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Mastering B2B Street Fighting with Insights from Austin Smith
34 Plays1 month ago
In this episode, Brian Dietmeyer talks to Austin Smith, an enterprise account executive at Oomnitza, about the evolving landscape of B2B sales, aptly termed "B2B Street Fighting." They dive into how the sales environment has shifted over the past five years, discussing the increased challenges in building and closing pipelines, the necessity of adaptability in sales strategies, and the importance of creativity in outreach and customer engagement. This conversation offers valuable insights for sales professionals navigating the complex terrain of modern B2B sales.
Timestamps:
00:04 Introduction to the episode and guest Austin Smith.
01:07 Discussion on the topic of "B2B Street Fighting."
02:00 Austin shares insights on market changes in sales over the last five years.
03:00 Examination of pipeline strategies in current market conditions.
03:55 Austin discusses adjustments in sales approach due to market shifts.
07:40 Austin advocates for a less uniform approach to sales metrics and strategies.
09:03 Importance of team selling and leadership involvement in deals.
11:45 The balance between skills coaching and deal coaching in sales.
15:09 Creative strategies for lead generation and customer engagement discussed.
17:39 Final thoughts on improving internal processes for deal approvals.
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Transcript
Introduction to Close Mode
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to another edition of Close Mode, the enterprise sales show.
Meet Austin Smith
00:00:08
Speaker
I'm Brian Diepmeyer, CEO of Close Strong AI, the home of precision guided selling. And today I'm i'm really lucky to be here with with Austin Smith, who's an enterprise account exec with Umnica.
Umnica's IT Workflow Automation
00:00:20
Speaker
And if you're not familiar with Umnica, which is a pretty cool name.
00:00:23
Speaker
They automate IT workflows ah using accurate, comprehensive, and actionable technology to enhance compliance, security, productivity, cost efficiency. Does that sound right, Austin, that I describe your company properly?
00:00:36
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. And it gives complete visibility to the IT environment, allows you to see your infrastructure, your assets from software, hardware, endpoints, all the above there. See, i
B2B Street Fighting Topic Introduction
00:00:49
Speaker
I love this. I love, and we're going to talk about this in a moment, the fact that you're an enterprise account exec, like right in the sort of selling like i got that is awesome like your pictures but your pictures better than mine so welcome to the show. right Thank you so much i'm excited to be here so that the topic today i'm calling it b to b street fighting and that's because i have i have a book by that name and and and typically i'm interviewing sales and revenue leads and and you know what when you and i were talking about this i i love.
00:01:20
Speaker
offering the perspective from a frontline warrior to keep the B2B street fighting ah metaphor going. And so yeah, that's that's what we're going to talk about today is your perspective. And I think it will be intriguing for leaders perhaps to hear from you know from the frontline. so So how about let's start at kind of a high level over over the last five years from a selling perspective.
Market Changes and Challenges
00:01:44
Speaker
Have you seen market changes and and what are they? Has it gotten harder, easier? how How would you, what comes to mind in terms of man, here's how it's changed since five years.
00:01:55
Speaker
100%, 100% has changed. and ill caveat Every market, every company is different. you know If you're in security, AI, those two spaces, strong market. If you're in other spaces, might not be seen as strong. Overall, I would say probably it's gotten a lot harder.
00:02:14
Speaker
You look at a few things close rates have gone down. If you look at data across the board, if you look at prospecting numbers takes a lot more cold calls to book a meeting to even get a connect. A lot of those are true today than it was five years ago. And I think a lot of that comes from, you know, interest rates are high. There's not free money going around. Companies are cautious of, are we going to go into a recession or not? They need to be more cautious of how they're spending money as a result. So they're not as eager to A, get into a conversation and B, to even buy. I mean, if you look at the average cycle of a sales cycle, it's getting send it out a little bit. So overall, I'd say across the board, it's getting a little harder. So yeah, I mean, ah I've heard, and I wonder how this applies to your pipeline. I've, I've heard that like at a high level,
00:03:01
Speaker
especially in tech, we used to have six X pipe of, you know, pipe to goal. And now a lot of people are saying two X at best. Uh, how does, how does that feel in terms of your pipeline? Yeah, I think every, again, every company is different. So I'll speak to, to what I've seen and where I'm
Building Personal Pipelines
00:03:18
Speaker
at now. I think.
00:03:19
Speaker
these reps should still go in with the focus of need to have three to four X pipeline because and it's the classic phrase pipeline cures all. Yes, there was a system. I'm not a Salesforce anymore. So I can't speak to what Salesforce is doing, what they're not doing. But I've read on LinkedIn that Salesforce is now having their, rep their reps aim for Forex pipeline. Okay. We got to have more in there because we yeah know it's a little bit harder to get deals done. We have to have things come through and you know, plug in and out if need be.
