Artwork for podcast Inside: Sales Enablement
ISEs3 Ep1: Scott Santucci Pt1 - Before the Sales Enablement Society
Episode 1 • 21st November 2023 • Inside: Sales Enablement • Scott Santucci, Brian Lambert, Erich Starrett
00:00:00 00:42:47

Share Episode

Shownotes

Episode 64: ISE Season 3#1: BSES

Welcome to "season three" of Inside Sales Enablement ...ISE - focused on Enablement History. I'm Erich Starrett. I started out in the ISE audience listening to SES Founding Father Scott Santucci and Trailblazer Dr. Brian Lambert', and then collaborated with them to build OrchestrateSales.com to be the global home for the ISE Podcast and related resources for Sales Enablement #Orchestrators, including Sales Enablement Society history.

It is the week of the seventh anniversary of the official signing of the SES into reality by the ~100 Fore-founders in Palm Beach, November of 2016. We begin ISE Season 3 with a focus on "Before the SES ...and how it almost didn't exist" with SPECIAL GUEST Sales Enablement Society Founding Father Scott Santucci himself.

And THOSE questions don't even yet have us to the Palm Beach MEETING! Enjoy part one! Part two coming soon...

Mentioned in this episode:

ISE Listeners Get 30% Off of GTM AI Academy!

GTM AI Academy. The only AI curriculum curated by Enablement for Enablement ...and the entire cross-functional GTM team. Don't get tangled up in all of the random vendor driven offerings in your feed. Learn AI from a globally trusted source - Coach K - Jonathan Kvarfordt Their bundle "Enablement AI Mastery" includes BOTH the core "Generative AI Foundations" course AND "Enablement AI Mastery" specifically. Each course has a value of $599 individually, but Coach K is offering them as a bundle with reduced pricing. AND as a listener of the Inside Sales Enablement podcast, if you "ACT NOW" you can use code "ISE30" to get an ADDITIONAL 30% off of the entire thing. You will also receive FREE access to the GTM AI Tools Demo Library. Coach K has done the demos so you don't have to and offers his straight shooting opinion through an Enablement lens. Go to www.gtmaiacademy.com and enter code ISE30 TODAY and elevate your AI Enablement game!

Brought To You By GTM AI Academy - 30% Off for ISE!

Transcripts

VoiceOverGuy:

Welcome to the Inside Sales Enablement Podcast.

2

:

Where has the profession been?

3

:

Where is it now?

4

:

And where is it heading?

5

:

What does it mean to you?

6

:

Your company?

7

:

Other functions?

8

:

The market?

9

:

Find out here.

10

:

The Inside Sales Enablement

Podcast starts now.

11

:

Erich Starrett: Man, is it good to hear

that intro music and voiceover guy again?

12

:

How about for y'all out

there in insider nation?

13

:

Hello and welcome to season

three of Inside Sales Enablement

14

:

focused on enablement history.

15

:

I'm Eric Starrett, and I started out

in the ISE audience listening to Sales

16

:

Enablement Society founding father,

Scott Santucci, and Trailblazer, Dr.

17

:

Brian Lambert.

18

:

And then collaborated with

them to build orchestratesales.

19

:

com the global home for the podcast

and related resources for sales

20

:

enablement orchestrators, including

sales enablement society history.

21

:

Why?

22

:

Well, the foundation of cross functional

enablement orchestration was established

23

:

in the three founding positions signed

into existence by the hundred ish fore

24

:

founders of the SES back in Palm Beach

in:

25

:

the is the seven year anniversary.

26

:

So in celebration, after a few

years of hiatus, I'm knocking the

27

:

dust off of the orchestratesales.

28

:

com property.

29

:

As a sales enablement history nerd

with a passion for the continued

30

:

elevation of the profession, I see it

as the sales enablement Smithsonian

31

:

and an opportunity to serve you,

the global enablement community.

32

:

In revisiting the wisdom of the

treasures therein, as well as uncover

33

:

some new ones with a series of special

guests, which may even include you.

34

:

Today we begin ISE Season 3 with a

focus on BEFORE there was the SES,

35

:

and how it almost didn't even happen,

with special guest, Sales Enablement

36

:

Society founding father, Scott Santucci.

37

:

Scott, great to have you here.

38

:

, this Sunday marks the

seventh anniversary of the S.

39

:

E.

40

:

S.

41

:

The founders meeting what I'd like

to do with you today is hop in a time

42

:

machine and take a look back getting.

43

:

The straight shooting from the person

who was there from the beginning

44

:

and founded the global society.

45

:

By way of introduction, for those who

may not know, Scott Santucci was at

46

:

Forrester and was part of founding the

core operating group for sales enablement.

47

:

Scott, maybe we could start there and

just share a little bit about your

48

:

background pre sales enablement society.

49

:

Scott Santucci: Sure.

50

:

in 2008, I had my own business

called blueprint marketing.

51

:

One of the things that we built

were these sales work benches to

52

:

help take a lot of complex content

and allow salespeople to sort it.

53

:

To have very specialized conversations

based on stakeholders or stage in

54

:

the sales cycle things like that.

55

:

I sold that business to, to Forrester

with the idea of building out a

56

:

database based on very specific roles.

57

:

Like, how would you

navigate, an agreement network

58

:

inside an IT organization?

59

:

The very first report that I wrote

at Forrester was called Engineering

60

:

Valuable Sales Conversations, and

that report laid out just this concept

61

:

hey, we need to think about sales and

marketing a little bit more differently.

62

:

And in that role, at the time,

I was an analyst in Forrester's

63

:

market strategy function.

64

:

So the way Forrester worked at

the time was all of the products

65

:

were organized around a role.

66

:

There was content for CIOs, content for

VPs and networking, content for B2C CMOs.

67

:

So Forrester's Got tremendous depth

of expertise in B2C marketing.

68

:

I worked for technology

vendor strategists.

69

:

What I highlighted was, Hey, there's a

big gap between strategy and execution.

70

:

And this big gap of strategy and execution

is an opportunity for a new role.

71

:

So at the time it was very difficult

because Forrester had really

72

:

just moved into this new role.

73

:

So they didn't know how to create

new product offerings, new roles.

74

:

So what I did was I got 20 executives.

75

:

Into a room for an entire day, 10 of

them were CMOs, 10 of them were VPs

76

:

of sales, and we had an entire day's

discussion to discuss what are these

77

:

gaps, these strategic execution gaps.

78

:

Because we didn't want to have

the conversation about sales

79

:

and marketing alignment because

that was dated even in:

80

:

What we wanted to do is come up

with a new idea, a new strategy.

81

:

And that strategy became what we

wrote out as the definition of

82

:

what we called sales enablement.

83

:

Which was taken from and

agreed to by that group

84

:

Erich Starrett: was that where it started?

85

:

Was Sales Enablement

always Sales Enablement?

86

:

Or was there like a close second and third

on the whiteboard that got crossed out?

87

:

Scott Santucci: No one really

could come up with a term.

88

:

So we just said, and the concept

of enablement was way more like an

89

:

engineer's view or a city planner's

view, not, um, how you enable a

90

:

drug addict or something like that.

91

:

It wasn't emotive.

92

:

It was engineering y, strategic y,

business process y, not functional

93

:

or what people do or activity based.

94

:

It had none of those vibes

95

:

If you have a room of 10 CMOs and a

room of 10, VPs of sales from different

96

:

companies, so they don't have to

worry about their internal politics

97

:

and challenge them with gaps between

the business strategy and friction

98

:

that they have among their functions.

99

:

You quickly realize that this is a

architectural or it's a design problem.

100

:

It's not a, who does what I

own this, you own that problem.

101

:

So because of that, and because the goal

was by the end of the day to come up

102

:

with a document, a statement that people

could agree with, , it creates that

103

:

that good forcing function to do that.

104

:

So we have this document, we

have a whole bunch of energy.

105

:

We had Forrester executives in

the room like, wow, this is a new

106

:

thing that we should get behind us.

107

:

We should sponsor, a role for it.

108

:

So we did a deep dive.

109

:

So when people looked at that

inside Forrester, there are people

110

:

who would say that's already a

job that product marketing does.

111

:

Look, we'll show you,

look, it's right here.

112

:

Look at the product marketing,

pragmatic marketing.

113

:

It says right here, sales

enablements, it's this stuff.

114

:

And then there are other people say no.

115

:

That's what sales training does.

116

:

And we said, look at this

definition that we came up with.

117

:

It's neither of those things,

though, those things are

118

:

subordinate to this bigger picture.

119

:

So yes, it is true.

120

:

Product marketing needs to

do some of those activities.

121

:

Yes, it's true.

122

:

Training need to do some of those

things, but they have to be in

123

:

service of something much bigger

or else they're not connected.

124

:

So we did deep dives.

125

:

We had to go and interview.

126

:

I think 50 companies, we had

to plot out where they were.

127

:

And then we had to figure out, whether

Forrester would make money doing that.

128

:

And if we would, what kind of money

would we make making that a role.

129

:

And that was the goal.

130

:

And we had four conferences

with specific themes.

131

:

The 1st conference theme was

separate ways, world apart,

132

:

Erich Starrett: sounds like a song.

133

:

Scott Santucci: It is a song.

134

:

Yeah.

135

:

It's a journey song.

136

:

All of them have songs, right?

137

:

You have the walkout song

and we connected it to it.

138

:

And we just did a lot of the

executive decision maker research.

139

:

To bring to light the research

that we had from executive decision

140

:

makers and how huge the gap is.

141

:

And it was getting worse.

142

:

And I would say, fast forward 2023, it's

even way worse now in:

143

:

We introduced this whole concept

of working backwards from outcomes.

144

:

That was our HERO conference.

145

:

How do you evolve to be

a sales enablement hero?

146

:

The HERO, who are you a HERO for?

147

:

You're CEO.

148

:

And HERO is an acronym.

149

:

Holistic, Engineered, Reality

Based, and Ongoing Operations.

150

:

Then the next conference after that was

Accelerating Your Growth Initiative.

151

:

We had George colony talk about

CEOs perspectives and we had our

152

:

CFO talk about CFO perspectives and.

153

:

We talked about how sales and

marketing are becoming complex,

154

:

adaptive systems, and you need to

have different strategies for that.

155

:

And then the last conference that

I was there was our growth agenda,

156

:

where we gave people canvases, actual

canvases to start plot that were done

157

:

in layers to plot those things out.

158

:

What was very interesting is by

the time:

159

:

were two schools, a thought

160

:

there were director and manager

level people who viewed sales as

161

:

it sells the name went more as this

job description or role and it was

162

:

about activities and who does what.

163

:

And then there was a collection

of people that looked at it more

164

:

strategic, which was, hey, we do

need to be at that synapse between

165

:

corporate strategy and and execution.

166

:

We do need to build strong alliances

with the finance department and we do

167

:

need to, build bridges between product.

168

:

Groups who have a number and sales

groups who also have a number, but

169

:

their numbers are very different.

170

:

We do need to be able to create layers

in terms of market materials instead

171

:

of making everything about a product.

172

:

So that's what we did, but that

was, I would say less than 30

173

:

percent of our customer base.

174

:

But those people way higher

up in the organization.

175

:

I left Forrester to join Alexander group

to work with those strategic people.

176

:

So that's the background.

177

:

We use the word sales enablement

for a bunch of reasons.

178

:

One is we Wanted to pick a word

that didn't really have a standard.

179

:

We had a bias that enablement

is more like architecture.

180

:

You design something and

you enable stuff to happen.

181

:

You don't enable by doing

things for people you enable by

182

:

designing and letting, people

be just paying attention to it.

183

:

So that's the prequel

184

:

Erich Starrett: you've created

this title sales enablement.

185

:

There are things being produced

and sent out into the world.

186

:

When did it go from what I'll call

behind the boardroom walls out

187

:

into the place where it started

to be to become a society?

188

:

Once that information got out, where did

the seeds of this external society start?

189

:

Scott Santucci: So there were

a collection of tech vendors.

190

:

That existed that called themselves

sales, excellence, sales,

191

:

enablement, things like that.

192

:

Erich Starrett: Like SAVO I

think was maybe one of those.

193

:

Scott Santucci: Yeah.

194

:

There were ones even before . So for

example, I met Tim Riesterer, or When

195

:

he was at a company called Ventaso.

196

:

And Ventaso was a business, I think in the

:

197

:

like a database of messages to help match

the right messages to to other people.

198

:

Jody Kavanaugh had a company

called Launch International that

199

:

she sold to Corporate Visions.

200

:

Craig Nelson at a company called iCentera.

201

:

I think , his tagline was portals for

mortals but there were a collection of

202

:

businesses that had specialized tool sets.

203

:

But there wasn't really a formal identity.

204

:

So I wouldn't necessarily say

that there was one big event.

205

:

There were these things, people out

in the marketplace to begin with.

206

:

Forrester is a big name.

207

:

Forrester says, this is

something to pay attention to it.

208

:

People do pay attention to it.

209

:

So the fact that we had a conference

for it, guess what happened.

210

:

Suddenly you got a lot of people,

oh, we're in that category.

211

:

We're in the sales Enablement category.

212

:

That's in the public.

213

:

It's not in a closed network.

214

:

Now, a lot of the research is behind a

firewall that you have to pay for it.

215

:

But there are a lot of

people who pay for that.

216

:

One of the things that you get as a

Forrester analyst is you do inquiries..

217

:

We had a policy at Forrester, we'd

take a pitch from any vendor whether

218

:

or not, you were a client of ours.

219

:

In other words, there's a lot of myths

about pay to play and everything like

220

:

that just aren't true or weren't true.

221

:

I just know that the way that we did

things at Forrester at that time were more

222

:

above board than people give them credit.

223

:

So I got, I, I would get presented and

pitched as a sales enabling company.

224

:

I had over a hundred pitches.

225

:

And they were all over the place.

226

:

They said, Oh, we're sales enablement

and they keep trying to narrow

227

:

the description and make sales

enablement as tight and small a focal

228

:

point to align to their use cases.

229

:

So with each one of those

vendors, they would promote ideas.

230

:

So Sabo got raised a lot of money.

231

:

They promoted their ideas a lot.

232

:

Corporate visions promoted their ideas.

233

:

Sometimes they'd hire us.

234

:

I would speak at some of these things.

235

:

, they would create these environments

to have public conversations.

236

:

aT Forrester, we created councils, which

was a different kind of product service.

237

:

So that basically, instead of just

getting access to research, we would

238

:

have quarterly meetings that I would

facilitate we would pick a problem

239

:

and we would resolve it and then we

would make the resolution of that

240

:

available to only those members.

241

:

And then we also had a different council,

which we're trying to create standards.

242

:

We're trying to say to the vendors, guys.

243

:

None of this makes any sense.

244

:

Your success will improve if you

guys can agree on certain standards,

245

:

the reason I highlight that out is

there was a lot of conversations

246

:

coming from both of those scenarios.

247

:

We wouldn't publish it.

248

:

We wanted to create a form where people

could argue in the safe zone so that they

249

:

don't look bad inside their companies

chatham House rules, if you will.

250

:

What we did, though, is when people

agreed, they would talk about it.

251

:

But, of course what happens is when

you've got a lot of momentum and a

252

:

lot of people joining it, Oh, yeah,

I've been doing it my whole life.

253

:

But it was never as agreed

to by, this group of people.

254

:

So to try to enforce some sort of standard

or promote some sort of standard to get

255

:

people to follow it was, challenging,

256

:

Erich Starrett: so maybe a good

next step in this LinkedIn that

257

:

platform played such a big role.

258

:

You'd probably give it as a

supporting actor status in

259

:

the movie, at least I'm sure.

260

:

But for anyone tuning in, by the way,

I can not highly enough recommend

261

:

you liking, following, linking.

262

:

With Scott Santucci and taking the time,

not just to pay attention to stuff that's

263

:

coming out now, but go back and read

the previous articles and posts that's

264

:

where the sales enablement history is.

265

:

And I'm going to be quoting

a good bit from them today.

266

:

This is from one of Scott's articles.

267

:

The S E S is all of us.

268

:

Throughout 2016.

269

:

Which is the 7 year anniversary

where we're at right now, right?

270

:

We held monthly meetings with

interactive open agendas.

271

:

We'd pick a theme, have a public

and facilitated meeting and publish

272

:

what we agreed to on LinkedIn.

273

:

Only about 100 people

would read our outputs.

274

:

Walter Pollard and Jen Burns joined

us very slowly in our growing network.

275

:

In our very slowly growing network

during this finding our way phase,

276

:

then I started getting calls from

other people around the country wanting

277

:

to start their version of our group.

278

:

This was amazing to me because only

about a hundred people are reading

279

:

the article, but somehow linked in as

a platform was spreading these seeds.

280

:

whAt did that look like?

281

:

, those public meetings ? What kind

of format were you using and how did

282

:

you start to perpetuate that in other

areas in response to that outreach?

283

:

Scott Santucci: Let me

take this in the chunks.

284

:

1st, from a context

standpoint when I left.

285

:

Forrester

286

:

I joined the Alexander group, which

is a management consulting company.

287

:

When you work in a management

consulting company, you go way in depth.

288

:

So at Forrester, I might get.

289

:

Eight inquiries a day.

290

:

So an inquiry would be, I'd

have eight 30 minute calls

291

:

with people all over the world

292

:

at Alexander group.

293

:

You'll work on 10 projects a

year with the same company.

294

:

So the depth is greater,

but the breadth isn't there.

295

:

So what I missed, what I loved about being

at Forrester is people would, stump the

296

:

analyst or, challenge you or whatever.

297

:

And I loved that.

298

:

So I missed.

299

:

That interaction of

constantly constant new ideas.

300

:

so the idea was, what if I

started a local meetup group?

301

:

At the time.

302

:

So let's say 2015 period, I

was extremely anti social.

303

:

I thought social selling was.

304

:

A bunch of And I'd met Jill

Rowley when I was at Forrester.

305

:

And I just, I really connected with her.

306

:

And she was challenging

me, you gotta do more.

307

:

And I was like, I don't

even understand this.

308

:

I Was speaking at at a conference

for HP and she said, Hey, let me

309

:

connect you with Tiffany Bova.

310

:

And I was like, I don't know who that is.

311

:

It's yeah I know who that is.

312

:

So I said, okay, I'll try my

old school way of networking and

313

:

you use the social social way.

314

:

And let's see who gets at her first.

315

:

I got to her first, but the value

of the conversation was way better

316

:

because Jill was able to give context.

317

:

So it wasn't like it was in

depth, super, super fast.

318

:

So that made me go, Holy , this is

way more powerful than I thought.

319

:

I'm always going to be

biased to one relationships.

320

:

bUt the leverage that Jill showed me

by me having to experience it myself,

321

:

because another thing that I like.

322

:

about Jill is you just got to do it.

323

:

You just got to do it.

324

:

Like she, she'll, I'm not going

to say that she pesters everybody,

325

:

but I like that she does that.

326

:

Tamara Schenk also like

you got to be on social.

327

:

Yeah.

328

:

I don't want to, you got to

love being challenged like that.

329

:

I love it.

330

:

And the reason that I love it is

that you always learn something,

331

:

especially if you do it together.

332

:

Which happened in like November, 2015

was, , this is a lot more powerful.

333

:

So what does that have to do with

the Sales Enablement Society?

334

:

in December of 2015,, I just gotten

back from this really exciting

335

:

transformation project we worked

on with a manufacturing company.

336

:

And I was happy about it, but I didn't.

337

:

Only the people in that

company knew about it.

338

:

There wasn't any way to share that.

339

:

There wasn't like the councils that,

that we'd set up at, at Forrester

340

:

via say, Hey, let's tell a story

about what Symantec is doing.

341

:

Let's tell a story what

this company is doing.

342

:

And that made me sad.

343

:

aNd also I didn't like

being known as an author.

344

:

I liked, I wanted to have more

closer connections with humans.

345

:

I got this idea of saying, what if

I started a local meetup group and

346

:

instead of doing it by calling people,

I decided, Hey, what if I took what I

347

:

learned from what Jill got me to do?

348

:

And what if I asked to

create this thing online?

349

:

So , I wrote up it was a

letter for friends.

350

:

You can go read it.

351

:

Cause it's still published out there.

352

:

I wrote out this this letter for friends.

353

:

And I looked at my keyboard for at

least two hours before I hit send.

354

:

Cause I was scared . Cause I was used to.

355

:

When I would publish something at

Forrester, I'd get 20, 000 views.

356

:

Erich Starrett: Rockstar.

357

:

Scott Santucci: Yeah.

358

:

It's what you think, right?

359

:

It's the metrics and, the

metrics matter or whatever.

360

:

And even after I left, when I would

write an article on LinkedIn, I

361

:

get 5, 000 views, 10, 000 views.

362

:

So I'm like, okay I'm relevant

and all that other stuff.

363

:

But I knew that this letter Probably

would be the end of all that.

364

:

So

365

:

I thought really deeply about

whether to do it or not.

366

:

I hit send.

367

:

And I think to this day, even all

these years later, it's got a whopping

368

:

total, like 300 reads so I was like,

I really screwed up my career.

369

:

Erich Starrett: Was

Jerry Maguire out then?

370

:

It was like the, I published my manifesto!

371

:

That hit send part, when he's

up all night putting the...

372

:

Scott Santucci: You're right.

373

:

That was a Jerry Maguire kind of thing.

374

:

But what happened was so interesting.

375

:

Because it got engagement.

376

:

And by engagement, people would call me.

377

:

And Or people, sent me direct notes.

378

:

So this article just asked, Hey, is

anybody interested in forming a group?

379

:

And I thought it would be

successful if I had five,

380

:

I called Brian Lambert, who

lived in the area at the time,

381

:

said, You're one of them.

382

:

You're going to go.

383

:

So there's four now.

384

:

The very first meeting we had 16 people.

385

:

We had to change venues twice.

386

:

And that's how it got started.

387

:

So the very first meeting that we had

was just a meeting to discuss whether we

388

:

should have our other meetings or not.

389

:

And people went around the room and said,

this is what sales enablement means to me.

390

:

And it means something

different to everybody.

391

:

It's wasn't that interesting?

392

:

What if we texturalized it?

393

:

And then we started

having monthly meetings.

394

:

I'd call people, I'd send emails to

people who, had sales enablement or sales

395

:

leadership or whatever in the title, in

the DC area and invite 'em to participate.

396

:

What?

397

:

Do what?

398

:

Why am I coming?

399

:

It's I don't know.

400

:

We're here to figure it out.

401

:

And we had a theme, but

it wasn't a presentation.

402

:

It was Hey, let's see if we can plot

out what the problems are or I presented

403

:

something that I did way back in

the past and I didn't tell anybody.

404

:

It was my own work.

405

:

And I said, let's critique it.

406

:

We beat that up.

407

:

.

Everything was conflict oriented, but in a positive way, the goal of

408

:

figuring out And one of the rules was I

published something after each meeting,

409

:

a standard format which says,

here's a topic with , a 20

410

:

minute overview, a frame.

411

:

Here are our roles and responsibilities.

412

:

Here's how we're going to attack it.

413

:

And here are the, group

activities that we need to do.

414

:

And we do the activities and

we read out the feedback and

415

:

then, argue it out from there.

416

:

Erich Starrett: So when those folks

were reaching out to you and going, hey.

417

:

That meetup thing you're doing where

you're using that model and people aren't

418

:

just showing up with PowerPoint slides,

but you're getting actual work done and

419

:

there's stuff coming out of these things.

420

:

Did you share that same format out with

the other groups that were reaching out

421

:

to you or what did that package look like?

422

:

Scott Santucci: At this point in

time, no one's reached out to me yet.

423

:

That's never been asked for.

424

:

So there's no reason to

document or anything like that.

425

:

Erich Starrett: I'm asking.

426

:

You know what I want for Christmas, scott.

427

:

Scott Santucci: Deal.

428

:

And what would happen over a period of

time is people saw these outputs and

429

:

go, Hey, I want to set up a meetup too.

430

:

So I got a few of those

diRect messages on LinkedIn.

431

:

None of this is visible.

432

:

All of this is behind the scenes,

which is another . Interesting

433

:

thing that I learned from Jill.

434

:

Hopefully it's super clear.

435

:

It took Jill Rowley pushing

me to get on LinkedIn.

436

:

And then I'm eternally grateful for it.

437

:

Erich Starrett: By the way, I just ran

into her in Nashville, a few weeks back.

438

:

This is the hug she

said, pass along to you.

439

:

I love that connection.

440

:

Scott Santucci: Huge fan of her.

441

:

. I think the key, the thing that focus

in on is that most people pay attention

442

:

to the metrics and the clicks, but what

is really powerful about social media

443

:

are the things that people don't see.

444

:

It's the questions and the

engagement that you get from that.

445

:

So I'm getting these, hey,

What are you doing there?

446

:

Hey I want to say how should

I set up a local meetup group?

447

:

I'm like beats me.

448

:

I don't even know what we're doing.

449

:

I really don't.

450

:

, here's my paper trail.

451

:

I'm publishing everything along the way.

452

:

You want to follow along?

453

:

and help me figure out what I'm doing.

454

:

I just set out with this goal and

I want to find people who are like

455

:

minded that are willing to discuss

these things and be curious about it.

456

:

So along the way, Daniel West, who

was a Forrester client and also a

457

:

Serious Decisions client said, Hey,

I want you to meet this guy, Jim.

458

:

Jim Nenevaji.

459

:

And I said, no, I don't want to.

460

:

He was the competitor and they

were trying to rip us off.

461

:

Cause serious decisions started their

sales and annual practice afterwards.

462

:

And I heard from our clients that they

were going after our marquee clients.

463

:

And I'm like, why don't they come up with

their own new idea was like my attitude.

464

:

I'm not meeting him.

465

:

All right.

466

:

And then Dan is like, what are you doing?

467

:

What are you doing?

468

:

Are you going to be that kind of a baby?

469

:

You don't even work there anymore.

470

:

It's he's a good guy.

471

:

And I'm like, I don't

care what good guy he is.

472

:

And Dan is you gotta do it

for me, so I'm like, okay.

473

:

So there's that theme, right?

474

:

I, I need you to challenge me on it.

475

:

And, I met him and we were

like brothers in ten minutes.

476

:

I didn't want to, it took about , 10

minutes to where we were like.

477

:

Long lost best friends in

that first conversation.

478

:

He's Hey, why don't you

I'm going to go do this?

479

:

Council to promote brain

shark, but I want to promote.

480

:

I just want to get people

talking about, sales enablement.

481

:

wHy don't you show up?

482

:

I was like, yeah that'd be awesome.

483

:

I'll do that.

484

:

So I flew out.

485

:

We were like kids in a candy

store, planning that I told him

486

:

you to just show up at the local

DC area sales and marketing

487

:

meetup group, which was my title.

488

:

It's super, super clear.

489

:

I'm a great marketer.

490

:

So we show up and it was like

improv night between Jim and I.

491

:

Highlighting the key points, and I

decided that I was gonna just try

492

:

to make Daniel West uncomfortable.

493

:

Because, he put me on the spot

there, so I'm gonna just, I'm

494

:

gonna put him on the spot.

495

:

And he's a good, he's such

a good sport with that.

496

:

So anyway we wrap up this meeting, and we

challenge them to start their own chapter

497

:

of the San Francisco blah blah blah blah.

498

:

It's your group.

499

:

Come up with your own

name . And it's Daniel.

500

:

You're the president.

501

:

YoU figure it out.

502

:

And that's how that's how

the first chapter got born.

503

:

It was in the same spirit how I got

into social by Jill challenging me.

504

:

By first Daniel challenging me.

505

:

And me and Jim, deciding, Hey,

we're going to challenge him.

506

:

And then we challenged that

group of about 12 people there,

507

:

which Sheevaun was there too.

508

:

So you can probably get some good

stories from her perspective.

509

:

Erich Starrett: Love it.

510

:

It was all started on a

dare is what we'll call it.

511

:

Scott Santucci: I guess a triple dog dare.

512

:

I just skipped formality and

went right to triple dog dare.

513

:

I came back and I, we had our local DC

so we have a San Francisco chapter, but

514

:

maybe they won't be affiliated and, I

can be part of that 1 and part of this 1,

515

:

if we don't want to try to link them up.

516

:

We said, we, try to link them up

and in doing so Raul Gupta just ran

517

:

with it and he made his own website.

518

:

So the lion logo, , Raul did that.

519

:

He did it all in like a weekend

to say, look, if we're going to do

520

:

this, it can't be as embarrassing, no

offense, Santucci, but DC local area

521

:

sales and marketing meetup group.

522

:

Isn't, really that great.

523

:

I was like I agree with you.

524

:

I'm open to change the name.

525

:

So SalEnablementism Society, he

came up with the, with the lion.

526

:

He came up with the first, website.

527

:

It was amazing.

528

:

And he did it like in a weekend.

529

:

So we had that and then at the same

time, one of the people been contacting

530

:

me about a local group was Jill Guardia.

531

:

How would I set this up?

532

:

And I said do you want to

set up just as a local group?

533

:

Or do we have this DC one and

we've got the San Francisco one.

534

:

Do you want to be part of that?

535

:

Oh, I want to be a part of that . I

said, okay we'll have a meeting.

536

:

We'll go and get it kicked off.

537

:

In either September or October, we had

a meeting there, and their mission was

538

:

to come up with what's the end game.

539

:

We co wrote in that meeting what the end

state of Sales Enablement should be.

540

:

We called it the Chief Productivity

Officer, and I was, writing down

541

:

on the screen what people were

agreeing to as we were there.

542

:

. There were a lot of people

in that that meeting.

543

:

So Lee Levitt was in that meeting.

544

:

Mike Kunkel was in that meeting.

545

:

The founding of the Boston chapter.

546

:

Erich Starrett: Timeline wise,

are we in mid:

547

:

Scott Santucci: Yeah.

548

:

. It's August, September

timeframe So we go, Huh?

549

:

We got these three.

550

:

I say to our group, What should we do?

551

:

Alexander group.

552

:

We have this conference coming up.

553

:

I can ask my company whether

or not we could get space and,

554

:

try to have a national meeting.

555

:

They're like the the

Continental Convention.

556

:

Should this be a national thing?

557

:

If so, it should be not us running

the shots, that's like the central

558

:

command and control thing that I'm

not a part of, so we should do that.

559

:

Will you guys commit to help?

560

:

Let's agree on what a number would look

like, because the optics for me are going

561

:

to look terrible if no one shows up.

562

:

So will we commit to try

to get 20 people there?

563

:

We thought 20 people to show up.

564

:

On a Friday afternoon in Palm Beach,

if you've ever been to Palm Beach,

565

:

Florida, it's not easy to get to

could we get 20 people to fly in to

566

:

Palm Beach from, around the country?

567

:

To, have a meeting and set this up.

568

:

Our goal was 20.

569

:

yEah, we'll do that.

570

:

We're going to commit to do these

kinds of things, and that's when we

571

:

decided at that moment in time, we're

going to explore whether or not to

572

:

start the Sales Enablement Society.

573

:

So the founding meeting that happened

in Palm Beach, November:

574

:

meeting to decide whether or not the

Sales Enablement Society should be born.

575

:

That's the backstory.

576

:

So to to promote that, we

just did the same thing.

577

:

Hey, I'm going to go back to

what I learned from Jill Rowley.

578

:

I'm going to go back and say, I'm going

to write, this is what we want to do.

579

:

So the first thing was I

put a mission statement out.

580

:

Instead of taking a report that people

expect from me, I'm going to make an ask.

581

:

But instead of making an

ask to one person, what if I

582

:

did it to a group of people?

583

:

I try to extend Jill's idea from one to

one to say, what if I did one to many?

584

:

What if you do it this way?

585

:

What if you do it that way?

586

:

So we picked on those nuances and

along the way, just by publishing

587

:

things and using more of the

feature set of of LinkedIn.

588

:

The more you use it, the more it

gets difficult to talk about what

589

:

it is because it's so experiential.

590

:

So you get you push more of those

things out and more people engage.

591

:

We said, okay, we're going to do the same

thing to promote the national meeting.

592

:

So I wrote a letter

593

:

If I were to paraphrase the 1st letter for

the local meetup group was hi, I'm Scott.

594

:

I'm looking for business friends.

595

:

It's, are you not only looking

for business friends, but do you

596

:

think that things could be better?

597

:

Do you want to make a difference?

598

:

If so, we're going to convene this

we're going to run it like the

599

:

continental convention, here are rules,

and you even wrote up all the rules

600

:

to follow and everything like that.

601

:

How did it happen from

there to November 19th.

602

:

A lot of interesting stories behind that.

603

:

And then what actually happened in

that is a lot of interesting stuff too.

604

:

a

605

:

Erich Starrett: That

was an awesome flyover.

606

:

We went from Jill Rowley to Ninivaggi.

607

:

Then we went to Boston with

Guardia and we touched on Sheevaun.

608

:

But all the way back to that

original meetup, I really

609

:

want to get inside that room.

610

:

Were there key players?

611

:

Were there key moments,

612

:

Scott Santucci: I'd love to tell

you a story, like a, just a whole

613

:

thing, just about Walter Pollard.

614

:

Erich Starrett: Awesome.

615

:

Love Walter.

616

:

Scott Santucci: But I his shining

moment is way, is more when you

617

:

get to the conference in 2017.

618

:

This event could have gone either

way, I almost quit doing it.

619

:

The meetups.

620

:

So we started out like our first official

meetup, that first meeting to decide

621

:

whether we should do meetups or not.

622

:

That had 16 people, That was in February.

623

:

We had our first official meetup in March.

624

:

And then we had monthly ones, March,

April, May, June, July, August, September.

625

:

Most of them were at my country club.

626

:

So we go from, 16 30.

627

:

So we're getting about 40 people,

coming to these things that

628

:

no one can really describe.

629

:

And it was a lot of energy.

630

:

We had very formal ways about

making people comfortable.

631

:

I reached out to each individual person

beforehand and talked to them, to

632

:

say, you know who you should talk

to, you should talk to this person.

633

:

And I made sure I made

introductions, all those things.

634

:

So one of the people that

came to the meetings, there's

635

:

a guy named Brian Murphy.

636

:

Got a sales background

that I just love to death.

637

:

And the topic that we were discussing

were charters and how important they were.

638

:

we basically had two camps, one camp

saying that they're super important.

639

:

Other people are like, look,

they're just forms we fill out.

640

:

Our company gives us a form and

we fill it out over the weekend.

641

:

And at, in the middle of the table, I had

my computer and it was a projector up.

642

:

And Brian Murphy got really frustrated

at that whole attitude of we just

643

:

fill it out and he got up And he

took control of my computer without

644

:

asking me, which I loved so much.

645

:

I'm like, huh, I wonder

where this is going.

646

:

He googled the Magna Carta and he lectured

us how this is a charter and how important

647

:

they are and they change history.

648

:

And if you don't take it seriously,,

you're an imbecile or something.

649

:

He was so passionate.

650

:

And I'm like, thank you, man.

651

:

That was great.

652

:

And the reason he's frustrated is

because the guy's a sales leader his

653

:

whole life and he's sick and tired.

654

:

Of these half assed efforts.

655

:

Is that right?

656

:

It's absolutely right.

657

:

It's okay, so somebody's just got to be

able to translate for him when they're

658

:

when people, so oh, I understand.

659

:

He's not actually attacking me.

660

:

It's like, how could

I don't even know you,

661

:

you have to create that

forum to let people.

662

:

understand where their passions come from.

663

:

That was such a huge deal.

664

:

I was smiling so much to get that

kind of creative conflict and passion.

665

:

I was happy that I wasn't having to be

the one to push it because if I can be the

666

:

good cop and make sure everybody gets on.

667

:

And I said, one thing that I'm going

to ask you guys, can we have that

668

:

actually be at one of your locations?

669

:

Yeah, because I'm picking up the

tab for these so Lisa Pitner says,

670

:

yeah, I, let's have it at our place.

671

:

And she worked at Cisco has this

amazing facility in downtown DC.

672

:

We could go do a happy hour.

673

:

.I'm thinking, Hey, if I can get 40

people to all the way out in Ashburn,

674

:

which is in the suburbs, we should

probably be able to get 50 people.

675

:

At Cisco's headquarters downtown

with a happy hour afterwards.

676

:

So I'm like, all right, let's test this.

677

:

I'm thinking, what can I do here

to put more skin in the game?

678

:

. And I'm like, okay, let's see what else

we can do with the social media stuff.

679

:

So I called up the CMO

at the time at seismic.

680

:

And I said Hey, Daniel

we've got this thing.

681

:

You guys have this podcast.

682

:

You should do a podcast live.

683

:

And watch this organic thing happening.

684

:

Cause I'm thinking, there's going

to be at least 25 people there.

685

:

So we had this meeting.

686

:

It turns out it's hard to get the DC.

687

:

It was in the summer.

688

:

People wanted to go to the beach or

whatever, but only six people showed up.

689

:

So at the happy hour, I was just

pouting and I was stewing and

690

:

Lisa came up and sat next to me.

691

:

This was so smart of her.

692

:

And she said, what's up?

693

:

And I said, eh, I don't

want to talk about it.

694

:

Are you mad about something?

695

:

Yeah, I'm super pissed.

696

:

Like we've only got six people there

and she's, she looked at me and she

697

:

said, get over yourself, unquote.

698

:

And I looked at her like, strangely,

she said, look, is everybody having fun?

699

:

Did you care to even ask whether I

thought it was a great meeting or not?

700

:

I got six other people here to

give me new ideas on my own turf.

701

:

And you're over here moping

702

:

.

And I'm like, . You're so right.

703

:

What I was, I said, , why

am I embarrassed?

704

:

I'm embarrassed for me.

705

:

I'm embarrassed because, I was trying

to promote all this stuff up, probably

706

:

did it a little bit too early.

707

:

And then Lisa and Nicole O'Brien and I

had drinks and had the most fun, funniest

708

:

conversation I think I've had in my life.

709

:

Afterwards.

710

:

If Lisa wouldn't have come to me and

told me to literally get over myself.

711

:

What's wrong with you?

712

:

How come you didn't ask me whether I

thought it was a good meeting or not?

713

:

I would have stopped doing it.

714

:

The whole way that all this

worked was people challenging

715

:

each other in a very positive way.

716

:

So that would be the one thing that

I think is incredibly important

717

:

that in all change initiatives.

718

:

you're going to have those pivotal

moments and either you stew on it and

719

:

don't talk about it or you confront

it and go, hell are you talking about?

720

:

Erich Starrett: And that's

one I've never heard.

721

:

I love it.

722

:

I love it.

723

:

That was a great story, Scott.

724

:

, but let's get in a time

machine and head to Palm Beach.

725

:

... which is exactly what we will do.

726

:

And part two, please tune back in.

727

:

We'll see you soon.

728

:

VoiceOverGuy: Thanks for

joining us to become an insider

729

:

and amplify your journey.

730

:

Please make sure you've

subscribed to our show.

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube