The Alignment Podcast

In today's episode, I talk with Nick Mehta, CEO of Gainsight which is a customer success company that offers businesses everything they need to retain customers and drive company growth. The company's Customer Cloud offers a powerful set of solutions focused on customer success, product experience, revenue optimization, customer experience, and customer data, that together enable businesses to put the customer at the center of everything they do. In our conversation we discuss:

• Why sales is no longer a one-time activity
• The role customer success plays in accelerating growth
• Triggers that indicated that more attention needs to be paid to customer success in your organization
• How Marketing and customer success should work together to optimize results

This episode I speak with Ed Ross, Founder & CEO of Michigan & Manchester Consulting. His firm takes science-backed methodology helps organizations implement customized onboarding, skill development and reinforcement strategies that lead to increased revenue and market share. They worked with companies such as Olympus, ThermoFisher, Siemens, Philips, and more.

In our conversation we discuss:

• What value Sales Enablement provides today's B2B organization

• Where the majority of companies are getting it wrong when it comes to their established sales process

• How to ensure Sales Enablement doesn't become the "fixer of broken things"

• The key benefits that Sales Enablement can offer the marketing team

Additional Resources:

Company Website

Engage with Ed on LinkedIn and Twitter

Music/Production: Chris "KID" Robinson, Hitmakuzz Productions Subscribe to the podcast: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | RSS | Spotify

This episode I speak with Max Altschuler, VP of Marketing at Outreach and Founder & CEO of Sales Hacker. He is a recognized thought-leader on sales and technology and has been published in the Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Money, and more.

In our conversation we discuss:

• What B2B sales leaders struggle with when it comes to their approach to selling in a modern and digital-first way

• How the evolution of sales tech has changed the buyer-seller relationship

• Why telling sales reps to just increase their activity level alone won't lead to improved sales results

• How sales leaders can interact differently with Marketing to get what they need to hit their numbers

Additional Resources:

"Hacking Sales: The Playbook for Building a High-Velocity Sales Machine" (Max's book)

Sales Hacker

Max's Personal Website

Engage with Max on LinkedIn and Twitter

Music/Production: Chris "KID" Robinson, Hitmakuzz Productions Subscribe to the podcast: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | RSS | Spotify

This episode I speak with Jim Karrh. He is a consultant, speaker, coach to high-value sales teams, and host of the "Manage Your Message" podcast. His podcast offers weekly insights from the experts and the doers, including CEOs, sales leaders, authors, fundraisers, editors, deans, consultants, researchers, and high-level negotiators.

In our conversation we discuss:

• How access to information has changed the world for B2B sellers

• Why clarity and consistency are vital to selling "change"

• How Marketing should be contributing to the sales playbook

Additional Resources:

Jim's website

Engage with Andre on LinkedIn and Twitter

Music/Production: Chris "KID" Robinson, Hitmakuzz Productions Subscribe to the podcast: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | RSS | Spotify

This episode I speak with Andre Piazza who has a long history of working as a product marketer in the tech industry for companies such as Dell and Quest Software. He currently serves as co-organizer of ProductTank Austin as well as the co-founder and host of a Portuguese-language podcast focused on the journey of entrepreneurs building new companies.

In our conversation we discuss:

• Why modern buyers aren't giving your sales reps their attention

• Product marketing's role in the effort to align Sales and Marketing

• How product marketing can help sales reps deliver personalized content and messaging to different customer personas throughout the buying experience

Additional Resources:

ProductTank Austin meetup

Octanage podcast (in Portuguese)

Engage with Andre on LinkedIn and Twitter

Music/Production: Chris "KID" Robinson, Hitmakuzz Productions Subscribe to the podcast: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | RSS | Spotify

This episode I speak with Tony Hughes, an international keynote speaker, best selling author, leading professional selling educator, award-winning blogger and the most read LinkedIn Author globally on the topic of sales leadership. As an experienced CEO and company director with 35 years of sales and business leadership experience, he is ranked by Top Sales Magazine as the most influential person in professional selling in Asia-Pacific.

