0:01
Welcome to the sales Lead dog podcast hosted by CRM technology and sales process expert Christopher Smith talking with sales leaders that have separated themselves from the rest of the pack.
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Listen to find out how the best of the best achieved success with their team and CRM technology.
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And remember, unless you were the lead dog, the view never changes.
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Welcome to Sales Lead Dog.
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Today’s guest for Sales Lead Dog is Barbara, 80.
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Barbara is Vice president, Sales and marketing for BTS.
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Barbara, welcome to Sales Lead Dog.
0:39
Thank you.
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How are you?
0:41
I am doing great.
0:42
Really excited to have you here and to talk with you today.
0:45
Barbara, tell me a little bit about BTS.
0:49
The BTS is a strategy consultancy.
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We specifically work with clients on helping them to execute on their strategy and get the team aligned around the strategy.
1:03
You know what?
1:04
I love that because I talk about that all day long.
1:07
It drives everybody crazy.
1:08
I think a little bit because I’ve done a lot of research about on around strategic goals.
1:13
Like everybody like, yeah, here’s our goals.
1:15
We’re going to put the stake in the ground so far out, but this goal is no good without a plan of how you’re actually going to get there.
1:24
You know, how are we actually going to execute to achieve that goal?
1:28
I imagine that’s your whole world, right?
1:30
It’s what we do.
1:32
We immerse people in what’s going on, in writing the change, literally like authoring how it’s going to happen and then collaborating, working with each other to understand how we’re all going to be successful.
1:49
Oh, I love that.
1:50
I love that.
1:51
It’s like that’s the kind of stuff to me that, you know, I’ve been doing this kind of stuff for a long, long time and I’ve realized a long time ago that it’s all about execution.
2:05
Also, as an entrepreneur, you know, being involved with many start-ups, you can have the best idea in the world, but unless you have a plan on how you’re actually going to get there, it it really doesn’t matter.
2:15
Absolutely.
2:16
And it’s it’s not about just telling people here’s what the plan is because they’re not necessarily going to buy in.
2:24
They’re not going to read the e-mail, right.
2:26
They need to be there, feel it, play with it.
2:29
We’re known for simulations, which are like games for grown-ups.
2:35
Yeah.
2:35
And and then they really help people to situate themselves and where things are going.
2:41
Yeah.
2:41
That’s really cool.
2:42
That’s really cool that you’re taking me back to grad school where we had to do the simulations.
2:47
I’m sure yours are way more sophisticated than what I had in grad school 20 years ago.
2:53
Well, we have both quantitative simulations where you can literally play with the numbers of a company P&L at the highest level.
3:02
And we also have qualitative simulations which allow people to think through, you know, what’s the best course of action in this situation and, and, and that sort of thing.
3:12
So that’s, that’s what we do.
3:15
That’s awesome.
3:17
Did you always want to be in the role you have today, like when you’re going through college?
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What was your plan?
3:23
So I went through engineering school in college, which prepared me for just about anything.
3:30
But I, I have landed here, you know, decades later, building on a bunch of different experiences that I have.
3:38
Yeah.
3:38
You know what?
3:39
I wish I start out in engineering with a electrical engineering degree.
3:43
And I just felt like, man, they’re really not teaching me how to be an engineer.
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So I didn’t feel comfortable, like, going into the job market.
3:49
So I changed majors into computer science because I felt like at least I’m getting some tangible skills.
3:54
I’ll be better equipped now, like, you know, many decades since past, what you said is so true.
4:01
You come out with an engineering degree, you’re going to be so well equipped to do just about any role because of, of just you.
4:12
You come with so many different skills, you know, and the, the methodology that I use for looking at problems, I literally use that every day.
4:21
Yeah, no, that’s what I mean to give you those tools that I wish I had someone mentoring back then say, Chris, you’re going to be OK.
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Just keep pushing forward.
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You’re going to be fine.
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I could still do the exact same job I have today.
