Tim Riesterer - From Sales Enablement Origins to Orchestrating the Future of Revenue:

On Episode 7, host Erich Starrett hops in the OSC Studios time machine with Tim Riesterer - Chief Strategy Officer, Corporate Visions + Chief Visionary, Emblaze.

Tim shares his wealth of experience in sales enablement, spanning from the early days of automated RFPs and proposals to the evolution of the sales enablement function. He discusses the origins of sales enablement, its role in bridging marketing and sales, and its potential for strategic impact in the future. Tim also provides insights into the organizational hierarchy of enablement and its relationship to strategy, as well as the future of digital selling and the upcoming Digital Now Revenue Summit. Join us as we delve into the history, current landscape, and future possibilities of sales enablement with one of its foremost experts.

Tim and Erich talk all things sales enablement, the evolution of the industry, the future of Revenue Enablement, and even share a few sips 🥂of Tim's unique Enablement 🍾 Champage. Key takeaways:

> The Evolution of Sales Enablement: Tim shared his journey in the sales enablement space, from the early days of creating automated RFPs and proposals to the current landscape of integrated digital selling experiences. The industry has come a long way, and the future holds even greater strategic potential.

> Where Enabling Growth meets SCIENCE!: Tim discussed the concept of orchestrating science-backed "growth plays" as the future banner for enablement, emphasizing the importance of leveraging data, original research and strategic initiatives to drive sustainable impact and compelling customer experiences.

> Synergy of the CSO/CRO: Tim intentionally architected his role as Chief Strategy Officer for direct access to strategic levers across silos. This allows for adaptability across nearly everything - enablement, marketing, research, product development - from original research to front line sales execution.

> Book NOW! RSVP ASAP for the upcoming summit in Chicagoland from April 2nd to 4th! An opportunity to meet Tim and SO MANY other thought leaders face-to-face at the 2024 digitalnow Revenue Growth Summit in association with OrchestrateSales.com's ISEs3 podcast.

Hosted by Emblaze, powered by Corporate Visions, bringing together sales, marketing, and success leaders to address the challenges and opportunities of digital selling. The link below includes an embedded "OSCISE" code for specially discounted ISE Insider Nation access! https://salesenablement.captivate.fm/diginow24

Don't wait - hit PLAY! - to hear about all of the above

...and so SO much more.

Join in the journey with curiosity

alongside those courageously treading

the past, present, and future frontlines

of a growing function and global profession.

Please click 👇🏻, subscribe 📲, listen 🎧 ...and 🎙️ join the conversation! 

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Hello everyone and welcome to Inside Sales Enablement

2

Season 3 Enablement History.

3

Joining me today on the

Orchestrate Sales property, Mr.

4

Tim Reisterer himself, the Chief

Strategy Officer of Corporate Visions.

5

He's not only been there from the

beginning, he's been there before

6

the beginning and has so many

different , things going on in the

7

present has such a storied past and

Tim, I'm so excited about the future,

8

especially with a couple of the recent

announcements, including the partnership

9

with the revenue enablement society.

10

=

Tim Riesterer: You know, when you, when you get invited to something

11

like this, it does have that feeling.

12

Of like when you get the lifetime

achievement award kind of means like your

13

best work was behind you But thanks yeah

There's a lot of a lot of memories and

14

a lot of history in enablement and and

15

I was recruited out of a small

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where my

16

home is, based marketing firm.

17

We were doing B2B marketing.

18

, and if you look back on it now, like 80

percent of what our agency did at the

19

time, remember the timeframe, was we

built sales collateral for salespeople.

20

And I think , the funny thing is

that, you know, the kind of stuff

21

that ended up in the trunk of a

salesperson's car and never got used.

22

So that was sales enablement.

23

We basically created ballast for the car.

24

and I was recruited by a

company called Ventaso.

25

And that may be a name that has or

has not come up but it was , the

26

precursor to the current day

modern sales enablement platforms.

27

We didn't call it that back then

because it was creating automated

28

RFPs, automated proposals, automated.

29

Email, letters , even some PowerPoint

decks and automated collateral pieces.

30

It seemed brilliant and it demoed amazing.

31

,

but how complicated it was to , implement.

32

You had to create these little bite sized

chunks of content called data gems that

33

once a salesperson put in some inputs, it

would dynamically assemble these things.

34

like I said, it was the precursor of

today's sales enablement, but it was

35

a little ahead of its time and it was

just a little too hard to administer.

36

Most marketing people and others who saw

this were like, I did not go to school

37

to create copy and content in a database.

38

So we spent 50 million in venture

39

And, we wanted to create a category.

40

And I, I'm going to admit

right now, I blew it.

41

I named our work customer message

management because it was C.

42

R.

43

M.

44

Customer relationship management.

45

That was all the rage, right?

46

Salesforce was just taken off

and trouncing Siebel at the time.

47

So I'm like, if we're gonna have a

category should be adjacent to C.

48

R.

49

M.

50

How about C.

51

M.

52

M.

53

Customer message management?

54

Because that's what we're

really talking about here.

55

We're talking about having a better

conversation, better presentations,

56

a better customer message.

57

And we put some time and effort

into that brand and, and that

58

name and no one knows it.

59

And so there you go, Erich, my beginnings

in sales enablement were inauspicious.

60

and then four years later, we

were, we were code in a shoe box.

61

At a law firm,

62

it was, it was a ride, and you

have to have some of those in your

63

career to, like, be part of the

story, somewhat of an epic failure,

64

but yet an epic launch pad as well.

65

Erich Starrett: Well, uh,

Craig Nelson ring a bell?,

66

Tim Riesterer: You know, so

then the Isenteras and the

67

Savos of the world appeared.

68

Um, and I had moved on

into my own business.

69

So I started I took the phrase C.

70

M.

71

M.

72

And I started a company around it

because it was available because

73

the company was out of business.

74

And so I created a messaging consulting

practice where we went in and created

75

what we call sales ready messaging

out of your traditional company and

76

product centric messaging And that's

where I ran into craig at eisenterra

77

and john aiello at savo Because they

had the technology now and i'm like,

78

yeah, you guys now you here's the

torch you can do the tech part I'll

79

do the services part and so I had some

really nice partnerships with those guys

80

building the messaging and the content

assets that these tools would Serve up.

81

That's when you really start to see the

phrase sales enablement start to come out.

82

people would ask all the time What

what does sales enablement mean to you?

83

And I said, well, It's the picture of

in one hand you're pulling marketing

84

closer to sales The other hand you're

pulling sales closer to marketing and

85

you stand in the middle trying to bridge

this gap with all responsibility all

86

accountability and like zero budget

and authority That's sales enablement.

87

What a great job.

88

This is awesome.

89

And, it needed to be done.

90

It felt like you were doing God's good

work by trying to bring these groups

91

together, span the gap, like reframe

marketing stuff to be useful for sales.

92

And then they gave it a

name sales enablement.

93

And then it became a

department sales enablement.

94

Then it became a technology

sales enablement.

95

But it really what it was

first was, Self defense.

96

You know, like I got it.

97

We're getting a bunch of crap that

we can't use and it goes in the

98

trunks of salespeople's car, now

it just goes on their hard drive

99

and it just becomes a disaster.

100

So, , what became sales enablement.

101

Was born out of self defense, just trying

to bring marketing and sales together.

102

Erich Starrett: That is a new tagline.

103

Each episode there's a new t shirt and

I think that's the one we're printing.

104

So when did you first hear the

words sales enablement and what

105

did and what do they mean to you?

106

We got into that a little bit.

107

Tim Riesterer: Okay, so I don't know

who said the words first, but,, all I

108

know is the technology companies had

the most money to say those words.

109

So whoever said 'em, the ones

who popularized 'em where

110

the tech companies for sure.

111

And, the same reason in my 1st

incarnation in a tech company that failed,

112

we were trying to create a category.

113

This, generation of tech.

114

came up with a better phrase or at

least popularized a better phrase

115

that has now stuck for, 20 plus years.

116

,

and so yes, what it used to mean to me was the alignment of marketing

117

and sales in service to how you

appear in front of the customer.

118

I used to joke how you appear in front

of the customer with your lips moving.

119

I always tell this story

to begin all my keynotes.

120

And anybody can write this down if you

haven't heard me tell this story, write

121

down three numbers, 103, 12, and 88.

122

103 is 103 million hands of online

poker that they've studied, and

123

determined that only 12 percent

of the time the best hand wins.

124

88 percent of the time

the best player wins.

125

And I look at that as like the

spirit of sales enablement.

126

You're trying to equip and

build the best players.

127

The best players can win regardless

of the hand they're dealt.

128

And by hand I mean your

products and your services.

129

The reality is They all look the

same, sound the same, smell the same,

130

taste the same to a customer anyways.

131

So the real distinction, the last bastion

of differentiation, is a salesperson.

132

The best player.

133

The one who tells the best

story with the best skill.

134

And, and so that's enablement.

135

Your job is to pull your company

out of the commodity trap by

136

creating a differentiated buying

experience through your sellers.

137

And that when all things are

considered equal, you win.

138

So your job is to make these best players.

139

Your job is to help make

that 88%,, regardless, of

140

the hand that you're dealt.

141

Buying is, is a journey of

many conversations.

142

Multiple decisions, right?

143

Questions that must be answered.

144

Why should I change?

145

Why should I do it now?

146

Why should I choose you?

147

Right?

148

We know those questions and

facilitating those answers.

149

Is now the commercial team's job, and

it's the enablement team's job to equip,

150

your commercial teams to help answer

and facilitate those questions because

151

your job is to facilitate a decision

152

.

And so, the best player wins, enablement creates the best players.

153

That's my second t shirt.

154

Erich Starrett: I was going to say

there's at least another one in there.

155

I, jotted down helping 88 win

regardless of the hand, they're dealt

156

Tim Riesterer: I mean, that's just it.

157

When I go and do that at a sales

kickoff and I say, That 88 percent

158

of the time the best player wins.

159

I look at out in the room

and I'm like, that's you.

160

That's literally you.

161

What you want to do.

162

And I I'm I'm I'm polite about

this is as a salesperson.

163

You want to complain that your

product's not good enough.

164

Your price isn't right.

165

And you blame all the other things that

are outside your control when the reality

166

is most of the win is within your control.

167

So now what are you going to do about it?

168

How are you going to own that?

169

And the way that it happens is Through

what enablement brings to them.

170

So it's a huge job.

171

It's, has so much strategic potential, and

I still think like there's now going to be

172

a third epoch of sales enablement, right?

173

It's, not just the bringing

marketing and sales together and

174

doing it out of self defense.

175

And it's not just a glorified training

and collateralization and alike.

176

It's, a new epoch coming that is

going to take the strategic altitude

177

of sales enablement to another height.

178

And the opportunity to demonstrate

impact far beyond what we've

179

been able to show so far.

180

Erich Starrett: I love that, Tim.

181

And this is a great segue into first.

182

The sales enablement society clearly

you were there before it and we're

183

helping you generating the platforms

that we're driving the conversation

184

that we're getting people to think the

way you're even speaking right now.

185

Tim Riesterer: You know, I

was like, Oh, look at that.

186

They did a thing.

187

And, it was interesting because

, you know, full transparency.

188

The world's so authentic now, in the early

days, I was, I'm just viewed as a vendor.

189

And there was like almost a rule

that, vendors were verboten.

190

We were forbidden, because all we would

do is commercialize and advertise.

191

And now that's not I always

prided myself on the work we did.

192

We did original research.

193

It was thoughtful.

194

It was rigorous.

195

It was a legitimate sort

of cause and effect thing.

196

And we could share that with the market.

197

I don't care if you use my company or not.

198

We just had some really good thought

leadership, but it just came under

199

the banner of being a vendor.

200

And so, the early days are

our company Corporate Visions.

201

We had our own sort of industry customer

summit because we have on average, um, 250

202

to 300 active customers in any given year.

203

And we would share all that content there.

204

The thing I will tell you is over

the years of running our own customer

205

summit, the titles that showed up let's

206

showed up were not sales enablement,.

207

2012 to just before COVID.

208

And I feel like they were the same exact

people like I recognize them, but they now

209

had a new title called sales enablement.

210

So what I will say is I felt like I

was running in a parallel path with

211

the sales enablement society with

our Corporate Visions Client Summit,

212

which was geared to sales enablement

people, they happen to be our

213

customer base but I saw that sort of

groundswell of, title change, going on.

214

And so I'm excited that I'm going

to be more active and engaged with the

215

sales slash revenue enablement society.

216

Excited again about the future

on so many levels, including the

217

partnership with the society.

218

Erich Starrett: Tim, I'm curious, what's

your relationship with the founding

219

positions of the sales enablement society?

220

Tim Riesterer: I think the the founding

positions in many ways were prescient

221

in terms of the opportunity that

would be available to somebody who

222

wanted to solve this set of problems

now, whether or not we as let's just

223

say sales enablement folks have been

able to grasp hold of all those.

224

I think is the bigger question.

225

I think that's the

challenge with enablement.

226

You could put a lot of

things under that banner.

227

And I think companies

struggle with that every day.

228

First, does enablement roll up to

sales or does it roll up to marketing?

229

is it the last mile of marketing into

sales or is it the first mile of,

230

stuff from sales into the field.

231

And, that's, I think like

a 50, 50 split right now.

232

So the idea of having an endpoint

number two is like cross functional.

233

I don't know.

234

I think you, you have to function cross

functionally, but it's really hard to

235

define that in an organization and people

have a hard time resourcing that they

236

have a hard time budgeting for that.

237

I think these founding principles

are, , we're hoping that maybe corporate

238

inertia would surrender to this vision.

239

And I haven't seen that yet.

240

In fact, sometimes my worry is that,.

241

As the commercial engine has expanded

from including marketing and all forms

242

of selling and even customer success, and

they're being like a single through line

243

that a customer should experience, right?

244

My experience as a buyer should

with your marketing team, your

245

selling team and your CS team should

feel like a seamless experience.

246

I think that's why the move from sales

enablement to revenue enablement.

247

Totally makes sense on paper because

that has to be an integrated effort.

248

My question is , when are

organizations going to be able

249

to actually make that happen?

250

Because you have a head of CS,

you have a CRO, you have a CMO.

251

my concern is that trying to bridge all

those gaps, like that, then , the risk

252

is that you are going to end up roadkill.

253

What I'm hoping to see, and I

I'm starting to see, but I'm

254

wondering where this lands.

255

Is that going to be a senior sales

enablement leader that figures that out?

256

Or is that going to be some

sort of revenue ops leader where

257

sales enablement is a component?

258

Because they said these are

your pieces sales enablement.

259

and I think that all depends

on who's in the seat.

260

Like, what's their origin story?

261

I'd be a messenger.

262

Trainer developer, um, let's go find some

places where there's constraints in the

263

pipe and go after that with initiatives.

264

But I wouldn't do this.

265

I wouldn't do that.

266

You just can't say we

want to be this right.

267

We also now got to figure out again How

to do it across those three disciplines

268

marketing sales cs how to do it within

the confines of an incredibly more

269

dense tech stack than we had when those

principles were being developed I don't

270

think we saw the tech stack like it is

today coming and we didn't see AI coming.

271

And so I do feel like something that

looks more like revenue ops is going

272

to potentially be the banner here.

273

, enablement folks, like, we're

going to have a huge role in this.

274

and that data is going

to be super important.

275

The business outcomes we're going to go

after should inform everything we do.

276

But my view of the future is we are

going to be running growth plays.

277

And our job is to take here's the

business outcome that's been identified.

278

What needs to happen in terms of

the process, the leadership, the

279

message, the skills, and how does

that get packaged into, an all

280

encompassing play that you can deploy.

281

Into the right field team or

teams that need to make it happen.

282

Our job is exceedingly important, but

the dashboard and the data is going

283

to dictate or identify the initiatives.

284

And we're going to need to

bring those initiatives to life.

285

And so we're going to bridge.

286

Here's the data, the business initiative.

287

Now, how do we get our field to do it?

288

Because none of it happens until the

field does something and that's us.

289

And so Chief Productivity Officer, I

don't know, maybe Chief Sales Execution.

290

Officer, because I always say there's

a big gap between the data and the

291

idea and a salesperson's lips moving

and somebody has to bridge that gap.

292

And and the thing is that there's

a huge gap between the plan and the

293

data and the customer saying yes.

294

And that's where a salesperson shows up.

295

So our ability to help drive sustainable

change, and programming, I call them

296

growth plays, with all the pieces, that's

gonna be, I think, where it all hits.

297

So we have to be fanatical about helping

execute the direction that the data

298

points to, and , getting it to done.

299

Erich Starrett: So Tim, one of the

things that I'm so curious about with

300

you and applaud that is unique that the

listening audience might not realize

301

is that you are the chief strategy

officer of a premier global enablement

302

company and enablement reports to you.

303

So through that lens,

share a little bit about.

304

Why enablement reports to strategy

and be what that might look like.

305

And we'll start to sneak towards

the future in a future state.

306

What would that ideal hierarchy be

if you were to help a client, to

307

build from the ground up Greenfield.

308

Tim Riesterer: Yeah, I'm fortunate

, the best part of my title, just

309

chief strategy officer is I

can put my hands on everything.

310

And that what's under my remit can

shift based on need, selectively sales

311

enablement and marketing roll up to me

312

in, in our.

313

strategy description.

314

It's really our go to market.

315

And so I run our research arm,

I run our product development

316

arm, and then our marketing arm,

and our sales enablement arm.

317

So from the original research all

the way to loading up the salespeople

318

feels like the strategy of the company.

319

The strategy has a through line from

original research to sales execution.

320

And, owning the product team.

321

As well as the marketing team means

you can align those things so that when

322

something comes out on the sales end You

haven't had the product team doing an end

323

run and talking to sales and doing their

thing the marketing team doing an end run

324

And going to sales with their thing In in

effect, I get to control it You know what?

325

and that's why I like Orchestrate

Sales But the reality is I I get to

326

control it And it should be controlled.

327

Like, I mean, like what makes it to the

field, how it makes it to the field, how

328

it's prioritized, in what form factor it

goes, and in what cadence it comes out.

329

I love having all that, strategy

responsibility because you feel like

330

you aren't like just giving the strategy

and then crossing your fingers that

331

it becomes a reality because that's

the gap right between strategy and

332

effectiveness is like it hits reality.

333

You can take it right down., to the

enablement level, the execution level.

334

So, I'm not saying everybody's

going to be able to do that.

335

Um, but it's a mindset at least,

336

Erich Starrett: Well, and I've seen

a trend, sales enablement And sales

337

and marketing reporting to the CRO.

338

Um, is that a

339

Tim Riesterer: and maybe even success.

340

Um,

341

Erich Starrett: there you go.

342

Success as well.

343

Tim Riesterer: yeah, I think chief revenue

officer as a title has a lot of promise.

344

, but it, it becomes like a promotional

thing for the chief sales officer.

345

And it still looks like

a C, chief sales officer.

346

and they haven't moved the CMO or the

chief customer officer in that direction.

347

And, then sometimes companies

want to have those career paths.

348

They want to have opportunities

for people to take those positions.

349

And if you don't have the right

person leading as a CRO, Everything's

350

going to bend, to , the origin

story of the person in that chair.

351

But that's the promise

of chief revenue officer.

352

That they should see

this thing end to end.

353

From all the work to create the demand

and have the client buying journey

354

from the marketing the buyer led journey

where they're doing their own work

355

Be under the revenue officer because

again that that singular thread that

356

customer through line the experience

being organized and integrated It'd be

357

great if the CRO owned that end to end.

358

And I think it's on the table because

we're starting to see the title.

359

And I think companies are just going to

have to figure out how to legitimize that,

360

, with the rest of their org structure.

361

But there's promise there.

362

Erich Starrett: So, Tim, let's

go boldly into the future.

363

1 of the things that I'm very

excited about is an upcoming,

364

, summit happening in Chicago land.

365

, and I'd love to hear your take

our listening audience and thank

366

you again for the alliance with.

367

Orchestrate sales inside

sales enablement podcast.

368

We're going to have a code for everybody

in the speaker's notes thank you, Tim.

369

Very much.

370

Uh, anything that you would like

to share about the future, that

371

summit , and parting shot.

372

Tim Riesterer: Yeah.

373

So it's called the digital now

revenue summit in recognition that

374

all selling is digital selling.

375

, our data shows that.

376

All selling, including traditional

field selling up to 70 percent

377

of your customer contacts and

experiences are virtual digital.

378

And that just changes

the game for everybody.

379

, C.

380

S.

381

has a track sales enablement has a track.

382

There's a lot of sales

leadership tracks at this thing.

383

It's sponsored by Emblaze.

384

A selling community made up

of sales leaders that Corporate

385

Visions, has acquired , and now

presents an industry conference.

386

It is not a Corporate Visions

commercial or conference.

387

It's literally its own community.

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And the research is there.

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, the cross functional

participation is there.

390

Sales enablement and success

and a marketing with their

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own breakout track as well.

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So we're trying to create the wide net.

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For leaders, revenue leaders in

all those areas of responsibility

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to come to the same room.

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And work on these problems together.

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Last year we had 700 some people.

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We're hoping for a thousand

this year and we'd love to have

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all the listeners be there.

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Erich Starrett: Well,

thanks Tim insider nation.

400

Don't miss the opportunity to see

this magi of enablement in person in

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Chicago, April 2nd to 4th, we'll get

you the code in the speaker's notes.

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Tim, can't wait to see you

face to face there along with,

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I'm sure up to a thousand.

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We'll try not to break the

place, of our listeners.

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Thank you for all that you have

done are doing presently and

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continue to do for the profession

and function of enablement, sir.

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Tim Riesterer: Yeah, it's been an honor.

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Thanks, Erich.

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Appreciate it.

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Take care, everyone.