Unicorny

Featuring best-selling author, Matt Dixon, this part one of a two-part episode (part two is available now) that answers the question so many B2B marketers and sales professionals are asking: how come that perfect-fit prospect died?

Matt co-authored a book we've mentioned many times on Unicorny; The Jolt Effect.

Nothing is more important right now than what you'll find in this book. So, whatever you're doing today, cancel it until you've listened to this episode and read the book.

Here's why.

If you're in B2B sales and marketing, you've got a pipeline... right now... today... this minute... that's suffering from the curse of the moment; the no-decision sale outcome. No purchase order, no sale, no win. This was already a thing, pre-pandemic, but now it's worse.

This pod has answers that might save the sale... and save your bacon too.

Matt Dixon is one of the world’s foremost experts in business development and customer experience.  Known for his ground-breaking research, he is a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review and is the author of some of the most important business books of the past decade.  He is a founding partner of DCM Insights, a boutique consultancy focused on using data and research-backed frameworks to help firms attract, retain and grow client relationships. 

His first book, The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation (Portfolio/Penguin 2011), was a #1 Amazon and Wall Street Journal bestseller and has sold nearly a million copies worldwide and has been translated into a dozen languages. 

The Challenger Sale has won acclaim as “the most important advance in selling for many years” (SPIN Selling author Neil Rackham) and “the beginning of a wave that will take over a lot of selling organizations in the next decade.” (Business Insider). 

He is also the author of The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty (Portfolio/Penguin 2013), which introduced the concept of customer effort reduction and the Customer Effort Score to companies around the world, as well as The Challenger Customer: Selling to the Hidden Influencer Who Can Multiply Your Results (Portfolio/Penguin  2015), the celebrated sequel to The Challenger Sale.  His newest book, The JOLT Effect: How High Performers Overcome Customer Indecision, was released by Penguin in September 2022.  His next book, The Activator Way, will be released by Harvard Business Review Press in Spring 2025. 

Matt’s work has been published in the print and online editions of Harvard Business Review on more than twenty occasions.  Among his noteworthy HBR articles are “What Today’s Rainmakers Do Differently” (Nov-Dec 2023), “Dismantling the Sales Machine” (November 2013) and “The End of Solution Sales” (July-August 2012), both of which appear in HBR’s 10 Must-Reads on Sales.  He is also the author of some of the most widely cited HBR articles on customer experience and customer service, including “Reinventing Customer Service” (November-December 2018), “Kick-Ass Customer Service” (January-February 2017), and “Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers” (July-August 2010).  His team’s latest research will be published in the forthcoming article “What Today’s Rainmaker’s Do Differently” in the November-December issue of HBR.   

In addition to his research and writing, Matt is a seasoned practitioner having held executive leadership roles in strategy, new product development, product management, research and innovation for companies like Tethr, Korn Ferry Hay Group and CEB (now Gartner). 

He is a sought-after speaker and advisor to management teams around world, having presented his findings at a wide range of industry conferences as well as to hundreds of senior executive teams around the world, including those of many Fortune 500 companies. 

Matt holds a Ph.D. in Political Economy from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh as well as a B.A. in International Studies from Mount Saint Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland.  He currently resides in the Washington, D.C. area with his wife and four children. 

Full show notes: Unicorny.co.uk  

LinkedIn: Matt Dixon | Dom Hawes  

Website: DCM Insights 

Sponsor: Selbey Anderson  

• The Problem with Highly Qualified Leads  
• Benefits of COVID for Sales Researchers  
• The Issue of No Decision Sales Outcomes  
• Overcoming Customer Indifference  
• Procrastination vs. Decision Avoidance  
• Understanding Customer Indecision  
• The Omission Bias  
• Multilayered Indecision  
• The Myth of Decisiveness  
• Overcoming Indecision  
• The Impact of FOMU on Sales  
• Interconnected Marketing and Sales Approach  
• Transforming Marketing's Role  
• Building anti-Fomo and anti-Fomu mindsets 

We're going to change things up a little again in this episode. Since December, we've looked at marketing disruptive technologies in a few of our episodes, including two epic shows with the legendary Geoffrey Moore.

When we spoke to him about marketing to an early market, he told us about the need to educate.

