Conquer Local with George Leith

Where are you going to be after the inevitable bounce? Will you Be the Hero? We are taking a different angle for this Master Sales Series episode. George brings to light what it means to be the hero during this time of crisis. Conquer Local's core purpose has always been to drive local economies by providing knowledge to our listeners. We support local businesses, and during challenging times like these, we’re committed to that now more than ever. We’re here to help our listeners clients through these challenging times. You may be facing staff shortages, remote work, and an evolving marketplace where changing customer habits are hurting your bottom line. We want to Protect Local.  Join our Community.

In its simplest form, Product-Led Growth leans on product experience in order to grow a customer base. In the traditional acquisition model, marketers focus on attracting potential customers through inbound tactics like paid ads. Once a prospect shows interest and are vetted as a qualified lead, they become a market qualified lead and are sent to the salespeople. Product-Led Growth (PLG) is a strategy that puts the product right before the customer to lead the customer experience! Anna Tavares, Director of Strategy at Vendasta, explains how PLG is defined, and the reason you should be implementing into your business strategy. The concept of PLG is not new. You probably already know and use it all the time. Synonyms for PLG include ‘freemium’, ‘try-before-you-buy’, ‘SaaS 2.0’ and ‘free trial’. Anna explains even more on this episode of the Conquer Local Podcast. As Vendasta’s Director of Strategy, Anna is responsible for developing, managing, and assisting the implementation of projects that support Vendasta’s vision, as well as its short and long-term growth plans. She is responsible for initiatives that drive partner engagement and growth through product-led growth strategies, while at the same time fostering a culture of cross-functional team collaboration. Besides being a strategy nerd, Anna is passionate about female empowerment, gender equality and new yoga moves.

The bar has never been lower to start a business by going Direct to Customer, but that doesn't change what the pillars of business are. Direct to Customer brands leverage their true purpose, technology, data, content, and speed to market in astonishing ways. Now, you can too. Brace for impact. Mitch Joel, Founder of Six Pixels Group, is our guest this week. He is one of the amazing speakers at the Conquer Local 2020 Conference in beautiful Montreal. Big and small business need to take it next level by going Direct to the Customer Customer. What do billion dollar companies like Kylie Cosmetics and Dollar Shave Club know that Starbucks and Walmart did not?  Mitch explains why these startups quickly disrupted industries that took their competitors decades to decode. This new breed of Direct to Consumer brands has changed the dynamics of business today,  What are these companies doing that is so disruptive? Mitch gives us the goods on what you need to know today about the power of direct to consumer brands, and how to build one and/or how to act like one (whether you are in B2C or B2B). Mitch believes that the fundamental traditional Four P's of Marketing - Product, Price, Place, Promotion - are still relevant in today's digital realm. Do you agree? Mitch Joel is Founder of Six Pixels Group - an advisory, investing and content producing company that is focused on commerce and innovation (although he prefers the title, "Media Hacker"). Prior to Six Pixels Group, Mitch spent close to two decades building, running and (eventually) selling his business. He was President of Mirum – a global digital marketing agency operating in 25 countries with close to 3000 employees. Mirum is owned by WPP. Mitch has been named one of the top 100 online marketers in the world, and was awarded the highly prestigious Top 40 Under 40.

A powerful Elevator Pitch can be magnetic. If it’s engaging enough, you can sell anything – whether it’s a product to a client, an idea to an investor, or convincing an employer that you’re the right fit. We held a live Elevator Pitch competition at Vendast'a headquarters. Our astonishing host, George Leith, was one of three on the panel of judges. We bring you the eight elevator pitches from the competitors, and George provides feedback on each. Who do you think will win? The objective of an elevator pitch isn’t to close a deal, but to convince someone that you have something worthwhile to offer! George's career in sales and marketing spans more than three decades. He has spoken to tens of thousands of people across the world at conferences and through seminars, helping businesses to overcome their difficulties and transform them into digital sales and marketing experts.

Converting Leads Part 1 was all about the prospects, and we're now diving into Part 2: Converting Leads, with existing clients—selling after the close.  George is back with Part 2 of Converting Leads on this episode of the Master Sales Series. You’ve closed the deal, you’ve won the sale, it’s time to celebrate, right? Yes, but there’s still work to be done. George explains the concept of looking at existing partners whose accounts are still active and treat them as a lead. Treat them the same and establish regular rhythms of communication and keep building the relationship. As stated previously, always be adding value. The biggest take away is to generate advocacy - turn happy clients into your best sales resource.

Everyone always wants more and more leads, but what about the leads they already have? We bring you Converting Leads on the Conquer Local Podcast The Master Sales Series is back and we are talking about Converting Leads. We conducted a survey from our listeners to understand what they are looking to Conquer in 2020. The number one thing everyone put at the top of their list, you guessed it, getting more leads. Taking a step back and looking at that answer and uncovering the nitty gritty details, we determined that our listeners need to know how to convert their leads not just seek out new ones. George Leith, a sales transformation keynote speaker, top-ten iTunes ranked podcast host, author and guest university lecturer, has the unique ability to demystify concepts and inspire businesses and professionals to understand and truly embrace the potential that digital transformation has for many business objectives including sales, business development, and marketing for B2B, non-profit organizations, as well as government institutions. In his 30+ year professional career, he has developed key focal points that include market analysis, management development, online advertising, reputation management, mobile marketing, operations optimization, sales transformation, mentoring, public speaking, technology solutions, and project management.

Developing a Sales Strategy to implement with your sales team isn't a one and done, it has to tweaked and edited as you grow. We are excited to bring back Donny Dye, Founder of Quota NYC, to the Conquer Local Podcast. Donny updates on what he has been doing since we last spoke in Season 2. For the past year he has been the acting CRO for Eden Health developing and growing their sales team. Donny divulges the three things his tried and tested method of developing a sales strategy: Strategy, Team, and Conversation. He says it's a technique that is universal to all sales team. Donny has over 15 years of Saas and enterprise sales experience by selling, leading, and guiding companies scale predictable revenue. If you are building a sales team or have broken a sales team, Quota NYC can help. Prior to founding Quota, he has spent the last 2 decades building, leading (and fixing) sales organizations. Most recently, he helped build a company that sold for 9 figures. My journey has made me an expert in enterprise, B2B, SaaS and channel sales across several verticals.

Sales Procurement is your friend, not your enemy. Jens Hentschel, Founder and CEO of THE FIVIS PARTNERSHIP, is on the Conquer Local Podcast this week talking Sales Procurement. Most people cringe at the word procurement, but procurement is just as important as sales. Sales organizations see procurement as a roadblock and avoid it at all costs. Jens explains that procurement is your best friend, and when you are selling a product or service reaching out to the head of the procurement department can actually lead to insuring the sale closes. Jen is the thought-provoking, customer centricity consultancy company for B2B relationship management. He and his team advise Sales, Procurement and Supply Chain Management teams on how to build winning, customer centric business relationships. Jens has more than 12 years of experience in procurement and professional buying and worked for companies such as Procter & Gamble, KFC, RWE and others in senior leadership roles. Jens lives and works in London, UK.

SaaS Channel Partners are coming in hot, what and how does it affect our sales teams. Janet Schijns, CEO of JS Group and a former Fortune 500 C-suite executive, is our guest this week on the Conquer Local Podcast and we are talking about SaaS channel partners. We define was a channel partner really is, why companies are making the shift to incorporate a tech sector, and what it takes to to make that shift. Schijns was named Channel Influencer of the year in March 2019 beating out a slate of nominees from the top tech firms in the world. She most recently was EVP and CMSO at Office Depot, where she led a major transformation to drive traction in IT services, generating recurring revenue from higher margin solutions. Prior to that, she was the Chief Channel Executive, Chief Marketing Technologist and ran business products for Verizon Business. She is a visionary leader who through innovation and transformational action-oriented plans drives tangible results. Schijns is dedicated to the advancement of Women in Technology, founding her not for profit “Tech World’s Half” in 2017 to address the issue of women dropping out of technology.

