In this episode of Outbound, Mike Grimberg interviews Emily Ackerman, a director of business development at Bennett Thrasher, about building relationships and trust with prospects. They discuss being authentic, focusing on people over brands, and using stories to connect. Gain insights into developing an authentic personal brand and tips for business development success.

Guest Bios: 

Emily Ackerman is a director of business development at Bennett Thrasher, an accounting firm based in Dallas, Texas. She has experience in sales roles in radio and accounting.
 

Mike Grimberg is the CEO of Proofpoint Marketing.

Main Discussion Points:

- The importance of authenticity in sales and treating it like building a personal relationship 

- Focusing on people's interests and personalities rather than just their brands 

- Using stories and humor to connect better with prospects

- Tailoring outreach to industry preferences and clients  

- Building a personal brand and niche on platforms like LinkedIn

Key Quotes:

"I think it is different for every single person. I think it all boils down to life's just too short to work with crappy people." (00:00:51)

"People don't remember the tax return or the quality of earnings you did for them a couple years ago. They're going to remember how you made them feel." (00:05:00)  

"I would tell people, whoever I manage, I am not going to judge you based on your closing ratio in the beginning. I'm going to judge you on your activity." (00:16:12)

In this episode of Outbound, host Joseph Lewin interviews Melissa Wexler, a seasoned sales leader with over 10 years of experience leading sales teams. They discuss Melissa's unique career journey from being a lawyer to getting into sales, as well as practical tips for building authentic relationships with customers.

Main Discussion Points:

- Making the transition from being a lawyer to a sales leader

- The importance of listening and discovery in the sales process

- Being authentically interested in your customers and their industries

- Researching your customer's industry to understand pains and passion points

- The mindset of helping others and giving back

Guest Bio:

Melissa Wexler is a sales leader with over 10 years of experience managing teams. She started her career working for an IBM hardware provider before attending law school and working as an attorney. She later transitioned into leading sales teams, leveraging her background in law.

Key Quotes:

"Really break it down a little more simple than that. What do you like about the people you sell to? What do you like about the industry? What jazzes you up and start the conversation there, right?" (00:03:38)

"When product comes up. It should be much more organic and it should have. This is why that discovery piece, if we go all the way back in our conversation to discovery and listening, the more you know about the individual, what's driving them, what's driving this purchase, and why it should be the problem they're focused on right now." (00:11:39)

In this episode of Outbound, host Joseph Lewin interviews Bob Burg, author of The Go-Giver and keynote speaker, about his approach to building relationships and providing value to ideal customers through a giving mindset.

Main discussion points:

- The importance of focusing on serving others and discovering their needs in order to build trust and likability (00:01:07)

- How constantly providing value to others is the most financially profitable way to conduct business (00:01:29)

- An example of Bob asking thoughtful questions to uncover a prospect's needs even when they initially said they weren't interested (00:06:03)

- The importance of uncovering problems prospects may not even realize they have in order to provide solutions (00:11:45)

- Practical ways to add value such as making connections, providing advice and resources, and listening (00:13:24)

- Why sales conversations are more effective than "pitching" (00:14:57)

- How to transition from providing free value to paid consulting (00:17:58)

Guest Bio:

Bob Burg is a sought-after speaker and author on the topics of sales, relationship building, and influence. He is the co-author of The Go-Giver, a bestselling book on business success.

Bob is excited to be hosting an upcoming live event called SalesWise Live 2024 with fellow author Jeff West and marketing strategist Kim Angeli.

Key Quotes:

"When you can move your focus off yourself and place it on helping that other person solve or overcome their problems and challenges, you can make it not about you, but about moving them closer to happiness." (00:02:15)

"Value is always in the eyes of the beholder. It's not what we believe is of value to them or what we think they should think is of value to them. It's what they believe is." (00:14:10)

In this episode of OUTBOUND, Mike Grinberg (CEO of Proofpoint Marketing) shares his perspective on building meaningful relationships with customers and prospects. He emphasizes the importance of being genuinely curious about how their business works in order to have insightful conversations and build trust.  

Guest Bio: 

Mike Grinberg is the CEO and Co-Founder of Proofpoint Marketing, a growth advisory firm. He has years of experience in sales, marketing, and business development.

