Winning the Challenger Sale

The sales profession has evolved, but one thing has remained the same: the power and importance of mentorship. Where sales leaders once learned in person from each other in unstructured meetings — office banter, going to lunch, connecting at conferences or networking events — many of today’s professionals now work primarily from home. So how can we foster growth and success in today’s sales leaders? The answer remains the same, but the execution looks a little different. Dan Dal Degan, operating executive at Marlin Equity Partners, is a skilled mentor with a strong commitment to returning the energy and input he received as an up-and-coming professional. In the last episode of Winning the Challenger Sale podcast before a hiatus, Andee and Dan reflect on how mentorship has evolved, where sales professionals should look for growth today, and the current (and future) state of the field. Join us as we discuss:

What does account-based marketing (ABM) look like in 2024? For most people, they talk about it as a platform, and not a strategy. When you embrace ABM as a critical part of your GTM strategy, you can break down internal barriers and bring marketing, sales and customer together to create the ultimate account experience. Kristina Jaramillo, president of Personal ABM, argues that this team approach creates top-tier account experiences, allowing teams to work in unison to drive greater revenue, and expand and retain existing clients, ultimately diminishing the continued challenge to do more with less. We discuss:

For sellers, the past few years have shown that feast or famine, repeatable and dependable sales process wins every time. Kendra Tucker, CEO at Truckstop, joins Challenger CEO Andee Harris on this episode to talk about what she’s learned from her experience in private equity and as a sales leader. Kendra talks about how process guided Truckstop through the turbulent pandemic era, the cost of inaction, and brings advice for sellers and sales leaders to navigate this unusual economy (and win more deals). Join us as we discuss:

You know your conversion rates, historical conversion rates, and territory inside and out. You have more data at your fingertips than ever before and your buyers keep saying yes — but then they don’t sign (or worse, disappear.). As sales leaders look back at 2023, many of them find themselves asking where things went wrong with customers during the final mile and what they can do in 2024 to improve their forecast accuracy. In this episode, our guest Geoff Hendricks, key account executive at Challenger, suggests the problems aren’t from the final mile, but from tactical approaches earlier in the buying process. In this episode, he and Andee Harris break down:

2024 promises more obstacles than ever for sellers, with increasingly elongated sales cycles, creeping increased indecision and tighter budgets. But what exactly does that mean for you and your sales team? Despite this bleak outlook, Matt Doyon, co-founder and CEO of Triple Session and author of “Revenue Revolution,” has a striking forecast: this year, the top 20% of sales professionals will have their best year yet. The middle 60% will struggle. And bottom 20%? They’re likely to find themselves out of a job. Fortunately, you have the power to push yourself into the top tier, making 2024 a year to thrive. We discuss:

Why aren’t you winning? For so many modern sellers, the answer is only visible once it’s too late. According to research published in The JOLT Effect, 40-60% of deals are lost to this nearly-invisible force. This week on WTCS we’re joined by Ted McKenna, founding partner at DCM Insights and co-author of The JOLT Effect, to break down indecision’s impact on your win rates. Ted and Andee address the key steps sales teams can take to unlock stalled deals and push through to a successful close, even when key players are mired in indecision. We discuss:

Throughout 2023, businesses experienced tightening budgets, layoffs, increasing numbers of stakeholders, longer deal cycles — yet expectations remain as high as ever. Nader Pishdad, principal executive advisor at Challenger, joins Challenger CEO Andee Harris to dive into trendand hypotheses for the coming year from both buyers and sellers — and what to expect as the sales world continues to evolve. As we close out with Winning the Challenger Sale podcast’s final episode of the year, we take a look back at lessons learned and how we can use those lessons to shape 2024. We discuss:

In this special 100th episode of Winning The Challenger Sale podcast, we’re joined by Ramsey Jay, Jr., Principal at Ramsey Jay, Jr. and Associates and co-author of The Mentorship Engine, who shares how to shift sales teams’ mindsets and build successful, optimized workplace cultures to supercharge sales teams heading into 2024. Host Andee Harris, CEO of Challenger, celebrates this milestone episode and then she and Ramsey dive deep on inclusivity, mentorship, and the power of love and service — and how embracing these means better business. We discuss: Ramsey’s book, The Mentorship Engine, is available on Amazon.

