Rob Howes (Co-founder of Enterprise Sales Club) recently interviewed Jayd McFerson; Jayd is a veteran Value Consulting Leader in the software industry. Currently the Head of Value Consulting at Collibra, a leading data intelligence software company.

Previously he held similar roles at ServiceNow, Workday, Pivotal, and Oracle. The Value Consulting role is important to help customers & prospects to identify, define and quantify the business value of implementing a software solution.

Jayd shared great insight on how to succeed and close large deals during a pandemic. This episode is a stellar guide on how to use value consulting to identify “business outcomes”, the process of unlocking funds and a new take on how to position and maintain credibility.

What is the process you follow with a prospect?

· Rarely get in front of the actual C suite audience, we rely on our sponsor or champion to make the pitch on your behalf.

· A key unlocker for Jayd - How do I leverage this relationship to get to the right level?

· Someone has to carry your message – your narrative and data proof points.

· Focus for Jayd is to prepare the individual to sell when you are not in the room.

· Quite often we have no choice, and this person has to do the job for us.

· Our role is to be resourceful and make the most from the situation.

What are the key steps?

· Usually our contact has a technical perspective, not articulating it in business terms.

· When you have given enough of the solution, we need to pivot and engage the business to ask what commercial impact our solution could have.

· Structure the pitch early.

· Framework to give people structure, that speaks to that final conversation with the budget holder.

- Test it – say your CEO walked in here right now ‘why would this be important to them’?

· What is the problem we are trying to solve?

· What is the root cause?

· Why can’t we solve it today?

· When the problem is well defined and jointly owned – you are off together.

· Provide value by focus on growing the top line, margin, or mitigating risk.

How important is it to know when the customer perceives ‘enough value’?

· Law of large numbers, even small element of value when scaled becomes obvious.

· Before you talk numbers and spreadsheets:

A) Establish there is a priority problem

B) Customer is confident we can solve this problem

C) Have you jointly visualised the material difference solution will make?

· Real ‘conceptual lock’ on desired outcome only then throw some numbers at it.

· During a recent ‘swing deal’ won by Jayd and Rob they got to a point where the customer said that is big enough value for us to move ahead. The numbers are not perfect but reasoned and conservative.

Enterprise Sales Club is now LIVE at https://www.enterprisesalesclub.com.

Our purpose at Enterprise Sales Club is to enable SaaS Sales Professionals to achieve their potential through the power of life-enhancing connections, shared experiences, and collaborative learnings.

If you want to take your career to the next level, as well as improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me at [email protected]

Rob Howes (Co-founder of Enterprise Sales Club) recently interviewed Jayd McFerson; Jayd is a veteran Value Consulting Leader in the software industry. Currently the Head of Value Consulting at Collibra, a leading data intelligence software company.

Previously he held similar roles at ServiceNow, Workday, Pivotal, and Oracle. The Value Consulting role is important to help customers & prospects to identify, define and quantify the business value of implementing a software solution.

Jayd shared great insight on how to succeed and close large deals during a pandemic. This episode is a stellar guide on how to use value consulting to identify “business outcomes”, the process of unlocking funds and a new take on how to position and maintain credibility.

1) Introduction - tell me about your career path to value consulting?

· Jayd did an Accounting major and Psychology minor degree. Yet he has made a career leading with Human Psychology to build value. The accounting coming last.

· Fell into value consulting, result of a failed pre-sales interview.

2) What are the trends that you are seeing in SaaS sales today?

· Good companies still invest in difficult times.

· Still plenty of money if you look at the income statement of many companies.

· To get funds you need to:

A) Find a prioritised problem.

B) Validate that the customer fundamentally believes you can solve.

C) See the difference that solution will make.

3) Why is selling business value so important, what are the key benefits to the seller?

· No one gets a deal unless funds are released. We’re often seeking budget sign-off from people higher than the level we’re talking to.

