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ISEs3 Ep15: Danny Wasserman - Gong! Tableau and Databricks
Episode 15 • 1st May 2024 • Inside: Sales Enablement • Scott Santucci, Brian Lambert, Erich Starrett
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Welcome to OrchestrateSales.com‘s Inside Sales Enablement Season 3 Enablement History. Where we hop in the Enablement Time machine and explore the past, present, and future of the elevation of a profession.

On ISEs3 Ep15 host Erich Starrett is joined in the Orchestrate Sales studios by new friend Danny Wasserman, whom he finally met F2F at Corporate Visions Emblaze #DigitalNow24 in early April. Danny has done game-changing tours of Enablement duty at top logos including Databricks, Gong! and Tableau.

Q: So how *DOES* #RevenueEnablement gain a seat at the table in "the room where it happens?

And what does THAT have to do with peanut butter, sausage, and Shake Shack?

A: (in part) "whether it's in sales. Or whether it's in CS or it's in enablement, you cannot trivialize or overstate the importance of the intersection between hospitality and the world of business."

Dive in with me and Danny to talk Strategy, Technology, Human Connection, and...

PAST:

⌛️ Danny was onboarded at Tableau at about employee 2k. The IPO had just recently happened, and his first "real" taste of enablement was onboarding with "the truly incomparable" Sarah Bedwell

⌛️ Joining Enablement at after a sales spiff started a bit of a riff. "I was fortunate enough to be within the cocoon of Mother Goose (Nate) Vogel."

⌛️ "My dirty little secret is that I'm an enablement? Dude. You couldn't have captured the essence of how I felt about being a former seller who had sort of taken a bite of the forbidden fruit."

⌛️ Frank Slootman boldly came out and said, why am I going to put all of the customer success on one person?

⌛️ Nate recruited Danny to re-join Enablement forces at DataBricks.

PRESENT:

💼 "If I'm not fighting that hard for my cabinet seat with whatever executive I'm trying to maintain my position with, there's a dozen people behind me that will absolutely eat my lunch."

💼 Per Danny Meyer - American restaurateur and a guiding voice in Danny's career: In addition to IQ, do you have what he calls HQ: hospitality quotient?

💼 "Genuinely what enablement provides is service. And I think if you feel that passionately, if you feel that authentically and genuinely, the beneficiaries of what it is that you're providing will also sense that ...you will not allow or tolerate yourself to serve a mediocre product."

FUTURE:

🤖 Kyle Healy, who's the SVP of Enablement at a insurance company "When we think about AI's place in our profession, do you want to embrace that technology like Iron Man, or do you want to attempt to resist it like Terminator?"

🤖 Potential impacts of AI and technological advancements on the enablement profession

🤖 Necessity to adapt and integrate new technologies while preserving the human element

🤖 Ongoing collaboration and learning opportunities in enablement practices

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

ORCHESTRATE Sales!

Erich

#RevenueEngine #DigitalTransformation #ChangeManagement

#Orchestrate #SalesEnablement

Mentioned in this episode:

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Transcripts

Erich Starrett:

Hello everyone.

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And welcome to inside sales enablement,

season three enablement history.

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And in our studios today, I think

might be one of the few human beings

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I've met on planet earth that can out

caffeinate me , I just had a chance

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to see Danny Wasserman live and in

person at digital now in Chicagoland.

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And he put on a show

that was a sight to see.

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Such an amazing career that he's

had in and around enablement.

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So many hooks into the things that.

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I believe in and know that enablement

can be, he epitomizes and shared a

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lot of the peak behind the scenes.

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He and Nate Vogel have been following

each other around for a minute.

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That goes back to Tableau where he

did everything from sales readiness,

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To being the global sales methodology,

lead strategist, and then headed over

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to Gong where he was ultimately the

director of go to market enablement.

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So he's, he's got some killer street

cred and now he's taken on a new

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adventure at Databricks, which you

might've heard of, they're doing

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quite well now with Danny on board.

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About four months under his belt.

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Danny Wasserman: Yeah, the only

thing that I need to, for the record,

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correct is, you know, following

Nate Vogel is an accurate statement.

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Nate Vogel following me would

be an inaccurate statement.

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That guy leads from the front.

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There's nothing about either my style or

my demeanor that would inspire someone

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like Nate to want to follow me, but I

could very much vouch for the fact that I

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stand on the shoulders of giants, both on

Nate's shoulders, but then all the logos.

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You just mentioned and for the momentum

and the buzz and the hype and cache

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around Databricks right now, I can

claim absolutely zero credit for.

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So just lucky, lucky to be a part of that.

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Erich Starrett: So Danny, we've

got you here in the studio.

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I'm curious with someone with that

kind of a history with those kinds

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of logos sales enablement, when

did you first hear those two words?

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What do they mean to you?

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Danny Wasserman: Yeah, so I had

always worked in startups early stage.

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I've been a small company guy through and

through, and I was a co founder of one.

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I had tried my luck at a few others, and

my first taste of what at the time felt

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humongous was Tableau, when I joined back

in:

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The IPO had just recently happened,

and that was my taste of enablement

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was going through a onboarding

program that was spearheaded by the

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truly incomparable Sarah Bedwell.

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Another person who deserves to

be enshrined in the great halls

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of enablement professionals.

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I think Sarah stood head and shoulders

above anyone else that I had experienced

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in a sales training capacity.

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And I think for the next two

years, I'll be honest, I really

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thumbed my nose at the profession.

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I think that I put my

head down as a seller.

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I was on a warpath as a

gunner, as an alpha, as an

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utterly neurotic control freak.

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Formulaically, sales was a perfect

place for me because there was no

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voice telling me to stop working.

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And I was positively reinforced

from being that tenacious in

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what I achieved and what I made.

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And along the way, I kept feeling

like, God, I think I have a better

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hold and handle on how to be successful

in this profession than the counsel

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and the advice I'm getting in

the beginning of my sales career.

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It's hard because you want to

take in all these opinions and

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some of those can be competing.

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Some of those can be contradictory.

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There can be conflict in

what you're being told to do.

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And you want to pay respect and

homage to supposedly the authorities

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on what you should be doing.

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And I just found while Sarah being the

exception, most enablement I was getting

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felt pretty fluffy or self evident.

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And I think as such, enablement amongst

some of us in sales was pretty poor.

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And stigma stigmas follow people.

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And I think the adage, right, those

who can't do, those who can't teach.

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And I say that somewhat tongue in cheek

because that haunted me as I continue to

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find success in sales and was being asked

to moonlight as a facilitator for one

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course in our onboarding for new hires.

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And I loved it.

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I loved it so much.

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I've always wanted to be a teacher,

but I knew a teacher's salary Was

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never going to foot the bill for

my lifestyle or some obligations.

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I felt compelled to meet namely

Sending kids to college debt free.

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So for years, I was so reluctant to

even entertain a call from nate But

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as time went on I realized wow, okay.

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Here's this guy.

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I think he's a little You know different

in his approach to how he does this.

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He's so savvy with people And this was

sort of a long You Drawn out courtship

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between him and I so much so that

the tipping point truly the reckoning

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Was at month end I was in a knockdown

drag out fight with my best friend

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on the sales team over a thousand

dollar spiff and I was Slandering

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his name cursing everything about him

because he beat me in the 11th hour.

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He's still a sheisty mother

But no i'm just kidding.

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I remember driving home and I remember

thinking this isn't who I want to be A

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thousand dollars should not get in the

way of any relationship, let alone mutate

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me into this person I don't want to be.

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And that's really when I think the

tables turned and the scales flipped.

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And I started seriously entertaining

this with Nate and that was what eight,

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10 years ago, three companies ago.

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Erich Starrett: I do enablement, right?

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, that's such a great story.

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And look, look where and, and

how visible you are today.

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And so speaking of enablement becoming

more visible and I'll say getting our

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act together, the Sales Enablement

Society, now Revenue Enablement Society,

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when or did the Sales Enablement

Society come into play for you?

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Danny Wasserman: I think it's funny that

you talk about, Oh my God, my dirty

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little secret is that I'm an enablement.

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Dude.

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You couldn't have captured the

essence of how I felt about being

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a former seller who had sort of

taken a bite of the forbidden fruit.

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And people actually cautioned me

before I left like, dude, no one's

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gonna take you seriously anymore.

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You're out of the clubhouse.

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You're out of the locker room, right?

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You're just a consultant now.

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And there were definitely times I

felt that, but I think it was because

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of my experience as a former seller.

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It was whether it was the haunting

fear of being pegged that way was

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either both motivating or terrifying

that I never want to get anywhere

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close to being pegged that way.

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So I came out swinging.

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I came out with spice.

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I came out with, I think pretty, I'll

use the word again, tenacious approach

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to do enablement as if I was still

a seller, what would captivate me?

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And think having a pretty ruthless bar for

any content that was associated with my

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name had to be ruthless I mean not just

riveting but you wanted to be dripping

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on every last word and it was backed

by citations and science and numbers.

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And to your point now we're having

our time in the sun Because of some of

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the tech that's come out in the last

few years that gives us a leg to stand

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on So it wasn't always so hunky dory.

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I mean there was some doom and gloom and

enablement and if you didn't have a leader

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like nate who had the ear Of the king,

whether it was the CRO of leadership,

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it was a dogfight, an uphill battle to

garner a shred of mind share legitimacy.

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So again, when I say I stand on

the shoulders of giants, I was

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fortunate enough to be within

the cocoon of Mother Goose Vogel.

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And I think now the playing field has

been leveled thanks to tools like gong.

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Or again, I don't want to

be like the gong fanboy.

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Gong is one of many solutions

that give enablement a much more

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scientific backdrop to fall back on

the recommendations they're providing.

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But yeah, man, like only until

probably the last 24 months have

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I sort of proudly stood up and

banged my chest and said, yeah, I'm

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Enablement and this is freaking cool.

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Erich Starrett: It's like, it's a

biblical thing, but there's this

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whole conversion of Saul to Paul.

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I love how you went from sales

enablement sucks to I'm the king

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of the sales enablement world!

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And in fact, I loved your presentation,

fighting for your cabinet seat,

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everything you just said, like

that's so perfectly embodied.

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And it's a story I'm going to

be borrowing from shamelessly

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and giving you all the credit.

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But along the same lines, when the

sales enablement society was founded

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back in 2016, the hundred ish folks

that were there landed on three things.

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And the 1st 1 was that enablement is

not just talent enablement, but there

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are at least 4 flavors of it that they

started off from the ground floor,

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which were talent, of course, but then

messaging and marketing enablement.

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And administrative sales

ops, revenue operations.

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And pipeline enablement and they

broke those out into different because

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there are different strategic elements

and there are different parts of the

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internal executive suite and revenue

engine that you have to have that seat

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at the table in order to effectively be

able to enable, which was position two.

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In order for enablement to be

effective, it has to be run as a cross

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functional business within a business.

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And then the third, was that enablement.

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Hey, we're here in a room.

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We're putting a stake in the

ground this is a thing we're

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building a global society.

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What are we evolving from to?

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And, it was like, well, there are

CFOs, there are CIOs that evolved

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from, you know, smaller jobs.

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What about chief productivity officer?

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So the idea that we're elevating

the profession to something.

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Your presentation about fighting

for your cabinet seat seemed to be

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grounded in some of those concepts,

which of those resonate with you?

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Danny Wasserman: Yeah For sure, man.

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I think that even the audacious

aspiraitons from the onset of the

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society were day there will be a time

where we no longer think that a chief

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productivity officer in that role is

novel or that that would be atypical.

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But that becomes commonplace

as we legitimize the place

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for learning in the workplace.

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And I think that, as I

alluded to, I'd love to teach.

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You know, I spent my summers as a

camp counselor, then as a guide.

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So there's been this educational

component and bend to my life

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for as long as I've been working.

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And yet, we can all appreciate that

teachers are grossly underpaid.

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So if you have this passion to teach,

but also feel the burdens financially

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of what it means to live in today's

society, you can't pencil out those,

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you know, Those math equations.

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How I got to enablement was an accident,

but it was again, I, I talked to so

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many folks who are trying to get out

of sales because of any number of

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destructive forces that come with

that, the burnout, the anxiety, they're

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just no longer passionate about it.

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And everyone looks to enablement

because you're adjacent to revenue.

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So you tangentially feel

the excitement of that.

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But you don't have the weight of quota.

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And not to say that there isn't

piles that come with our job, too.

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Don't get me wrong, like, every job you

have to shovel so I don't want to, paint

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this as hunky dory, like, Oh, we've

made it to Oz or the Promised Land.

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I sit in the Garden of Eden,

Drinking Evian every day.

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That's not the case.

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But I do believe sometimes people

struggle with trusting the process.

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That if you're passionate about

what it is that You are doing the

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success and the opportunity, the

financial, maybe not leisure, but

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the depressurization of some of those

pressures will alleviate over time.

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So long as you continue to use your

passion as the barometer for how you make

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decisions, because you can't inherently

turn off that passion or excitement.

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That will presumably beget success,

which will then beget hopefully

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some of that sense of satisfaction.

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Back to your question about the society's

sort of inception and its pillars.

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Yeah, I think you have, different

personas within enablement that you

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think rather than it being a one size

fits all, that that helps at least

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shape specialization in the profession

that then yields more legitimacy.

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I think instead of four,

I think about it is three.

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There is a persona within the profession

that is a facilitator, someone who is

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a theatrical thespian because we've

all sat through presentations where

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it is worse than watching paint dry.

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And time is money for all of

us, but especially in sales.

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So you really appreciate someone

who can breathe, not just life, but

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excitement into what the hell it is

they're talking about in a riveting,

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compelling, captivating story.

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That skill set will set you apart,

even if it's not your own content.

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How do you as an actor, actress,

Bring that to the workplace.

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Could not have predicted that there would

be a time and a place and value for that.

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The second persona I would say, I think

you alluded to it, was sort of this

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more administrative or operational role.

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Enablement as you get bigger, take on

incredibly squirrely, rat's nest problems.

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And are you the type of person that

leaves no stone unturned and the

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granularity of the minutiae that you

want to obsess over so that all the

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trains Leave on time and that we're

under budget and finishing early.

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That's a really Necessary

sort of pm skill set.

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And the third I would say is more of

for anyone who's a godfather fan Is

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the tom hagen consigliere type, you

know You didn't stay in sales or sales

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leadership because you had to be front

and center But do you love pulling on

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strings as a chief of staff strategist?

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And I think somewhere in that third

persona, you blend a little bit of each

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of those other two, but I have seen people

make wildly successful careers out of just

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being niche in one of those three buckets.

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So when you were talking about, hey,

like enablement can't just be a paint

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by numbers, peanut butter smear.

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I think those are the types

of personas I advise people.

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What's going to fill your cup?

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What's going to unlock the best

parts of Erich or Danny or Jane

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Doe, and if any of those speak to

you, then trust in the process and

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follow your passions and enablement.

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Erich Starrett: Well, you've

definitely found your calling Danny.

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You can own a spotlight like no other,

and really appreciate you coming

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on the show to, share some of that

talent and wisdom with the audience.

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So, in october of last year, a

new historical milestone in that

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the Sales Enablement Society

shifted to revenue enablement.

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I'm curious, especially with the

logos you've represented, the

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passion you've had, the, I can't

even imagine how many enablement

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professionals you've interacted with.

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What does that shift mean if anything

mean to you in those words, sales

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enablement to revenue enablement.

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Danny Wasserman: I think it

speaks to a few things, right?

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With the pervasive shift to subscription,

You know, there's a lot of debate.

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Should there be a

customer success function?

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Should everyone own that?

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You know, Frank Slootman boldly came

out and said, why am I going to put all

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of the customer success on one person?

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And I think that revenue comes from

a variety of different angles and

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sort of stereotypically sales being

more of a newer incremental role.

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Revenue generating function and CS if

we use that genErichally speaking as a

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renewal function Well, all of those people

need to be better not because again,

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they're bad at their jobs But because

it's just so damn competitive and the

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pace of change is such blisteringly fast

That I would say Everyone can continue

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to up their game and we now have the

tools where you can capture your game

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footage, analyze it at scale no less as

opposed to in silos or in isolation of

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one individual and actually draw some

more scientific conclusions about how

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are we going to make everybody better.

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And so much of I think the interest in

being part of this tech scene is the

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upside of being an equity shareholder.

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We all have a vested interest in holding

ourselves every day to a higher bar.

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So moving out of sales to revenue, I

think, not only covers end to end that

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cycle, which also then includes, you

know, the niche specialization of the

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BDR, SDR, XDR function at the tip of

the spear with prospecting all the way

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end to end cradle to grave to renewal.

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It can't be a one size fits all.

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So I love that we're revenue.

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As part of my talk that you heard

at digital now, I also think that

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because of the tech that's specifically

geared at our world, the lines blur

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even further into operations, right?

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We were pretty discreet five,

six, however many years ago.

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Ops were the people that were

the analysts that told you what's

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happening underneath the hood.

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But they can never actually

capture how are things going?

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Or why are they going that way?

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Simply just more what's happening.

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And I think now when we talk about

sales enablement to revenue enablement,

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it's end to end cradle grave.

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All those personas plus the

ability to actually hold court.

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With not sales operations,

revenue operations.

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I think that same transition is taking

place on that side of the aisle.

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Erich Starrett: For those that, that

weren't there , this was, All through

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the lens, maybe you get a little bit

of a background on what you meant

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by fighting for your cabinet seat

and being in that room where it

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happened and how that room changed.

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What is that room where

enablement happened?

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What did it used to look like?

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What does it look like today?

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What should we be doing in the

present as enablement to get us there?

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Danny Wasserman: No doubt.

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I left sales because I was toying

with the idea of getting my MBA.

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Right.

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And I thought what nobility comes

with an MBA from a school that

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prides itself on having prestige.

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And then I'll be happy.

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And then I'll feel intelligent.

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I didn't.

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And I did sales for a while and I

looked and I said, I want to be in that

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room that you're speaking of, Erich.

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I want to be in the tent.

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I want to see how strategy is hatched

or show me how the sausage is made.

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And don't just show me

at some point in my life.

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I want to.

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I feel that my fingerprints are

all over that sausage, and that

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sounded oddly , so forgive me.

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:

But you get where I'm going.

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:

Enablement was a way

for me to cut corners.

310

:

And get there faster and to try and

pony up to the people that do have a, I

311

:

think, really, you know, typical standard

seat in that entire process in the room.

312

:

And as time has gone on the margins

for error in any role have become

313

:

compressed to being razor thin.

314

:

And there's a stat that looks at.

315

:

The average tenure of a CRO in

today's day and age is 19 months.

316

:

So I hate to militarize what it is

that we do in sales because that

317

:

feels as cliche as calling it sports.

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:

But yeah, we're battling

against competition.

319

:

So in prepping for my presentation, I

used the analogy of a sort of war cabinet.

320

:

Dating all the way back to the 1800s

where it was first used in England,

321

:

but it was first actually published

nd discussed in literature in:

322

:

So, for those historians out

there, that's World War I.

323

:

And, Lloyd George, who was Prime

Minister at the time, was trying

324

:

to think about when there's so much

complexity in my job as Prime Minister.

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:

I need some advisors.

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:

I need counsel so I can

bounce ideas off of them.

327

:

And initially it was suggested

that he have a handful of advisors.

328

:

Let's start with three.

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:

And very quickly, that burgeoned to being

unwieldy and out of control, where it got

330

:

as high as 23 people in his war cabinet.

331

:

You talk about being absolutely paralyzed

by the analysis and democracy of

332

:

maintaining some sort of understanding

of what 23 people are telling you.

333

:

It's impossible.

334

:

So, Churchill, famously, for acting

decisively and assertively, he looked

335

:

at that and said, This is bull....

336

:

So he brought it down to four.

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:

And I think about, I want to

be in that cabinet war room.

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:

I want my fingerprints on the sausage

, that we got to stick with that bit.

339

:

Now it's too good.

340

:

And if the equivalent.

341

:

In this analogy to Churchill is the CRO.

342

:

What am I doing to fight and using that

term operatively fight for my opinion

343

:

to rise above a lot of other noise.

344

:

And that's not me slandering or poo poo

what other people are attempting to do.

345

:

Everyone's intentions are pure.

346

:

But there's only so much mindshare.

347

:

There's only so much time.

348

:

There's only so much money to

invest in certain projects.

349

:

I got to fight to legitimize

what it is that I'm suggesting.

350

:

And I do think that being competitive

and as a former seller, that

351

:

has served me immeasurably well.

352

:

Because I think I bring that, where

I started in sales, that tenacity

353

:

to enablement, because if I'm not

fighting that hard for my cabinet seat

354

:

with whatever executive I'm trying

to maintain my sort of position with,

355

:

there's a dozen people behind me

that will absolutely eat my lunch.

356

:

Erich Starrett: Couldn't agree more.

357

:

I love the analogy right

down to the sausage making,

358

:

Danny Wasserman: Yes.

359

:

All of the sausage making is consensual.

360

:

No HR violations were committed

in making enablement strategy.

361

:

Erich Starrett: Right?

362

:

So some of the things you shared about

what got us here and what's going on

363

:

in the present, arguably, and a lot

of camps that won't get us there is.

364

:

The status quo.

365

:

Proposing the same things that repeat

themselves over and over again.

366

:

Do you have any present

day recommendations?

367

:

And then, we'll get to the future on

how some of these folks can maybe,

368

:

drop some knowledge bombs on how

maybe they can mix it up a little

369

:

bit and get outside of the box.

370

:

Danny Wasserman: The status quo is

warm, it's fuzzy, it's familiar.

371

:

Not to accuse anyone of being a one

trick pony, I think that it's only

372

:

natural psychologically that we would

feel shackled whether we realize it

373

:

or not, to what's worked in the past.

374

:

I'm guilty of that, right?

375

:

As the, sort of, sales methodology guy at

Tableau, I rolled out Corporate Visions,

376

:

and, I love them, but you talk about

what worked historically in enablement.

377

:

They have phenomenal thespians

who facilitate their content and

378

:

these aren't slouches either.

379

:

They're brilliant people.

380

:

There's a lot of intelligence in how

you bring that content to life and

381

:

it can all withstand the pushback and

the scrutiny and the skepticism of the

382

:

most cynical and grizzled of sellers.

383

:

So they've got a great product and that

worked really well when we first got

384

:

a taste of it and the viral nature in

which it spread was largely based and

385

:

predicated on the success of how they

brought that content to life, and how

386

:

it was able to go from a pilot of 40

people to eventually over three years,

387

:

taking that to 1600 people globally

was again how we brought that to life.

388

:

So then transitioning to gong

and sort of saying, we have

389

:

this awesome thing that we did.

390

:

Let's apply it and drop it in here, right?

391

:

There was a lot of, well, who the hell

are you new guy who just got to Gong?

392

:

You have no idea what our DNA makeup is.

393

:

You have no idea what's

worked in the past.

394

:

On what basis or grounds can

you make that suggestion?

395

:

There was a lot of, you know, outsider

looking in, hypothesizing, we think we've

396

:

got your silver bullet that you need.

397

:

There wasn't a lot of, I would say,

welcomed reception to that initially.

398

:

So if I was going to rest on my

laurels and just sort of force

399

:

CVI down Gong's throat, it would

not have been a tasty meal.

400

:

And I think what it took was evolving

when I got there to really analyzing their

401

:

status quo with their own technology to,

I think, not introduce a new theory that

402

:

their status quo was faltering, but put

numbers to it and then in a guerrilla

403

:

kind of way have pockets of people that

were pressure testing my hypothesis with

404

:

CVI's why change to create a measurable,

concrete, distinguishable Contrast,

405

:

which earned me the right to then go

and float this in front of the CRO.

406

:

That it wasn't a he said,

she said, hey, just trust me.

407

:

I've done this before, but it

was like, here's the numbers.

408

:

We have meaningful signals

from this pilot of CVI.

409

:

Are you willing to go all in and all

in with the understanding that Gong

410

:

will hold me and CVI accountable.

411

:

And I think that that's a really important

distinction, Erichh, that we also need

412

:

to really pay tribute to, which is Five,

ten years ago, CVI would come in with

413

:

their amazing thespian facilitators,

or Challenger would do the same, or

414

:

Miller Hyman, or Richardson, or whoever,

and you would pay a king's ransom to

415

:

have them roll it out, and then they

would vanish with no accountability.

416

:

And what's awesome is, yes, they are

all still that phenomenal and theatrical

417

:

and fantastic and facilitating, but

Gong, or whoever you're using for

418

:

your nut sales intelligence, Or your

conversation intelligence, but your

419

:

revenue intelligence should be what

actually holds them accountable if you're

420

:

signing a multi year contract with them.

421

:

If you're seeing that adoption

is faltering, why is that?

422

:

Is that because your people

just need to be reinforced?

423

:

Or are people actually using it,

they are adopting it, but it's

424

:

tanking your win rates, or it's

decelerating your sales cycles?

425

:

Shame on them, whichever

IP vendor you went with.

426

:

And now it can't be a, he said,

she said, you've got the numbers

427

:

from your revenue intelligence tech

stack to tell that to them to either

428

:

demand a discount or even a refund.

429

:

Erich Starrett: So as we shift to the

future, it sounds like you see a big

430

:

opportunity for this culmination of

where the enablement profession meets

431

:

technology, which I've heard these two

letters, a, I, a lot recently what,

432

:

what does that future look like to you?

433

:

Danny Wasserman: Yeah.

434

:

So I'm contending with that

in my own skillset right

435

:

now is how do I reckon with.

436

:

Is AI displacing me?

437

:

And that's a real, I'll

use the word, fear.

438

:

Erich Starrett: Yeah.

439

:

Danny Wasserman: I can distinctly

remember exactly where I'm sitting

440

:

when I hear Kyle Healy, who's the SVP

of Enablement at a insurance company.

441

:

So Kyle, if you're listening,

thanks again for this.

442

:

I quote you all the time.

443

:

He said, When we think about AI's

place in our profession, do you

444

:

want to embrace that technology

like Iron Man, or do you want to

445

:

attempt to resist it like Terminator?

446

:

And we all know how that ended.

447

:

And where I'm going is I cornered a

function with an enablement very quickly

448

:

as a former seller that had everything

to do with how do you whip through

449

:

an account plan research process with

both surgical precision and efficiency,

450

:

because those can be really paradoxical.

451

:

And I came up with my own methodology

that I've trained hundreds,

452

:

not thousands of sellers on.

453

:

How to do that at scale.

454

:

And yeah, it's not, I would

say, in any way revolutionary.

455

:

It's going to all the usual

suspects of 10Ks and LinkedIn and

456

:

whatnot, but I've done it enough

times to know that it holds water.

457

:

And yet, AI is very quickly making

that methodology obsolete because you

458

:

can go to Databugger or Finlistics.

459

:

Or LinkedIn sales navigator has the

account IQ now that gives you a baseline

460

:

understanding of coming up with what is

the point of view, the distillate, the

461

:

synthesis from your account plan research.

462

:

A lot of job security and competency

that I brought was all tied

463

:

up in me teaching this course.

464

:

For years and I need to get to

a place where I'm not trying to

465

:

bury my head in the sand from all

these tools that are coming up

466

:

automatically with points of views.

467

:

I need to figure out where do

those fall short and how can my

468

:

human oversight supplement and

compliment what they provide.

469

:

I'm not irrelevant.

470

:

I'm not obsolete.

471

:

But if I refuse to actually study

what's out there to know then, how to

472

:

tune with the human oversight or the

finesse, the last mile of that journey.

473

:

Then yeah, I think I've already forfeited.

474

:

Because sooner or later, they're

just gonna get better and better.

475

:

If I'm not staying current with what's out

there, then my one trick pony status quo

476

:

of today will make me a victim tomorrow,

477

:

Erich Starrett: Danny, your pony

has a million, three tricks.

478

:

What's this one trick stuff, but

I love, I love what you shared.

479

:

And one of the kind of hashtags that

has evolved in my mind is AI curious,

480

:

human enthusiast, and it's, it's

along lines of what you just shared.

481

:

I would argue there's no cloning Danny.

482

:

That's for sure.

483

:

And I see such a great opportunity

as I hear you saying to shift the

484

:

administrivia to the AI, but lean into

your given gifting and let that shine.

485

:

Be it in the spotlight or be it

synthesizing the synthesis, right?

486

:

There still is that human Element.

487

:

So maybe share on a final note,

wherever you'd like to land the plane.

488

:

What do you see through that vein?

489

:

What is your encouragement

for this listening audience?

490

:

If you, my friends want to be part of

the elevation of sales enablement with

491

:

all of the additional tool set you have.

492

:

And if you also want to be in the

room where it happens, what's next?

493

:

Danny Wasserman: Man.

494

:

Oh, what's a another

episode right there, dude?

495

:

Erich Starrett: Well, let's do it!

496

:

Here's the trailer.

497

:

Danny Wasserman: exactly.

498

:

I think that where my head goes,

sort of, if you want to be in the

499

:

room and you're excited about where

we're elevating collectively as a

500

:

profession, elevating the notion of

enablement, I want to leave people with

501

:

this idea that whether it's in sales.

502

:

Or whether it's in CS or it's in

enablement, you cannot trivialize

503

:

or overstate the importance of the

intersection between hospitality

504

:

and the world of business.

505

:

And I think this is sort of a,

perhaps curve ball that I'm throwing

506

:

you, but stick with me here.

507

:

One of the like virtuoso, I

would say guiding voices in my

508

:

entire career, is Danny Meyer.

509

:

Danny Meyer if you don't know the name

is ordinarily thought to be the most

510

:

successful American restaurateur in

our country's history and his first

511

:

restaurant in New York City was Union

Square Cafe in:

512

:

on to open dozens of restaurants most of

which Have when he first cut his teeth

513

:

Anchored more into the fine dining space.

514

:

And if you looked at the top

10 restaurants in New York City

515

:

each year, you would ordinarily

see at least a handful that were

516

:

within Danny's restaurant group.

517

:

But what really made him a, at

this point now, billionaire is

518

:

that he also started Shake Shack.

519

:

So we all know that as a global brand,

but that's not where he started.

520

:

Why think about referencing

Danny with where this is going

521

:

is it was so counterintuitive.

522

:

I like that word a lot because I

think that it's those counterintuitive

523

:

moments and enablement.

524

:

I can remember counterintuitive lessons

or parables that CVI would tell you that

525

:

whoa, oh my God, that's so illuminating.

526

:

Danny looked at how hospitality was run

that generally at that point in time in

527

:

history, it placed employees at the lowest

rung on the ladder for prioritization,

528

:

and it put investors and then customers

and then vendors ahead of them.

529

:

He said, that's bull!

530

:

We should prioritize our employees first,

and then everything else will follow that.

531

:

If our employees feel loved and feel

valued, then not to again, quote,

532

:

trickle down economics, but then.

533

:

Sort of this virtuous enlightened

hospitality will unfold.

534

:

And where I'm trying to land the plane

is that in enablement, I do believe

535

:

that this is a service business.

536

:

And you could make the argument,

but sales and customer success,

537

:

and like ops, it's all service.

538

:

Sure, but genuinely what

enablement provides is service.

539

:

And I think if you feel that

passionately, if you feel that

540

:

authentically and genuinely, the

beneficiaries of what it is that

541

:

you're providing will also sense that.

542

:

That it's not lip service, it's

not insincere, but also you will

543

:

not allow or tolerate yourself

to serve a mediocre product.

544

:

And I think that there's a

lot of mediocrity out there.

545

:

And you could say, Oh man, why

would I ever want to join that?

546

:

Or you could say, if that's the

baseline in the bar, there are lots

547

:

of us that are trying to elevate.

548

:

And that's not an accusation.

549

:

. Like I just think that historically

we haven't been given the tools or

550

:

the mindset or the legitimacy to

actually want to take huge pride

551

:

in what it is that we're doing.

552

:

And again, I think that that's

probably where I want to land.

553

:

Do you feel what Danny refers to

in his book, setting the table?

554

:

In addition to having your IQ, your

intellectual quotient, do you have what

555

:

he calls HQ and hospitality quotient?

556

:

You talk about the unexpected, never

in the tea leaves that I see as part of

557

:

this job, that my affinity for hosting

A dinner party would then translate to

558

:

hosting an off site and what that has

done That's not in the conventional job

559

:

description of enablement, but because

we're in the service business That has

560

:

also elevated me to being in the room

and that those skills that maybe you

561

:

trivialize All of a sudden are like whoa,

but actually That is a very relevant,

562

:

applicable skillset that comes in this

whole mishmash that is enablement as well.

563

:

So Erich, I don't know if that's where

you want to go, but that's where at

564

:

least attempted to crash the plane.

565

:

Erich Starrett: I, that, that

plane is flying higher than ever.

566

:

I , thank you so much, Danny.

567

:

I know you're crazy busy.

568

:

Good luck on your world tour.

569

:

You're about to jump back in on, and

thank you for all that you've done and

570

:

continue to do to elevate the profession

and to share your passion and your

571

:

service, like you were just sharing.

572

:

It does not surprise me at all that you

have a penchant for throwing a dinner

573

:

party and I'd love to be at one, one day.

574

:

I'll even hop on one of those planes.

575

:

So thanks again for your time, Danny.

576

:

Danny Wasserman: This was great.

577

:

Thanks, Erich!

578

:

Erich

579

:

Erich Starrett: Awesome.

580

:

My pleasure, brother.

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