In this episode of Converge Tech Talk (also shared as part of the Futurum Tech Webcast, Interview Series), I was thrilled to host Josh Teitelman, VP of Customer Experience at Allstacks and John Steinmetz, CTO of Convo Communications for a conversation about building a high performing engineering team, and what the secret sauce is that makes that goal a reality.

First a little bit about Convo Communications. Convo, is a deaf-owned company that is all about connecting humans. And it’s safe to say that their understanding of human connection is quite a bit different than the norm. At Convo, they know that in a rapidly-advancing tech world, technology is often developed on the basis of spoken language. Convo offers a different perspective — and works with clients to ensure that universal communications that just feel right is the end deliverable.

Allstacks is a leading predictive forecasting and risk management solution for software development. By leveraging AI and machine learning to integrate data across Product, PMO, Development, and QA teams, Allstacks can provide a comprehensive view of software initiatives throughout any organization. Aligning teams on outcomes that matter is what they’re most passionate about.

Our conversation today revolved around:

• John spoke about leading an engineering team in a pandemic, both from a personal standpoint as it relates to Convo, as well as the impact on their customers;
• Some of the biggest challenges that organizations faced as they pivoted to WFH initiatives in order to keep employees safe;
• Josh talked a little about how Allstacks’ users responded to the pandemic and the challenges their team saw related to WFH initiatives;
• We discussed the importance of maintaining priority alignment and setting expectations within an engineering team, how difficult that can be, and some thoughts from the trenches on how to do that successfully;
• Tying engineering goals to overall business goals — and how to do that;

As a final part of the conversation, both John and Josh shared some interesting customer use cases that really brought home for us the value of building high performing engineering teams, how to think about making that a reality within your organization, and how to think about the technology best suited to help you achieve those goals. In this conversation, it’s clear that Allstacks has played a significant role in helping Convo Communications reach their goals — and if building a high performing engineering team is on your radar screen, I can promise that it’s definitely a conversation worth checking out.

Sales and Marketing. It’s no secret that these departments often have a rocky relationship—but if they can figure out a way to collaborate and play nicely together, the end result is what they both want—an increase in growth and profitability. In this episode of #CMOTalk, host BMG’s Shelly Kramer and guest Joel Capperella tackle one of the most difficult dynamics in business—the relationship between and the alignment of sales and marketing teams. The challenge: Sales needs the leads. Marketing brings the leads. But research shows that only 25 percent of MQLs end up being turned into SQLs. In this show, Shelly and Joel delve into the disconnect between sales and marketing, and ask the age-old question, ͞Can you teach a sales pro some marketing tricks?͟ We think it’s possible, and even better, a huge win for business when you can make it happen.

Joel Capperella brings over 20 years of business developing, pipeline building, revenue increasing strategic marketing execution. He helps create habits that connect story to sales which helps his clients get more. More marketplace awareness, more conversations with the right people, and more revenue more quickly. He has worked with companies of all sizes. From juggernauts like SAP and Oracle, small startups with new injections of cash, and the entrepreneur.

The role of the CMO is undeniably evolving—and it’s changing quickly. CMOs must be able to evolve to survive in post-digital world in which we live, or go the way of the dinosaur.

No longer is the job just about content creation and creativity; CMOs must be well-versed in technology, tools, metrics, and measurements and be able to translate this information to show the value of marketing and marketing positive contributions to the business’ bottom line.

Not everyone is meeting these demands, though. CMOs are losing their jobs left and right because they are failing to adapt. In this episode of CMO Talk, Shelly Kramer and guest host Linda Patterson delve into the new demands on CMOs, and what it takes for CMOs to survive in a post-digital business world. Don’t want to end up a CMO dinosaur? Then tune in to listen to this episode of CMO Talk.

For many companies, the concept of social business is often poorly understood, poorly executed and, in some cases, completely overlooked. What is social business and why is it important? That’s what Broadsuite Media Group’s Shelly Kramer, host of #CMOTalk, and her guest, Travis Wright, explore on this episode of the show. Wright, a marketing consultant, growth hacker, trouble maker, and social media guru, is the author of a recently published book on digital marketing called Digital Sense: The Common Sense Approach to Effectively Blending Social Business Strategy, Marketing Technology, and Customer Experience. This conversation between two veteran marketers and social media powerhouses is sure to deliver insights that will be actionable for you and your business.

When it comes to delivering results with your B2B lead generation efforts, there are some tried and true tactics that absolutely work. And the most effective of those tactics? Well, that might surprise you.

Eric Vidal joined Shelly Kramer in this week’s episode of CMOTalk, and they explored all things related to B2B lead gen, including the most effective tactics, other tactics that are being used by many B2B marketers, and how to make sure you’re getting the very most out of your lead generation efforts.

Here’s a glimpse into what we covered in this 25 minute podcast—also available as a videocast if you’ve not yet discovered us and subscribed:

Traditional B2B Lead Generation Tactics.
What “old school” lead gen tactics still deliver big? Phone calls and in person events. Why? That’s easy. Any time you can get a prospect to take your call and/or shake your hand, you’ve got them, a captive audience, and there’s a good chance they’ll make time to listen.

We shared some tips for you and your team to put to use when you’re attending a conference or trade show, things that are relatively easy to do but which many B2B sales and marketing teams overlook. I’ll give you a hint: One of those tips involves LinkedIn.

