SalesTechStar Interview with Dan Green, Chief Revenue Officer at Semcasting

Dan Green, Chief Revenue Officer at Semcasting highlights the importance of building trust when trying to strengthen customer-brand business relationships in this quick chat:

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Welcome to this SalesTechStar chat Dan, tell us about yourself and your role at Semcasting…

I’m the Chief Revenue Officer for Semcasting and am responsible for growing the sales team as well as revenue across our various product lines.

What are the five key sales/revenue fundamentals you follow or have followed through the years to drive business impact?

One of the most essential fundamentals for driving sales and overall success, in both business and life, is active listening. This involves attentively listening to the needs and wants of customers, colleagues, friends, and family. Additionally, it’s crucial to dig deeper into their needs and feelings since they may not always express themselves clearly or may not even know what they want or how they are feeling. By asking the right questions and seeking to understand where they’re coming from, we can provide tailored solutions that genuinely meet their needs.

Another crucial principle is honesty. Trust is vital in building relationships, and people prefer to work with or associate with individuals who they can rely on. The business landscape is full of smoke and mirrors, so it’s best to be transparent and direct with customers. Ultimately, as sales professionals, we’re in the solutions business. Our success depends on our ability to provide value to clients. To achieve this, we must listen to their needs, understand their challenges, and formulate solutions that help them achieve their objectives. Unfortunately, many salespeople focus on their solutions before grasping their client’s needs. This approach doesn’t work because sales isn’t about us; it’s about the customer.

If you had to comment on the modern state of sales and share a few predictions on the future role of the typical B2B salesperson, what thoughts come to mind?

Sales will always revert back to relationships and value. Right now there is an enormous amount of noise in the industry. There are so many sales tools that scale outreach to decision-makers, they are literally overwhelmed with outreach. They need a way to cut through all of that and find solutions that can really help. They will always revert to the people they know and trust. So for anyone in sales, the most important thing is to take a long-term outlook rather than look for a quick deal.

Take us through some of the salestech and revtech that you’ve often relied on to drive ROI as a sales leader?

As a sales leader, there are several technologies that I rely on to drive ROI. We use Salesforce as our CRM platform, which is a widely used tool in the industry. For creating and managing sales sequences, we use Outlook.IO, which has been an effective tool for us. In addition, we utilize Hubspot for our website, which has proven to be a reliable platform. For communication and conferencing, we prefer tools like Slack and Zoom. However, it’s important to note that having access to technology alone is not enough to achieve success. Without a well-defined process and skilled personnel to support it, the technology alone will not yield significant results.

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What can B2B sales teams today do more of to drive revenue goals despite tough market conditions?   

One way B2B sales teams can drive revenue goals despite tough market conditions is by incorporating storytelling into their approach. Rather than solely discussing product attributes, salespeople should focus on painting a picture for decision-makers, illustrating how working with a prospect can produce great results and rewards. I think back to my days getting my MBA when we’d analyze product positioning and advertising. Do car manufacturers pitch a long list of technical details about their product or do they show you how it zips around curves through the mountainside, accelerates past obstacles and avoids dangerous situations? They show you how much stuff you can pack in the back and when headed out on a great trip. While they show some key numbers they basically are telling you the story of how great their automobile could be for you. They paint a picture.

Ultimately, by prioritizing storytelling, B2B sales teams can more effectively cut through the noise and communicate the unique value of their products or services, even in challenging market conditions.

Can you highlight more about the future of the B2B tech market and in what ways you expect to see it grow? 

It’s obvious that artificial intelligence (AI) will be integrated into tech platforms. It will be done poorly in some instances but it will get better and better over time. Ideally AI will be leveraged to show intent of prospects and customers in real time and then be able to choose the appropriate action based on that information. You will see, as has already happened to some extent, machines and people working together in a more choreographed way that adds value. Jobs will absolutely be taken away, but new ones will always be created. It’s the nature of a competitive market.

As someone who has been around the industry for a while, there are always new tech upstarts that are funded and they will always take a run at the status quo. Most will fail, but the ones that succeed will disrupt the market.

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