Sales Pipeline Radio, Episode 345: Q & A with Manny Medina

By Matt Heinz, President of Heinz Advertising

If you happen to’re not already subscribed to Gross sales Pipeline Radio or listening reside Thursdays at 11:30 am PT on LinkedIn (additionally on demand) yow will discover the transcription and recording right here on the weblog each Monday morning.  The present is lower than half-hour, fast-paced and stuffed with actionable recommendation, finest practices and extra for B2B gross sales and advertising and marketing professionals.

We cowl a variety of subjects, with a give attention to gross sales improvement and inside gross sales priorities. You’ll be able to subscribe proper at Gross sales Pipeline Radio and/or take heed to full recordings of previous exhibits in all places you take heed to podcasts! Spotify,  iTunes, Blubrry, Google Play, iHeartRADIO, Stitcher and now on Amazon music.  You’ll be able to even ask Siri, Alexa and Google or search on Audible!

This week’s present is entitled, “Why AI Will Redefine the Office, for the Higher“.  My visitor is Manny Medina, CEO at Outreach.

Tune in to learn to:

• Embrace Change and Prioritize for Success: In 2023, adaptability and disciplined focus are key to thriving. Prioritize correctly, because the period of overinvestment and progress in any respect prices has advanced.
• Shift Focus from Duties to Jobs: Disassociate duties from gross sales jobs. AI can deal with routine duties, releasing salespeople to give attention to constructing relationships, fixing issues, and creating worth.
• Enhance Productiveness with AI: Gross sales leaders should harness AI to extend workforce productiveness. Reduce the “swivel chair tax” and spend money on significant buyer interactions to remain forward of the competitors.

Watch the LinkedIn and YouTube video, pay attention in under and/or learn the transcript under.

Matt:

All proper. Welcome everybody to a different episode of Gross sales Pipeline Radio. I’m your host, Matt Heinz. Excited to have you ever right here for our first episode of September. I dunno the place the 12 months’s gone. Manny, my daughter, my oldest youngster simply began highschool. I want time to decelerate for quite a lot of causes, however glad to be right here on one other Thursday. It’s for these of you who’re becoming a member of us on Gross sales Platform Radio reside from LinkedIn or YouTube. Tremendous excited to have you ever right here in the midst of your workday and workweek. If you wish to be a part of the present, you are able to do so reside. Make a remark should you can have a query, a remark, a rebuttal. It’s just a little little bit of a household present, so hold it protected and the sane. However we are able to make you a part of the present. We will ask your query reside, provide you with a shout out right here on the present. So if you wish to take part, please do. If you happen to’re watching and listening on demand, thanks a lot for downloading and subscribing each episode of Gross sales Pipeline Radio all the best way again, all 345 plus now, all accessible on demand at www.salespipelineradio.com. This can be a actual deal with. Very excited to have with us right now, the founder and CEO of Outreach, Manny Medina. Manny, the way you doing?

Manny:

I’m glorious, man. Pleased to be right here.

Matt):

We have been simply joking earlier than we acquired began right here that as we file this in early September of 2023, I used to be speaking to a different CEO that you simply and I do know, and he requested me the way it’s going. I’m like, not my favourite 12 months of all of the years, and I believe lots of people can resonate with that. However you made level about sharpening the metal proper now and understanding that you simply get by way of this, they’re going to be higher, however understanding the place to give attention to issues proper now and I’d like to have you ever share a few of that.

Manny:

Yeah, I believe that this can be a 12 months during which we come from a world during which we are going to do all the pieces. We’ll do certainly one of every. We’ll tackle as many tasks as we might, and our portfolio was very massive and really broad with the hope that a lot of these issues pays out, and now we’re pressured to prioritize. If you happen to don’t have one or two issues that you simply’re engaged on and also you’re placing all of your sources behind, you’ll be doing it improper. The urge for food for overinvestment, the urge for food for waste, the urge for food for progress in any respect prices has gone out the window. So now you must be very bold of constructing positive that each greenback lasts and that the likelihood of issues paying out is increased than common. So I just like the self-discipline, I just like the thought that this can be a world during which you must make your investments flip into money in a really brief time period. And constraints really free you to be extra inventive. The creativity and the constraints is much extra thrilling than the time during which you don’t know what to do with the money. You probably did all the pieces. So it’s not bitter grape argument, simply to be clear. It’s extra of a, this can be a completely different world, however a world that rewards those that are prepared for it.

