Welcome To Theinquisitor Podcast

#BradMcDonald was the captain of a nuclear submarine before he retired from the navy and became a salesman. Going from being the master of his own destiny where his word was law, responsible for the lives and security of millions in his hands, to a sweaty handed, gibbering wreck terrified by secretaries giving hem a hard time the other end of a phone, Brad documents his journey from sales dud to sales stud! Author of the excellent book THE ART AND SKILL OF SALES PSYCHOLOGY (UK link), Brad and I discuss the science behind the art of selling, sales psychology and sales management. Today, Brad is one of the home office coaches for the Sandler franchisee network so he gets to speak to a lot of messed up, sick puppies like me! He had his own franchise for many years and prior to that sold financial products. He explains the foundations of the Sandler selling system, Transactional Analysis. Sandler has great technique which works well on their own BUT, if you understand the psychological underpinnings to the system

#DavidWalsh has a #YouTube subscriber base of over 150,000 people built by using the tactics he explains in this interview. He's taken his clients from being an also ran to number 1 in their market. We discuss Tim Berners-Lee's view on the internet and cat videos, outsourcing video production and how to create content that is sticky, appeals to YouTube's algorithm, gets people coming back time and again, builds your subscriber base with the right kind of subscribers. We explore what not to do, what to do, how to do it. We talk about story telling, on screen presence, audio, video, design, structure, keywords, vlogging, mobile video, thumbnails and headlines. You can see David at  https://www.youtube.com/user/DavidWalshOnline  or via his LinkedIn profile  https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidwalshonline/ - - - If you would like to be a guest on my podcast, please email marcus@laughs-last.com and we can chat about how you can bring value to my audience and how I can get you some targeted exposure Thanks for listeni

#BarbGiamanco is VP Sales #ECHOListeningIntelligence, author of #TSW #TopSalesWorld #Top50SalesBook2019 #TheNewHandshakeSalesMeetsSocialMedia chats to me about the importance of listening and asking exceptional questions We discuss how listening is a catalyst for success in #Sales, #ChannelSales & #Partnerships, #Management and #Recruiting & #Hiring. Barb and I had a very direct conversation about what holds businesses, leaders, managers and salespeople back, how poor listening can negatively impact partnerships and why we don't seem to learn from our very obvious mistakes. We also explore the importance of continuous learning and the effect it can have on your career and your culture. Have a listen and please comment, like and share. Get in touch with both of us and definitely check out the books we each recommend -- If you are the owner or CEO of a technology company in the £10m-50m revenue range, and your goal is to grow your business and achieve real, sustainable hypergrowth with highly engaged an

"Is curing people a viable business model?" - does this question asked by Goldman Sachs raise the hackles on your neck or make you think, "that sounds like a reasonable question"? Why as a society are we asking the wrong questions? #JonThorSigurleifsson is a #TechnologyEvangelist and #CorporatePunk whose purpose is to inspire us to ask better questions and better the lives of those he serves and wider society. He delivers a refreshing, well considered, disruptive message. Yes, he is an idealist but also very much a pragmatist. We cover a wide range of societal, commercial and moral questions in a lively discussion and I can't wait to have him back for another conversation about asking the right, tough questions to which we might not want the answers but need to be asked. We draw on our diverse international and commercial experiences, we discuss value, ethics, priorities that are affecting us today with the stranglehold of the global financial system, corporate selfish-self interest pitted against human right

#PeteNicholls, CEO of #HubDo, is a pioneer. A pioneer is man with arrows in his back. Veteran of the channel, Pete  has pioneered ideas that are now the norm across the tech industry. He worked for Dimension Data (now NTT) and Cisco, and today HubDo is a Platinum Partner for #HubSpot, he represents #PandaDoc and a growing portfolio of vendors.He established HubDo in 2011 when he spotted an opportunity in the growth area of #Martech championing the concept and practice of #UnifiedBusiness. In 2019 HubDo created #HubDoCloud, the first multivendor "Cloud as a Service" (ClaaS) for Unified Business Solutions. With a variety of ISVs, HubDoCloud simplifies the selection, integration, provisioning and management of per-Client application clouds to support industry solutions. Pete's worked both sides of the fence and today works closely with #agencies and he shares his insights on what works, what doesn't and what is coming in the near future.  He is leading the way in helping vendors develop a #2TierChannel model hel

