Be a B2B Leader

In this episode, you'll learn more about communication.

Felicjan invited Sam Kuehnle, the VP of Demand Generation at Refine Labs, to learn more about this topic. Learning how to communicate is an often overlooked part of our lives, but at the same time, good communication skills can help us in every part of it.

Sam tells us about the role communication plays in our careers. By listening to this episode, you will learn how to communicate with people in management and how to set the right expectations.

We briefly talk about the importance of internal marketing and how you can get more allies for your campaigns by setting the right expectations. At a later stage, Sam shares with us a brilliant framework for getting buy-in on new ideas:

communication - insight - insight - recommendation - how you're gonna do it

We also learn what many people get wrong when it comes to setting expectations. Your TAM is not your ICP, and Sam explains it based on examples from HubSpot and Marketo.

Interview:

00:00 - Intro

00:50 - What should every B2B leader know about communication?

02:20 - Communication with the CEO and other people in management - how your work as a marketer impacts the metrics they care about

07:30 - Communication with other coworkers, the importance of internal marketing

10:10 - Building in public in the company and who should champion it

14:25 - How can we work with our managers if we want to implement new unconventional ideas?

18:14 - The framework for getting buy-in on new ideas:

communication - insight - insight - recommendation - how you're gonna do it

23:10 - What do most CEOs get wrong in their companies?

29:50 - The biggest takeaway: learn how to communicate better.

30:50 - Where you can find Sam and what's Refine labs?

Sam on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/samkuehnle/

Refine Labs - https://www.refinelabs.com/

The manufacturing industry is an interesting one. It's responsible for a big part of the innovation in the world, but it's a mystery to many of us. To learn more about it Felicjan invited Cecilia Hamren, the VP of Field Marketing at Tacton Systems on to the show.

Cecilia shares with us what marketing in the manufacturing industry looks like and how it's different from other industries. We learn about the tactics that work best and why building relationships is one of the best investments.

In the 2nd part of the conversation, Felicjan asks Cecilia about the similarities and differences between marketers and engineers. What can we learn from each other and what to focus on when hiring for these roles.

Cecilia on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ceciliahamren/

Tacton Systems - https://www.tacton.com/

Timestamps:
00:00 - intro + Cecilia's transition from engineering to marketing
02:18 - What should every B2B leader know about marketing in the manufacturing industry?
06:15 - Were Broken supply chains a challenge for marketing?
09:00 - What marketing tactics work best when selling to manufacturers
11:10 - The BDR team reports to marketing
13:05 - What can marketers learn from engineers?
16:20 - Should marketers learn about project management?
17:35 - Biggest difference between marketers and engineers
19:50 - Is recruiting for a marketing role different from recruiting engineers?
22:50 - Dark social in manufacturing
25:15 - Biggest takeaway - how manufacturing is different from other industries, demographics, generations, and structures
30:00 - Outro - Where you can find Cecilia and what does her company do?

Felicjan invited Jonas Molbech-Kuskner to teach us more about employer branding. Jonas is the founder of a creative employer branding agency where they help startups and scaleups personalize brands by giving a voice to the people behind their logo.

In this episode, you will learn more about the fundamentals of employer branding and why you should actually focus on it. Jonas will explain where it should be placed in the overall strategy of your company, and he will also share a few tips so you can get started. At a later point, we will talk about boomerang employees and what they mean for a brand, the Employer Value Proposition, and how you can measure if your EB campaigns work.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

00:55 - What should every B2B Leader know about employer branding?

02:05 - What are the fundamentals?

03:40 - How can you show the employee experience - give a voice to employees

06:37 - Give a voice to your people

07:05 - Where should employer branding stand in the marketing strategy of a company?

08:55 - How you can measure if employer branding is working

11:40 - Are boomerang employees a reflection of a great employer brand?

13:30 - Rabbit hole on firing people

17:55 - Jonas shares a few tips with people who want to start doing employer branding. From building a foundation to attracting people with microcontent

24:40 - Sometimes CEOs and management often don't understand what people are looking for.

26:00 - Employer Value Proposition: the most over-rated trend

30:10 - The biggest takeaway from our conversation: nobody has all the answers it's about communication.

32:30 - Where you can find Jonas and Outro

Hume Agency - https://humeagency.com/

Jonas on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonas-molbech-kuskner/

In this episode, Felicjan talks with Paul Slack, the CEO of Vende Digital, about managing up in a marketing role. Paul worked with many marketing leaders and he shares the things he learned throughout the years. We talk not only about managing up but also about the importance of horizontal alignment across the organization.