4:33
But it, you know it, there definitely are some benefits to going down that path anyway.
4:41
So how’d you get into sales?
4:43
Or at least did you start, you know, after transitioning to sales or did you go a different route that took you into sales?
4:51
So I stayed in engineering as long as it would take to get my PE.
4:56
And then I was actually recruited by a French company into a sales director role for Canada.
5:06
So I had been working in a very technical field and they needed someone to to take that role on in Canada.
5:15
So you’ve got the technical side, but how did they know you could do the sales side?
5:21
They just decided that I could like based on the interview, you know, and it was primarily working with one customer and I had been working with that customer like all the way along.
5:35
So that was, that was really, that was really more of what they were looking for, right.
5:41
How did you build, if that, given that scenario, how did you go about building your skills in sales then It was because I, you know, I had this role to cover the whole country and the whole functions.
6:00
I actually spent a lot of time in business development, but the majority of my time was in customer service.
6:09
For this particular customer, I think that’s a great skill to develop in sales to have that customer mindset, that customer focus long term, my belief is that’s really going to help you achieve success in sales, correct?
6:26
I agree.
6:26
And, and I learned a lot about how to communicate in the right voice with the different functions in this particular customer.
6:37
So we jumped right into the podcast.
6:38
Normally I like to ask people what are the three things that are really driven and contributed to your success?
6:44
Would what you just said about communication with a customer, would that be one of your three or would you pick a different three?
6:51
I would say tuning in and understanding what the customer is looking for.
6:56
That’s important at any level.
6:59
I think in sales you really need to have a thick skin, you know, like armadillo hide, because you’re going to you’re going to be not successful more than you’re successful.
7:16
And so you have to have that ability to just not let it get to you.
7:22
I think as a sales leader, it’s really important to walk the talk.
7:29
You know, people in my team look at me, They see what I’m doing, they hear what I’m saying.
7:36
And so that’s, it’s really important to, to keep everybody engaged.
7:43
They want to see someone genuine.
7:46
Yeah, I believe that.
7:48
I believe these days I, I’m sure most people are like me, like you.
7:53
You can spot a fake, like, like, dude, you’re only talking to me because it’s benefiting you.
7:58
You’re not really here to help me.
8:01
There’s a a big, there’s a big piece of that authenticity and genuine engagement, not just with my team, but also obviously with the customer as well.
8:14
Yeah.
8:14
Oh, yeah.
8:15
Yeah, very much so.
8:17
How’d you transition?
8:19
Yeah.
8:19
I mean, you started right out in sales leadership.
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Was that hard for you or was that a relatively easy transition for you?
8:29
So if I tell you the story of my career, I’ll say, how did you start doing that?
8:34
I mean, I really, I’m, I’m lucky that I am curious.
8:40
I love learning and very comfortable with, you know, not understanding what I’m doing just yet.
8:49
You know what I, someone asked me, can’t remember how this came up, but they are like, weren’t you ever afraid like doing this?
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And I’m like, well, yeah, I mean, there’s always a little bit of fear, but I’m never going to let what I don’t know stop me from doing what I need to do.
9:06
I’ll learn, I’ll figure it out.
9:09
And I think that to really push forward and develop and and to make things happen, you have to have that mentality.
9:15
Absolutely.
9:16
I mean, you also have to be able to work through significant people changes, You know, when senior leaders leave your team, like that leaves a big dent.
9:27
But you have to be able to say, OK, how are we going to go forward?
9:32
How do we move these accounts to others?
9:35
And so, you know, I guess it comes back to my really practical approach to things.
9:43
Just breaking it down, right?
9:45
Let’s just let’s just start at the beginning and work through this, right?
9:49
Absolutely.
9:50
Yeah.
9:51
I love that.
9:54
So you’ve had a lot of success.
9:56
Is it all been in sales or you’ve been doing different roles as throughout your career?
10:01
So I told you about my first sales role.
10:05
I then went into regulatory affairs, then back into sales, then into consulting, then into product management, then back into sales.
10:15
So I, I mean, I really have, I’ve been going around the different functions that are customer facing.
10:25
No, there’s no, there’s no clear theme here.
10:29
Well, they keep weaving back to sales periodically.
10:35
Looking back, was that a good path for you?
10:39
Is that a path you would recommend other people taking a similar journey?
10:44
So it was a good path for me just because I like doing new things.
10:49
I like doing hard things.
10:51
And if, if, if I were advising someone in sales who is looking at their career, I would say if you’re good at it, stay in it.
11:02
Because although I’ve learned so much that makes me really effective in my current role.
11:11
I think there is, you know, from the point of view of someone looking at my resume, they’re like, well, you know, she hasn’t been a sales leader for the last 15 years.
11:23
That’s true.
11:24
But, you know, it’s, it’s hard to put me in a, you know, in a, in a Lego.
11:32
So.
11:33
So, yeah, I would advise people, if you’re good at sales, keep doing it.
11:37
Yeah.
11:39
You know, I think it is beneficial to be exposed to different areas of, of a large organization if, especially if your path is you want to get to maybe beyond sales into a like a really senior leadership role.
11:53
But if you really, like you said, if you’re really good at it and you have a passion around it, it probably doesn’t make a lot of sense to just continue that journey.
12:02
You can pick up knowledge on the other areas without necessarily leaving that role.
12:08
But that’s where really, you know, I think building alliances or, or really unifying teams is a good way to get exposed and gain some of that knowledge.
12:20
There’s a person in my circle who was in product management and absolutely killing it.
12:28
And in her company, she needed to get a quota carrying roll under her belt.
12:35
She’s so she’s doing it now.
12:36
She’s still killing it, but it’s, it’s very different.
12:41
And particularly she’s managing just one a customer as I was before.
12:48
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
12:50
And some pads, like some corporations, really big ones, you do have to have those little different notches, so to speak, that you’ve worked in different areas.
12:59
They want you to be to have that depth and breadth that you only get by being in there full time.
13:07
But I imagine you pretty have to make sure you’re truly cut out for that because there’s a lot of risk going into these roles where like, look, I’ve never done this before.
13:20
It’s true.
13:20
On the other hand, that’s, that’s my brand, right?
13:25
I’m often asked to come and solve this hard problem.
13:30
And it might be inside of a company or it might be in in a new company.
13:36
But that’s, you know, that’s, that’s it’s my particular skill, for what it’s worth.
13:43
Oh, yeah, I, I, that’s my, that’s why I’m a consultant and why I’ve been for the majority of my career.
13:48
I love coming into new clients and solving their biggest problems.
13:52
I love that.
13:53
And to me, to be in the same role once all those problems are solved, like, what am I going to do now?
14:00
You know, I want to go fix more.
14:02
And so that’s why I’m a consultant.
14:04
I’m in the spot I need to be in.
14:07
So you, you are Vice President of sales and marketing.
14:15
How’s the marketing side of the table and how do you what are you doing to unify sales and marketing at BTS?
14:25
So we’re a consulting company.
14:27
And so the work that we do is with both sales and marketing functions within a client.
14:37
So that’s that’s the external part of it.
14:40
In terms of my work in support of the the company, I just finished a research study about our clients and what what they say, what you know, they need what, how we can better serve them.
14:56
So that was a primary research with 20 interviews with with my CEO.
15:03
So again, like really, really interesting and is going to inform our strategy.
15:10
Yeah, I bet.
15:12
What role does technology play in, in executing against the strategies you’re developing?
15:21
So technology is very significant, right?
15:24
We, we build our simulations on a technology base.
15:30
Obviously our teams are using AI platforms to do research to you know, create their client facing strategies.
15:43
So that’s that’s really how we use it internally.
15:48
We also have ACRM like everyone else, which which is is helpful to us in particular because we do a lot of team selling.
16:02
And so it’s important to know what’s been going on facing this client.
16:07
So we’re not missing anybody and we’re not stepping on toes of our colleague consultants.
16:15
Oh yeah, I imagine there’s very rarely do people just call you up and say, hey, we want to sign up, give us whatever you’ve got.
16:23
It’s usually imagine a fairly long, fairly complicated sales process for you guys, correct.
16:29
Actually it’s a lot of inbounds.
16:31
So we get a lot of repeat work with clients.
16:37
Sometimes they’ve moved to a new company and and they want to work with us.
16:42
So we we do get a lot of inbound interest.
16:46
And then the sales process can be long if, if the client is doing something they’ve never done before and it can be very short if we have a client that we’ve worked with before.
17:00
So, so there’s really isn’t a clear pattern for us.
17:04
That’s really interesting that I wish a lot of people, I imagine a lot of people would love to have that no problem.
17:12
But to have that scenario where they’ve done, they’ve worked with enough clients and have that track record where they’re moving.
17:20
Because I love that when my former clients go to a new role and they pick up the phone, like, hey, we need help.
17:27
Those are the best kind of clients to get, you know, because usually it’s fairly fast and you know, you can get the ball rolling and, and make things happen.
17:38
But again, that’s where CRMA Good CRM is helping you in all those scenarios.
17:45
In which ways is your CRM really helping you guys with those different scenarios?
17:51
So we have, we have a team of people who study our CRM, right?
17:57
They look at what it is that we we’ve done with a particular client.
18:04
And so I’ll get a note that says, hey, Barbara, you haven’t called on so and so for 12 months, like let’s go back and talk to this person.
18:15
So that’s sort of the the contacts way.
18:19
The other piece of it, again, it’s really important for us, you know, if I am approaching a client, but my colleague is already working, you know, someone else in that client, it’s important for me to take a look at the record, say, oh, you know, we’re already talking to this other group, you know, let me make sure I connect with my colleague before I go after them with a proactive approach.
18:46
Oh, yeah, I’ve had many clients, you know, when we talked to them, like, what are your, your pain points?
18:51
What are your struggles right now when it comes to just your sales process?
18:56
And often time it’s the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.
19:00
You know, I’ve heard so many stories where like, hey, we we went into a prospect and they literally say to us, don’t you guys talk to each other?
19:09
So and so from your company was here just two weeks ago and they’re like, Chris, it is so embarrassing when that and it’s like that happens to us all the time.
19:18
You know, that’s where if you have CRM set up the right way, that should not be happening.
19:23
And you have to have an approach that everyone’s going to update it.
19:28
Yeah, the technology is only as good as the data that’s shared.
19:34
Yeah.
19:35
So what’s I imagine not everything is perfect in your world of CRM.
19:40
What are some of the struggles that you guys are facing with your CRM?
19:44
So I will, I’ll share an example from a a prior employer.
19:51
Oh, great.
19:52
If that’s OK.
19:53
Oh yeah, of course.
19:54
So this is a funny, not funny story.
19:59
So at this company, the CEO would.
20:05
Cruise through Salesforce on the weekend, and if anyone lost the deal, this person would go, you know, grill them, which it was.
20:20
I mean, it’s not the right behavior, particularly because this was a computer hardware company where you need to have a forecast far in advance in order to make sure that you’re ordering the expensive components that you need.
20:37
And, and if you don’t do that, your customer service is going to be terrible.
20:41
Your, your lead times are going to be terrible anyway.
20:44
So I, I thought at the time like, wow, you know, that’s not what I learned.
20:52
I learned that if you’re not losing 2 out of three, you’re not trying hard enough.
20:57
That’s right.
20:58
And what what we need to do as leaders is conduct A postmortem and say, could we have done differently with, you know, the way we’re approaching service or pricing or whatever?
21:13
There’s 19 different levers available.
21:16
But it’s important to learn from losses, not to chastise people.
21:21
Oh, yeah.
21:22
So no, I’m sorry.
21:25
Go ahead.
21:26
No, I, I, I mean, so there’s, So what this meant was that the, the account managers would only enter their deals when they’re almost closed.
21:38
I, I, I could just see it.
21:41
That’s where I, I’m like, that’s exactly what happens when you beat people down for losing deals.
21:48
Great.
21:49
I’m only going to put in the deals I know I’m going to win.
21:52
So going back, how are you developing a forecast when you’re only seeing a slice of the pie?
21:58
How do you develop strategies to get to compete against the people you’re losing to if you have no idea you’ve lost to them?
22:05
You know, there’s so much actionable data you’re missing out on because of fear, you know, of not wanting to get beat up of not, you know, like, hey, if that’s what’s going to happen to me, I’m a game, the system, so that won’t happen to me anymore.
22:21
So I’m all over, you know, going hard for the win.
22:27
And that often involves learning from past losses, but also learning from prior deals with with this particular customer.
22:38
So anyway, where I grew up in sales, I was taught that you don’t lose a loan, right.
22:46
You all, you know for sure, bring your best team that you can get.
22:51
And then if you do lose, let’s figure out what happened.
22:55
Yeah, that is the best way to learn.
22:59
It’s the best way to make sure that you’re getting better.
23:02
If you’re not looking at your losses in CRM, not doing the post mortems, you know, these are best practices.
23:09
I’d love to talk to our clients about that.
23:11
You know, what are you doing around your QB Rs?
23:14
What are you doing around losses?
23:16
Is CRM enabling these processes?
23:19
You know, the post mortems and QBRS, everything.
23:22
That’s what CRM is there to do.
23:24
It’s to help enable, make things better.
23:28
It shouldn’t be this tool, this baton, whatever you’re getting beaten with.
23:34
Exactly.
23:35
It’s also useful for forecast accuracy all the way, right?
23:40
So a good sales leader looks at a particular opportunity and says that’s a big one.
23:47
And you say you’re going to close it in six months.
23:49
Really What?
23:51
How do you know that?
23:52
Who have you connected with in terms of the decision makers?
23:57
Do we have what’s needed to deliver?
24:01
You know, so there’s a lot of good conversation that can be created at all levels of the sales hierarchy, but there has to be just a discipline of doing it.
24:11
Oh, yeah.
24:12
It’s one of the things that like, if you’re a manufacturer, forecasting is critical because you have to, like you were saying before, there’s so much that’s, that’s happening downstream from that data.
24:25
So many crucial decisions are being made based on the forecast.
24:30
And if people are are being manipulated in any way to where they’re gaming the data, your forecast, you’re, you’re screwed at the beginning.
24:42
Exactly.
24:45
So what do you do?
24:46
What are your recommendations when you see that or if someone’s listening, hey, that’s my company, how do you address something like that?
24:54
So it really comes down to making the the craft of sales leadership is about connecting with the team.
25:06
And you can look at the data, look at the dashboards all you like, but the people that are more junior in the organization can really benefit from your advice and your questions and you’re accompanying them to to the customer.
25:23
Like there’s so many ways from a people perspective that sales leaders can help in this area.
25:31
How do you treat the culture around CRM to where truly is a tool that’s enabling the team?
25:39
Because I think there’s a lot there that especially in in the role of leadership, that’s something leadership should own, you know, should not be coming from the bottom up.
25:49
It really should be coming from the top down.
25:52
So the biggest challenge with CRM is that the frontline team sees no value to it, right?
25:59
They see it as a requirement to input data so that people can build dashboards.
26:06
And so that’s actually a really hard problem for a behavioral perspective because it’s those frontline teams that have the data that we all need to share.
26:17
So I think you know the best, the best advice that I have is to make it a positive.
26:26
So not a negative like that scenario I talked about before with the prior CEO, but really make examining the data something that we do for fun as a team.
26:41
Yeah.
26:42
But is it really fun to be looking at the dashboards and, and drilling into that data or how do you make it fun?
26:50
Well, the fun part is to hang out, you know, with your region leader and the team that is being, you know, responsible for the pipeline.
27:03
And we, we actually, when we do that, it’s yes, we’re looking at data, but it’s also about, you know, exchanging offers like, Hey, I could you come with me and talk about this new area that we’re in or, Oh, I know that person and she and I are in Pilates together.
27:25
Let’s, let’s go, let’s go grab her for lunch, Right.
27:28
So it’s, it’s about creating the connections across the team and up and down it.
27:35
The data helps, but it’s not going to get you there unless you’re having conversations about it, right, right.
27:42
So one of the big things that I’m seeing, one of the trends I’m seeing in the world of CRM for years, decades, it’s always been about customer 360.
27:52
We have a 360° view of our customers.
27:56
99% of the time it’s baloney.
27:59
You have maybe a 10 to 20% view of the customer and the rest is tribal knowledge or wishful thinking.
28:07
It’s really not in your CRM.
28:10
But one of the trends I’m seeing is, you know, you go into a lot of companies, they’re like, we have a lot of data on our customers.
28:17
The problem is it’s not useful, it’s not actionable, It’s not structured in any way that’s truly helping drive revenue.
28:24
And so I’m starting to see developments in the industry where beginning to leverage AI and other data tools to make that data actionable.
28:33
So like you mentioned earlier that you’re getting triggered to say, hey, you haven’t talked to this person in a year.
28:40
The technology is developing to where it’s going beyond even that, where it’s allowing you to come up with strategies that let’s go and test this strategy and see if we truly can execute against it and learn, fail fast, adjust and keep, keep testing.
29:03
Let’s say I’m in a business where I don’t necessarily have tools like that.
29:08
Is there a way that I can do that on a smaller scale, you know, leveraging the data in my CRM or what I have available?
29:17
Do you have any thoughts around that?
29:21
I, I would say there is a, there’s a, a limit to how you can just do this on your own and with your team.
29:31
So you reach a point where dashboards are super helpful.
29:37
I think too though, that there’s a, there’s a, there’s a need for the team to do, do some, do some account planning.
29:48
And again, you know, like sounds boring, but I recently saw an AI startup that supports that.
29:59
I’ve seen an AI startup that supports RFP process so that you don’t have to grind through that.
30:08
So there are lots of, lots of AI based tools that are specifically helpful in the, in the sales space.
30:21
Oh yeah.
30:21
I think it’s, we’re at the dawn of a, a, a new era in, in truly enabling the sales team through technology.
30:33
I think it started with CRMC RM-10.
30:37
Years from now, it’s going to be vastly different from how it is today through the use of AI and other components like that, where it’s really going to help you because it’s not about just looking at a dashboard, because I I could have the best numbers in the world, but it’s not going to tell you what you need to do.
30:55
You’ve got to really go searching through that data and formulate it on your own.
31:01
You know, having those tools like you’re saying that really are stripping away the grunt work and allow me to focus on what I do, which is adding value of making those human connections.
31:11
The things that I don’t care how much AI you have, you still have to talk to people, you still have to build relationships and you still have to sell, you know, so I can focus on that, right?
31:23
So there’s the other sort of hidden gem that we have at BTS is our CIO.
31:36
So he, he’s looking at all these different ways that we’re going to be slicing and dicing data across the value chain and then adding different elements to it also in the way we’re working with our clients.
31:53
So he’s he’s really helpful in that space.
31:57
And again, it’s, it’s not about the technology, it’s about really understanding what are the processes that we’re seeking to engage.
32:07
Yes, it oh man, he sounds great because that it’s not about the tools, it is the processes.
32:17
That’s what really matters because you have to execute.
32:19
You have the best tools in the world, but if you have the processes wrapped around it to actually execute, it’s not going to matter.
32:25
And also you have all of these different views of the data that are being built.
32:32
And so, you know, where is the source of truth?
32:36
How are we making sure we’re covering all of our regulatory requirements and working with our clients?
32:44
So there’s lots of cross disciplinary piece to this that he’s been really helpful with.
32:50
Oh no, that’s awesome.
32:52
Again, it comes back to leadership having that alignment with leadership to really not only formulate that strategy, but to really execute against that strategy.
33:04
Indeed, What other struggles have you had with CRM in the past?
33:10
So this is, this is an embarrassing story, but I went a good 15 years between my first quota caring role and then when Salesforce or, or Microsoft Dynamics, any of these tools existed, right?
33:28
And so it was really embarrassing when I had to ask people like, how do I update this field or, and, and truly, because I, I was, I was born, you know, before any of this was needed, we did our forecasting on spreadsheets.
33:49
And so, so it anyway was obviously everything is a learning experience, but I was much more accustomed to the hierarchy of forecast calls.
34:03
We had this one and this one and this one all the way up to the chief revenue officer.
34:08
And it was all based on gut feel.
34:11
Is this right?
34:13
You know, yeah, it’s a tough way to forecast when it’s all gut feel.
34:21
What about the one of the things I’d love to ask when I’m talking to people about CRM, especially leadership, I’ll ask them what is your why when it comes to CRM and you’re communicating.
34:34
You’re trying to build that culture around your CRM.
34:37
You have to have a really compelling why message.
34:40
What’s your why message for your team when it comes to CRM?
34:45
So we recently had the opportunity to coach a CRO on what to say at their sales kick off on exactly this topic.
34:54
And the, the, the big thing that this person was worried about was forecast accuracy.
35:02
And I, I, I politely suggested that that’s not going to really motivate the team that what we need to talk about is a better customer experience.
35:18
So if we have our data in a row, that’s going to help a lot.
35:24
And it’s also important.
35:27
I, I told the story before about how we communicate, how we collaborate together.
35:34
That’s the same message that that we suggested this CRO share because again, it’s no one in the front line cares about data.
35:46
No, they’re the producer of of data.
35:50
It takes time out of their day and you know, it doesn’t help their job if it’s done well.
35:58
So you really have to explain the why, as you said.
36:02
Yeah, no, I agree.
36:03
And and I always like to to tell people like, look, the why’s can’t just be about the company.
36:09
In fact, it’s probably shouldn’t be about the company and there could be a little bit there, but that should not be the focus.
36:15
A maybe 10%.
36:17
It needs to be about the customer and it needs to be about the front line people.
36:21
Like each individual needs to understand the why for their role.
36:25
Like how, why is this important to me?
36:27
Like is it is, you know, how’s it helping me do my job?
36:33
Cause ultimately like, hey, I want to make more money.
36:35
I wanted to grow in my career, whatever it is, how’s it helping those wives, you know, right.
36:40
And it just comes down to for the front line team, how is their customer going to be delighted because of what we do?
36:50
Yeah, no, it it’s because ultimately if the customer’s delighted your job, you’re going to succeed, you’re going to be really successful.
36:57
That’s what you’re focused on.
36:59
And CRM is helping you achieve that.
37:02
That’s a pretty compelling why?
37:08
What other have you seen?
37:10
What other issues around CRM have you seen in your career?
37:14
So you know, again, really it comes down to is it used as a way to encourage the team or is it used as a way to punish the team?
37:29
And fundamentally, you know that that’s a big, you know, that it’s a decision not necessarily, you know, made on purpose, but the greater success comes from a spirit of working together, sharing what we know and, you know, having having not just, you know, deals progressing through the sales process, but also sharing the data that we have about our customers.
38:06
Do you have a philosophy of terms of how you know, when it comes to representing the customer within CRM?
38:13
Do you have a philosophy about how that should be done?
