TalkingSense

These are … ah … interesting times for CROs, especially those who were on the path to IPO before the recent economic downturn. But according to Nasdaq’s Karen Snow, the current economic climate presents opportunities to balance out the challenges. As SVP, Head of US Listings & Revenue/Board Member for Nasdaq Private Markets & Nasdaq Center for Board Excellence, Snow knows a thing or two about what it takes to IPO.

In this conversation with TalkingSense host (and 6sense CMO) Latané Conant, Snow weighs in on:

• Why the slowdown might be good news if you want to IPO
• Why revenue team alignment is more important than ever
• Why there’s more pressure on CROs to get everything right
• How to motivate your team in challenging times

If you’re looking for solid takeaways on how to bring your company through this period stronger than ever, be sure to give it a listen.

[Quote] “Pre-IPO, you want to develop the company's revenue model. You want to have created a management team structure that's going to work long-term. You want to be testing out your go-to-market strategies, aligning your marketing messaging, working on your budgeting, and ensuring your sales teams have the proper systems in place to succeed. Because once you go public, the stakes are a lot higher and your ability to test things out becomes more challenged.”

Amy joined 6sense CMO Latané Conant on TalkingSense to discuss her sales philosophies, including:

Why she’s not a fan of playbooks but loves frameworks (ie, “guardrails with expectations”)

The role of creativity in sales success, and how it enables real business conversations

How good listening skills helped her win a $30 million deal

What she thinks about over-segmentation in the sales team

The journaling system she uses to keep her head up on the bad days

Get ready to learn through differing points of view and healthy, respectful debate in this podcast episode. Listen now.

“Everyone talks about problem-solving, but there are four other reasons people take action. You help them get better. You help them reach a goal. You help them pinpoint a blind spot they didn't even know that they had. You help them be the hero of their own story, not yours. And the only way that you can do that is if you listen.”

Secrets to a Successful SDR/BDR Organization

A conversation with Snowflake’s Lars Nilsson

At 6sense, we love to love BDRs! So we were thrilled to welcome the godfather of BDRs/SDRs himself, Lars Nilsson — VP Global Sales Development at Snowflake, and founder and CEO of SalesSource, a premier consulting firm helping companies optimize their sales motion.

In this discussion, Lars and 6sense CMO Latané Conant break down all things business/sales development, including:

• How to keep good SDRs from leaving and taking everything you’ve invest in them to another company
• The metrics to look for to ensure you’re running an efficient shop
• How Nilsson ha’s managed to cut SDR ramp time from 3 to 6 months to 2 to 4 weeks
• The four elements of dealing with the dreaded “Dead Zone”

Whether you’re a BDR/SDR or you work with them on your team, this episode is filled with useful nuggets you can start using today. Listen now.

“A lot of what’s being discussed today in this downturn is how much pipeline you need in order to cover the revenue number. It turns out that the sales development rep, if properly onboarded and ramped and developed, can do that.”

The Man Behind the Literal Playbook on Enterprise Selling

A conversation with David Rudnitsky

What would a sales season of TalkingSense be without a conversation with David Rudnitsky, who literally wrote the playbook on enterprise selling?

Rudnitsky, who helped grow Salesforce from $51 million to $5 billion is the legend behind The Sales Playbook, which was published in Salesforce Founder & CEO Marc Benioff's best-seller, Behind the Cloud.

He joined 6sense CMO and host Latané Conant to share his knowledge. The two discussed:

• Why you should never compromise on your minimum standard of excellence
• The difference between confidence and arrogance
• How to “get your face in the place,” despite the current hybrid selling environment
• The surprising KPI he tracks to see how engaged his reps are

If you’re looking for inspiration for growing your enterprise sales org, you’ve found it. Listen now.

“Think big. Whether you're with the smallest startup or you're with a growing company, think big. Thinking big is an attitude, and it's actions around it.”

How Lean Principles Can Help Organizations Scale

An interview with Pablo Dominguez, Operating Partner at Insight Partners

Pablo Dominguez, Operating Partner at Insight Partners, recently joined 6sense CMO Latané Conant to share the wisdom he’s gained leading the Center of Excellence for Sales and Customer Success.

They discussed:

• Pablo’s new book: What a Unicorn Knows: How Leading Entrepreneurs Use Lean Principles to Drive Sustainable Growth
• What scaling SaaS companies can learn from Toyota's approach to eliminating waste and improving processes
• The investor's viewpoint on the most important benchmarks for different growth stages

This episode is full of gold nuggets for anybody looking to scale their business, and for businesses of any size looking to become more efficient.

“On average what we've seen through the engagement is we're able to reduce time to value by 25 percent literally across any engagement. It's amazing to see what people can come up with when you bring them from different functional teams together.”

Do Kind Folks Finish First, Even in Sales?

A conversation with Sales Hacker host Sam Jacobs

For proof that you can be both a good human and a good sales leader, look no further than Sam Jacobs, founder of Pavilion and host of the popular Sales Hacker podcast. In our latest episode of Talking sense, Sam sits down with 6sense CMO Latané Conant to discuss his down-to-earth approach to sales leadership.

