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Don’t pitch, prescribe  

Sales teams are at an impasse. The outbound strategies that once worked for them are failing, while the pressure and stress to meet quotas are increasing.

Though the writing is on the wall, this pressure often forces salespeople deeper into the outbound rabbit hole. 

Instead of having some space to lift their head up and look around, they are forced to cling even harder to old-school methods like a popped life raft. 

But if they could take a beat to scan the market, they’d see that "being sales-y" now makes you a pariah. 

Why? Because buyers don’t care about your pitch. They care about who can help them win. 

Sales teams can no longer view themselves as peddlers or pushers, but instead have to see themselves for what they really are: caregivers and problem solvers. 

Co-founder of Stage 2 Capital, Harvard Business School professor, founding CRO at HubSpot, and best-selling author Mark Roberge once famously said:

"It’s no longer about interrupting, pitching, and closing. It is about listening, diagnosing, and prescribing." 

And to Mark’s point, it’s also not just about listening to the buyer, but also listening to their communities. Who do they identify with? Who do they look up to? Who influences how they perform their role or run their company?

In this metaphor, these partners become the general practitioner the buyer has been going to for years, and you the newly-referred specialist. 

Quit trying to make noise until you get your buyer’s attention. Instead, tap into the people who know your buyer’s "condition" and show them how you can help them get healthy. 

Get organized on your ICP

Stage 2 Capital’s partner Mandy Cole created an ICP framework that focuses on firmographic and intent attributes.

The "green" column = the perfect ICP.

Mark explains that these are the only people who should receive outbound emails, or be considered for product development trade-offs.

The "red" column = customers that should be avoided at this stage.

Sellers and CSMs should disqualify them as customers, and the CEO should support the decision to do so. 

The "yellow" column = should only be sold to if the prospect comes inbound.

These customer attributes should not be pursued through outbound channels or prioritized with product decisions, but they can be sold to if they are inbound leads and/or have a high intent. 

WPP & Shopify announce partnership

Communications, advertising, public relations, technology, and commerce company WPP announced the launch of their strategic global partnership with Shopify to bring the full value of Shopify’s platform to their enterprise clients.

WPP explains that shifting consumer expectations, evolving commerce technology, and the economy have "made it more important than ever for brands to reach consumers directly across all platforms, whether that’s online, in-store, or on social media platforms."

Their enterprise clients have felt this the most, finding that "legacy commerce infrastructure is not flexible enough to respond to emerging consumer buying behaviors." 

WPP and Shopify plan to roll out a customized training and certification program for WPP employees, with the goal of creating 300 certified Shopify specialists within the first year.

This goes to show that even giant legacy brands (and the agencies that work with them) are needing to shift in today’s economic landscape to find new, creative ways to offer integrated and expanded value to their customers. 

Knights of the nearbound roundtable

Jacob Vandenbark shared this regal meme on the Nearbound Summit’s WhatsApp community hosted by Partnership Leaders. 

Nearbounders, ASSEMBLE! 

Stuff you don’t want to miss!

• Join the official Nearbound Summit community brought to you by Partnership Leaders — Partnership leaders’ goal is to connect people interested in learning about partnerships around the world. Join here.

• October 18th —Firneo Partner Strategy Forum (Day 1): How to Fix Your Broken Partner Program— Learn how to fix the root cause of your partner program’s biggest challenges. Register here

• October 25th —Firneo Partner Strategy Forum (Day 2):  How to Prioritize the RIGHT Partners— Learn how to make sure you’re investing your (limited) resources in partners that will generate a meaningful. Register here

• November 1st —Firneo Partner Strategy Forum (Day 3): How to Get Executive Buy-In for Partnerships— Learn how to secure resources & support from key stakeholders that are critical to partnership success. Register here

• November 6th-9th —Nearbound Summit 2023— The future of GTM is Nearbound. Join us for the biggest-ever remote experience in GTM where B2B leaders across departments unite to share how they’re winning with Nearbound strategies and tactics. Register here.

• April 19th-20th –SaaS Connect 2023– It’s that time of year again! Get your spot early for the 11th annual partnership conference in San Francisco, hosted by Cloud Software Association. Register here. 

Sales Day at The Nearbound Summit 

Join Mark, Scott Leese, Aaron McGarry, and more at the Nearbound Summit. Get your spot today!