Growth Enablement Madness

A growth mindset is vital to continued success in modern business. However, focusing solely on growth is not the best way to streamline your business for continued success in the future.

As the Senior Director of Partner Development and Strategy for North America at Sage, Ed Kless develops and delivers the curriculum for the Sage Consulting Academy, a course designed to educate Sage Software partners on the art and practice of small business consulting for growth-focused organizations. He also facilitates the Sage Leadership Academy, a yearlong program designed to assist Sage Software partners develop a continuous process of improvement in their organizations and serves as liaison to the Sage Leadership Academy Alumni Association.

In this episode of the Growth Enablement Madness Podcast, our host Jim Ward and BrainSell’s VP of Marketing Sarah Reed sit down with Kless to chat about the importance of not having growth be your only desired outcome for your business, while also providing examples of why this is the case. They also discussed how “all change is linguistic” within a company, and how that language shift creates a mentality shift to promote better, more predictable growth.

Other discussion topics from this episode include:

• The "Market Share Myth" and how that creates false positives for business growth. 
• Why change management in a company requires a change in language.
• The role of technology in that mindset change for a business.

RELATED LINKS

• Connect with Ed on LinkedIn and Twitter.
• Check out Ed’s podcast called “The Soul of Enterprise”.
• Read more of Ed’s work on his personal blog.
• Check out the BrainSell blog for all things Growth Enablement!   
• Intro and Outro music by Sam Ward.

To successfully position your company to grow and scale, you must have to know your customer. No, we don’t mean “know of” them. We mean that you must have a 360-degree customer view with crystal-clear fidelity. This allows businesses to offer a high-definition customer experience (HD-CX) that enables companies to rewind to the past, gain better situational awareness about the present, and make data-driven decisions for the future.

Clint Oram, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer at SugarCRM, has dedicated his career to accelerating everything customer-related with technology. This can be seen in the exciting, ongoing innovations taking place at SugarCRM. Now, SugarCRM is helping growing companies obtain HD-CX so they can effectively help them grow and scale.

In this episode of the Growth Enablement Madness Podcast, our host Jim Ward and BrainSell's VP of Marketing Sarah Reed chat with Clint about how taking an HD-CX approach with your business is how you effectively enable it to grow and scale. They also discussed the ongoing innovations taking place with SugarCRM’s offerings and how practical applications of AI are helping provide time-based insights to give customers what they need, when they need it. 

Other talking points throughout this episode include: 

• What is HD-CX? How does it help companies grow? 
• Why CX has been so tough to grasp over the years, and how SugarCRM addresses all this. 
• New exciting things at Sugar, like SugarPredict!  
• What's next for Sugar? Anything on the roadmap? 

RELATED LINKS 

• Connect with Clint Oram on LinkedIn and Twitter. 
• Learn more about what BrainSell helps clients achieve with SugarCRM. 
• Read up on HD-CX on SugarCRM’s blog! 
• Check out the BrainSell blog for all things Growth Enablement!   
• Intro and Outro music by Sam Ward.

Business growth strategies are an endeavor that executives cannot take lightly. Business leaders must align the entire organization for the initiative to bear fruit. But many businesses tend not to incorporate their functional business efforts into their growth strategies, leading to unnecessary hurdles, growing pains, and limited results.

Carter Hinckley, Chief Marketing Officer at Blue Ridge Partners, has spent years focusing on helping companies improve their revenue engine through effective business growth strategies. But it is vital to align those strategies with the business's functional strategy so that you don't hamstring your departments' ability to do their jobs. 

In this episode of the Growth Enablement Madness Podcast, our host Jim Ward is joined by BrainSell's VP of Marketing, Sarah Reed, to chat with Carter about the difference between a business growth strategy and functional strategy. The group also discussed the importance of aligning your functional and business growth strategies to better position a company for success. 

Other talking points throughout this episode include: 

• What exactly is a business growth strategy. 
• Carter's history in business growth strategy. 
• What happens when functional and business growth strategies aren't aligned. 
• Examples of how misalignment impacts businesses. 
• Tips and best practices to ensure alignment. 
• What C-level executives should do to ensure alignment. 

RELATED LINKS 

• Connect with Carter Hinckley on LinkedIn and Twitter. 
• Learn more about Blue Ridge Partners. 
• Read up on business strategy on Blue Ridge Partner's blog. 
• Check out the BrainSell blog for all things Growth Enablement!   
• Intro and Outro music by Sam Ward.

It feels like it was only yesterday when we began to see the significant impact COVID-19 has had on the world. One year later, we are continuing to find ways for businesses to move forward and drive growth in a rather uncertain climate.

