Lowell Price on Strategic Account Prospecting and Account-Based Selling

Transcript

0:02 We have another episode of Tailwind.

0:04 Today we're joined by Lowel Price. Uh

0:06 Lel, tell us a little bit more about

0:08 yourself. Yeah, thanks Austin. First of

0:10 all, thanks for having me here. It's

0:12 always good to be talking about

0:13 prospecting. It's a topic that is near

0:16 and dear to my heart and I'm sure to

0:18 many of your your listeners as well. Um

0:21 my name is Lel Price. I'm a chief sales

0:24 officer with Chief Outsiders. I've been

0:27 in healthcare services and life sciences

0:29 as a growth executive for the past 25

0:31 years. Um, typically I've come in at key

0:35 inflection points uh for an organization

0:37 that either required u building from the

0:40 ground up transformation

0:43 or a turnaround. And I've worked in

0:45 organizations as large as GE Healthcare

0:48 and as small as homeare delivered which

0:51 was a smaller uh PEC firm. Um, and you

0:54 know, I'm really excited about today's

0:57 focus, uh, because typically when we

1:00 have a discussion about prospecting,

1:02 it's usually through the lens of a

1:04 demand generation campaign or, um, an

1:08 SDR approach in in sequence. And today

1:11 we're talking about it through the lens

1:13 of a strategic account executive or an

1:16 account owner which u I think it's it's

1:19 it's a different type of prospecting uh

1:21 that commands a lot of attention and and

1:23 isn't talked about enough.

1:25 >> Yeah. Yeah. I'm really excited to dive

1:27 into it. Um do you want saying a little

1:29 bit more about like the differences you

1:31 maybe compare contrast be like an SDR

1:34 versus strategic AE in the prospecting

1:36 lens?

1:37 >> Yeah. So when you when you think about

1:41 the typical and and I will say critical

1:44 activities that an SDR does, right?

1:47 They're typically typically volume and

1:50 activity based, right? It's a numbers

1:53 game that outreach is getting out to as

1:56 many people as you can and hoping that

1:58 that message uh sticks, right? and gets

2:02 some engagement from a customer that can

2:04 then be handed off to another

2:06 salesperson uh in your organization. And

2:10 that's a very critical function across a

2:12 lot of different industries. The the

2:14 reason that that approach doesn't work

2:16 for a strategic account executive is

2:19 that they are immersed deeply in a

2:23 complex buying environment and they're

2:26 dealing with multiple different

2:27 stakeholders and they have to

2:30 demonstrate a command of the challenges

2:33 that both that account and all of those

2:35 stakeholders deal deal with day in and

2:37 day out. And if they use a a

2:40 singlethreaded sequence that an SDR

2:42 would use to to try and attack all those

2:46 different stakeholders in the account,

2:48 not only are they not going to have the

2:49 success they need, they're likely going

2:52 to burn bridges, uh turn away doors and

2:55 and harm their long-term success in that

2:58 account.

2:58 >> Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, I think a big

3:02 difference that I'm hearing here is the

3:03 singlethreaded versus multi-threaded.

3:05 And you might have an SDR who does

3:07 multi-threaded, but it seems like you

3:09 absolutely must be multi-threaded if

3:10 you're a strategic AE. Is that a fair

3:13 assessment?

3:14 >> That is. And I think you know if you

3:15 want to frame this right I mean you know

3:18 from an SE sapel perspective

3:23 >> you know this demand generation this

3:27 this uh sequencing this this um um

3:32 prospecting if you will really requires

3:35 account selection right identifying

3:37 those accounts where um you're bound to

3:40 win right so that we we use ICP ideal a

3:44 client profile in that language um to to

3:48 identify that. So having clarity there

3:51 and then within that uh ICP having

3:55 strong personabased messaging uh to help

3:59 you build the relationship depth that

4:02 you often need uh to be successful. Um,

4:06 you know, remember I I mentioned that

4:08 these buying environments are complex of

4:11 multiple stakeholders. In healthcare, if

4:13 you're trying to push through a six and

4:16 seven figure deal, you're typically

4:19 engaged with the buying committee that's

4:21 going to have um a procurement

4:23 stakeholder, a clinical stakeholder, uh

4:26 another business owner, seuite, all in

4:29 one. And even though they're solving the

4:32 same problem, they're coming at it from

4:35 different perspectives. And it's really

4:37 important that that SAE can speak the

4:40 language of that individual stakeholder

4:42 to gain tra gain traction and keep that

4:45 opportunity moving forward.

4:47 >> Yeah, you're you're making me think of a

4:49 deal I'm working right now and how I

4:53 have I think of five or six different

4:55 stakeholders at this point. Um, and the

4:58 way that I talk about the value you're

4:59 providing and the things that we we

5:01 discuss that make sense for their world

5:03 and what they even care about discussing

5:05 are just wildly different. And like

5:08 there the if I had the same conversation

5:10 with, you know, persona A as with

5:12 persona B, it would just it land flat or

5:15 even potentially hurt my own um

5:17 reputation because it' be like, why are

5:18 you talking to me about this stuff? I

5:20 don't care. Like,

5:21 >> yeah,

5:22 >> this isn't relevant. you don't sound

5:23 like a consultative person that can

5:25 actually help guide us and have a

5:26 solution that fits what we need.

5:28 >> Yeah, I mean that's exactly right. And

5:30 when that door closes like that, it's

5:32 incredibly hard to get it open again,

5:35 right?

5:36 >> So, um, you know, an old mentor of mine

5:39 used to tell me all the time, uh, go

5:41 slow to go fast, right? And

5:44 >> going slow in the beginning is really

5:46 making sure you understand what that

5:48 that compelling event, that burning

5:50 problem that that stakeholder is trying

5:52 to solve. Really understanding the

5:55 messaging in general for that account

5:57 and really making sure that you've got a

6:00 hook that's going to going to land and

6:02 resonate or has a higher chance of

6:04 landing. Right now, there's no such

6:06 thing as a guaranteed hook or message

6:08 that will land 100% of the time, but

6:10 certainly you can increase your your

6:12 odds dramatically. And in fact, there's

6:16 a recent stat out by Gartner that says

6:19 whenever you use accountbased selling

6:21 and and messaging, you have a 48% uh

6:25 increased likelihood of winning uh that

6:28 deal or opportunity. Do you mind

6:30 expanding a little bit on the term

6:31 accountbased selling just to make sure

6:33 that anyone listening in knows has a

6:35 good reference on it?

6:36 >> Yeah, I mean accountbased selling is

6:38 really going along the themes that we we

6:40 talk about and and and maybe we'll

6:42 expand more on this during the

6:43 conversation, but when you think about

6:46 uh uh um accounts, think about each

6:50 account as a market of one so to speak,

6:53 right? So the market is that account and

6:57 each each account has different

6:59 challenges or just like each market has

7:02 different challenges

7:03 >> and they have different stakeholders

7:05 that you need to engage uh within that

7:08 that said account or market if you will.

7:11 And so when you think of it in through

7:13 that lens, it's it's it's going to guide

7:16 you in the direction that you need to

7:19 make sure that you have a relevant

7:21 message that indeed resonates with that

7:23 stakeholder. And that's and that's

7:25 really accountbased selling in a

7:28 nutshell.

7:29 >> Yeah. Um I love this term market of one.

7:32 Uh, and as you're talking about this,

7:34 I'm thinking, okay, if I'm, you know,

7:35 not just saying, hey, I have this

7:37 messaging that works for a market of a

7:40 TAM of 200,000 people or whatever it is,

7:42 but if I have a market of one, I'm going

7:45 to have to like figure out that

7:46 messaging. And now all of a sudden, I'm

7:48 seeing what you're saying with the

7:48 volume game. Like, how am I going to

7:50 have a market of one with the same

7:52 volume as an SDR who's got a market of,

7:55 you know, 10, 100 thousand times as many

7:58 people?

7:59 >> Yeah. I mean, you know, look, when in

8:03 SDR, right, they've got increased

8:06 metrics and volume is the game. Like,

8:08 they're inspected to handle maybe 1,200

8:11 accounts, you know, get one or two

8:15 touches at the most and be able to hand

8:18 that off, right? for an SAPE, right? The

8:21 the the workload that they're expected

8:24 to manage. Um, think in terms of,

8:28 you know, at most 10 accounts really,

8:31 right? Um, and going three to five

8:35 contacts deep and then having multiple

8:39 touches on that each year, right?

8:41 Because that's that's the work that's

8:43 going to that it's going to take to

8:45 really transform a sales qualified lead.

8:49 um a high score scoring sales qualified

8:51 lead into a real opportunity that can

8:54 lead to a large enterprise deal um

8:57 that's profitable for your business.

8:59 >> Yeah. And you were talking about this

9:00 earlier um the importance of account

9:02 selection for the SAPE to be focused on

9:05 the right 10 uh because you picked the

9:07 wrong 10 that's potentially you know a

9:09 year's worth of effort down the drain.

9:12 you know, what is what is some guidance

9:14 or what does it look like to do that

9:15 account selection process and do you

9:17 have recommendations on um how to get it

9:20 right?

9:21 >> Yeah, how you frame that customer um

9:25 that question excuse me hits home. I was

9:26 talking to a founder yesterday in fact

9:30 um of a medical device organization and

9:32 and and they're approach they approach

9:35 this like many startups do right

9:37 >> uh any any customer that's willing to

9:39 pay them is a is a good customer and so

9:41 they end up chasing customers all over

9:43 the place. Um, but the but the reality

9:46 is is that every product, including this

9:49 one that we were talking about, has a

9:52 profile where they're going to win more.

9:55 Um, where their value proposition is is

9:57 truly differentiated and highly

10:00 defensible.

10:02 >> Um, you want to find those customers and

10:05 microtarget those customers in the

10:08 selection, right?

10:09 >> Um, so it's not a spray and prey

10:12 approach. It's really just finding those

10:15 those customers where you ha you know

10:17 you can win if you get in and engage in

10:20 the right way. Um and that that's really

10:22 the focus that SAPE should have when

10:25 they're prospecting.

10:27 >> Yeah. And so it sounds like that comes

10:29 down to a lot of research to really

10:31 understand as you're doing it. Now,

10:33 would you say that you'd potentially

10:36 take like a large a large group and then

10:39 start whittling away as you're doing

10:40 more research or is it a situation where

10:43 maybe you look at your most profitable

10:45 accounts or the ones that you really

10:46 have like the best relationships with

10:48 and try to do lookalike companies? Uh is

10:50 it something completely different? How

10:52 do you start this process of

10:53 >> yeah actually picking

10:55 >> and and the approach may look slightly

10:56 different depending on the industry that

10:58 you're in. Right. So say if you're an

11:00 organization

11:02 uh that markets against payers in health

11:04 care, you're going to have a small

11:06 subset of accounts. So you're going to

11:08 know those accounts. Um but

11:10 understanding the buying units within

11:13 those parent accounts um where you you

11:17 have not only a uh a clear path from an

11:20 ICP perspective, but you know you have a

11:24 pathway in building the relationships in

11:26 in that that child account that are

11:28 necessary to push across that deal,

11:30 right? And that that's the lens that you

11:33 choose. And then you also look for

11:35 triggers um compelling events that you

11:39 know will move those stakeholders in

11:41 those accounts to action. Right? So if

11:43 you're an account covering United Health

11:46 Group, uh, for example,

11:49 you need to be on the earnings calls,

11:53 you know, you need to be living and

11:56 breathing everything UHG and you would

11:59 know that, hey, solving this theme of

12:02 denials and the public perception

12:04 around, hey, we deny every claim is an

12:06 issue. um how do we demonstrate to the

12:09 market that yes, we actually do drive

12:12 outcomes for our our members in a

12:16 cost-effective way that not only uh

12:18 provides for a healthier membership um

12:21 but eliminates fraud and waste which

12:24 reduces overall cost. Right? So um

12:27 that's an example where just knowing and

12:30 and living and breathing your account

12:33 along with deep research um prepares you

12:36 in the way to prospect more effectively.

12:40 >> Yeah. I would have never thought hey I

12:42 got to be on an earnings call to make

12:44 sure. But I mean when you're saying this

12:46 and then you're talking about what they

12:48 are most concerned about what they are

12:50 talking about how they're talking about

12:52 it. I mean, they're just giving you

12:53 their playbook right there on exactly

12:55 how to look like.

12:57 >> Yeah, that's right. I mean, and it's a

12:58 good a good thing to call out because,

13:00 you know, an SDR will never have time to

13:02 do that because again, they're covering

13:05 so many different accounts, they can't

13:07 think of that world. But an SAPE that

13:09 has total account ownership

13:12 >> of 10 at most,

13:14 >> it's got to be an expectation that

13:16 they're doing things like being on

13:18 earnings calls to to really understand

13:20 and know the challenges that their

13:22 accounts are facing.

13:23 >> Should one of the things that the SAP is

13:25 thinking about as they're monitoring and

13:27 getting closer to the situation be

13:29 potentially swapping out one of the 10?

13:31 Like maybe if you go under these deep

13:33 dives, you pull up a 10K or something,

13:35 you go, you know what, I actually think

13:37 they're gonna spend their budget on

13:39 something completely different based on

13:40 what I'm hearing. We should table them,

13:42 do them next year. Maybe I'll recheck in

13:44 or I'll keep a tab, but I should really

13:46 be focusing somewhere else.

13:48 >> Yeah, I mean that prioritization is

13:50 absolutely

13:52 >> an exercise that you should be doing,

13:54 right? Um and so um every SAPE they're

13:58 account owners and yeah they might have

14:00 a number for each account but um their

14:04 likelihood of success is can can vary

14:06 depending on what's happening in that

14:08 account and so it's up to them to to

14:10 know their business and also communicate

14:12 back to leadership within the business

14:14 about what's happening there. Yeah. Um

14:16 so that you know expectations can be

14:20 reset if um something's going on major

14:23 in that account where your solution is

14:25 not going to be a priority.

14:27 >> Yeah. Yeah. I couldn't imagine trying to

14:29 spend a whole year when the it's clearly

14:31 they've got this other problem. We would

14:33 solve a huge problem for them, but I can

14:35 already tell their budget's going over

14:37 here because they have to solve this one

14:39 and you know we're too far down the

14:40 list. Um, in terms of uh, you know, the

14:44 the balance and the relationship between

14:46 the SAPE and the leadership team, you

14:49 know, uh, what are some key things that

14:52 a leader should be doing to make sure

14:54 that their SAEs are prioritizing

14:56 correctly as they're going through it?

14:58 Yeah, you know, um, every leader and I

15:01 and I strive to do this in the roles

15:04 that I have, um, when when I've had

15:06 teams of SAEs in in my remitt is you

15:10 enable them as much as possible, right?

15:13 You you give them

15:15 >> um the tools and resources

15:18 uh that are um necessary for them to

15:22 become intimate with their book of

15:23 business. And then also uh ensure that

15:27 they're um amping up their consultative

15:31 sales skill set

15:34 >> which goes which is which is necessary

15:37 in this type of prospecting right um

15:40 it's not always uh necessary in a single

15:43 threaded uh sequence that an SDR uses

15:46 but typically for an SA you're going to

15:48 have to have that approach because

15:50 you're typically prospecting from the

15:53 viewpoint of a customer and

15:57 and you know the way to to think about

15:59 this is you know you and I every day we

16:01 can go to our LinkedIn inbox and

16:06 we can see attempts at prospecting where

16:10 they're they're trying to use

16:11 personalization. They're like saying,

16:13 "Hey Austin,

16:15 >> I see you're in Wyoming and blah blah

16:18 blah blah blah." And then that's great.

16:20 They know that. but then they they

16:22 falsely state or uh restate your

16:26 business challenge or they demonstrate

16:28 something else that they don't know

16:30 truly what your business is right we get

16:32 those day in and day out and so

16:35 >> um as leaders

16:37 making sure that our sapes that are

16:40 starting from a different place

16:42 >> and they have the strongest hook

16:44 possible in the front end that will give

16:46 them the highest likelihood of success

16:49 um is something that we need to be

16:50 accountable for and and that's something

16:52 that we can easily do by uh coaching and

16:55 inspecting from a frontline perspective.

16:58 >> Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like is it fair to

17:00 say that you're hiring this person

17:02 because you trust them to have like the

17:04 the knowledge. Uh you're also, you know,

17:07 you're expecting them to become the

17:08 expert on the situation with each of

17:10 those companies. So, you're going to be

17:12 leaning on them and then you have to

17:13 support them in what they're they're

17:15 doing. And if you don't feel like you

17:17 have trust for them to be able to do

17:19 that without that level of autonomy,

17:21 maybe they need to be an AE for a little

17:24 bit longer and eventually become a

17:25 strategic AE.

17:27 >> Yeah,

17:28 >> it really

17:28 >> No, you're you're absolutely right. So,

17:31 I mean, the profile of a person we're

17:33 talking about is is a senior seller. you

17:36 know, likely they've been doing this for

17:38 a long time and and and many times they

17:40 may have been doing it for this set of

17:43 accounts that they've had even if

17:44 they've done it at different places. Uh

17:46 so they so they know the accounts well

17:50 and so marrying uh their knowledge of

17:54 their selling skills that they have from

17:55 those many years, their knowledge of the

17:57 accounts with the uh solution skill set

18:01 of the of the business, right? Yeah.

18:03 >> And helping them understand how how the

18:05 business can help solve those challenges

18:08 is the obligation that leadership has.

18:10 >> Yeah. I mean, it sounds like the uh the

18:13 hiring process or the promotion process

18:17 for to an SAE is that's the the key the

18:20 ticket. If you can get that part right

18:21 and then you support them correctly, you

18:24 got it. But it's like probably 80 80% of

18:26 the success comes from picking the right

18:27 person and putting in the right

18:28 position. Is that fair?

18:30 >> That is fair. I I actually just got

18:32 through um designing a interview guide

18:35 for a client that I'm working with right

18:37 now for for an SAPE. And as part of that

18:41 exercise, it's going to be a case study

18:43 review. We're going to give them a case

18:45 study of a Medicaid membership challenge

18:48 that this client is this account would

18:51 be dealing with

18:52 >> and we're asking them how would they

18:55 approach that particular challenge and

18:56 get in and then that's that's part of

18:58 the process and that's how we assess the

19:00 skills and I would say that's the single

19:03 most important part of that interview

19:05 process

19:06 >> because we're not necessarily looking

19:08 for interview polish. We're looking more

19:10 for, hey, can you really diagnose what's

19:13 happening in that account and help solve

19:15 that challenge using the solutions that

19:17 the business brings to bear?

19:19 >> Yeah. Would you say it's um the most

19:23 important part of that being is just

19:24 seeing how their brain works and like

19:25 seeing like how they approach the

19:26 problem and not necessarily that you

19:28 agree with their outcome because you can

19:30 That's right. Give them some refinement.

19:31 Yeah.

19:32 >> Yeah. How how you know what is their

19:34 critical thinking? How do they approach

19:36 it? Right. How do they approach building

19:39 support for any solution within an

19:41 account? Those are things that we want

19:42 to assess just to see how they think.

19:44 And again,

19:45 >> yeah,

19:45 >> in that interview process, it's a

19:47 hypothetical. There's not necessarily a

19:49 right answer, but you get a lot of

19:50 insight into how that that individual

19:52 thinks.

19:53 >> Yeah, this is tangential, but it just

19:56 it's rigging like crazy in my head

19:58 because I used to hire for um project

20:00 managers and operations and it was

20:02 almost the exact same thing where we

20:04 were we didn't look for an answer. We

20:06 looked for how do they approach problems

20:08 and how do they deal with adversity and

20:09 how do they you know do these things and

20:11 it seems very similar to you know

20:14 obviously it's a different you know

20:15 motion a different interaction or

20:16 relationship with the client but it's

20:18 the still the idea of if I can find the

20:20 person with the right um processing and

20:23 how they approach problems and how they

20:24 approach situations it doesn't really

20:26 matter what their background is it

20:28 doesn't really matter uh what you know

20:31 what experience they've had in the past

20:32 because we can always train and refine

20:34 and polish uh if they have that right

20:37 mindset and the right approach to that

20:38 kind of stuff. Um,

20:40 >> yeah. Anyway, sorry, tangent.

20:42 >> No, it's a good one. No, real world

20:45 examples, I think, of what your

20:47 listeners actually need around how all

20:50 all these theories are applied to

20:52 everyday business challenges.

20:54 >> Yeah. I mean, my favorite question was,

20:56 would you rather get something wrong but

20:58 know exactly what went wrong, or would

20:59 you rather get it right but have no idea

21:01 why?

21:01 >> That's right. Because if they were like,

21:02 I'd rather get rather get it right and

21:04 have no idea why. I'd be like, well,

21:06 when something goes wrong, you're not

21:07 going to know how to solve the problem.

21:08 >> That's right. They're not learning

21:10 anything. Yeah.

21:10 >> Yeah. Exactly. Um, so we've talked a

21:13 little bit about like the support and

21:15 like doing the research and all of that.

21:17 Do you mind expanding some more on like

21:19 the messaging and the multi-threading

21:21 tactics for a market of one as like

21:23 you're actually really getting into the

21:25 the meat and potatoes of the process?

21:28 >> Yeah. Uh, good good question. So, um,

21:33 what I encourage clients to do, and I'm,

21:35 and I'm doing this exercise again right

21:36 now with another client, is, um, really

21:41 get aligned between sales and marketing

21:44 on what your value proposition is,

21:47 >> right? And then take the personas that

21:51 your sales team uh and SAES engage with,

21:54 map those out,

21:57 and then really flesh out how the value

22:00 prop translates into a personabased

22:04 messaging for each of those different

22:06 stakeholders, right? Because there's

22:08 there's a way of tweaking that value

22:10 prop in a way that's relevant for each

22:12 and every one of those stakeholders. And

22:14 those are the hooks that you approach.

22:17 um your account with um and so that that

22:20 exercise I mean

22:23 you know it sounds simple right but as

22:26 you know when you're working cross

22:27 functionally across team to really make

22:29 sure you're aligned and you have um

22:32 messaging that is truly differentiated

22:36 and compelling

22:38 >> it takes time right but almost any

22:40 business can get to that place if they

22:43 make that investment and making it work.

22:46 Are you having them do like a an overall

22:50 persona that you're expecting? Like we

22:52 expect these five to six personas at

22:54 each of these strategic accounts. We'll

22:56 get the first draft of the value

22:58 proposition and then go in and do

23:00 research per account and then adjust

23:02 that first draft based on that or is it

23:04 start fresh on every account? How are we

23:07 how are you putting that together?

23:08 >> Yeah, close. Right. So, you're going to

23:10 have a general value proposition for the

23:13 business overall, right? for for their

23:16 for their ideal ICP that they're chasing

23:19 and um and and then you're able to

23:23 approach each account um

23:27 uh separately from there. But what I

23:30 would tell you is that because you're

23:31 tailoring that value prop towards your

23:34 ICP and then you're building your target

23:37 list based on that ICP, that general

23:41 value prop is going to be relevant for

23:44 those accounts. So then what all you

23:47 have to create is that persona or

23:49 stakeholderbased messaging from there.

23:53 And so you talked about establishing the

23:55 value prop and you mentioned earlier

23:57 like the the bad LinkedIn outreach where

23:59 they kind of try to personalize it but

24:01 it's like like come on I'd rather just

24:03 have a template.

24:04 >> Yeah. Like it just looks lazy, right?

24:06 But you know

24:08 >> so so uh as they're taking that value

24:11 prop, you know, how do you what what's

24:13 your guidance for like putting that into

24:15 the initial outreach messages and the

24:17 different channels that you're doing it?

24:19 I mean is it the is it the same like

24:22 approach that these people are using

24:23 that would still be like hey these are

24:25 the things or do you want to bury a

24:27 little bit more what's the presentation

24:29 approach I guess is what I'm trying to

24:31 >> um so you you asked a question before

24:34 how can leaders help right so this is

24:36 where

24:37 >> we don't want to put the sapes on an

24:40 island and force them to to be in a

24:44 position to atlib right so uh there

24:47 there is uh a a rubric that you can put

24:51 in place around hey each of your

24:56 accounts are going to have these types

24:58 of stakeholders. Those are the personas.

25:00 >> Yeah.

25:01 >> These are the the general messaging that

25:03 should be highly relevant for that.

25:07 >> These are also the customer challenge

25:09 the set of customer challenges that each

25:11 of those accounts are going to face.

25:14 Right? So you're you're giving them a

25:16 starting point where there's not a lot

25:19 of customization that's going to be

25:21 required for that rep to really engage,

25:25 right? They're they're already

25:26 organizationally enabled to go have that

25:29 conversation. So that requires not only

25:32 that work and the formulation of that,

25:33 but then training, right? You know, SAPE

25:37 likes role playing, but you know, I

25:40 going back to that and

25:42 >> practice having those conversations so

25:45 it's not the first time you've had it.

25:47 When you encounter it in real life, that

25:49 those are things that are going to help

25:51 uh that SAPE ultimately be successful.

25:55 >> Yeah, man. I wish I had leadership at my

25:58 company. I am the leadership of my

26:00 company, so I have to come up with the

26:01 messaging and I'm like, it'd be real

26:02 nice if somebody else could come up with

26:04 this messaging for me.

26:05 >> Yeah. No, right.

26:07 >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah. Well, we're

26:08 figuring it out. It's the fun of the

26:10 game and all that stuff, but it does

26:11 seem like it'd be really nice as an SA

26:13 to be able to focus on how do I navigate

26:16 relationships, strategy, applying the

26:18 resources given to me, and less on how

26:20 do I write this email because that's,

26:22 you know,

26:23 >> yeah,

26:24 >> it everything.

26:25 Look, one of the cool things about

26:27 working at Chief's Outsiders and and

26:30 part of the reason why I I came here

26:33 versus staying as a single shingle

26:36 was we've got like 120 chief marketing

26:40 and chief sales officers. So, I I know

26:43 what I know, but man, when I don't know

26:45 how to do something or I stumped or it's

26:48 something's more of a core marketing

26:49 thing,

26:50 >> Yeah.

26:50 >> I just go I just go knock on the door of

26:52 a peer and say, "Hey, man. Can you have

26:53 a look at this?" and uh and so that that

26:56 helps solve a lot of those challenges.

26:59 So when we're working with the client on

27:00 this kind of challenge, they don't only

27:03 have to rely on me, they they have a

27:04 whole tribe that we can refer to.

27:06 >> Yeah. Um so one of the things uh you

27:10 know as reps are trying to do this

27:12 account-based approach um kind of like

27:15 build more depth in there, you know,

27:16 what are some of the habits that you

27:18 think that are necessary to start having

27:20 an effective approach to account-based

27:22 uh selling?

27:24 Yeah. Well, I mentioned first of all

27:27 something simple like getting on

27:28 earnings calls, but really um you know,

27:32 making sure that you're

27:35 your broad domain knowledge about things

27:38 and challenges in the industry that your

27:41 your clients participate in are

27:43 important, right? being at the

27:44 conferences really understanding uh the

27:47 burning topics of the day so to speak

27:50 and then how those topics may impact

27:52 your client. That's the diligence that

27:56 uh needs to be constant from an SAPE

27:58 perspective. And um when you're grounded

28:01 in those uh uh those fundamentals,

28:04 you're really prepared uh to to help

28:08 solve those things um from a from a

28:10 client challenge perspective.

28:12 >> Yeah. All right. I we're coming up on

28:14 time. I got two more questions for you.

28:16 The first one is if somebody's listening

28:19 in and they can only take away one thing

28:21 from this or if you really want to make

28:22 sure somebody, you know, makes sure to

28:24 walk away with one, you know, strong uh

28:26 idea to apply uh to their to either

28:29 their team or their own practice or to

28:30 their business, what would that be?

28:33 >> Yeah. For an SAPE,

28:36 um the highest possible leverage point

28:41 they can have in prospecting

28:43 is having a good clarity on their ICP

28:49 >> and a strong compelling and

28:52 differentiating value proposition.

28:55 >> Nice. every every time I think about the

28:58 uh the case studies I had to do for my

28:59 MBA program and then I talked to

29:01 somebody who's like a true salesperson,

29:03 sales leader, I'm like oh we were just

29:05 doing sales and that when we did that

29:07 case study it was a sales process and we

29:09 just didn't realize that we weren't

29:10 applying it. Um yeah and then the other

29:13 question is LOL if somebody is you know

29:15 liked what you had to say uh they want

29:17 to you know follow up with you have a

29:18 conversation maybe what's the best way

29:20 to to get a hold of you to continue

29:22 that?

29:23 >> Yeah I'm pretty easy to find. I I think

29:25 I'm one of the only uh Lyel Prices on

29:28 LinkedIn. Certainly u the only Ly Price

29:31 that has my hair do, so I'm pretty easy

29:34 to locate. Um they can also find me at

29:37 Chief Outsiders. Um again, just going on

29:39 to their website and

29:41 >> u finding me and and and you know, they

29:44 again they have a lot of my peers who

29:46 are equally as talented and good as

29:48 well. Um either way, I'm happy to

29:50 engage. I'd love to continue this

29:52 conversation. uh even if it's just

29:54 thought leadership, I think it's a good

29:56 exercise and it helps all of us get

29:58 better.

29:58 >> Yeah, definitely. I mean, I'll tell you

30:01 right now, I I have a list of things I

30:03 would need to go work on today after

30:05 having this conversation with you,

30:06 including how can I start doing things

30:08 like earnings calls and what are some of

30:10 the more realistic things that are uh

30:12 that are capable of doing because not

30:14 everyone I target has an earnings call.

30:16 So, so some of those folks I'm not going

30:17 to be able to sneak in on that, but

30:19 there's going to be other ways and you

30:20 know, that's going to be awesome for me

30:21 to just apply. So, I really appreciate

30:23 you coming on today and sharing some

30:24 wisdom with us.

30:26 >> Yeah. Thanks again for having me.

30:27 >> Yeah.