13 Jobs - The Chief Revenue Podcast (Formerly Rev-Up Sales)

Curtis Ropp is the founder and CEO of Outbound Funnel is passionate about helping disruptive companies across various industries achieve rapid and sustainable growth through strategic sales engagement and cutting-edge technology. Outbound Funnel, a leader in Sales Engagement Platforms, provides custom solutions and continuous support to its clients, backed by a team of military veterans and multi-platform certified professionals.As a top implementation and pro-service partner for industry leaders like Outreach, SalesLoft, Gong, Intercom, Drift, and more, the company has garnered extensive knowledge and expertise in the ever-evolving landscape of sales engagement and enablement tools. Committed to leveraging their network and insights to create a positive impact, they actively share experiences, successes, failures, and embrace opportunities to learn from others in this dynamic and exciting field.

Mike is an experienced sales professional with 25 years of experience in strategic sales, former #1 AE at DocuSign and Oracle. Ran the "Big Deal Team" at DocuSign which included the Executive Engagement Program and Advisory Board. Co-developed "The DocuSign Way" sales methodology. Trained and coached 100s of sellers. Today Mike is the CRO and Co-Founder of 100 Handshakes, a relationship acceleration platform, which enables sellers to build relationship maps (org charts) for strategic accounts for account planning and to collaborate with the customer.

Michael Hoffman is the founder and CEO @ PastSight a revenue-driven win-loss analysis platform for SaaS companies. 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mfhoffman/ 

Dave Kennett, CEO of ReplayzIQ a new generation of call intelligence software that automatically scores sales calls joins Alex to talk all about sales coaching - what is it, why isn't it happening and how to embed coaching into a team.

Kevin is the CRO and founder of Inside Sales Expert. He helps leaders at early stage tech companies avoid mistakes in all aspects of growing their sales team. Kevin breaks down how to stand out in a crowded job market and sell your way into your next role!

Chris Orlob is the CEO of pclub.io and QuotaSignal. Listen in to learn about Chris's journey growing Gong.io from $200k to $200M ARR and a $7.2B valuation in less than six years and how he built pclub.io! He has trained over 10,000 SaaS and tech salespeople on SaaS sales calls with the #1 online course platform for B2B sellers.

Chris Walker is the CEO of Passetto, Chairman of Refine Labs, and an expert at GTM Strategy & Analytics for High-Growth B2B Companies having supported over 250+ grow. Tune in as Chris unpacks how the Operating & Data Models Used in GTM are Flawed!

In episode 49, we had an illuminating discussion with AI pioneer Peter Voss about his mission to develop human-level artificial intelligence. With over 20 years dedicated to cognitive systems, Peter offers thought-provoking insights on the limitations of today's AI and a compelling vision for the future. 

Peter explains that while statistical, generative AI like GPT-3 has achieved impressive results, fundamental constraints remain. Massive datasets and extensive training are required. There is no real-time learning or conceptual thinking. Information is not integrated into an evolving model.

In contrast, Peter's company takes a cognitive approach focused on incremental learning, conceptualisation, reasoning, and contextual understanding. This allows chatbots to deeply comprehend conversations, rather than simply recognising keywords to trigger scripted responses.

Peter shares examples of their technology in action. 1-800-Flowers uses it to offer personalised gift recommendations based on purchase history and occasions, outperforming humans during peak seasons. It provides a hyper-personalised experience by remembering individual customers.

While current AI has limitations, Peter sees it as improving sales and service by automating repetitive tasks. This allows reps to handle more complex issues and build customer relationships.

AI can also help salespeople access key information and follow up on actions. But Peter believes human trust and rapport will remain essential for high-stakes sales.

Looking ahead, Peter is most excited about achieving human-level AI to unlock new possibilities. Virtual scientists could research solutions to humanity's biggest problems at massive scale. AI assistants could provide trusted, customised advice to make us better people. And automation could substantially lower costs to generate prosperity.

Peter's vision is thought-provoking. While AI will only partially replace human intelligence sometime soon, he makes a strong case for its potential to enhance our abilities and make progress on problems if developed responsibly. We appreciate his balanced perspective on both the promise and limits of this rapidly advancing technology.

Listen to this episode and gain deep insights into the limitations of current AI models and discover a revolutionary cognitive approach to artificial intelligence.

In episode 48, we have the privilege of having Emmaline Fawcett on the show today to chat about the superpower of sales. As a business and mindset coach who has run her own companies for years, Emmaline has a unique perspective on sales.