Today we're going to dig into one company's campaign to educate the early market that is, electric vehicles. We meet Neill Emmett former Head of Marketing at LeasePlan, a business that manages over 3.3 million vehicles across 44 countries.

Cold hard facts, insights, takeaways and tips straight from the Unicorny's mouth. What really strikes me as Neill's story unfolds is how central research is to his decision making and planning. Research threads all the way through the various parts of his story, and although we won't dwell too much on it, listen for how he repurposes the analysis and results to drive internal communications, too.

Research. We all talk about it, but how many of us do enough? Be honest. Do you?

Neill Emmett – Former Head of Marketing – Leading the Charge Towards Sustainable Mobility 

With an impressive track record spanning over 24 years in marketing, Neill has been at the helm of LeasePlan UK's marketing team for six years and a member of the company’s Marketing Strategic Team, guiding the company's direction and campaign strategies. Neill also serves as a B2B Marketing Award Judge for the prestigious "Best Purpose Led Programme" in 2023. 

It’s moments of change when marketers really earn their spurs. For Neill, this was in 2021 when UK was emerging from the pandemic and the world woke up to the climate crisis – and when Electric Moments, a campaign focused on helping accelerate the switch to sustainable mobility was born. The campaign - designed to empower drivers to make informed decisions regarding electric vehicles, tackled issues head-on - creating free to access content resources, interactive tools and detailed ‘how to’ video content.  

Electric Moments has since earned nine prestigious industry awards, including accolades for Innovation, PR, Thought Leadership, Content, and Best Green Initiatives. The campaign's impact resonated globally, being shared across all LeasePlan entities. 

Neill’s unwavering dedication to sustainable mobility and his passion, creativity, and strategic vision are without doubt helping to deliver a brighter, greener future. 

Full show notes: Unicorny.co.uk  

LinkedIn: Neill Emmett | Dom Hawes  

Sponsor: Selbey Anderson  

• Neil's Journey into Marketing  
• Insight Behind the "Electric Moments" Campaign  
• Tracking Adoption of Electric Vehicles  
• Influencing Fleet Managers' Decisions  
• Importance of Research in Decision Making  
• Importance of Transparency in Marketing  
• Benefits of Emotional Marketing  
• Campaign Planning and Strategy  
• Measuring Campaign Success  
• Research-Based PR and Campaign Coverage  
• Future of Marketing and Business  
• The Impact of Market Trends and Cultural Shifts  
• Niche Targeting and Purpose-Led Marketing  
• AI and Marketing Opportunities  
• The Power of Research in Decision Making  
• Conclusion: The Importance of Research 

Today's show is a little different. It's not your standard interview style discussion, because today's guest is not our standard guest. He is an Emmy Award winner, an entrepreneur, inventor, and researcher. He's a master of advertising and marketing effectiveness. No-one has worked harder or been more effective at understanding the relationship between marketing effectiveness, emotions, motivations and drivers. And... he built it into a machine learning model.

So, what we're bringing you today is a first hand account from a pioneer in machine learning of how he built his AI, Bill Harvey. What do I mean by pioneer?

Well, Amazon got there in 1998 or 99, but today's guest built a machine learning recommendation engine that was embedded in cable tv boxes in 1997. Not too shabby, eh?

This year, McKinsey tells us that AI is at the top of CEO's agendas. As a CMO, you are probably all over gen AI and tools driven by machine learning too. That's why we thought you might want to hear this.

Emmy award winner, innovator & inventor with 35+ years as thought leader in media research & key solution-provider to Fortune 500 brands. 

Breakthrough inventions include: 

• The ADI/DMA 
• Addressable commercials  
• Passive Peoplemeters 
• Planning/Purchasing media based on single-source Big Data matching (4 U.S. patents) 

Bill is the original discoverer of DriverTags™ the first proven scientific development of psychological attribute metatags for content (programs, movies, ads, etc.). RMT’s DriverTags™ have the highest predictivity of Nielsen ratings, series cancellations and renewals, and individual viewer likelihood of conversion to specific programs. Most recent work being presented at ARF shows an ability to lift ROI for brands by over +35%. 

