. Listen more than once.

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Get hold of Dave on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/davidwdavies

Email: david.davies@sandler.comTwitter: SandlerTV--

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When You Realise The World Is Mad, Everything Makes Sense

#GeoffBurch is back! Geoff's childhood was unorthodox. His parents escaped the Gestapo in Vienna in 1938. They were out with friends at the opera, and at the end of the performance one of his officer friends warned him not to go home as he was going to be arrested. A Viennese Jewish psychiatrist, Geoff's father taught him about the bizarre, self destructive, delusional nature of people with stories of his patients.

Geoff grew up to be a maladjusted, troubled youth who naturally fell into sales. His stories will make you howl with laughter whilst making the point about why people do what they do, even though it is rarely rational. We explore #TransactionalAnalysis in detail, discuss its application in sales and management, and generally have a rip roaring time.

If you ever have need to a belly laugh at your sales or management kick off, Geoff is your man for the job.

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Contact him via:

Geoff’s LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/geoff-burch-73754821Websites

• geoffburch.com  (Company Website)
• geoffburch.com  (Blog)

Email: geoff@geoffburch.com

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Jeff Hunter: How To Make Your Marketing Savagely Effective?

#JeffJHunter has a background in developing virtual teams, serving founders of tech start ups to develop their personal brand and become known as experts in their field.

Jeff describes branding as intentional transactions. He describes the 4 elements to your personal brand

• Connection - how are you really connecting with your target audience?
• Omnipresence - where are you and how do you show up?
• Relevance - why should people listen to you? How are you of value to the people you serve? What problems do you help solve?
• Engagement - what's the evidence that you are helping people? How are you helping them achieve their desires?

We discuss the importance of genuinely paying attention, listening to hear what another person is saying, understanding to the other person's satisfaction.

If you focus on making your clients the hero, there must be a villain. The villain is the problem your clients are trying to defeat. Be very careful not to make yourself the hero. Your job is to be your clients' guide.

Jeff makes the point that marketing is always about generating the right results. We explore where you start when developing your personal brand and the answer is obvious but will probably surprise you. 

Why is there a disconnect between sales and marketing? Why must you have an ongoing conversation with your existing customers? How do you deliver valuable content? How do you identify villains in your prospects' world?

Jeff and I will upset you if you are looking for an easy life in your marketing and your sales.

Contact Jeff at:

Jeff LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/jeffjhunter

Websites

• JeffJHunter.com  (Company Website)
• vastaffer.com/  (Company Website)
• virtualassistantmarketing.com  (Company Website)

Email: me@jeffjhunter.comTwitter: jhunter101

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Additional Resources

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Making Channel Sales Work: https://tinyurl.com/Making-Channel-Sales-Work

Making Channel Sales Work LI group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8553361/

Making Channel Sales Work Playlist On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzPfGo-0AZDq1whtTAJBUBy-IIMQvUGpq

Join me at one of my live Sales, Tech Hypergrowth and Leadership clinics: www.marcuscauchi.eventbrite.com