Matt:

I actually recognize what you simply stated. I believe a buddy of mine who I labored with at a lot of startups who’s really operating enterprise gross sales at Smartsheet now, after we labored collectively, he had a saying on the prime of his whiteboard that stated, startups sometimes don’t starve. They drown. Proper? They tackle too many issues. You attempt to do too many issues. And a giant a part of technique is selecting. And earlier than we get into that, I wish to discuss gross sales platforms and AI and the issues we have a tendency to speak about, however I like this matter. I believe in case you are prioritizing, in case you are selecting the issues to prioritize, by definition, you’re leaving issues on the desk and another person in your organization in your world cares about these issues, you’re not prioritizing and they’ll remind you of that, proper? And that’s an nervousness spiral that helps nobody. As an entrepreneur, as a pacesetter, I’ve simply been so impressed at the way you’ve constructed tradition and pushed the workforce and the expansion at Outreach. How do you encourage your workforce to not solely prioritize, however settle for typically the ramifications of the issues that you simply’re not doing?

Manny:

Yeah, it’s a actually good query as a result of there’s no silver bullet for it. And the entire disagreeing commit solely works so many instances the disagreeing commit is you’ve got a cookie jar and also you solely have so many cookies within the cookie jar. When you may have any person disagreeing commit earlier than they’re like, alright, you’re simply telling me what to do with out promoting me. And I believe that one of many issues that we did very well by having 4 co-founders as supposed to make use of one is that I couldn’t get my co-founders to do something as a result of see, I’m the CEO as a result of the CEO was the one job not taken, after we began the corporate, all people else would choose a lane and the CEO was a lane that wasn’t picked. So the job for me to get something going was to should promote the thought.

So we acquired very used to promoting to one another. So we couldn’t simply say, we’re going to go do X, we’re going to should, for me to persuade my co-founders to do X or Y, I’ve to go promote them to the X and the Y, and I’ve to herald proof and I’ve to cope with the counter arguments and we now have to spend time on this rock tumbling. And the tumbling and the friction of the concepts made the rock shinier over time. So we acquired actually used to promoting arguments versus making arguments, promoting concepts and promoting propositions versus forcing a proposition by way of.

On this time during which you must depart issues on the desk, it’s really higher than that. You need to depart issues on the desk that different individuals are very hooked up to it and that your opponents are going to choose up and run with it. So not solely are you going to get the noise internally from saying, Hey, I wish to try this, it’s on the desk, however your competitor goes to run and go along with it. After which whoever had the thought, it was hooked up to the thought on the desk’s going to say, have a look at the competitor is operating with it. See, I instructed you,

And I imply, you must be okay with that. You need to be, sure, it’s on the desk. Yeah, I do know you prefer it. Yeah, I do know any person else improper with it. Our wager remains to be this one, and the rationale it’s nonetheless good is due to X, Y, and Z. And it’s okay to resell the thought. It’s form of like rekindling the love together with your associate. You need to do each every so often, in any other case it goes stale. So it’s okay to resell the thought, however we now have to be aligned. The one factor that’s not a sacrificable factor is alignment. You need to be aligned. You’ll be able to’t be doing this one factor in any person else doing one other. That’s the case of that. That’s the way you die rapidly.

Matt:

That’s so good. If you happen to haven’t learn, and I wish to transfer on to a few of these different subjects we needed cowl, however I can’t bear in mind the precise title of it, however there’s an article, go Google like Legos on the desk. Mainly this idea of as you develop your small business, there’s one million issues you may give attention to, prioritize what you need, depart the remainder of the Legos on the desk. Another person might choose them up and determine that’s a precedence. And people issues, should you prioritize properly as a workforce, as a person, can transfer your small business ahead. However I like the idea of simply focus, be keen to form of say, there’s solely so many instances you may disagree and commit and shout out to Jill Richards who’s stated right here within the feedback that saying not more than sure. That’s what focus is. Discovering the issues, saying no extra usually, saying sure to a small variety of issues, transferring it ahead.

Suppose just a little bit to certainly one of our different subjects right now is that this complete concept of AI within the office, and I do know I wish to discuss what that means round having a platform mentality in your gross sales tech stack as properly. I really feel like we’re on this second the place in all places you flip, you learn in regards to the emergence of AI and the significance of AI and the way forward for ai. But on the identical time, I discover so many individuals that simply wish to have their head within the sand which can be like, I don’t know what that is. I’m going to disregard it. I’m going to faux it’s not going to occur. We’re very early days on this, however that juxtaposition is admittedly fascinating to me. Now that stated, AI has been in a whole lot of instruments we’ve had properly earlier than chatGPT. I do know that ai, this isn’t a gross sales pitch, however I’m a cheerful Outreach buyer. I do know, and I’m grateful that there’s AI within the platform that I take advantage of and our workforce makes use of for gross sales engagement. However should you’re a gross sales and advertising and marketing chief watching, listening to this proper now, how must you be eager about AI within the office and why does that matter?

Manny:

The primary in instantiation of AI is to do a survey of your instruments of no matter you’re utilizing and determining the place is AI serving to, who is definitely embracing and the way is it displaying up within the type of taking a process away or changing a workflow with one thing else that was not completed earlier than? So as an illustration, in the middle of Outreach, should you have a look at a process of constructing sequences, so our first instantiation of AI is in fact the degenerative providing of writing the emails for you. That’s par for the course proper now. However as you may see the development of AI, you will note that Outreach will write your personal sequences, so that you don’t have to fret about that. It’s going to robotically generate your AB testing. Within the case of Kaya, it would generate your playing cards. And one of many issues that we’re about to launch is scoring.

So there’s a scoring of the calls, however the scoring of the calls solely occurs submit facto by a supervisor, and it must be guide when actuality doesn’t should be. You already know what an ideal name appears to be like like. So why don’t we create an AI scoring mechanism that really helps to rep a rating higher through the name so she doesn’t have to attain after the decision and the way a name went. It could actually really enhance as the decision goes by way of and enhance the rating of the dialog based mostly on the outcomes that you simply count on within the dialog. So the very first thing you do is be sure that each certainly one of your suppliers or your distributors, your companions are embracing AI themselves in a manner that’s extra significant than the apparent. That’s primary. And that they’re doing a responsibly, proper? They’re not exposing your knowledge.

They’re not simply connecting to ChatGPT and throwing your knowledge on the market as a result of that turns into a part of the general public area, et cetera. So be sure that that’s taking place. In order that’s go do now. The second side of it’s, look, the attractive a part of the AI and the scary a part of the AI is it may be no matter you need it to be. And that creates a whole lot of both for individuals who are early adopters and innovators leaning ahead and being like, alright, what can I make or not it’s? And for individuals who are just a little bit extra on the pragmatic facet, they’re like, present me first earlier than I soar in too early. And after we go speak to our personal buyer base, it’s just a little bit divided, some individuals will likely be like, yeah, give me all, give me now, give me quick, give me flying vehicles.

And a few others are saying, no, no, no, no, no. I heard that AI hallucinates, AI makes it up. AI does these different issues and I don’t wish to be a part of that equation. So what all of us have to do as an business is proceed to promote the imaginative and prescient of no matter that imaginative and prescient is or because the imaginative and prescient is. There isn’t any world during which there’s a normal AI assistant for reps and managers. Proper now the best way it exhibits up is within the process, proper? You’re going to do a name, you’re going to do a deal inspection, you’re going to do a forecast, and AI is aiding all these issues. However panacea or the world that we think about is one during which you get up and your AI tells you, Matt, right now you bought two offers to shut. You bought three offers that acquired pushed out and the client went chilly.

So you’ll want to reengage that dialog. You’re brief on pipeline for subsequent quarter and you’ve got a QBR on the finish of the week that you’ll want to put together for. Would you prefer to e book your calendar stuffed with these actions and manage your day accordingly in order that your day is the best? After which when you go into every of these duties, there’s yet one more AI who’s guiding you thru be optimized round making a deck or operating a gathering or operating your name or getting ready on your QBR. So that you simply see that there’s a nesting of AI, one that’s generalized on your day or the context of what you’re attempting to do. And that’s very process particular and issues are going into that route and it’s very encouraging. So all of us have to A). transfer in that route, and B). ask our distributors to start out transferring in that route too so we are able to get probably the most productiveness out of the functions that we purchase.

Matt:

So one of many variety of methods I’ve tried to get individuals extra comfy and extra out of the worry cycle of AI is to speak about like, Hey, pay attention, let’s assume for a second you’re not going to lose your job. Let’s assume for a second you’re going to have the ability to nonetheless pay your mortgage. You’re going to have one thing to do. We separate this concept of duties and jobs. The job of selling in 1960 is just a little completely different than what it was 40 years later versus the place it’s now. The duties are completely different. The job, the result remains to be the identical. So if you concentrate on a process, a job, after which the physique of labor to get there, in case you are in gross sales, your job is to not write emails. Your job is to not observe a sequence. Your job is to not shoehorn your manner into somebody’s calendar. The job within the physique of labor is to construct a relationship, create a win-win situation right here. So speak just a little bit in regards to the context of AI and likewise, I imply this sort of speaks to the significance of type having a constant strategy to all these completely different duties and jobs to do the physique of labor properly.

