Aleasha Bahr is a sales strategist, speaker, best-selling author, and founder of the Black Sheep Sales Method. Because if it’s a fit, it’s a fact and there’s no selling involved. She has 15 years of experience customizing sales strategies to your personality, audience, and service (because sales is not a one-size-fits-all!) Her methods empower business owners to effortlessly convert up to 80% of their leads without pressure, pitching, or pretending to be someone else. Aleasha’s signature Black Sheep Sales Method is based on 15+ years of sales experience, tens of millions of dollars in services personally sold herself and sold by service providers she’s supported.

The post Sales as Market Research: Unlocking Insights for Marketing Success appeared first on Demandbase.

Kris Rudeegraap is the co-founder and CEO of Sendoso, the leading Sending Platform. Kris has more than a decade of sales experience and has spent time at Talkdesk, Yapstone, and Piqora. During that time, he discovered that creating meaningful engagements through direct mail and gifting was an effective way to drive demand and increase sales—which helped inspire the idea for Sendoso. Kris is a California native and CSU-Chico alum currently residing in the Bay Area.

Connect with Kris

Key takeaways

• Thought Leadership as a Growth Driver: Kris emphasizes the role of thought leadership in educating the market, inspiring internal teams, and generating quality leads.
• The Power of Direct Mail: Innovative direct mail campaigns, integrated with social and digital channels, can cut through saturated email inboxes and create memorable customer interactions.
• Leveraging AI for Sales Enablement: Kris outlines how tools like Clay, Hyperbound, and Grace are revolutionizing outreach, training, and account management.
• Category Creation: Educating the market is critical in emerging categories. Thought leadership and community building can amplify this effort.
• Social Media for Pipeline Growth: Consistently sharing content and creating employee-driven advocacy on platforms like LinkedIn can be a lead generation powerhouse.

Quotes

On Thought Leadership:
“Thought leadership inspires your team internally and builds trust externally, driving both brand value and pipeline growth.”

On Personalization:
“Customers don’t want just another email—they want relevance, authenticity, and creativity at every touchpoint.”

Highlights from this episode

What inspired you to start Sendoso?

Kris reflected on his early career in software sales and the challenges he encountered with email saturation, even eight years ago. He noticed that traditional channels like email were becoming less effective in capturing buyers’ attention, and customers were increasingly ignoring generic messages. To stand out, Kris started sending handwritten notes, gifts, and swag manually. These personalized touches worked exceptionally well but were time-consuming and inefficient.

Recognizing this gap in the market, Kris envisioned an automated solution to streamline and scale these efforts. This led to the creation of Sendoso, a platform that allows companies to integrate personalized gifting into their sales and marketing strategies. Kris emphasized that the genesis of Sendoso was rooted in solving a real-world problem with a practical, scalable solution.

What is the importance of thought leadership for B2B companies?

Kris explained that thought leadership is essential for B2B companies because it serves three main purposes:

• Educating the Market: Especially in new or emerging categories, buyers need to understand the value of a product or service. Thought leadership helps companies position themselves as experts while educating prospects on how to integrate their offerings into their workflows.
• Inspiring Employees: Thought leadership isn’t just external; it motivates employees to take part in the conversation. Kris shared how his posts inspired colleagues across departments—whether in sales, marketing, or product—to start sharing their own insights, fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation.
• Generating Quality Leads: Buyers today rely heavily on peer recommendations and authentic content rather than direct sales pitches. Thought leadership attracts engaged prospects by addressing their pain points and providing actionable advice, ultimately driving lead generation.

What strategies can companies use to get started with thought leadership?

Kris shared several practical approaches for companies looking to build thought leadership:

• Idea Collection: Maintain a running Google Doc or similar platform where team members can jot down ideas, even as simple “chicken scratch” notes.
• Using AI Tools: Tools like ChatGPT can help refine raw ideas, provide additional perspectives, or create first drafts. AI can also speed up research and validation of content ideas.
• Customer Interviews: Meeting customers, whether casually over coffee or through formal interviews, provides invaluable insights. Listening to customers’ language and understanding their pain points can inspire relevant and impactful content.
• Podcasts as a Forcing Function: Kris pointed out that participating in podcasts like OnBase is a great way to crystallize ideas, think critically, and share them with a broader audience.

How can thought leadership contribute to pipeline growth?

Thought leadership plays a critical role in driving pipeline growth by enabling companies to engage with audiences in meaningful ways. Kris explained:

• Social Media Integration: Sharing thought leadership content, such as LinkedIn posts, videos, or snippets from podcasts, can amplify a company’s reach and influence.
• Recycling Content: Repurpose thought leadership pieces into various formats—such as PS sections in outbound emails or follow-ups from account managers—to keep the messaging consistent and relevant across channels.
• Earning vs. Buying an Audience: Unlike paid media campaigns, which have a temporary impact, thought leadership builds a loyal, organic audience that delivers long-term value and strengthens the brand.
• AI Tools for Snippet Creation: Modern AI tools can help chop up long-form content into bite-sized, engaging pieces, making it easier to distribute and sustain audience interest.

What metrics or strategies can measure the impact of thought leadership?

Measuring thought leadership’s impact is often a mix of direct and indirect metrics. Kris highlighted:

• Trackable Metrics: Use UTM parameters on social media posts and links to track click-through rates and engagement. Monitor spikes in organic and direct website traffic that align with thought leadership campaigns.
• Correlation Analysis: While it’s not always a direct path from a thought leadership post to a sale, Kris’s team looks for correlations between content and other KPIs, such as lead quality or pipeline growth.
• Long-Term Investment: Some benefits, like brand awareness and community engagement, are harder to quantify but have a lasting impact. Kris encouraged leaders to see thought leadership as part of a broader, long-term strategy rather than obsessing over immediate ROI.

What is the biggest challenge in B2B sales today?

Kris identified orchestration as the biggest challenge. With so many tools, data points, and channels available, the difficulty lies in aligning these resources into a seamless, synchronized process. Misalignment between sales, marketing, and operations can lead to inefficiencies, missed opportunities, and inconsistent customer experiences.

Kris emphasized the importance of building systems and processes that integrate tools effectively, ensuring that every team member has the right data and insights at the right time.

What’s your favorite direct mail campaign from Sendoso?

Kris shared his favorite campaign—a Halloween-themed piñata initiative. It combined SDR outreach, trade show promotions, and a dedicated web landing page to create a spooky, interactive experience. Social media posts of recipients unboxing the piñatas generated user-generated content, which was fed back into the campaign for even more visibility. The campaign was a resounding success, generating millions of dollars in pipeline and demonstrating the power of integrated direct mail efforts.

Tech recommendations

• Clay: AI-assisted outbound orchestration
• Hyperbound: AI coaching for sales teams
• Grace: AI-driven account management
• Feeder: A content aggregator

Resource recommendations

Books:

• Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

Newsletters:

• Hypergrowth Leadership
  
• Andy’s newsletter

Shout-outs

• Anthony Kennada, Founder & CEO at AudiencePlus Audience Plus, for his innovative community-building strategies.
• Andy Mewborn, Founder & Customer Support at Distribute, for his thought leadership as a seller-turned-founder.
  
• Carilu Dietrich, Hypergrowth Advisor, for her insightful newsletter on scaling businesses.

The post The CEO’s Guide to Transforming Thought Leadership into Sales Success appeared first on Demandbase.

Scott Clark, Vice President of America Sales at CTG, is a 30-year industry veteran helping clients achieve digital transformation. Mr. Clark earned a bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Butler University, a master’s degree in Management from Harvard University, and is a National Association of Corporate Directors member.

Prior to Computer Task Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTG), he was the VP of Sales at Ensono, a technology adviser and managed service provider. Before Ensono, he was the Vice President of Sales for the Managed Services Division at NTT Limited (NTT). Before NTT, he served as the Chief Marketing Officer at ConvergeOne.

Connect with Scott

Key takeaways

• Shift to Buyer-Centric Sales: Organizations must adapt to buyers’ preferences for self-research and personalized experiences, focusing on being consultative rather than seller-driven.
• Data-Driven Strategies: Leveraging data for better forecasting, decision-making, and personalization is essential for reducing sales cycles and improving customer engagement.
• Sales and Marketing Alignment: Collaboration between sales and marketing is critical to achieving consistent messaging, targeting, and driving efficiency in the customer journey.
• Adopting Technology: Tools like CRMs, marketing automation platforms, and AI-driven insights are foundational for enhancing sales processes and creating competitive differentiation.
• Change Management: Successfully navigating sales transformation requires leadership skills to manage mindset shifts, processes, and emotions associated with organizational change.
• Focus on Growth Metrics: Understanding and optimizing conversion rates, customer lifetime value, and demand generation efficiency are vital for sustainable growth.
• Importance of Data Literacy: Sales teams must be adept at interpreting and applying data insights to make informed decisions and strengthen customer relationships.

Quotes

On Buyer-Centric Models:

“Buyers expect to be taught, to learn something, and to gain knowledge in their decision-making process—not to be told what to do.”

On Personalization:

“Personalize it to me, align it with my organization and my role. Buyers today demand relevance at every step.”

Highlights from this episode

Why do you think sales has to shift to a buyer-centric, data-driven model?

Scott highlighted the changing behavior of B2B buyers, who now complete nearly 50% of their purchasing journey before engaging sales. Buyers expect tailored, relevant information that aligns with their organizational roles and challenges, rather than the traditional, seller-centric approach. He emphasized that a buyer-centric model is essential to build trust, reduce sales cycles, and enhance personalization. Scott also noted that organizations adopting this model gain a competitive edge by aligning with buyers’ expectations for efficiency and learning.

How can a traditional sales organization adopt a buyer-centric, data-driven model?

Scott outlined a systematic approach to transformation, beginning with assessing the current portfolio. Organizations need to identify which products are genuinely resonating with customers versus aspirational offerings. Aligning ideal customer profiles (ICPs) and unique selling propositions (USPs) with the portfolio is critical. Scott also stressed the importance of tailoring communications, utilizing account-based marketing (ABM), and integrating messaging with sales and marketing teams to provide consistent, personalized customer experiences.

What skills and tools are required to drive this transformation?

Scott emphasized the need for both leadership and technical skills. Leaders must excel in change management, effectively navigating mindsets and emotions during the shift from seller-centric to buyer-centric models. Sales teams should focus on consultative selling, using curiosity and questioning techniques to understand customer needs. Data literacy is increasingly important to interpret insights and apply them to strategy.

On the tools front, Scott highlighted CRM systems (like Salesforce), marketing automation platforms (e.g., HubSpot), and AI-driven tools for personalization and efficiency. These technologies enable clean data, process automation, and improved collaboration between sales and marketing.

How does this shift impact an organization’s growth?

Scott explained that a buyer-centric, data-driven approach drives measurable growth by increasing conversion rates, customer lifetime value, and the efficiency of demand generation efforts. Organizations can allocate resources more effectively, targeting high-potential opportunities and reducing wasted efforts. Enhanced alignment between sales and marketing accelerates adaptation to change, streamlines processes, and creates a foundation for scaling. Scott also emphasized the competitive advantage of having a well-oiled sales and marketing engine that differentiates the company in the marketplace.

What is the biggest challenge in B2B sales today?

Scott identified the alignment of sales and marketing as the most significant challenge. While easy to state, achieving true collaboration requires consistent communication, shared goals, and mutual accountability. Misalignment often leads to targeting the wrong prospects, inconsistent messaging, and wasted resources. Scott underlined the importance of mapping workflows and processes to ensure both teams are working together effectively toward shared business outcomes.

What tools or technologies do you recommend for sales transformation?

Scott stressed the foundational importance of CRM systems, like Salesforce or Dynamics, which serve as the “source of truth” for sales activities. He recommended using marketing automation platforms such as HubSpot to track top-of-funnel activities and integrate them with CRM data. Scott also praised account-based marketing tools (e.g., Demandbase) for improving targeting and engagement in enterprise sales. Collaboration tools like Slack and analytics platforms like Tableau were also highlighted as essential for fostering teamwork and data-driven decision-making.

Resource recommendations

Books:

• The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson: This book explores the importance of teaching, tailoring, and taking control in sales conversations.
  
• Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller: It emphasizes the power of storytelling in marketing to clarify messages and engage customers.
  
• Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross: This guide offers insights into building scalable sales processes and generating consistent revenue.

Blogs:

• HubSpot Blog: A comprehensive resource covering topics in marketing, sales, and customer service.
• Sales Hacker: Provides practical advice and strategies for modern sales professionals.

Newsletters:

• The Lean Startup Newsletter: Offers insights into agile methodologies and innovative business strategies.

Shout-outs

• Jill Rowley
• Aaron Ross

The post Traditional Sales to a Buyer-Centric Data-Driven Model appeared first on Demandbase.

This sales-exclusive user group offers an organic, comfortable space to connect with fellow Business and Sales Development peers, share your wins and challenges, and learn best practices from the experts around leveraging Demandbase to maximize efficiency and effectiveness.

Date: Thursday, December 12, 2024
Time: 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM PT

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