5: Executive Events as Part of an ABM Strategy w/ Beau Roberts

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.120 Executive events tend to focus on the high level executives within an account and they 2 00:00:06.280 --> 00:00:09.669 tend to, at least in my experience, in my recommendation. As you 3 00:00:09.789 --> 00:00:17.510 you focus on a thought leadership message. You're listening to be tob revenue acceleration, 4 00:00:17.550 --> 00:00:22.179 a podcast dedicated to helping software executives stay on the cutting edge of sales 5 00:00:22.219 --> 00:00:27.579 and marketing in their industry. Let's get into the show. Hi, welcome 6 00:00:27.660 --> 00:00:31.260 to be to be revenue exceederation. My name is on em with yer and 7 00:00:31.339 --> 00:00:34.500 I'm here today with bull robelts bow. How are you today? Hi. 8 00:00:34.579 --> 00:00:37.329 Right, I'm doing great and glad to be with you today. Thank you 9 00:00:37.409 --> 00:00:41.570 very much. So before we get started, both obviously you and I have 10 00:00:41.609 --> 00:00:45.329 a deal botry to meet quote a few times and speak in the past, 11 00:00:45.689 --> 00:00:50.600 but can you show it a bit more about yourself, what you do and 12 00:00:50.679 --> 00:00:55.280 kind of your background pace? Sure. Yeah, so I've been doing marketing 13 00:00:55.399 --> 00:01:00.039 and product management, primarily in the cybersecurity industry for the last twenty years. 14 00:01:00.439 --> 00:01:03.790 I'm currently the chief marketing officer for a company called KSE seven security, based 15 00:01:03.790 --> 00:01:08.069 out of India, and there a provider of endpoints security solutions for business and 16 00:01:08.189 --> 00:01:14.030 consumers. In my spare time. I also like to advise some early stage 17 00:01:14.189 --> 00:01:19.900 cybersecurity start up and help early stage companies. Today there's so many cybersecurity startups 18 00:01:19.980 --> 00:01:23.980 and not enough marketing town to go around, so I have some fun with 19 00:01:23.099 --> 00:01:27.219 that, you know. Other than that, I generally will do insulting around 20 00:01:27.540 --> 00:01:32.379 marketing strategy and go and go to market strategy. Good. Well, thank 21 00:01:32.379 --> 00:01:34.530 you very much for that. So the top thing that we wanted to discuss 22 00:01:34.650 --> 00:01:42.650 today is around using executive events as part of an ABM account base marketing strategy. 23 00:01:42.689 --> 00:01:47.439 ABM, is that sort of the buzz world in the marketing industry. 24 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:53.040 Obviously events I've always been parts of the marketing mixed but it would be interesting 25 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:57.480 to understand from you. I'll do to marry together and I would you encourage 26 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:06.150 ABM initiatives through the promotion of very tail old and I qualified events. Sure. 27 00:02:06.549 --> 00:02:08.150 Well, I think the best way to look at executive events, you 28 00:02:08.229 --> 00:02:13.150 know, maybe for people who aren't quite as familiar with them or haven't actually 29 00:02:13.229 --> 00:02:16.379 run them for their company, or maybe even not even as part of an 30 00:02:16.419 --> 00:02:23.180 ABM program but they don't have really any, any experience with executive level events. 31 00:02:23.259 --> 00:02:25.259 I think a good way to look at it is to is to sort 32 00:02:25.259 --> 00:02:30.409 of compare them to the traditional industry trade shows and conferences that most people are, 33 00:02:30.610 --> 00:02:35.129 you know, very familiar with and that generally account for the majority of 34 00:02:35.610 --> 00:02:38.009 company's event budgets, you know, historically. Yeah, so, you know, 35 00:02:38.370 --> 00:02:40.729 in Cyber Security, for instance, you know, you, you and 36 00:02:40.810 --> 00:02:45.879 I know. Well, we're talking about shows like RSA, black hat, 37 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:50.879 Infosecma, which just happened week or two ago. Yes, what do you 38 00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:54.360 your suspects? Yeah, exactly. And you know, every industry as their 39 00:02:54.560 --> 00:03:00.870 big show or they're one or two big shows or conferences, and these shows 40 00:03:00.909 --> 00:03:06.789 are usually big, expensive, expensive to do, but they attracted very large 41 00:03:06.949 --> 00:03:12.110 and broad audience and partly success for these types of events has been measured by 42 00:03:12.669 --> 00:03:16.699 the quantity of the leads collected. But lead quality has always been somewhat of 43 00:03:16.740 --> 00:03:21.180 an issue because, you know, it's such a broad audience and you don't 44 00:03:21.219 --> 00:03:23.340 know who's going to show up at the show every year. That's yeah, 45 00:03:23.740 --> 00:03:28.729 yeah, it's for me. Is the difference between while the energy that we 46 00:03:28.849 --> 00:03:31.689 take is a difference between fishing and hunting. Well, when you have to 47 00:03:31.729 --> 00:03:37.409 show you can a fishing mode where you are waiting for people to come in 48 00:03:37.530 --> 00:03:40.409 a way. So even if there is a trade show taking place with the 49 00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:44.680 like of the one you mentioned, but also many other of that we walk 50 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:49.199 on in the industry. We actually walk with our clients to drive traffic, 51 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:53.080 and often that traffic is not actually at on the main flo itself. It 52 00:03:53.159 --> 00:03:58.830 could be hotel suites around the event where you can have a little bit more 53 00:03:58.870 --> 00:04:03.310 of you can. You can basically take the prospect of that's very busy, 54 00:04:03.830 --> 00:04:10.699 scary, noisy, very difficult to get on time, very easily interrupted sort 55 00:04:10.780 --> 00:04:15.539 of context and main flow and and and bring them to something that is much 56 00:04:15.539 --> 00:04:17.579 more, you know, quite where you can get your meeting on time, 57 00:04:17.660 --> 00:04:21.420 you can have a full and conversation and and prospect do tend to like that 58 00:04:21.540 --> 00:04:26.290 as well, because hes them threw nucks. So yeah, we we know 59 00:04:26.370 --> 00:04:29.009 the fitting. Yeah, and and you know the thing is, you know, 60 00:04:29.370 --> 00:04:32.370 you know, the reality is that those large trade shows serve many different 61 00:04:32.449 --> 00:04:38.680 functions for a company, everything from, you know, PR and media opportunities, 62 00:04:38.839 --> 00:04:44.000 Biz Dev and partner meetings, thought Leadership Conference speaking. There's so many 63 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:47.439 functions that a large trade show like that served, aside from just lead generation, 64 00:04:47.959 --> 00:04:51.120 and so I think that in a lot of cases, those those shows 65 00:04:51.160 --> 00:04:57.310 can provide excellent value and Roi for companies you know that our position correctly and 66 00:04:57.389 --> 00:05:00.430 then know how to execute. No, how and have the ability to execute 67 00:05:00.470 --> 00:05:03.750 those types of shows. The reality is that also that there's a lot of 68 00:05:04.189 --> 00:05:10.860 smaller and a less experience companies that aren't position correctly and don't really have the 69 00:05:10.980 --> 00:05:15.459 ability to execute properly. You know, you sort of have both scenarios. 70 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:17.740 I've seen, you know, companies that complain about those shows and say, 71 00:05:17.779 --> 00:05:20.019 Oh, you know, we never get a good Roi, and then other 72 00:05:20.100 --> 00:05:24.689 ones that say, Oh, you know, this last Rsa, we killed 73 00:05:24.730 --> 00:05:28.769 it, it was awesome and it's it's all a matter of preparation, strategy 74 00:05:29.290 --> 00:05:30.490 and, as I said, if your company is sort of, you know, 75 00:05:30.569 --> 00:05:34.050 correctly positioned in the market place and and you're in you're in the right 76 00:05:34.370 --> 00:05:39.199 place to execute and take advantage of that. It can those shows can be 77 00:05:39.319 --> 00:05:44.480 great, but when we look at we look at things from an account based 78 00:05:44.519 --> 00:05:46.439 marketing perspective. However, you know, it's a little bit of a different 79 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:50.990 well, it's a very different kind of strategy right it and so while those 80 00:05:51.430 --> 00:05:58.110 shows can certainly fit into an ABM strategy, there's certain aspects to abm that 81 00:05:58.230 --> 00:06:00.790 those shows don't really lend themselves very well to, which is, you know, 82 00:06:00.870 --> 00:06:06.980 essentially lead quality and account targeting and engagement. Those shows tend to be 83 00:06:08.259 --> 00:06:12.980 a very broad based, very hard to target particular accounts. You can do 84 00:06:13.100 --> 00:06:16.420 it obviously, obviously the way you described, which is pre event engaging with 85 00:06:16.699 --> 00:06:20.370 with prospects and customers and setting up meetings and things like that, but in 86 00:06:20.490 --> 00:06:24.889 terms of new accounts, you sort of at the mercy of who shows up 87 00:06:24.930 --> 00:06:27.850 at the show. That's correct, I mean, and we see that to 88 00:06:27.970 --> 00:06:30.569 the Indom of DABM, I guess. Well, you are driving at the 89 00:06:30.649 --> 00:06:35.720 moment? Are you driving to us a more selective amore till old, a 90 00:06:35.879 --> 00:06:41.279 more, I guess, lower, with less individuals? So, yeah, 91 00:06:41.319 --> 00:06:45.439 but most selective type of events of you you would run instead of going to 92 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:48.829 the to the industry events, almost running your own sort of events. Is 93 00:06:48.870 --> 00:06:54.149 Up what you are kind of going with your explanation? Yeah, so executives 94 00:06:54.389 --> 00:07:00.069 are generally small, invite only VIP type events, such as executive dinners, 95 00:07:00.110 --> 00:07:06.339 lunches, executive round tables, and they're targeted at your key prospect and customer 96 00:07:06.379 --> 00:07:11.459 accounts. Right. So, so, as I mentioned ABM strategies tend to 97 00:07:11.540 --> 00:07:16.329 prioritize lead quality over quantity and really try to focus on account engagement it, 98 00:07:16.649 --> 00:07:21.050 you know, and I think that's where executive events really excel. And the 99 00:07:21.170 --> 00:07:25.170 thing is that executive events or something I think, you know, a really 100 00:07:25.610 --> 00:07:29.689 nice thing about them is that they're very flexible. They can be used to 101 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:35.720 augment your trade show and conference strategy. They can be used to target specific 102 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:44.279 industry verticals maybe geographically. They can help you maintain momentum between the major trade 103 00:07:44.310 --> 00:07:48.990 shows and conferences. In Cyber Security we've got basically Ursa, got black hat 104 00:07:49.350 --> 00:07:51.550 info SAC, which is a, you know, in a Mida. But 105 00:07:51.750 --> 00:07:56.629 you know, the thing is that there's large gaps in the year when between 106 00:07:56.750 --> 00:08:00.100 those shows, right. So, so those shows are great, but they're 107 00:08:00.100 --> 00:08:05.660 not really something that's very scalable or something that you can continue to execute upon 108 00:08:05.100 --> 00:08:09.339 throughout the year. So it turned is if you're almost like a branding exhaust 109 00:08:09.339 --> 00:08:13.370 size, almost like a Pi exhaust says and getting your big booze and get 110 00:08:13.449 --> 00:08:18.129 getting people around people, wear in your Polo shots and and and it's so 111 00:08:18.290 --> 00:08:22.889 fun. Will often see vendo speaking to it shows. I'm comparing, you 112 00:08:22.970 --> 00:08:26.810 know, it shows US presence. So yeah, you almost feel like it's 113 00:08:26.009 --> 00:08:30.959 you've got to be there because it's it's it's almost like a brain reputation. 114 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:33.600 It's if you are not there, people will want all why you are not 115 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:37.000 there. So that could be a tactic not to ton up right, because 116 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:39.200 people would want done. They would probably get them to speak about you. 117 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:43.389 But yeah, no, I appreciate exactly what you are saying, because we 118 00:08:43.710 --> 00:08:46.909 get that fit back like on a consistent basis. You mentioned in for Sake. 119 00:08:48.110 --> 00:08:50.350 So it's a should happened a few weeks ago now in a in London 120 00:08:50.669 --> 00:08:54.070 and we always ask the question to our clients and the prospect that we meet. 121 00:08:54.389 --> 00:08:58.980 How do you calculate the written on investment? Some of them will tell 122 00:08:58.980 --> 00:09:01.860 us. Well, ask can a thousand people? Some of them is the 123 00:09:01.899 --> 00:09:07.820 number of Tshirt they've been giving given they've given to people. Some of them 124 00:09:07.899 --> 00:09:11.850 would be the feeling as well. We felt that were a good day, 125 00:09:11.850 --> 00:09:13.809 because what if your conversation? Some of them will be demos, which I 126 00:09:13.850 --> 00:09:18.370 think is a good metrics actually demos, because you can scan me. I'm 127 00:09:18.409 --> 00:09:24.090 not a prospect if I'm working down the main show room. However, I 128 00:09:24.129 --> 00:09:26.720 would not listen to a demo, because I don't really have the times of 129 00:09:26.759 --> 00:09:28.360 the people at would listen to them or maybe a best, you know, 130 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:33.120 a better way to evaluate success, but it's a tough one. It's so 131 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:35.320 tough and and I don't think there is. I do think to do to 132 00:09:35.320 --> 00:09:41.029 kind of close up from the point that it's really around that brand recognition pr 133 00:09:41.509 --> 00:09:43.629 look at me, I'm here and I've got all my team and worlwells and 134 00:09:43.789 --> 00:09:50.669 color sometimes, and then really an ambition of acquiring customers in a way. 135 00:09:50.269 --> 00:09:54.860 Right, right, and you know so exactly. The events tend to focus 136 00:09:54.220 --> 00:10:00.620 on the high level executives within an account and they tend to, at least 137 00:10:00.659 --> 00:10:03.580 in my experience and my recommendation, as you you focus on a thought leadership 138 00:10:03.659 --> 00:10:07.929 message. Coming back to the account based marketing approach and coming back to the 139 00:10:09.250 --> 00:10:13.330 type of prospect that you approach. How do you you you incorporate them? 140 00:10:13.570 --> 00:10:18.250 I would you be incorporate events as one of the touch out of an account 141 00:10:18.289 --> 00:10:24.360 by his marketing approachable in an account based marketing strategy. You generally, by 142 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:28.120 definition, you know who your target accounts are. You know that's that's kind 143 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:31.559 of the basis and the foundation of ABM, right, and so I think 144 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:35.230 you know the way that you can use, you know, executive events is 145 00:10:35.590 --> 00:10:39.549 well, a couple different ways in terms of the execution. But you know, 146 00:10:39.590 --> 00:10:43.110 I think the main difference that people need to sort of, you know, 147 00:10:43.309 --> 00:10:46.870 keep in mind and get and sort of get their head around in terms 148 00:10:46.909 --> 00:10:50.379 of the executive events is that you're really not doing them for lead generation, 149 00:10:50.460 --> 00:10:54.700 right, as I said, you know who your top prospect accounts are, 150 00:10:54.899 --> 00:10:58.539 right, so you're trying to get to them, you're trying to engage them 151 00:10:58.820 --> 00:11:05.289 and get high quality engagement with them. And so using things like executive dinners, 152 00:11:05.610 --> 00:11:11.490 maybe doing a road show, maybe at a large industry trade show or 153 00:11:11.570 --> 00:11:16.690 conference, scheduling a customer appreciation dinner, but one where you invite both your 154 00:11:18.090 --> 00:11:22.200 both prospects and customers, and get both of those people in the same room 155 00:11:22.679 --> 00:11:26.879 where you know you're going to make your customer feel like a VIP for the 156 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:31.759 evening and at the same time they become, you know, spokespeople and provide 157 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:35.269 recommendations prospects that are in the room. And so, you know, I 158 00:11:35.389 --> 00:11:39.750 think the main difference in terms of what you're using executive events for, compared 159 00:11:39.830 --> 00:11:43.909 to maybe a bigger trade shows is that it's not really about lead generation. 160 00:11:45.070 --> 00:11:48.100 What it's about is impact on your funnel. So influence on your funnel, 161 00:11:48.220 --> 00:11:54.539 the moving deals faster through the funnel, helping deals to close, and so 162 00:11:54.139 --> 00:12:00.580 now really it's that influence on the pipeline and and and ultimately revenue that you 163 00:12:00.700 --> 00:12:03.730 want to be measuring with executive events. Okay, so you're taking a book 164 00:12:03.769 --> 00:12:09.929 more of razandern generation, of pushing it would be about engaging we people. 165 00:12:09.129 --> 00:12:15.759 You've already got kind of deal is going on, all conversation with the company, 166 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:20.559 on the organizations and inviting them to this events and give them maybe a 167 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:24.960 more relax on the stunding off. We you are what you do to accelerate 168 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:30.230 the sorts like cord exactly, okay, exactly so. And generally speaking, 169 00:12:30.870 --> 00:12:33.190 when you depends on the size of the company. But when you do executive 170 00:12:33.190 --> 00:12:37.549 events, your you should be sending your what I call your a team, 171 00:12:37.990 --> 00:12:41.710 you know, and so it's a good way to put your best thought leaders, 172 00:12:41.789 --> 00:12:46.419 your best speakers. In the case of start up, so it's oftentimes 173 00:12:46.460 --> 00:12:48.980 the CEO, the founder, the CTEO, you know, you're putting your 174 00:12:50.100 --> 00:12:54.580 best people in front of the senior executive, senior executives from these target accounts, 175 00:12:54.659 --> 00:13:00.169 and so it's a really great opportunity for them to build thought leadership and 176 00:13:00.250 --> 00:13:05.409 and really tell the company's story in a way that is not a hard sell 177 00:13:05.570 --> 00:13:09.289 or, you know, not a sales company sales or product pitch. Yeah, 178 00:13:09.690 --> 00:13:13.240 I think that makes perfect sense and we've been we've been in the situational 179 00:13:13.399 --> 00:13:18.559 said. Actually with your stup boat we've been able to meet with individuals in 180 00:13:18.600 --> 00:13:22.519 a very relaxed environment and I remember as discussing about the feather that we absolutely 181 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:26.190 don't want to pitch. We want to discuss. If someone wants to pitch, 182 00:13:26.669 --> 00:13:30.110 we can. We can do that next week. We'll have to do 183 00:13:30.149 --> 00:13:33.509 it straight away. In some of the measure of success and rettal investment, 184 00:13:33.750 --> 00:13:37.990 is it really on appreciating a Mug the papers moving forward, or is that 185 00:13:39.190 --> 00:13:41.820 use a cree tell ya or yours a KPI? Is that you would you 186 00:13:41.940 --> 00:13:50.179 would suggest as a good way to evaluate a well organized executive event? A 187 00:13:50.259 --> 00:13:54.220 spot of an ABM approach? Sure. Well, I said that Lee generation 188 00:13:54.659 --> 00:13:58.210 isn't really the primary focus. It is, of course, one metric. 189 00:13:58.330 --> 00:14:03.529 I mean you you are potentially going to open new deals from these types of 190 00:14:03.610 --> 00:14:07.169 events. So that is it is certainly one metric, but because these tend 191 00:14:07.210 --> 00:14:13.120 to be low volume, high quality types types of events from a numbers perspective, 192 00:14:13.559 --> 00:14:18.320 what tends to be more important is the influence that the events are having 193 00:14:18.679 --> 00:14:24.950 on your on your pipeline, so moving counts down the pipeline and and eventually, 194 00:14:24.070 --> 00:14:26.909 obviously, you know, closing and turning into revenue, you know. 195 00:14:28.269 --> 00:14:31.990 So those are primary ones that you want to look at. I mean, 196 00:14:31.029 --> 00:14:35.669 I think that I think the main issue for are most companies who are either 197 00:14:37.309 --> 00:14:41.539 not currently doing abm or maybe they've just started but are still kind of very 198 00:14:41.580 --> 00:14:46.179 early in their abm kind of journey, is that most of them don't have, 199 00:14:46.700 --> 00:14:52.019 don't have the proper, you know, porting tracking and reporting tools from 200 00:14:52.179 --> 00:14:56.049 MARTEC perspective to easily report on these types of things. And also if you're 201 00:14:56.090 --> 00:15:00.610 the kind of company that has a somewhat of a long sale cycle, like 202 00:15:00.889 --> 00:15:03.409 six, nine, hundred and twelve, even, you know, more than 203 00:15:03.450 --> 00:15:09.440 twelve months of a sales cycle, then it becomes becomes more difficult to measure 204 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:13.399 the results of a particular event in the short term. If you have a 205 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:16.159 long sale cycle, if you have a high maybe a high value, you 206 00:15:16.679 --> 00:15:20.279 know average order value of few hundred thousand dollars or maybe even a million dollars 207 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:24.070 or more. You're going to have probably a longer sales cycle and you have 208 00:15:24.190 --> 00:15:28.830 to design your event program for a longer term perspective. So it's not something 209 00:15:28.909 --> 00:15:33.470 that you can that you can evaluate in a quarter. I think that's fair. 210 00:15:33.549 --> 00:15:37.259 I think this is a this is a touch spot of a multi touch 211 00:15:37.419 --> 00:15:41.620 process and I think you're completely right in the in the way you put it 212 00:15:41.740 --> 00:15:45.740 together. It could be an important touch because would be maybe some of your 213 00:15:45.820 --> 00:15:50.210 people will be responding better. Prospect would respond better on a face to face 214 00:15:50.330 --> 00:15:54.129 meeting within their own offices, and sometimes we see that taking people out of 215 00:15:54.289 --> 00:15:58.850 there. I would not cut it confult zone, but they are known zoon 216 00:15:58.090 --> 00:16:02.769 what I used to be, and sharing sort leadership, because I think that's 217 00:16:02.809 --> 00:16:04.600 very important. We've seen, and I'd like you know, to get your 218 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:10.879 opinion on that, but we've seen the content of some events being very solution 219 00:16:11.159 --> 00:16:17.039 intensive, pitching intensive and trying to take people through a two hours poupoint presentation 220 00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:21.509 before actually moving on to dinner. And I think he's just terrible because people 221 00:16:21.549 --> 00:16:23.750 don't want that. People don't go out of the office, they don't go 222 00:16:23.830 --> 00:16:26.830 to dinner somewhere to have that sort of presentation. They may want to have 223 00:16:26.909 --> 00:16:32.710 a light touch on the site from selfs person or an executive from the organization, 224 00:16:32.750 --> 00:16:34.779 because obviously they are there. You know, someone is paying for their 225 00:16:36.179 --> 00:16:40.460 food and drinks. But we see the Seine mistakes happening. Do you see 226 00:16:40.460 --> 00:16:44.059 any as a mistake being made in the Organization of this? Even so, 227 00:16:44.580 --> 00:16:49.649 I guess you have recommendation of things to avoid when you run events. Well, 228 00:16:49.809 --> 00:16:52.889 you know, let me why don't I kind of give you my instead 229 00:16:52.889 --> 00:16:56.090 of like things to avoid, why don't I give you my things to do, 230 00:16:56.330 --> 00:17:00.490 which would include things to avoid? First as, you got to get 231 00:17:00.529 --> 00:17:04.640 buy in and participation from the right people internally your company. As I said 232 00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:08.559 before, executive events, you need to bring your a team. Generally speaking, 233 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.640 you're a startup or smaller company, executives wants a network and socialize with 234 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:18.950 other executives. They want to hear your thought leadership story from a senior leader, 235 00:17:18.349 --> 00:17:22.069 not, you know, maybe not, maybe the sales rap or the 236 00:17:22.269 --> 00:17:25.190 or the see and you know, depending on the size of your company. 237 00:17:25.190 --> 00:17:27.910 I mean, obviously, if you go to an executive dinner with Cisco. 238 00:17:29.309 --> 00:17:32.980 You're not expecting the CEO of Cisco to be there to address you. But 239 00:17:33.259 --> 00:17:37.059 we deal with a lot of startups and you know, with startups often it's 240 00:17:37.099 --> 00:17:40.740 the case that's the CEO, the founder of the CTO, and you really 241 00:17:40.819 --> 00:17:45.609 have to have, you know, that really tight coordination between sales and marketing 242 00:17:45.849 --> 00:17:48.210 and the exact team. So, you know, what I've noticed in terms 243 00:17:48.250 --> 00:17:52.730 of the events that I've been putting on is that when a company has done 244 00:17:52.730 --> 00:17:56.329 these types of events before and they know how to do them, you know 245 00:17:56.490 --> 00:17:59.680 that they have a lot of success, you know. But if these types 246 00:17:59.720 --> 00:18:02.799 of events are new to them, they haven't done them before, they don't 247 00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:07.720 understand the fact that it's thought leadership type of conversation, and then that's when 248 00:18:07.720 --> 00:18:10.720 I see companies sort of get into trouble. The second point I would say 249 00:18:10.759 --> 00:18:12.109 is, and this is sort of touches on what I just said, which 250 00:18:12.109 --> 00:18:17.390 is the objective really here is to educate and build your thought leadership. Now, 251 00:18:17.549 --> 00:18:19.750 yeah, executives are busy people, you know. You know, most 252 00:18:19.789 --> 00:18:22.589 of them are not going to take the time to attend your event just, 253 00:18:22.910 --> 00:18:26.109 you know, just for a good meal and wine. They attend because they're 254 00:18:26.140 --> 00:18:30.980 interested in and looking to learn something about the topic of your you know, 255 00:18:30.099 --> 00:18:33.660 sort of thought leadership talk that you're going to give, and so they've already 256 00:18:33.660 --> 00:18:40.259 shown interest in problem set that your company and your solution addresses. Right. 257 00:18:40.579 --> 00:18:44.450 So so during the event, you know, focus on educating and influencing, 258 00:18:44.730 --> 00:18:48.890 influencing their point of view around the subject, but avoid any type of company 259 00:18:48.890 --> 00:18:52.890 or product sales pitch, because if you do the thought leadership well, what 260 00:18:52.130 --> 00:18:56.759 what generally happens, what I've seen time and time again, is that you 261 00:18:56.599 --> 00:19:00.759 get their interest. Right, what happens is they start naturally just asking you 262 00:19:00.920 --> 00:19:07.240 questions about your company and your company's solution and how you help customers solve this 263 00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:10.349 problem. So you'd get to do a little bit of a pitch anyway, 264 00:19:10.630 --> 00:19:15.109 but you do it in a nonthreatening kind of way where they're asking you for 265 00:19:15.269 --> 00:19:18.710 it versus you pushing it on that and that's and that's definitely very helpful. 266 00:19:18.750 --> 00:19:23.230 I mean, we being having experience in being in a lot of self cycles. 267 00:19:23.700 --> 00:19:26.900 It's a little bit like when someone asked you what you do after being 268 00:19:27.339 --> 00:19:32.420 warmly introduced by one of your clients to someone at yours, end up in 269 00:19:32.460 --> 00:19:34.700 the conversation. That is much more you can you can tell from the body 270 00:19:34.740 --> 00:19:40.130 language and once you've got someone say okay, well, you actually smart people. 271 00:19:40.329 --> 00:19:42.450 You know your stuff. It was an interesting conversation. You have an 272 00:19:42.490 --> 00:19:45.890 interesting point of you I'm interested about your point of view and the way you 273 00:19:47.009 --> 00:19:48.890 look at things and I'd like to know more about your solution. Yeah, 274 00:19:48.930 --> 00:19:53.160 it is indeed a very, very, very good step in the process, 275 00:19:53.240 --> 00:19:57.799 or at least a very, very helpful way to turn the situation around and 276 00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:03.440 offer the pitch. I'm yeah, leadership allows you to establish credibility up front, 277 00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:07.589 right, and then that sort of lowers their guard and then ends up 278 00:20:07.630 --> 00:20:11.869 with them asking you questions that that you can then use to go into your 279 00:20:11.910 --> 00:20:15.990 company and your and your solution. So yeah, absolutely, thank you very 280 00:20:15.029 --> 00:20:18.390 much both for the for the insight to them. I mean there is a 281 00:20:18.470 --> 00:20:22.500 lot of experience that you shared with us and was thankful for that. If 282 00:20:22.579 --> 00:20:26.180 anyone wants to King toquease you. If anyone of our lease now wants to 283 00:20:26.220 --> 00:20:30.579 get in touch whiz Bo row belts, what is the best way to connect 284 00:20:30.579 --> 00:20:33.299 with you? Sure? Well, probably the best way to connect with me, 285 00:20:33.380 --> 00:20:37.970 as my personal email address was just just a Baux Roberts at gmailcom. 286 00:20:38.369 --> 00:20:42.250 I also have the YAHOOCOM and you know most of the others as well, 287 00:20:42.289 --> 00:20:48.769 but box Roberts at gmailcom, which is just bea. You are Oberts at 288 00:20:48.809 --> 00:20:52.920 Gmail. You can also find me on twitter at Bo Roberts and and also 289 00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:56.839 linkedin as well. Accident. Excellent. What thank you very much for a 290 00:20:57.039 --> 00:21:00.440 time. Today's been a fantastic tooking to you. Really appreciates your time and 291 00:21:00.519 --> 00:21:03.829 insight. I'm again thank you very much, book well, thanks for having 292 00:21:03.829 --> 00:21:10.349 me where. I really enjoyed it. operatics has redefined the meaning of revenue 293 00:21:10.430 --> 00:21:15.950 generation for technology companies worldwide. While the traditional concepts of building and managing inside 294 00:21:15.950 --> 00:21:21.940 sales teams inhouse has existed for many years, companies are struggling with a lack 295 00:21:21.980 --> 00:21:27.180 of focus, agility and scale required in today's fast and complex world of enterprise 296 00:21:27.299 --> 00:21:34.369 technology sales. See How operatics can help your company accelerate pipeline at operatics dotnet. 297 00:21:36.210 --> 00:21:40.289 You've been listening to be tob revenue acceleration. To ensure that you never 298 00:21:40.329 --> 00:21:44.609 miss an episode, subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast player. Thank 299 00:21:44.650 --> 00:21:45.730 you so much for listening. Until next time,