Andrei and Patrick talk about the six principles that help you become a company that is literally generating demand. Andrei first worked more than 5 years in sales and then got into marketing before he started and grew his own company. He walks the talk and has more than 13k followers on LinkedIn today. 

From Principle Consultant to CEO, Bernd Schopp built Namics into a company with more than 600 people over 19 years. Recently he started as CCO at Squirro, one of the most promising Swiss Scale-ups. The big difference? In contrast to selling professional services, Bernd now sells a product. Bernd and Patrick have a discussion that might be interesting not only for all those who sell consulting services but also for those product guys who truly want to become a unicorn.

Winning by Design helped transform SaaS sales "from art to science".

Yes, there might be some competitive overlap with SalesPlaybook.

Collaboration before competition is a core value - which Harold shares.

It was a true pleasure learning from him on our podcast.

Here are the 3 key insights I took from sharing the mic with him:

1️⃣ Storytelling is key:

“Sales is a numbers game”. OK, but well…

People take decisions emotionally, and then justify them rationally.

Get a clear framework for the story you tell. Then tailor it.

2️⃣ Why multi-threading is so important:

Winning a 100k deal involves typically 5-10 stakeholders.

You can simply not afford to rely only on 1-2 people to “make it happen”.

Which is why “spinning multiple threads” early on is crucial.

3️⃣ “Content is King”: Content Marketing is Winning by Design’s main lead source.

Because they share often, early and most important ly freely.

Harold & his team love providing tons of value.

People who get value will pay you once they want even more value

Thanks a lot Harold for your time & insights and looking forward to by design (pun intended) collaborate on some European B2B SaaS scaleups in 2022!

Customer referrals & partnerships are one of the most underrated sales channels to scale revenue quickly - if done right!

👉Here are 3 things I learnt from Werner Decker on our podcast

1️⃣ Frame & ask for referrals early: Ask customer even before offer signature if they would be OK with you asking for 3-5 warm introductions - once you deliver on what you promise indeed.

2️⃣ Seek discomfort: Get over your anxiety and inertia to ask for an introduction, to cope with awkward silence - and to do so consistently. 

3️⃣ Growth mindset: Successful partnerships require you to embody a growth mindset, maximising the "What's in for me?" for partners, NOT cost saving strategies. An example how he implemented this with a client is to keep things really simple: "If your referral signs, we pay you EUR 12k, cash, within 30 days - no % calculation, no further conditionality. (Average Contract Value was 80-100k ARR, really low churn)

How do you tackle referrals?

Christian Weisbrodt is one of the most knowledgeable marketing leaders in Europe. He has been working for Microsoft, headed Marketing at Personio, and is now CRO at Finway. He knows what is needed to perfectly align the goals of marketing and sales and also what KPIs to use. We talk about how to define MQLs, SQLs and other variables that will help you get things right early in your go-to-market strategy

Robert has more than 20 years of experience in B2B sales and is leading a team of more than 30 marketers and salespeople today. In this episode, Patrick and Robert talk about negotiation and building the pipeline. Robert strongly believes that building your pipeline is the most important activity of salespeople.

Philip is a rare breed in Europe. There are not yet many SDR leaders in Europe who know the ins and outs of outbound prospecting. After 2 min of listening to Philip, you will understand why he is training dozens of SDRs and helps all of them to become more successful. You will get a new way to handle the gatekeeper (I never heard of that technique myself!), a better way to get direct phone numbers and a technique that helps you land the next meeting. Check out his blog: bstsllr.de

Robin Schmidt built his way into cold emailing after finding out that paid advertisement works for his clients, but not his own business.

He now helps German B2B SaaS businesses setup cold email marketing at scale, aiming for 1-3% booking rates while complying with DSGVO.

Ian Koniak has over $100 million in career sales and numerous finishes at #1 nationally, including finishing #1 in the US Enterprise Select Division of Salesforce on his belt.

However, he sees a gap in coaching & training how to lead a sales life with integrity...

👉 Here are 3 actionable insights I got from him on our podcast

1️⃣ Know your numbers: “Schedule 2 appointments and do 2 appointments every day and you will be fine. That’s 40 appointments per month, if you close 25% of them that’s 10 deals. 10 deals of 4k each means you contribute 40k in new business every month.”

Ian did this for the better part of a decade selling copiers. But quickly doubling deal size...

2️⃣ Sell to executives: Ian evolved to a sales director selling 1M in 3 months by selling to fewer customers, but helping to solve business priorities “higher up”.

3️⃣ Prospect yourself in ABS (Account-Based Selling): It is the job of the sales executive to do research, reach out, orchestrate the buyer journey and more on strategic accounts.

Thanks again for sharing this Ian and all the best for your new own company!

Karol is a true cold call wizard who started in a B2C company with which he sold telecommunication subscriptions to consumers, and then transferred to B2B because it was easier. Many people he called actually hung up on him immediately. He knows how to talk to people on a call and how to keep them engaged.