We kick things off by discussing how to describe sales itself. Emmaline believes sales is simply providing solutions, and being deeply in service to people whose needs align with our offer. When we have the right audience, it's just matching desires to solutions.

She thinks we've overcomplicated sales based on movies portraying it negatively. But properly practiced, it's an act of service meeting clients' needs. We agree that sales provide immense value when done ethically, though unfortunate stereotypes persist.

Emmaline shares her journey from a clinical nutritionist to mindset coaching, having gotten NLP certified a few years back. She pivoted to help female entrepreneurs take offline businesses online. One story that stood out was her doing door-to-door sales for 9 months in Queensland! Knocking on 150-300 doors daily in high heat and humidity sounded intense. But she says it set her up for incredible resilience while showing what's needed to succeed in sales.

We ask how she handled the constant rejection. She says it's a simple mindset shift - they're saying no to the product, not us. We personalise too much, when it's not about being detached, just realising the rejection targets the offer at that time, not our self-worth.

On that note, Emmaline explains why she pays her team retainers versus pure commission. It eases the desperation felt when income relies on each sale. People unconsciously sense that energy which affects rapport. When not stinking of desperation, sales become easier conversations.

She also mentions unconscious biases affect selling - if you know a car is overpriced, people smell the nonsense. Integrity in believing our offer provides value makes sales much easier, be it high-ticket or large contracts. Customers want win-win outcomes, not feeling swindled.

Besides mindset strategies, Emmaline focuses on morning routines. She says exercise helps discharge excess energy and anxiety about sales quotas and outcomes. The resilience boost prepares a neutral, focused state versus arriving scattered, chugging coffee, and stressed to make numbers.

Building personal resilience is key too, she argues, as poor self-worth cracks under sales pressure. Reframing rejection with curiosity versus shame enables continual growth needed to evolve sales skills in the only role receiving frequent, blunt refusals. Hard work trumps talent as technical competence isn't enough - you need a perpetual student mentality.

If we could offer one piece of advice to our younger selves, it would be more self-compassion. Our early perfectionist tendencies caused intense self-criticism when struggling. Now we better balance ambition with kindness to ourselves through the ups and downs of the sales journey.

Emmaline leaves us with sage encouragement to keep honing our craft. Sales provide| invaluable connections and conversations impossible in other roles. By viewing it as mutually beneficial exchanges of value instead of combative battles, both sides can achieve positive outcomes.

Listen to this episode and unlock the path of unlimited potential for those committed to lifelong mastery.

In episode 47, we engaged in an enlightening conversation with Chris Beall, CEO of ConnectAndSell, delving into the keys to dominating your market. With decades of experience building and leading software startups, Chris possesses profound wisdom on entrepreneurship and sales. His insights were truly captivating as we explored proven growth strategies.

Chris is a disciple of the iconic high-tech marketer Geoffrey Moore of "Crossing the Chasm" fame. Many founders mistakenly believe that their hot product exempts them from Moore's theory. However, we emphasise that niche dominance is the key to durable success.

Chris reveals a formula to expedite securing this foothold. First, we sell to early tech enthusiasts for feedback, avoiding treating them as the full market. Next, we identify a single visionary company with a dire problem that our solution uniquely solves. Although they may never become a reference, their input and stability enable product-market fit.

In B2B, buyers risk livelihoods when purchasing technology, so they yearn for trustworthy experts to alleviate selection anxiety. Chris shared research confirming that buyers must trust sellers over themselves, eliciting empathy. It became clear to us that emotion - not logic - drives action.

Chris explained how tactical empathy and vocal versatility generate unlikely meetings. Systems can't imbue the authenticity required to build connections. This human-centric approach sows trust to pave markets before competitors commoditise them.

We asked how to demonstrate expertise. Chris described, by necessity, becoming a star door-to-door Fuller Brush man. By offering to research optimal products for each household and then delivering, he established asymmetry and added value.

Chris revealed that even giants like Microsoft's Satya Nadella experience frustration on mission fulfillment, presenting an opportunity. In sales calls, we first ask where people are to shift their emotion from apprehension to pride. Then we have them share their company mission and how they want to help customers. Business problems manifest where mission friction emerges.

We found Chris's wisdom on leadership just as enlightening. He said supporting the emotional journeys of employees to embrace change catalyses growth. Force fails. We now recognise that this "people-first" philosophy creates breakthroughs.

Chris taught us that people buy from those they trust to make decisions they don't trust themselves to make. We believe trusting relationships accelerate sales cycles regardless of the economic climate.