In this Value Coffee Talk podcast episode, Tom Pisello and David Caradona discuss how to achieve $100 million in growth using value selling and value enablement. The pair emphasize the importance of shifting from a product-focused approach to a value-focused approach, and the role of value engineering in driving this transformation.

The interview also highlights the significance of discovery and the case for change in uncovering customer value and aligning to it. The conversation explores the need to slow down and connect the dots between technical capabilities, use cases, and business outcomes. Additionally, they discuss the role of value engineers in small companies and the challenges of scaling sales enablement and automation.

Takeaways

• To achieve $100 million in growth, companies need to shift from a product-focused approach to a value-focused approach.
• Discovery and the case for change are crucial in uncovering customer value and aligning to it.
• Connecting the dots between technical capabilities, use cases, and business outcomes is essential in driving value.
• Value engineers in small companies play a crucial role in transforming the sales force and driving growth.
• Scaling sales enablement and automation requires leveraging existing resources and being scrappy.

Sound Bite

"You're coming in, it's likely that the organization has been successful in selling bottom-up, you know, like you say, product features, POC. And so now driving that transformation to flip that around to now start to sell value upfront rather than selling features is that pivot that needs to happen."

Chapters

00:00 - Introduction and Background

01:36 - The Transformation Role of Value Engineering in Small Companies

03:06 - Flipping from Product-Focused to Value-Focused

05:44 - The Importance of Discovery and the Case for Change

09:36 - Proving Value through Use Cases

12:09 - The Role of Value Engineers in Small Companies

14:50 - Scaling Sales Enablement and Automation in Small Companies

In this episode, our hosts Tom Pisello, April Morley, interview financial selling expert Dr. Stephen Timme, and sales enablement leader Sheevaun Thatcher to discuss the challenges that sales teams face in meeting customer expectations and delivering value and how to leverage a customer centric approach to improve engagements, build trust and instill decision confidence.

The pair of guests highlight the importance of understanding the customer's goals and strategies, as well as the need for personalized and insightful communication. The experts emphasize the need for sellers to move away from a feature-focused approach and instead focus on the customer's pain points and desired outcomes.

The discussion touches on the role of AI in sales outreach and the importance of building trust and confidence with buyers. Overall, the conversation emphasizes the importance of a customer-centric mindset and the need for sellers to listen, understand, and provide value to their customers.

• Understanding the customer's goals and strategies is crucial for delivering value.
• Sellers should move away from a feature-focused approach and focus on the customer's pain points and desired outcomes.
• AI can be a useful tool in sales outreach, but it should be used to enhance personalized and insightful communication.
• Building trust and confidence with buyers is essential for successful sales.
• A customer-centric mindset is key to meeting customer expectations and delivering value.

00:00 Introduction and Overview

03:04 The Importance of Customer-First Approach

05:17 The Limitations of AI in Sales Outreach

07:37 The Need for Trust and Confidence

09:45 Delivering Value through Discovery and Value Hypothesis

11:48 The Role of Marketing in Sales Enablement

15:07 Customer-Centric Account Planning

18:14 Understanding Customer Motivations

20:47 Opportunities in Building Buyer Confidence

23:56 Mitigating Risk and Making Informed Decisions

26:34 Final Thoughts and Takeaways

In this episode, Tom Pisello and April Morley discuss leveraging value capability and maturity assessments with special guests Justin Zacks and Saul Gerdes, co-founders of the value automation platform provider, Value Plan. The guests share their journey with value and the importance of speaking in customer language throughout the entire customer journey and how interactive assessments can help build this in a collaborative fashion.

In the conversation, the group emphasizes the need for a mutual value plan created with the customer and the importance of aligning stakeholders and gaining consensus. They also discuss the role of capability maturity assessments in marketing, BDR, sales, and customer success, and how these assessments can facilitate better discovery, consensus building, and value expansion. The episode concludes with advice on measuring and thinking about value from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective.

• Speaking in customer language is crucial throughout the entire customer journey.
• A mutual value plan created with the customer helps drive a two-way value-based conversation.
• Capability maturity assessments can facilitate better discovery, consensus building, and value expansion.
• Measuring value should consider both quantitative and qualitative aspects.

"Enterprise tech vendors are usually pretty bad at speaking in customer language."

"The vendor should have a point of view already on what's going on here and what the value is."

"A maturity assessment helps to reveal alignment or misalignment among stakeholders."

00:00 Introduction and Mission of the Podcast

03:47 Creating a Mutual Value Plan

06:17 The Role of Capability Maturity Assessments

09:13 Facilitating Alignment and Consensus

12:18 The Handoff to Customer Success

14:32 Collaboration on the Customer Value Lifecycle Assessment

17:11 Measuring and Thinking About Value

19:19 Closing Remarks and Call to Action

In this episode, Tom Pisello and April Morley interview Greg MacKinnon, the value leader for Loftware, about the practice of value engineering. The trio discuss the evolution of value programs at companies like Siebel and SAP, and how the new generation of programs needs to evolve to be more seller and customer success empowering - with value leaders as more teacher, coach and evangelist.

Greg emphasizes the role of teaching and empowerment in value engineering, and the need for self-service models and user-friendly tools. He also highlights the significance of value realization and the importance of clarity and continuity in measuring and delivering value to customers.

• Value programs need to be customized and aligned to the customer's needs and the organization's goals.
• Teaching and empowerment are key in value engineering, and self-service models and user-friendly tools are essential.
• Value realization requires clarity and continuity in measuring and delivering value to customers.
• The role of value engineering is shifting, and a mindset of abundance and organizational alignment is crucial for success.