Sam and Latané talk about:

• Why kindness isn’t just a feel-good ethos — it’s key to professional success
• How Sam stopped comparing himself to others and chasing meaningless goals
• Finding positivity, letting go of attachment, and getting comfortable with where you are
• Which job the robots will take over next

For a human-centered talk about the current state of sales and where we go from here, give this episode a listen.

“How is sales changing? It's becoming more and more competitive, and the best people are going to separate themselves because robots are going to take care of the rest. And it's going to happen very quickly.”

It’s Time To Go to Market a Hell of a Lot Smarter

An interview with Mary Shea, Chief Evangelist at Outreach

On the latest episode of Talking Sense, we’re joined by the authority in all things sales tech, Mary Shea. Mary is the Chief Evangelist at Outreach and a former Forrester analyst, and shares some deep insights on today’s sales tech landscape with host and 6sense CMO, Latané Conant.

In this interview, Mary shares:

• Takeaways from her brand-new research on how B2B leaders are reacting to current financial headwinds.
• Hard-won lessons she wants to share with other women in sales and tech.
• What she’s learned from having survived previous recessions and downturns.
• Why “order takers” won’t thrive in this economy.
• How to take this opportunity to retool yourself, reinvent yourself, and find ways to upskill.

If you’re wondering how to thrive in a troubled economy — and what sales tech you need (and don’t need) to do it — this episode is for you.

“If I'm a seller, how do increase my skillset? If I'm a business leader, how do I provide my team with the training, support, tools, and tech they need so they can have that confidence as they go to market? Look, folks, the sky's not falling in. Use this as a time to reinvent yourself, reinvent your company, and be opportunistic while 90% of the business world is hunkering down and waiting for this thing to pass over.”

The Case for Applying Predictability to the Sales Cycle

An interview with Tim O’Neil, CRO of Alation

In this episode of TalkingSense, 6sense CMO Latané Conant chats with Tim O’Neil, CRO of Alation, about scaling a sales team, sales enablement, and more.

Tim and Latané dig into:

• How applying predictability to the sales cycle helps keep teams organized and motivated
• The three start-up phases CROs must prepare for as they scale, and
• Why a growth/process mindset is essential for sellers looking to advance their careers

This episode is full of insights for anyone on the GTM team, and especially sellers and sales leaders.

“I don't want the rep who reads the news. I want the rep who tells a story. The one who tells a story and is believable because they know the market and they believe in the market is the one that people buy from nowadays.”

What Top Sellers Have in Common

An interview with Alyssa Merwin, VP of Sales, LinkedIn’s Sales Solutions

Why is it that within the same company, certain sellers consistently blow their quotas out of the water while others don’t even come close to hitting theirs? It comes down to some key ways that top sellers operate, according to LinkedIn research: they’re better at targeting, they have better organizational data, and they’re better at time management.

This is just one of the many insights Alyssa Merwin, VP of Sales for LinkedIn's Sales Solutions, shared with 6sense CMO Latané Conant in this episode of TalkingSense. Alyssa also discussed:

The tenets of what she calls “deep sales”

What has changed since her days as a “spray and pray” BDR

Coming off of the “sugar rush” of pandemic tech buying — how companies are figuring out what tech they really need and what they can let go of or consolidate

How she balances being a good corporate citizen with guarding her team’s time and priorities

Why the KPIs you were looking at six months ago might not be the ones you need to monitor today

Listen today and discover how you can start putting deep sales tactics into practice in your sales organization.

“The world of selling is getting more and more complex, more and more competitive, more and more challenging by the day. What we all want for our sales organizations is for them to be as productive, as focused, and as effective as possible — spending time and energy with the right prospects, the right customers.”

Sellers Are Losing Up to 60% of Pipeline to “No Decision.” Here’s How to Fix That.

An interview with sales expert Matthew Dixon

We’re kicking off the sales-focused season of TalkingSense with a true legend. Matthew Dixon is the bestselling co-author of The Challenger Sale — which revolutionized how we think about customer indecision and how it gets in the way of closing deals.

Now Matt’s back with another book — The JOLT Effect — that builds on the last book and describes how top performers recognize and overcome indecision to guide customers to the finish line.

In this episode, 6sense CMO Latané Conant talks with Matt about:

The true cost of the status quo

Why buyers worry less about FOMO than about FOMU

Things customers say that sound encouraging but are actually red flags

The 4-step playbook he developed to snap buyers out of indecision

Why sellers need to stop bringing a “clown car full of experts” to every sales call

This is a must-listen for sellers who want to go from good to great — and for anyone who supports sellers in that journey.

“40% to 60% of the average salesperson's pipeline lost to ‘no decision’ … It’s a huge deadweight loss for the average salesperson in the average sales organization to have that many deals where you've spent months and months of time, countless hours of salesperson time, subject matter expert time, executive sponsor time … pursuing opportunities that go nowhere.”