Key Discussion Points:

- Being genuinely curious about how a prospect's business works allows you to ask good questions and show that you truly want to understand their needs (01:01)

- Understanding the business model of a prospect helps derisk the buying decision for them by building trust in you and your organization (02:04) 

- Doing research beforehand on a company or individual allows you to craft informed questions and have an insightful business conversation vs. a typical sales pitch (12:39)

- Using AI tools can help quickly generate initial research on an industry or prospect to inform hypotheses to validate through conversations (15:14)  

Key Quotes:

"It's being genuinely curious about business and the business of your prospective clients...It's understanding how business works for them." (01:37)  

"When you are in the sales process...the person or the people on the other side are derisking the buying decision." (02:04)

"The purpose is to have a business conversation, not a sales conversation." (18:01)

In this episode of OUTBOUND, we are doing something a little different. This is an excerpt from another Proofpoint Marketing show, Relationship-Led Growth Live. Joseph Lewin is joined by Proofpoint’s CEO, Mike Grinberg, for a discussion with Brian Walsh from Force Management.

The conversation focuses on how to create alignment within your client's organization during the sales process. They talk about why every person on your team needs to be able to communicate value effectively and how the most important conversations often happen without you in the room.

Guest Bios:

Brian Walsh is a managing partner at Force Management, a sales training and advisory firm. He has over 20 years of experience helping companies improve sales performance.

Key Discussion Points:

- The importance of creating alignment across the client's organization during the sales process 

    > "If you're gonna really create alignment inside of a potential client's organization, that means everybody … everybody inside of your organization's gotta be able to go carry that mantle on their own." (Brian Walsh, 00:01:13)

- Letting your client know that you understand their decision-making process

    > "Why are we asking customers about that when we probably know the decision process in our space better than they do anyhow?" (Brian Walsh, 00:14:12) 

- Helping prepare your client to effectively sell your solution within their company

    > "Let's get in a conference room, and I'm gonna sit in Mike's chair, and you're gonna present to me. There's gotta be a way for you to help Joseph get ready."  (Brian Walsh, 00:16:17)

Key Takeaways:

- Alignment within the client's organization is critical for sales success

- The most important conversations happen without you present 

- Salespeople should equip clients to sell the solution internally

In this episode of OUTBOUND, host Joseph Lewin interviews entrepreneur and CEO of Nexigen, Jon Salisbury, about strategies for building deeper relationships with customers through vulnerability and trust. Jon shares stories and examples from his experience founding multiple companies, including a cybersecurity firm and a smart city startup. 

Key Discussion Points:

- Leading with complete vulnerability and exposing who you are builds trust and empathy with customers (00:01:58)

- Focusing on understanding the customer's needs rather than pushing your own agenda leads to better outcomes (00:02:20)  

- Improving yourself and empowering your team to show up as the best version of themselves allows you to serve customers better (00:02:59)

- Jon shares examples of helping customers in difficult situations simply because it was the right thing to do, not because he expected an immediate sale (00:04:06, 00:05:31) 

- He started a nonprofit providing cybersecurity education to high school students, which led to new business opportunities (00:06:33)

Guest Bios:

- Jon Salisbury: Founder and CEO of Nexigent

Key Quotes:

"Honestly, right off the bat, it's complete vulnerability, exposing who you are in totality." (00:01:38)

"If clients know that your focus is on their long-term outcome, they trust you because it's trustworthy." (00:02:20)

In this podcast episode, host Joseph Lewin talks with Neil Barrow, founder of RevOps Advisors, about effective conference planning and follow-up strategies for business development in professional services.

Neil shares practical tips about attending business conferences, including doing advance research, carefully planning your calendar, and coordinating meetings with speakers, sponsors, and key stakeholders beforehand. They also discuss best practices for accountability when working with partners and "doer sellers," emphasizing the importance of setting clear expectations and getting alignment.

Key Takeaways:

- Start planning for conferences 6+ weeks in advance by researching the agenda and speakers to identify meeting targets [00:00:53]

- Build your calendar for the event by blocking off prospective client meetings, panels to attend, networking times, etc. [00:01:54]

- Reach out to speakers, sponsors, and other stakeholders to coordinate meetings and introduce yourself beforehand [00:02:15]

- Prioritize follow-up based on who you connected with at the event and who you had hoped to connect with [00:08:00]

- For last-minute event planning: Focus on identifying key sponsors, speakers, and organizers to connect with [00:17:57]

- Tracking originations from events can demonstrate ROI and help optimize your event budget over time [00:20:36]

Guest Bios:

Neil Barrow is the founder of RevOps Advisors, where he helps professional and financial services firms build their business development operations. He previously served as Director of Business Development at several firms over 10 years.

About RevOps Advisors: Management consulting firm that helps professional service providers systemize and scale new business development. Services include assessments, planning, program design, technology implementation, and training. Website: https://www.revopsadvisors.com/

Key Quotes:

"When I was director of business development, I had a plan that I would implement. And when I would go to any conference...about 6 weeks before the event, what I would do is take a look at the agenda, and then I would block times when there were prospective clients that were speaking that I wanted to go hear. There were clients that were speaking that I'd wanna go hear. There were interesting panels, or speaking topics, learning, opportunities for me. And I would build out my calendar, for those and go ahead and block that time." [00:00:53]

"A lot of times as business development at a firm, I'm going down with practitioners, I'm going down with partners or managers, right? And making sure that we have this plan and we've divided and conquered on a lot of this outreach." [00:05:17]

"When we're at the conference, we've got time to fill...I want to make sure that we're very active while we're there. And we can do all the planning and then all the activity while we're down there because that is work. Like, we're there to work. Right? And that's our job is to make sure that we're meeting people and meeting the right people." [00:07:10]

In this episode, Joseph interviews Chad Nikhazy, the EVP of Business Development at Provisions Group, about strategies and tactics for building deeper relationships with ideal customers. Chad shares his "secret sauce" for successful sales over his 25-year career, which boils down to focusing on genuine relationships instead of transactions.

Key Discussion Points:

- The importance of relationship-based sales, especially in professional services (00:11:25)

- Practical tips for switching to an authentic, relationship-focused approach (00:19:54)

- Stories of proactively adding value to networking contacts, which sometimes leads to business down the road (00:22:20, 00:23:34)

- Maintaining a "big 100" list of high-value contacts to regularly follow up with (00:23:16)

- How a small gesture years ago - inviting someone new to a Bible study group - built a lasting relationship and eventually a major client (00:24:37)

Guest Bio:

Chad Nikhazy is the EVP of Business Development at Provisions Group, an IT engineering and consulting firm, where he leads the sales team. He has over 25 years of sales experience.

Company Bio:

Provisions Group provides IT engineering, architecture, and staffing services to clients nationwide. Based in Nashville, TN, they take a relationship-based approach to sales.

Key Quotes:

"The secret is be nice and be genuine and...try to solve other people's problems first without, like, pitching them a brochure. Don't pitch a brochure." (00:05:45)

"If they're gonna meet with me again a second time, I've built a level of trust where they're like, okay. Chad's not gonna waste my time." (00:07:49)

In this episode of Outbound, Joseph Lewin interviews Max Traylor, a consultant and creator of the "Beers with Max" podcast. They discuss strategies and tactics for building deeper relationships with ideal customers through content creation, collaboration, and providing value.

Main discussion points:

- Why providing value through a "noble contribution" is key for business development
- How to leverage content creation like a podcast or book to have valuable conversations and build relationships
- Practical steps anyone can take to start making a noble contribution, even without an audience

Guest bio:

Max Traylor is known as the "consultant's consultant." He helps consultants productize their services through his podcast "Beers with Max," books, workshops, and more.

Key quotes:

"My noble contribution to the marketplace is my podcast, my books. I did a psychology study. I host free workshops. I do group networking calls. And this free value is something that I can invite my ideal clients to participate in." [00:03:06]

"I think business development is a lot more of people's lives than they are willing to admit. But certainly for someone like me who is an independent consultant who feeds their kids because I find people that are willing to pay me, business development is life, even though I consider myself a consultant, and I love helping people that do pay me. Business development is a life or death situation for many of us even if we don't recognize it." [00:01:56]

"All you need is an idea. And go start interviewing people to gather opinions and insights for your book. That's the way I started. I wanted to write a book." [00:17:59]

In this episode, Joseph Lewin interviews Matt Dixon, co-author of "The Challenger Sale" and founding partner at DCM Insights, about business development strategies for professional services firms. They discuss Matt's recent research on what today's rainmakers in professional services do differently to drive business. 

Guest Bio: Matt Dixon is a bestselling author and expert on B2B sales effectiveness. He co-wrote the book "The Challenger Sale" and co-founded DCM Insights. 

Main Discussion Points:

- Overview of Matt's recent research on 1800 professional services partners to uncover what drives BD effectiveness (00:10:00)

- The 5 distinct partner profiles Matt uncovered: Expert, Confidant, Activator, Debater, Realist (00:12:15)  

- Key traits of the Activator profile that correlates most strongly with BD performance (00:30:40) 

- Why today's buyers are less loyal and partners can't rely solely on doing good work (00:04:26) 

- How a partner's firm culture and incentives shape the path they choose (00:28:38)

Key Quotes:

"If you took an average performer...and they went from not very good to very good on activator skill demonstration, they could lift their personal revenue generation by up to 32%" (00:24:29)

"When a client changes jobs, the research shows very clearly that that client...spends 70% of their budget in the first 100 days" (00:35:17) on choosing vendors