As much as we want every sales cycle to be smooth from the first touch to renewal, we know that there can be bumps along the way. What do we do when a prospect stops responding to our follow-up emails?
We get creative.
Joining us on the show today is founder of The Bot Lab and long-time Drift partner, Eliav Cohen. Eliav loves getting creative in his outreach, on this episode, he shares the three key tactics he's found most successful in preventing the dreaded "ghost." Over the course of 30 minutes, you'll learn about Drift Video, website personalization, and the power of conversational content.
Like this episode? We'd love it if you could leave us a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review! And make sure to subscribe, so you never miss an opportunity to learn more about starting conversations in the Revenue Era.
You can connect with Sammi on Twitter @sammireinstein, @DriftPodcasts, and Eliav on LinkedIn.
Read up on Drift's Really Good Sales Plays: https://drift.ly/sales-plays
On this show, we've covered how email, chat, video, and content can start, and continue, conversations. But despite all these strategies, there's still one area of marketing that hasn't been uncovered: events. Whether digital or in-person, events are great talking points to bring up with customers and prospects.
No one knows this better than Kelly Cheng, the Head of Marketing and Growth at Goldcast. On this week's episode, Kelly shares her secrets for enabling sales to invite their prospects to events, communicating the ROI of events to the broader go-to-market organization, and creating events that people will actually want to talk about.
Like this episode? We'd love it if you could leave us a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review! And make sure to subscribe, so you never miss an opportunity to learn more about starting conversations in the Revenue Era.
You can connect with Sammi and Kelly on Twitter @sammireinstein, @kellyhcheng, and @DriftPodcasts.
Read up on Drift's Really Good Sales Plays: https://drift.ly/sales-plays
Ah the holidays. A time of stringed lights, sweet treats, and trying to manage your business and personal life more than any other time of year.
With so many distractions, it can be tricky to stay focused on work conversations, and even trickier to get important conversations on your prospects' calendars.
That's why for this week's episode we sat down with Kristin Moore, the Head of Sales Development at Motive - a platform that combines hardware with AI-powered applications to connect and automate physical operations - to see how her team does it.
With 7+ years in the business development world, Kristin shares what she's found to be successful when it comes to outbound messaging that converts, how to maintain close alignment between AEs and SDRs, and how to keep her team motivated through the end of the quarter.
You can connect with Sammi on Twitter @sammireinstein and @DriftPodcasts, and Kristin on LinkedIn.
Read up on Drift's Really Good Sales Plays: https://drift.ly/sales-plays
As we've learned this season, videos, emails, virtual events, and personalized demos all help to continue conversations with both prospects and buyers, but what about meeting prospects and buyers on the channel where they already spend a lot of their day (for better or for worse)?
That channel is social media, and if used correctly, it can be the secret to cutting through sales noise.
Julie Atherton, the founder of Small Wonder, a social media transformation advisory and marketing consultancy, has spent the past 15 years researching social media's role in a buying cycle. Today, she joins Sammi for the Season 3 finale to share her best practices for starting, and continuing, conversations with both prospects and buyers through social media.
You can connect with Sammi and Julie on Twitter @sammireinstein, @DriftPodcasts, and @JulieAthertonSW.
Read up on Drift's Really Good Sales Plays: https://drift.ly/sales-plays
Get Julie's newest book, B2B Social Selling Strategy for 20% with the code AMK20: koganpage.com/B2BSocialSelling
Learn more from Julie: https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/authors/julie-atherton
Drinking our own champagne, eating our own dog food…whatever you want to call it, Drift’s sales team uses Conversational Sales every single day to prioritize work, cut through the noise, and win more deals.
But, as we all know, sharing is caring — and we’re ready to showcase a specially curated collection of our top sales plays to help you and your teams engage your buyers at the right time, in the right place, with the right conversation.
In this recording from Drift's first-ever LIVE podcast recording and webinar, Sammi Reinstein and Sara Miller Blanc (Drift's enterprise account executive) chat through their favorite sales plays for outbounding, inbounding, and managing deals.
You can connect with Sammi on Twitter @sammireinstein and @DriftPodcasts, and Sara on LinkedIn.
Read up on Drift's Really Good Sales Plays: https://drift.ly/sales-plays
It's no secret that today's buying cycles are complicated.
7-10 stakeholders...countless reviews...it can be hard to keep track of it all.
That's why we set aside time this season to learn more about how the Drift for Sales product helps keep the buying cycle moving as seamlessly as possible.
Holly Xiao, Group Product Marketing Lead at Drift, joins Sammi on the show to explain how the Drift for Sales product can be used for inbounding, outbounding, and managing a deal.
In this episode, you'll hear Holly's opinions on the need for a balance between the art and science of selling, how specific insights can help inform deal cycles, and why personalization should be a priority.
You can connect with Sammi on Twitter @sammireinstein and @DriftPodcasts, and Holly on LinkedIn.
Read up on Drift's Really Good Sales Plays: https://drift.ly/sales-plays
Have you ever asked someone for more information on a product, just to have them go down a rabbit hole of features that are really not related to the problem you're looking to solve?
Us too.
This frustration caused us to reach out to Drift's Solutions Consultant, Christine Glick.
Christine has figured out the art of crafting a demo that answers the questions her prospects actually have, so in this episode, she tells Sammi what her process looks like, how she works alongside account executives, and why she steers clear from any and all acronyms.
You can connect with Sammi on Twitter @sammireinstein and @DriftPodcasts, and Christine on LinkedIn.
Read up on Drift's Really Good Sales Plays: https://drift.ly/sales-plays
Selling is a team sport - we've all heard the phrase. But what does that actually look like in practice? No one knows better than the CMO of ROI DNA, Heidi Darling.
ROI DNA is a full-service digital marketing agency focused on helping its clients deliver account-based experiences that accelerate revenue for their businesses.
On this episode of Conversation Starters, Heidi explains how ROI DNA's sales and marketing teams work together to create effective messaging, what tools she thinks a modern marketing tech stack can't live without, and how the conversation amongst go-to-market teams doesn't stop after the initial sale.
Like this episode? We'd love it if you could leave us a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review! And make sure to subscribe, so you never miss an opportunity to learn more about starting conversations in the Revenue Era.
You can connect with Sammi on Twitter @sammireinstein, @DriftPodcasts, and Heidi on LinkedIn.
Read up on Drift's Really Good Sales Plays: https://drift.ly/sales-plays
In Season 1 of Conversation Starters, we focused on how to attract your potential buyer's attention, so they eventually book a meeting.
In Season 2, we focused on how to make that first meeting an effective one.
In Season 3, we're focusing on what it takes to make sure that first conversation wasn't your last.
Through interviews with sales and marketing professionals, host Sammi Reinstein explores how things like events, videos, and social media keep those business conversations flowing.
The new season airs October 20.
Attend the first episode live: drift.ly/RGSP
We're kicking off Season 3 of Conversation Starters by going LIVE!
Join Sammi and Drift's Enterprise Account Executive, Sara Miller Blanc, Thursday, 10/20 at 1 PM EST for a live podcast recording. They'll be discussing their favorite sales plays for inbounding, outbounding, and managing deals. Plus, they'll hold a Q&A, so you can get your questions answered in real-time.
Register here: drift.ly/RGSP
Can't make it live, but have questions? Tweet them to @DriftPodcasts
It's the season finale of Conversation Starters (😱), and we're bringing it home by highlighting the power of social media in continuing the conversation.
Amy Jo Martin is an author, investor, founder/CEO, keynote speaker, and podcast host. She built out the Pheonix Suns' social media strategy, amassed her own Twitter following of over 900,000, and even met her husband through social media. Needless to say, Amy Jo is no stranger to the influence social media can have on a person's professional, and personal, life.
In this Season 2 finale, Amy Jo and Sammi discuss why it's so important for brands to invest in social media. They talk about how social media helps keep a prospect engaged with a brand, how Amy Jo thinks about measuring the success of social media, and why it's so important to stay human on social.
Like this episode? We'd love it if you could leave us a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review! And make sure to subscribe, so you never miss an opportunity to learn more about starting conversations in the Revenue Era.
You can connect with Sammi and Amy Jo Martin on Twitter @sammireinstein, @AmyJoMartin, and @DriftPodcasts.
When Kris Borja talked about auditing playbooks on the podcast last week, he emphasized the importance of contextualizing a playbook to the journey a site visitor is on. To get that context, understanding where that site visitor came from can be very helpful. That's where paid ads come in.
Caitlin Seele is the Head of Digital Marketing at Drift. In this episode, Caitlin joins Sammi to talk about how Drift thinks about its paid ad strategy. She shares examples of the thousands of tests we run weekly, how her team works with the sales team to characterize site visitors who came from a paid ad, and how Drift eats its own dog food in the world of digital.
Like this episode? We'd love it if you could leave us a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review! And make sure to subscribe, so you never miss an opportunity to learn more about starting conversations in the Revenue Era.
You can connect with Sammi on Twitter @sammireinstein and @DriftPodcasts and Caitlin on LinkedIn.
With a name like Conversation Starters, it's no wonder why we've been talking a lot about how to have the right conversations on this show. But the reality is that many conversations take place on a website before that human-human phone call, in-person meeting, or video chat takes place.
That's why a contextualized, personalized playbook strategy is so critical to your website experience.
Kris Borja is the Director of Conversational Marketing at Digital Reach Agency - a B2B internet marketing agency built for demand generation. He spends most of his day aligning his clients' goals to a Drift chat strategy.
In this episode, Kris explains why auditing your playbooks is critical to chat success, the playbook myths he's debunked through routine auditing, and he shares' the #1 deliverable that will help you make sure you're having the right conversations with your prospects at the right time.
Like this episode? We'd love it if you could leave us a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review! And make sure to subscribe, so you never miss an opportunity to learn more about starting conversations in the Revenue Era.
You can connect with Sammi on Twitter @sammireinstein and @DriftPodcasts and Kris on LinkedIn.
Last week, Drift's Tate Knapp took us through his experiences working as a CDR, SDR, and an AE. He shared the key characteristics he thinks make up a strong SDR and AE relationship. This week, we said decided to take it a step further and have both an AE and an SDR on the show.
Amanda Chiang has been an account executive at Drift for about three years, but it's only been 6 months since she started working with sales development rep, Gabrielle Marrocco. Still, the two have managed to quickly build a relationship where everyone - the AE, SDR, and the customer - wins.
In the episode, Amanda and Gabby discuss what their first meetings looked like, how they maintain constant communication, and how they provide feedback to each other.
Like this episode? We'd love it if you could leave us a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review! And make sure to subscribe, so you never miss an opportunity to learn more about starting conversations in the Revenue Era.
You can connect with Sammi on Twitter @sammireinstein and @DriftPodcasts and Amanda and Gabby on LinkedIn.
The typical B2B sales cycle has a lot of conversations. Think about it: you have that first inbound (or outbound) conversation, the conversation that takes place once the meeting is booked, and all the conversations that happen between various stakeholders before the contract is signed.
Tate Knapp, one of Drift's account executives, is no stranger to any of these conversations. Tate has been at Drift for over four years, and in this time he's been a chat development representative (CDR), a sales development representative (SDR), and now he's an account executive (AE).
In this episode of Conversation Starters, Tate explains how Conversational Sales has helped him succeed in each of these roles. He shares his favorite first messages to send as a CDR, his favorite outreach method as an SDR, and the topics he makes sure to always cover in his first meeting with a new prospect.
Whether you're just starting out in your sales career, or you're well-tenured, Tate provides examples of how Conversational Sales fits into every part of the sales cycle.
Like this episode? We'd love it if you could leave us a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review! And make sure to subscribe, so you never miss an opportunity to learn more about starting conversations in the Revenue Era.
You can connect with Sammi on Twitter @sammireinstein and @DriftPodcasts and Tate on LinkedIn.
This week, we're taking a step away from artificial intelligence to focus on what we, as humans, can do to understand our buyers better. Because when we're informed about our buyers' likes and dislikes, we're better equipped to have impactful conversations.
In this episode of Conversation Starters, Adrienne Barnes, founder of Best Buyer Persona - a data-driven way to discover who your customers are, how they behave, and why they behave that way - explains the four-pronged approach she takes to understanding who her companies' buyers exactly are. She explains why companies should look beyond "Bob the marketer" and "Sally the sales girl" naming conventions and form a complete, unbiased knowledge of their buyer that unifies company messaging across teams.
Like this episode? We'd love it if you could leave us a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review! And make sure to subscribe, so you never miss an opportunity to learn more about starting conversations in the Revenue Era.
You can connect with Sammi, Adrienne, and the Drift Podcast Network on Twitter @sammireinstein,@AdrienneNakohl, and @DriftPodcasts.
Last week, we focused on taking artificial intelligence (AI) out of its black box. This week, we're highlighting why artificial intelligence isn't a nice-to-have, but a must-have, in today's digital landscape.
On this episode, Sammi is joined by Paul Roetzer, the co-founder and CEO of Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute, an online institute that educates modern marketers on the potential of AI and connects them with AI-powered technologies. He and Sammi discuss how the past two years have forced marketers and sellers to adopt AI, what a good artificial intelligence experience looks like, and how all go-to-market teams can (and should) align around artificial intelligence.
Like this episode? We'd love it if you could leave us a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review! And make sure to subscribe, so you never miss an opportunity to learn more about starting conversations in the Revenue Era.
You can connect with Sammi, Paul, and the Drift Podcast Network on Twitter @sammireinstein,@paulroetzer, and @DriftPodcasts.
We talk a lot about making conversations between marketing and salespeople feel more human on this podcast. But, artificial intelligence (AI) is inherently not human. So, why then, are we hearing all this talk about the importance of integrating artificial intelligence into marketing and sales strategies?
To kick off Season 2 of Conversation Starters, Lauren Creedon, Drift's Group AI Product Lead, joins Sammi to explain the dichotomy of leveraging artificial intelligence to be more human in marketing and sales conversations.
Like this episode? We'd love it if you could leave us a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review! And make sure to subscribe, so you never miss an opportunity to learn more about starting conversations in the Revenue Era.
You can connect with Sammi, Lauren, and the Drift Podcast Network on Twitter @sammireinstein,@laurencreedon, and @DriftPodcasts.
Season 1 of Conversation Starters focused on how to use content, personalized website experiences, and internal team alignment to start conversations with customers and prospects. But once those conversations are on the calendar, how do you make sure that they are productive and effective?
That's what Sammi Reinstein explores in season 2.
In season 2 of Conversation Starters, host Sammi Reinstein talks with experts across artificial intelligence, sales, and marketing to learn their secrets for how to make sure the first conversation with a customer or prospect is a memorable one.
Make sure to subscribe, so you don't miss when the first episode of season 2 drops Thursday, 6/23.
Drift's Conversation Cloud breaks down the silos across your team so you can deliver personalized experiences that turn into more quality pipeline, revenue, and happy customers.
On this special edition episode, Drift's Director of Product Marketing, Aurelia Solomon, joins Sammi to break down the three components of Drift's Conversation Cloud: Conversational Marketing, Conversational Sales and Conversational Service.
Like this episode? We'd love it if you could leave us a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review! And make sure to subscribe, so you never miss an opportunity to learn more about starting conversations in the Revenue Era.
You can connect with Sammi, Aurelia, and the Drift Podcast Network on Twitter @sammireinstein,@Aurelia90716528, and @DriftPodcasts.
