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Outsider Insights | From Hustle to System: Why More CEOs Are Rebuilding Their Sales Function
Outsider Insights
Across Chief Outsiders, we talk to hundreds of CEOs every month. In this new series, we explore the trends and challenges we’re hearing from these discussions – and what you can do if you’re facing the same issues in your business.
Seven Benefits a Fractional Executive Can Deliver Today
Fri, Jun 4, 2021 — Written by: Paul Sparrow, Area Managing Partner & CMO, Chief Outsiders with Shannon Muniz, Fractional Chief Sales Officer, Sales Xceleration, Orlando, FL. The sprint is on! The American economy – stuck in the blocks for much of 2020 while waiting out the pandemic – has heard the starting gun and is accelerating around the track at a feverish pace. With vaccines, optimism, sales, and profits on the rise, the time to sit on the sidelines is over. I recently talked about the surging economy with Shannon Muniz, with the goal of understanding whether the time was ripe to double down, invest in your business, and grow your base (spoiler alert – it is!).
Why Innovate? How SMB Product Companies Grow
Thu, Jun 3, 2021 — Part 3: Concept Development – The First Phase Gate By Ahmet Abaci and Beth Somplatsky-Martori It takes more than luck, randomness, or the alignment of the stars to achieve success. Reaching our more earth-bound goals requires studious planning, hard work – and the ability to narrow our focus in the face of the shiny objects that compete for our attention
The SaaS Marketing Playbook, Part 4 | Getting Sales and Marketing on the Same Page
Wed, Jun 2, 2021 — Of the things that are aligned in our life — the stars, automobiles, our spine, and the universe — there’s one area where such alignment is elusive – and, by extension, costly. If you have ever tried to align your sales and marketing departments, you likely already have experienced how vexing this can be. In my experience, sales and marketing alignment will never be easy. Why not? Three immediate reasons come to mind: 1) Marketing is from Mars and Sales is from Venus, 2) The question of pipeline ownership, and 3) The targets for sales never get lower, and they need to take it out on someone.
Insights First: Four Keys to Owning the Post-COVID Marketplace
Tue, Jun 1, 2021 — Interest rates are low. Vaccinations are high. And for the first time in more than a year, we can see the bottom of the faces of our friends and loved ones. Indeed, optimism is abounding these days, and if you are a business owner, you’re likely straining at the reins to get back out there and reap the rewards. As a marketing executive, I know that feeling – it seems that dollar bills can be plucked out of the air, and you want to reach up and grab your bounty.
Why Innovate? How SMB Product Companies Grow
Fri, May 28, 2021 — Part 2: Harnessing Entrepreneurial Energy For Improved Success By Ahmet Abaci and Beth Somplatsky-Martori The road to nowhere is littered with loose ends: Half-finished projects, great ideas that died on the vine, and wasted resources that chipped away at profitability and the bottom line. In a world where startup energy and entrepreneurship are prized, there certainly is no lack of passion about that “one great thing” that is going to transform the company and change the world.
The Entrepreneur’s Growth Playbook: Part Three
Thu, May 27, 2021 — Marketing Strategy: Bringing Your EOS® to Life Written by: Paul Sparrow, Area Managing Partner & CMO, Chief Outsiders with Samuel Kniseley Ballesteros of The Advantage Solution and a Professional EOS® Implementer For anyone who’s ever held a circular saw or tin snips, you know the importance of measurement. With the exception of artist Pablo Picasso and perhaps architect Frank Gehry, precise measurements are absolutely critical in gaining the right result. If you have a manufacturing business, you know what we’re talking about – think about what your supply chain would look like if you didn’t bother to measure things like delivery time, for example. Your customers would rebel, your reputation would suffer – and you may not have a business for very long.
Marketing with Impact: Four Goldmine Strategies
Fri, May 21, 2021 — Of all the ways to make money, panning for gold is probably among the most difficult. But what if I were to give you all the panning equipment and a map indicating exactly where the gilded stash is buried? A little easier now, right? Today, I’m here to deliver the precious metals – a goldmine of marketing strategies that, if followed, may not result in gilded nuggets, but instead more customers, more revenue, and a golden future.
The SaaS Marketing Playbook, Part 3 | The SaaS Metrics That Matter
Thu, May 20, 2021 — Are your marketing activities generating a thimbleful of leads, or are they gushing MQLs like a firehose? And, can you directly attribute revenues to specific marketing strategies, or are you just casting proverbial darts at the proverbial dartboard? In my years as a marketing leader, I’ve heard C-suite executives bemoan the efficacy of their marketing activities – based on nothing but gut feel. They alleged that marketing is a black box, or that you cannot effectively measure the effectiveness of your activities.
The Entrepreneur’s Growth Playbook: Part Two
Tue, May 18, 2021 — EOS Vision: Defining Your Long-Term Plan Written by: Paul Sparrow, Area Managing Partner & CMO, Chief Outsiders with Samuel Kniseley Ballesteros of The Advantage Solution and a Professional EOS Implementer There’s a reason that unexpected success is credited to a “shot in the dark.” Because the tiny percentage of entrepreneurs who have succeeded this way managed to do so without the most essential trait of business success – vision. The rest of us will need the lights on and a great set of binoculars – not just to see what’s ahead, but to use that visualization in creating sustainable success. And for 66 percent of CEOs, you are going to need clear vision to avoid joining the pile of failed small businesses that couldn’t survive past their first decade.