Becc Holland, Founder of Flip the Script and former Head of Sales Development at Chorus.AI, and John Barrows, industry thought leader and CEO and Founder of JB Sales, recently participated in BrainSell’s Watercooler Series, where we talk shop and highlight how timely trends are impacting the way businesses go to market. The conversation revolved around this topic of selling in a “new normal,” and what companies can do to ensure their sales teams have what they need to succeed.

In this episode of the Growth Enablement Madness Podcast, we look back at a conversation between our host Jim Ward, Becc, and John where they explored how to successfully prospect, make connections, and fill pipeline in today’s “new normal” business environment. 

Other talking points throughout the podcast include:

• Sales thought leaders you should be following.
• What it truly means to sell “smarter” in a volatile market.
• What process changes need to happen to sell better.
• The growing importance of relevance in the art of selling.

RELATED LINKS

• Check out the full discussion with Becc and John in our recent Watercooler Series webcast!
• Connect with Becc Holland on LinkedIn.
• Connect with John Barrows on LinkedIn and Twitter.
• Check out BrainSell's blog for all things Growth Enablement!
• Intro and Outro music by Sam Ward.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have gotten their fair share of buzz in the business world over the past decade. That buzz can be labeled both positive and negative; however, industry experts agree that AI and ML have changed the game for businesses looking to grow efficiently. 

Jim Kaskade, CEO of the conversational AI company Conversica, is at the front of the pack when it comes to uncovering AI's real role in the evolving workplace for modern and growth-focused businesses. With years of experience running data, identity management, and IT service organizations, Kaskade helps lead a company at the forefront of digital data innovation and assists companies in growing in the process. 

In this episode of the Growth Enablement Madness Podcast, Kaskade chatted with host Jim Ward about how tech innovations in AI and ML are positioning businesses to streamline their processes and drive growth with less. The two also discussed how AI augments aspects of the workforce rather than replacing employees and ruining livelihoods. 

Other talking points throughout the podcast include:

• How the application of AI has expanded immensely over the last several years. 
• Which industries and verticals are benefitting from the early adoption of AI. 
• What AI conversations sound like with members of the C-suite.

RELATED LINKS

• Learn more about Conversica and its Integrated Virtual Assistants! 
• Connect with Jim Kaskade on LinkedIn and Twitter. 
• Check out BrainSell's blog for all things Growth Enablement!  
• Intro and Outro music by Sam Ward.

Using valuable data and insights to make strategic growth decisions is vital to being successful with your efforts in modern business. Businesses that do not prioritize their data strategy are in for a world of struggle in coming quarters and years. For Jordan Berry, one of BrainSell’s go-to data analysts and Co-founder of Interloop.ai, companies must be forward-thinking with their data initiatives to ensure investments and processes reap the most benefit—and drive growth from the start!  

In this episode of the Growth Enablement Madness Podcast, Jordan sat down with host Jim Ward to discuss what the phrase “data-driven growth” means to them. They also shared thoughts on the technologies that are helping position businesses to be data-driven and on companies leading the data-driven charge by example.

Other discussion topics include:  

• Why businesses struggle to look “beyond their rearview mirror” when analyzing their data.   
• How to start reassessing your data-driven mentality.   
• A six-step overview of becoming a data-driven company.  
• How to overcome disparate and overwhelming databases.  

RELATED LINKS   

• Learn more about Interloop’s Sidekick capabilities.  
• Connect with Jordan on LinkedIn.  
• Check out BrainSell’s blog for all things Growth Enablement!  
• Intro and Outro music by Sam Ward. 

Normally, tech drives business decisions. This is especially true for the marketing automation space, where many people tend to invest heavily in a solution that they are not maximizing to their fullest potential. But Nick Ezzo, VP of Marketing at the finance and ERP automation company Auditoria.ai, has found a unique way to turn his colleagues in the marketing department into a force multiplier that leads the company to profitability through the help of all-in-one automation.

During the first episode of the Growth Enablement Madness Podcast, Nick sat down with host Jim Ward to chat about how a growth enablement mindset has helped position Nick to help Auditoria have the biggest impact in the ERP space with the smallest group of people. The pair also discussed Nick's philosophy of marketing automation and its role in growing businesses. Other discussion topics include: 

• How Nick’s background in IT helped him find success in the marketing world, with notable positions at Equilar, Host Analytics, and Sage Intacct before joining Auditoria as its VP of Marketing. 
• How Auditoria is changing the ERP game and how Nick has been helping them do that by taking an all-in-one marketing automation approach to the finance space. 
• The tech categories making an impact in a volatile market, such as targeting and personalization tools. 

RELATED LINKS 

• Learn more about Auditoria.ai. 
• Connect with Nick on LinkedIn and Twitter. 
• Check out BrainSell’s blog for all things Growth Enablement!