· Jayd has utmost respect for people who carry a quota.

· What does it take to get the attention of the budget holder? Problem big enough to solve.

· CFO “If I tried to solve every problem in this business, we would be bankrupt.” It’s important to prioritise the problems.

· Our key objectives are “get the deal”, quickly followed by timing and size.

· With a smaller pipeline, your win rate needs to improve, so providing business value really matters.

Enterprise Sales Club is now LIVE at https://www.enterprisesalesclub.com.

Our purpose at Enterprise Sales Club is to enable SaaS Sales Professionals to achieve their potential through the power of life-enhancing connections, shared experiences, and collaborative learnings.

If you want to take your career to the next level, as well as improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me at [email protected]

There are no three ways about it; the pandemic, increased competition, and the widespread use of Zoom have accelerated the end of:

• Larger than life

• Airmiles

• Lazy salesmen

What do I mean by this?

• Larger than life – those who rely ONLY on relationships and buying more lunches and beer than their competitors to win deals.

• Airmiles – those who openly brag on social media about their Airmiles gained on business trips; let’s face it, business travel may never return to pre-COVID-19 days.

• Lazy – those who are not willing to do the research to gain customer insights and discover their pain points. They want customers coming to them ‘gift- wrapped’, with little to do to close a deal.

It is a running theme through my conversations with clients and customers in the enterprise space; they are done with those who over-promise and under-deliver. What has emerged is the need for the diligent, aligned-to-customer, trusted partner...

So, where can we look for guidance?

In a recent interview with Anant Patel, (VP at payment leader WEX), I asked him how the most outstanding leaders he is aware of conduct themselves?

He told me they display three behaviours:

1. They are servant leaders - they are all in the service of, and care about, their people and know that they will not achieve optimum business growth or drive things forward other than via their people. This does not mean that their approach is soft, and that their people are not accountable.

They are results-driven, yet what sets them apart is how they go about getting those results. Even with very large teams - sometimes more than 1,000 - they remain human and ensure that they are both accessible and approachable.

2. They are curious – they are not arrogant. They never think they have made it but want to keep on getting better and to keep on learning. They will learn from every interaction that they have.

3. They have a Decency Quotient (DQ) - Ajay Banga, (CEO Mastercard), adds DQ to IQ and Emotional Intelligence (EQ), acknowledging that the decent thing to do is not necessarily the easiest thing to do.

Where do we in Enterprise Sales adapt?

It is optimal for us to keep questioning, developing, and evolving our skillset of enterprise sales. These are:

1 - Segmentation of Desired Market

2 - Effective Prospecting

3 - Social Influence and Engagement

4 - Trusted Relationships, Built on Value and Respect

5 - Pre-Qualification of the Opportunity

6 - Win/Win Negotiation

Jayd McFerson, (Head of Value Consulting at Collibra, a leading data intelligence software company), in a recent Enterprise Sales Club interview, described the dangers of overselling:

“No CFO believes or wants a 50x multiple on their investment in your technology.”

Net result? Trust is eroded, and credibility lost.

Even though there is a temptation to focus on life one day returning to how it was, none of us really know what the post-COVID-19 world will look like. What has become clear, is that there is no going back; we have seen fundamental shifts and it is clear that the world we emerge into will be very different to that which we ‘left’ in early 2020.

See our earlier posts on reinvention and adaption:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-autumn-ideal-time-career-reinvention-adrian-evans/?trackingId=UJSg%2BCM9Qpq8nxpHTOzNwg%3D%3D

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/adapt-autumn-stay-relevant-adrian-evans/

Enterprise Sales Club is now LIVE at https://www.enterprisesalesclub.com.

Our purpose is to enable SaaS Sales Professionals to achieve their potential through the power of life-enhancing connections, shared experiences, and collaborative learnings.