• "Value 2.0: Bringing Best Practices and Creating a Greatest Hits Album"
• "Value is not just ROI, it's understanding the business problem we're solving"
• "The role of value engineering is shifting and becoming more sales and customer success centric"

00:00 Introduction and Sponsorship

03:06 The Evolution of Value Programs

08:01 Teaching, Empowerment, and Self-Service

12:33 Value Realization: Clarity and Continuity

18:47 Shifting the Mindset: From Scarcity to Abundance

21:20 Value Automation and Tools

24:16 Value Realization and Business Levers

27:27 The Importance of Teaching and Sharing

In this episode of the Value Coffee Talk podcast, Tom Pisello and April Morley interview Larry Levine, a sales performance expert and author and author of the book Selling from the Heart.

The conversation revolves around the topics of trust and authenticity in sales. Larry emphasizes the importance of building trust with clients by focusing on their needs and values.

He encourages salespeople to bring their authentic selves to the forefront and to engage in personal and professional conversations with clients. The episode also discusses the need for salespeople to slow down and collaborate with clients, rather than rushing through the sales process.

Larry suggests that salespeople seek feedback from clients to ensure that their perception aligns with the value they are delivering.

• Trust is a hot topic in sales due to the lack of trust caused by salespeople focusing on themselves and their products rather than the needs of the clients.
• Authenticity in sales means congruency between one's words and actions, and it requires self-reflection and bringing the best version of oneself forward.
• Slowing down and collaborating with clients can build trust and create a better sales experience.
• Seeking feedback from clients is crucial to ensure that the value being delivered aligns with their perception.
• Finding a coach or mentor can greatly benefit sales professionals at any stage of their career.

• "If you want to build trust, you've got to flip the switch. You got to flip the switch, shine the light on your clients, future clients, value them, care for them, respect them."
• "How do you really position yourself with trust, with authenticity? And it's those two things that I think people are starving for."
• "If you're always throwing the cosmetic gold lined version of yourself out there, you best be willing to back it up. Cause if you can't back it up, then people are going to poke holes in it like Swiss cheese."

In this episode, Tom Pisello and April Morley discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of AI in sales with Dr. Stefanie Boyer. They explore examples of successful sales AI tools, such as conversational intelligence.

They also discuss the challenges of AI implementation, including the need for authenticity and the risk of automation at scale. The conversation highlights the importance of solving specific problems and considering how salespeople learn when implementing AI tools.

The episode concludes with advice to focus on high-quality tools and avoid distractions.

• Successful sales AI tools include conversational intelligence and Quillbot.
• Authenticity is crucial in AI implementation to maintain trust with customers.
• Automation at scale can lead to generic and inauthentic interactions.
• Solving specific problems and considering how salespeople learn are key to successful AI implementation.
• High-quality AI tools should be built on a foundation of knowledge and expertise.

• "I'm really excited about building a foundation using AI on learning, on science."
• "Another tool that I like a lot that really helps to be able to get your messages to sound on point is Quillbot."
• "We use conversational intelligence to record every one of our calls."

In this episode, Tom Pisello and April Morley interview Jim Schattin, the Senior Vice President of Customer Success at Placer.ai. They discuss the importance of the handoff from pre-sales to customer success post-sales and the challenges customers face during the onboarding process. Jim emphasizes the need for clear communication, setting expectations, and establishing a mutual success plan with the customer.

He also highlights the importance of listening to customers and understanding their business problems in order to provide effective solutions. Jim provides valuable insights for customer success professionals and emphasizes the need for continuous onboarding and value delivery throughout the customer lifecycle.

• The handoff from pre-sales to customer success post-sales is crucial for a smooth customer onboarding experience.
• Clear communication, setting expectations, and establishing a mutual success plan are key elements of successful customer onboarding.
• Listening to customers and understanding their business problems is essential for providing effective solutions.
• Continuous onboarding and value delivery throughout the customer lifecycle are important for building trust and driving customer success.

• "It's like a big game of telephone out there, right?"
• "The whole name of the game is how do you get to value quickly?"
• "We're gonna have you drive the system and I'm gonna coach you through it."

In this episode of the Value Coffee Talk podcast, Tom Pisello and April Morley interview Mary Shea, the Global Chief Evangelist for HR AI firm HireQuotient.

They discuss the importance of recruiting in today's business landscape, particularly in go-to-market and sales roles. Mary explains how Higher Quotient uses generative AI and automation to transform the talent recruiting process, automating the initial stages and allowing recruiters to focus on the human elements.

They also explore the challenges faced by sales teams and the need for strategic talent management and enablement. Mary emphasizes the importance of building connections and personalizing conversations with prospects, as well as the need for continuous learning and curiosity in the ever-changing business world.

• Recruiting is crucial for success in today's business landscape, especially in go-to-market and sales roles.
• Higher Quotient uses generative AI and automation to transform the talent recruiting process, automating the initial stages and allowing recruiters to focus on the human elements.
• Sales teams are facing challenges, and strategic talent management and enablement are essential for success.
• Building connections and personalizing conversations with prospects is key to overcoming hurdles and driving successful sales.
• Continuous learning and curiosity are vital in staying relevant and bringing value to every conversation.

• "Recruiting 3.0 is here"
• "Sales teams are relying on less and less sellers to do more and more of the heavy lifting"
• "People are willing to share if you're not catching their interest, if you're not personalizing the message"