Tea and Timbits

Scott Snowden + Andy Baqone

Global perspectives on business development to help you prosper. "Business Development" is so much more than sales and marketing. This podcast is for motivated business leaders dealing with complexity, wanting to make changes happen. Brought to you weekly by Andy Baqone and Scott Snowden, you'll get validation that you're on the right track and you'll come away with new ideas to accelerate your plans. From the rocky shores of Lake Ontario and the dreary streets of London, this transatlantic duo opine about the things they wish they'd known long ago - most of which they've just figured out.

  1. Showing Up Before People Look You Up

    4 ngày trước

    Showing Up Before People Look You Up

    We kick off our July marketing theme by tackling personal branding — which, despite sounding like something you’d find printed on a suspiciously expensive notebook, is actually quite useful. We talk about why personal branding isn’t really about vanity, self-promotion, or becoming a LinkedIn superstar — thankfully, because that sounds exhausting. It’s about being deliberate with how people understand who we are, what we stand for, and why we might be useful before that first proper conversation even happens. We also get into the awkward early days of posting online, why AI can help shape a narrative without replacing the actual thinking, and why deleting your professional history when changing industries might create more work than it solves. Along the way, there’s Canada Day, Paris, old-fashions with maple syrup, and the usual amount of self-inflicted microphone-related anxiety. Personal branding may not close deals on its own, but it can make the next conversation a lot easier. And honestly, we’ll take all the help we can get. In this episode, we make the case that personal branding doesn’t have to be cringe. It’s not about pretending to be a guru.It’s not about posting for the sake of posting.And it’s definitely not about outsourcing your entire personality to AI and hoping nobody notices. It’s about being intentional. Because whether we like it or not, people already form an opinion of us before we’re in the room. They search. They scroll. They ask around. And if we haven’t shaped that narrative at all, someone — or something — else will do it for us. We talked about: why personal branding helps before the first conversation, not magically at the end of the sales processwhy showing up consistently feels awkward before it feels usefulhow AI can support the thinking without replacing the thinkerwhy your career history still has value, even when you change industriesand why “nobody liked my post” is not the same as “nobody noticed”Also, there’s Canada Day, Paris, and a suggestion involving maple syrup in an old-fashioned. So, you know, serious business thinking as always.

    28 phút
  2. Stakeholder Engagement: Herding Cats Without Setting the Sales Process on Fire

    20 thg 5

    Stakeholder Engagement: Herding Cats Without Setting the Sales Process on Fire

    Complex selling is never just about “the buyer” and “the seller.” We wish it were. It would make life much easier, and we could probably all spend less time in meetings pretending the spreadsheet is “basically under control.” In this episode, we talk about stakeholder engagement — the people inside and outside the deal who can quietly make everything work… or loudly make everything fall apart. That includes executives, delivery teams, partners, suppliers, finance, operations, customer service, and sometimes the person who appears halfway through the process with a very strong opinion and absolutely no context. The big takeaway? Stakeholder management does not have to be perfect. But it does have to exist. Even a simple list of who is involved, what they care about, what they are worried about, and how they affect the outcome can prevent a lot of firefighting later. And if you are always firefighting, well… we may have accidentally diagnosed the problem. In this week’s episode, we get into: Why stakeholder management goes beyond executive sellingHow to uncover hidden risks before they become expensive surprisesWhy internal delivery teams need to be involved earlierHow partners and suppliers shape the customer experienceWhy “known unknowns” are far better than “unknown unknowns”Have a listen, especially if your complex sales process currently relies on optimism, crossed fingers, and a heroic amount of Slack messages.

    21 phút
  3. Complex Selling: Executive Selling Isn’t Just Suits in a Boardroom

    17 thg 5

    Complex Selling: Executive Selling Isn’t Just Suits in a Boardroom

    This week, we’re recording together in London for a rare in-person episode, which naturally means things go slightly off the rails before we even get to the topic. We kick things off with a story about hiring event security, where we learned the hard way that ticking qualification boxes doesn’t always mean someone can actually do the job. Turns out “having the badge” and “being able to climb stairs without needing a lie down” are apparently separate competencies. From there, we dive into the world of complex selling and executive selling — and why most big deals are won (or lost) long before the final proposal lands. We explore: Why executive selling is more than just presenting to senior leadershipHow to use your own executives as part of the sales strategyThe importance of coaching leadership teams before customer meetingsWhy one uninformed stakeholder can derail an entire dealHow to tactfully expand conversations to include hidden decision-makersThe role of context, repetition, and preparation in complex salesWhy executives need exposure to real customer conversations Along the way, we also accidentally turn the conversation into relationship advice and realise that executive communication skills might be just as useful at home as they are in the boardroom. It’s a practical, slightly chaotic conversation about influence, credibility, preparation, and the human side of complex deals.

    22 phút

Giới Thiệu

Global perspectives on business development to help you prosper. "Business Development" is so much more than sales and marketing. This podcast is for motivated business leaders dealing with complexity, wanting to make changes happen. Brought to you weekly by Andy Baqone and Scott Snowden, you'll get validation that you're on the right track and you'll come away with new ideas to accelerate your plans. From the rocky shores of Lake Ontario and the dreary streets of London, this transatlantic duo opine about the things they wish they'd known long ago - most of which they've just figured out.

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