ISEs3 Ep11: Bob Perkins, Founder - AAISP (now Emblaze)

Erich Starrett: 00:00:00

Hello, everyone, and welcome to ISE Season

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3, Sales Enablement History.

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And we have not only some sales

enablement history, But some insider,

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some American Association of Inside Sales

Professionals expertise on the show today.

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I couldn't be more excited.

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This is the first time actually

that Bob Perkins and I have

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had a chance to cross paths.

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I've heard his name going back

to, , the first time I talked with

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Scott Santucci about the, Early

days of the sales enablement society

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and the founding bob came up and so

i'm excited to unpack that further

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but bob let's go straight to him.

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He has been In this game for a minute.

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He's been an inside sales leader

and pioneer very clearly all

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the way back to 1993, which is

when I was cutting my teeth.

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Actually, that's when I was

showing up selling long distance

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door to door in Chicago.

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You're the guy that's been

calling me a million times.

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I'm going to kick your hiney, right?

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Coming after me.

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And my early, this is

how I learned to sell.

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My early sales pitch

was, Oh, that's great.

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I'm here to help that go away.

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Those guys and gals won't

be calling you anymore.

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If you just press hard three copies

and then you can send them to me.

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So we were working maybe against

and or with each other at some

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point, the inside sales team.

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Bob founded the AAISP officially in

: 2009

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We're going to get a little bit into

the present and future in a minute,

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but Bob, I'd love it if you just take

a minute to unpack the past, where

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you've been, who you are, And a little

bit about the year to date of AAISP.

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Bob Perkins: Yeah, I got into

sales and briefly carried a bag

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and then moved into management.

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I loved leading people.

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But it was predominantly field sales

for a few years and a friend called me.

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He said, Hey, there's this

telesales manager job.

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I said, what is telesales?

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He says it's sales and

you don't travel much.

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You do it over the phone.

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So I joined Unisys in 1993.

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I have to say that was

transformational in my career.

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Within a year, I fell in love with

this thing they call telesales and

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way back then people, the last few

years we've heard the hybrid model.

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We were a hybrid model in 1993.

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Our telesales reps.

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Traveled quarterly out

to meet key customers.

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And we were discreet.

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We were not an overlay.

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We had our own quota, our own set

of accounts, and it was run like

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a sales machine, like an engine.

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We were the first ever Siebel.

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Inside sales.

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I guess we were called

telesales installation.

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we used to pull out a stopwatch

and time how long it would take

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to pull up a customer record.

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It wasn't.

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It wasn't pretty.

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From there, I had a very long about

a, almost a 17, 18 year career in

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Director VP of Insight Sales, Unisys,

Silicon Graphics, UnitedHealthcare.

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And then when I left UnitedHealthcare

to go to a small company called Merrill

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DataCite, it was a software as a service.

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And then when I left UnitedHealthcare

to go to a small company called Merrill

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DataCite, it was a software as a service.

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I had a very small team and it afforded

me the opportunity then to finally

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launch the AAISP, which I had I had

a vision and I would dream about this

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thing called AAISP for about three years.

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And I would tell my wife all

about what I wanted to do.

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Finally, I had the wherewithal

to start it while I remained,

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employed as a VP of inside sales.

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we had our very first conference

in Minneapolis in: 2009

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I borrowed a sound system from our church.

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Me and my business partner, Larry

Reeves, put on this conference.

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We had 50 people.

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And by year two, we had 200 people and a

standing ovation for what we had started.

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Because everybody was saying, finally,

someone is paying attention to this.

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Thing we all love called inside sales

and we brought forth great speakers.

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We were getting senior leaders from

companies like IBM, SAP even Salesforce

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to come and speak at our conferences.

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I didn't even have an idea

of what a chapter would be

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until after we formed AAISP.

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Within a year or two, we were

getting calls from places like

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Japan, Afghanistan, France.

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They all wanted us, they all heard

of AAISP, And they were really

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begging to, begging us to start

a chapter in their location.

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And boy, the thing just exploded

beyond my, I thought we'd have one

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conference a year with maybe a hundred

people near the end, we were just

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under a thousand people in Chicago

in: 2000

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Erich Starrett: That is amazing.

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So shout out to larry reeves.

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It sounds and you and The church community

back in the day getting this thing seated.

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I love the backstory.

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Let's take a moment to shift gears

towards the past Of sales enablement.

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When did those first

two words come to you.

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Inside sales That would be interesting as

well When did you first hear inside sales.

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Bob Perkins: This is great.

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This is a great question.

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And I often say there's

nothing new under the sun.

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And I'll give you, I'll

give you a great analogy.

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And then I'll answer your question.

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But the analogy is this thing

that exploded about 6, 7 years

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ago called sales development.

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Everybody's getting SDRs.

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Everybody's getting BDRs.

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The fact is sales development and business

development has been around for years.

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It just wasn't called that.

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In Unisys, we had a group called

CRR, customer relationship rep.

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They were SDRs basically just

didn't have all the tools, but sales

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enablement the function of having

someone help with support training

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technology is not necessarily new.

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However, The same thing with inside sales.

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It was telesales forever.

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And then we wanted to pretty up that word

because telesales reminded people that

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telemarketing, nobody likes telemarketing.

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So let's call it inside sales.

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Inside sales has stuck.

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We have a little bit of a phase of digital

sales five, six years ago, got popular.

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So sales enablement, I first heard

about the term and the category,

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this role about midstream through my

tenure at AAISP, which was somewhere

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around 2012 ish in that range.

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I'm, and this is just a guess.

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And boy, did it take off.

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And I had some conversations with a

couple of the founding members there, and

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that thing was just exploding as well.

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There was a convergence of this

thing, now we call it digital sales.

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It's the power of the internet.

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And even the phone and the web and

being able to transact, to support, to

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prospect, to have meetings with folks

without having to go face to face.

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Many studies, especially recently

are showing people, oftentimes

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prefer virtual meetings.

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Back in 2011, 12, 13, 14,

15, somewhere around there.

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I got a hold of this thing called Zoom

and I started using it and I'd get

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up at these conferences way before

people even knew what Zoom was.

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And I said, raise your hand if you're

using video when you sell and not

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10 percent of the hands would go up,

and I said, listen, you gotta do it.

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It's the next best thing

to being there in person.

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So that, that's the era we went

through that, so back to your

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question of sales enablement,

probably around that: 2012

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And I thought, wow, a little bit

like this thing called inside digital

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sales, a little bit long overdue.

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And now it's, now you have to have it.

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It's not even, should

we have inside sales?

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No, that's a.

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Table steak, you got to have it.

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Erich Starrett: And so what I've heard

generally is the folks who were putting

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those two words out there were vendors.

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The Sales Enablement Society itself was

brought into existence until: 2016

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And Scott Santucci's work at Forrester

was in that: 2008

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Forrester officially invest in and create

a practice and a business unit around.

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Who were those for you?

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If you could connect the dots for the

audience, what were those individuals

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that you recall that were using those

two words or what was your exposure?

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Bob Perkins: Yeah, it was you remember

when social selling got, had all the

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buzz around it again, that was probably,

somewhere: 2010

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And oh, you had to be social

selling, and then word sales

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enablement just started being used.

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I wouldn't say it was fully understood.

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I, hopefully it's more understood today.

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But it became a thing and roles

started popping up for people that,

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that their role was sales enablement.

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Given that title, and I think

much like the S-D-R-B-D-R title

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in a very similar fashion, it was

something that was born out of this.

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This huge Engine that we now know, you

know back when it was called telesales.

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It's virtual sales now And it's

enabled by lots of technology

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Talk about the three legged stool

I don't want to I don't want to

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Discount the two most important legs

to that stool It's not technology,

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but it's people and it's leadership.

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And then of course you have

tools to make it all happen.

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Inside sales was explode.

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We grew too fast.

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I had this theory that we were hiring at a

rate that we could not effectively train.

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We brought in kids right out of college.

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We gave them a phone and a

computer and we expected this.

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Revenue would happen.

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And I think we got a little upside down.

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I would say right around

the year: 2015

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And so, we needed to train better.

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We needed to have better tool adoption.

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We needed to, to somehow, bring

these less experienced reps.

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Up to snuff on their profession.

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Before there was this big

virtual explosion we had to

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learn just like you learned.

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You went knocked on doors and

you got, you got rejected.

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You had to get back up and do it again.

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And that was learning by experience.

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We shortcut that I think a little

bit, and I think it, it hurt us

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as a professional a little bit.

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Erich Starrett: Interesting.

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So you said that timeframe would

be the: 2015

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even a shift from inside sales

as the two words to BDRs or SDRs.

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Bob Perkins: Certainly I put an umbrella

clause up there called inside sales

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late, you could call it digital sales

if you wanted their virtual sales, but

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that umbrella included this very popular

and expanding role called SDR BDR.

