Conquer Local With George Leith

The way we hire has changed, what does onboarding a remote workforce look like in today's landscape?Conquer Local heads to Denmark to bring you Tricia Score. Tricia is the Sales & Customer Engagement Team Leads at Microsoft; she shares what her experience has been as she has already onboarded three salespeople remotely. Tricia puts the emphasis on remembering human interaction, making the connection to establish trust, and keep the lines open for communication. Now is the time to connect with others and find a mentor, 50% of people have a mentor but 75% of people think it is crucially important.With more than 15 years in sales leadership and strategy, Tricia Score has a proven record in global and market expansion initiatives with a focus on high-growth results. In her past roles, Tricia has been specializing in establishing and enabling teams for success and driving sales results through sales excellence in her sales teams. Tricia recently joined Microsoft in early 2020, and before her role at Micros

Franchise Selling must ultimately be around building trust with your customer base before getting started.We welcome Joe Mohay, CRO & Co-Founder of Integrated Digital Strategies (IDS), on the podcast this week, and he is here to talk Franchise Selling. Joe shares what he has learned in his career regarding building trust with customers, "Businesses that go above and beyond are the ones who will succeed." He breaks it down into three sections, treat customers like family, prove to them you are trustworthy from advocacy from other customers, and be a raving fan for your customers.Since the company was founded in 2012, Joe and the rest of the IDS team have worked closely with franchise organizations as a trusted franchise digital marketing partner. Their integrated approach to digital marketing focuses on franchise brands, local franchisees, and franchise development teams. This led to a stellar reputation in the franchise community and a Top-Tier Ranking by Entrepreneur Magazine in 2018 and 2019. Us

Developing a Buyer Persona, learning the dos and don'ts, and why it's essential to understand the mindset of small business owners.Stu Richards, CEO of Bredin, is our guest this week on the Conquer Local Podcast. Stu is a frequent speaker on marketing to small and medium businesses in North America. Bredin works with some of the largest brands and companies that are trying to appeal to SMBs. Stu explains by doing topic research around the buyer persona, and it allows us to understand better where to invest the marketing dollars and how to spend it accurately. This would include hiring, purchase intent, and brand intention. Stu also sheds light on buyer actions, it is vital to have an eye-catching website, but it is critical to have the right things on it.

Developing a brand identity for your agency is one of the best ways to take your brand to the next level.Master Sales Series this week brings you the importance of having a robust brand identity. Strong brands are all around us. In our modern, digitized world, people are seeing an alarming number of brands everywhere they turn. Remember that study done in 2007 about people being exposed to 5,000 advertisements a day? Well that number has increased with the surge in mobile smart devices, increased social media usage from all demographics, brand placements, and everything you might see in day-to-day life. Companies and people leverage their brands to connect with customers and clients. With a strong brand, it is easier for your audience to get to know you.

You have to admire startup founders. Creating. building, developing, and growing a SaaS Startup is not an easy feat. SaaS Startup founders put everything on the line to drive forward with their dream of solving a problem, building a unicorn, or even employing 500 people. Jordan McFarlen, Business Incubator Manager at Cultiavtor powered by Conexus, in our guest this week. He is currently working with key stakeholders, community members, and most importantly entrepreneurs to build out the strategy and design for a community hub, which inspires innovation and entrepreneurship. Jordan is the first to admit - because he sees it first hand - there are going to be struggles with developing SaaS solution. It starts with the educational piece and solving a problem. If there is no problem to be solved, the need to pivot is essential. 

Where are you going to be after the inevitable bounce? Will you Be the Hero? We are taking a different angle for this Master Sales Series episode. George brings to light what it means to be the hero during this time of crisis. Conquer Local's core purpose has always been to drive local economies by providing knowledge to our listeners. We support local businesses, and during challenging times like these, we’re committed to that now more than ever. We’re here to help our listeners clients through these challenging times. You may be facing staff shortages, remote work, and an evolving marketplace where changing customer habits are hurting your bottom line. We want to Protect Local.  Join our Community.

In its simplest form, Product-Led Growth leans on product experience in order to grow a customer base. In the traditional acquisition model, marketers focus on attracting potential customers through inbound tactics like paid ads. Once a prospect shows interest and are vetted as a qualified lead, they become a market qualified lead and are sent to the salespeople. Product-Led Growth (PLG) is a strategy that puts the product right before the customer to lead the customer experience! Anna Tavares, Director of Strategy at Vendasta, explains how PLG is defined, and the reason you should be implementing into your business strategy. The concept of PLG is not new. You probably already know and use it all the time. Synonyms for PLG include ‘freemium’, ‘try-before-you-buy’, ‘SaaS 2.0’ and ‘free trial’. Anna explains even more on this episode of the Conquer Local Podcast. As Vendasta’s Director of Strategy, Anna is responsible for developing, managing, and assisting the implementation of projects that support Vendasta

The bar has never been lower to start a business by going Direct to Customer, but that doesn't change what the pillars of business are. Direct to Customer brands leverage their true purpose, technology, data, content, and speed to market in astonishing ways. Now, you can too. Brace for impact. Mitch Joel, Founder of Six Pixels Group, is our guest this week. He is one of the amazing speakers at the Conquer Local 2020 Conference in beautiful Montreal. Big and small business need to take it next level by going Direct to the Customer Customer. What do billion dollar companies like Kylie Cosmetics and Dollar Shave Club know that Starbucks and Walmart did not?  Mitch explains why these startups quickly disrupted industries that took their competitors decades to decode. This new breed of Direct to Consumer brands has changed the dynamics of business today,  What are these companies doing that is so disruptive? Mitch gives us the goods on what you need to know today about the power of direct to consumer brands,

A powerful Elevator Pitch can be magnetic. If it’s engaging enough, you can sell anything – whether it’s a product to a client, an idea to an investor, or convincing an employer that you’re the right fit. We held a live Elevator Pitch competition at Vendast'a headquarters. Our astonishing host, George Leith, was one of three on the panel of judges. We bring you the eight elevator pitches from the competitors, and George provides feedback on each. Who do you think will win? The objective of an elevator pitch isn’t to close a deal, but to convince someone that you have something worthwhile to offer! George's career in sales and marketing spans more than three decades. He has spoken to tens of thousands of people across the world at conferences and through seminars, helping businesses to overcome their difficulties and transform them into digital sales and marketing experts.

Converting Leads Part 1 was all about the prospects, and we're now diving into Part 2: Converting Leads, with existing clients—selling after the close.  George is back with Part 2 of Converting Leads on this episode of the Master Sales Series. You’ve closed the deal, you’ve won the sale, it’s time to celebrate, right? Yes, but there’s still work to be done. George explains the concept of looking at existing partners whose accounts are still active and treat them as a lead. Treat them the same and establish regular rhythms of communication and keep building the relationship. As stated previously, always be adding value. The biggest take away is to generate advocacy - turn happy clients into your best sales resource.

Everyone always wants more and more leads, but what about the leads they already have? We bring you Converting Leads on the Conquer Local Podcast The Master Sales Series is back and we are talking about Converting Leads. We conducted a survey from our listeners to understand what they are looking to Conquer in 2020. The number one thing everyone put at the top of their list, you guessed it, getting more leads. Taking a step back and looking at that answer and uncovering the nitty gritty details, we determined that our listeners need to know how to convert their leads not just seek out new ones. George Leith, a sales transformation keynote speaker, top-ten iTunes ranked podcast host, author and guest university lecturer, has the unique ability to demystify concepts and inspire businesses and professionals to understand and truly embrace the potential that digital transformation has for many business objectives including sales, business development, and marketing for B2B, non-profit organizations, as well as

Developing a Sales Strategy to implement with your sales team isn't a one and done, it has to tweaked and edited as you grow. We are excited to bring back Donny Dye, Founder of Quota NYC, to the Conquer Local Podcast. Donny updates on what he has been doing since we last spoke in Season 2. For the past year he has been the acting CRO for Eden Health developing and growing their sales team. Donny divulges the three things his tried and tested method of developing a sales strategy: Strategy, Team, and Conversation. He says it's a technique that is universal to all sales team. Donny has over 15 years of Saas and enterprise sales experience by selling, leading, and guiding companies scale predictable revenue. If you are building a sales team or have broken a sales team, Quota NYC can help. Prior to founding Quota, he has spent the last 2 decades building, leading (and fixing) sales organizations. Most recently, he helped build a company that sold for 9 figures. My journey has made me an expert in enterp

Sales Procurement is your friend, not your enemy. Jens Hentschel, Founder and CEO of THE FIVIS PARTNERSHIP, is on the Conquer Local Podcast this week talking Sales Procurement. Most people cringe at the word procurement, but procurement is just as important as sales. Sales organizations see procurement as a roadblock and avoid it at all costs. Jens explains that procurement is your best friend, and when you are selling a product or service reaching out to the head of the procurement department can actually lead to insuring the sale closes. Jen is the thought-provoking, customer centricity consultancy company for B2B relationship management. He and his team advise Sales, Procurement and Supply Chain Management teams on how to build winning, customer centric business relationships. Jens has more than 12 years of experience in procurement and professional buying and worked for companies such as Procter & Gamble, KFC, RWE and others in senior leadership roles. Jens lives and works in London, UK.

SaaS Channel Partners are coming in hot, what and how does it affect our sales teams. Janet Schijns, CEO of JS Group and a former Fortune 500 C-suite executive, is our guest this week on the Conquer Local Podcast and we are talking about SaaS channel partners. We define was a channel partner really is, why companies are making the shift to incorporate a tech sector, and what it takes to to make that shift. Schijns was named Channel Influencer of the year in March 2019 beating out a slate of nominees from the top tech firms in the world. She most recently was EVP and CMSO at Office Depot, where she led a major transformation to drive traction in IT services, generating recurring revenue from higher margin solutions. Prior to that, she was the Chief Channel Executive, Chief Marketing Technologist and ran business products for Verizon Business. She is a visionary leader who through innovation and transformational action-oriented plans drives tangible results. Schijns is dedicated to the advancement of Women in

Battlecards are never done. Battlecards are trial and error. Battlecards are usually not pretty. But, battlecards are also a highly effective way to mobilize information from research, mentors, coaches, and more, into powerful sales assets. In this edition of the Master Sales Series we are talking about sales battlecards. What is a sales battlecard? It sounds like a buzzword, but probably because it is a buzzword. They originated as a competitor analysis tool, but today, battlecards are applied in a variety of contexts, including story development. For example, in large organizations, collaborating to build battlecards can bridge gaps between different stories being told and drive alignment through the entire sales floor. Subscribe to the podcast now, on iTunes goo.gl/8vPm1B and Google Play goo.gl/uyDsij

How to fix a broken Customer Journey after the sale is no easy feat, but we have the man who did just that.  Originally from Australia, Michael Watkins VP of Partner Success at Vendasta, packed up his family and took on winter in Canada. Watkins takes us through the customer journey by reviewing all of the talk tracks, all of the scripts, and all of the vignettes, or whichever word you want to use for your customer success teams. It's important that it's not just a one and done, but instead takes iteration after iteration. It requires listening to the team, listening to customers, watching the conversion points, and seeing what's working and what's not. Once that process is defined, be prepared to make constant changes to refine it. Watkins is passionate about helping business owners and marketing professionals understand the digital ecosystem as it continues to evolve. His recent highlights include: - 11% Digital revenue growth benefit through successful digital sales transformation progr

The average SMB is worried about staying open in today's competitive market. The Google Guarantee can help.   Justin Sanger, Chief Revenue Officer at OMG National, provides insight on what the Google Guarantee means for SMBs. Sanger refers to it as a game charger because it has an overall effect on how SEO keywords and pay-per-click ads function. An SMB doesn't always to hear the gritty details of lead measures and tactics, they often want a salesperson to cut the chase to know how it is going to effect their business. SEO has been changing at a rapid pace being at the will of the Google algorithms. Sanger shares how dealing with a fragmented and crowded landscape can hurt your agency and speaks to verticalization.

Thriving in routine by Optimizing the Sales Day and nothing will be forgotten. Work smarter not harder. Steve Benson, CEO and Founder of Badger Maps, kicks off the first Conquer Local episode in 2020! Steve provides conquerors the insight in how to optimize the sales day, from the salespeople on the floor, sales managers, and at the executive level. Steve also tells us how his failures helped him succeed because frankly, SaaS startups are hard.

Three steps to get the conversion inside the sales funnel, getting the lead, qualifying the lead, and finally acquiring the customer. Listen to learn more! We spoke with the SDRs, the BDRs, and now it's time to talk to the big kahuna, the VP of Revenue, Doug Campbell. He sits down with George to discuss managing a sales teams of 40+ and soon to be 90+ by the end of 2020. Doug explains that because they are growing so quickly they needed a scalable and repeatable training model. There is a term Dougs team uses, called the Unicorn Lead.  Doug got his start in the newspaper industry selling advertising, which he quickly excelled at and branched out into sports marketing, jack of all sales you might say. Doug is widely recognized as an award-winning leader in driving revenue growth via successful teams throughout his 20+ year career. He is currently is the VP of Revenue with Vendasta where he continues to drive hyper-growth working with businesses across the globe.

Kudos to our listeners for providing this weeks topic! George pulls together best practices when it making Discovery Calls on this edition of the Master Sales Series. Imagine you had 200 leads that came in and you were only going to close 10% of them or if you are a rock star, 25% of them. We get the nitty gritty details and proven tactics when having that first discovery call. As salespeople, we need to be very careful and deliberate in the way we are communicating with a customer when having those first calls. George runs through everything from that first initial call to discussing how leads come into your funnel, there are some different tactics for different scenarios. In some instances, we have been doing this for a long time, we know we have the answers and we can solve the problems of any customer. We have a tendency to skip over very important pieces for building rapport and trust.