The Weekly Briefing

Our mission is to provide only the most essential conversation and market intelligence to inform GTM executives as they navigate H2 2020.

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This week, Jim was joined by Alex Buckles, Vice President of Sales at Perkuto to discuss how sales pros can navigate changes to the enterprise motion and other challenges that can undermine sales success in the current environment. Alex, who is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and the CEO and co-founder of Forecastable, also offered some advice to sales pros for avoiding burnout in an era of meeting mania.

This week’s Weekly Briefing was marked by many new things. A new year, a new US administration, and a new sense of bold leadership for 2021. Jim Benton was joined by Justin Clifford, the Head of Commercial Sales at Lessonly. They discussed the immense energy entering into this new year, and have dedicated this episode to the importance and role of leadership in the coming year.

We did it! We’ve made it to the end of the year, and the last episode of The Weekly Briefing in 2020. This year, we’ve learned so much from leaders in almost every industry and role, and we’ve been so excited to share this with you. For our last episode, Jim Benton was joined by Ian Szilagyi, the Global Director of Business Development at Accruent to discuss how sales teams are applying learnings from 2020 to build more pipeline in Q1 2021.

This week, Jim was joined by Marshall Robinson, VP of Sales at Housecall Pro to discuss how revenue teams are keeping up momentum at end-of-year, and the data behind deal velocity heading into 2021. Before diving into the data, they got into the holiday spirit by sharing what makes this season so special, especially in this year when connection is all-important.

This week, Jim and his guest Patrick McCue - the Managing Director of Global Talent Sales at Stack OverFlow - were feeling festive. Before diving into the data around hiring for your best revenue org yet, they started their conversation by discussing holiday plans. As COVID cases rise across the country and the world, it’s important to celebrate with care.

This week, Jim Benton was joined by Margaret Weniger, Sr. Director of Sales at Mindbody, to talk about Forecasting. This is a passion for Margaret, who is also passionate about her role at Mindbody where they connect the world to wellness. Most people know that accurate forecasting is critical to the success of your revenue org, but few people (as the data shows) apply it properly.

On this week’s Weekly Briefing, Jim Benton was joined by Latane Conant, the Chief Market Officer at 6sense. You read that right: Chief Market Officer. Leaving off the “ing” is an intentional shift that is the foundation of Latane’s perspective as a CMO. “One of the things we’ve talked about over the past three years is the role of the CMO,” she said. “It can be quite tactical or it can be highly strategic. It’s up you as the CMO to choose."

On this week’s Weekly Briefing, Jim Benton was joined by Nancy Nardin. Nancy, among so many other things, is the Founder of Smart Selling Tools. She’s a legend. You may know her from her days at Oracle, or because you’ve heard about her hierarchy of sales. Nancy and Jim discussed a few different data points that Chorus surfaced around the role that tech is playing in transforming sales teams.

In this week’s Weekly Briefing, Jim Benton was joined by Shaunt Voskanian, VP of Sales at Datadog, to discuss the rise of Product Led Growth (PLG), and when and how you should use your product in the sales process. Shaunt recalled some of the iconic teams that he has been a part of over the years like QAS, Oracle, and Google, and the impact it had on his career.

This week’s Weekly Briefing was all about Storytelling. Jim Benton was joined by Doug Landis, Growth Partner at Emergence Capital, and a special guest: Chorus’s very own Devin Liu. Top performers tell 20% more stories than the average performer. It’s clear that storytelling has an impact on getting deals across the line. But they’re used far less often than they should be. So, today, Jim, Doug, and Devin uncover the power of storytelling in sales, and how to use them to win.

This week, Jim invited two of our newest AEs to share their experiences joining a company in a remote environment, and how they’ve been able to ramp in record time and close business within their first month at Chorus. Amanda Jones and Julia Cole were Chorus users before they became Chorus sellers. Now part of our Strategic and Corporate team respectively, they started this week’s Briefing by celebrating and congratulating each other on a great quarter-end.

This week, Jim was joined by Trey Boyer, the VP of Sales and CS at Hudl, to discuss the importance of accurate forecasting and the behaviors that drive a deal from commit to close. The commit stage of a deal is a signal that a signed contract is imminent. And every sales rep has a story about deals that score and others that foul out.

This week, Jim was joing by Joel Rackham, the SVP and Global Head of Direct Sales at MarketStar to discuss how they’re energizing and preparing their teams to sell to the C-Suite. Joel shared that his massive team is doing what everyone else is doing right now: adapting to the current environment.

This week, Jim was joined by Dan Wardle, VP of Revenue at Vidyard, to discuss the insights behind the data, and what sales cycles and velocity look like on the ground. Vidyard - which boasts a sales team of 50 plus CSMs that handle strategic customers - has become a necessity for sales teams over the past few months.

This week, Jim was joined by Stephanie Benavidez, the Senior Director of Sales Enablement at WellRight. The data on deck was powerful. They discussed how sales teams are doing more with less, and how leaders can help support, inspire, and motivate in the face of burnout.

On this week’s Briefing, Jim Benton was joined by Pete Kazanjy. Pete is the Co-Founder of Atrium, Founder of Modern Sales Pros, and the author of Founding Sales, among many other titles and achievements. They came together to discuss the latest work patterns of sales teams, who’s joining their meetings, and how leaders can best support them.

This week, Jim was joined by Karan Singh, the VP of Revenue Ops at Procore Tech. Karan shared that his large team consists of multiple centers of excellence and field operations, the magic happens in specialization.

Jim Benton was joined by Gerhard Gschwandtner the CEO of Selling Power. Over coffee and data, they discussed the new world, the impact of the virtual environment on relationships, and the new nature of selling.

Jim Benton was joined by Shianne Sampson, VP of Sales & Customer Experience at PetDesk for this week’s Weekly Briefing to discuss the data behind sales coaching in this new normal.

Jim Benton was joined by Alice Heiman, CEO and Founder of Alice Heiman LLC, on the last Weekly Briefing of July. They discussed the immediate importance of customer success and the role leadership - specifically CEOs - have to play in keeping customers supremely happy.

This week, Jim was joined by Bob Moore, the CEO and Co-Founder of Crossbeam, to discuss the next big innovation in pipeline generation: Partnerships.

This week, Jim Benton was joined by Matt Finch, Vice President of Global Solutions Consulting at Mavenlink, to discuss a secret weapon hiding in your sales organization: Sales Engineers.

This week, Jim was joined by Joe Booth, the VP of Sales Operations for SecureAuth to discuss how the security segment has adapted their sales process and strategy based on the changes in the market.

This week Jim Benton met with Michael (Mike) Burton, SVP and Co-Founder of Bombora to discuss the data behind remote work productivity, structure, and efficiencies.