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Erich Starrett: Got it.

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And from a human being

perspective, again, we're all about

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community at Orchestrate Sales.

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Were there individuals, like when you

say social selling, was there someone

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that you interacted with or worked

with as a subject matter expert?

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Same with sales enablement.

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Bob Perkins: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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There's a woman called

Jill Rowley, the EloQueen.

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Erich Starrett: Every episode,

Jill is MVP of social selling.

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Bob Perkins: I can still remember some of

her little sayings that have stuck with

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me over the years, it was good stuff.

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She did a great job ushering

in that, that social selling

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mix into the world of sales.

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Erich Starrett: And what

about sales enablement?

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Any folks stick out to

you in the early days?

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Bob Perkins: Scott Santucci,

of course, because he and I

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met on a number of occasions.

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We did a couple of joint, I know we

did a joint meeting out here in Phoenix

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with the Sales Enablement Society and

A-A-I-S-P before we got acquired by CVI.

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I would say that was right

around the ,: 2020

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So there's been some joint meetings.

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I understand.

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Since my retirement and selling AAISP

to CVI, that there was a joint meeting

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recently between Revenue Enablement

Society and Emblaze down in Atlanta,

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which I heard was very successful.

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So it's great to see the two

organizations working together.

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I now live in Arizona, but we did

a joint meeting, which I thought

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was excellent out here in Phoenix.

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And some of the SES members came

out, the AAISP members came out.

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We had a couple of different topics.

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One of which of course was sales

enablement that we talked about.

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And we, I would say we probably

did that in a handful of chapters.

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Maybe some of which I

wasn't even aware of.

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We had.

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Gosh, we had upwards to 60, 70 chapters

globally couldn't keep track of them.

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And I know sales enablement society

had probably as many, if not

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more even just here in the U S.

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I think there, there were

two distinct differences.

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During the time that at least I

had connection connectivity with

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Scott and team and that is we had

been up and running for a while.

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We were a for profit organization.

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We had very large sponsorship packages

upwards into the 100, 200, 000 dollars,

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and I remember talking with Scott a

little bit about hey, I'm happy to

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share a little bit of our framework.

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I believe at the time they were a

kind of a loosely put together non,

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non for profit, which by the way when

I found it in: 2009

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Going the nonprofit route.

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I was doing this as a little bit of a side

thing because I was passionate about it.

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And was advised by some

friends and attorneys to go

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the LLC route, which we did.

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And, that, structure allowed

us to charge for conferences and

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memberships and trainings, and

then have a sponsorship package.

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And we, at our height, we had

about 12 or 13 full time employees.

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As well and without that forget

it we you know, larry reeves and

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I we were staying up late at night

Putting this thing together the

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first year or two before we hired

our first employee it was a fun time.

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I'll tell you a lot of work.

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Erich Starrett: That's exciting.

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So in that process, then there

wasn't an early partnership, just

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a, an awareness of each other of the

sales enablement society and AAISP.

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Bob Perkins: Yeah, not a formal

but we had , a couple of the

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folks speak at our conferences.

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It was a good thing.

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Sales enablement was, part of every

year we would pull the leaders coming

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to the, let's say the leadership

summit and executive retreats, AAISP.

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And we said what's top of mind.

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And I will tell you this tools and

technology, which I would bucket

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under sales enablement was almost

always in the top three or four.

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So we would always provide what's

the latest and greatest in the tech

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stack, for example, we'd have speakers.

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And so that's why we were.

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Open to and honestly, eager

to tap into the resources of

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the Sales Enablement Society.

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Erich Starrett: So let's move

forward a little bit on the timeline.

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The SES.

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announced just last year in October at

their annual experience: 2023

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were evolving to shift from being the

sales to the revenue enablement society.

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Do you have a strong

opinion on that shift?

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Bob Perkins: Okay yet another role,

if you will, or function, you could

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call it a role or function, revenue

operations, revenue enablement

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I would, putting my historical hat on for

a moment and looking from past to present

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to future, it appears to me that this

big umbrella called the sales Profession

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has diversified and it has role.

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specification.

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It used to be that if you were

a sales rep, you did it all.

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You, and I go back to, and from your

beginning, I go back and say I, I had

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to prospect, I had to make sure my

CRM back then was, a DOS based ACT!

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Program.

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I had to make sure I had all that right.

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We didn't have SDRs, BDRs.

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We, and we had to do everything and the

diversification started coming in, they

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started separating lead gen from selling

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I don't think this is

something like brand new.

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I think it's really specifying a role.

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And I think it's also an attempt.

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To cross functionally recognize

that, yes, it takes an order before

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anything happens at a company.

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Let's you and I call it what it is.

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If you don't have a sale, you have

nothing, but I do believe that it

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takes many people and things to

make that sale and I think I think

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we're seeing role specification.

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In part due to the, I think the

profession of sales is getting a better

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name than it did 20, 30 years ago.

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It's an honorable profession.

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And, with that comes the fact that

there's growth, there's technology

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growth, there's need for training.

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Look at the colleges that are now,

they have selling sales programs.

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They train college age kids.

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About crm about selling about

prospecting and it's fantastic.

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We didn't have that 30 years

ago We barely had a few handful

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of colleges doing it now.

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We have hundreds So I think we're

seeing the evolution and the

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continued Improvement and focus on the

profession of sales and that's in part.

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I think that's Why you're, why you have

a focus on this thing called revenue

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operations or revenue enablement, because

it's really important without revenue.

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You don't have anything.

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Here's what I can tell you.

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The term inside sales is

near and dear to my heart.

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It's it, I'm wearing a shirt that

says AAISP inside sales, but you can

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just, you can call it digital sales.

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You can call it virtually,

you can call it sales.

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And I think the same thing

holds true for, you have a very

315

: 00:19:55

specific need for sales training.

316

: 00:19:59

Okay, that could fall

under sales enablement.

317

: 00:20:02

It could fall under something called

revenue enablement revenue operations

318

: 00:20:07

i'm not sure if it matters whether

you call it inside or digital sales.

319

: 00:20:10

It's pretty much the same thing but we

know there's a need for it and there's

320

: 00:20:14

a focus on it I think that's why

these names emerge And this might be

321

: 00:20:19

a good analogy maybe not, with sales

enablement and sales operations,

322

: 00:20:24

revenue operations, revenue enablement.

323

: 00:20:26

And that is, I believe in

part the term digital sales.

324

: 00:20:31

in part was adopted to say, you

know what, this is not just someone

325

: 00:20:37

on the phone making phone calls.

326

: 00:20:40

And it's more than that.

327

: 00:20:42

And it's more sophisticated than that.

328

: 00:20:44

And it's, and we're budgeting

more money to grow digital sales.

329

: 00:20:49

And it's the whole universe of

the customer being web savvy.

330

: 00:20:54

I like to say the future of

sales is being Amazonized.

331

: 00:20:58

What do I mean by that?

332

: 00:21:00

We all know what Amazon is.

333

: 00:21:02

It's everything.

334

: 00:21:03

It's point and click, order, return,

customer service, pricing, availability,

335

: 00:21:09

everything at your fingertip, and

sales is moving in that direction.

336

: 00:21:14

So I coined this term years ago.

337

: 00:21:16

We're becoming, sales

is becoming Amazonized.

338

: 00:21:19

And hence the need for Sales Enablement,

Revenue Operations and so on.

339

: 00:21:25

Erich Starrett: So as we're shifting more

towards the present, maybe in parallel,

340

: 00:21:29

we had the sales enablement society

becoming the revenue enablement society.

341

: 00:21:34

We've also in recent years had.

342

: 00:21:38

The AAISP become Emblaze, my understanding

is it's the a American is now global

343

: 00:21:46

is part of the reason for a change

and the inside sales professionals

344

: 00:21:51

to digital sales is another part.

345

: 00:21:53

But instead of the global digital sales.

346

: 00:21:57

Association.

347

: 00:21:58

They went within Emblaze with a

tagline that it's revenue insights

348

: 00:22:03

that ignite and that is a definitive

source for digital revenue leaders.

349

: 00:22:09

So I would love to hear, I

clearly you went through a process

350

: 00:22:14

of transitioning the AAISP.

351

: 00:22:17

Can you give us a behind the curtain

peek on what kind of happened in

352

: 00:22:21

that timeline and what's in a name?

353

: 00:22:24

Bob Perkins: Yeah.

354

: 00:22:25

Let's just talk about the, the

point that we were acquired by

355

: 00:22:28

CVI and then the transition.

356

: 00:22:30

And after about a year, they came up

with a more modern a different name.

357

: 00:22:36

Number one, CVI was a great company to

work with because they really wanted to

358

: 00:22:42

take the strong suit of AAISP, no doubt

was the community people were very loyal.

359

: 00:22:49

They were very curious.

360

: 00:22:51

They were dedicated.

361

: 00:22:53

We had a tremendous community that

would come together, would share

362

: 00:22:57

openly, would learn from each other.

363

: 00:22:59

So CVI took that and over the last couple

of years have been really what I would

364

: 00:23:06

call expanding on that to have a one, a

broader appeal, not just to this team.

365

: 00:23:14

This word or phrase called inside sales.

366

: 00:23:18

It's beyond that.

367

: 00:23:20

So they're broadening the appeal.

368

: 00:23:22

They're also bringing some,

a little more of a scientific

369

: 00:23:26

research approach to what we did.

370

: 00:23:30

Not that we didn't, we did our

own research but they're a little,

371

: 00:23:34

they had more sophistication and

more tools and more, manpower quite

372

: 00:23:39

honestly to do a lot deeper research.

373

: 00:23:43

So they're bringing some

good science and research.

374

: 00:23:45

Back stuff to the community,

which I think is excellent.

375

: 00:23:48

And you're right.

376

: 00:23:50

We were global when prior to

CVI, we had conferences overseas.

377

: 00:23:55

We had chat from seas, but we

still had the, that a the American

378

: 00:24:00

word, which a lot of people

said, Hey, you really are global.

379

: 00:24:03

Do you want to change your name?

380

: 00:24:04

And we thought about it, but we said,

Hey, AAISP is so well known, people just.

381

: 00:24:09

I'd be out, I'd be out and

people wouldn't know who I was.

382

: 00:24:12

And I heard someone say, yeah

we're going to AAISP next week.

383

: 00:24:17

They, it was almost a noun.

384

: 00:24:19

And so we left it, but I think

that, the Emblaze, they wanted a

385

: 00:24:22

fresh, modern naming convention.

386

: 00:24:26

And their, the mission, the future.

387

: 00:24:29

Is to really grow as was our mission

and our future was to influence and

388

: 00:24:35

I'll use your term enabled, which we did

enable leaders, predominantly leaders

389

: 00:24:41

and sales reps to a lesser extent, but

enable leaders to lead better and to

390

: 00:24:46

bring what we used to call inside sales.

391

: 00:24:49

into the next generation.

392

: 00:24:50

.

under and chairman clearly in: 2008

393

: 00:24:56

That's when it sounds as if you brokered

with corporate visions and shifted

394

: 00:25:02

gears to being and continuing to

remain a part of it as a board member.

395

: 00:25:08

Is that correct?

396

: 00:25:09

Bob Perkins: Yeah, that's correct.

397

: 00:25:10

I sit on the board and give

them my input quarterly.

398

: 00:25:15

And I just got through advising a company

for about a year as an advisor and I'm

399

: 00:25:19

still speaking with a few other companies

400

: 00:25:21

. Erich Starrett: On behalf of the

community, thank you for staying around.

401

: 00:25:24

A lot of times that's where

things fall apart, right?

402

: 00:25:27

When the founder who had the vision and

Had the people who've used AAISP as an

403

: 00:25:32

everyday term, like Kleenex or Xerox.

404

: 00:25:35

Bob Perkins: I love it.

405

: 00:25:36

Erich Starrett: Where'd the guy go?

406

: 00:25:37

That's our man.

407

: 00:25:38

And he's the one keeping it all together.

408

: 00:25:39

So that's awesome.

409

: 00:25:40

You've been there through the transition

and speaking of transitions and

410

: 00:25:44

combinations the sales enablement

society, as they became the revenue

411

: 00:25:48

enablement society, I think had an even

more keen eye towards AAISP now and just.

412

: 00:25:55

last month released a press

release that there was a

413

: 00:25:58

partnership growing officially.

414

: 00:26:01

There, is a revenue enablement track

at digital now coming up in April

415

: 00:26:07

next week, which we have a code for

everybody out there in the listening

416

: 00:26:10

audience to get a great discount.

417

: 00:26:12

Were you part of brokering that?

418

: 00:26:14

. Bob Perkins: I was not part of that,

but it's certainly it's fantastic.

419

: 00:26:18

Number one, it doesn't surprise me at all.

420

: 00:26:20

It's high time.

421

: 00:26:21

I think when I saw the announcement

myself, I'm like, this is really good.

422

: 00:26:25

I'm glad to see there's a track on it.

423

: 00:26:28

Every year we would spend

lots and lots of time.

424

: 00:26:31

We did have a board meeting,

by the way, on tracks.

425

: 00:26:34

And one of my, one of the inputs I

made there was let's make sure that

426

: 00:26:40

we have something for leadership

development, a lot of times leaders, Or

427

: 00:26:45

the last one to get trained and coach.

428

: 00:26:47

Maybe that's something that'll

even be part of this revenue

429

: 00:26:50

enablement discussion point.

430

: 00:26:51

But I do think leaders still

continue to need development.

431

: 00:26:55

That's near and dear to my heart.

432

: 00:26:57

I had a conflict this year and this

will be the first year in, I'm going to

433

: 00:27:02

say 16 years that I will miss Chicago.

434

: 00:27:06

But you know what?

435

: 00:27:06

I may get a last minute flight, just

show up and, say hi to everyone.

436

: 00:27:11

Erich Starrett: The Crackerjack prize.

437

: 00:27:12

There is a Bob.

438

: 00:27:14

I can't wait.

439

: 00:27:15

Keep me in the loop on that one.

440

: 00:27:17

Cause I will definitely want to share

it out if, and when you are able

441

: 00:27:20

to join us out there in Chicago.

442

: 00:27:22

So Bob, we covered the

past and the present.

443

: 00:27:26

How about the future?

444

: 00:27:28

As the founder of the A-A-I-S-P, as

the man who has been the cornerstone

445

: 00:27:34

of the transition towards Emblaze,

what do you see in this space?

446

: 00:27:40

And by the way, all those positions

we've been talking about and the

447

: 00:27:44

specialization, can you talk a little

bit down the vein of what was then inside

448

: 00:27:49

sales and is now multiple things and as

well, what was then A-A-I-S-P and what.

449

: 00:27:56

Does good look like in that community

as it continues to evolve with your

450

: 00:28:01

guidance as well on the executive board

451

: 00:28:04

Bob Perkins: This is a probably the

best and probably the hardest question

452

: 00:28:09

I've been asked in a long time.

453

: 00:28:10

And I you hit the nail on

the head with that question.

454

: 00:28:13

I wish I had a crystal ball.

455

: 00:28:16

People ask me would ask me

this question over the years.

456

: 00:28:18

Where's inside sales headed?

457

: 00:28:21

I really wish, I could,

I can paint a vision.

458

: 00:28:25

I just don't know if it's the if it's

the correct vision, but I'll give you my

459

: 00:28:30

thoughts on where I think it should go.

460

: 00:28:34

And I want to start with the

profession of sales as a whole.

461

: 00:28:39

.

And by the way, I would bucket sales enablement in there.

462

: 00:28:42

I would bucket revenue enable

enablement, revenue ops.

463

: 00:28:45

I would bucket this all together, and

464

: 00:28:47

I'm going to go back to the

three legged stool for a minute.

465

: 00:28:51

People we need to start with people.

466

: 00:28:54

It's all about, it is all about people.

467

: 00:28:57

We know through research that

hitting quotas is becoming harder.

468

: 00:29:02

Less companies are doing it.

469

: 00:29:04

We know through research and

questionnaires and surveys that Reps

470

: 00:29:09

are not getting coached adequately.

471

: 00:29:12

We know this.

472

: 00:29:13

It's not a surprise.

473

: 00:29:15

So I think in the future, we have

to double down on on training,

474

: 00:29:23

on mentoring, on coaching.

475

: 00:29:28

We need to treat this profession

like it's one of the most

476

: 00:29:32

critical professions in the world.

477

: 00:29:35

When you're an accountant, boy, you, when

you're a lawyer, you have to pass the bar.

478

: 00:29:39

When you're an accountant,

you got to get your CPA.

479

: 00:29:42

It's along those lines.

480

: 00:29:43

It's so good to see colleges

training young folks.

481

: 00:29:45

We need more of that.

482

: 00:29:47

When I was leading and consulting over

the years, people would say, can you

483

: 00:29:54

tell us if we're doing this right?

484

: 00:29:55

Do we have the right metrics?

485

: 00:29:57

Do we have the right software?

486

: 00:29:59

Do we have the right tech stack?

487

: 00:30:01

And I said, timeout, stop.

488

: 00:30:04

I'm going to tell you

right now, you want it.

489

: 00:30:06

You want to be successful.

490

: 00:30:08

Get a great leader.

491

: 00:30:09

Start with a great leader.

492

: 00:30:11

Great leaders build great teams.

493

: 00:30:14

It's a simple formula and

we need to embrace that.

494

: 00:30:19

The third one is tools technology.

495

: 00:30:21

Guess what?

496

: 00:30:22

Now we have this thing called AI

entering the landscape and all I

497

: 00:30:28

would say about technology is this

and I'll give you a good example.

498

: 00:30:32

When I started using zoom,

to me, it was a game changer.

499

: 00:30:36

Things like that can be game changers.

500

: 00:30:37

As a profession, I think we need

to make sure that the reps have

501

: 00:30:44

those tools that will not impede

them, but will help them and will be

502

: 00:30:52

productivity enhancements for them.

503

: 00:30:54

And I think that's where sales

enablement, revenue, enablement, revenue

504

: 00:30:59

operations can make a huge impact.

505

: 00:31:02

Let's, let's continue to find

ways to let people be people,

506

: 00:31:07

let them be great salespeople,

507

: 00:31:10

back in 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, there was

this thing called tech stack overload.

508

: 00:31:17

So I think the future holds

some interesting interesting

509

: 00:31:21

things in, in play for what's

going to happen with technology.

510

: 00:31:25

Whatever we do going forward.

511

: 00:31:29

We got to put people in the

center of this equation because

512

: 00:31:33

here's a great story.

513

: 00:31:35

I'm going to end with this little story.

514

: 00:31:37

There was this company that

had about a midsize company.

515

: 00:31:40

They had about 30, 40 sales reps.

516

: 00:31:43

I think they were about a 200, 300

million in sales and they had their

517

: 00:31:48

annual president's club and they

got all the sales reps together and

518

: 00:31:54

they were doing the annual awards.

519

: 00:31:56

And finally the VP of sales

gets up and he goes, the number

520

: 00:32:00

one was 180 percent of quota.

521

: 00:32:04

Is so and so John Smith, John.

522

: 00:32:06

Congratulations.

523

: 00:32:07

John gets up and He gets the award, a

nice trophy plaque, whatever it was, and

524

: 00:32:13

then dinner starts and the VP comes over.

525

: 00:32:16

John, congratulations.

526

: 00:32:17

And the VP happened to have his

iPad with him and he pulls up

527

: 00:32:23

statistics on John and there he is.

528

: 00:32:25

180 percent of quota,

but then he flips the.

529

: 00:32:28

The page to the next dashboard and

on there was number of sales calls

530

: 00:32:36

for the year out of 30 people.

531

: 00:32:38

And he said, congratulations,

but take a look at this.

532

: 00:32:42

You were in the lower third.

533

: 00:32:44

You were like eight from the

bottom with number of sales calls.

534

: 00:32:47

He goes, just think if you could even

improve that up to, 50 top 50 top 40

535

: 00:32:55

top 30%, you might've been at 200%.

536

: 00:32:58

John looks at the VP and says, with

all due respect, just think if all the

537

: 00:33:05

reps above me made fewer sales calls.

538

: 00:33:08

So the moral of that story is.

539

: 00:33:12

If sales were as simple as making

a call or sending an email or

540

: 00:33:21

doing a Zoom video, from a quantity

standpoint, anybody could be successful.

541

: 00:33:30

You and I know that Six very successful

sales reps are few and far between.

542

: 00:33:38

And you can't say, if you make a

hundred calls, you're going to get

543

: 00:33:42

10 meetings of the 10 meetings.

544

: 00:33:44

You're going to have five

go to demo of the demos.

545

: 00:33:47

Three are going to close.

546

: 00:33:48

It's not that easy.

547

: 00:33:49

A monkey could do it.

548

: 00:33:51

And so I would leave that thought to

the audience that, we, as much as we

549

: 00:33:58

are enabled to do a lot in a little

bit of time, let's not forget about,

550

: 00:34:03

the people and how important they are.

551

: 00:34:06

To the equation.

552

: 00:34:07

And there you go.

553

: 00:34:09

Erich Starrett: Orchestrate the, the

friction out of the sales system.

554

: 00:34:14

Don't focus on fixing the sales folks.

555

: 00:34:18

Bob Perkins: I love what you just said.

556

: 00:34:19

In fact, before we started this the

conversation today, I think you and

557

: 00:34:23

I offline, you were talking about

how you broke some things and you

558

: 00:34:27

were a little bit of a renegade.

559

: 00:34:28

You're very best reps.

560

: 00:34:30

They figure out how to

get rid of the friction.

561

: 00:34:32

Erich Starrett: They take that comp plan.

562

: 00:34:34

They figure out what's going to

work and they do what it takes

563

: 00:34:36

to get there and provide there.

564

: 00:34:39

customers value to keep that

revenue coming in, right?

565

: 00:34:43

Bob Perkins: you got it?

566

: 00:34:43

Erich Starrett: Final note I

loved what you said about AI.

567

: 00:34:47

A tagline for me is AI

curious human enthusiast.

568

: 00:34:56

And what I mean by that is a version of

what you just shared that I see AI as an

569

: 00:35:04

opportunity to off load the administrivia

and focus on your given gifting.

570

: 00:35:13

And if that happens to be sales

to your point, it is a skill.

571

: 00:35:17

It is a gift to be able to sell well,

to have the patience and to, in this

572

: 00:35:25

day and age differentiate by leading

with more of a loving kindness, not the

573

: 00:35:31

old school boiler room approach, right?

574

: 00:35:33

Thank you.

575

: 00:35:34

But as my buddy Dale Dupree would

say, being more of a sales rebel and

576

: 00:35:40

really doing things differently where

you meet each customer where they are.

577

: 00:35:45

Bob Perkins: I love that.

578

: 00:35:47

Erich Starrett: Oh, thank you.

579

: 00:35:48

Can you say, I know, and that's

part of the reason, Bob, we're

580

: 00:35:51

completing each other's sentences.

581

: 00:35:53

Where does that land with you?

582

: 00:35:55

And is there anything finally you'd

like to say in that future space?

583

: 00:35:59

about AI friend or foe, and what's

possible when sales is able to tap

584

: 00:36:07

into their unconscious competence.

585

: 00:36:10

Bob Perkins: I think AI ultimately

is going to be a friend.

586

: 00:36:12

It has to be, it, it will be.

587

: 00:36:15

We just, we want to be careful

that we don't substitute

588

: 00:36:19

it for what you just said.

589

: 00:36:22

I love what you just said about

empathy and, the, being the rebel.

590

: 00:36:26

Really what that says to me is,

you know what, Great salespeople

591

: 00:36:31

make it about the other person.

592

: 00:36:33

What does that mean empathy?

593

: 00:36:36

caring attention listening More

than you're speaking Those are the

594

: 00:36:44

traits that winning sales reps carry.

595

: 00:36:48

And you probably know steve richard.

596

: 00:36:51

Erich Starrett: I just reached

out to him the other day.

597

: 00:36:53

Bob Perkins: Yeah, Steve is great.

598

: 00:36:55

He and I over the years would say we

have a listening and discovery epidemic.

599

: 00:37:00

It's not good.

600

: 00:37:01

People want to get out

there and just sell.

601

: 00:37:04

Here's how great my product is.

602

: 00:37:05

Why don't you find out what's happening

with the customer really understand them?

603

: 00:37:11

Erich Starrett: Maybe this digital

cluster will ultimately melt down

604

: 00:37:16

and consolidate to the point where we

get back to that basic blocking and

605

: 00:37:21

tackling of listening, leaning into our

gifting and bringing value, recurring

606

: 00:37:31

value, recurring impact to our client

in whatever way we can present it with.

607

: 00:37:38

The portfolio we represent

608

: 00:37:40

Bob Perkins: It's exciting.

609

: 00:37:41

Listen, this whole profession

is so exciting to me and

610

: 00:37:45

what the opportunities are.

611

: 00:37:46

Maybe I'll stick around a little

bit longer and do some more

612

: 00:37:49

advising because I just love talking

about the opportunity we have.

613

: 00:37:54

Erich Starrett: Yes, please bob.

614

: 00:37:55

We're with the not just the inside

sales, but the digital global

615

: 00:38:00

sales the leadership All of us we

need you on the scene my friend.

616

: 00:38:04

Thank you So much for your time today

on behalf of your global community and

617

: 00:38:10

the global podcast community I'm sure

they've learned a thing or three as I

618

: 00:38:13

have today Any final words you'd like to

share on your way out the door for today?

619

: 00:38:19

Bob Perkins: I would just give you

a boost of confidence and good luck.

620

: 00:38:22

Wishes with keeping the newly

mi nted Revenue Enablement

621

: 00:38:27

Society, RES, front and center.

622

: 00:38:30

Let's partner, as best we can

623

: 00:38:33

Erich Starrett: We'll look forward to

seeing you on down the road, whether it's

624

: 00:38:35

the Crackerjack Prize in Chicagoland or

further on down the street, my friend.

625

: 00:38:40

Thanks so much for being here.

626

: 00:38:41

Bob Perkins: Yeah, good.

627

: 00:38:42

It was nice meeting you and

hopefully our paths will cross again.