If you want to take your career to the next level, as well as improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me at [email protected]

If anything, the fact that we are not currently selling face to face with somebody in the same room, means that our attention, research, and purpose need to be even stronger, and even better than ever before. This is the time to get better at Enterprise Selling and to prune out some of those old habits and adopt some new ones.

It is key to really understand:

a. Why you are connecting with this individual in the first place; and

b. Whether this is the only person you should be connecting with, from an economic buyer or influence perspective.

There are the five key steps that I recommend to cracking remote selling during COVID-19:

1. Research - what research have you done before reaching out to this prospect or customer? Do you know what their goals, fears and ambitions are? Have you looked at their LinkedIn profile? Have you listened to any podcasts they have recently appeared on?

2. Insights - Have you real or imaginary insights on the person or the organisation before reaching out? Have you picked the insights and topics that you want to talk about?

Have you identified whether the technology that you want to be aligned with is aligned with their most strategically important pieces? These are the things that you need to know to engage with them at a senior level.

3. Contacts - How many contacts in the organisation are you reaching out to? And why? Do you know what role they play? Are they influencers, users, recommenders, decision makers or champions? Do you know specifically what the purpose of connecting with them is?

4. Personalise - How personal can you make your message? What help have you on hand to craft your message so that it is non ‘vanilla’ and grabs their attention? Ask yourself: is this crafted and is it appropriate?

It's much like writing this article in many ways, it might take draft three, four or forty-four to get it crystal clear, and to have crafted our message effectively. It also needs space to iterate over time.

5. Quality of message. Focus on the quality of your message over the quantity. How well do you know your audience? How well do you know their customers and where their customers are going? Knowing both well will improve the overall quality of your message.

By pulling each of these factors together, we are earning the right to build a relationship and build that rapport with each individual that we want to attract. And, as I have said before, all relationships are built on trust, like and respect.

So, consider, how can you use each one of these tools to pull your prospect towards you?

I would love to hear your views on this evolving topic that is not going away anytime soon!

Have you discovered Enterprise Sales Club yet? We are now LIVE at https://www.enterprisesalesclub.com.

Our purpose is to enable SaaS Sales Professionals to achieve their potential through the power of life-enhancing connections, shared experiences, and collaborative learnings.

If you want to take your career to the next level, and also improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me [email protected]

Recently, a highly respected partner of mine, Lisa Akesson wrote about how to have a positive and memorable virtual experience. Within that article, Lisa highlighted the following:

1. Before the call, make sure that your appearance is right. Have you focused on the backdrop and are your clothes appropriate for your job or your brand?

2. Make sure that you are conscious about the natural light, so people can see your facial expressions.

3. It is really important to make, and maintain, eye contact and to connect with people. Unless we've connected, our message isn't going to be appropriate.

4. Ensure that you stay focused - this is probably one of the most important skills. Concentration is the mother of all mental skills. So, concentrate on the conversation and resist the urge to multitask. Ensure that you are fully present, listening to the individual rather than giving the impression that you don’t want to be there.

5. Actively listen and genuinely be interested in others, to pull them towards you and build rapport, rather than listening to respond.

These are my practical pointers on how to create connection via virtual meetings:

1. Take a few minutes before you start to ground yourself and your attention.

2. Take time to properly greet the person that you are meeting with and make that initial eye contact with them.

3. Be clear about your intention for this conversation:

a. What are the GOALS?

b. What is the REALITY?

c. What are the best OPTIONS?; and therefore

d. What WILL you do?

4. After the call, ask yourself, did you feel connected to the person and, ultimately, are you achieving the goals that you set for yourself?

Have you discovered Enterprise Sales Club yet? We are now LIVE at https://www.enterprisesalesclub.com.

Our purpose is to enable SaaS Sales Professionals to achieve their potential through the power of life-enhancing connections, shared experiences, and collaborative learnings.

If you want to take your career to the next level, and also improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me [email protected]

I recently talked about challenging our assumptions and beliefs and getting curious to make better decisions. This is particularly important right now because even though there's a temptation to think that life is one day going to return to how it was pre-Covid, none of us really know what the post Covid world is going to look like.