00:03:48
Speaker
Yeah. And I wonder, so how, how have those changes impacted? ah How have you had to adjust your approach to selling over those five years? Like your reaction to these market chips? Yeah, I think a a big part of mine is being more focused on building my own pipeline. There's a few things that have happened. Number one, it's harder for BDRs, SDRs to book meetings and to help you build their pipeline. And number two.
00:04:14
Speaker
a lot more companies are trying to drive more efficiency. And so they want AEs to build pipeline as well. And so like the biggest change in my end is being more focused, being more intentional on building my own pipeline, making sure I'm hitting X amount of calls per week, make sure I'm sending X amount of email, sending X amount of LinkedIn messages, those types of things. And then also tracking in my, when I'm actually in the, uh, the sale cycle and my following all the right plays in terms of challenger, making sure I have a why, why by now those marked off. And then also the medic making sure I'm aligned on that throughout the sale cycle and making sure I have an understanding of like how many people we're dealing with, you know, running a ah right sale cycle instead of just trying to get quick wins basically.
00:04:58
Speaker
Yeah, I wonder too, one one of the analysts that I talked to, he he's made the argument that in in this market, we we need to close a bigger percentage of a smaller pipe. And and the argument you're making is no, continue continue to pour more in my pipe and do more myself. So is that is there, what what would you say to that notion that that you know another prescription for this is to to just work harder on those deals that are in there and close a higher percent?
00:05:29
Speaker
I think that's a great question. So perception on that is
Pipeline Risks and Strategy
00:05:33
Speaker
you're the analyst is probably right. Like you got to be more focused on closing what's in the pipeline because it is harder to to build pipeline right now, as I mentioned. However, I don't i think as a salesperson, if I go with the mindset of, oh, I'm good with 2x pipeline, like I'll get to my number if I just focus on the deals with 2x pipeline.
00:05:53
Speaker
There's too much risk involved in that and it's it's yeah austin it's so funny you say that like that risk thing was just bouncing around in my brain and that no this is this is cool because there's a difference between like you know what what my analyst friends are saying and and yeah that struck me at the same time you said that so i wanna i wanna especially for for leaders who are listening Back when i was in a big corporation of fortune fifty one of my favorite is a lot of exercises in team meetings that i didn't like but one of the ones that i thought was really helpful was this more of the same of you know and we use this construct a lot in meetings and so.
Personalized Sales Approaches
00:06:32
Speaker
I want to talk about that a little bit with you, like what you need. Uh, and, and, you know, if you want to broaden it to peers, maybe doing similar jobs, like ah what do you, what do you guys need in terms of more of less of same of, so let, let's start with the tough part, which is less of, and, you know, I i encourage you, like you we need a really honest answer to this question. Like what, what do you need less of just stop asking me for this stuff? What, whatever it is.
00:07:00
Speaker
Yeah, I think less of like a one size fits all approach. You know, there are certain companies where you go in there and they say, hey, our reps are going to have to hit X amount of calls per week, X amount of emails, X amount of LinkedIn. And I think I'm a big baseball fan, so I'll use a baseball analogy.
00:07:16
Speaker
If you, there's, you know, there's pictures that throw a hundred miles per hour and they're going to get just as many people out that are, you know, might be a a junk ball thrower like Tom Glavin through 89 miles per hour. We still got a lot of people out, you know, a Nolan Ryan throwing a hundred miles per hour. Still got a lot of people out. So there's just different approaches and there's different approaches with sales rep. There's a sales rep that might be really good on the phones. There's another sales rep that might be really good, you know, sending out linkedins or emails. I just don't think there's a one size fits all. So less of, you know,
00:07:45
Speaker
trying to try to make all these take that one size fits all pro yeah no i actually think that's that's really good. Feedback and and there's been a lot of in for my opinion like industrialization of selling right like yours yes here's the factory line we're we're rolling out this stuff and.
00:08:02
Speaker
And, you know, we went from like maybe not enough data and analytics to too much data and analytics and process. So I think, I think that's
Team Selling and Leadership Involvement
00:08:10
Speaker
fair. It's like, yeah. So not putting words in your mouth, but it's like, maybe don't dog me the same as your dog somewhere else. Like have a personalized approach, uh, to stuff. How, but how about same of, are are there things that some kind of support you're getting from sales enablement or, or sales leadership that that's working?
00:08:27
Speaker
Yeah, I do. I will say because pipeline is a little bit harder to come by and because there might not be as much, I do think sales leadership across the board has gotten more involved in the deals. It's become team selling has become a bigger focus overall. When does the team lose its team? I'd keep that same approach and I'd keep that even when we get back to a a great market, healthy market, like keep the team selling approach going. And and do you think that it's actually a really good point because I've talked a lot about this. I mean, we know that.
00:08:57
Speaker
frontline sales leadership just cannot find the time to to get after you know coach coaching on the more complex deals. it It is funny too, I was talking to to one leader and and and a sales leader and he was like,
00:09:11
Speaker
make the time, you know? And it's so funny when he said that to me, right? Because everybody's like, Oh, you know, we have all this reporting with all this stuff. We don't really have time to do it. And I love that notion. Like if you prioritize something, you can make time that this is more important. And so you're, and, and where do you think that support? So, you know, if you look, look at your whole pipe, like what, what percentage or what deals is there? Because obviously you're like, Hey, I don't need support on all my transactions, but where Where would you raise your hand and say, Hey, come in and support me on this one? What kind of things trigger that? Well, I think so. That's a good question. I don't know if I have the silver bullet on that. The way I would approach that is during, you never want your one-on-one to be dealer views. However, i I do think it's good to be on the same page with my manager on like the deals of my pipeline. And so even if it's just a, Hey, I saw we got, we have this best two or this sales accepted lead come into play. Like if the sales manager asks like,
00:10:07
Speaker
What support do you need from my end? Or if I'm a rep, like I should be sharing, you you know, full full transparency with my manager saying, Hey, I've got this yeah new leader. I've got this new opportunity. I just think constant communication of what's going on in the pipeline is important. Yeah. so Yeah. And yeah, it's, it's, it's funny too, because I think about that, you know, I'm in, I was in the human services coaching business before this and now I'm in the AI coaching business. And, and we really had to have to define.
00:10:37
Speaker
the difference between skills coaching and, and deal coaching. And even with deal coaching, like someone calls it like interrogation, like interrogation is not helpful or auditing, you know, that kind of thing. And I wonder, uh, how, how does that separate in your mind, this notion of, of skills coaching and do we need that versus deal coaching? Uh, what, what would you say is more helpful?
00:11:01
Speaker
I don't know if there's one where I'd say one over the other. And the reason I say that is I think both are critically important, because I think we've all been in organizations where the deal coaching is just not there. And leadership is afraid to poke holes in deals. And just like everyone gets happy ears. But it's great. It feels great. But at the end of the quarter, things can fall off.
00:11:22
Speaker
yeah I'd say it's you gotta be rigorous with deal coaching, but at the right time. Like a one-on-one, everyone's different, so I'll say what what I like. Like a one-on-one, yeah going through skills coaching, hey, we should be taking this approach on this deal, that type of thing, and maybe on a forecast call or a pipeline review. That's when you have the option because you have more people involved. People can get their perspective on what's going on with this deal. That's where you can really dig in poke holes and do more of the deal coaching.
00:11:49
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Cause it I feel like part, yeah, part of, part of that is I think of it as, is de-risking a deal. Like back when I was doing a lot of this live in the human services environment, which does, you said poking holes and it's like, it is de-risking. It's like, we we have to look for disconfirming data, right? Where, where, where, what are the red flags? You know, where is this deal at risk? And let's get after that. The other thing that I heard a sales leader say to me on on this podcast a couple months ago was.
00:12:17
Speaker
You know that notion of getting in and and not only saying hey we don't have access to this buying influence we should get access to buying but it's going to the next level and saying. Let's figure out how to do that
Creative Approaches in Sales Operations
00:12:28
Speaker
like that i'm gonna add value to you Austin in this call and let's figure out how do we get to that buying influences that it resonated with me i wonder if it does with you.
00:12:36
Speaker
Well, that resonates big time because it goes back to the the point we talked about earlier, which is the importance of continuing team selling because like the reviews on deal coaching, all of that gives an opportunity to drive even more team selling. Because if a leader says, hey, we're missing the opportunity here because we're not an X, Y, and Z leader, we we haven't talked to the economic buyer.
00:12:58
Speaker
That leader can then step up to the plate. They can say, Hey, let me shoot this email. Let me give a call, you know, get involved with the deal. So it's like, you're, you're doing two things at one there as a leader, my perspective on the front line is a, you're helping the rep understand here's a hole. Here's how we need to improve. But B you're also showing that rep of like, I really care about driving success in your deal. I'm involved now. And so just builds even more good, good will overall. Yeah.
00:13:24
Speaker
The, my, my last question is I want you to blue sky a little bit and really open up your creative hat. And and this is, you know, sort of, uh, you know, more of something that's, that's kind of missing. And, and Austin, as you think about the answer, I'm thinking about like maybe something from revenue enablement or something from the sales leaders or marketing or ops, like what, what do we on the streets need more of that kind of doesn't exist? If you could, you could. Wave that magic wand and and make something appear. what What would that look like?
00:13:59
Speaker
Just creative approaches, honestly, creative approaches across the board. Like sales ops could be more creative with the reports that they offer, that they create. um A great report we're running out of NHTSA is the customers, people who are at new companies who are previous customers of ours, our sales ops make sure they're sharing with that us that report when we start. yeah More reports like that that can help us identify people to go after. They're almost like hot leads at that point.
00:14:25
Speaker
marketing, getting more creative of doing certain campaigns that can drive lead leads. And even sales leadership, getting more creative of how do we build pipeline? How do we run certain deals? The previous company I was at did something that was really great. And I think this is pretty strong in this environment specifically. They would have field days once a quarter where everyone on the team would go out in the field and they would pick X amount of companies that where we drop off donuts to a leader and their team yeah as well as a one pager and you always get people to respond say hey i'm interested or no i'm not it's a great approach so but we can do more ah more creative creativity across the board. yeah Interesting it's yeah it's cool to hear that because i did just hear that again the other day that it's like it's harder and and.
00:15:10
Speaker
In some people arguing, like you talked about like bringing donuts. It's like, that's exactly the conversation I had the other day that we've got to think about stuff. Some of it that we used to do that went away when everybody went to zoom, you know, let's just show up in somebody's place. So I think, yeah, I think there is, there is an idea with creativity. How about I do have two more questions similar to that.
00:15:32
Speaker
I know a lot of frustrations, not only, well, I'm going to talk to you about deal approval, what what we often call the internal negotiation, right? And how do I get this deal pushed through? And I know the the folks who run deal desks and stuff are are frustrated with the process.
Streamlining Deal Approvals
00:15:47
Speaker
I know, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, a lot of reps are frustrated with that process.
00:15:51
Speaker
is Is there something from your perspective that could be done to grease the skids to to get those internal deals done more, you know, animal for more effective and efficient manner? Yeah. And let me make sure I'm clarifying correctly. So are you talking about we've got, you know, pricing approved, the, the customers ready to buy and we're at the last stage and sales ops needs to get basically get a contract in place, get that sent out to the customers that what we're talking about or a different aspect of the deal.
00:16:20
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's funny. it's funny that The two schools, i'm I'm glad you asked that follow up. The two schools have thought I've heard around this. They're like, we we either are are begging for permission or for for forgiveness. right We're trying to get the old stuff. It's like, when when I'm allowed to go put something in front of a customer, what hurdles do I have to jump through? you know and And I find in most organizations now, it's it's less about ah Forgiveness where you're going after the fact and it's more about permission and I just wonder yeah that like before you're allowed to put pricing or solution config in front of a customer or terms ah Is there anything they can make that process better? I just think like full transparency on on these aspects in getting a exact process in place meaning hey, if it's a 25%
00:17:08
Speaker
discount, this has to be approved by a manager or a director. If it's 40% discount, it's got to be approved by a so CRO, whoever, you know, whoever else might need to approve and just making sure those are fully display, even on, you know, if you're using Salesforce CPQ, having that note in CPQ or anything else that way, everyone knows kind of what the rules are. No one's going to have this awkward. Should I, shouldn't I, everyone knows what to do at that point. Yeah. Yeah. No, click clarity
Competitive Insights and Field Experience
00:17:34
Speaker
makes total sense. Yeah. And the last piece of that is, is competitive insight.
00:17:38
Speaker
Like, do do you feel like ah you have enough like at the granular level to to kind of pitch your value versus competing alternatives? I would say I think so. And the reason I say that is i'm I'm, you know, week number three and it's up. And so I feel as though I've gotten a good word amount of work ramp, battle cards, all of that. But yeah until um day in, day out in the field, I can't necessarily say, but I think so is what I'll say.
00:18:04
Speaker
Cool. Yeah.
Conclusion and Gratitude
00:18:06
Speaker
This is, it's, it's really helpful and I'm glad you and I decided to do this because it's a, to me, it's a, it's a reality check, you know, talking to so, so many leaders and to get this reality check of what's happening and and what you're seeing. So yeah, I, you've been super generous with your time and, yeah you know, your ideas and yeah, I hope, I hope those, those leaders I've been interviewing will will take a moment and hear from the frontline as it were. So thank you so much.
00:18:33
Speaker
Yeah, thank you, Brian. Great conversation. Appreciate appreciated your insights today, too.