by scott.gillum | Jul 10, 2020 | 2020, Opinion
by Scott Gillum
Estimated read time: 4 Minutes
Getting Through This Together. Our goal when we founded Carbon Design LLC was not to get rich or famous. It was about doing meaningful work for clients who appreciate it. We don’t apply for awards or recognition that others chase, preferring to focus on the work and making clients happy. It’s why I’m excited to share some of the feedback we’ve received recently.
Before COVID hit we had scoped a follow on project for a Coalfire, a cyber security firm. Unfortunately, our client’s budget was cut before we got started. Knowing the importance of the project, we did the work for what little of the budget that remained.
We delivered the findings in early June and the week later received a package containing a thank you and a Coalfire branded jacket. They were impressed with the insight we delivered but more importantly they thanked us for our flexibility and partnership.
At the end of the month we receive more positive feedback.
For years, Tony Anticole and I have worked with the team at Challenger to turn the commercial insight they create for clients into marketing campaigns and assets through a 1.5 day workshop.
With the pandemic, the team had to figure out how to turn an in person session into a digital experience that created the same value…not an easy task. We were generally concerned with our ability to read and respond to the attendees remotely.
On top of this already challenging scenario the lead person from the Challenger team left the organization leaving the remaining member of the team in a difficult position. She had only attended one other session as an observer.
Two weeks ago, we delivered the last of 5 weekly (2-3 hr) workshops. Last week, we received the feedback below from the client via our Challenger partner Taeya Sharrock, mentioned above.
I wanted to pass along feedback from Bassel about the CCS workshops:
“I thought it was brilliant, Tony & Scott were amazing & did a great job over the 5 weeks. The workshops were thought-provoking – this was the best part, changing the mindset completely. Everyone who attended had really good feedback to share.”
Taeya was also kind enough to pass along the comments below about her experience.
“Will, I wanted to let you know what a great job Tony & Scott did and how incredibly generous they have been with their time. I know they were only able to bill back a limited number of hours for preparation, but they have been keen to have additional calls/debriefs as we prepared for sessions, and have given a lot of additional brainpower to ensuring the insight was strong enough that we would get to a good end-point.” With David having left before we got into the nitty-gritty of figuring out how to run these sessions, and with only ever having seen one Content Strategy workshop, I have really appreciated all of their help!
I wanted to share these comments because we’re all probably being asked to make sacrifices, do things we’ve never done before, and perhaps, may be getting paid less for it.
Keep your head up and stay focused. We’ll get through this together but we need patience, flexibility and understanding. Onward!
Getting Through This Together.
by scott.gillum | Jun 29, 2020 | 2020, Marketing
by Scott Gillum
Estimated read time: 3 Minutes
Build Your Personal Brand & Become a Trusted Advisor. Now that we’re online almost exclusively, every interaction with buyers is being scrutinized. You ARE the company’s brand, now more than ever. Learn how to navigate this high risk environment with our CEO Scott Gillum and xiQ, Inc. CEO Usman Sheikh. Webcast now available on demand here.
Before people decide what they think of your message, they decide what they think of you. The more personalized our communication, the more we show that we care. Whether it’s an email or a one-on-one presentation, marketers and sellers need to do their homework on understanding their prospects and their business needs to appeal to their emotions and build trust.
Personality-Driven Engagement (PDE) by xiQ equips B2B professionals with the insights to build highly personalized messages that build emotional connections with their clients. xiQ uses AI to understand what motivates people, what drives them, and how to influence their decisions.
B2B professionals will learn how to:
- Build their own personal brand
- Understand the personality type of their buyers
- Individualize communication
- Analyze content that resonates
Who should view this webcast?
CMOs, CROs, B2B Account Managers, ABM & Sales Leaders, Marketing and Sales Professionals MUST attend this webinar. This session is OPEN for All.
View the webcast here.
Build Your Personal Brand & Become a Trusted Advisor.
by scott.gillum | Jun 9, 2020 | 2020, Marketing
by Scott Gillum
Estimated read time: 3 Minutes
Episode 5: Getting Sales to Buy Into Inbound Marketing with Special Guest, Matt Stevens
Supporting Sales with Inbound Marketing. Matt Stevens, former head Digital Marketing at Gartner and CEB, faced a significant set of challenges in building out an inbound marketing engine that would deliver sales. Scott and Matt discuss how he was able to get the sales organization to accept Inbound Marketing as a solution to increase their productivity and make quota.
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by scott.gillum | Mar 18, 2020 | 2020, Sales
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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by scott.gillum | Feb 24, 2020 | 2020, Sales
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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