Whatever that world might look like, it is now very clear that we are not going back there, or to face to face selling anytime soon. So, how can we adapt to get even better at it?

For me, there are 3 key factors to address when adapting to remote selling:

1. Adjusting your mindset

2. Creating a memorable virtual presence; and

3. Digital selling across & during covid

Today, I’m sharing my insights on:

Adjusting your mindset for remote selling

The starting point for adjusting your mindset is acknowledging that getting to the point where most of the sales cycles are happening physically in front of customers and panels again is not going to happen anytime soon. So, we need to keep selling remotely for the foreseeable future.

How to set yourself up for success:

Start with what's not working - For me, it’s the back to back Zoom, Webex, Teams or other video calls. I find them to be unproductive because:

● There is no opportunity to digest, absorb and then actually take the appropriate action following each call. With eight or nine calls crammed into a day, there will easily be 20 plus actions arising out of them. These actions will then have to be dealt with at the end of the day or (as is invariably the case) leach into the following day.

● There is clear evidence that trying to concentrate on multiple people, their body language, etc, in one day is actually more draining via video call than face to face and leads to fatigue.

Once you have identified what isn’t working:

1. Acknowledge that it is real.

2. Ask yourself, how can I set my week up so that I know what it’s going to look like from the off? I know many people can't control their diaries, to the extent that others add things to them, but you can put in some spaces between meetings. Physically taking control of your diary as much as possible is key.

3. Ask yourself - do all of the calls need to be on Zoom/video call? I don’t believe that they do (and I ensure that mine aren’t) and there are two reasons why:

a. Standard phone calls, or Whatsapp calls, allow me to use only one of my senses (auditory) to just tune into the individual that I am speaking to; and

b. I've noticed with quite a lot of my clients that, taking voice calls enables them to get away from the screen. They'll actually go for a walk as they are on the call.

It’s a good thing for them and it's a good thing for me. Voice calls focus us and we achieve as much in that space as we would have during a video call of the same length.

Adjusting your mindset is about acknowledging that you can take control and using your own autonomy to mould a schedule and a way of connecting with colleagues, clients and prospects alike that works for you rather than against you.

Have you discovered Enterprise Sales Club yet? We are now LIVE at https://www.enterprisesalesclub.com.

Our purpose is to enable SaaS Sales Professionals to achieve their potential through the power of life-enhancing connections, shared experiences, and collaborative learnings.

If you want to take your career to the next level, and also improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me [email protected]

Rob Howes Interview with Jayd McFerson Head of value consulting at leading Data Intelligence Company - Collibra

What are the trends that you are seeing in SaaS sales today? (deals delayed, people getting fired, budgets slashed, uncertainty)

Tell me about your role in Value Consulting

Why is selling business value important, what are the key benefits?

Who gets to benefit and how?

What is the process you follow with a customer or prospect?

You described this data as “directional” can you explain further?

How do you build consensus?

Can you share any success stories?

How about some lessons learned?

How should salespeople switch from product sales to outcome sales?

Enterprise Sales Club is now LIVE at https://www.enterprisesalesclub.com.

Our purpose is to enable SaaS Sales Professionals to achieve their potential through the power of life-enhancing connections, shared experiences, and collaborative learnings.

If you want to take your career to the next level, and also improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me [email protected]

Tennis champion Rafa Nadal recently beat Novak Djokovic at the French Open to win his world record equalling 20th Grand Slam. He is a sportsman that I really admire. Not just because of his success (which is phenomenal!) but because of the way that he prepares to play.

This year was, of course, different. With the event unable to take place in its usual slot in the Grand Slam calendar, the French Open took place in autumn. The weather conditions were very different to those usually prevalent in Paris in May/June. In addition, some of Nadal’s matches happened in the early hours of the morning. It was cold and windy and the bounce on the ball was not what he was used to during this tournament.

In the face of those trying conditions, Nadal adapted so well that he didn’t lose a single set on the way to the final and went on to win, again, in three sets against his big rival, Novak Djokovic - one set fewer than any previous French Open final between the pair.

One of the things that also sets Nadal apart is his extensive use of rituals, which must have had a part to play in his French Open success. Everything needs to be in place for him before a match.

From the cold shower he always has to ground himself to the way he gets prepared in the dressing room, wraps the tape around his racket to which sock he will put on first. These very precise rituals give him an anchor and stability from the outset. He is primed to win.

How does this apply to us?

Developing these anchoring rituals is particularly valuable during these difficult times. I know from my own experience that good mornings tend to lead to better days, because I have morning anchoring rituals of my own.

What morning rituals could help you?

Each morning pre shower, I ask myself the following questions (which I call ‘GRELPC’) :

a. What am I GRATEFUL for? (e.g. gratitude for still being alive.)

b. When was I last RESILIENT? (e.g. responding to the challenges brought by Covid-19.)

c. What am I most EXCITED about? (e.g. the launch of Enterprise Sales Club and working with Rob, the Partners and the Ambassadors.)

d. Whom do I LOVE? (e.g. my family, my children and I remember my Mum and the unconditional love that she gave me.)

e. What am I most PROUD of? (e.g. continuing to get better every day and trying to serve my clients even better than I ever have before.)

f. What am I most COMMITTED to? (e.g. positively impacting 20,000 careers and building a community. More than that; to show my children how to build a community that is profitable and successful and human centric. This will mean that they won’t have to rely on working in a corporate environment and will be able to do that whenever they want to, and have the life they want whilst giving back and looking after people.)

What could you incorporate into your morning routine that would benefit you throughout the day:

If this kind of morning routine does not sound like something that would work for you, here are some other ideas that may resonate:

● Getting out for an early morning walk before you start the day;

● Writing morning pages - three pages of unconscious writing that help you structure your thoughts for the day;

● High intensity exercise; or

● Connecting with a human being (and that could very well be yourself) before connecting to the digital world.

Do you have a morning routine? If so, I would be curious to hear what works for you.

Enterprise Sales Club is now LIVE at https://www.enterprisesalesclub.com.

Our purpose is to enable SaaS Sales Professionals to achieve their potential through the power of life-enhancing connections, shared experiences, and collaborative learnings.

If you want to take your career to the next level, and also improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me [email protected]

I believe that autumn is the ideal time to ask ourselves:

‘Which parts are not the authentic me and need pruning?’

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-autumn-ideal-time-career-reinvention-adrian-evans/

It is also a time for getting ready for growth - we can accept less so we are ready for more in springtime, just as nature does.

How do we prune back in autumn to be able to grow when spring comes?

We focus on where we can adapt.

In a recent White Paper https://mindflick.co.uk/2020/07/29/the-science-of-adaptability-a-white-paper/ written by mind flick research scientist, Liam Burnell, describes adaptability as “the capacity to spot a change in context and shift our behaviour or mindset to achieve that goal.”

Importantly, it is a buildable and learnable skill, which involves:

1. Spotting a change, we need to respond to (i.e. building awareness of ourselves, and recognising when this may only get us so far); and then

2. Doing the trickier job of shifting our behaviour or mindset to allow us to be more effective

Adaptability is, of course, not a new concept and Burnell points to Charles Darwin’s research on animal adaptability. Darwin said that, if an animal were to move too far away from the traits that served it well, it would be likely to lose its competitive advantage. However, if there is no adaptability, then long-term survival is unlikely. There is a balance to be found.

Today, in Enterprise Sales, we need to find that adaptive balance. Wholesale overhaul isn’t the name of the game. We need to understand:

a. Our strengths; and

b. What makes us uniquely different.

Then we need to make those things our superpowers by recognising, reinforcing and taking them to another level.