Modern B2B Lead Gen Tactics.
When we talk about “modern” when it comes to B2B lead generation tactics, what we really mean is leveraging the web as part of your efforts. That means having a website that’s not only well-optimized, but which also features great, easy-to-understand, consumer-focused messaging, and easy to find and access CTAs that offer up your most easily converted assets in seamless manner.

Modern B2B lead gen also includes that perhaps-best-of-all lead generation machine: Email marketing. Also playing a role in modern B2B lead gen are webinars and online events, both of which email plays an important role when it comes to promoting, both beforehand and after the event.

Want to get all the details, along with tons of helpful hints and advice? Watch this video.

Shelly Kramer - Contributing Writer & CEO, V3B

Eric Vidal - Chief Content Officer, The Marketing Scope

The Marketing Scope

On this episode of CMOTalk, Shelly Kramer and Dan Newman get into the topic of employee advocacy and how, done properly, your employees can help propel your marketing, customer service, business development, and even your recruiting efforts in amazing ways.

Shelly and Dan also talk about what they believe are the cornerstones to any employee advocacy program—and that is trust, training, and tools, and the biggie, disclosure.

So, if employee advocacy is on your radar screen, you’re invited join us for a webinar put on by our friends at The Marketing Scope featuring one of the smartest minds in the online space, Altimeter’s Charlene Li. She will be joined by Dynamic Signals An Le for this informative discussion moderated by Daniel Newman.

There’s still time to register – and this webinar is FREE, so there’s no reason to wait. The webinar is Wednesday, July 9th, at 1pm ET, 12 Noon CT and 10am PT. You can register here: https://engage.vevent.com/index.jsp?eid=5282&seid=12

CMOTalk is hosted by V3B's Shelly Kramer and Daniel Newman. Find them on the web at http://v3b.com, on Twitter @shellykramer and @danielnewmanuv, and be sure to follow @CMOTalkLive on Twitter as well.

You can't turn around without tripping over a blog post or an infographic (mostly shared or circulating in the social media space) touting the benefits of the social CEO. Claims that social CEOs (and senior executives) are more trustworthy, more transparent, more engaging, more human abound -- all of which could very well be true. But is it true or is it just hype from the social media loving marketers out there? Do social CEOs and senior executives equate to more sales? Do they equate to greater customer satisfaction or greater customer retention? Do they equate to happier employees or more satisfied shareholders. We're fascinated by this topic and despite being immersed in the social media space, our thoughts on this topic might surprise you. Join us for this episode of CMOTalk where we'll dive in, poke holes, and share some advice if this is a topic you're wrestling with in your organization.

CMOTalk is hosted by V3B's Shelly Kramer and Daniel Newman. Find them on the web at http://v3b.com, on Twitter @shellykramer and @danielnewmanuv, and be sure to follow @CMOTalkLive on Twitter as well.

On this episode of CMOTalk, this time brought to you by our friends at Dell, hosts Shelly Kramer and Daniel Newman again partner with analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights while on site in Barcelona at the Mobile World Conference, to explore the Internet of Things.

In this episode, we cover both the human Internet of Things and the Industrial Internet of things, how the two are separate yet interdependent.

With regard to the human IoT, discussion centers around wearables and the need for a vibrant wearables industry that takes fashion as much into consideration as it does utility. Dan and Patrick shared some of the insights they've gathered while at MWC and some exciting things on the horizon.

As discussion turned to the Industrial IoT, today it's a given that businesses have an IoT strategy and craft products around that. There's a SaaS model application to the IoT and cloud technology does and will enable businesses to be smarter about adopting IoT technology and developing products that suit today's consumer preferences.

IoT is a fascinating topic and the possibilities for business are endless. Whether it's sensors in apartment buildings that adjust the heat up or down, farmers using sensors on animals in rural areas, smart water heaters, lightbulbs, refrigerators or computer operating systems -- we're limited only by our imagination when it comes to the possibilities of integrating IoT thinking into our business operations. This podcast will inform and inspire senior leaders, SMOs, and IT leaders looking to adopt IoT more fully into their business operations.

CMOTalk is hosted by V3B's Shelly Kramer and Daniel Newman. Find them on the web at http://v3b.com, on Twitter @shellykramer and @danielnewmanuv, and be sure to follow @CMOTalkLive on Twitter as well.

Shelly and Dan welcome analyst Patrick Moorehead from Moor Insights live from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to discuss how mobility is driving the customer experience. Some of the things discussed include the following:

This is a don't miss show, delivering valuable insights on how marketers and IT teams can work together from a mobility standpoint to serve customers, respect and protect their privacy, predict their needs before they even realize those needs, and keep customers coming back for more.

CMOTalk is hosted by V3B's Shelly Kramer and Daniel Newman. Find them on the web at http://v3b.com, on Twitter @shellykramer and @danielnewmanuv, and be sure to follow @CMOTalkLive on Twitter as well.

Shelly and Dan talk with Patrick Moorhead on the eve of Mobile World Congress 2015 taking place in Barcelona. 

CMOTalk is hosted by V3B's Shelly Kramer and Daniel Newman. Find them on the web at http://v3b.com, on Twitter @shellykramer and @danielnewmanuv, and be sure to follow @CMOTalkLive on Twitter as well.