TRANSCRIPTION OF EPISODE
Chris Battis: On this episode of intent topics. We’re going to follow up on a previous podcast called Determining Fit For Intent Based Sales.
Chris Battis: I’m Chris Battis and this is Logan Kelly. Today we’re going to follow up on a previous episode where we were discussing how a business can determine which content based sales is a good fit for their business. We’re also going to talk about a recurring theme that we frequently see with our clients. Logan, what have you been seeing?
Logan Kelly: Interesting question, Chris. What we have been working on a lot is what is our ideal customer and how to really assimilate this strategy into the businesses where it’s going to be the most successful. And we have a few different kind of profiles, but I wanted to talk about one that I feel is very relevant and very common, more common than most people might think, especially sales leaders and business leaders in kind of the small and medium size business.
Chris Battis: All right, cool.
Logan Kelly: So, what we’re looking at is that it’s this business leader who, or sales leader, who is kind of at that point where they have stagnated growth wise. So they have a great business, they have a great product, and there’s some things that are going on. They need to grow. They have stakeholders or shareholders that they’re responsible for delivering a certain amount of growth for. In their organization they’ve done things the same way for a certain period of time. And then things like the networks are starting to dry up, the current sales methodologies, and we’re seeing this all over the place, are shunning to dry up, figuring out how do I get more from my current markets? Or are there other markets that might be, or, yeah, markets, verticals, etc, that might be more effective or just as valuable as what I’m currently fishing in. And so this comes to us in the form of we need to think outside the box. I’m not sure of what the best strategy is. And they’re usually kind of putting a couple of different things against each other.
Logan Kelly: And what it really boils down to is external or internal. So am I going to build an internal team or am I gonna add somebody to run, say demand gen more, or Am I gonna bring in another sales guy who can do this?
Chris Battis: Or are you testing a new division before you dive in?
Logan Kelly: Exactly. Yeah. And then there’s the external play. So, bring in a firm might be more of a specialist or any they’re like lead gen, or demand gen, or-
Chris Battis: Or certain vertical.
Logan Kelly: Exactly. Yeah, exactly. And, so there’s a huge conflict there. And I think this takes many different shapes, and I think our listeners can probably, if you’re in a similar situation where it’s like I need to grow, I’ve been successful at growing, I’m either growing too slow or I’m not growing, and I need to figure out what that next piece looks like. And that’s a conflict that kind of evolves into this external versus internal conflict. And, that is really where we can provide some assistance, because with the intent based sales and the way that that we really approach it is our version of this process is like a hybrid between an external this like out on their own hunting and then bringing the successes to our client. But, it’s also like let’s get a content cadence set up for you. Let’s build a plan that gets internal buy in that your sales team doesn’t see us as somebody who’s going to be a threat, they see you as like, okay cool, a union lead came in, go UR, you guys rock. That’s a conversation that I want to hear. And so what we’re looking at is like these people who are very smart, very intelligent, have done a lot in the careers, have great teams, have great products, have great marketing.
Logan Kelly: And then what we can do is really help them create a plan to like turn that into an outreach strategy and execute on that, and help their internal teams really be able to focus on what they’re good at, which is talking about the product and selling it. And so we can really create that sort of roadmap to the kind of linking what’s missing with what they are really good at already. And I think that’s … And sort of, that person is so common and it’s all over the place right now.
Chris Battis: Yeah. Yeah. You want to talk through, would it make sense to talk through existing clients’ kind of journey through that process of deciding what to do then kind of what happens, and then the result of it? Somewhat of a case study.
Logan Kelly: Absolutely. So you mean that that like internal versus external versus-
Chris Battis: Well yeah, let’s tell a story about someone we’ve worked with and describe kind of what their decision making through this so that we give a tangible kind of version of the story.
Logan Kelly: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So, I would say thank you for putting me on the spot. And so, I’ll remove the name and the company name here, but I think I have a good one. So, basically have a gentleman with a very good sort of B to B tech solution. And, what he had done was, he was kind of the engineering mind, so he really built out a great product, and then through his network and through some of his pretty experienced sales teams network, they were able to get great traction in two specific verticals. And so, what had been the story for the last three years of like, okay, I’ve got to explosive growth, we really have something, maybe some of the dreaming about like what’s our valuation going to be if we get sold, those kinds of conversations are … And then all of a sudden, we come into Q three in 2018 and it just flat lines.
Chris Battis: Yeah. Plateaued off. Yeah. Yeah.
Logan Kelly: And so, now like there’s like a few different things that are going through our client’s head, and there’s also a few different things that are going through like the company as this kind of narrative line. So it becomes like, did I make a mistake? Am I missing something? Am I a bad CEO, bad sales leader? Externally we’re really seeing I need to grow, there’s investors, there’s all these different factors of like, you’ve got to pay the bills. You can’t lose a client. There’s that.
Chris Battis: Yeah. What fell through the cracks? Yeah. We have a family friend of my dad’s actually who owns a business in New Jersey, and like literally one day, like sales stopped. He literally went outside to see if like the phone had disconnected from the building because like everything came to a halt. And he’s just like, what did I do? Did I forget something? Did something to get turned off? Like what happened? And then there’s this panic sets in, how do I fix this? And there’s self doubt. And is this product okay? Am I cut out for this? So that’s a lot of what’s going on in the mind of the sales leader and the business owner, right?
Logan Kelly: Absolutely. Absolutely. And so then like any good personal leadership, you stop kind of the pity party and it becomes like, all right, what do I do? And we quickly end up in the, does somebody else outside my company know how to do this better? And, should I bring someone into the company or should I hire an external resource? So there’s that conversation.
Chris Battis: Or like, do I have the right talent in place to handle this problem on the sales team?
Logan Kelly: Exactly. Yep. And, then things like, should I invest in this marketing automation software? There’s so many different questions that are going on in this person and like everybody else’s minds, like, do I buy leads, do I buy marketing automation tools? Should I spend 5% on marketing or 10%?
Chris Battis: Yeah. Do I need an expensive sales rep that has an incredible Rolodex in the industry that we’re targeting?
Logan Kelly: Right. Exactly. Absolutely. And so, that’s where when they get to that third like sort of this like philosophical, like internal versus external problem is that’s usually when we come into the equation. And the way that the conversations flowed with us was like, all right, there is no silver bullet here. You have built a great business for a reason, so wholesale change is not necessary. But really what we need to do is we need to augment. And so what we need to do is create this kind of plan that we can take what you have internally and probably amp that up a little bit from a content creation standpoint, from a process standpoint, these kinds of things. And then also … Go ahead.
Chris Battis: Well, and a big part of it is providing them a plan to meet their goals.
Logan Kelly: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. And so then from that plan, there’s what we do, but really what we are asking for is like you focus on this piece, laser focus. So when the opportunity comes, what are you going to do? Prove to us that you are going to be able to get the job done. Have process in place, understand what we’re doing, and we will talk through our process enough that they know the data they’re getting, they know that lead they’re getting, et cetera. So, our like call to action, our CTA to our prospect is like, let us take the ball in the outreach and the account identification, et cetera, you execute on the content plan, and then when that lead comes in, you better be prepared to take the ball and put it into the hoop.
Logan Kelly: And if we can do that, we’re going to be fine. We’re going to make sure that we’re putting leads into your pipeline that are legit. And that’s kind of the promise that we make. And so, with this particular prospect, within three months we had pipeline, within five months we started closing deals, and it’s been absolutely fantastic.
Chris Battis: And they renewed.
Logan Kelly: They’ve renewed.
Chris Battis: Contracts.
Logan Kelly: Yeah. Which is the important part. And so, through that, like it’s not like it’s this like super easy path. There are questions around like what is a sales qualified lead? What am I looking at in an appointment? And, really that’s where the sort of two way street comes in, and I’ll have those conversations all day long with clients. Like, I want to figure out how to arm my client with the right opportunity, with the right data, with the right expectation so that they can close the deal. Because with our clients, like if they’re closing deals, I’m in a job. Like we’re sales support when it comes down to it. So, that’s kind of the crux of what we do is we need to generate leads, but we also need to help the client be prepared to sort of take that lead to close, but also like what are the little nutrients that they can help provide us? And we give them that plan to really be successful. So, to sort of put a bow on this, the journey really starts with the same problem. Sales are not growing fast enough or they’re stagnating. Then it evolves into how do I solve it? Then it evolves into internal, external, and then it’s like, that’s where we come in and we say it’s a combination of both. Here’s a plan, let’s execute and actually grow your business.
Chris Battis: All right. This wraps up today’s episode of Intent Topics. I’m Chris Battis.
Logan Kelly: And I’m Logan Kelly. Thanks everybody for listening. Please give us a five star on whatever podcast app you’re listening on and have a great day. We’ll see you next time.
Chris Battis: Take care.
