OUTBOUND Proofpoint Marketing

In this episode of Outbound, Mike Grimberg interviews Emily Ackerman, a director of business development at Bennett Thrasher, about building relationships and trust with prospects. They discuss being authentic, focusing on people over brands, and using stories to connect. Gain insights into developing an authentic personal brand and tips for business development success.

Guest Bios: 

Emily Ackerman is a director of business development at Bennett Thrasher, an accounting firm based in Dallas, Texas. She has experience in sales roles in radio and accounting. 

Mike Grimberg is the CEO of Proofpoint Marketing.

Main Discussion Points:

- The importance of authenticity in sales and treating it like building a personal relationship 
- Focusing on people's interests and personalities rather than just their brands 
- Using stories and humor to connect better with prospects
- Tailoring outreach to industry preferences and clients  
- Building a personal brand and niche on platforms like LinkedIn
Key Quotes:
"I think it is different for every single person. I think it all boils down to life's just too short to work with crappy people." (00:00:51)
"People don't remember the tax return or the quality of earnings you did for them a couple years ago. They're going to remember how you made them feel." (00:05:00)  
"I would tell people, whoever I manage, I am not going to judge you based on your closing ratio in the beginning. I'm going to judge you on your activity." (00:16:12)

In this episode of Outbound, host Joseph Lewin interviews Melissa Wexler, a seasoned sales leader with over 10 years of experience leading sales teams. They discuss Melissa's unique career journey from being a lawyer to getting into sales, as well as practical tips for building authentic relationships with customers.

Main Discussion Points:
- Making the transition from being a lawyer to a sales leader
- The importance of listening and discovery in the sales process
- Being authentically interested in your customers and their industries
- Researching your customer's industry to understand pains and passion points
- The mindset of helping others and giving back

Guest Bio:
Melissa Wexler is a sales leader with over 10 years of experience managing teams. She started her career working for an IBM hardware provider before attending law school and working as an attorney. She later transitioned into leading sales teams, leveraging her background in law.

Key Quotes:
"Really break it down a little more simple than that. What do you like about the people you sell to? What do you like about the industry? What jazzes you up and start the conversation there, right?" (00:03:38)

"When product comes up. It should be much more organic and it should have. This is why that discovery piece, if we go all the way back in our conversation to discovery and listening, the more you know about the individual, what's driving them, what's driving this purchase, and why it should be the problem they're focused on right now." (00:11:39)

In this episode of Outbound, host Joseph Lewin interviews Bob Burg, author of The Go-Giver and keynote speaker, about his approach to building relationships and providing value to ideal customers through a giving mindset.

Main discussion points:
- The importance of focusing on serving others and discovering their needs in order to build trust and likability (00:01:07)
- How constantly providing value to others is the most financially profitable way to conduct business (00:01:29)
- An example of Bob asking thoughtful questions to uncover a prospect's needs even when they initially said they weren't interested (00:06:03)
- The importance of uncovering problems prospects may not even realize they have in order to provide solutions (00:11:45)
- Practical ways to add value such as making connections, providing advice and resources, and listening (00:13:24)
- Why sales conversations are more effective than "pitching" (00:14:57)
- How to transition from providing free value to paid consulting (00:17:58)

Guest Bio:
Bob Burg is a sought-after speaker and author on the topics of sales, relationship building, and influence. He is the co-author of The Go-Giver, a bestselling book on business success.

Bob is excited to be hosting an upcoming live event called SalesWise Live 2024 with fellow author Jeff West and marketing strategist Kim Angeli.

Key Quotes:
"When you can move your focus off yourself and place it on helping that other person solve or overcome their problems and challenges, you can make it not about you, but about moving them closer to happiness." (00:02:15)

"Value is always in the eyes of the beholder. It's not what we believe is of value to them or what we think they should think is of value to them. It's what they believe is." (00:14:10)

In this episode of OUTBOUND, Mike Grinberg (CEO of Proofpoint Marketing) shares his perspective on building meaningful relationships with customers and prospects. He emphasizes the importance of being genuinely curious about how their business works in order to have insightful conversations and build trust.  

Guest Bio: 
Mike Grinberg is the CEO and Co-Founder of Proofpoint Marketing, a growth advisory firm. He has years of experience in sales, marketing, and business development.

Key Discussion Points:

- Being genuinely curious about how a prospect's business works allows you to ask good questions and show that you truly want to understand their needs (01:01)

- Understanding the business model of a prospect helps derisk the buying decision for them by building trust in you and your organization (02:04) 

- Doing research beforehand on a company or individual allows you to craft informed questions and have an insightful business conversation vs. a typical sales pitch (12:39)

- Using AI tools can help quickly generate initial research on an industry or prospect to inform hypotheses to validate through conversations (15:14)  

Key Quotes:

"It's being genuinely curious about business and the business of your prospective clients...It's understanding how business works for them." (01:37)  

"When you are in the sales process...the person or the people on the other side are derisking the buying decision." (02:04)

"The purpose is to have a business conversation, not a sales conversation." (18:01)

In this episode of OUTBOUND, we are doing something a little different. This is an excerpt from another Proofpoint Marketing show, Relationship-Led Growth Live. Joseph Lewin is joined by Proofpoint’s CEO, Mike Grinberg, for a discussion with Brian Walsh from Force Management.

The conversation focuses on how to create alignment within your client's organization during the sales process. They talk about why every person on your team needs to be able to communicate value effectively and how the most important conversations often happen without you in the room.

Guest Bios:
Brian Walsh is a managing partner at Force Management, a sales training and advisory firm. He has over 20 years of experience helping companies improve sales performance.

Key Discussion Points:

- The importance of creating alignment across the client's organization during the sales process 
   
    > "If you're gonna really create alignment inside of a potential client's organization, that means everybody … everybody inside of your organization's gotta be able to go carry that mantle on their own." (Brian Walsh, 00:01:13)

- Letting your client know that you understand their decision-making process

    > "Why are we asking customers about that when we probably know the decision process in our space better than they do anyhow?" (Brian Walsh, 00:14:12) 

- Helping prepare your client to effectively sell your solution within their company
   
    > "Let's get in a conference room, and I'm gonna sit in Mike's chair, and you're gonna present to me. There's gotta be a way for you to help Joseph get ready."  (Brian Walsh, 00:16:17)

Key Takeaways:

- Alignment within the client's organization is critical for sales success
- The most important conversations happen without you present 
- Salespeople should equip clients to sell the solution internally

In this episode of OUTBOUND, host Joseph Lewin interviews entrepreneur and CEO of Nexigen, Jon Salisbury, about strategies for building deeper relationships with customers through vulnerability and trust. Jon shares stories and examples from his experience founding multiple companies, including a cybersecurity firm and a smart city startup. 

Key Discussion Points:
- Leading with complete vulnerability and exposing who you are builds trust and empathy with customers (00:01:58)
- Focusing on understanding the customer's needs rather than pushing your own agenda leads to better outcomes (00:02:20)  
- Improving yourself and empowering your team to show up as the best version of themselves allows you to serve customers better (00:02:59)
- Jon shares examples of helping customers in difficult situations simply because it was the right thing to do, not because he expected an immediate sale (00:04:06, 00:05:31) 
- He started a nonprofit providing cybersecurity education to high school students, which led to new business opportunities (00:06:33)

Guest Bios:
- Jon Salisbury: Founder and CEO of Nexigent

Key Quotes:
"Honestly, right off the bat, it's complete vulnerability, exposing who you are in totality." (00:01:38)

"If clients know that your focus is on their long-term outcome, they trust you because it's trustworthy." (00:02:20)