#JayAllen is a friend and a client of mine. Founder of MyTrueNorth and the SCALE growth blueprint, Jay has studied the reasons behind 153 successful business failures and identified why businesses fail and what successful business do to stay successful, scale up and retain wealth for their owners. He chats with me about how to add a zero to your personal disposable income. His history is fascinating and he tells his story with passion, compassion and absolute authenticity. He is a man on a mission. This is a genuinely compelling conversation with a man who puts ethics before self-interest. He discusses the experience of true service, the heavy price he had to pay personally and how his failures, PTSD and personal injuries have helped mould him into the man he is today. We discuss at length why people get stuck, stay stuck and how finding your purpose, underpinned by your values, playing to your strengths drives incredible results. Jay is someone who literally has lived in the trenches and doesn't base his ide

#DylisGuyan is a rabidly passionate about #sales and selling as I am. This is a firecracker of an interview. Dylis specialises today in helping SMEs sell into corporate clients. We talk about what makes a great salesperson, what makes selling great and we offer at least 13 #salestips and #salestactics that you can employ immediately We discuss how to get the prospect to buy on value instead of worrying about price and cost so get paid what you are worth. We identify how to get business class and 1st class travel when clients want you to go to see them. And we pinpoint how to diagnose the real, personal, emotional problem to build a compelling business case. We debate how managers can make or break a sales team, why they are caught in a trap and why leadership teams are failing them. Exploring the effect of self-concept on your performance is so important. The biggest challenge you face is calming the inner critic and reframing the noise in your head so you establish equal business stature, know your rights as

#SamSethi is a technologist with a powerful commercial vision. He was employee number 20 in #Microsoft in the UK, he worked at Netscape when you had to explain what a browser is, he brought #TechCrunch to Europe and has been a key influencer in the evolution of many of the world's ubiquitous technologies. Today Sam is pioneering #voice as the new HTML as CEO of #MadeInHead We discuss the pitfalls of #venturecapital, the hangover of #miltonfriedman on corporate culture and misdirected priorities towards short-term results leaving our economies and our companies exposed to China and companies like #Amazon who fly in the face of being slaves to #shareholdervalue. Sam shares a wealth of insights into the future of technology and its impact on the evolution of business and how we work. We discuss our favourite books and influencers. You can hear Sam interviewing me about how to cut through the noise, get to decision makers and shorten sales cycles, get paid premium and close more often here: https://www.linkedin.c

#DavidSloly is an award winning marketer who has helped build some of the world's largest and most successful channels. Story teller, best selling author, journalist, broadcaster, accidental creative director and marketing automation expert, David discusses how he helped Microsoft grow sign ups and engagement with their partner network of 25,000 partners and rescue a failing channel partner portal. We discuss the mistakes most companies make in their aborted attempts to create dialogue with their audience and establish trust & relevance because they market selfishly, focus on the wrong end of the problem and insist on talking about what matters to them not their customers. We dig into why emotion is more powerful than reason and logic in sales and in marketing to drive new behaviour and encourage decisions from buyers. He introduces an elegantly simple technique for creating powerful ideas that have helped him help his clients to scale massively, fast and without the wheels falling off. David is co-founde

I interviewed #GerardTannam, MD of Island Bridge, a branding agency with a difference. Gerard explains what branding is and isn't, how it affects your relationship with your current and future customers, and why getting it right can affect the uptake and trajectory of your idea or business. Your brand describes the relationship you have with your customer or target audience. He gives several real world stories to explain how branding works, what you can do to develop a strong brand and change the behaviour of your customers, your partners, your suppliers and entire nations. Gerard has used branding to cut road deaths in Ireland by nearly 60% over the past couple fo decades, he's helped grow hotel chain sales, improve customer retention, reduce waste and drive sales. Please forgive my tinny sounding voice. I say comparatively little and Gerard is clear as a bell. He is well worth listening to. - - Please subscribe, like and share. Feel free to comment and if there is a topic on sales, sales management, sales r

#RichardFosterFletcher discusses #CustomerExperience and #PartnerExperience with me. We explore culture, recruitment, training, leadership and technology. We identify potential stumbling blocks and how the new kids on the block represent a real existential threat to the old guard software and technology giants. We kick off with the big question, which is how do we use technologies like #businessintelligence, #machinelearning and #artificialintelligence to help us ask better questions. If you want better answers, ask better questions. New technologies allow us to identify patterns and use them to ask better questions Did you know that #Mercedes are doubling their income per customer by having customers subscribe to their cars? Why is China such a huge threat and what do we need to learn to adapt or die? How do you create a frictionless experience for the end customer whether you are selling direct or with partners? Why has IT missed the opportunity to attain their place in the C-suite and what opportunity do C

An oft overlooked truth of partner/channel management is that you are dealing with people. People do things for their reasons, not your reasons. Channel partners are in business for their reasons, not your reasons. They don't lie awake at night, excited, thinking about selling your product. Perhaps they should, but what you NOT doing that makes them see you as a commodity, an interruption? In a very lively debate with #OlivierChoron the best practices and mistakes being made by vendors looking to scale their channel we explore the impact of good and bad use of PRM (Partner Relationship Management), niching, targeted channel marketing, expectation management, segmentation and differentiation. Olivier says that "Channel sales is a sales role with a massive coordination hat on." And he's right. We discuss the qualities and competencies needed to be an ultra successful channel manager and channel chief. These roles are closer to a general manager and a chief executive than they are to a sales manager or VP of sal

#MikeAdams is best-selling author of "7 Stories Every Salesperson Must Tell". Mike has gone from zero to hero in 4 completely new vertical markets selling both complex and commoditised products and services internationally using the power of 7 stories. Human beings can't tear away their attention from a good story and Mike explains why and how to craft a good business story for the 7 key functions: Personal Key Staff Company Insight Success Values Teaching He coaches me through the process of developing my own customer success story to demonstrate how to build a powerful story for yourself. Experience has taught me that good stories help salespeople shortcut the need to demonstrate products or services, do presentations, write proposals by helping their prospects take care of their concerns in their own imaginations.  Sandler Rule: "The best presentation you ever do, your prospect will never see" A good story helps the listener see and experience themselves in the role of the key characters with the salesper

#KieranKrohn was named the world's best #channelmanager at #Hubspot. Now to do that in Hubspot means you have to be very special because they have a very powerful and effective #channelsalesprogram.  Kieran is 31 and has only been in sales for 7 years, so his achievement is remarkable. It was humbling to learn how he works in genuine partnership with his channel. Would it surprise you to learn that he spends 75% of his time every day coaching partners 1-to-1 and some group coaching 25% in direct prospecting activity? He shared his habits around mind-body-spirit that help him stay sharp, his #growthmindset, his cadence of mutual #accountability that he has with his #channelpartners. He explains the critical importance of understanding his partners' C-suite and salespeople's business, their personal ambitions and growth objectives for their business, their exit strategy, their challenges and adding value to their business. Focusing on them and their business means he outsells all the others in a vital and compe

#HilmonSorey, co-Founder of #ClozeLoop, co-developer of #TriangleSelling and co-author of #TheSalesEnablementPlayBook,#SalesPlaybooks: The Builder's Toolkit, #SalesDevelopment chats to me about his experience working with series- A, B, C and D technology scale ups and the horrific acts of idiocy and self-sabotage he's seen repeated that are wasting growth opportunities. Learn from the depressingly deep scar-tissue Hilmon and I have earned over the past 3 decades, serving scale up founders and CEOs, building their teams, helping them achieve exits to cash out like bandits or to crash and burn into anonymity and poverty. Learn from the mistakes we have seen countless founders make with poor planning, failure to implement a joined up marketing, business development, sales, account management, customer success, customer service experience. Bringing costly business in through the front door, only to let it out the back door is STUPID but some many companies focus on new business and don't focus on retention. We've

The tastiest plate of food, that looks like dog food isn't nearly as appealing as one that is presented well. The same applies to video for business.Get it wrong and the effect is ruined. Get it right and great things happen #EvelyneBrink coaches CXO's and professionals who want to use video to build their business, raise their profile and establish a strong personal brand. If you need to convince an audience, promote your products or services or become known as an expert in your field, video is a fantastic medium. Unfortunately, most videos produced by well intentioned but unskilled practitioners are excruciating to watch. The result. Dwell time of a few seconds, objective missed, time and money wasted. Evelyne is an actress, comedienne, internationally renowned Madonna impersonator, coach and all bon viveur. She shares 16 easy to apply tips that can turn your video nightmares into 24 hour a day sales engines that attract the right people, engage prospects in dialogue and build your reputation as the go to e

"The customer is not always right but when they wrong, it's often our fault" - Amy Woodall In this interview Amy shines a glaring light on the idiocy of traditional sales and marketing culture. Looking after your customers is the cheapest way of growing your profits. It can cost 6-25 times more to win new customers than to keep them. Amy teaches companies why putting the customer at the heart of everything they do, paying real service, not lip service, to customer experience is the best investment you can make in your business. We discuss how to hire great customer service and customer experience representatives who retain and grow your loyal customers and remain loyal themselves. And we identify the biggest red flag to help you prevent making bad CX hires who will cause you loses and lose you clients. Companies that focus on getting business in through the front door and let it out of the back door are focused on the wrong end of the problem. It makes no sense to invest a lot of money attracting prospects, i

#TimRoberts is one of my role models. He is a deeply valued friend and an inspiration to me and many in our network. He was recognised in March 2019 by all of the #SandlerFranchise owners when he was voted the #DavidHSandlerAward winner for his contribution to our community. Tim and I discuss selling with honour. What is sacred to Tim? Trust, honour, integrity are his guiding principles. He explores the guiding principles that have helped him become a giant in his market and in the #SandlerNetwork. We explore the meaning and realities of #service and #contribution. These are not tree hugger speak for rolling over and being the whipping boy for your customers or being run ragged in servitude. They take courage and vulnerability. They require you to have a "no hostage" policy & culture, no judgement, a growth mindset. Tim's core values are based in trust & justice. He is the keeper of the Sandler brand. His approach to selling is refreshingly judgement free. What makes him stand apart from this competit

#FraserHay is the most accomplished marketer I have ever met. He approaches marketing as a science, he is utterly obsessed with testing and measuring what works, what doesn't and why not? He is prolific, methodical and effective. Fraser is founder of the Grow You Business Club, best selling author of 20+ books. He lives 14 miles past the back of beyond in Scotland and wins clients globally without ever leaving his house. I've worked with Fraser over the past 13 years to develop his sales process and he has integrated sales and marketing into a continuous, fully integrated process which will take your breath away He shares dozens of tips and tricks that help you generate traffic, backlinks, exposure and automate leads, to self-disqualify non-prospects and create opportunities that convert into cash. https://www.gybtv.net/grow-your-business-school-2019/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z05B5g_zCf0 -- If you are the owner or CEO of a technology company and your goal is to grow your business and achieve real, sust

YAWN! Who the hell wants to listen to an hour of some Canadian trainer going on about planning and systems? If you're wise, you will. #AndrewWall routinely helps his clients achieve triple digit growth in a manageable and controlled manner. He retains and grows his clients, generates an insane volume of referrals by practicing what he preaches. Andrew is a #sales and #salesmanagement veteran with 30+ years experience, the last 12 with Sandler, Milton, Ontario. Andrew is known for his rigorous planning and execution based on systems. His clients achieve significantly higher growth than standard thanks to the up front effort he encourages them to make in identifying their #values, #mission and #planning. He has systems for everything. These systems help his clients control their growth, know well in advance if there is a problem and prevent those problems from happening. We discuss designing your future business, building a roadmap to get there from where you are now, recruiting the right people, setting them u