April 2, 2024 • 33 mins
My guest Sibusiso Msomi is a sales enablement pioneer in South Africa and in this episode we explore his career evolution and what he learned when making the strategic shift sales training to sales enablement:
- How shifting from sales training to sales enablement to provide more comprehensive solutions that integrate training, tools, and processes, enhancing overall sales effectiveness and what that looks like.
- How engagement with clients has evolved from focusing solely on skills to aligning sales strategies with broader business outcomes.
- Results, positive outcomes and improved sales metrics since moving into sales enablement.
- The introduction, reception and evolution of sales enablement in Africa.
This episode provides valuable insights into the strategic implementation of sales enablement and its growing impact on global and African markets.
Sibusiso Msomi is a dynamic and visionary entrepreneur deeply entrenched in the field of sales and business development, recognized particularly for his contributions to the sales enablement sector.
As the founder of the Sales Enablement Company, he has markedly contributed to the
enhancement of sales practices in numerous organizations, ranging from fledgling startups to established, publicly-traded companies.
Sibusiso’s approach involves a holistic review of the client's sales processes, including training methodologies, content management, and technology adoption in order to tailor a comprehensive sales enablement strategy.
Sibusiso is also the chapter leader of the Revenue Enablement Society in Africa.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Revenue Enablement Society
Stories from the Trenches, whereenablement practitioners share
their real-world experiences.
Get the scoop on what'shappening inside revenue
enablement teams across theglobal RES community.
Each segment of Stories fromthe Trenches shares the good,
the bad and the ugly practicesof corporate revenue enablement
(00:24):
initiatives.
The bad and the ugly practicesof corporate revenue enablement
initiatives Learn what worked,what didn't work and how
obstacles were eliminated byenablement teams and
go-to-market leadership.
Sit back, grab a cold one andjoin host Paul Butterfield,
founder of Revenue FlywheelGroup, for casual conversations
about the wide and variedprofession of revenue enablement
, where there's never aone-size-fits-all solution.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the
Revenue Enablement Societypodcast, stories from the
Trenches, the podcast that, asfar as I know, may be the only
one that goes around the worldlooking for enablement
practitioners talking about thethings that they're doing, how
they're doing things differently, how they're adapting to the
constantly changing world ofsales and therefore revenue
(01:09):
enablement as well and learningfrom them.
It's one of my favorite thingsabout it is I always get to
learn something with every guestwe bring on.
I'm particularly excited tointroduce you to today's guest.
He and I have only recently metI think it was earlier this
year, but I consider him afriend and he's doing some
really cool stuff in his well.
(01:30):
I'm going to let him talk aboutthat.
So I want to introduce you allto Sibu Siso.
Masomi.
Sibu, welcome, and maybeintroduce yourself to everyone a
bit.
Hi, paul, thank you very muchfor the introduction.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I truly appreciate it .
So, as I said, my name isMusiso, the surname is Mzomi and
I'm based all the way in SouthAfrica.
Hot, sunny South Africa.
Hot and sunny sounds reallygood right now, absolutely,
absolutely.
In fact, we've got one placehere where it's summer
throughout the year and that'swhere I'm from actually.
(02:02):
So, yeah, I'm involved in salesand enablement.
I'm married with two kids and,so far, one wife, and I'm saying
so far, one wife because I'mZulu.
I'm allowed to marry as manywomen as I can afford.
Of course, I'm very wise tostay with my wife that I love
very much.
I'm not going to be looking forany other wife at this stage.
(02:22):
Very much, I'm not going to belooking for any other wife at
this stage.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, yeah, I would make make that very clear
because she may listen to thisepisode, absolutely All right.
Well, again, welcome I.
I I've been excited to to.
Uh, we've been talking aboutthis for a little while, so I've
been excited to have you comeon.
So, before we get into theheart of the discussion, um, you
(02:45):
know you were warned in advance.
No one gets out of the JimmyKimmel challenge, so let's start
with that.
You know, through your network,somehow you are offered Jimmy
Kimmel's show when he retires ordecides to retire, and you're
allowed to choose anyone, livingor not, to be your first guest.
Who do you bring on and why didyou pick them?
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, absolutely, it's actually a no-brainer for
me.
The guy that I will bring hisname is Lebang Nong, and he's
actually a friend of mine.
He's the founder of a companycalled GoMets.
The reason why I would pick himis because when Lebang was
still in high school, there wasno teacher in the whole township
(03:28):
that he's in, so like in thewhole suburb, and he took it
upon himself to learn math in away that he started to then
teach other kids, so all the wayuntil they qualified for
college.
And some of those kids now, youknow, they've become doctors,
scientists, others have becomeengineers, and it's been 20
(03:52):
years now and he's now built aschool all the way through to,
you know, like a crash, you knowlike a primary school where
kids learn he's his owncalculator now.
So really inspiring guy, andthat's who I'll bring definitely
.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
What an amazing legacy to leave behind.
Somebody should do a movieabout his life I mean, it sounds
like it would be a really goodone and you know and bring bring
together all those stories andlives that he's changed.
And especially skill like math.
You know, there's not equalopportunity at least in my
(04:24):
country there is not often equalopportunity to get really good
education in in maths andsciences and, and so I think
that's especially a helpful area, right, critical area that he's
providing that for people thatmay not have access to it
otherwise as well.
So I love that, all right.
So let's talk about yourjourney access to it otherwise
(04:45):
as well.
So I love that, all right.
So let's talk about your journey.
So, when we were getting toknow each other and talking,
going back, rewinding a bit, youwere in a great company with a
position that you enjoyed.
Yet you decided to make thatleap and go from sales
leadership and start your owncompany, although it was a
little different than whatyou're doing now.
(05:06):
So let's talk about that.
What tell us your backstory?
How did that happen?
What was your thinking when you, when you, decided to jump out
on your own?
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Very simple.
I was in a job that Iabsolutely enjoyed.
I loved everything about it.
I love the people that I wasworking with, I enjoy my my.
I enjoyed the people that I wasserving as well, my clients,
and actually I also enjoyed theproduct or the software that we
were selling at the stage and wehad done quite well in terms of
(05:37):
what we were able to manage inthe business when I joined the
team.
They were struggling a bit andby the time I'd left we had sort
of pulled our revenue, you know, to a point whereby we're
getting mentioned by, you know,everybody in the business and my
team that I was leading endedup becoming the best team that
they had in the whole department.
(05:57):
So really exciting.
But I loved what I was doing somuch that I figured I could
probably do a bit more of this.
You know, not just only for mycurrent employer, but I saw how
my partners were struggling aswell Partners in terms of the
one that I was servicing when Iwas employed by this particular
employer and I thought you knowwhat the thing they like the
(06:20):
most from what I saw at the time, is really the skill of selling
the lack of the most from whatI saw at the time is really the
skill of selling.
So I thought to myself since Ilove what I'm doing so much, how
about I do it for morecompanies?
How about I spend more timewhere I upskill their teams and
I help them to sell and do a bitbetter when it comes to to
their you know, their sales?
(06:41):
Okay, and that's when I madethe jump.
I thought let me just see if Ican do this with more companies.
I love doing it anyway.
I might as well with more othercompanies that I actually I'm
blessed to be working with atthe stage.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
We've both been in sales for a while, so so I, I
think we, we, we view the samewhen I say sales training a
little bit old school, uh, andand the kinds of sales training
that a lot of us, you know, grewup with, Is that, is that fair,
that that's where you startedin training.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Absolutely, absolutely.
And it was, you know, trainingin the truest form of the
definition of, of training, youknow, to a point whereby, when I
started the company, actually Icalled it the Msomi Institute,
so Msomi being my surname andthe institute was the idea that
I wanted it to be like a schoolof sales.
So, you know, I pictured myselfas the one who will teach the
(07:31):
young ones as they grow up andunderstand sales.
So it was really training inthat sense where we had
classroom trainings, you know,teaching concepts and having
them apply those concepts forthem to then try and improve in
their jobs or get better in whatthey're doing.
And it worked well, you know,because there is still a gap I
(07:52):
think there will always be a gapwhen it comes to people being
able to know how to sell, how tohold deals, to be a bit better.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Well, sales is always changing, so you never really
can arrive Exactly.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Exactly so.
We never just can arriveExactly, exactly so.
There was a story change andand, but it was purely that it
was purely just going out andsales training.
My title was I was a salestrainer and what I did with
clients, you know, I would trainthem on what, when, what they
need a training with, whetherit's prospecting, you know
whether it's a discovery.
But it was purely just trainingand that's it.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
So it sounds like you were enjoying it, it sounds
like you were making adifference and, and uh, you know
, reaching professional andpersonal goals.
So what caused the evolutionfrom what you were doing into
sales enablement?
Speaker 3 (08:43):
I love what I was doing Right, and training was
really good in the sense that Iwas exposed to a lot of
companies, being able to givethem training in the sense.
But it's almost like I knew inthe back of my mind that there's
a better way for me to servicemy clients.
Okay, you know, it seemed a bitlimited when dealing with my
(09:04):
clients in terms of justtraining.
It almost felt like I wasshortchanging them because,
having been involved in salesleadership myself, I understood
that sales training orupskilling somebody was one part
of it.
There are other elements whichcome really into making somebody
great or doing well when itcomes to sales, and I knew every
(09:29):
time I touched a client anddealt with them, somehow I felt
like I'm leaving somethingbehind, I'm not giving them
everything that they would needfor them to become successful.
And so the drive then to bewanting to see my clients do a
bit better, the drive for me tofeel like I don't want them
shortchanged, I want them totruly get the best out of me in
(09:53):
everything, it made me to lookand find for ways.
I mean, at the point at thetime I didn't even know what I
was looking for.
I didn't know what it would becalled.
I didn't know that it's a titlefor it.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
I didn't know there what I was looking for.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
I didn't know what it would be called, I didn't know
that it's a title for it, a namefor it, you just identified
there were gaps in what you wereproviding, and so you were
unsatisfied and had to golooking.
Absolutely, and I'm not answerwhat those were and how our
(10:44):
clients can then take those anduse them.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So let's talk about that.
Oh, go ahead, sorry.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Yeah, yeah.
Then until one day when I wasspending some time, I actually
traveled to the US and I got tomeet a few gentlemen who were
involved in the sales enablementsociety at the time.
Okay, and choose me to thisconcept first, and it just made
sense.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Who did you?
Who?
Uh, do you remember who theywere?
Did you?
Meet them at a conference, orhow did that happen?
Speaker 3 (11:17):
No, so it's actually another funny story.
Um, you know.
So, when beginning the company,as I was doing this training, I
read a lot of books.
I'll read everything.
I'll read anything from a redpaper to anything.
I just love reading and, ofcourse, sales, being my passion,
is what.
I then spend a lot of timereading and I came through to
(11:38):
one of the books by HillMontsori and Corey Bray.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Ah, good friends.
I consider both of them goodfriends.
So you couldn't find a betterintroduction into the world.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Absolutely Amazing human beings Amazing human
beings?
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Yes, they are.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Not just for sales, but just as human beings.
Absolutely amazing, and thebook was called the Sales
Enablement.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Playbook and the book was called the Sales Enablement
Playbook.
I know it well.
I am asked regularly from folksthat are maybe new in
enablement or consideringenablement for some resources
and that is always at the top ofmy list of reading.
Still relevant, still very goodbook.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
It changed my life and I mean I'm not saying it
lightly as you know that mycompany is now called the Sales
Enablement Company.
And I mean I'm not saying itlightly, as you know that my
company is now called the salesenablement company.
So it changed my life in a waythat it completely pointed me in
a different direction, where Iwanted to go.
And after reading the book, Ireached out to them, you know,
flew all the way and actuallymet with them, spend a weekend
with them, um, you know, reallytrying to get into their brain
(12:39):
and trying to do as much as Ican, and they're very different
people, very differentpersonalities, very different
approach.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
So that would be a great experience being able to
interact with both at once.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Yeah, and I think that's the most for me.
That's exciting because youknow what you get from Helaman
and Corey is it's two worldscoming into together and you get
the best out of those, andbeing able to be in the room to
consume all that for me wasreally amazing and a good change
for what I wanted to do for mybusiness.
(13:11):
It was a weekend that wasfilled with aha moments for my
business so that's a biginvestment to make a trip like
that and all of that.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
So I'm curious.
Let's talk about how you tookwhat you learned and how did you
transition your company andwhat were the big changes that
you made that took you fromtraining to enablement.
As far as what your servicesyou're offering.
What did that look like?
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Great stuff.
So and you said it's a hugeinvestment I had to borrow money
from my mother-in-law.
Now you know how much if I wasborrowing money from my
mother-in-law to be able to comeand do the trip, you know.
And but when I returned, I hada plan and the plan was simple
now because with salesenablement, I understand that I
(14:00):
don't have to number one dealwith just one department or one
faculty Sales enablement.
For the first time, as a salestrainer who's not really a sales
trainer I'm now moving intoenablement I now had the
opportunity to be able to engagewith a number of different
organizations because with salesenablement, I had to look at
(14:22):
tech, look at content, look atthe entire success of this one
individual, whether it's AE orSDR, and everything that makes
up their success and all thosedifferent elements which come
into it, whether it's productmarketing, whether it's
executives.
And for the first time, I wasthe one who could actually say
guys, hey, by the way, marketingsales product, I can be able to
(14:48):
bring you into one room and weall have one vision where we can
all move.
And it's crucial because, nevermind sales training, most
leaders in any company theystruggle to get those different
departments to work together,and sales enablement became an
(15:08):
answer for them to be able tosay hang on.
If we follow what we have herefor sales enablement, where we
look at everything to do withcontent, the strategy, the staff
, the skill set, all thingsinclusive, we can get everybody
else in the room and we all haveone focus Revenue becomes our
(15:30):
God, all of us, and that changednot only how I approach my
clients, but also how clientsapproach me now.
How are they?
Speaker 2 (15:40):
approaching you differently.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Absolutely yeah.
So in the olden days, paul,what used to happen?
Hr department, human resourcedepartment, would be the one
that would reach out to me andsay we need two days training,
sales training.
They will even tell me whatthey want.
They want two days training forsomeone to come and do a
pre-call meeting or pre-callplanning.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Objective handling or things like that.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Exactly, but it's a meeting in which they will bring
in.
What's changed now is that Iget called by the executives.
The CEOs will say to me this isour strategy that we have for
the year, for the next two years.
How can we arrive there?
It's no longer a conversationof just one part of training,
(16:26):
but included in what they see asthe big plan they have for the
entire company.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
That is very interesting, More than
interesting.
That's where it comes up andhere's why there are so much and
you know this so much debateand conversation in the
enablement community aboutgetting that executive
sponsorship and getting haven'tquite achieved that.
(16:52):
What do you think the turningpoint was where you started to
get those people interested inyou, Because I think a lot of us
could learn from that.
What do you think the key tothat success of was to get them
(17:16):
interested, those executivesinterested.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
For me what really made a huge difference.
You know, when I returned,there was a client that we were
dealing with at the time and theCEO and the COO of the company
were about to be fired by theboard in the business.
Okay, they tried everything,and when we met with them, I was
(17:40):
the last hope.
Everything, and when we metwith them, I was the last hope.
Basically, they were sayinglisten, if you don't do anything
, we're both out of jobs and weare in trouble.
And by being able to present aplan that came from sales
enablement, unlike just training, when they saw how that was
inclusive, it became the same aswhat I expressed when I was
(18:01):
with Himalayan Corey an ahamoment for them, saying, listen,
if we can put all theseelements together, surely this
will work and then it willchange.
So for me, then, what happenedafterwards, when they had
success?
The word of mouth that camethrough.
I mean, you can imagine a CEOwho knew that in the next three
months he won't have a job,he'll be fired After those three
months.
What happened actually is thatthe guys that we were working
(18:24):
with by the way, his team wasnot salespeople, his team were
consultants who were thensupposed to sell to clients, so
when they go and implement, so,services, not a product.
Absolutely yeah, Services,correct, yes.
So when these guys go andimplement those services, they
were then supposed to upsell,cross-sell or even find new
(18:48):
clients.
So these guys were notsalespeople by any definition,
but the same people, throughbeing able to put a proper sales
enablement program, throughbeing able to put a proper sales
enablement program, were ableto double the revenue in three
months.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Repeat that please, because that's insane metrics
Sure, yeah, perfect.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
These guys, who are not salespeople, who have been
struggling to upsell andcross-sell, within three months
were able to double the revenuein which they were supposed to
bring, and the CEO justcompletely could not believe it.
In fact, I remember this isvery funny.
(19:33):
I remember when we went to seethe numbers after three months,
he came in with anextraordinarily different plan.
He had doubled the quota.
Now for the next month, youknow for the course.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yes, so it always happens over a bigger quota, and
here's a bigger quota.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Yes, you know, this is this is somebody who was
scared that he's about to befired, but now he was bold
enough to say hey, I know, wecan actually do even better.
We can do better, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I know there are probably.
I mean, there are a lot ofthings that went into that.
But if you had to pick thenumber one thing, that the that
you worked on with them, thatcontributed that success, what
do you think it was?
Speaker 3 (20:16):
For us it was really alignment within the whole
department, within the wholebusiness.
Suddenly, with enablement, theright way, it was no longer the
CEO's number, the number was nolonger just a suggestion.
We somehow managed to get themto.
All of them believe that thisis our number.
(20:39):
Marketing was a number andwe're all saying this is our
number.
Marketing was a number, youknow, and we're all saying this
is our number.
And how we would do this.
I think when that clickhappened with them, where they
really believe that this is ournumber, things change and I
think the reason why theybelieve in the number is because
suddenly the number wasn'tsomething that's sitting, you
(21:00):
know, with pie in the sky,because a lot of companies do
that.
They come through, give you anumber 20 million, whatever
million, whatever number theygive you but then they don't
show you how to get there.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
So there's no hope or little hope of doing it.
Yes, okay.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
It becomes daunting, it becomes a problem.
It doesn't excite you.
It it becomes daunting, itbecomes a problem.
Actually, you know it doesn'texcite you, it scares you in.
In.
You know even.
But if you're able to givepeople the number and give them
a proper way through enablement,content, tech, when we show
them exactly how we'll get there, that excites them.
And then we want them toactually want to go ahead and
(21:36):
get through to the number.
So I think, by by want to goahead and get through to the
number, so I think, by us beingable to put it almost like a
paint, you know, paint a picturefor them to be able to see that
and that just made thingschange in their minds.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Amazing first success story with enablement, and I
know that you have seencontinued success with your
clients, with the growth of yourcompany, and so, whether
somebody is wanting to go outand do what you're doing, or
perhaps they just want to bemore strategic and have more of
(22:14):
an impact in the corporate rolethat they're in, what would you
share with them when you wouldthink of the visible results
that you've seen and you've toldme you felt like you had better
salespeople, happiersalespeople.
Of course they're making moremoney, which helps with
everything, right?
What have you learned that therest of us could take away to
help us see some of the sameresults that you're seeing and
(22:36):
success that you're seeing?
Because we may have internalclients right, I may be head of
enablement in a company, but Ithink that the same time of
transformation is what I want todo as to what you're doing for
external clients.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
How do we do that?
It's always the focus of fourthings which I think, um,
anybody, whether you're workingwith clients internally or
you're working with clients youknow externally.
Number one is to make sure thatyou skill set you have is the
right one that you've got.
So you know.
So in South Africa our markethasn't really been matured yet
(23:07):
where you find that somebody isan accounting executive but the
skill set in which they havebeen taught is for SDRs and you
know.
So they think they're learning,consuming stuff, but it's not
really for their role, so itdoesn't help.
So being able to give peoplethe right skill set with the
role in which they're involved,it becomes the first of the
things that one must look at.
(23:28):
And then, secondly, is tounderstand, when it comes to
systems, what systems do youhave which support the goal that
you've got?
And by systems I don't mean thetech, right, I'm just meaning
are we clear what is a qualifiedopportunity?
You know as a first part, whenyou go into our system.
Are we clear what it takes toexit that opportunity and move
(23:51):
through to the next steps?
Just understanding the systemsthat one needs to follow from
the part of when the lead comesto when we win, what it does
take.
How do we follow that?
And it might seem like it'ssomething that you know, it's
elementary, but I found a lot ofbig companies here in South
Africa which are listed whichdon't know what it takes when a
(24:14):
lead comes through on all theway to close.
No one can paint you a pictureand draw you a flow chart from
the beginning right through tothe end.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
So the buyer journey concept is still a little new.
Is that what you're saying fora lot of these companies?
Speaker 3 (24:28):
It's probably a little new one.
But also, even when it's notnew, no one has spent time to
define it for everybody else.
So it might sit in the CEO'shead or the sales manager's head
, but no one has taken the timefor everybody else to understand
how it works.
Across from those ones.
(24:49):
I think as we start looking atthose things, changes do come
and there's a buy-in fromeverybody else.
Then we'll see the change.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
It sounds like what you're talking about is creating
an ecosystem, an infrastructuremaybe is a better word that
surrounds these sellers, butalso the other revenue and
go-to-market teams, so thatthey're all in sync with each
other.
But that's the big shift, isthat you're creating, like I say
(25:19):
, this infrastructure for themto all function within that
elevates what they're all doingindividually.
Is that?
Am I summarizing that?
Well, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
You're saying it exactly as how it should and you
know the funny thing is thatwe've seen this work right.
So if you look at, you knowguys in, in, in in product,
product product developer, who,product managers and developers.
They're sitting in twodifferent rooms or they're used
to where somebody will comethrough and decide they want
(25:50):
this feature to be done on acertain product, but they
wouldn't explain to developmentwhy it's important, what it's
going to do and how the changewill come through.
But we saw when they introducedAgile in how they operate as
far as their projects, everybodygot involved in one room, even
(26:11):
though you have one scrum master.
But the fact that everybodyelse now is sitting in one place
and they can see this ideawhich came from the product
manager, how it affectseverything else and everyone
else, even when they develop theproduct, it's not as different
as what they were before.
It's a bit different nowbecause they know what it means.
(26:34):
Take the same thing from sales.
If we take the same concept andwe put everybody else into the
ecosystem and then we have themwork together for the one way
where we can then move as acompany.
We have a term that we use.
We say, if everybody in thecompany can become
prospect-centric, whereeverything we're building here
(26:55):
has to do with, how do we makesure that when a prospect sees
us, how do we make sure thatwhen a prospect sees us,
everything that we're doing isfor them and they see us as
welcoming for them to comethrough into our space and work
with us.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
If everybody's aligned with that things are
moving a bit better.
I absolutely love that it'staking that outside in view,
which too few companies do.
They're thinking where doesthis customer sit in our cycle
as opposed to where are wefitting into their world?
Big difference, really bigdifference, and in my experience
, prospects and customers willnotice that difference and
(27:33):
they'll appreciate it.
You mentioned it sounds like Idon't know if you would call
yourself this, but you may havebeen a little bit of a pioneer
in sales enablement in SouthAfrica.
How is the practice growingthere?
I mean, you've been doing thisfor a while.
Were you truly one of the earlyones?
And what does it look like forsales enablement in your country
(27:53):
?
The future for sales enablement, I should say.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
I don't know if I'm a pioneer, but I think I of the
first guys to talk about theconcept of sales enablement.
In fact, when I came back, Icame back and then I went ahead
to found the sales enablementchapter here in Africa for the
whole continent.
So that, you know, I feltpeople must understand this new
field and be able to benefitfrom what I've seen in terms of
(28:25):
the results.
And it's quite exciting, youknow, in terms sense that
African companies now theyrealize that they must compete
(28:46):
on the same scale as otherglobal companies and sales
enablement becomes an answer tohow is the best way for you to
compete into that, to a pointwhereby a lot of companies have
welcomed the practice by a lotof companies have welcomed the
practice.
You know, I'm seeing more andmore.
(29:06):
Let's say, banks would havethree or four sales enablement
specialists in, you know, inthat company I've seen a lot of
IT companies have got a salesenablement leader.
Now, you know, four years agowe didn't have this.
So it's definitely a growingfield and I do see where it's
going and I must be, you know,thankful because some companies
that we have here in SouthAfrica, they are based in the US
(29:29):
.
So the influence of the US asfar as sales enablement is very
helpful, and we're able to growinto that.
Funny story, though, is thatI've got a friend and his name
is Nick Sanders.
I'm not sure whether you knowhim.
Nick Sanders is the head ofsales enablement for Mancast
globally.
He was based here in SouthAfrica, and he fell in love as
(29:54):
well with sales enablement, somuch so that he did a great job
to a point whereby he's nowheading up you know the whole
sales enablement in Mancast forthe entire world.
It shows you if we're able toexport a skill like that from
South Africa to go and head upsuch a big company in the US.
It shows you that we do havethe potential of people who can
do extremely well.
(30:15):
So the future as far as salesenablement is amazing.
It's bright, it's sunny, likeour country.
I love that Sales enablement isamazing.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
It's bright, it's sunny, like our country.
I love that Sales enablement issunny like your country.
All right, this is really fun,but I'm amazed the time is going
by and I don't want to endwithout giving you the
opportunity to drop someadditional knowledge on all of
us.
And so my final question foryou, and it might be sales
enablement.
It might be somethingcompletely unrelated, but let's
(30:43):
suppose you've been given thegift of time travel, but there's
a couple of restrictions Numberone, you can only go back and
talk to some younger version ofyourself, no one else.
And and number two, you canonly coach yourself in one area
of your life.
What is the thing that you wishyou'd most understood when you
were younger or earlier in yourcareer that you could could know
(31:06):
now?
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Great question, and it's something that I've been
taught by my grandmother andthey've been taught by their
grandmothers all along.
It's an African word you mightknow.
It is called Ubuntu.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Ubuntu.
Is it U-B-U-N-T-U?
Speaker 3 (31:23):
Yeah, exactly, and it's a concept even Doc Rivers
was talking about it butbasically it's a concept that
says that I am because you are.
I've realized that you know asmuch as life is moving and we
all want to become amazing.
But if we just realize that thereason why I'm here is to serve
Paul, the reason why Paul ishere is to serve somebody else,
(31:45):
it just makes us to be a bitdifferent.
So, looking back, I really wishI had been more of a servant in
my approach with people than Ilater lost that.
Now, growing up, I want to goback and almost fix and become
more of a servant, because whenI was young I thought being a
(32:07):
servant means you're weak, butnow I realize actually serving
people is actually one of themost powerful things.
In fact, if you look at mostleaders in religion, the one
thing which they did was theyknew how to serve people.
That's one thing I'll say tomyself.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
You think like well, in your country, mandela Exactly
Look at what he personalsuffering and the things that he
did in service of the greatergood for the people.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Absolutely.
We have the best example.
We have no excuse in thiscountry.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Wow, that's a powerful concept and I actually
had not heard of it before, sothank you for for sharing that.
I love that.
Well, and also thank you foryour time.
Thank you for the time you'vespent with us, thank you for
what you're contributing to ourprofession, and if people want
to connect with you afterlistening to this, is LinkedIn
(33:00):
the best way or are there otherways?
Speaker 3 (33:03):
Thank you, Paul, for having me here.
I truly enjoy this.
I truly enjoy talking to you.
Every single time I talk to you, I grow a bit more.
So I love talking to you.
And yes, absolutely.
The best way to get a hold ofme is via LinkedIn.
If you just look for my name,you'll find me.
I'm very active on LinkedIn.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Thank you, my friend.
We're coming up on the end ofthe week, so I hope you have a
great weekend.
And, to everyone else, thankyou for investing another half
hour of your time with us.
We wouldn't be here if itwasn't for you, our audience,
and so stay safe, and we'll beback in two weeks with a new
episode.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Thanks for joining this episode of Stories from the
Trenches.
For more revenue enablementresources, be sure to join the
Revenue Enablement Society atresocietyglobal.
That's resocietyglobal.
Welcome to the Revenue Enablement Society
Stories from the Trenches, whereenablement practitioners share
their real-world experiences.
Get the scoop on what'shappening inside revenue
enablement teams across theglobal RES community.
Each segment of Stories fromthe Trenches shares the good,
the bad and the ugly practicesof corporate revenue enablement
(00:24):
initiatives.
The bad and the ugly practicesof corporate revenue enablement
initiatives Learn what worked,what didn't work and how
obstacles were eliminated byenablement teams and
go-to-market leadership.
Sit back, grab a cold one andjoin host Paul Butterfield,
founder of Revenue FlywheelGroup, for casual conversations
about the wide and variedprofession of revenue enablement
, where there's never aone-size-fits-all solution.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the
Revenue Enablement Societypodcast, stories from the
Trenches, the podcast that, asfar as I know, may be the only
one that goes around the worldlooking for enablement
practitioners talking about thethings that they're doing, how
they're doing things differently, how they're adapting to the
constantly changing world ofsales and therefore revenue
(01:09):
enablement as well and learningfrom them.
It's one of my favorite thingsabout it is I always get to
learn something with every guestwe bring on.
I'm particularly excited tointroduce you to today's guest.
He and I have only recently metI think it was earlier this
year, but I consider him afriend and he's doing some
really cool stuff in his well.
(01:30):
I'm going to let him talk aboutthat.
So I want to introduce you allto Sibu Siso.
Masomi.
Sibu, welcome, and maybeintroduce yourself to everyone a
bit.
Hi, paul, thank you very muchfor the introduction.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I truly appreciate it .
So, as I said, my name isMusiso, the surname is Mzomi and
I'm based all the way in SouthAfrica.
Hot, sunny South Africa.
Hot and sunny sounds reallygood right now, absolutely,
absolutely.
In fact, we've got one placehere where it's summer
throughout the year and that'swhere I'm from actually.
(02:02):
So, yeah, I'm involved in salesand enablement.
I'm married with two kids and,so far, one wife, and I'm saying
so far, one wife because I'mZulu.
I'm allowed to marry as manywomen as I can afford.
Of course, I'm very wise tostay with my wife that I love
very much.
I'm not going to be looking forany other wife at this stage.
(02:22):
Very much, I'm not going to belooking for any other wife at
this stage.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, yeah, I would make make that very clear
because she may listen to thisepisode, absolutely All right.
Well, again, welcome I.
I I've been excited to to.
Uh, we've been talking aboutthis for a little while, so I've
been excited to have you comeon.
So, before we get into theheart of the discussion, um, you
(02:45):
know you were warned in advance.
No one gets out of the JimmyKimmel challenge, so let's start
with that.
You know, through your network,somehow you are offered Jimmy
Kimmel's show when he retires ordecides to retire, and you're
allowed to choose anyone, livingor not, to be your first guest.
Who do you bring on and why didyou pick them?
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, absolutely, it's actually a no-brainer for
me.
The guy that I will bring hisname is Lebang Nong, and he's
actually a friend of mine.
He's the founder of a companycalled GoMets.
The reason why I would pick himis because when Lebang was
still in high school, there wasno teacher in the whole township
(03:28):
that he's in, so like in thewhole suburb, and he took it
upon himself to learn math in away that he started to then
teach other kids, so all the wayuntil they qualified for
college.
And some of those kids now, youknow, they've become doctors,
scientists, others have becomeengineers, and it's been 20
(03:52):
years now and he's now built aschool all the way through to,
you know, like a crash, you knowlike a primary school where
kids learn he's his owncalculator now.
So really inspiring guy, andthat's who I'll bring definitely
.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
What an amazing legacy to leave behind.
Somebody should do a movieabout his life I mean, it sounds
like it would be a really goodone and you know and bring bring
together all those stories andlives that he's changed.
And especially skill like math.
You know, there's not equalopportunity at least in my
(04:24):
country there is not often equalopportunity to get really good
education in in maths andsciences and, and so I think
that's especially a helpful area, right, critical area that he's
providing that for people thatmay not have access to it
otherwise as well.
So I love that, all right.
So let's talk about yourjourney access to it otherwise
(04:45):
as well.
So I love that, all right.
So let's talk about your journey.
So, when we were getting toknow each other and talking,
going back, rewinding a bit, youwere in a great company with a
position that you enjoyed.
Yet you decided to make thatleap and go from sales
leadership and start your owncompany, although it was a
little different than whatyou're doing now.
(05:06):
So let's talk about that.
What tell us your backstory?
How did that happen?
What was your thinking when you, when you, decided to jump out
on your own?
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Very simple.
I was in a job that Iabsolutely enjoyed.
I loved everything about it.
I love the people that I wasworking with, I enjoy my my.
I enjoyed the people that I wasserving as well, my clients,
and actually I also enjoyed theproduct or the software that we
were selling at the stage and wehad done quite well in terms of
(05:37):
what we were able to manage inthe business when I joined the
team.
They were struggling a bit andby the time I'd left we had sort
of pulled our revenue, you know, to a point whereby we're
getting mentioned by, you know,everybody in the business and my
team that I was leading endedup becoming the best team that
they had in the whole department.
(05:57):
So really exciting.
But I loved what I was doing somuch that I figured I could
probably do a bit more of this.
You know, not just only for mycurrent employer, but I saw how
my partners were struggling aswell Partners in terms of the
one that I was servicing when Iwas employed by this particular
employer and I thought you knowwhat the thing they like the
(06:20):
most from what I saw at the time, is really the skill of selling
the lack of the most from whatI saw at the time is really the
skill of selling.
So I thought to myself since Ilove what I'm doing so much, how
about I do it for morecompanies?
How about I spend more timewhere I upskill their teams and
I help them to sell and do a bitbetter when it comes to to
their you know, their sales?
(06:41):
Okay, and that's when I madethe jump.
I thought let me just see if Ican do this with more companies.
I love doing it anyway.
I might as well with more othercompanies that I actually I'm
blessed to be working with atthe stage.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
We've both been in sales for a while, so so I, I
think we, we, we view the samewhen I say sales training a
little bit old school, uh, andand the kinds of sales training
that a lot of us, you know, grewup with, Is that, is that fair,
that that's where you startedin training.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Absolutely, absolutely.
And it was, you know, trainingin the truest form of the
definition of, of training, youknow, to a point whereby, when I
started the company, actually Icalled it the Msomi Institute,
so Msomi being my surname andthe institute was the idea that
I wanted it to be like a schoolof sales.
So, you know, I pictured myselfas the one who will teach the
(07:31):
young ones as they grow up andunderstand sales.
So it was really training inthat sense where we had
classroom trainings, you know,teaching concepts and having
them apply those concepts forthem to then try and improve in
their jobs or get better in whatthey're doing.
And it worked well, you know,because there is still a gap I
(07:52):
think there will always be a gapwhen it comes to people being
able to know how to sell, how tohold deals, to be a bit better.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Well, sales is always changing, so you never really
can arrive Exactly.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Exactly so.
We never just can arriveExactly, exactly so.
There was a story change andand, but it was purely that it
was purely just going out andsales training.
My title was I was a salestrainer and what I did with
clients, you know, I would trainthem on what, when, what they
need a training with, whetherit's prospecting, you know
whether it's a discovery.
But it was purely just trainingand that's it.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
So it sounds like you were enjoying it, it sounds
like you were making adifference and, and uh, you know
, reaching professional andpersonal goals.
So what caused the evolutionfrom what you were doing into
sales enablement?
Speaker 3 (08:43):
I love what I was doing Right, and training was
really good in the sense that Iwas exposed to a lot of
companies, being able to givethem training in the sense.
But it's almost like I knew inthe back of my mind that there's
a better way for me to servicemy clients.
Okay, you know, it seemed a bitlimited when dealing with my
(09:04):
clients in terms of justtraining.
It almost felt like I wasshortchanging them because,
having been involved in salesleadership myself, I understood
that sales training orupskilling somebody was one part
of it.
There are other elements whichcome really into making somebody
great or doing well when itcomes to sales, and I knew every
(09:29):
time I touched a client anddealt with them, somehow I felt
like I'm leaving somethingbehind, I'm not giving them
everything that they would needfor them to become successful.
And so the drive then to bewanting to see my clients do a
bit better, the drive for me tofeel like I don't want them
shortchanged, I want them totruly get the best out of me in
(09:53):
everything, it made me to lookand find for ways.
I mean, at the point at thetime I didn't even know what I
was looking for.
I didn't know what it would becalled.
I didn't know that it's a titlefor it.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
I didn't know there what I was looking for.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
I didn't know what it would be called, I didn't know
that it's a title for it, a namefor it, you just identified
there were gaps in what you wereproviding, and so you were
unsatisfied and had to golooking.
Absolutely, and I'm not answerwhat those were and how our
(10:44):
clients can then take those anduse them.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So let's talk about that.
Oh, go ahead, sorry.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Yeah, yeah.
Then until one day when I wasspending some time, I actually
traveled to the US and I got tomeet a few gentlemen who were
involved in the sales enablementsociety at the time.
Okay, and choose me to thisconcept first, and it just made
sense.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Who did you?
Who?
Uh, do you remember who theywere?
Did you?
Meet them at a conference, orhow did that happen?
Speaker 3 (11:17):
No, so it's actually another funny story.
Um, you know.
So, when beginning the company,as I was doing this training, I
read a lot of books.
I'll read everything.
I'll read anything from a redpaper to anything.
I just love reading and, ofcourse, sales, being my passion,
is what.
I then spend a lot of timereading and I came through to
(11:38):
one of the books by HillMontsori and Corey Bray.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Ah, good friends.
I consider both of them goodfriends.
So you couldn't find a betterintroduction into the world.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Absolutely Amazing human beings Amazing human
beings?
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Yes, they are.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Not just for sales, but just as human beings.
Absolutely amazing, and thebook was called the Sales
Enablement.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Playbook and the book was called the Sales Enablement
Playbook.
I know it well.
I am asked regularly from folksthat are maybe new in
enablement or consideringenablement for some resources
and that is always at the top ofmy list of reading.
Still relevant, still very goodbook.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
It changed my life and I mean I'm not saying it
lightly as you know that mycompany is now called the Sales
Enablement Company.
And I mean I'm not saying itlightly, as you know that my
company is now called the salesenablement company.
So it changed my life in a waythat it completely pointed me in
a different direction, where Iwanted to go.
And after reading the book, Ireached out to them, you know,
flew all the way and actuallymet with them, spend a weekend
with them, um, you know, reallytrying to get into their brain
(12:39):
and trying to do as much as Ican, and they're very different
people, very differentpersonalities, very different
approach.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
So that would be a great experience being able to
interact with both at once.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Yeah, and I think that's the most for me.
That's exciting because youknow what you get from Helaman
and Corey is it's two worldscoming into together and you get
the best out of those, andbeing able to be in the room to
consume all that for me wasreally amazing and a good change
for what I wanted to do for mybusiness.
(13:11):
It was a weekend that wasfilled with aha moments for my
business so that's a biginvestment to make a trip like
that and all of that.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
So I'm curious.
Let's talk about how you tookwhat you learned and how did you
transition your company andwhat were the big changes that
you made that took you fromtraining to enablement.
As far as what your servicesyou're offering.
What did that look like?
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Great stuff.
So and you said it's a hugeinvestment I had to borrow money
from my mother-in-law.
Now you know how much if I wasborrowing money from my
mother-in-law to be able to comeand do the trip, you know.
And but when I returned, I hada plan and the plan was simple
now because with salesenablement, I understand that I
(14:00):
don't have to number one dealwith just one department or one
faculty Sales enablement.
For the first time, as a salestrainer who's not really a sales
trainer I'm now moving intoenablement I now had the
opportunity to be able to engagewith a number of different
organizations because with salesenablement, I had to look at
(14:22):
tech, look at content, look atthe entire success of this one
individual, whether it's AE orSDR, and everything that makes
up their success and all thosedifferent elements which come
into it, whether it's productmarketing, whether it's
executives.
And for the first time, I wasthe one who could actually say
guys, hey, by the way, marketingsales product, I can be able to
(14:48):
bring you into one room and weall have one vision where we can
all move.
And it's crucial because, nevermind sales training, most
leaders in any company theystruggle to get those different
departments to work together,and sales enablement became an
(15:08):
answer for them to be able tosay hang on.
If we follow what we have herefor sales enablement, where we
look at everything to do withcontent, the strategy, the staff
, the skill set, all thingsinclusive, we can get everybody
else in the room and we all haveone focus Revenue becomes our
(15:30):
God, all of us, and that changednot only how I approach my
clients, but also how clientsapproach me now.
How are they?
Speaker 2 (15:40):
approaching you differently.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Absolutely yeah.
So in the olden days, paul,what used to happen?
Hr department, human resourcedepartment, would be the one
that would reach out to me andsay we need two days training,
sales training.
They will even tell me whatthey want.
They want two days training forsomeone to come and do a
pre-call meeting or pre-callplanning.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Objective handling or things like that.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Exactly, but it's a meeting in which they will bring
in.
What's changed now is that Iget called by the executives.
The CEOs will say to me this isour strategy that we have for
the year, for the next two years.
How can we arrive there?
It's no longer a conversationof just one part of training,
(16:26):
but included in what they see asthe big plan they have for the
entire company.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
That is very interesting, More than
interesting.
That's where it comes up andhere's why there are so much and
you know this so much debateand conversation in the
enablement community aboutgetting that executive
sponsorship and getting haven'tquite achieved that.
(16:52):
What do you think the turningpoint was where you started to
get those people interested inyou, Because I think a lot of us
could learn from that.
What do you think the key tothat success of was to get them
(17:16):
interested, those executivesinterested.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
For me what really made a huge difference.
You know, when I returned,there was a client that we were
dealing with at the time and theCEO and the COO of the company
were about to be fired by theboard in the business.
Okay, they tried everything,and when we met with them, I was
(17:40):
the last hope.
Everything, and when we metwith them, I was the last hope.
Basically, they were sayinglisten, if you don't do anything
, we're both out of jobs and weare in trouble.
And by being able to present aplan that came from sales
enablement, unlike just training, when they saw how that was
inclusive, it became the same aswhat I expressed when I was
(18:01):
with Himalayan Corey an ahamoment for them, saying, listen,
if we can put all theseelements together, surely this
will work and then it willchange.
So for me, then, what happenedafterwards, when they had
success?
The word of mouth that camethrough.
I mean, you can imagine a CEOwho knew that in the next three
months he won't have a job,he'll be fired After those three
months.
What happened actually is thatthe guys that we were working
(18:24):
with by the way, his team wasnot salespeople, his team were
consultants who were thensupposed to sell to clients, so
when they go and implement, so,services, not a product.
Absolutely yeah, Services,correct, yes.
So when these guys go andimplement those services, they
were then supposed to upsell,cross-sell or even find new
(18:48):
clients.
So these guys were notsalespeople by any definition,
but the same people, throughbeing able to put a proper sales
enablement program, throughbeing able to put a proper sales
enablement program, were ableto double the revenue in three
months.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Repeat that please, because that's insane metrics
Sure, yeah, perfect.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
These guys, who are not salespeople, who have been
struggling to upsell andcross-sell, within three months
were able to double the revenuein which they were supposed to
bring, and the CEO justcompletely could not believe it.
In fact, I remember this isvery funny.
(19:33):
I remember when we went to seethe numbers after three months,
he came in with anextraordinarily different plan.
He had doubled the quota.
Now for the next month, youknow for the course.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yes, so it always happens over a bigger quota, and
here's a bigger quota.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Yes, you know, this is this is somebody who was
scared that he's about to befired, but now he was bold
enough to say hey, I know, wecan actually do even better.
We can do better, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I know there are probably.
I mean, there are a lot ofthings that went into that.
But if you had to pick thenumber one thing, that the that
you worked on with them, thatcontributed that success, what
do you think it was?
Speaker 3 (20:16):
For us it was really alignment within the whole
department, within the wholebusiness.
Suddenly, with enablement, theright way, it was no longer the
CEO's number, the number was nolonger just a suggestion.
We somehow managed to get themto.
All of them believe that thisis our number.
(20:39):
Marketing was a number andwe're all saying this is our
number.
Marketing was a number, youknow, and we're all saying this
is our number.
And how we would do this.
I think when that clickhappened with them, where they
really believe that this is ournumber, things change and I
think the reason why theybelieve in the number is because
suddenly the number wasn'tsomething that's sitting, you
(21:00):
know, with pie in the sky,because a lot of companies do
that.
They come through, give you anumber 20 million, whatever
million, whatever number theygive you but then they don't
show you how to get there.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
So there's no hope or little hope of doing it.
Yes, okay.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
It becomes daunting, it becomes a problem.
It doesn't excite you.
It it becomes daunting, itbecomes a problem.
Actually, you know it doesn'texcite you, it scares you in.
In.
You know even.
But if you're able to givepeople the number and give them
a proper way through enablement,content, tech, when we show
them exactly how we'll get there, that excites them.
And then we want them toactually want to go ahead and
(21:36):
get through to the number.
So I think, by by want to goahead and get through to the
number, so I think, by us beingable to put it almost like a
paint, you know, paint a picturefor them to be able to see that
and that just made thingschange in their minds.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Amazing first success story with enablement, and I
know that you have seencontinued success with your
clients, with the growth of yourcompany, and so, whether
somebody is wanting to go outand do what you're doing, or
perhaps they just want to bemore strategic and have more of
(22:14):
an impact in the corporate rolethat they're in, what would you
share with them when you wouldthink of the visible results
that you've seen and you've toldme you felt like you had better
salespeople, happiersalespeople.
Of course they're making moremoney, which helps with
everything, right?
What have you learned that therest of us could take away to
help us see some of the sameresults that you're seeing and
(22:36):
success that you're seeing?
Because we may have internalclients right, I may be head of
enablement in a company, but Ithink that the same time of
transformation is what I want todo as to what you're doing for
external clients.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
How do we do that?
It's always the focus of fourthings which I think, um,
anybody, whether you're workingwith clients internally or
you're working with clients youknow externally.
Number one is to make sure thatyou skill set you have is the
right one that you've got.
So you know.
So in South Africa our markethasn't really been matured yet
(23:07):
where you find that somebody isan accounting executive but the
skill set in which they havebeen taught is for SDRs and you
know.
So they think they're learning,consuming stuff, but it's not
really for their role, so itdoesn't help.
So being able to give peoplethe right skill set with the
role in which they're involved,it becomes the first of the
things that one must look at.
(23:28):
And then, secondly, is tounderstand, when it comes to
systems, what systems do youhave which support the goal that
you've got?
And by systems I don't mean thetech, right, I'm just meaning
are we clear what is a qualifiedopportunity?
You know as a first part, whenyou go into our system.
Are we clear what it takes toexit that opportunity and move
(23:51):
through to the next steps?
Just understanding the systemsthat one needs to follow from
the part of when the lead comesto when we win, what it does
take.
How do we follow that?
And it might seem like it'ssomething that you know, it's
elementary, but I found a lot ofbig companies here in South
Africa which are listed whichdon't know what it takes when a
(24:14):
lead comes through on all theway to close.
No one can paint you a pictureand draw you a flow chart from
the beginning right through tothe end.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
So the buyer journey concept is still a little new.
Is that what you're saying fora lot of these companies?
Speaker 3 (24:28):
It's probably a little new one.
But also, even when it's notnew, no one has spent time to
define it for everybody else.
So it might sit in the CEO'shead or the sales manager's head
, but no one has taken the timefor everybody else to understand
how it works.
Across from those ones.
(24:49):
I think as we start looking atthose things, changes do come
and there's a buy-in fromeverybody else.
Then we'll see the change.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
It sounds like what you're talking about is creating
an ecosystem, an infrastructuremaybe is a better word that
surrounds these sellers, butalso the other revenue and
go-to-market teams, so thatthey're all in sync with each
other.
But that's the big shift, isthat you're creating, like I say
(25:19):
, this infrastructure for themto all function within that
elevates what they're all doingindividually.
Is that?
Am I summarizing that?
Well, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
You're saying it exactly as how it should and you
know the funny thing is thatwe've seen this work right.
So if you look at, you knowguys in, in, in in product,
product product developer, who,product managers and developers.
They're sitting in twodifferent rooms or they're used
to where somebody will comethrough and decide they want
(25:50):
this feature to be done on acertain product, but they
wouldn't explain to developmentwhy it's important, what it's
going to do and how the changewill come through.
But we saw when they introducedAgile in how they operate as
far as their projects, everybodygot involved in one room, even
(26:11):
though you have one scrum master.
But the fact that everybodyelse now is sitting in one place
and they can see this ideawhich came from the product
manager, how it affectseverything else and everyone
else, even when they develop theproduct, it's not as different
as what they were before.
It's a bit different nowbecause they know what it means.
(26:34):
Take the same thing from sales.
If we take the same concept andwe put everybody else into the
ecosystem and then we have themwork together for the one way
where we can then move as acompany.
We have a term that we use.
We say, if everybody in thecompany can become
prospect-centric, whereeverything we're building here
(26:55):
has to do with, how do we makesure that when a prospect sees
us, how do we make sure thatwhen a prospect sees us,
everything that we're doing isfor them and they see us as
welcoming for them to comethrough into our space and work
with us.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
If everybody's aligned with that things are
moving a bit better.
I absolutely love that it'staking that outside in view,
which too few companies do.
They're thinking where doesthis customer sit in our cycle
as opposed to where are wefitting into their world?
Big difference, really bigdifference, and in my experience
, prospects and customers willnotice that difference and
(27:33):
they'll appreciate it.
You mentioned it sounds like Idon't know if you would call
yourself this, but you may havebeen a little bit of a pioneer
in sales enablement in SouthAfrica.
How is the practice growingthere?
I mean, you've been doing thisfor a while.
Were you truly one of the earlyones?
And what does it look like forsales enablement in your country
(27:53):
?
The future for sales enablement, I should say.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
I don't know if I'm a pioneer, but I think I of the
first guys to talk about theconcept of sales enablement.
In fact, when I came back, Icame back and then I went ahead
to found the sales enablementchapter here in Africa for the
whole continent.
So that, you know, I feltpeople must understand this new
field and be able to benefitfrom what I've seen in terms of
(28:25):
the results.
And it's quite exciting, youknow, in terms sense that
African companies now theyrealize that they must compete
(28:46):
on the same scale as otherglobal companies and sales
enablement becomes an answer tohow is the best way for you to
compete into that, to a pointwhereby a lot of companies have
welcomed the practice by a lotof companies have welcomed the
practice.
You know, I'm seeing more andmore.
(29:06):
Let's say, banks would havethree or four sales enablement
specialists in, you know, inthat company I've seen a lot of
IT companies have got a salesenablement leader.
Now, you know, four years agowe didn't have this.
So it's definitely a growingfield and I do see where it's
going and I must be, you know,thankful because some companies
that we have here in SouthAfrica, they are based in the US
(29:29):
.
So the influence of the US asfar as sales enablement is very
helpful, and we're able to growinto that.
Funny story, though, is thatI've got a friend and his name
is Nick Sanders.
I'm not sure whether you knowhim.
Nick Sanders is the head ofsales enablement for Mancast
globally.
He was based here in SouthAfrica, and he fell in love as
(29:54):
well with sales enablement, somuch so that he did a great job
to a point whereby he's nowheading up you know the whole
sales enablement in Mancast forthe entire world.
It shows you if we're able toexport a skill like that from
South Africa to go and head upsuch a big company in the US.
It shows you that we do havethe potential of people who can
do extremely well.
(30:15):
So the future as far as salesenablement is amazing.
It's bright, it's sunny, likeour country.
I love that Sales enablement isamazing.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
It's bright, it's sunny, like our country.
I love that Sales enablement issunny like your country.
All right, this is really fun,but I'm amazed the time is going
by and I don't want to endwithout giving you the
opportunity to drop someadditional knowledge on all of
us.
And so my final question foryou, and it might be sales
enablement.
It might be somethingcompletely unrelated, but let's
(30:43):
suppose you've been given thegift of time travel, but there's
a couple of restrictions Numberone, you can only go back and
talk to some younger version ofyourself, no one else.
And and number two, you canonly coach yourself in one area
of your life.
What is the thing that you wishyou'd most understood when you
were younger or earlier in yourcareer that you could could know
(31:06):
now?
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Great question, and it's something that I've been
taught by my grandmother andthey've been taught by their
grandmothers all along.
It's an African word you mightknow.
It is called Ubuntu.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Ubuntu.
Is it U-B-U-N-T-U?
Speaker 3 (31:23):
Yeah, exactly, and it's a concept even Doc Rivers
was talking about it butbasically it's a concept that
says that I am because you are.
I've realized that you know asmuch as life is moving and we
all want to become amazing.
But if we just realize that thereason why I'm here is to serve
Paul, the reason why Paul ishere is to serve somebody else,
(31:45):
it just makes us to be a bitdifferent.
So, looking back, I really wishI had been more of a servant in
my approach with people than Ilater lost that.
Now, growing up, I want to goback and almost fix and become
more of a servant, because whenI was young I thought being a
(32:07):
servant means you're weak, butnow I realize actually serving
people is actually one of themost powerful things.
In fact, if you look at mostleaders in religion, the one
thing which they did was theyknew how to serve people.
That's one thing I'll say tomyself.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
You think like well, in your country, mandela Exactly
Look at what he personalsuffering and the things that he
did in service of the greatergood for the people.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Absolutely.
We have the best example.
We have no excuse in thiscountry.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Wow, that's a powerful concept and I actually
had not heard of it before, sothank you for for sharing that.
I love that.
Well, and also thank you foryour time.
Thank you for the time you'vespent with us, thank you for
what you're contributing to ourprofession, and if people want
to connect with you afterlistening to this, is LinkedIn
(33:00):
the best way or are there otherways?
Speaker 3 (33:03):
Thank you, Paul, for having me here.
I truly enjoy this.
I truly enjoy talking to you.
Every single time I talk to you, I grow a bit more.
So I love talking to you.
And yes, absolutely.
The best way to get a hold ofme is via LinkedIn.
If you just look for my name,you'll find me.
I'm very active on LinkedIn.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Thank you, my friend.
We're coming up on the end ofthe week, so I hope you have a
great weekend.
And, to everyone else, thankyou for investing another half
hour of your time with us.
We wouldn't be here if itwasn't for you, our audience,
and so stay safe, and we'll beback in two weeks with a new
episode.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Thanks for joining this episode of Stories from the
Trenches.
For more revenue enablementresources, be sure to join the
Revenue Enablement Society atresocietyglobal.
That's resocietyglobal.
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