On average, 40-60% of B2B sales opportunities are lost to the status quo objection. We’re not losing to competitors as frequently as we're losing to customer risk aversion – aka the customer’s gut feeling that regardless of how much "better" our solution may be, the road to "better" involves change, cost, and productivity losses. In this episode of Closing Time, Jen Allen, head of Community Growth at Lavender.ai and Co-Founder of Social Social, will help sellers overcome the status quo, create d...
Aug 17, 2023•15 min•Season 1Ep. 63
People used to believe that marketing was art and sales was science, but today’s professionals know both need a little art and science to get the job done. Kyle Coleman of Clari has first-hand experience and insights on making the sales to marketing career shift. He is a former salesperson who now leads a marketing team. Join Kyle in this episode of Closing Time, where he talks about the ways marketers can make small changes to their processes and approaches to better align with sales teams. Get...
Aug 15, 2023•17 min•Season 1Ep. 62
Video selling can be the secret weapon to propel your sales team to higher conversion rates. Think video selling is just about prospecting? Well, you’d be wrong. The attention-grabbing power of video can have impacts at all stages of the sales cycle – from the initial outreach to personalized demos and proposal walkthroughs. In this episode of Closing Time, we’re joined Tyler Lessard, VP of Marketing at Vidyard, author of The Visual Sale, and host of The Sales Feed podcast, as he explores video ...
Aug 10, 2023•15 min•Season 1Ep. 61
How do you know if you’re buying old technology? Are legacy CRM systems focused on enterprises, leaving small and midsize businesses flapping in the wind? As organizations look to make a CRM purchase, it’s time to dig into what’s going on in the market’s biggest players and make an informed choice for what is the single source of truth for your business. In this episode of Closing Time, Chip welcomes Mike Topalovich, solutions architect and CRM consultant, to talk about what’s going on in the CR...
Aug 08, 2023•24 min•Season 1Ep. 60
There is a ton of noise in the buyer’s journey, and many buyers are struggling to navigate through it. Things get even more complex when more stakeholders are involved in the decision-making process. If your buyer remains overwhelmed, your deal may get stuck in the pipeline…for good. How can you help cut through the abundance of content and make sense of it all? In this episode of Closing Time, Chip is joined by sales coach and consultant Luigi Prestinenzi to talk through strategies for buyer en...
Aug 03, 2023•16 min•Season 1Ep. 57
Few software tools are as mission-critical as your CRM. Whether you're a startup, mid-market, or enterprise business, choosing the right CRM is easier said than done. With over 850 options currently available in the market, according to G2, it can be an overwhelming process. If you're upgrading your company from Excel spreadsheets or simply looking for a new CRM, you're not alone. In this episode of Closing Time, CRM consultant Vanessa Hunt will guide you through the selection process and help y...
Aug 01, 2023•17 min•Season 1Ep. 58
Sales leaders often enter a new company and start working on their team immediately. This is important, but they are missing the larger picture by just focusing on their team. It can result in the "sales against the world" mentality. The best sales leaders do the work early and often to understand how the entire business works before implementing their playbooks. We'll talk about what sales leaders can do and the pitfalls to avoid in this episode of Closing Time with Amy Volas, CEO of Avenue Tal...
Jul 27, 2023•16 min•Season 1Ep. 57
Can you package up the marketing needs of early stage companies into 11 key initiatives? Yes, you can if you are the ‘Marie Kondo’ of startup marketing. Join this episode of Closing Time with Anna Furmanov, host of the Modern Startup Marketing podcast, as she details these 11 marketing essentials that startups need right out of the gate to help them grow faster. She calls it MaaS - Marketing as a System, but we call it brilliant! Watch the episode on YouTube. Want to better align your go-to-mark...
Jul 25, 2023•16 min•Season 1Ep. 56
Why do most sales presentations fail? Because the traditional presentation choreography, used by so many organizations around the world for many years, runs opposite to how our brains engage and decide. They polarize rather than build consensus. In this episode of Closing Time, Todd Caponi will explore why the traditional presentation choreography doesn't work, how to make a better sales presentation, and how to use story-based selling to better choreograph your presentations to compel your audi...
Jul 20, 2023•13 min•Season 1Ep. 55
As a sales leader, whether you're new to the field or experienced, managing and redistributing sales territories can be a challenging task. There are numerous factors to consider–industries, geography, ideal customer profile, and deal size–and it's not a one-time process. If your team operates remotely, it could be even more complex. So, how do you begin? How frequently should you reevaluate and redistribute territories? Is it fair for the best reps to get the best books? In this episode of Clos...
Jul 18, 2023•18 min•Season 1Ep. 54
Do your sales team members have personal brands? There are a lot of salespeople trying to convince prospective customers to buy. And in many cases, working with a salesperson you know, like, and trust can tip the scales in their favor. So how are you – as a sales leader - coaching this? In this episode of Closing Time, join sales and marketing expert Jay Baer as he shares how sales reps can incorporate their personal brand into their go-to-market approach to generate more pipeline, get more refe...
Jul 13, 2023•11 min•Season 1Ep. 53
As brands move towards efficient growth, aligning the sales and marketing teams on an account-based marketing strategy is a logical move. Most SaaS companies either already have a plan in place or are considering adopting an ABM program to drive revenue. But more and more are considering a new strategy focusing on the entire customer journey (sales, marketing, AND customer support). It's called Account-Based Experience (ABX). In this episode of Closing Time, Insightly CMO Chip House welcomes Cor...
Jul 11, 2023•19 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Salespeople often operate like independent contractors in their organizations. It's a career for the self-reliant and self-motivated. You know when your pipeline is healthy and when it’s anemic… but have you ever quantified your personal efforts that drive your pipe? In this episode of Closing Time, Dave talks with Luigi Prestinenzi, sales coach and host of the Skalable Growth podcast, about his Sales Success Calculator and why it should be a part of any rep’s toolbox. Watch the episode on YouTu...
Jul 06, 2023•16 min•Season 1Ep. 51
Salespeople churn is almost 3x more than any other job role. With turnover at an all-time high, there has to be a better way to make hiring decisions and improve your hiring hit rate. And there is. Enter the hiring scorecard for your sales team. Amy Volas, strategic advisor and owner of Avenue Talent Partners, breaks down why a sales-specific hiring scorecard works, what it is, what metrics to track, how to collaborate with HR, and how to use it to keep your A-team together. Watch the episode on...
Jul 04, 2023•13 min•Season 1Ep. 50
Lead referrals should be treated like gold, and too often in sales, our peers fall flat. The most important pillar to remember when receiving a referral is that you're teaching the person that referred you whether or not you're worthy of future referrals, and it all rests in how you handle the first one. In this episode of Closing Time, Sam McKenna of #samsales Consulting will explore the best ways to handle referred leads through increased urgency, personalization, gratitude, and follow-up – to...
Jun 29, 2023•14 min•Season 1Ep. 49
If you’re looking to better engage prospects, coach your team to success and close more deals, you’re in the right place. In this episode of Closing Time, Insightly CMO Chip House meets with Derek Grant of Salesloft to share a newly released research study that explores call and email data benchmarks by role (SDR, AE, and CSM). The study tracks more than 570 million interactions across 20 sectors over a year. See the 5 major takeaways, learn how to implement improvements, and measure how your te...
Jun 27, 2023•28 min•Season 1Ep. 48
More and more, companies are adding a new title to their C-Suites: Chief Revenue Officer. It was once often linked to tech or high-growth companies, but its popularity is spreading to all types of organizations. On paper, a CRO creates synergy between sales and marketing teams that is needed to scale quickly and sustainably. The CRO may also oversee the revenue stack, which is becoming a significant investment as the number of options grows. But where do the lines get drawn between sales, market...
Jun 22, 2023•14 min•Season 1Ep. 47
The demo call is pivotal. You've identified pain points during discovery. Your buyer is interested. They've agreed to another call. You can either solidify the deal or destroy it. In this episode of Closing Time, Insightly CSO Dave Osborne is joined by Chris Orlob (formerly of Gong, now with Quota Signal and pclub.io) to discuss how salespeople and their leaders can set SaaS demo calls up for success. During his tenure at Gong, Chris helped grow the company from $200K to $200M+ in revenue. After...
Jun 20, 2023•23 min•Season 1Ep. 46
Losing team members in any position is tough. But losing salespeople? Way more common than you think. According to a Harvard Business Review study, the annual turnover for U.S. salespeople runs as high as 27% – 2x the rate of the U.S. workforce – and that was taken in 2017. More recent data from SiriusDecisions shows that almost half (45 percent) of B2B sales organizations have average turnover rates above 30 percent. So, how can sales leaders avoid churn in a highly competitive industry? It beg...
Jun 15, 2023•15 min•Season 1Ep. 45
The days of ‘growth at all costs’ appear to be over as firms move towards efficient and sustainable growth models. This seems to pave the way for justification of your SEO budget…planting seeds for a slow yet methodical rise in SERP. As brands look to balance demand gen with lead gen, how can the whole GTM support SEO efforts? In this episode of Closing Time, we’re joined by Mitch Causey of Demandwell, an SEO growth platform, to talk through striking the balance between organic and paid efforts....
Jun 13, 2023•13 min•Season 1Ep. 44
Everyone in sales knows that word-of-mouth marketing is the best way to grow your business and improve your close rate. Then why are companies still spending millions on advertising instead of turning their customers into volunteer marketers? It's because they're selling a boring and expected product or service. In order to have your customers advertise for you, you need to give them something to talk about. That means creating something unexpected and different. In this episode of Closing Time,...
Jun 08, 2023•15 min•Season 1Ep. 43
In the world of sports, we expect a new game plan every week depending on the opposing team's strengths and weaknesses. So why do we run the same plays for every prospect? In this episode, sales consultant Kim Cram talks with Insightly CSO Dave Osborne about how sales leaders can coach up their teams to change the plan on the fly for better outcomes. They'll share the four questions every seller should answer when working with prospects: Who are they? What matters to them? What pains/problems do...
Jun 06, 2023•12 min•Season 1Ep. 42
Is your outbound email response rate falling short? Are you struggling to meet your sales quota because of it? Adopting a Sales Engagement tool like Salesloft and optimizing it to work in tandem with your CRM could be your answer. In this episode of Closing Time, we've brought in sales engagement expert and director of product marketing at Salesloft, Albert Rhee, to share the secrets to switching up your inbound and outbound cadences to elicit MORE responses from prospects, utilize all channels,...
Jun 01, 2023•17 min•Season 1Ep. 41
Running a successful account-based marketing program can be challenging. Whether your organization is just starting out, has a few campaigns under its belt, or is an ABM pro, there are almost certainly ways to improve your processes and results. In this episode of Closing Time, we welcome Meredith Fuller of Quarry to talk through the various stages of ABM, how go-to-market teams need to align to properly execute ABM, and how to encourage sales support and collaboration. Want to better align your...
May 30, 2023•18 min•Season 1Ep. 40
B2B buyers want personalized experiences, including instant access to the brands with which they do business. That's why the ideal response time from chatbots is 5 seconds. The quicker the response, the higher the satisfaction. But personalized experiences don’t end with marketing either – they must extend through the sales process. In this episode of Closing Time, Insightly CMO Chip House and Drift CMO Katie Foote discuss ways to enhance your digital customer experience through conversational m...
May 25, 2023•14 min•Season 1Ep. 39
All of your go-to-market teams need to buy into your ICP in order to rally around it – but doing so is easier said than done. To start, you need to define who your ideal customer is. Then, you need to closely monitor the metrics to ensure your ICP is still relevant 6, 9, and 12 months down the road. This can be especially challenging for high-growth companies who are looking to go upmarket. In this episode of Closing Time, Insightly’s Chip House is joined by Brad Rosen of Sales Assembly to talk ...
May 23, 2023•16 min•Season 1Ep. 38
Becoming a first-time VP of Sales is not for the faint of heart – the successful track record, tip-top resume, nailing the interview process. But as soon as you land that VP title, the hard work has only just begun. In our latest episode of Closing Time, we speak with Amy Volas, owner of the Executive Search Firm, Avenue Talent Partners, about the biggest struggles VPs of sales and sales executives face throughout their interview process, the first 90 days, and how to keep the title. Watch the e...
May 18, 2023•16 min•Season 1Ep. 37
More sales activity = more meetings? Maybe, if you have the right strategy. When it comes to a B2B seller's daily activities, there is a mathematical angle, but sales leaders need to explore their team's outbound strategy as well. In this episode of Closing Time, sales consultant Kim Cram talks with Insightly CSO Dave Osborne about how sales leaders can leverage a sales activity calculator and coach their teams to optimize outbound selling time and book more meetings. Watch the episode on YouTub...
May 16, 2023•12 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Your team is spread across the country, and the forecasts are looking a bit anemic. Is it the economy, our industry, or just bad timing? Regardless, it’s time for leaders to step up and create an environment that attacks, supports, and retains remote sales teams. Join Mike Weir, CRO of G2 and former sales leader at LinkedIn, as he shares his insights into effectively using off-site team meetups to keep remote teams engaged. What’s the right mix of information vs. team bonding to maximize your ti...
May 11, 2023•14 min•Season 1Ep. 35
How long do sellers have to gain trust during a cold call? 7 seconds. Whether you’re using intent data or slightly warm leads, the first few seconds of that first outreach are the most important. But it's oftentimes where sellers miss the mark, by either pushing their product or failing to build trust and spark the prospect's curiosity. In this episode of Closing Time, Chris Beall, CEO of ConnectAndSell, shares an outbound cold calling script that helps sellers create productive conversations qu...
May 09, 2023•15 min•Season 1Ep. 34