In our conversation we discuss:

• What an effective sales kickoff meeting looks like in 2020 and beyond

• What sales leaders really want from marketing to help them achieve their goals

• How marketing can enable Sales to have better conversations with target buyers

Additional Resources:

Combo Prospecting (Tony's book)

Tony's Website

Engage with Tony on LinkedIn and Twitter

Music/Production: Chris "KID" Robinson, Hitmakuzz Productions Subscribe to the podcast: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | RSS | Spotify

This episode I speak with Dave Elkington, founder of InsideSales.com. Dave has a rich background in tech, venture capital, and corporate development. He has been involved in the evolution and definition of the inside sales industry and speaks regularly on the topic. Dave is also co-author of the groundbreaking Lead Response Management industry study which was published in the Harvard Business Review.

In our conversation we discuss:

• The forces that are causing massive change in the way B2B companies must operate today and in the future

• Benchmarks for where most companies sit on the sales and marketing tech adoption curve

• The fact that not all data is created equal

• The most effective way for marketing to share data with sales that is actually useful and meaningful for them

• Why AI has increased in popularity in recent years

Additional Resources:

Lead Response Management industry study

How Marketing and Sales Leaders Can Create A Single Source of Truth (The Alignment Blog)

Engage with Dave on LinkedIn and Twitter

Music/Production: Chris "KID" Robinson, Hitmakuzz Productions Subscribe to the podcast: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | RSS | Spotify

This episode I speak with Craig Rosenberg, Co-Founder and Chief Analyst at TOPO. TOPO is a research and advisory firm that helps companies grow faster by improving the experiences sales and marketing organizations deliver to buyers.

In our conversation we discuss:

• The different between account-based marketing (ABM) and account based strategy

• How an account based strategy helps break down the silos between sales and marketing

• How to develop an ideal customer profile (ICP) that actually enables growth

• 5 elements of a well-constructed account based strategy

• The key performance indicators (KPIs) that leaders should be tracking to ensure your account based strategy is performing well

Additional Resources:

Engage with Craig on LinkedIn and Twitter

Music/Production: Chris "KID" Robinson, Hitmakuzz Productions Subscribe to the podcast: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | RSS | Spotify

This episode I speak with Rob Kall, co-founder and CEO of Cien. Cien is an AI-powered platform that helps connect the invisible dots between your sales data to predict outcomes, uncover improvement areas, and recommend the biggest wins for your team. Rob is also an accomplished entrepreneur with multiple multi-million dollar exits under his belt.

In our conversation we discuss:

• How misalignment between sales and marketing impacts CEO performance

• What factors have the most negative impact on sales rep productivity

• The benefits of implementing AI even if you think you have bad data

• How the purpose of the CRM has changed and how most companies are using it wrong

Additional Resources:

How AI is Changing CRM (article)

Engage with Ron on LinkedIn and Twitter

Music/Production: Chris "KID" Robinson, Hitmakuzz Productions Subscribe to the podcast: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | RSS | Spotify

This episode I speak with Ron Carucci, managing partner at Navalent. Ron is also a contributor for Forbes and Harvard Business Review, 2x TED speaker, and author of "Rising to Power". Ron has expertise in helping companies take a holistic approach to transformation which includes addressing their strategy, organization, and leadership.

In our conversation we discuss:

• How to know if your teams are ready for change

• The 3 domains of transformation

• The importance of being an enterprise leader first and a functional leader second

• What many leadership teams are doing to encourage people not to tell the reality of what is going on in the business

Additional Resources:

Rising to Power (Ron's book)

How to Be More Powerful Than Powerless (Ron's TED talk)

Navalent

Engage with Ron on LinkedIn and Twitter

Music/Production: Chris "KID" Robinson, Hitmakuzz Productions Subscribe to the podcast: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | RSS | Spotify