Summary: This episode offers more than a sales leadership lesson—it’s a blueprint for transformation. Rebecca and Marcus challenge outdated thinking about leadership, relationships, and what it means to truly succeed in sales. Packed with insight and wisdom, it’s a wake-up call for anyone ready to lead with purpose and intention.

Rebecca Gebhardt’s Leaderboard to Leadership doesn’t pull any punches: promoting your top salesperson doesn’t make them a leader. Leadership isn’t just the next step up from closing deals—it’s a completely different game, and most people aren't prepared to play it. Without the right training and mindset, you're not offering them a promotion—you’re setting them up to fail.

This episode goes deeper than your standard sales talk. Rebecca and Marcus cut right to the core: real relationships. Not the transactional kind that evaporate once the contract is signed, but the ones built on trust and understanding—the relationships that last. Their message is crystal clear: if you don’t understand what your customer actually needs, you’ve already lost them.

Marcus brings the heat with AI, but not in the way you’d expect. Forget about AI as a flashy tool; Marcus shows how it can be a brutal mirror, reflecting your blind spots and challenging your assumptions. It’s not about the tech—it’s about seeing yourself clearly and growing from it.

Then there’s Marcus’s golden rule: "sell hot, not cold." If you’re wasting your time on cold calls and hard pitches, you're missing the point. Warm leads—relationships you’ve already nurtured—are the real opportunities. This isn’t just about closing the next deal; it’s about creating something that scales and sustains success.

Rebecca hits on the mindset leaders need to succeed: “abundant, bold, curious.” Leadership isn’t about resting on your past wins. It’s about staying hungry, constantly learning, and pushing even when you think you’ve arrived. It’s this mindset that gets you to the top—and keeps you there.

But Marcus takes a step back to show the big picture: Sales alone won’t cut it. To win, you need every part of your business—procurement, customer success, finance, operations, the Board, all of it—aligned around what the customer actually wants to accomplish. Silos are where good people are sent to die, too often chasing the wrong metrics for the sake of numbers. That’s how you burn relationships and your reputation.

The reality? Chasing numbers isn’t leadership. Building relationships is. Metrics might feel good in the short term, but if they come at the expense of trust, you’ve already lost the long game.

Leaderboard to Leadership (out 20th Sept 2024) isn’t a roadmap—perhaps it’s your antidote to mediocrity. It’s a guide to transforming potential into performance, not by accident, but by intention. Rebecca doesn’t hand you shortcuts; she gives you the tools to build leaders who can thrive—not just survive. Stop floundering and start leading with purpose.

If you’re tired of promoting your top sellers only to watch them stagnate, it’s time to change the narrative. With the ALLY Method™, I’ll show you how the difference between stagnation and transformation is the story you tell yourself. Together, we’ll rewrite that story and turn potential into performance—deliberately, not by accident.

Let’s have a conversation. Contact me, marcus@laughs-last.com, today, and I’ll show you how coaching and training can elevate your team. If you’re ready to break silos, lead with intention, to build something lasting, the bright path is right here. Let’s walk it together.

Episode Overview: In this episode, Marcus Cauchi hosts Mike Lander, a seasoned procurement director turned sales trainer, who shares insights from both sides of the procurement and sales processes. The conversation centers around improving sales strategies by understanding buyer psychology and removing uncertainties that often hinder successful sales.

Key Highlights:

1. Background and Experience:

• Mike Lander has extensive experience in procurement, having managed substantial budgets and vendor relationships. He now focuses on educating salespeople about what not to do when dealing with buyers.

• The discussion explores the common mistakes salespeople make, such as using manipulative tactics, which often backfire. Lander emphasizes the importance of building trust and credibility with buyers rather than using transactional sales techniques.

• A critical theme is understanding how buyers assess risk. Lander explains that buyers prioritize minimizing risk, which includes concerns about reputational, operational, and financial risks. Effective sellers help buyers mitigate these risks by providing clear, value-driven solutions.

• The conversation highlights the significance of deepening relationships with clients, exemplified by Lander’s experience with a trusted vendor named Malcolm. Malcolm’s approach was relationship-first, offering timely and valuable insights that helped navigate complex decisions and risks.

• Lander discusses negotiation strategies, stressing that sellers should focus on adding real value rather than being seen as commodities. He advises that sales professionals should aim to understand the buyer's needs and co-develop solutions, thereby differentiating themselves in the market.

• The episode wraps up with Lander reiterating the importance of sincerity in sales.

Tune in to hear more about navigating the intricacies of sales and procurement from a dual perspective!

Roee Hartuv, a former combat helicopter pilot and current expert at Winning by Design, shares insights from his unique journey from the military to revenue architect. His profound understanding of the importance of process design helps identify what works, what doesn't, and what needs to happen to meet business goals. This episode delves into the nuances of sales processes, customer acquisition, and the hidden costs that can drain a company’s resources.

Roee discusses how his interest in process design began during his time as a pilot, emphasizing the critical importance of understanding effective and ineffective processes in high-stakes environments. He provides an in-depth analysis of customer churn and its financial implications, revealing why reaching a Proof of Concept (POC) can cost $43,000 even if the customer does not convert.

Salespeople are encouraged to rethink their training, recognizing that the buyer's journey is not linear and requires strategic adjustments. Roee critiques vendor-biased sales methodologies like MEDIC and BANT, highlighting the need to focus on desired customer impacts rather than just product features and pain points.

Mapping the sales process to a non-linear buyer journey, understanding the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), and their decision-making process are key topics. The episode also examines the conflicting goals of stakeholders, from VCs to profit-driven businesses, and how growth rate-driven valuations can harm long-term profitability.

A deeper understanding of customer acquisition costs beyond surface-level metrics is necessary, along with evaluating data to genuinely understand company performance. Roee explains why some companies will never recover from an unprofitable foundation, even if they pivot to customer-focused strategies. He emphasizes that poor processes lead to amplified negative outcomes with AI implementation.

To avoid over-investment, developing a solid growth plan and resisting investor pressure is crucial. Roee offers strategic advice for business success, stressing the difficulty of abandoning ineffective practices and the necessity of operational support for enterprise sales.

The dangers of a poorly managed pipeline and the resulting increase in churn are examined, along with strategies to enhance customer success activities to improve reputation and reduce churn. Roee shares the benefits of customer advisory boards and the extended role of marketing teams beyond top-of-funnel activities.

Addressing the skills gap among middle managers who thrived during the growth-at-all-costs phase is essential, preparing them for a changed business landscape. Finally, the importance of testing processes before scaling and having a measurable process to identify problems and opportunities for improvement is highlighted.

Tune in to gain valuable insights from Roee Hartuv and discover how to perfect your sales processes and strategies to drive sustainable growth. Don't miss this engaging and informative conversation!

Contact Information:

• Roee Hartuv: LinkedIn
• Marcus Cauchi: LinkedIn
• Winning by Design

Read Jacco van der Kooij‘s book ‘Revenue Architecture” https://amzn.to/3xJ4k0G

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• Ditch Cold Outreach: Creates distrust; focus on building relationships early.
• Value First: Understand buyers deeply and empower their vision.
• Measure Right: Prioritize value per hour, not dials or meetings.
• Cultural Fit: Hire right, create great work environments, avoid micromanaging.

Rethinking Sales:

Buyers engage salespeople to make confident purchase decisions. Instead of prospecting to active buyers, focus on companies that will be in the market 6-36 months out. Build relationships and understand their context before they start evaluating. When they do evaluate, you can guide them based on their specific needs rather than pitching features.

Flaws in Sales Practices:

Cold outreach has abysmal conversion rates (0.3% success), yet companies still invest heavily in it. Discounting and fake urgency often push buyers away instead of accelerating deals. Conventional discovery methods trigger buyers' fight-or-flight response by focusing on past pain. Metrics like dials, activities, and short-term pipeline drive self-oriented behaviors that are misaligned with helping buyers.

Ethical Sales Approach:

To be timely, relevant, and valuable, understand the buyer's context well in advance. Build trust by aligning with the buyer's intended outcomes, not your own sales agenda. Create "binary effects" that avoid triggering adrenaline or cortisol, and instead promote serotonin and dopamine. Operate with integrity to become the most trusted business advisor buyers know.

Improving Enablement:

Most sales managers are over-promoted individual contributors lacking real leadership skills. Recruitment and creating an environment for people to thrive should be top management priorities. Focus on coaching reps on value contribution per hour rather than micromanaging activity metrics. Consider a subscription-based coaching model to truly enable reps beyond one-time placement fees.

Contact Leah Borges 📕 | LinkedIn

If anything in this episode resonates, test your sales strategy and book a free 30 minute strategy session https://bit.ly/NewSellingAptitudeTest

Mary Gentile discusses her book "Giving Voice to Values" and insights on navigating ethical dilemmas in business.

• Mary's approach focuses on rehearsing and pre-scripting effective ways to voice one's values when facing ethical conflicts, rather than just philosophical debates.
• Anticipating objections and finding ways to address concerns while upholding values is key, without requiring the other party to feel shamed.
• Self-knowledge, understanding motivations/fears of others, and normalizing ethical conflicts as part of doing business enables more constructive conversations.
• Practicing scenarios and developing scripts allows building "muscle memory" for voicing values effectively in real situations.

• Understand your most effective style (questioning, analysis, storytelling etc.)
• Anticipate objections and reasons/rationalizations for unethical behaviour
• Frame responses addressing the other party's fears and motivations
• Position yourself as solving a problem for them, not opposing
• Build trust by demonstrating understanding of pressures they face

• Unlike role-plays, GVV scenarios have all parties working towards voicing the ethical stance
• Avoids defaulting to embedded unethical arguments and rationalizations
• Focuses on developing new, constructive ways to reframe and address the situation
• Builds "muscle memory" for having these conversations effectively

• Understand your strengths for persuasion that align with your values
• Explore the other party's fears, risks and what's at stake for them
• Provide substantive suggestions showing you understand their situation
• Position yourself as being on their side, not simply opposing them
• Normalize that ethical conflicts are a normal part of business life

Contact Mary via her website:

Giving Voice to Values – How to Speak Your Mind When You Know What's Right (givingvoicetovaluesthebook.com)

Contact marcus@laughs-last.com

#givingvoicetovalues

#ethicalselling

#innovation

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The 1st of 3 Webinars in our hot revenue series.