Manny:

Begins, I believe I stole this from any person else, it’s mindset, instrument, skillset. So it at all times start with a mindset, and that is the issue, is that should you affiliate your value, your self-worth with the duties that you simply do, then you definately’re in bother. So in case you are an ideal e-mail author, in case you are an ideal follow-upper you already know what I imply? In case you are an ideal preparer for conferences, these issues are going to go away. It’s like I like washing dishes, however I’m not higher than the dishwasher. I’m really extra wasteful. You see what I imply? I discover washing dishes as a zen second, however the machine is manner higher than me and extra environment friendly, and that’s all types of issues. So we have to disassociate ourselves from the duties that we do and affiliate ourselves with the objectives that we’re attempting to realize as a complete.

In order a gross sales rep, your purpose is to resolve an issue, establish the issue, remedy the issue in a manner that’s win-win, construct that relationship so you may get permission to resolve the following downside. You see what I imply? And there’s no AI that may ever exchange that as a result of there’s a lot that may be very human to human communication that’s form of like fifth sense stage stuff that we are able to’t code that gained’t get replaced. So get good at doing that. So repair your mindset into an expansive manner of seeing alternatives versus seeing threats. Once you purchase a automobile, should you purchase a Subaru, rapidly you begin seeing Subarus in all places. So should you repair your thoughts and saying, look, AI is a menace, you’re going to see menace in all places and also you’re going to see nothing however threats.

However should you repair it in your thoughts and saying, look, AI is a chance, then you definately begin seeing alternatives in all places. So you’ll want to begin fixing your thoughts. It’s like, what are you able to do for me and the way can I establish extra alternatives? Then the second factor is that you simply’re repair it in your course of. Must make it a part of your course of so you may be ok with doing it. So it turns into chopped wooden carry water form of stuff versus being all, what’s it going to do for me? Is it hallucinate? Is it going to do one thing bizarre? And the third half is it must be a part of should you’re a supervisor otherwise you’re a part of a corporation, it must be a part of the organizational tradition in that it’s okay so that you can disrupt your job to discover a higher strategy to do it. That must be culturally acceptable that I’m going to interrupt this course of to provide you with a greater course of as a result of a greater course of will get into the result sooner. So I’m going to cease there and see,

Matt:

No, it’s actually good. We’re speaking right now on Gross sales Pipeline Radio with Manny Medina, he’s the founder and CEO of Outreach. And I discover it fascinating that a number of the identical those who fear that the BDR operate goes away due to AI are additionally the identical ones who complain that their gross sales workforce doesn’t spend sufficient time actively promoting that they spend all their time doing administrative duties and writing new emails, and you bought 14 completely different tabs open with 14 completely different instruments to do 14 completely different elements of the method. And so it simply appears to me like if we would like the artists, the craftsmen, that our salespeople to do what they do finest, if we would like extra lively promoting time, if we would like the humanity and gross sales to be nearly all of what they do, there’s a lean in second there for AI, but in addition a lean in round actually enhancing the method and never having 14 tabs open anymore.

Manny:

Completely. And I believe any person at Verizon known as this the swivel chair tax. There’s an actual tax of going from an software to the consumer expertise is completely different. You’re attempting to recollect the place issues we’re at. And the true impetus for all of us leaders is to determine how one can reduce the swivel chair tax and take duties away from our reps in order that they’ll give attention to fixing any person else’s downside. See, the attractive factor about gross sales is that your job is to get into any person else’s thoughts and see the phrases and never being spoken. And to learn between the strains is to get your self into this hyper empathetic viewpoint the place you’re actually understanding out of your buyer viewpoint what the issues are so you may really craft an answer.

And the extra time you must try this, the higher off you’re going to be. So I simply don’t see a world during which we proceed to do that nonsense of 20 level options to the 5 jobs as a result of that’s simply not the place the world goes. You see what I imply? So the result that we’re seeing is an AI that works on the again of a single platform the place you are able to do your prospecting job, your deal qualifying job, your forecasting job, you run your conferences, you construct your account plans, meet your motion plans, and the AI simply learns from all that and form of continues to get higher in serving to you at your complete job, not simply every of the duties.

Matt:

Yeah, I had actually earlier right now, I had with a CMO who was simply actually battling getting their BDR operate to work and achieve success. And over the course of the decision, I spotted a pair issues. Initially, they have been centered on BDR because the operate. I stated, that’s not the technique. That could be a tactic. That could be a channel that could be a element of what’s a much bigger technique, which of their case is like an outbound movement for goal accounts. And I stated should you’re setting it as much as automate it and simply do it robotically, you’re going to ship a bunch of crap spam to a bunch of individuals that’s not going to land properly, versus saying, what’s our technique for participating in constructing worth with this viewers? We leverage machines and robots and instruments and knowledge to inform us who to name subsequent.

