TheInquisitor Podcast

"Prospecting is an opportunity to have a profound engagement on both sides", says Denis Champagne, former multidisciplinary international sportsman, practicing Buddhist and founder of #LotusCommunications. Having made hundreds of thousands of #coldcalls, Denis is more qualified than most to talk on the subject. Prospecting by phone is alive and well. Companies buy sales training to improve results...

You are in for a treat. My guest is Majid Zafer. He's one of the next generation of business leaders that is ambitious, competitive and love to win but without the sting in the tail. Listen to how he has created an ecosystem of trusted partners which produces a steady flow of hot, inbound customers for his business and his partners' businesses. There is a healthy volume of reciprocation which mean...

Ian Meharg delivers impact by focusing on what is real and controllable. He challenges you to focus on the how you get things done. We dig into how buyers really buy, why buyers really buy, and why you're missing more than hitting your prospective customers' buying triggers. Are you exploring what happens if … It does/doesn’t go ahead? Who…? Can trip you up? Has another agenda? What kind of drama...

John Smibert, co-author of bestselling #TheWentworthProspect, silver medal winner at the #TopSalesAwards 2021, #TSA21, and more than 30 year veteran selling complex, high value, multi-decision maker, strategically important technology enterprise sales. He's seen and perpetrated the good, the bad and the ugly. We chart his journey, the impact having a coach and mentor early in his career has had on...

Nadja Komnenic head up sales for bootstrapped scale up, LEMlist. She is an elite sales leader who has helped LEMlist grow from $0 to $10m in ARR in 4 years. We discuss her approach to hiring, developing and listening to her people. She is competitive, driven, ambitious and truly collaborative. She discusses the importance of demonstrating vulnerability as a manager to encourage individuals in her...

Shelley O'Donovan gives a deep dive on building the soft skills that give leaders resilience and their team confidence. She shares several leadership triage approaches. We dig into psychology, values, and beliefs. As always, Shelley is great value for your time. Contact Shelley via  linkedin.com/in/shellyodonovan Website:  authenticinfluencegroup.com   (Company Website) Twitter:  ShellyOdonovan --...

"Buying is difficult. It's a salesperson's job to help their buyers navigate complexity," Kevin Dixon spent 20 years at Ericsson and achieved the status of top salesman so many times he got to keep the trophy. One year he hit 1012% of his profit target and was the highest paid person in Ericsson, worldwide. Founder and CEO of Boxxstep, he's a grizzled old sales veteran with an axe to grind against...

Wayne Moloney is the co-author of #TheWentworthProspect, a business novel tracking the seller's journey through her largest opportunity. Her mentor dies and is replaced by a terrible manager. Luckily her mentor left her a playbook on how to do it well. Wayne and I unpack what's wrong with enterprise selling and what works in the real world. Bristling with usable content including the EDVANCE syste...

Andy Champion is a breath of fresh air in tech sales leadership. Have a listen to understand why. He's not alone. I have been fortunate enough to meet several through #TheInquisitorPodcast. Andy, and leaders like Tom Schodorf, Tom Castley, Gerry Hill, Andy Shaw, Mark Herbert, all carry an air of calm. They exude an air of steady,, reasoned intelligence. You know that their decisions won't be rash...

What is #HybridSelling? Why should you care? How should we be defining hybrid selling? How does the E.V.O.L.V.E. framework help you to focus on your highest value activities? Fred Copestake, founder of Brindis, a growth consultancy, has made his #HybridSellingHealthCheck available for free here https://hybridselling.scoreapp.com/ . How do you stack up? Fred's new book, "Hybrid Selling" is out now...

linkedin.com/in/mark-cotgrove-39035b   Twitter: markcotgrove

"I'm a product of the Rainbow Revolution. Nelson Mandela spoke to me. He told me I was responsible to make a difference. He inspired me, ... he inspired a nation to see what was possible in an inclusive culture in this great country", says Richard Doherty, founder of ScaleUp Consulting. Caught up in the optimism immediately following the end of apartheid it framed Richard's career. He helps founde...

Are you hiring badly, repeatedly? Are you finding hiring reliable, consistent sales producers, tough? Join me and my guest Alan Fendrich, founder of AHS, Advanced Hiring Systems. We both take a robust approach to attraction of candidates, their rigorous qualification building around core values and beliefs. Discover why experience is almost never a real obstacle to whether someone will succeed in...

Patrick Joyce is one of a tiny breed of top of the funnel super-producers who think and behave differently to the average. Pat recently booked 30 individual meetings within one critical target account, surrounding the key decision makers, gathering and connecting insights, so that they were well informed and fully prepared when it counted most. From a standing start he grew a pipeline worth $6m in...

Andy Mutton was an accidental salesman who learned to qualify after spending a fortune of his employers' resources on non-opportunities and pipe-dreams. We discuss solutions to management attachment to outdated practices and beliefs, which lead to blindspots, chasing fictions, disengagement and high levels of turnover, chronic underperformance and ambiguity. Contact Andy via linkedin.com/in/andy-m...

"How can you produce a plan when you have no vision?", asks Lenwood M. Ross. We explore why training fails repeatedly and predictably.  We identify where leadership's attention is focused and why it often results in damaging unintended consequences. We ask the question why L&D isn't the right hand of the Board, spearheading the execution of their strategy. "The behaviour change is what's important...

"How does the monthly forecast update cycle distract you from the real job of management?", asks Mark Boundy. Mark, Mikey Maynard and Marcus Cauchi explore why coaching is dead and managers are fooling themselves into thinking that sales can be reduced to a series of CRM reports. What is "pipeline blindness"? Why is MRR worship such a danger? This is a very robust conversation that delves deep int...

"Develop a clear, micro-targeted definition of your ICP - very narrowly focused. Develop your messaging by using the language your prospects use to describe what you do for them. Leave no good reason for a qualified prospect to say no", says Wendy Weiss, who has been cold calling longer than most of you have been alive. She's the founder of the #Salesology prospecting method. She helps sellers gro...

Dominic Ashley-Timms is CEO of Notion. Notion is a lovely business. Scaling up, experiencing the first taste of exponential growth, they are punching well above their weight. In December 2021, they won the Personnel Today L&D supplier of the year having been competing with MetLife (among others) for this prestigious award. All other contenders for these awards were publicly listed with tens of tho...

9x award winner, Jamie Martin joins me to discuss selling, hiring, managing and buying through the tough times. Pragmatic, no fluff Contact Jamie on linkedin.com/in/jamiemartin111 Websites facebook.com/theanomalycrystal   (Personal Website) facebook.com/correctcareerscoaching   (Company Website) linktr.ee/correctcareers   (Portfolio) Twitter: CorrectCareers -- Email marcus@laughs-last.com if you f...

Dr Alan Watkins is working to solve the world's toughest wicked problems. He and his team coach the Boards and Executives of the Fortune 500/FTSE350 to expand their thinking and speed of thought by factors of 10x, delivering ROIs as high as 6,000x. We dig into what wicked problems are, and how to get to their root causes, and how to develop equally wicked solutions. Alan is a polymath, so we get t...

Farhad Eftekhari is founder of TechClass, a learning platform based on the Finnish education system. It caught my attention because the "gold standard" for completion of online learning is ... wait for it ... 3%! TechClass can boast 50% completion rates. We discuss the intent behind training and why so much training fails to move the needle in performance. A fascinating journey into what works and...

Carey Smith built Big Ass Fans from a small base to exit for $500m. He now runs a private investment fund. We talk investors vs speculators & gamblers. We explore why looking after your people leads to happy customers FOR LIFE. Carey pulls no punches. Nor do I. Lively, informative and packed with value, this is a not to be missed episode.  Contact Carey via  linkedin.com/in/jcareysmith Website:  j...

Asa Hochhauser and his team build effective technology stacks for marketers to help drive pipeline, and sales sell more, more often, for more money. This episode is packed with practical advice, built on expertise and currency. Asa is direct, frank and pragmatic.  Stop buying shiny objects in the hope that you will fix your sales and marketing problems until you've given the requisite thought and...

David Allison and I discuss how values drive purchase behaviour and why understanding your prospects' values is a fast track to dramatically improving the efficacy and results from your marketing and sales activity.   A lively conversation teeming with pragmatic insights, fresh and better ways of understanding your customers, maximising the ROI from your data, your marketing and your sales efforts...