Connecting to Value With Michael Cremen

Michael Cremen is the Chief Sales Officer at
Elastic and has nearly 20 years of experience in executive roles
at firms like Hitachi, IBM, and Veritas. Through his robust
experience as a sales decision maker, he knows a thing or two
about the decision making process for a purchase. He discusses
with John Kaplan and John McMahon what he calls the “CFO factor”
- the need for sales teams to consider executive financial
decision-maker involvement in the sales process, particularly now
in a price-conscious economy. He also shares strategies for
effectively communicating value, driving great front line manager
performance, and hiring. Get his advice for sales teams and
leaders in this latest episode of Revenue Builders.


 


Additional Resources:


Support Saint Jude Children’s Hospital:
https://www.stjude.org/donate

Connect with  Michael on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcremen/

Check out Elastic: https://www.elastic.co/

Listen to More Revenue Builders:
https://www.forcemanagement.com/revenue-builders-podcast



 


HIGHLIGHTS


The CFO Factor according to Michael Cremen

Connecting Value in the Sales Process

Having a Strong Champion (or multiple) in the Sales Process

CFO Involvement in Sales Deals

Why You Have to be Paranoid in Sales

Asking the Right Questions When Selling to a Company

Hiring the Right People and Sales Enablement

Sales Enablement and Speaking the Same Language

The importance of Methodologies in Sales Organizations

Field Leadership Systems

Knowing How to Sell the Opportunity When Recruiting

The Power of Personality in Recruiting Top Talent



 


QUOTES


MICHAEL: BE THE ONE TO CONNECT THE VALUE


“Companies only really care about three things at the highest
level, making money, saving money, and mitigating risk, and at
some point, you have to rise up to that and what are you doing
there, that's the value that you're getting to for those
customers.”


MICHAEL: LEADERS SHOULD BE ENGAGED


“One thing I've noticed over the years is leaders that are
engaged with their teams, they love to be involved with the deals
of that to happen, they want to go in there and close that deal
and get it done, and like it’s glory time... Spend the time early
stage. Spend it during the development time, because as a leader,
you can have more impact there.”


 


Check out John McMahon’s book here:
https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064