Battlecards are never done. Battlecards are trial and error. Battlecards are usually not pretty. But, battlecards are also a highly effective way to mobilize information from research, mentors, coaches, and more, into powerful sales assets. In this edition of the Master Sales Series we are talking about sales battlecards. What is a sales battlecard? It sounds like a buzzword, but probably because it is a buzzword. They originated as a competitor analysis tool, but today, battlecards are applied in a variety of contexts, including story development. For example, in large organizations, collaborating to build battlecards can bridge gaps between different stories being told and drive alignment through the entire sales floor. Subscribe to the podcast now, on iTunes goo.gl/8vPm1B and Google Play goo.gl/uyDsij

How to fix a broken Customer Journey after the sale is no easy feat, but we have the man who did just that.  Originally from Australia, Michael Watkins VP of Partner Success at Vendasta, packed up his family and took on winter in Canada. Watkins takes us through the customer journey by reviewing all of the talk tracks, all of the scripts, and all of the vignettes, or whichever word you want to use for your customer success teams. It's important that it's not just a one and done, but instead takes iteration after iteration. It requires listening to the team, listening to customers, watching the conversion points, and seeing what's working and what's not. Once that process is defined, be prepared to make constant changes to refine it. Watkins is passionate about helping business owners and marketing professionals understand the digital ecosystem as it continues to evolve. His recent highlights include: - 11% Digital revenue growth benefit through successful digital sales transformation program. - $2.35 Million in revenue growth delivered through tactical webinar project. - Leader of 17 talented individuals, responsible for: 50+ Sales tools, L&D and customer experience. - Developed strategic partnerships with global vendors to improve and progress sales development. With over 10 years professional digital marketing experience, Watkins remains focused on expanding his skills, and continuing his career progression towards a Strategic Marketing/ Program Management role within Innovative Digital Products.

The average SMB is worried about staying open in today's competitive market. The Google Guarantee can help.   Justin Sanger, Chief Revenue Officer at OMG National, provides insight on what the Google Guarantee means for SMBs. Sanger refers to it as a game charger because it has an overall effect on how SEO keywords and pay-per-click ads function. An SMB doesn't always to hear the gritty details of lead measures and tactics, they often want a salesperson to cut the chase to know how it is going to effect their business. SEO has been changing at a rapid pace being at the will of the Google algorithms. Sanger shares how dealing with a fragmented and crowded landscape can hurt your agency and speaks to verticalization.

Thriving in routine by Optimizing the Sales Day and nothing will be forgotten. Work smarter not harder. Steve Benson, CEO and Founder of Badger Maps, kicks off the first Conquer Local episode in 2020! Steve provides conquerors the insight in how to optimize the sales day, from the salespeople on the floor, sales managers, and at the executive level. Steve also tells us how his failures helped him succeed because frankly, SaaS startups are hard.

Three steps to get the conversion inside the sales funnel, getting the lead, qualifying the lead, and finally acquiring the customer. Listen to learn more! We spoke with the SDRs, the BDRs, and now it's time to talk to the big kahuna, the VP of Revenue, Doug Campbell. He sits down with George to discuss managing a sales teams of 40+ and soon to be 90+ by the end of 2020. Doug explains that because they are growing so quickly they needed a scalable and repeatable training model. There is a term Dougs team uses, called the Unicorn Lead.  Doug got his start in the newspaper industry selling advertising, which he quickly excelled at and branched out into sports marketing, jack of all sales you might say. Doug is widely recognized as an award-winning leader in driving revenue growth via successful teams throughout his 20+ year career. He is currently is the VP of Revenue with Vendasta where he continues to drive hyper-growth working with businesses across the globe.

Kudos to our listeners for providing this weeks topic! George pulls together best practices when it making Discovery Calls on this edition of the Master Sales Series. Imagine you had 200 leads that came in and you were only going to close 10% of them or if you are a rock star, 25% of them. We get the nitty gritty details and proven tactics when having that first discovery call. As salespeople, we need to be very careful and deliberate in the way we are communicating with a customer when having those first calls. George runs through everything from that first initial call to discussing how leads come into your funnel, there are some different tactics for different scenarios. In some instances, we have been doing this for a long time, we know we have the answers and we can solve the problems of any customer. We have a tendency to skip over very important pieces for building rapport and trust.