The Alignment Podcast

This episode I speak with Gary Smith, Chief Executive at the Gary Smith Partnership. The company is a sales and marketing consulting firm that specializes in process change and enabling disruptive technology implementation.

In our conversation we discuss:

• The most compelling reason Sales and Marketing must align now

• How to get CEO support when it comes to aligning these two teams

• The 5 things you must do to start on the path to better alignment

• Culture's impact on successfully achieving true alignment

Additional Resources:

"Black Box Thinking" by Matthew Syed

"Mistakes were made (but not by me)" by Carol Tavris

Connect with Tyler on LinkedIn or Twitter

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

This episode I speak with Steven Norman, author and founder of Growth Acumen. Steven draws from his over 20 years of executive experience in Australia and Asia Pacific to assist tech and entrepreneurial companies in implementing world-class sales practices.

In our conversation we discuss:

• The importance of customer experience (CX) in getting and keep ing customers

• How implementing a referral selling strategy can significantly increase your company growth

• Alignment beats out strategy when it comes to predictors of business success

• How to know if its time to pursue an alignment effort in your organization

Additional Resources:

Future Proof Sales Strategy - Steven's book

Connect with Steven on LinkedIn or Twitter

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

This episode I speak with Tyler Lessard, VP of Marketing at Vidyard. Tyler has over 15 years of experience in b2b marketing, sales enablement, content marketing, brand, and video. Throughout all these experience he has always taken a customer-centric approach to problem solving, creative storytelling, and data-driven marketing.

In our conversation we discuss:

• The reasons behind why video has become so popular with b2b companies

• The 4 E's of successful video psychology

• The hidden rich data that video provides and how sales and marketing leaders can leverage it to better understand the buyer

• How brand leaders can support sales reps creating personalized video without losing brand equity and consistency

Additional Resources:

Chalk Talks - Vidyard's Video Series

Connect with Tony on LinkedIn or Twitter

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

This episode I speak with Tony Perzow, Keynote Speaker on Negotiation, Persuasion, and Influence. Tony has worked with companies such as Red Bull, Walmart, Apple and Google to help their professionals understand the science and art of persuasion. His presentations shatter the myths and misconceptions that prevent most companies and individuals from negotiating effectively.

In our conversation we discuss:

• What Aristotle can teach us about using persuasion effectively with buyers and internal stakeholders

• The 3 things you must do to meaningfully connect with any buyer

• The interesting buyer-seller relationship between Sales and Marketing

• How Sales and Marketing leaders should approach convincing the CEO to support an alignment effort with time and resources

Additional Resources:

Tony Perzow - Tony's company

Connect with Tony on LinkedIn or Twitter

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

This episode I speak with Jen Jacober, President of Everchanges. She is an experienced change agent that has led, designed, and architected transformations for Fortune 500 companies, Government, and small/mid-sized start-ups.

In our conversation we discuss:

• How cultural and organizational misalignment are related

• Who should own aligning Sales and Marketing for it to stick in the organization

• How misalignment between Sales and Marketing began in the first place

• The best way to start an alignment effort to set yourself up for long-term success

Additional Resources:

Everchanges - Jen's company

Connect with Jen on LinkedIn or Twitter

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

This episode I speak with Stefan Groschupf, Founder and CEO of Sales Hero. Stefan has a history of founding and running tech companies for over 20 years and is now focused on revolutionizing sales tech for the modern sales team.

In our conversation we discuss:

• What's holding back sales reps from getting the chance to actually sell.

• Salespeople are not data analyst and should not be required to do data entry.

• The stats that prove that most sales reps are highly inefficient with their time.

• How AI is helping Sales and Marketing create a true Revenue Engine together to meet the demands of the modern buyer.

Additional Links:

Connect with Stefan on LinkedIn or Twitter

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

This episode I speak with Mark Hunter - The Sales Hunter. He is a keynote sales speaker, best selling author, trainer, and consultant. He leverages his over 18 years of experience in sales and marketing to help companies sell more effectively. In his book "High-Profit Selling", Mark helps salespeople learn the techniques they need to secure more sales at full profit and to avoid the discounting practices that are so prevalent in the sales industry.

In our conversation we discuss:

• The biggest challenge in connecting with the modern buyer

• The opportunity Sales and Marketing have to create clarity for the buyer

• Marketing's role in the prospecting process

• The fact that Marketing should own the product and Sales should own the customer - always

Additional Links:

"High-Profit Selling" (Mark's book)

Connect with Mark on LinkedIn or Twitter

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

This episode I speak with Iris Chan, CMO of FusionGrove. She has had over 20 years of experience leading multi-national marketing and sales enablement functions at Fortune 50 vendors like Cisco and IBM. Iris is also a founding member of the Sales Enablement Society as well as its local chapter president in Australia.

In our conversation we discuss:

• Effective strategies for aligning a multi-national sales and marketing team

• The concept of co-creation between Sales and Marketing

• A significant marketing insight that is missing from a lot of lead generation efforts

• How to know if an account-based strategy is appropriate for your business.

Additional Links:

ABM Growing Up Fast: 2017 Benchmark Report (article)

Connect with Iris on LinkedIn or Twitter

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

This episode I speak with Steve Patti who brings a wealth of knowledge to the show about sales, marketing, and business development. He has held roles as a CMO, sales leader, and entrepreneur in companies ranging from $10 million dollars in revenue to several billion. He has also built and teaches Entrepreneurial Selling as part of Trinity University's Forbes Top 10 ranked Entrepreneurship Program.

What you'll learn from our conversation:

• The relationship between business, brand, and sales strategy

• What CMOs really think about the current state of MarTech

• Sales and Marketing must learn how to effectively leverage the CRM to be able to meet the demands of the modern buyer

• What the real purpose of content should be

Additional Links:

"Playing to Win" by A.G. Lafley and Roger Martin (book)

Growth through Focus: A Blueprint for Driving Profitable Expansion (article)

MarTech Landscape 2018 (article)

Creating "togetherness" to Drive Revenue Growth (The Alignment Blog)

Connect with Steve on LinkedIn or Twitter

Don't forget to leave a 5-star review on iTunes if you found our conversation valuable!

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

This episode I speak with Todd Caponi, Author of "The Transparency Sale" and Principal at Sales Melon. Todd pulls from his vast experiences as a sales leader at companies like Power Reviews and Exact Target (Salesforce) to help modern sellers understand the importance of transparency in closing more deals with customers. What you'll learn from our conversation: >> Showing what your product is not good at can actually help you increase trust and shorten the sales cycle >> The Review Economy's influence on how b2b buyers make decisions today >> The importance of knowing the content about your product on 3rd-party websites >> Buyers are not good at assessing their own pain and need sellers to act as personal trainers to help them find their true business issues Music/Production: Chris "KID" Robinson, Hitmakuzz Productions