I imply, regardless of how sophisticated this all will get account-based motions, no matter. Each gross sales rep I do know simply has the identical questions. Who do I name subsequent and what ought to I speak with them about? Proper? And the very last thing you wish to do is go spend, I bear in mind again within the day spending 45 minutes doing analysis to go away a 30 second voicemail. That doesn’t sound very environment friendly. And but individuals nonetheless try this. So I take into consideration the machines, I take into consideration the instruments, I take into consideration the information that may shorten that point that inform me not solely assist me make a greater name and higher dialog, however to quick observe that data to me for me to go have extra time in entrance of my clients versus extra time in entrance of my CRM and that swivel chair mentality,

Manny:

Proper? No, what’s actually fascinating, I hear this lots, proper? Is the BDR job going to go away? Is the SER job going to go away? New applied sciences do that, show some issues and there’s extra. The outdated know-how finally ends up discovering new makes use of. So as an illustration, we nonetheless see SDRs being productive while you’re attempting to crack into new markets when no one is aware of you, the place a individual to individual dialog about what the hell is that you simply do and the way I can assist me within the normal sense of my group is effective. So having a dialog at that stage is tremendous useful in new clients. Or I additionally see SDRs and BDRs being useful in growth place. So there’s a place during which you deploy it, however the normal statements of like, oh, it’s working or it’s not working, lacks the context. What business are you in? Is it oversaturated? Are you already a winner and all people is aware of you? So the SDR incremental code will not be going to assist. So this normal statements are simply madening as a result of that is the issue of social media that the pithy arguments wins the day and it lacks the consistency and the nuances that we as organizational leaders want to truly decide.

Matt:

The final query I’ve for you is, and we’re September, proper? And individuals are already beginning to consider subsequent 12 months, which is sensible, I believe have a tendency to consider This fall. If you happen to’re a calendar fiscal 12 months, Q 4 is quarter zero is the time. It’s best to form of get your thoughts proper, as we talked about earlier, strategize and put a few of these issues in place. What are some productive issues and sensible issues that gross sales leaders must be eager about in prioritizing for his or her groups utilizing know-how and AI into 2024?

Manny:

In case you are not actively eager about making your reps extra productive and minimizing that swivel chair tax your competitor is. We’re in a world proper now that as a result of everyone seems to be to a point frozen, you must overinvest in that buyer relationship. The winner in this sort of surroundings is established order. So you must determine what’s your key, your strategy into that buyer dialog that may unseat on established order and get the dialog open, not even on your product, however simply the dialog going. That might be an overinvestment in SEs, that might be extra overlay reps. It might be a lot of issues. However for you to have the ability to make that funding, you must get effectivity out of someplace else. You gained’t be capable of simply add headcount and name it good. You need to get your reps from being out on 50 to 60% participation to love 70, 80, 90% participation. And should you’re not planning for it, any person else will. So you must get your thoughts proper, and you must lean in and to make productiveness good points so to spend money on your gross sales cycle in a manner that is sensible.

Matt:

Properly, while you say opponents, I take into consideration that two methods. I believe one, your direct opponents attempting to promote to the identical clients are adopting this know-how, making it simpler on your prospects to purchase, creating a greater expertise with their gross sales workforce than your gross sales workforce, your different opponents, the opposite startup down the road that desires to rent salespeople, proper? Proper. And so dude, that 45 minutes simply to go away a voicemail. That hurts, proper? Since you’ve been there. If you happen to’ve been vendor, you’ve been there. If you happen to’re doing all your homework and doing it proper, if another firm can supply you a chance to supply the proper instrument set to be simply as profitable or profitable to do extra of the job that you simply love, that’s going to be a aggressive differentiator within the hiring market, not to mention your aggressive market in your go-to-market technique.

Manny:

After all. And should you don’t have excessive performing reps, it’s simply as dangerous as not having know-how. This isn’t a static sport. The sport doesn’t finish with know-how or go to market. You need to have all of it play properly in sync.

Matt:

Manny, I understand how busy you’re. I actually recognize you taking the time right now to do that. Everybody, take a look at Outreach.io. They’ve acquired a convention arising right here in Seattle. I’m tremendous excited to get out for that one and simply take a look at their content material as properly. Tremendous great things, Manny. Thanks a lot.

Manny:

Thanks. And are available to Unleash. See you all later.

Matt:

All proper, we’ll see you at Unleash. Thanks everybody for becoming a member of us right now. We’ll see you subsequent week on one other episode of Gross sales Pipeline Radio. Take care.

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