38:17
So to your point, if we, if we try to build, you know, a 360 model, it, it’s hard, it’s time consuming and most importantly, it’s a point in time.
38:31
So, so the way that we approach it is we, we make sure that we’re thinking about how our, you know, how our teams are doing once 1/4 and what we might do differently.
38:49
So it’s not a, it’s not a real time thing because there’s well, there’s a lot that happens in 1/4.
38:57
But on the other hand, we want the teams out, you know, building business, selling business.
39:05
So it’s I’d say it’s not, it’s not a full time job, but it does, it does matter that we do.
39:13
It doesn’t matter that it’s pretty no, as long as we have a focus on the specific fields, the specific content.
39:23
That’s interesting that that works for us.
39:29
That’s it is kind of the Holy Grail, I think, or at least it’s been put out there as the Holy Grail.
39:34
I’m not sure it’s a real Holy Grail because it’s like when you say 360.
39:41
I think they could be misconstrued.
39:43
I think it often is misconstrued.
39:46
You don’t have to have every piece of data about the customer.
39:52
It’s really, you know, going back to what I said earlier about what’s the data we need to develop and execute against our strategies to grow the business.
40:02
That’s really should be your focus for the data that you have in CRM.
40:06
If cross selling is one of your key components of growth, do we have the data in there for cross selling?
40:13
If it’s new customer acquisition, do we have the universe of our possible, you know, our ideal customer profiles in CRM that we can prospect against?
40:24
You know, it’s all these different things coming together.
40:27
To create that 360 profile, you know, the data that we need to segment, you know, on the marketing side, that’s a huge part too that I see that marketers really struggle with, You know, they don’t have often times the data they need in CRM to truly segment and target and and drive execution against these strategies.
40:48
Is that something you’ve had to deal with in the past?
40:52
So we have, we’ve looked at the the customer in data.
41:01
So what are their financials, what are their goals and so on.
41:06
I think the the thing to always work against is to say we are going to sell more of what we have and you know that can work particularly in in a different sort of business.
41:23
So I’ll say we, we have many large clients and so, you know, we know where they live, we know what they want.
41:31
So it’s a different challenge for us.
41:34
But I think the, the main thing is, you know, knowing the, the external data that you need, but then also really looking at your, your book and deciding, well, are there new clients we should be going to that are they’re going to be sort of adjacent, you know, they’re going to be easier for us.
42:02
So, and again, caveat, I, I work for a consulting company.
42:05
So it’s a different challenge from if you’re in software or, you know, other, other spaces, it’s different, but it’s similar.
42:14
You know, a lot of the companies that we deal with we a variety industries.
42:18
I see so many similarities in terms of the problems that they’re having, the problems they’re trying to solve.
42:26
The names are different.
42:27
You know, there’s things about them that are different, but when you really get to the root, you strip that all the way, it’s still very similar problems that you’re trying to solve.
42:38
And so these things that you’ve shared, I think will help people a lot if they’re struggling with that stuff, unfortunately.
42:44
Barbara, I would love to keep talking to keep this thing going, but we are over our time here on sales lead.
42:49
Doug, I really appreciate you coming on and talking with us today.
42:54
If people want to reach out and connect with you, maybe learn more about BTS, what’s the best way for them to do that?
43:01
So best way is our website, whichisbts.com or my LinkedIn.
43:08
Awesome.
43:09
So we will have that information in our show notes.
43:12
We can get a link to Barbara’s profile and the website.
43:17
So be sure to check that out.
43:19
You can get the show notes at impellercrm.com/sales Lead Dog.
43:24
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43:29
Be sure to check that out.
43:30
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43:35
Barbara, thank you so much for coming on the show today and welcome to the Sales Lead Dog Pack.
43:41
Thank you.
43:41
And let’s get together in real life.
43:44
If ever you’re here or I’m there, that would be awesome.
43:51
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43:58
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44:11
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