Paul shares why we sometimes have to have difficult conversations and how we can navigate them to ensure the company is headed in the right direction. On top of that we learn how to talk with other stakeholders in the company to drive results. In the second half of the conversation, Paul tells us about the difference between the best and worst leaders. We learn how they work and what things they focus on in their day-to-day.

Throughout the conversation, we talk about sales and marketing and how these roles should work together. Paul shares his experience of how we can get rid of friction and the blurry lines between the two. He also tells us why communication is always the key thing to work on.

00:40 - What should every B2B leader know about managing up?

04:05 - Managing horizontally if you want to manage up

05:20 - What if the CEO doesn't know what marketing should do?

09:00 - How the marketing function changed over the last 20 years

10:00 - Can we apply demand generation to all parts of business?

12:00 - Why do we have to have hard conversations? How to navigate such conversations

15:30 - Be on the same side of the desk

16:40 - The difference between a Good and Bad Marketing Leader

19:30 - Focus on the fundamentals to solve the problems

23:20 - Navigating between a few stakeholders and who you should support first

26:20 - The blurry line between sales and marketing

30:00 - How to get rid of the friction - communication

31:25 - The quality of the best in the game

34:30 - FUNDAMENTALS

36:25 - Where you can find Paul

Paul Slack - the Founder and CEO of Vende Digital a Full-Service B2B Digital Agency

Vende Digital: B2B Digital Agency

In this episode of Be a B2B Leader we learn more about psychology from Phill Agnew the creator of Nudge - Marketing Science Simplified. Phill tells us why future B2B leaders should learn psychology and what are the 3 things they are responsible for. We talk a bit about the psychology behind motivation and dive a bit deeper on mastery . Phill shares why purpose, autonomy and mastery is often more valued by employees than a pay raise. And gives brilliant examples of nudges that we can leverage when it comes to business development.

0:00 - intro

1:00 - What should every b2b leader know about psychology?

3:10 - Psychology behind motivation - purpose, autonomy, mastery

5:06 - Why mastery is really important

8:15 - What are nudges and the mere exposure effect with examples

16:30 - Primacy effect - our brains use shortcuts and you're more likely to remember the first thing you hear or see

22:00 - Become a master of presentations like Steve Jobs

24:30 - What is the Dunning-Kruger effect and how does it affect our careers?

31:02 -  The biggest takeaway from our coversation, why we have to learn psychology no matter what you do

35:00 - why you should listen to Nudge and where you can find Phill.

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

The small BIG: small changes that spark big influence by Steve J. Martin

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

RICHARD CHATAWAY’S ‘THE BEHAVIOUR BUSINESS’

Nudge on Spotify

Phill on LinkedIn

Phill on Twitter

In this episode of Be a B2B Leader, we interview Andrei Zinkevich to learn more about selling to enterprises and how it's different from selling to startups or consumers. Andrei explains what the buying cycle in such organizations looks like and how the buying committee is structured.  Moreover, he gives a great analogy of why sales, marketing, and customer success have to work closely together as one team to sell high ACV products or services. He shares how we can align those teams and why communication is one of the most important aspects. Later he gives us examples of warm-up campaigns you can do to set yourself up for success. We also talk about the importance of customer interviews and why it's crucial to learn why you win or lose deals.

0:55 - What should every b2b leader know about the buying cycle in enterprises? The committee structure

6:30 - How you can identify blockers and what you should avoid when interacting with them

12:45 - Who should run customer interviews when selling to enterprises?

14:40 - Why do sales and marketing have to be one team to grow business? - great football example

18:30 - What does it mean to be aligned

22:00 - It's all about communication

24:14 - 4 examples of warmup campaigns - what are warm-up campaigns and how you can use them

30:00 - Don't think you can sell to enterprises as you sell to DTC or startups

fullfunnel.io

Andrei on Linkedin

Podcasts have taken the world by storm and a lot of B2B Companies realized their values. People are appearing on them to share their know-how, position themselves as experts, and build an intimate relationship with their target audience.

In this episode, you will learn how you can make full use of podcast guesting. It's a medium that can help you in growing your business in a modern way. Jakub shares with us the approach his company takes to landing speaking opportunities and the things most people fail at.

We speak about the results you can expect and how long you'll have to wait for them. But we also learn from Jakub the 3 things you can really influence by speaking on podcasts and how to identify shows you should appear on. 

Jakub Zajicek the Co-Founder & CMO at Speak On Podcasts

Interview:

0:00 - intro

3:05 - What should every B2B Leader know about podcasts

5:50 - Why do companies want to appear on podcasts

7:10 - Share value instead of leading with a pitch

9:30  - Why you should appear on smaller podcasts

11:10 - Identify podcasts you should appear on

13:00 - Jakub shares a few tips for people who want to appear on podcasts.

17:24 - Guest pitching and the SpeakOnPodcasts approach to guest booking

22;00 - Be active on social media to get on the radar of podcast hosts

24;00 - 2 things most people get wrong with podcasts

26:25 - People should look at results from a different angle

27:00 - 3 things you can influence by speaking on podcasts

30:30 - Podcasts were used to pitch prospects but now it's changing

31:20 - Who is a B2B Leader that I should have on the show? 

31:55 - Where you can find Jakub Zajicek

If you want to step into a marketing leadership position you have to listen to this podcast.

In this episode, we are joined by Mason Cosby - the Director of Growth at Gravity Global and host of The Marketing Ladder. Mason learned a lot by interviewing marketing leaders on his podcast and in this episode he shares his findings!

We learn what all of them have in common and what are the qualities of successful leaders. Mason shares why our careers are like huge experiments where we have to try out new things to see what works best for us.

He also explains why having a side hustle is important for your career and shows that the best really try out new things to learn what works best for them, even if they have to step out of their comfort zone.

At the end of the conversation, we look at the differences between marketing and sales and what one can learn from the other. After all, the best marketers know how to sell and the best sales professionals know how to do marketing!

The Marketing Ladder on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1ZgA5WCH8ZXt3KAMYccWVE?si=d968c6bf20fb4979

Mason Cosby Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/masoncosby/

Interview:

0:50 - What should every B2B Leader know, if they want to step into a leadership position? 

3:30 - Successful leaders step into positions when they aren't qualified - no matter how much you prepare you sometimes have to take the step to see if you're qualified

4:50 - Your entire career is actually an experiment - you have to try things to see what works best for you and sometimes it means taking a step back

7:30 - Mason shares his experience in leadership roles and what he learned 

9:40 - Why do leaders have to have their own identity separate from their day job?

13:50 - What if the return is not tangible straight on ROI? + a great example with a Lama

16:40 - We touch on colors and iconography psychology and its importance

19:00 What have the leaders of today's marketing in common? Stories from his podcast. 

21:25 - I can make an impact with sales but I can change an industry with marketing

22:44  - The most dangerous marketers are the ones who know how to sell

23:26 - Do you think more people from sales will transition to marketing?

26:05 - Transitioning from marketing to sales

29:00-  What would you say is the biggest takeaway from our conversation?

30:45 - Outro - where you can find Mason and what he does at Gravity Global

33:00 - Final thought when you are a seller or a marketer - how much pipeline Mason self-sourced thanks to posting frequently on LinkedIn

34:00 - Who should I interview next?

Felicjan sits down with Vladimir Blagojevic to learn more about the concept of the Full Funnel and Allbound marketing. This approach has generated huge pipelines and it's like a funnel for building genuine business relationships without the need to be salesy and pushy.

Vladimir explains how buyers buy today and shares the journey some of his clients take. In 3 minutes you'll learn what the journey looked like from the client's perspective and what Vladimir has seen in his software.

If you are looking for a framework that will allow you to do B2B marketing that is interesting and drives revenue, you'll learn it in this episode!

Vladimir Blagojević - https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladimirblagojevic/

Full Funnel - https://fullfunnel.io/

Post with funnel explanation 

In this episode, Felicjan is joined by Dr. Jim Kanichirayil to learn more about talent strategy transformation. Jim tells us what modern leaders can do to attract more talent to their companies and what mindset shift has to happen in a lot of organizations regarding this topic.

We talk a lot about empowering your workforce and the different ways to do it. Dr. Jim tells us what Millenials and Gen Z are looking for in their employers and what conversations should leaders have with their teams to create more commitment and engagement.

In this episode, you'll also learn how you can leverage social platforms to:

1. Grow your business

2. Facilitate recruitment

If you are on the journey to leadership you should definitely listen to this episode!

Dr. Jim Kanichirayil - https://www.linkedin.com/in/drjimk/

Cascading Leadership - https://cascadingleadership.buzzsprout.com/

Talent Strategy 60 Linkedin Live Show - https://www.linkedin.com/company/talent-strategy-60/

Circa  - https://circaworks.com/

Timestamps:

0:58 - What should every B2B Leader know about talent strategy transformation?

the 3 things it requires to be successful in it. and how to approach them.

3:43 - Some companies focus first on the technology although they should put people first

7:30 - Dr. Jim mentions the gap he sees across organizations

8:30 - The biggest challenge when it comes to hiring people? Things that have to change from the employer's side

12:13 - What do Millenials and Gen C care about when choosing a workplace

16:35 - Is an integrated culture of work the future?

20:55 - How Jim's research background affects his approach to building personal brands of employees.

26:50 - What we see from progressive organizations - the importance of building in the open for attracting talent

32:35 - People want to work with other like-minded people

33:55 - outro