Here are some ways in which you can begin to adapt taken from the insights that I have gained from my very best clients. They successfully pull people and opportunities towards them because they:

● Build trusted relationships, because of which, they end up privy to far more information than they should have.

● Always look to make connections with others, hence they can use latent goodwill when need it.

● They are more relentless and more curious. These Enterprise Sales superstars are genuinely more interested in finding out about people and that interest attracting the people towards them.

Enterprise Sales Club is now LIVE at https://www.enterprisesalesclub.com.

Our purpose is to enable SaaS Sales Professionals to achieve their potential through the power of life-enhancing connections, shared experiences, and collaborative learnings.

If you want to take your career to the next level, and also improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me [email protected]

Previous article:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-autumn-ideal-time-career-reinvention-adrian-evans/

There is no two ways about it - now is a very tough time for people. It’s a theme that regularly runs through my conversations with clients and those I have been speaking to following the launch of Enterprise Sales Club.

We are being told that we are entering the second Covid-19 wave and that brings with it a feeling of impending doom. Add to that that winter is on the way and the picture is gloomy. Amidst all of this, we have still got to keep ourselves motivated - on top of already having a very stressful job.

That stress often results from that feeling of always needing to be ‘on’. Enterprise Sales has inherited the Silicon Valley culture of:

‘if you're not on, then you're slacking’

which creates a belief system that does not even allow for any let up when you've closed a game changing deal.

If you’re not straight on to the next one the minute the ink is dry on that big deal, that same belief system tells you that you should be - there is still work to do in reaching targets, creating customers and closing prospects.

So, what can we do right now to shift that feeling of impending doom and work towards reducing our stress levels?

Let Autumn show us the way

Autumn is my favourite time of year - symbolically, it is an opportunity for reinvention or adaptive evolution. Nature is setting us an example of how to rid and prune ourselves of what is no longer needed.

The leaves turn from green through yellow or red to brown as the trees prepare to let go completely and return to their bare branches. Just as it is necessary for the trees’ survival, getting back to our very essence is necessary for our survival too. We have the opportunity, right now, to do the same.

As Michaleangelo said when asked how he created such a magnificent sculpture David

“I just took away everything that wasn't David,”

We can strip away those things that are no longer, or perhaps never were, us to turn over a new leaf and reinvent ourselves.

Where to begin?

The historical evidence shows that most beliefs do not tend to stand the long test of time. In fact, even within a couple of decades, the nuance of received wisdom can change because of insights that pivot what we know and the way that we think.

That being the case, it is best for us to keep on questioning, developing, and evolving. Particularly around our ‘A’s B’s C’s and D’s’:

A - Challenge your Assumptions about the world. The post-Covid world will look quite different to the pre-Covid one.

B - Question and evolve your Beliefs. Even our rock-solid beliefs evolve over time, so question what you believe now. It is an unlived life, if you're still believing the same things at, aged 28,38, 48 and 58.

C - What is your level of Curiosity? How can you get even more curious?

D - Review your Decisions. If you are still operating based on decisions made pre-Covid, it’s time to review them because they are likely to already be outdated.

Even though there is a temptation to focus on life one day returning to how it was pre-Covid, none of us really know what the post-Covid world will look like. What’s already become clear is that there is no going back, we’ve already seen fundamental shifts and it is clear that the world we emerge into will be quite different to that which we ‘left’ in early 2020.

We need to acknowledge that getting to the point where most of our sales cycle happens physically in front of customers, and panels, etc, is not going to happen anytime soon. We are going to need to keep on selling remotely for the foreseeable future and adaptation is key.

Enterprise Sales Club is now LIVE at https://www.enterprisesalesclub.com.

Our purpose is to enable SaaS Sales Professionals to achieve their potential through the power of life-enhancing connections, shared experiences, and collaborative learnings.

If you want to take your career to the next level, and also improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me [email protected]