Summit officially begins tomorrow! Here’s a round-up of some presenters you can expect to see this week.
BJ Lownie of Strategic Proposals LLC.
Next week is the SAVO Sales Enablement Summit, being held in the Hyatt Regency Chicago. I had the pleasure of attending this event as an attendee last year and found it to be exceptional from all perspectives. From the keynote, Steven Levitt (he of Freakonomics fame), to the breakout sessions and the after-hours networking events, everything was extremely well done, very worthwhile and professional.
This year I am participating as a proud partner and supporter of SAVO, especially as regards their RFP and Proposal Pro applications. At the event, I will co-present a session, with Iron Mountain, have a booth in the vendors showcase and participate in several networking events. I am very excited to meet many of the clients with whom I’ve spoken over the past several months, as well as meeting new clients, at this event. I’ve no doubt there will be a great deal of enthusiasm for the SAVO RFP and Proposal Pro applications and I’m excited to be a part of this event.
See you in Chicago next week.
BJ Lownie is truly “Passionate about Proposals”. He has 30+ years’ experience within the proposal arena, has worked on 100’s of proposals and has had 1000’s of people attend one of his presentations or workshops. BJ is a founding member, an accredited Professional and elected Fellow of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP). Together with Jon Williams, BJ is the co-author of the long-running and very popular proposal blog, “The Proposal Guys” (www.theproposalguys.com). BJ is the co-author of the recently published Proposal Essentials: Win More Win More Easily (available on Amazon).
Jayme Sperring of Scientific Drilling.
1. What aspect of your presentation will be most valuable to attendees?
For companies that face the same challenges in sales productivity, communication and enabling average performers, I will be sharing a case study that highlights how Scientific Drilling’s instance of the SAVO solution has become an integral part to our us effectively navigating change management.
2. What do you hope to take away from this event?
I look forward to further validating our existing approach with sales enablement and incorporating any best practices currently being utilized by peers in other industries.
3. How do you use SAVO? What do you like best about partnering with SAVO?
I personally utilize SAVO for leadership communications, market intelligence and sales accountability, including metrics.
4. What is your definition of sales enablement?
Delivering just-in-time confidence into the sales process.
Jayme Sperring is a former professional baseball player for the Baltimore Orioles and Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing for Scientific Drilling International. Jayme is responsible for sales leadership, strategic account management, sales effectiveness, and global marketing where he also consults internally on the development and implementation of business strategy.
Tamara Schenk of Miller Heiman.
1. What aspect of your presentation will be most valuable to attendees?
The key findings from our 2014 Sales Best Practice Study on the pursuit of performance are highly valuable for all attendees in a sales leadership position. Specifically for sales enablement leaders, the three core behaviors that drive world class sales performance are essential for enablement frameworks and enablement services, because they connect the dots between engagement and messaging principles, collaboration and performance.
Based on those findings, we will present an outline for a next level sales enablement framework, designed with the customers at the core. Stay tuned and don’t miss our presentation!
2. What do you hope to take away from this event? Is this your first time attending Summit?
This will be my first time attending the Summit. I’m very much looking forward to connecting and engaging with the broader sales enablement community in person, to learn more about their specific challenges and potential solutions, and to gain new perspectives. That’s key for me, because I want to make my work highly relevant and valuable for sales enablement leaders, always forward thinking, driving effective sales force transformation toward the 21st century – with passion and compassion.
3. How do you use SAVO? What do you like best about partnering with SAVO?
Partnering with SAVO is for us a perfect alignment of research, thought-leadership and customer management strategies powered by an ahead-of-its-time technology provider who knows exactly how to address a customer’s business issues.
4. What is your definition of sales enablement?
Vision:
Sales enablement drives sales performance and sales force transformation toward a 21st century, connected, creative, value-creating, passionate customer-core client enablement community
Mission:
Sales enablement builds the intersection between sales operations and marketing by designing and executing a customer-core sales force enablement framework
Purpose:
Sales enablement exists because the creative, relationship-based 21st century economy requires a holistic, strategic approach to
selling in terms of value creation to enable clients to achieve their desired outcomes.
Values:
From push to pull, with passion and compassion
Tamara Schenk serves as Research Director for the Miller Heiman Research Institute, coming from T-Systems, where she led its global sales force enablement and transformation team. Tamara has enjoyed more than twenty years of professional, international experience in different industries such as technology, automotive and utility. She built her experience in different sales, consulting, business development and sales enablement roles.
Julie Zimmer of HUB International.
1. What aspect of your presentation will be most valuable to attendees?
My presentation will help attendees recognize that while sales people are our ultimate marketers – we have to understand how they behave and how they sell to fully leverage a solution. Further, education and collaboration are the keys in helping sales professionals understand what marketing can and can’t deliver. While marketing must understand the limitations and bandwidth issues faced by sales people. Ultimately, sales people will always want to overlay their own “brand” on what they put in front of customers so if you can’t beat ‘em – join ‘em!
2. What do you hope to take away from this event? Is this your first time attending Summit?
I want to learn more about making it easy for both sides to access and distribute information allows folks to spend more time focusing on the quality of the sales assets and messaging. I’d also like to increase my understanding of how sales people do their jobs as opposed to trying to tell them how they should do their jobs. This type of dialogue goes a long way towards getting sales’ buy in.
3. How do you use SAVO? What do you like best about partnering with SAVO?
No – I’m a Summit veteran! At Hub, we use SAVO as our intranet – the solution has become our glue. We acquire businesses so rapidly that having one place to go for information has been invaluable.
4. What is your definition of sales enablement?
Making it easy for front line sales professionals to access quality information that addresses client needs at the point in the sales cycle where it is needed.
Julie Zimmer is Vice President of Sales and Middle Market Segment Leader for HUB International, and has over 25 years of insurance industry experience. In her current role, Julie serves on the Executive Committee of HUB International and contributes to the continued growth of the sales organization.
Paul Liberatore of Welch Allyn.
1. What aspect of your presentation will be most valuable to attendees?
I’ll be highlighting the latest findings on how buyers are buying in today’s market, as well as how sales reps need to respond to that change, and how we have used SAVO to support that
2. What do you hope to take away from this event? Is this your first time attending Summit?
I look forward to hearing some fresh perspective and insights that will make me rethink my assumptions.
3. How do you use SAVO? What do you like best about partnering with SAVO?
We use Sales Content Pro and Mobile Sales Pro to provide sellers with the materials they need to prepare for and conduct a buyer-seller conversation. However, our approach to sales enablement goes far beyond assets and collateral.
4. What is your definition of sales enablement?
I tell people that my Sales Enablement team and I are like “Q” in the James Bond movies.
Paul Liberatore is the Senior Manager of Sales Enablement at Welch Allyn, Inc. Paul Liberatore has been instrumental in creating a high-performing sales team that targets emerging business opportunities, drives higher market penetration, and meets or exceeds its sales targets by finding emerging business, working with mobilized purchasers within their client organizations, and partnering with their clients to deliver outcomes that meet their business needs.
Jamie Shanks of Sales for Life.
1. What aspect of your presentation will be most valuable to attendees?
I will share how to create a job change alert for existing clients and advocates so that you’ll receive an email if these individuals migrate to a new company!
2. What do you hope to take away from this event? Is this your first time attending Summit?
This will be my first Summit. My goal is to inspire sales enablement leaders to take action on social selling. The world is evolving fast, and sales professionals need to meet the buyer online. I’ll provide tips during my presentation that will be actionable and easily taught to attendees’ sales organizations.
3. How do you use SAVO? What do you like best about partnering with SAVO?
I’ve been a user of SAVO Inspire for one year. Inspire has created $100,000′s worth of opportunities for our business. The solution’s ability to speak directly to the buyer with digital sound bites and drive a call-to-action is unparalleled in traditional marketing assets.
4. What is your definition of sales enablement?
To arm a sales professional with actionable sales advice so they can improve their sales process.
Jamie Shanks is the co-owner of Sales for Life, which is build the definitive Social Selling training curriculum for companies all around the world. Jamie Shanks has personally trained 1,000’s of sales professionals on Social Selling, ranging from Start-Up to Fortune 100. Sales for Life’s curriculum has been “crowdsourced” from around the world, using the best practices in dozens of industries, and 1,000 of sales reps examples. Sales for Life’s vision is bring sales professionals together in a “peer-to-peer” learning environment, with collaboration as their fundamental goal.
Rick Baker of Citrix.
1. What aspect of your presentation will be most valuable to attendees?
I’ll discuss why understanding political and organizational obstacles is essential when attempting to align any company around a common enablement goal. Successful enablement requires more than investing in a platform or a system; it requires that leaders elevate the primary goals and interests of the field.Change management begins with aligned vision.
2. What do you hope to take away from this event? Is this your first time attending Summit?
The beauty of this event is networking with fellow practitioners. Learning and leveraging real experience is vital when attempting to maximize your investment. This will be my second time at Summit, and definitely not my last!
3. How do you use SAVO? What do you like best about partnering with SAVO?
SAVO is the enterprise enablement platform that allows the field to have ONE place to go to find content they need to effectively execute their role in the field with customers and partners. SAVO has also become the primary interface for enabling our partner community. We are planning to integrate more of the SAVO solution into the plan as adoption increases and specific thresholds are met.
4. What is your definition of sales enablement?
Empowering the field (direct sales and the channel) to leverage the RIGHT content at the RIGHT time with the RIGHT buyer, the combined effect being increased revenue.
Rick Baker has more than 20 years in technology sales and professional services. He has been an official Citrix employee for 4 years, but his relationship with Citrix spans 12 years. Currently, Rick is responsible for several areas including sales strategy, enabling the field to execute on the sales and services imperatives, measuring and improving overall productivity and driving effectiveness in our enterprise architecture.
Tim Riesterer of CVI.
1. What aspect of your presentation will be most valuable to attendees?
Attendees will get one big idea for each of the three value conversations your salespeople must master. These will be counter-intuitive ideas that many salespeople don’t do. Why? Because while all salespeople have good intentions, they often have the wrong instincts.
2. What do you hope to take away from this event? Is this your first time attending Summit?
SAVO’s Summit is quickly becoming the industry meeting on the topic of sales enablement. So, I’m looking forward to the ideas exchanged by those who are on the forefront of the fast-expanding strategy. And, it’s not my first event… I’ve been coming since the very first one!
3. How do you use SAVO? What do you like best about partnering with SAVO?
We use a customized version of SAVO Mobile Sales Pro to deploy our messaging content and conversation assets to clients. This provides continuous coaching and support for our clients’ sales forces, regardless of where they are. This capability is absolutely critical to realizing more successful customer conversations – which research suggests is the most important piece of the B2B sales cycle.
Sales reps are a company’s last bastion of competitive differentiation, and the SAVO for CVI application helps organizations assist reps in the moment, regardless of location, so they can be as effective as possible.
4. What is your definition of sales enablement?
Sales enablement is on its third phase. Initially, sales enablement was about getting everyone automated. Initially, the focus was on having the right technology, capturing all the opportunities, customer records and the administration of that information in one platform where reps could easily interact with it. Then, the second life was about demand generation – creating the demand for solutions, lead scoring and creating greater connectedness between marketing and sales through lead management to the handoff. Today, marketing and sales leaders are realizing that to truly enable their sales teams, they need to help them to have great conversations. A team may have the sales automation technology, as well as a sales process and lead system, but at the end of the day, sales reps still need to show up and say something different and memorable to the prospect or customer.
Given this, sales enablement is about enabling salespeople with the right story and right skills to deliver those stories in a way that creates, confirms and captures more value in their customer conversations.
Tim Riesterer has dedicated his career to improving the conversations salespeople have with prospects and customers. He is the co-author of two books on the subject: “Customer Message Management” and “Conversations That Win the Complex Sale” and has consulted and trained the top companies in the world. As chief strategy and marketing officer for Corporate Visions, he sets the direction and develops products for this leading marketing and sales messaging, tools and training company.
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