by Scott Gillum
Estimated read time: 1 Minute

Given the popularity of our last video clip we are releasing another clip of Scott’s interview with Brent. In this slightly longer piece Brent addresses the question of what to do if the buyers felt like they had all the content they needed to make a purchase decision and all sales reps were trained on Challenger. How could you still compete?

To view the full interview with Brent Adamson please click here.

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The post What If Every Rep Was Trained On Challenger? Interview with Brent Adamson appeared first on Carbon Design.

by Katie Weisz
Estimated read time: 1 Minute

Back in September of 2019, CEO, Scott Gillum, had the opportunity to sit down and interview VP, Brent Adamson. Brent is a distinguished Vice President at Gartner, and a published author with a lot to say about the case between sales and marketing.

During this interview, Brent dove deep into the idea of Challenger as a sales and marketing methodology. These newly released clips are a major highlight to what Challenger is, and isn’t, and how the idea of it has changed over the years.

In part 1 of the clip, Brent goes forth with debunking the idea of Challenger as a ‘sales methodology’, why it should be looked at as more of a ‘go to marketing’ model, and why sales and marketing need to be co-owning the idea of challenger marketing.

In part 2, Brent continues his dive into Challenger Marketing and how marketing and sales needs to focus on the customer in a different way.

Are the customers overlooking information, do customers know more than sales and marketers, or do we need to be telling them what they miss?

To view the full interview with Brent Adamson please click here.

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The post How Has Challenger Changed? Interview with Brent Adamson appeared first on Carbon Design.

by Katie Weisz
Estimated read time: Less than 1 minute

In September, CEO Scott Gillum sat down with VP at Gartner, Brent Adamson, to discuss the question of “do we really need outbound sales anymore?”

During this interview, Scott and Brent dove into the top three things sales and marketers should be thinking about for Fall and their 2020 budget.

Listen in as Brent dives into what he believes are the most important things to be focusing on when it comes to sales, marketing, and the customer experience in the buying process right now.

The post Top Three Tips for Fall appeared first on Carbon Design.

by Katie Weisz
Estimated read time: Less than 1 minute

The conversation of “Do we really need outbound sales anymore?” continued with another lively interview, this time featuring special guest, Brent Adamson. Brent is a distinguished VP at Gartner, and a published author with a lot to say about the case between sales and marketing.

In the interview, CEO, Scott Gillum, and Brent unpack the idea of Challenger, debunking it as a “sales methodology”, and how both sales and marketing should be co-owning the process of the customer and buyer experience.

Brent also shares three very distinctive approaches (giving, telling, and sense-making) that sales reps are adopting towards information in order to connect with potential customers and buyers.

In this clip, Brent dives into the topic of “the world is crowded with good information.” In sales and marketing, the customer is now surrounded by good, quality information, which is having an impact on their decision making and buying process.

Listen here:

To hear the interview with Brent, listen or download here.

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The post The State of Sales and Marketing with CEO, Scott Gillum, and Special Guest, Brent Adamson appeared first on Carbon Design.

By Scott Gillum

“Who invited marketing to the sales pitch?” It was said in passing, and intended as a joke, but the marketing team got the point.

The comment was made in a recent messaging workshop. The head of sales expressed his frustration at the messaging being developed by marketing. His point — there was nothing different. It sounded like the same sales pitch they had been giving customers for years.

He was right, and it got worse. Marketers were sending the message to the same audience, creating even more reason for buyers to tune them out. Good marketing, as we all know, should help open doors for reps, not close them in their faces, which is what was happening.

The Situation

The company was in the ingredient business. Similar to an OEM, their ingredient went into a part that was a component of a product bought by customers. Their additive had been on the market for 10 years and as an “ingredient” had few unique selling features. Its value was defined by how it was used further down the value chain. Keep this in mind while as you continue reading.

As a regulated additive, sales reps spend much of their time helping parts manufacturers understand how, and when, to use the ingredient. Despite this knowledge, parts manufacturers were reluctant to increase its use…growing share in existing customers was difficult and converting new buyers to use it was challenging. They had “pigeon-holed” the ingredient for only certain uses.

Unlocking Value to Create Demand

Making things even more difficult, the company relied on the part manufacturer to convince the product maker to add their ingredient. The reality was, the part maker only used the ingredient when it was required by the product manufacturer. In other words, the part maker was taken orders from the product company and building to specific requirements. Once that was defined no amount of sales or marketing was going to change that fact.

This reality became the tipping point for turning our interest to the product maker and the end customer. The “ah-ha moment” struck on day two when, using the Challenger Marketing approach, the team discovered that end customers were not aware of a potential risk that could impact their business, as much, or more, than the risk they were currently addressing.

Messaging the “Value” to the Value Chain

By getting into the heads of the end customer we were able to determine that their existing mindset exposed their business to a much bigger risk than what they realized. Using secondary research, the team put together a compelling data backed story that was built on insight (the unknown risk). That insight would then be messaged in different ways depending on where the story was being told in the value chain.  

For the end customer, the story and message highlighted the value of protecting their customers and employees. The product manufacturer message to customers emphasized (with research and data) the risks and the potential business impact of inaction. The parts manufacturers received a message about the potential opportunity to double their business based on the new use of the product at the customer location.  

Shifting from “Push” to “Push and Pull”

The biggest impact was the organization shifting its strategy from “pushing” their product through the part manufacturer to creating “pull” from the demand side. Marketing shifted its research efforts to the end customer to build a “use case” highlighting how to address the formerally unknown risk. Sales, backed with a solid business case of how to double revenue, realigned its focus from the part maker to the product manufacturer.

How to Apply this Approach to Your Organization

• Schedule a two-day working session with representatives from sales, marketing, and the product group.
• Prep everyone to leave their “company hat” at the door. The session is intended to have you think like the end customer. (e.g. How they think about their business, customers, competitors…not your product, service or brand).
• Map in detail the go-to-market model.
• List the reasons why the end customer buys the product or service. What “job does it do” for their business. This will require some research about the customer’s business. Do this in the session or have it ready ahead of time. Try to understand the customers mindset. This isn’t about why they should buy it from your partner or organization.
• List the reasons why resellers or distributors buy the product from your organization (assuming you’re the manufacturer), and so forth back through the chain. Be brutally honest, for example, if it’s because it’s the “cheapest” then call it out.
• Define the value added in the GTM model at each step starting with the customer working back from right to left in the model. Typically this is done from left to right.
• Ask what are buyers missing at each step in the value chain? What should they know but don’t? This is the opportunity to develop a new insight and messaging.

Unlocking good insight isn’t easy. Coming out of the meeting you will have to continue to refine it. If you haven’t asked, and answered, “so what” at least five times you haven’t gotten to the core. If that doesn’t work, give me a call.

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The post Unlocking Growth by Learning How to Message to the Value Chain appeared first on Carbon Design.

The NFL season has begun and three games into the season Kirk Cousins is once again one of the top passers in the league. This is a position he’s enjoyed consistently over the last three seasons by throwing for more than 4000 yards a year (becoming one of only 11 to do so) as the quarterback of the Washington Redskins.

Given the success, most quarterbacks would have been content to stay in an offensive system that produced those results. Cousins, backed by his stats, moved to Minnesota in the off-season, signing a history deal guaranteeing him $84 million over the next three years. Why did Cousins change teams? Because he had leverage. Kirk knew he was a consistent and proven performer in a very tight market for experienced quarterbacks in their prime.

At a recent Gartner meeting, Brent Adamson presented information on the US labor market, along with an outlook on the demand for sales executives. As the chart below illustrates, sales organizations (on average) have to replace a quarter of the sales force each year, in what is now a very tight labor market. In fact, it now takes an average of 70 days to fill a position, an increase of close to 20 days over the last two years.  

Given these facts, is it time for proven sales executives to become free agents, like Kurt Cousins? Consider this …Cousins made $44M his last two years under the franchise tag. Making close to $24 million last year, which is more than he will make this year under his new contract. For Cousins, this wasn’t just about the money. He also wanted out of Washington, a team he viewed as never really wanting him (Cousins was drafted in the 4th round of the 2012 draft by the Redskins after taking Robert Griffin III with their first pick).

Consider these two points as you think about your career. You may be making great money but are you in an environment that makes you feel valued or wanted? For a short period of time top performers have leverage in the market.

Another consideration, the other members on your team. Is your bonus tied to the performance of the team, or the company? Cousins chose Minnesota over a richer offer by the Jets because it gave him a better chance at winning a title. Minnesota not only has many offensive weapons but it also features one of the best defenses in the NFC. Is there another team out there that could offer you a better chance of success, not only now, but also in the future?

One thing is certain, the market will change. For now the demand is high and the supply is low for top performing sales executives who can consistently deliver results. Currently, there are over a million open sales positions listed in Indeed.com, close to 200,000 alone with salaries of $70,000 or more. As they say, “sales is a numbers game.” Maybe it’s time to find out what your number is worth.

The post What Sales Executives Can Learn from Kirk Cousins New Contract appeared first on Carbon Design.