In this episode of Enterprise Sales Development podcast, we speak with Leslie Venetz, Founder and President of Sales Team Builder. As an authoritative voice in the SDR space, Leslie talks about all things sales, and more importantly all things sales at the top of the funnel. She discusses why it’s important to build repeatable processes and how she trains her clients to do so. She also talks about sales cycles and where they begin for her.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
Why it’s important to build processes that are repeatable before scaling and how Leslie teaches her clients to do this
Why Leslie thinks salespeople are in the best position to deliver insights to their buyers
How Leslie thinks things will change in a recessionary environment
Sales cycles and when one starts for Leslie
QUOTES
“You owe it to your prospects to earn the right to their time, earn the right to their inbox, to the calendar, to their business, and the only way to do that, in my opinion, is to have enough of an understanding of the challenges they face.” -Leslie Venetz [05:42]
“I don’t think SDRs often understand exactly how well-positioned they are to make those meaningful connections.” -Leslie Venetz [14:11]
“I don’t think that that first touch from when they opened my email, clicked on my link is the beginning of a sales cycle. I think the sale starts when they show that intent by following up with me or it's budget season and they told me last year that August is the right time to talk. When we pivot from making deposits, keeping credibility awareness high to ‘Hey, it’s time to start actively having commercial conversations,’ for me, that is when a sales cycle starts.” -Leslie Venetz [35:33]
“Where does branding and advertising start and stop? Where does demand gen as a function start and stop? Where does lead gen and then the actual selling. I think that we’re in this very interesting time in the evolution of B2B commercial, and those lines are blurry, but they’re still there. And for many companies in terms of how people get paid, it’s still pretty important to have some of those lines.” -Leslie Venetz [38:38]
“When I create content, it is very rare that I create content with the intent of generating leads. It is much more likely that I’m creating content with the intent of branding, of that brand consistency of being a credible source of expertise in sales.” -Leslie Venetz [41:47]
TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] Intro
[00:25] This week’s guest: Leslie Venetz
[02:36] Scaling: the fly in the ointment?
[06:35] Seller-centric vs buyer-centric
[10:30] How well-positioned SDRs are for meaningful connections
[15:04] How things will change in recessionary environment
[26:37] Outbound and cold outreach are changing
[31:40] The sales cycle
[36:10] Where a sales cycle originates
[41:22] Creating content and Jeremy Bearimy
[43:59] Non-transactional sales cycles
[49:25] How to contact Leslie
RESOURCES
SNAP Selling: Speed Up Sales and Win More Business with Today's Frazzled Customers by Jill Konrath
The Challenger Customer: Selling to the Hidden Influencer Who Can Multiply Your Results by Brent Adamson, Matthew Dixon, Pat Spenner and Nick Toman
The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson
Jeremy Bearimy: How Time Works in the Afterlife - The Good Place
Lavender
CONNECT
Leslie Venetz on LinkedIn
Leslie Venetz on Twitter
Leslie Venetz on TikTok
Sales Team Builder website
CIENCE website
CIENCE on LinkedIn
CIENCE on Facebook
CIENCE on Twitter
CIENCE on Instagram
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