Connecting to Value With Michael Cremen

Michael Cremen is the Chief Sales Officer at Elastic and has nearly 20 years of experience in executive roles at firms like Hitachi, IBM, and Veritas. Through his robust experience as a sales decision maker, he knows a thing or two about the decision making process for a purchase. He discusses with John Kaplan and John McMahon what he calls the “CFO factor” - the need for sales teams to consider executive financial decision-maker involvement in the sales process, particularly now in a price-conscious economy. He also shares strategies for effectively communicating value, driving great front line manager performance, and hiring. Get his advice for sales teams and leaders in this latest episode of Revenue Builders. Additional Resources: Support Saint Jude Children’s Hospital: https://www.stjude.org/donate Connect with Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcremen/ Check out Elastic: https://www.elastic.co/ Listen to More Revenue Builders: https://www.forcemanagement.com/revenue-builders-podcast HIGHLIGHTS The CFO Factor according to Michael Cremen Connecting Value in the Sales Process Having a Strong Champion (or multiple) in the Sales Process CFO Involvement in Sales Deals Why You Have to be Paranoid in Sales Asking the Right Questions When Selling to a Company Hiring the Right People and Sales Enablement Sales Enablement and Speaking the Same Language The importance of Methodologies in Sales Organizations Field Leadership Systems Knowing How to Sell the Opportunity When Recruiting The Power of Personality in Recruiting Top Talent QUOTES MICHAEL: BE THE ONE TO CONNECT THE VALUE “Companies only really care about three things at the highest level, making money, saving money, and mitigating risk, and at some point, you have to rise up to that and what are you doing there, that's the value that you're getting to for those customers.” MICHAEL: LEADERS SHOULD BE ENGAGED “One thing I've noticed over the years is leaders that are engaged with their teams, they love to be involved with the deals of that to happen, they want to go in there and close that deal and get it done, and like it’s glory time... Spend the time early stage. Spend it during the development time, because as a leader, you can have more impact there.” Check out John McMahon’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064