Last night, I picked up one of sales strongest thought leaders from the airport: Craig Rosenberg aka Funnelholic. His simply stated tag-line says it all: sales. marketing. revenue.
It was one of those nights: cold, misty, and plain dreary. After a long, cross-coast flight, most would’ve been dejected and worn-out. Not Craig.
Instead of dropping Craig off at his hotel and letting him nibble on a room-service burger with a sopping bun and moist fries, we drove the Atlanta Tech Village McLaren over to the Optimist for a “quick bite.”
One Macallan 12 and an hour-and-a-half later we were deep in conversation on all things sales.
“You know.” he stated. “one thing that west coast customers, prospects, and investors like? An app with an opinion. You guys have that.”
I’ve never heard an app expressed that way. He’s right. The best software applications have an opinion, some with attitude.
It’s true. In a sales call three days ago, I stood in a room of 5 managers. In the middle of the presentation I stated: “this app isn’t for every manager in this room. Two, maybe three of you will use this and gain immense value from it. The others will carry on doing things the old way.”
I believe Rivalry’s sales coaching software can add immense value to a sales organization because sales coaching is important. It’s actually the most important thing that never happens. My team and I will not waste time convincing people to spend time on their people — it’s not an argument worth our energy.
Instead we want to focus on how they’re coaching reps and ways our software can make it simple and easy while most importantly improving their lives and business.
Rivalry’s not alone. The best businesses in Atlanta and more specifically the Atlanta Tech Village, you see opinion. SaleLoft for sales development. Rigor for web performance management. Calendly for scheduling. Yik Yak for comic genius. And many more.
It was a dinner I’ll remember for quite some time. I look forward to Craig’s presentation on Wednesday at SalesLoft’s Rainmaker conference.