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Tips or frameworks for closing out calls/demos
Hi All! Curious if anyone has any good frameworks for closing out calls/demos? I am noticing team members getting to the end of calls and not closing them out consistently with wrap-ups or even next steps. Thanks! Ben
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I'm here to answer questions about "The Negotiator's Mindset"!
Thank you so much to everyone that joined us on the Ascender Teams Workshop last week on Friday! It was a great conversation and I really enjoyed chatting with you. We talked about the Negotiator's Mindset with a theme around guidance. The recap was posted yesterday, but I also wanted to open myself up to questions! Was…
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August 11, 2023 - Ascender Teams Workshop - The Negotiator's Mindset (Guidance) [Event Recap]
@Tim Caito joined us to chat through "The Negotiator's Mindset" from the Team's perspective. He covered things like how teams can change their approach to thinking about negotiations, what to negotiate for, and how we can focus on our relationships through the process. The folks on the call also brought some incredible…
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Anonymous question: "I just got my first-ever sales job. Give me all of your advice, please!"
I just got a LinkedIn message from someone that asked me if I'd be willing to post here on their behalf. Here's the full message (emphasis mine): I just accepted an offer from a SaaS company in Chicago to be an SDR. I've heard a lot of the cliché stuff, but I was hoping you'd ask your community about some real advice. What…
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August 4, 2023 - Ascender Insights - Selling to the COO [Event Recap]
Daria Morano and @Diana Sheley were live on August 4th and talked all about "Selling to the Chief Operating Officer". Daria is the COO at Solving IT and had some amazing tips! Some of the highlights included Daria sharing how you can hold her attention, research what role the COO has (since it can be quite different, org…
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Answering questions from "Selling to the COO"!
Wow! Thank you to everyone who spent time last week taking in all of the great information that Daria shared. I am thrilled we were able to touch on so many topics important to a COO. I will be glad to answer some additional questions regarding selling to the C-suite so share those in the comments section and I will get…
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Ascender Resources: Role Play Scenario & Feedback Template
During our Ascender Teams session on "Building an Effective Role Play Session", a question came up from @Brandt Hoffman about developing a resource that could be used as a template to help build more effective role play scenarios for both managers and sales talent. This resource will help you do exactly that. You'll be…
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Does anyone have any tips or recommendations for passing the final exam of the MEDDICC training?
Hey there, thank you for reading this question. I took the MEDDICC training over the last week, and felt as though I learned so much. I took Command of the Message a few years back, and felt that this MEDDICC training really shined a light on some of the holes in my game, particularly in the discovery process. I've been…
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Ascender Resources - Customer-Facing Quarterly Business Review
Based on an earlier Ascender conversation around Customer-Facing QBRs, we've build this template for you to leverage. Please let us know if you'd like to see additions or amendments to the template and we'll work to improve this over time.
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July 21, 2023 - Ascender Live - Influencing Decision Criteria Priorities [Event Recap]
@Antonella O'Day led this incredible session on working with your customers and prospects to help their prioritization around their Decision Criteria. The biggest theme was that what we're aiming to do isn't around changing their minds, but rather helping understand where they're most focused so that we can attach…
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July 14, 2023 - Ascender Teams - How to build an effective roleplay session [Event Recap]
@Antonella O'Day joined us to talk about building roleplay sessions from both the perspective of a manager, who is there to offer coaching, and the sales talent, who is there to improve! Check out some of the key tips that Antonella shares including the approach you should take, the mindset you should bring, and some…
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July 7, 2023 - Ascender Insights - Selling to the CRO [Event Recap]
Mike Mattei and @Patrick McLoughlin were live on July 7th and talked all about "Selling to the Chief Revenue Officer". Mike is the CRO at Bamboo Rose and had some amazing tips! Some great tips in here around how to uncover what kinds of metrics are important at the moment for each prospect, how remain fluid so you can rise…
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June 16, 2023 - Ascender Live - Positive Thinking & the Sales Mindset [Event Recap]
@Pouli Pouliopoulos joined us to talk about how thinking positive can be a serious game-changer, how there's plenty of room to build positive relationships and rapport in today's "zoom-first" culture, and included some great ice-breaker questions. You also won't want to miss his "magic trick" toward the beginning of the…
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June 9, 2023 - Ascender Teams - Building, Testing, & Developing Champions [Event Recap]
@Patrick McLoughlin joined us to discuss the process behind taking someone from a prospect to a Champion. Paddy Mac shared great tips around Champions like how you can find likely candidates, what traits they have, and even how to build some of the information-sharing. Let us know what you do to build Champions in the…
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Anonymous Question: "How deep are you researching competitors?"
We run into the same 5-6 companies over and over, but I'm starting to see more of these smaller startups pop up. We're a smaller organization, so I'll send stuff over to marketing for competitor research every time, but it's not always the most insightful stuff back. I'm newer, so I'm not sure exactly how everyone keeps…
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June 2, 2023 - Ascender Insights - Selling to the CISO [Event Recap]
Greg Surla and @John Boney delivered such a brilliant discussion to help people selling to the Chief Information Security Officer! It was filled to the end with great stories, tips, and takeaways that you'll be able to use when selling to this highly technical c-level professional! Greg told us very specific things we can…
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May 19, 2023 - Ascender Live Workshop - Value Based Conversations [Event Recap]
Our Ascender Live event was another fun one! Thanks to everyone who showed up live with some really amazing questions. @Antonella O'Day shed a ton of light during our conversation on how you can build value in discovery, some things SDRs can focus on, and then even gave some frameworks for asking questions that will help…
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We want your opinion: Q2 Workshop Topics
Hey Ascenders! We have some workshop topics we're looking into, but I wanted to bring it here to see what kinds of Live workshops you're all interested in for Q2. Some past topics are things like generating pipeline and the plan to make the plan working sessions. We're looking at revamping your customer-facing QBRs on…
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May 12, 2023 - Ascender Teams Workshop - Getting your team to think multi-threaded [Event Recap]
What an amazing event! First off, this one was incredibly interactive and we had lots of great folks sharing their take on multi-threading deals, what to look for in partners, the power of positive language, and so much more. @Tim Caito was our host and just kept offering amazing tip after amazing tip. If you weren't able…
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May 5, 2023 - Ascender Insights - Selling to the CPO (Chief People Officer) [Event Recap]
Dom Merritt and @John Boney came READY to share some really incredible tips on selling to the Chief People Officer. Dom's insights into what he's looking for paired up with John's takeaways and tips on how you can capitalize will truly impact how you're selling. Share what you thought and what stood out in the comments.
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issue getting access to EB
Hi Everyone, My team is selling ERP to SMB clients. A common issue we are facing is getting access to EBs. We must do a demo to build credibility with our potential champions to get access. Sometimes this is not enough, and we are still stuck. In this situation, I have tried executive alignments, or I have pushed reps to…
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Certification for Management
Hi, Are you developing a certification for sales management?
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April 21, 2023 - Ascender Live [Event Recap]
This month's Ascender Live was a revisit to our "Plan to Make the Plan" conversation that we started back in January. There were some great talking points around the franchise mindset and how you can reframe some of your existing plans to set yourself up for success. We briefly touched on this document which can help you…
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April 7, 2023 - Ascender Insights - Selling to the CMO [Event Recap]
Jori Ford and @Antonella O'Day went all-in on getting you the most detailed, intimate information on what CMOs are thinking as you go through your sales process. Find out what how Jori interprets things and what she wants to see from salespeople during their calls, how to get the CMOs attention, and some really creative…
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Where do you spend the most time?
When you use MEDDICC, what takes up the most time?
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March 17, 2023 - Ascender Live [Event Recap]
We had an excellent workshop on revamping customer-facing QBRs that went over how you can layer in more value, re-brand the name (and help adjust perception), and what kinds of resources you're looking for. We'll be working on some resources, so keep your eyes out for them! Though I'll definitely be letting @Remo Reale…
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Multiple EBs?
Hey 👋🏻 I'd be interested to hear people's take on having multiple EB's in your deal. I always thought there was one TRUE EB in a deal, but I might be wrong when talking about large, complex deals. What are your thoughts? Thanks!
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Getting to work with new departments
One of my goals is to engage other departments (Marketing, Finance, Operations) in order to drive new use-cases based on critical business issues where we can sell on value rather than price. My tendency to get to the decision makers of other departments would be to ask the current champions (technical team) to get an…
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March 3, 2023 - Ascender Insights - Selling to the CFO [Event Recap]
Jim Kelliher and @Marissa Bell joined us for this live conversation and WOW!!! There were some amazing questions and takeaways included. Listen in about what's important to the CFO, how they're thinking through the buying process, and a really great tip on how you can get in front of the CFO. Share your takeaways in the…
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How to know when to make something an opportunity?
Hi all - asking this question as it's been a topic of debate at the company I am currently at. We're a small company and still trying to define a lot of these things. I know as reps, we should always trying to be qualify out an opportunity, but what are the essential qualifications to make something an opp? Any advice…