Full show notes: Unicorny.co.uk  

LinkedIn: Bill Harvey | Dom Hawes  

Website: Bill Harvey Consulting 

Sponsor: Selbey Anderson  

Episode outline

• Introduction to Bill Harvey  
• Importance of AI in Marketing   
• The Role of Emotion and Context in Advertising   
• The Start of Bill Harvey's Career   
• The Development of DriverTags™  
• AI-powered show recommendations   
• Effectiveness of DriverTags™ 
• Digital Advertising and Somacio   
• Validation of Motivational Types   
• Introduction to Canadian Market and Vividata Partnership   
• Collaboration with AI Companies   
• Addressable TV and Programmatic Advertising   
• Application in B2B Marketing   
• Impact of DriverTags™ in Advertising 

 In this episode of the Unicorny podcast, Georgina Gilmore, an award-winning B2B marketer with over 30 years of experience, shares invaluable insights on the importance of human-centric marketing.

Full of fun and smart stuff, too. The show starts by looking for a blueprint for the future of marketing leadership, and we find the stuff you might expect: strategic insight, customer obsession, the courage to innovate.

As marketing leaders, our mission extends beyond the traditional boundaries of marketing. Our voice must be heard in strategy because it's our insight that helps shape the strategic direction of our businesses. And that is the core of this episode.

For Unicorny, our must win battle this year is to ensure that each and every marketing leader sits down and engages in strategic discussions with CEOs and senior executives. 

About Georgina Gilmore

Georgina is an award winning, accomplished B2B marketer, with over 30 years’ experience working for some of the world’s leading brands, such as Apple, Kodak, Cisco, Vodafone, Kaspersky and Centrica Business Solutions. Responsible for driving the global marketing strategy for high growth, fast moving and complex organisations, she has created and launched brands, products and solutions that are now considered part of our everyday life, such as consumer PCs and laptops, digital cameras, VoIP, Wi-Fi, smartphones, mobile email, SaaS solutions, cybersecurity as well as increasingly critical solutions such as sustainable and renewable energy. She’s built and led high performing marketing teams across the world and has continued to mentor and coach many of them as their careers have progressed.  

Today Georgina runs her own marketing consultancy, ‘The B2B Marketing Expert’, working with B2B organisations to grow their businesses as well as providing coaching and career development for future B2B marketers. She’s also an industry speaker and judge and retained as an industry expert for Propolis, the global community for B2B marketers. 

Links 

Full show notes: Unicorny.co.uk  

LinkedIn: Georgina Gilmore | Dom Hawes  

Websites: The B2B Marketing Expert 

Sponsor: Selbey Anderson  

Episode outline 

• Georgina's Impressive Career  
• Positive Spin on Marketing  
• Qualities of a Great Marketer  
• The Importance of Curiosity  
• Emotion in B2B Decision-Making  
• The Need for Marketing Capability  
• The Multidimensional Nature of Marketing  
• Overemphasis on Short-Term Goals  
• The Importance of Courage in Marketing  
• Embracing Small Wins and Marketer's Leadership Opportunity  
• The Evolution of Business Structures and Communication  
• The Role of Technology and Marketing  
• Redefining Customer Engagement and Satisfaction  
• The CMO's Role in Driving Business Strategy  
• The Entrepreneurial Mindset  
• Empowering CMOs  
• Taking a Break and Seeking Inspiration  
• Shaping Strategic Direction and Customer Delight

In this episode of Unicorny, Emma Kriskinans, VP Global Marketing at Tyk, shares her insights on the differences between marketing in big corporations and start-ups.

She draws from her career experience, transitioning from corporate environments through agency into the fast-paced world of start-ups. 

By embracing discomfort, pursuing growth, and learning from both successes and failures, Emma's story serves as an inspiration for all of us looking to get on in the volatile marketing business. 

Her practical advice on understanding the balance between agility and stability, the importance of following the money, and the value of effective internal marketing and change delivers solid takeaways for both big businesses and start-ups. 

If you're seeking to improve your adaptability to different marketing environments, this episode offers valuable lessons and practical strategies to enhance your skills.  

For the last fifteen years Emma Kriskinans has helped Founders, the C-Suite and Leaders grow their businesses. She has a strong entrepreneurial streak and thrives on purpose-driven initiatives, brand & community marketing, and change management. 

Full show notes: Unicorny.co.uk  

LinkedIn: Emma Kriskinans | Dom Hawes  

Website: Tyk 

Sponsor: Selbey Anderson  

Differences Between Start-up and Enterprise  

Emma's Start-up Journey  

Attributes Needed for Marketers  

Overcoming Impostor Syndrome  

Embracing Risk and Learning from Failure  

Lessons for Big Businesses from Start-ups  

Lessons for Start-ups from Big Businesses 

Internal Marketing  

Agility vs. Stability Spectrum  

Follow the Money  

Joining a Start-up  

Embracing Challenges and Learning Opportunities  

The Many Faces of Marketing  

Marketing as a Dynamic Practice  

Key Takeaways for Marketers  

In this episode of the Unicorny podcast, Scott Stockwell, a seasoned brand strategist at IBM, shares his valuable insights on leveraging design thinking and agile methodologies to revolutionise marketing efforts.  

Scott provides practical examples of how to enhance creativity, flexibility, and customer-centric approach in marketing. He emphasises the significance of looking back to inform future decisions, embracing diverse learning styles within teams, and understanding cognitive preferences for effective communication. Scott's expertise shines through as he discusses the importance of adapting to changing market demands and delivering value to customers in a timely and relevant manner.  

This conversation with Unicorny anchor, Dom Hawes, offers marketers and entrepreneurs actionable techniques to stay ahead of the competition and effectively navigate the demands of modern marketing. 

About Scott Stockwell

With 25+ years in B2B, Scott has a wealth of marketing and sales experience to share. He's a pragmatic communicator, constant learner and is fascinated by the ways people work together and get work done.  

Scott is an experienced Design Thinking workshop leader, Agile Marketing coach and certified LEGO Serious play facilitator. He's an ardent supporter of the B2B industry and Fellow of the IDM. he chairs the DMA’s B2B Council and he's a Strategy and Leadership advocate in B2B Marketing's Propolis community.  

Scott has been the hanging judge on many an industry jury and knows how to interrogate strategy, creativity and results. Always eager to try out the latest tech, technique or tool, Scott recently appeared in Harvard’s ‘Top 20 Most Innovative Tech B2B Marketers’ list as a ‘disruptor’. 

Links 

Full show notes: Unicorny.co.uk 

LinkedIn: Scott Stockwell | Dom Hawes 

Website: IBM | Wimbledon Tennis Championships 

Sponsor: Selbey Anderson 

Episode outline

Introduction to guest Scott Stockwell  

The Concept of "Greyge" in Fast Fashion  

Using Retrospectives for Continuous Improvement  

Building Comfort with Admitting Errors in Agile Marketing  

Leveraging Experience and Tools for Anticipating Customer Needs  

Blended Team Approach  

Preparing for Real-time Marketing  

Root Cause Analysis and Customer Expectations  

The Role of AI in Marketing  

Customer-Centric Design Thinking  

Understanding Individual and Team Preferences  

Common Misconceptions about Job Roles  

Personal Bias in Communication  

Impact on Team Building and Communication  

Applying Understanding to B2B Marketing  

Different but Equally Criticised  

This is an episode about the secrets of great marketing. Starring acclaimed marketing expert, Rachel Fairley, Dom and Rachel discuss the essence of marketing, the importance of customer needs, and maintaining brand promise to prevent churn.

Rachel shares her journey from a job in Brussels to becoming a marketing expert with over 30 repositions to her name; emphasising the need for a clear methodology in marketing akin to other professions.

Together, they critique superficial case studies and advocate for practical, experience-based marketing education. The episode covers the full customer lifecycle, from pre-purchase to post-purchase satisfaction, and the need for marketing to interconnect with all business functions. They also touch on the potential of AI in marketing and the challenge of overcoming customer inertia, highlighting Rachel's upcoming practical marketing book.

If you're looking for clarity of purpose in the year ahead, if you're trying to turbocharge your effectiveness, if you're building the case for budget, this is the show for you.

Rachel Fairley is an international marketing leader and brand strategist whose focus is improving market impact to drive growth, contributing to 30+ business transformations across 100+ countries and many industries. 

Full show notes: Unicorny.co.uk  

LinkedIn: Rachel Fairley | Dom Hawes  

Sponsor: Selbey Anderson  

• The Fundamentals of Marketing  
• The Lack of Marketing Methodology  
• CEO Expectations and Marketing Shake-up  
• Marketing as a Cost or Investment  
• Understanding the Buyer and the Buyer's Journey  
• Importance of Revenue as the Ultimate Measure  
• Consistency in Delivering the Brand Promise  
• The Importance of Marketing Beyond the Sale  
• Customer Success and Upselling  
• Shift in Tech and Subscription Models  
• The Enemy Within: Lack of Care  
• Brand Enemies and Inertia  
• The Importance of Methodology in Business Diagnosis  
• The Pragmatic Guide to Strategy  
• Advice for Marketers  
• AI and Marketing  
• Overcoming Indecision and Inertia

This is a podcast about value creation, profitable growth and the client/agency relationship. Dom is joined by marketing consultant, David van Schaick and together they seek to equip marketers with methods to navigate the business desert.

Unless you were very blessed, doing business in 2023 was a little bit like being a camel in the Kalahari. It was hard. Hard for camels in the Kalahari, because apart from anything else, they are not a native species, so they don't know where to find waterholes.

Hard for us in business because tougher times are new to many of us.

So, we too struggle to find metaphorical waterholes - budgets to sustain our activities - but we did make it and that fact alone makes us stronger. Now the economists are telling us the year ahead is stagnant. So what should we do?

Listen to find out!

David was part of the leadership team that grew The Marketing Practice from provincial agency to global B2B powerhouse, working with many of the leading marketers in tech along the way. He now consults on marketing and strategy for clients and agencies both. 

Full show notes: Unicorny.co.uk  

LinkedIn: David van Schaick | Dom Hawes | DVS Strategy 

Sponsor: Selbey Anderson    

00:02:37 – Introduction to David van Schaick 

00:08:19 - The Evolution of B2B Marketing  

00:09:46 - The Looming Threat to Marketing  

00:12:58 - Impact of External Factors on Marketing  

00:13:58 - The Value of Marketing in Long-Term Value Creation  

00:15:23 - Adjacencies and Market Resilience  

00:16:40 - Account-Based Marketing for Strategic Growth  

00:17:41 - Marketing Beyond Advertising  

00:22:04 - The Crisis in Business Organization  

00:27:37 - The Changing Landscape of Marketing  

00:28:28 - Evolving Agency Relationships  

00:30:24 - Incentives and Commercial Models  

00:33:01 - Shifting Business Models  

00:37:40 - Navigating Uncertain Times  

00:41:30 - Value of Experience in Business  

00:42:12 - Technology's Impact on Productivity  

00:43:32 - The Big Opportunity: Quality of Revenues  

00:45:06 - Quality of Revenue and Pricing Strategy

 In this episode of the Unicorny podcast, host Dom Hawes digs deep into innovation without sacrificing performance as he's joined by Zone to Win author, Geoffrey Moore. Geoffrey is a world-famous business consultant, author and marketing expert with a stable of highly influential books including international best-seller, Crossing the Chasm.

Moore opens the episode explaining the core concepts outlined in “Zone to Win”: dividing operations into four zones and three time horizons, providing a strategic framework for companies to adapt and thrive in the rapidly changing market.  

You'll gain first hand advice on the importance of differentiating yourself in the Performance zone and neutralising disruptors in the Transformation zone. Moore's practical advice on investing in power for future potential and the evolution of partnerships through different stages of the technology adoption lifecycle offers actionable strategies for long-term success.  

Ultimately, this episode offers a wealth of wisdom for business leaders and executives seeking strategies to allocate resources for long-term profitability and power. If you're looking for practical strategies to succeed in the digital age and steer your organisation towards long-term growth, this episode is a must-listen, offering a roadmap for success in a rapidly evolving business landscape. 

Geoffrey Moore is an author, speaker, and strategic advisor to the CEOs of high-tech enterprises including Salesforce, Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, Airbnb, Gainsight, and Splunk. He has a BA in American literature from Stanford University, and a PhD in English literature from the University of Washington, with a focus on medieval and Renaissance literature. 

Strategy and its execution have been the lifelong focus of Moore’s work. His dissertation while at the University of Washington analysed Edmund Spenser’s epic poem, The Faerie Queene, in terms of the strategies for living it portrays. Subsequently he taught literature and writing for four years at Olivet College in Michigan before he and his wife and children moved back to California. 

There over the next ten years and three software companies, Moore migrated from HR to sales to marketing. The seminal move in his career came in 1986 when he joined Regis McKenna Inc, the premier strategic marketing consultancy for high-tech firms at that time. While there he wrote his first business book, Crossing the Chasm, which has been in print (with revisions) for thirty years, has sold over a million copies, been translated into twelve languages, and is still the go-to text for high-tech entrepreneurs. This success allowed Moore to found his own consulting practice, found multiple consulting firms, and publish six additional books. 

Geoffrey lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife Marie. They enjoy reading, travel, fine dining, and doting on their terrific grandchildren. Geoff recently achieved what has been a lifelong ambition, namely, shooting his age in golf.  

Full show notes: Unicorny.co.uk  

LinkedIn: Geoffrey Moore | Dom Hawes  

Websites: Geoffrey Moore | Unicorny

Sponsor: Selbey Anderson

• Introduction to Zone to Win  
• The Four Zones  
• The Three Horizons  
• Applying the Concepts  
• Core vs. Context  
• Mission Critical Context and Differentiation  
• Playing Offense and Defence  
• Advice for Tech Companies  
• Positioning and Market Development  
• The Power of Investment  
• The Importance of Power  
• Venture Operating Model  
• Marketing Leadership and Culture  
• Thought Leadership Marketing  
• Marketing for Power vs. Marketing for Profit  
• Venture Capital vs. Private Equity Approach  
• Strategic Resource Allocation in Economic Downturns.

In this episode, two titans of B2B, Shane Redding and Chris Wilson join host, Dom Hawes, to kick off the year talking about a marketing reboot. But things don't go to plan. Shane and Chris disagree with Dom's premise from the off and the conversation bounces between them as they make their cases for how to make marketing fit for the future.

Once they've got over their differences, they talk about finding a proper foundation for marketing through structured development and more relevant training, culture, society, organisation design, long-term value creation and so much more.  

Chris has spent over 25 years in marketing, working with organisations such as Google, Vodafone, BT, Fujitsu, Cisco, Mastercard, RBS, SAP and Allianz.

Chris founded full service agency Earnest in 2009 to help B2B marketing step out of the shade and stop being labelled a poor cousin to FMCG. It’s an ongoing mission...

Shane is an independent consultant, speaker and trainer with over 35 year’s international business to business direct & digital marketing experience. Shane currently uses her skills and knowledge to help global businesses transform their marketing by revaluating their people, processes and technology to better meet the challenges of our changing world.

Whether it is building new skills, redefining lead processes, or understanding your new buyer journeys, or helping choose, use and implement martech; Shane always looks to make a positive commercial impact. 

Full show notes: Unicorny.co.uk  

LinkedIn: Chris Wilson | Shane Redding | Dom Hawes  

Websites: Earnest | Think Direct

Sponsor: Selbey Anderson  

00:01:18 - Building a Marketing Function

00:03:41 - Marketing Foundations and Evolution

00:05:58 - Strategy Models and Communication

00:12:53 - Product-Centric Marketing

00:14:37 - The Role of Marketing in Product Strategy

00:16:17 - Dysfunction in Marketing

00:18:33 - Organizational Design and Flexibility

00:20:03 - Changing Work Dynamics and Talent Management

00:25:19 - Future of Learning and Expertise

00:28:41 - Importance of Growth Marketing Teams

00:29:58 - Zone to Win Strategy

00:31:33 - Marketing to Entrepreneurial and Scale-Up Teams

00:33:53 - Reassessing Martech Stack

00:37:35 - Rethinking Organizational Design

00:44:23 - Impact of Start-Stop Behaviour on Businesses

00:45:05 - Importance of Brand Marketing for Long-Term Value

00:46:27 – De-risking and Optimizing Short-Term Performance vs. Long-Term Value Creation

00:47:09 - Essential Investments in Brand Longevity

00:49:31 - Budgetary Responsibility for Long-Term Growth