Sales Talk for CEOs

As an entrepreneur, when you first launch your company, you often start out doing most of the work yourself. However, at a certain point, it’s time to hire a team so you can focus on the higher-level work required of a CEO and grow your business. But who should you hire first? When should you bring on a sales team? What hiring strategies can help you find the best talent? How should you organize y...

The companies that are succeeding today are the ones that are looking at themselves from their customers’ perspective. How do your customers see your business? Do they understand your products and services? How do they want to buy from you? Whether you have been in business for five years or 100, your customers’ perspective will always play a pivotal role in the success (or failure) of your busine...

HIGHLIGHTS 1:20 Changes to hiring during the pandemic 8:25 Growth of sales operations during the pandemic 11:25 How to integrate roles on your team to serve customers better 14:10 The CEO’s unique role in sales 18:38 Balancing a CEO’s many responsibilities 22:40 Switching your sales strategy when inbound calls increase 25:07 Growth opportunities on the horizon     “The customer wants it...

HIGHLIGHTS 3:19 The journey to becoming the CEO of basketball 8:24 Knowing CEO skills, playing the sport and understanding the fans 10:57 Finding solutions for the first challenges you have to face as a CEO 19:10 Holding each member and each department of the organization responsible for revenue and the customer’s experience 27:35 The CEO as the spearhead and pivot of the organization 30:35 Keepin...

HIGHLIGHTS 2:50 How Sendoso started - finding creative ways to connect with people 5:20 Interviewing for creativity  15:10 Building a strong company culture  20:20 Adapting to modern sales  24:58 Following up with customers 27:41 Why stay with named accounts?    QUOTES 4:57  “Creative thinking is one of those soft skills that are underutilized and undervalued… add cre...

HIGHLIGHTS 1:20 What exactly is Xactly and who are their ideal customers?  7:00 Sales journey to CEO  11:55 Entrepreneurial enthusiasm 26:42 Sales organization’s evolution after 16 years 30:10 The balance of having partners and direct sellers  38:20 From private company to public, then to private and going back to being public     QUOTES 11:30  “So many things could g...

HIGHLIGHTS 3:30 Before Clarity Voice: how Gary had started as tech support and then trained in sales 6:08 The CEO being the first salesperson of the company 15:13 Realizing the need for a sales leader  20:18 When the CEO manages his own sales team 26:46 Technology doesn’t solve all problems  30:01 The richness of business   QUOTES 3:30 “With any entrepreneur, when they look back to...

HIGHLIGHTS 2:18 How and why Jamie started Proactivate 8:45 Recognizing when to hire people  12:39 Strategically building and maintaining partnerships 16:00 Partnerships versus cold-calling  19:23 Mindsets that are helpful for serving clients and growing your business - mindset versus skillset   QUOTES 5:26 “It was me selling, for sure, in the beginning and doing a lot of it. In the...

HIGHLIGHTS [3:06] Being a business owner with a sales background [6:59] Getting people onboard in your company - what you can do as CEO [10:50] Building the sales organization in your company [20:41] Supporting sales and the CEO's growing role [25:51] Making your customer feel important, secure and happy [31:00] Hiring outside help to communicate more freely in the office   QUOTES [6:30]&nbsp...

HIGHLIGHTS 2:00  From Goldmine to Nimble, Jon’s entrepreneurial journey 8:20  Be present for your family's growth. Don't let your career get in the way of being with your loved ones.  18:17  The secret sauce to making connections and closing sales - listening more and being human 29:24  Integrating more and more communication systems into Nimble  33:04  Making it...

HIGHLIGHTS 01:46 Starting RFPIO and helping companies respond to RFPs more efficiently 10:07 Ganesh's sales experience was a natural progression to CEO  14:01 Trial and error: Changing company goals to figure out behavior 19:21 Celebrate sales milestones and recognize the efforts of every team member 23:15 Filling the organization structure with the right people at the stages 31:45 Future for...

HIGHLIGHTS 01:47 Innovating the training process with Spekit 10:44 Melanie's background in supporting sales and overcoming self-limiting beliefs 18:39 Learning how to sell a product and being deliberate with hiring a sales team 26:55 Having a clear company vision and hiring the first head of sales 37:30 Creating an online presence to evangelize and attract clients 40:34 Building up the sales team...

HIGHLIGHTS 02:11 Mario's accidental entry into sales and realizing that sales is the art of helping 09:44 From accidental salesperson to accidental entrepreneur  12:54 Ask yourself these questions before striking out and becoming an entrepreneur  17:23 Being CEO means you are still involved in sales 21:26 Scale your business with remote sellers 29:56 CEOs must oversee sales teams and ens...

HIGHLIGHTS 02:11 Mario's accidental entry into sales and realizing that sales is the art of helping 09:44 From accidental salesperson to accidental entrepreneur  12:54 Ask yourself these questions before striking out and becoming an entrepreneur  17:23 Being CEO means you are still involved in sales 21:26 Scale your business with remote sellers 29:56 CEOs must oversee sales teams and ens...

HIGHLIGHTS 01:27 Julie as an "accidental entrepreneur" and rebuilding the structure of ValueSelling  09:37 Challenges with recruiting passionate people and translating languages 14:18 Figuring out the ideal profile for ValueSelling's independent contractors 18:37 Company culture has a direct effect on a channel's effectiveness 21:18 Strengths and obstacles: Collaboration and adapting to chang...

On this inaugural episode of Sales Talk for CEOs, guest host Park Howell interviews Alice Heiman to get the backstory of her career and how this podcast came to be.  More about Alice Heiman website: https://AliceHeiman.com Follow Alice on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman/ More about Park Howell website: https://businessofstory.com/ Follow Park on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedi...