EPISODE 56

Pushing Your Compete Program Past Launch

LeadIQ’s Senior Marketing Manager Mitch Comstock joined Adam to talk about the three most important stakeholders to partner with to keep your compete program top of mind.

1️⃣ Stakeholder group number one: sales leadership

“You don’t want to end up in a situation where you’re thinking about compete one way and leadership has a completely different idea.”

Sales leadership won’t care that a particular battlecard is being used or not.

But you absolutely need to make sure they care about your compete program.

“Sales leadership is number one. Any time you’re selling software, you’re always looking for executive buy-in or an executive sponsor. Same thing with compete.”

Start by considering the kinds of deliverables and KPIs sales execs do care about.

The more you can show that reps who leverage your compete content are closing more deals, the more attention your compete program will get.

You should also take every opportunity you can to build your program in public — give broad visibility into your priorities and what you’re working on.

Stay on top of leadership changes

Act quickly if a change in leadership results in you having to partner with a different sales exec.

Look to understand their current assessment of your compete program and competitive intelligence in general.

This is an opportunity for you to mold their perception to align with yours.

At the same time, connecting with a new sales exec will help you understand where their priorities lie. And how your compete program can suit their needs and vision for the organization.

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2️⃣ Stakeholder group number two: sales enablement

“It’s important to stay aligned with them. But you can also drive their enablement efforts based on what you’re seeing in compete.”

Balancing influencing stakeholders’ perception of your compete program with aligning it to their vision is a constant push and pull.

This is true with leadership as much as it is to your sales enablement function.

“If sales enablement is driving the entire agenda for that month’s training , you as product marketing or compete, still should have a seat at the table.”

Mitch says you should never be afraid to reach out to sales enablement and make your case.

Leveraging trends you’re seeing in the data, (new competitor coming up in deals, trends in prospect objections), make recommendations about where sales enablement should focus their efforts.

Your goals are ultimately the same. Sales enablement is looking for material to help the sales team win more deals.

Show them that you have those materials, you have a data-backed vision for why they’re important, and that the compete team is a trusted and valuable partner.

3️⃣ Stakeholder group number three: sales reps

“When I think about compete, sales is always number one on what we’re trying to do and who I’m trying to serve.”

Sales is the first team your compete program should support. Past launch, it should still remain a focal point.

Beyond leadership and enablement, Mitch regularly connects with sales reps to foster a partnership.

Once or twice a quarter, Mitch connects with every sales rep he can for 15 minutes.

In those meetings, he asks the same four questions:

  1. How is our messaging landing?
  2. What are common themes and trends you’re hearing from customers/prospects?
  3. Which competitors are coming up most in your deals?
  4. Where do you need help in terms of content training?

These regular check-ins are supplemented by a larger competitive confidence survey.

While the individual interviews are meant for relationship building and for Mitch’s individual needs, results from the broader survey can be shared more readily with the entire organization.

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