What makes an efficient and successful modern selling machine? Customized, personalized tactics aligned directly to the customer journey. Alice Heiman, founder and “chief sales energizer” at Sales Strategies for CEOs has helped countless CEOs shift their mindset from traditional methods to a modernized approach — leading the way with strong collaboration and insight to navigate today’s evolving buyers. The secret? Sellers must orchestrate their internal team, from leadership to subject matter experts, and build custom strategies to meet the needs of their prospects. Alice joins our guest host, Challenger COO Alli Manning, to share how sellers can embrace this mindset to close out the year strong and keep pace for the coming year. We discuss:

What marks the difference between a prepared seller and an unprepared rep? Whichever one follows the fundamentals of sales during times of ease will be the one who successfully navigates volatile markets. Intentionality, strategy, discovery — remember those cornerstones and your sales team will rise above any coming adversity. Jeb Blount, CEO at Sales Gravy, joins Andee this week to discuss avoiding slipping into a state of alert as the year comes to a close. He emphasizes the importance of qualifying deals, focusing on engagement, and matching efforts to land the right deal at the right time. Testifying in the case for in-person sales meetings, Jeb explains the results he’s witnessed and how face-to-face interactions fuel stronger sales. Join us as we discuss:

Does AI hold the key to your end-of-year success? What are the effective ways that organizations are using it to drive results? Explore the role of AI in sales strategy, from identifying in-market accounts to streamlining processes, and discover innovative prospecting tactics that drive success, even in these challenging times. In this episode, Andee is joined by former NFL player turned sales leader Ernest Owusu, now senior director of sales development at 6sense, He shares his insights on building successful sales development programs. Join us as we discuss:

What’s the key to creating end-of-year momentum? Creating the best buyer experience, prioritizing the right deals, and implementing feedback. Invest in these three strategies, and your sales team will optimize their performance in the final weeks of 2023 and launch into the new year with confidence. Sam Senior, co-founder and CEO at Testbox, joins the Andee this week to discuss all things necessary to finish the year strong. He emphasizes the importance of identifying red and green flags for sales focus, building better communications for sales enablement, and leaning into the “give-to-get” mindset. With limited time and resources, Sam shares the insights you need to close Q4 successfully. Join us as we discuss:

Think of your sales pipeline as less like a funnel and more like a subway map — your sellers can take multiple routes to close, as long as they head in the right general direction. It’s up to you to identify each customer’s unique journey — and that can’t be done without explicit efforts to foster relationships and customer-led growth. Building trust with customers is essential for the future — yet many sales professionals take a shortsighted view that extends only to closing deals. Moving away from a transactional mindset and toward customer-led growth is all about how we view and treat the pipeline, according to Matt Heinz, President of Heinz Marketing. In today’s episode, Andee and Matt confront the many misconceptions surrounding customer relationships, highlighting the necessity of challenging customers to uncover their true needs and the crucial role of the user committee and user journey alongside the buying committee in B2B deals. Matt underscores the significance of sales and marketing alignment for complex deals, shedding light on the collaborative approach between the two teams and the pivotal role of tailored content in securing customer engagement and loyalty. This episode is full of practical tips and examples of effective sales positioning, common pitfalls in discovery, and the transformative power of community in customer retention. In this episode:

Today’s market is complex and unpredictable, but one thing is certain — retention matters more now than ever before. By embracing the role of a trusted advisor and focusing on overall profitability over top-line growth, sales leaders can navigate the rollercoaster days ahead. In this episode, Andee Harris sits down with Marinus Maris, industry veteran and VP of international sales at Challenger. Marinus provides a unique perspective on the current landscape of sales culture, skills, and growth strategies. Drawing inspiration from his journey, Marinus provides details into the necessary shift toward profitable growth and the art of building and retaining customer loyalty. In this episode, Marinus and Andee break down:

How can sales leaders become trusted advisors and overcome the challenges of an elongated sales process while accounting for ever-evolving buyer behavior? In this episode of Winning The Challenger Sale, Krysten Conner shares effective strategies for building strong client relationships and solutions that drive retention and account growth. Krysten shares her remarkable journey from being a middle school teacher to becoming a top-selling expert at multiple unicorn companies. Together, Andee and Krysten explore the challenges sales leaders face, the shifting landscape towards better retention models, the power of personalization in customer relations, and the pivotal role of discovery calls in setting the stage for the future. Discussed in this episode:

80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customer base, and retaining those customers comes at a fraction of the price of acquiring new ones. Yet, many sales and marketing efforts are still locked on closing new leads with metric-centric objectives. While new customers will always be essential for growth, retention is the only way to achieve the status of a profitable, valuable, growth-oriented company. Therese Parkes, industry director for technology B2B at Google joins the show to share how to build a thoughtful retention strategy that allows you to get a deeper, wider concentration of customers across your organization to delight, retain, and pursue upselling opportunities. Join us as we discuss:

What’s the top predictor of customer loyalty? It’s not service. It’s not even a great product (although that doesn’t hurt). It’s an exceptional sales experience — and that only happens when you bring all of the elements of the customer experience together, from product to marketing. And when you align sales, marketing, customer experience, customer onboarding, and support against the customer journey, magic happens. When Amrita Mathur took on the role of VP of Marketing at Superside, she prioritized intertwining product and marketing, aligning Superside’s approach to gaps they viewed in the market and their ICP. Much of the company’s success can be attributed to this cohesive approach, and other companies should follow suit. Join us as we discuss:

Here’s a controversial idea: Your SKO is not a massive training event. According to Peter Zink, Senior Director of Revenue Enablement at Sprout Social, it’s a time for people to come together, see each other, celebrate and align on a few critical concepts to take into the new year. To build an effective SKO today, Peter argues that you begin with a theme that can be used as a rallying cry, then build an event that pushes your business forward and sustains your trajectory throughout the entire year. Join us as we discuss:

When you speak with a client, do they think you’re there to help them, or to drive them to a close? Because buyers can tell. They hunger for sellers who deliver insights that support their goals and their business — and not a pop-in with bagels and coffee. The most effective sellers understand that they need to sell with purpose — and It all starts with your SKO. Our guest, Lisa Earle McLeod, founder of McLeod & More and author of five bestselling books, including Selling With Noble Purpose, talks about the concept of selling with purpose and how sales leaders can bring this concept into their SKO.. She shares three tips for creating an unforgettable SKO that celebrates success, while bringing sellers together to achieve higher performance. Here’s a hint: it all starts with understanding the difference that selling makes in your customer’s lives. Join us as we discuss:

Q4 will be here before you know it — and right after those three months of excitement comes the sales kickoff. And if you want to make sure your SKO brings your sellers together and sends them into 2024 with clarity and purpose, now is the time to begin planning it. Covid continues to impact the SKO planning process, as many organizations balance the advantages of virtual and hybrid events with the community building that takes place when you bring your team together in one room. Whatever path makes the most sense for your organization, our guests today make it clear that the place to start is with a vision statement — and from there you can layer on the creative elements, education, content, speakers, and swag that makes for a standout SKO. Sailpoint continuously goes above and beyond as they deliver top-quality SKOs that fuel growth. So it was a genuine delight to bring in Barrett Sellers, VP of global revenue enablement, and Robin Barde, associate manager of global revenue enablement to discuss the practical and replicable approaches they take to designing a kick-ass SKO, which you can emulate as you launch your team into the new year. We discuss: