How the Deal was Done | Deal Stories Podcast

Ep. #33 featuring entrepreneur Tom Cates who has a decades long career as a consultant, sales leader, and software founder. Tom got his start in sales with IBM, an MBA from Wharton, moving into management consulting, and eventually starting his own consulting firm and software company focused on B2B business relationships.

Background:

• Tom shares insights on selling high-value B2B products and services and the importance of establishing meaningful, differentiated relationships with clients.

• The deal story involved a multibillion-dollar IT services client, with the engagement starting around 2017/2018 on a three-year agreement basis, involving a software product aimed at improving client relationships beyond conventional metrics like Net Promoter Scores.

Challenges:

• Showing the client that their success metrics (like Net Promoter Scores) were inaccurate signs of growth and they needed to find new ones.
• Demonstrating the unique value of their software and consulting services as an unknown entity to a major outsourcer.

Key learnings:

• Getting more customers to promote your product/service revolves around the experience of the "middle" customers (those somewhat satisfied but not fully engaged) rather than focusing solely on detractors or promoters.
• Success depends not just on delivering value, but also on effectively communicating this value to the right people within the client organization.

Timestamps:

• (0:00:36) Tom Cates intro and background
• (0:02:06) Acton, Massachusetts where Tom Cates and Andrew Kappel (host) are from
• (0:04:33) Discussing the lifetime value of a customer
• (0:06:25) Finding and following your passion
• (0:09:27) Unpacking the disconnect between high NPS scores and growth
• (0:15:43) The Christmas tree analogy in sales

Resources:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomcates/

Tom’s consulting firm: http://www.encompass-cx.com/

Thank you to OrgChartHub for Sponsoring this episode.

OrgChartHub helps HubSpot customers get big deals done since 2018. Learn more at OrgChartHub.com/podcast

Questions, comments, ideas - reach out to: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewkappel/