[MUSIC PLAYING] - Hi, my name is Gerhard Gschwandtner. And welcome to Selling Power TV. Today, we have the pleasure of meeting with Clive Armitage. And he is the CEO of Agent 3. Welcome, Clive. 

- Good to see you again. 

- So we talked about, what? Four months ago in San Francisco. And you talked about the role of artificial intelligence in selling. What has changed since? 

- So lots. The market is moving very, very quickly, as you suspect. For ourselves, we have launched a new version of our platform into the market, which has been a tremendous exciting thing for us to do. Very focused around what we're looking at in terms of intent data, which we are seeing more and more interest as people understand the opportunity to establish what's happening in the early stages of the sales funnel from data that really tells us where interest lies. 

So we've seen that. And that's helped us bring this new platform to market, so a lot of interest from customers. But I guess it's an ever-evolving marketplace. We see so much innovation. And keeping up to speed with that means that it's both tremendously exciting, but also tremendously challenging. And so as a vendor, we've got to keep up to pace with it. And also at the same time, we've got to communicate to our customers and help them navigate that change themselves. 

- So your message focuses predominantly on sales engagement. When you think back when we met first, how did you define sales engagement then versus how you define it today? 

- That's a great question. So I think sales engagement is predicated, in my opinion, based on the ability to engage in the most impactful way with the customer you want to reach. It sounds obvious, but ultimately, it's about meeting your customer's needs. How do I engage with my customer around their pain points, around their needs, at a time when they want to hear from me with a message that they want to want to hear? 

I think the reality is that's been the same ever since sales was invented. But what's happening now is that technology is allowing us to be better at understanding what the needs of the customer are on a scalable basis, and then engaging when they want to hear from us. 

- Here's what I see when I when I listen to your talking, which is an iceberg, where 3/10 are above the waterline. So we-- the 3/10 is the person. Whereas, the 7/10 is the organization. So how do we engage the organization? 

- So that-- I mean, the classic challenge that we help our customers with is I'm already working with a big brand, a key account. I'm close to getting my quota by talking to the people that I've traditionally spoke to. But then there's a massive addressable market, that iceberg, in the rest of the organization. 

So our role is to help them understand what signals are happening in the rest of that organization which are likely to prove interest and when to engage. I think that the role of AI and machine learning today is to help our salespeople understand that, yes, they've got an addressable market that they've had relationships with for some time, they've looked to sell into. 

But today, there's a much bigger addressable market. They may not have relationships with those people. But by using data, we can understand when to engage, who to engage with, and what to say to them because the data signals are out there in unstructured and structured data. We can pull all that really intelligently and deliver the insights that say, you're here today. But this addressable market, the rest of that pyramid is significant, go get it. 

- So let's talk about the insight that you get from data. And how do salespeople use that insight to drive value? 

- Sales people do not need many more tools. When I engage with people, typically, they tend to say to me, I don't have a shortage of things that help me sell. What I have a shortage of are things that are actionable. So the value that we have to drive to our users is to say, here are the insights that matter to you. And here are the actions that you can take from those insights. 

So it's no good saying to someone there is interest in this part of the organization in this part of your portfolio. What we have to do is say they're interested for these reasons. Here's the signal. Here are the people that are likely to be ready to buy. And here's the material from a sales [INAUDIBLE] perspective to go target those people. So we're making it as actionable as possible. 

If we do that, then we're adding value. And the feedback we get is if you're a rock star sales guy who's heading up a large team, and you've got a large account, and you're taking pride in making sure that you hit your quota every year and your team is hitting your quota, why wouldn't you want that added intelligence? Why wouldn't you want to know where to go, an action insight on where to go and sell more within the organization where you traditionally haven't been able to sell? 

- Well, what needs to change in order to improve? 

- Attitudes. I think the challenge here is-- it's an attitudinal one. I think people-- people are inherently mostly pretty good at their jobs. And salespeople, I meet very smart salespeople, and they are able to hit their quota time and time again doing what they've traditionally done. 

- So describe the attitude. 

- The attitude is why do I need this? And there's a reason we're here today talking about sales 3.0. It's a change management process from an old way of selling, which you've correctly identified, to a new way of selling. And in the future, our salesforces are going to be asked to do more with less. 

How do you do that? How do you square that circle? The only way you do it is with better intelligence and better tools. The way to actually engage in a more efficient way an effective way to drive your revenue. And that, I think, if I'm being totally honest, is a message that hasn't been completely heard by every salesperson in the world today. 

- Do you think that it could also be that people are not clear about the why? And that's why they chase one [INAUDIBLE] after the other, after the other, after the other? 

- I think there's probably two drivers to that. One, we live in a quarterly driven world, where we want instant gratification. And many salespeople I speak to, I talk to them about the value of insights and about understanding the pain points of their customers. But they want to default quickly to but where's my money? How do I quickly get to my sale? Because that's what they're measured on, and that's understandable. 

- But at the same time, to build long-term value, you've got to really understand your customer over a period of time and then build up the momentum in your pipeline. Well, that's what we need to educate. We need to educate the value of that, the fact that, actually, you can hit your short-term and your long-term goals with an insight-driven approach. 

- So what are you saying is the inside is already there. The artificial intelligence gives you the data. And the challenge you have with salespeople's attitudes is something that needs to be coached? 

- I think it's a change-- classic change management challenge. 

- They don't want to change? 

- They are stuck in a situation where they've done things for so long that there's a fear of change. There's a fear of different ways of working. And there's a fear of not being successful. So our role is to help them understand, actually, you can make that shift. And that there's value at the end of it. If we can do that, then clearly, we're adding value to our customer base and helping them understand there's a better way to engage. 

Let's be clear about it. There is so much data out there in the marketplace now that if we can only order it and understand it, it will help us sell better. If we don't take advantage of that, if our customers don't take advantage of that, then they're frankly leaving money on the table. 

- So there are really two drivers. One is you can appeal to their greed and say you can build better value for your customers and more money for your company, or you risk the consequences of being disrupted by somebody smarter. 

- It's a classic carrot and stick. It's the carrot of there's revenue here where if you take the innovative approach, and we all want to innovate, and maximize the value of that insight that is out there, you can get greater revenue. Or you can stick with where you are and watch someone else come past you. And then you're not in a great place. 

- You don't want to be disrupted. You want to own the disruption. 

- Absolutely. 

- So what's the role of marketing in all of this? 

- What's the role of marketing on all of this? I think marketing needs to enable sales to be successful. It's always been that way. But I think the view of marketing in the past has been let's get out of the way of sales. And effectively, be quite tactical. 

Let's organize an event for them. Let's provide them with some chotchkies to go to a trade show. That's not great support for sales. Great support for sales is marketing to be able to say I understand what you're trying to do within that account. I can help you understand, actually, where the real need is within that account, who to speak to, give you the content you need to go in and be effective. 

Because I understand that certain types of content via certain channels work particularly well for certain individuals and personas within that account. That's strategic marketing. And if delivered in the right way, it absolutely turbocharges the pipeline process. And finally, marketing can actually sit there and say, we have an equal part of the pie to deal with working with you as a trusted partner to be successful. 

- And I think I want to go back to the attitude part. My recommendation would be to create a culture where everybody is passionately dissatisfied with the status quo. 

- Absolutely, and go back to carrot and stick analogy, again. The carrot is passionately dissatisfied. The stick should be paranoid about being disrupted. 

- Disrupted, absolutely. Thank you so much, Clive. 

- Thank you, pleasure. 

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