Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:08.750 Hey everyone, it is Kelsey corps with sweet fish media, and we are 2 00:00:08.869 --> 00:00:13.429 really excited to share with you an episode of the marketers journey from our friends 3 00:00:13.470 --> 00:00:18.469 over at UBERFLIP. The marketers journey is a podcast dedicated to learning from senior 4 00:00:18.589 --> 00:00:22.660 marketing executives. Each week, they speak to marketers and learn whether it was 5 00:00:22.780 --> 00:00:26.620 luck, hustle or a combination of the two which propelled them to their latest 6 00:00:26.620 --> 00:00:31.219 position. Then they explore how to engage their current and future customers on a 7 00:00:31.300 --> 00:00:37.009 path that is similarly planned yet adaptive. The marketers journey features amazing conversations with 8 00:00:37.210 --> 00:00:42.770 marketing leaders who share how to attract and convert with personalization from their entire buyer 9 00:00:42.850 --> 00:00:46.450 journey. If you think you'll find the show valuable after you listen to the 10 00:00:46.609 --> 00:00:51.240 episode, just search the marketers journey and apple podcasts or your favorite podcast player. 11 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:56.960 Okay, let's get into it. Hey, marketing leaders and business leaders, 12 00:00:57.119 --> 00:01:00.719 I am Randy Fish and thank you for tuning in to the marketers journey. 13 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:03.520 To give you a little bit of a sneak peek to this episode, 14 00:01:03.560 --> 00:01:06.909 I have a guess who's been on my list since day one. I was 15 00:01:07.150 --> 00:01:11.790 very excited to have Ryan Benici who's the CMO at Gtwo on and we went 16 00:01:12.069 --> 00:01:15.230 deep into his career. When I see deep, you know it's not that 17 00:01:15.430 --> 00:01:18.579 long of a career, as he says. You know, in the last 18 00:01:18.579 --> 00:01:23.500 ten years. But in those ten years he's had long stags, roughly two 19 00:01:23.540 --> 00:01:27.739 years, three years at companies like exact target, sit hills force, hub 20 00:01:27.859 --> 00:01:33.450 spot, and now he is the CMO A G to, a company that's 21 00:01:33.530 --> 00:01:37.730 just killing it and helping a lot of us understand what software to buy as 22 00:01:37.810 --> 00:01:41.290 part of our text as. Now the cool part that you'll see that he 23 00:01:41.450 --> 00:01:46.329 unpacks is getting to a CMO for role for him from much more global growth 24 00:01:46.409 --> 00:01:52.439 company came through being able to own areas of a business in more regional areas. 25 00:01:52.840 --> 00:01:56.719 Ryan is from Australia, is you're here with the accent. So he's 26 00:01:56.760 --> 00:02:00.629 overseen some of these bigger companies with their regional marketing teams and a lot of 27 00:02:00.750 --> 00:02:05.629 benefit comes from that. I think it allows him to understand how to lead 28 00:02:05.670 --> 00:02:10.789 a team without necessarily having been the CMO of sales force or CMO of hub 29 00:02:10.830 --> 00:02:15.669 spot, but still running a region and having to think about all those different 30 00:02:15.710 --> 00:02:19.460 aspects. I found that really interesting. There's a lot of other aspects that 31 00:02:19.539 --> 00:02:22.379 we start to dig in in the second half of the show, where we 32 00:02:22.580 --> 00:02:27.020 look at how Ryan thinks about the community aspect. Very tight to GTO, 33 00:02:27.139 --> 00:02:30.530 but very tight to all of our buyer journeys. are at a very natural, 34 00:02:30.650 --> 00:02:35.490 organic conversation. I'll let you tune in without further ado. Let's welcome 35 00:02:35.530 --> 00:02:40.090 Ryan Benechi. Hey Ryan, thank you so much for making time. Always 36 00:02:40.129 --> 00:02:44.439 busy as a CMO, but now we get to talk about how he became 37 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:46.639 that. So maybe for those who don't know you as well as I do, 38 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:51.879 tell them where you're a cmo today, what g two is all about 39 00:02:52.360 --> 00:02:55.479 and how you got in there. Sure, thanks. It's nice to catch 40 00:02:55.520 --> 00:02:59.830 up, Randy. So, yeah, my name's Ryan Ben HD. I'm 41 00:02:59.949 --> 00:03:05.030 the Chief Marketing Officer at GTO, formally known as g two crowd, being 42 00:03:05.069 --> 00:03:08.430 here for about two years now. Joined get from hub spot, where I 43 00:03:08.509 --> 00:03:14.580 spent three of us so years. They're building their marketing and just that business 44 00:03:14.659 --> 00:03:16.500 in Asia Pacific, I guess. And then, yeah, prior to hub 45 00:03:16.539 --> 00:03:21.819 spot, was a sales force exact target Microsoft. Quite quite a few companies 46 00:03:21.860 --> 00:03:24.819 that I feel really lucky looking back to have been at. So, yeah, 47 00:03:24.979 --> 00:03:30.009 be quite a journey. To get it to getting here and it's weird 48 00:03:30.090 --> 00:03:34.050 to think that it's, yeah, only been ten years or so. So, 49 00:03:34.889 --> 00:03:37.969 yeah, it's been that's been a fun ten years. Well, there's 50 00:03:37.969 --> 00:03:40.599 people who are going to tune into this podcast we're probably seeing there saying if 51 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:44.719 I could just get a job at one of those companies, let alone, 52 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:49.400 in your case, all of those companies, is really, really interesting and 53 00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:53.199 and I need to guess just given you know, for those who aren't, 54 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:57.270 is familiar with Hob spot and sales force and exact target, all in the 55 00:03:57.349 --> 00:04:01.629 marketing technology space, all on the software space, which probably groomed you pretty 56 00:04:01.629 --> 00:04:08.349 well for a role in two, which is all about what software is the 57 00:04:08.469 --> 00:04:12.300 best software in the in the view of a community. Yeah, absolutely. 58 00:04:12.340 --> 00:04:15.300 I mean I think it grew me in a few different ways. I mean 59 00:04:15.340 --> 00:04:18.699 I think this when I kind of look at my path and my career and 60 00:04:18.779 --> 00:04:21.699 everything, I think the two things that have probably been the most beneficial to 61 00:04:21.819 --> 00:04:26.930 me. One is that I've yet always marketed to I've always been a marketer 62 00:04:27.089 --> 00:04:30.490 at a MARTEC company, which I think the benefit of that is that typically 63 00:04:30.730 --> 00:04:35.009 you will use your product better than any of your customers. Right. A 64 00:04:35.089 --> 00:04:39.720 sales force you know, we use our crm better than any of our customers 65 00:04:39.759 --> 00:04:41.639 because, you know, we were building it, we were on the cutting 66 00:04:41.720 --> 00:04:44.680 edge of it, so we were pushing it to new levels. Same as 67 00:04:44.680 --> 00:04:48.040 hub spot, right. Hub spot uses house up better than everyone and it's 68 00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:51.199 a hupstop marketing team a lot of the time. That's actually, you know, 69 00:04:51.399 --> 00:04:57.550 putting in asks to product about like developing new features and new integrations and 70 00:04:57.670 --> 00:05:00.069 whatnot. And so I think like you know, Gosh, if I think, 71 00:05:00.110 --> 00:05:02.750 if I think back ten years ago, which was when I was at 72 00:05:02.829 --> 00:05:06.069 what it Microsoft and exact target, you know, Back Down, this is 73 00:05:06.139 --> 00:05:10.980 when like email and digital and everything was really kind of ramping up and getting 74 00:05:10.980 --> 00:05:14.860 a lot more advanced. And and it was interesting because I was really well 75 00:05:14.980 --> 00:05:19.300 positioned to be able to have these really senior conversations with CMOS at prospect companies, 76 00:05:19.339 --> 00:05:24.610 because they couldn't do this life cycle marketing, they couldn't do all these 77 00:05:24.689 --> 00:05:30.009 amazing customer journey, digital touch point focus marketing without us. And so, 78 00:05:30.170 --> 00:05:31.730 you know, being that platform, you know, a market I can have 79 00:05:31.810 --> 00:05:34.879 as many ideas as they want, but they ultimately need technology. Today it's 80 00:05:34.920 --> 00:05:42.399 like it's almost impossible to execute on any marketing campaign now without tech, you 81 00:05:42.519 --> 00:05:45.079 know, even if it's a billboard right, you still need like, you 82 00:05:45.160 --> 00:05:48.720 know, creative tech and software to actually design your ads, the loan everything 83 00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:51.629 else. So so that's set me up pretty well, I think, you 84 00:05:51.750 --> 00:05:55.750 know, just connecting me really closely to technology, which is what I love, 85 00:05:55.870 --> 00:05:59.910 and help me learn and put those companies forward. I'd say, like 86 00:05:59.990 --> 00:06:02.269 the other big thing for me was the being a regional marketer, is something 87 00:06:02.350 --> 00:06:06.860 that I, looking back now, and really fortunate for. And what I 88 00:06:06.939 --> 00:06:10.259 mean by a regional marketer was, you know, I was, you know, 89 00:06:10.300 --> 00:06:15.180 the first marketer bring exact target in age Pacific and then built, you 90 00:06:15.259 --> 00:06:18.769 know, the marketing team's sales force and a hub spot in Sydney, in 91 00:06:18.889 --> 00:06:25.089 Japan and Singapore and India, in Asia. And so while I wasn't a 92 00:06:25.170 --> 00:06:28.290 Cmo, I think when I look back, I was. I was kind 93 00:06:28.329 --> 00:06:31.490 of like a mini CMO effectively right, like I was running everything from deman 94 00:06:31.529 --> 00:06:36.680 Jan to pr too, social to content to events. So I was kind 95 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:40.000 of like, I think what I didn't realize at the time, but it 96 00:06:40.120 --> 00:06:43.800 kind of threw me into having to learn all of these different things. I 97 00:06:43.879 --> 00:06:46.990 didn't have as much experience in which is what set me up quite nicely to 98 00:06:47.069 --> 00:06:51.430 then move into the CMO role when Jto came knocking. It's really interesting, 99 00:06:51.430 --> 00:06:55.949 I you know, when you describe it that way, it's essentially the general 100 00:06:55.990 --> 00:07:00.149 manager in a sense, for a business unit of the company and it's it's 101 00:07:00.189 --> 00:07:04.220 interesting when you look at some of these companies that you joined and you know, 102 00:07:04.300 --> 00:07:08.579 you look at exact target that was. Probably they were probably pretty big 103 00:07:08.660 --> 00:07:11.300 at the time you already joined them. Is that fair to say? Hmm? 104 00:07:11.660 --> 00:07:14.819 Yeah, yeah, it's he would have been around a thousand people maybe 105 00:07:14.860 --> 00:07:16.730 when I joined, right. And Yeah, so, considering I'll be some 106 00:07:16.850 --> 00:07:20.410 sales first, obviously would have been a giant already in two thousand and thirteen 107 00:07:20.610 --> 00:07:27.569 and and so on with hub spot, and I guess that joining a company 108 00:07:27.610 --> 00:07:32.879 of that size and taking that regional opportunity, those those opportunities become available because 109 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:39.519 that company's ready to go to that next degree of scale. Yeah, absolutely, 110 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:42.680 and what's really nice there is that you then get the ability of like 111 00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:46.149 functioning as a start up with in a bigger company, right, so you 112 00:07:46.310 --> 00:07:49.509 get all of the pros of being in a big company in terms of the 113 00:07:49.709 --> 00:07:53.670 brand, the process, you know, like the sales, ring, a 114 00:07:54.790 --> 00:07:59.220 revenue, you know, culture, identity, you have just all of these 115 00:07:59.300 --> 00:08:03.980 things. So it actually means that you, like the MVP and everything on 116 00:08:03.060 --> 00:08:07.019 top of that is already like very well established. So you can then actually 117 00:08:07.139 --> 00:08:11.699 play around a lot more in terms of the marketing leavers to best pull to 118 00:08:11.819 --> 00:08:16.449 help, you know, you grow in that regional segment because you're not needing 119 00:08:16.449 --> 00:08:20.850 to worry about, you know, finding MVP at at the most basic level. 120 00:08:20.970 --> 00:08:24.569 And so I think that was that also allowed me to really focus more 121 00:08:24.649 --> 00:08:28.959 in on kind of like marketing and being creative and looking at what was happening 122 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:33.159 out there in the world and what I could steal from others and their ideas 123 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:35.440 and build into my own. So, yeah, I was interesting and, 124 00:08:35.879 --> 00:08:39.519 you know, being not g tow where when I joined, I think we're 125 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:43.190 around two hundred people. Yes, right, about four hundred people. So 126 00:08:43.350 --> 00:08:46.750 that's been that was also like a very different experience and I hadn't been an 127 00:08:46.750 --> 00:08:50.470 accompany this size for a really long time. So again kind of had to 128 00:08:50.509 --> 00:08:56.379 kind of like re reset some of like my I kind of understandings of how 129 00:08:56.419 --> 00:08:58.700 things get done. So let's let's dig a little bit more on that for 130 00:08:58.740 --> 00:09:05.179 a minute here, because I'm curious both in terms of your willingness to take 131 00:09:05.299 --> 00:09:09.220 that that leap to a company whereas you said, it was two hundred people, 132 00:09:09.779 --> 00:09:13.330 and as well, the same time, for the leadership group at Gtwo 133 00:09:13.610 --> 00:09:18.090 to say, okay, we're ready to go and bring on a CMO who, 134 00:09:18.850 --> 00:09:24.009 as previously rend these regions but is now going to run a global initiative 135 00:09:24.049 --> 00:09:28.159 at a much smaller scale. How do you think each side had a had 136 00:09:28.200 --> 00:09:33.679 a struggle with that dilemma. Yeah, good question. I mean, I 137 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:37.440 think for me what I loved about the opportunity with G two was that, 138 00:09:39.029 --> 00:09:41.870 you know, I for what the last decade at always been a market for 139 00:09:43.190 --> 00:09:46.750 individual companies of individual products, and you know every product has its pro and 140 00:09:46.830 --> 00:09:50.549 con and no product is right for every customer. But at the end of 141 00:09:50.549 --> 00:09:54.820 the day, when you're marketing software at a company, you know you're wanting 142 00:09:54.860 --> 00:09:58.220 to market it to as many people as possible, right, and to drive 143 00:09:58.259 --> 00:10:01.860 as much sales as possible. And so I think what I really loved about 144 00:10:01.860 --> 00:10:05.460 joining g too is we don't represent any one software platform, right. You 145 00:10:05.539 --> 00:10:09.210 know, all of them, tens of thousands of them, are all on 146 00:10:09.330 --> 00:10:13.049 our platform and it's their customers that actually decide, you know, how good 147 00:10:13.049 --> 00:10:16.850 they fair on our side, not us, and so I really liked the 148 00:10:18.009 --> 00:10:22.559 idea of being able to I actually not represent an individual software platform but actually 149 00:10:22.679 --> 00:10:28.879 represent a marketplace where, you know, v Software Platforms for you as a 150 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:31.919 buyer would rise to the top. So that was a, I think, 151 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:33.679 a big fun thing for me and the other component was, you know, 152 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:39.549 it was our situation is so much more complex than any software company I ever 153 00:10:39.669 --> 00:10:43.750 work for because we are a marketplace and you know, just like Uber and 154 00:10:43.870 --> 00:10:46.509 Air B andb have buyers and sellers onto both sides. So do we write. 155 00:10:46.549 --> 00:10:50.620 So we have millions of buyers coming to our website every week looking for 156 00:10:50.700 --> 00:10:54.179 the best software for their businesses and then on the flip side we have I 157 00:10:54.220 --> 00:10:58.139 don't know, tens of thousands of software companies that are trying to best connect 158 00:10:58.179 --> 00:11:03.700 with those buyers. So the dynamic of just that marketplace and like, how 159 00:11:03.779 --> 00:11:07.570 do you balance growth between both sides? How do you optimize spend? A 160 00:11:07.690 --> 00:11:11.730 lot of that has been new learning for me and I think you know, 161 00:11:11.769 --> 00:11:15.409 if you look at my career, while all of those companies that I've worked 162 00:11:15.450 --> 00:11:18.639 at seem quite similar, they've all been really, really different in terms of 163 00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:22.399 what I've needed to do. So at Microsoft I was much more focused on 164 00:11:22.519 --> 00:11:28.240 consumer Mon marketing at exact target. I was much more focused on enterprise be 165 00:11:28.360 --> 00:11:31.600 to be marketing, so selling to really big accounts. At sales force it 166 00:11:31.720 --> 00:11:35.070 was a bit of a mixed mixture of everything. Really pubs, well, 167 00:11:35.190 --> 00:11:39.870 the complete opposite. Rights all about scaling, you know, to as these 168 00:11:39.909 --> 00:11:43.429 small medium businesses as possible. So I've kind of like always jumped into a 169 00:11:43.470 --> 00:11:46.269 field who I don't know as much and I take, you know, a 170 00:11:46.350 --> 00:11:48.860 good six months in the new role to kind of get up and up and 171 00:11:48.899 --> 00:11:52.700 running, and it's typically it's not until like twelve months and when I feel 172 00:11:52.700 --> 00:11:56.179 like in a new company in a new space, like I know as much 173 00:11:56.179 --> 00:12:00.340 as everyone else, and from the twelve month on woods point, that's typically 174 00:12:00.419 --> 00:12:05.769 when I find I can start to pull on my experiences from other industries and 175 00:12:05.889 --> 00:12:09.370 other companies and other roles to them kind of do a better job than other 176 00:12:09.409 --> 00:12:13.929 people in my space now that I've liked learned what they already know. Absolutely. 177 00:12:15.490 --> 00:12:18.600 So I'm curious because is you kind of walk through that that aspect of 178 00:12:18.679 --> 00:12:24.039 the unknown and jumping into the unknown is as much as they were different buyer 179 00:12:24.279 --> 00:12:28.519 groups or fire personas, if you will, at sales force versus hops up 180 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:31.789 the less similarity that you could extract late your knowledge from. What have you 181 00:12:31.909 --> 00:12:39.029 done to research and meet people who can help you understand how to run these 182 00:12:39.110 --> 00:12:43.990 double sided market places? Because, being the CMO, I'm sure your team 183 00:12:43.070 --> 00:12:48.820 expects you to have that plan, know some of the things that are going 184 00:12:48.860 --> 00:12:52.700 to help you succeed, like have you manage to connect with people from the 185 00:12:52.899 --> 00:12:56.419 air PNB's, the UBERS, maybe a glass door? Love them or hate 186 00:12:56.460 --> 00:13:01.129 them? Yeah, yeah, no, I have absolutely. I mean, 187 00:13:01.169 --> 00:13:05.250 I think unfortunate in that, like the in terms of one side of the 188 00:13:05.289 --> 00:13:09.250 double sided market place being a side that I know very intimately well. Right. 189 00:13:09.570 --> 00:13:13.000 So, you know, I'm very familiar with like how to sell to 190 00:13:13.159 --> 00:13:18.080 Sass marketers and too, SASS businesses, and that's where we make our money, 191 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:22.559 right through SAS companies buying subscriptions the DTO because they want to better control 192 00:13:22.679 --> 00:13:26.120 their brand and GTWO, they want to, you know, do review automation, 193 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:30.070 review generation and they want to connect you to up to their crm to 194 00:13:30.230 --> 00:13:35.509 better create buyer intent signals for their sales teams. To know who to proactively 195 00:13:35.590 --> 00:13:39.070 prospect to. Some I felt really good on that front. So, yeah, 196 00:13:39.110 --> 00:13:43.740 it was come. It has been companies like like facebook, like Uba, 197 00:13:43.059 --> 00:13:48.139 like Yelp, glass or comparably, of spoken to like folks on the 198 00:13:48.220 --> 00:13:52.500 growth teams and growth leaders at all of those companies to learn from them. 199 00:13:52.779 --> 00:13:56.610 We also have like another component which makes it tough for us, which is 200 00:13:56.690 --> 00:14:01.090 really around kind of most of those companies that I just mentioned there typically for 201 00:14:01.370 --> 00:14:05.610 really quick purchases. Even Amazon is predominantly quick purchase, whereas when you're buying 202 00:14:05.649 --> 00:14:11.759 software and your reviewing software, it's typically a much more life cycle focus kind 203 00:14:11.799 --> 00:14:18.120 of like process and you're not just looking for a star rating that you're actually 204 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:22.360 wanting to know like if the product integrates other systems that you use. It's 205 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:24.269 just a it's a little bit different, and so I would say that, 206 00:14:24.470 --> 00:14:26.990 you know, I was able to learn a lot from those companies in terms 207 00:14:28.029 --> 00:14:31.750 of like how they think about growth experiments and how they balance different sides and 208 00:14:31.830 --> 00:14:35.789 different needs of market places. I don't know if, like, I don't 209 00:14:35.789 --> 00:14:39.980 know if I've totally like unlocked the paradigm yet, just for myself, around 210 00:14:41.019 --> 00:14:45.580 kind of how best to optimize this software marketplace in our space, just because, 211 00:14:46.299 --> 00:14:50.059 you know, a review takes five minutes. Right. People don't buy 212 00:14:50.379 --> 00:14:54.690 software daily, right, they buy annually. It's not, you know, 213 00:14:54.769 --> 00:14:58.049 multi year and the way people buy as kind of different. So so yeah, 214 00:14:58.049 --> 00:15:01.769 there's been a little lessons from those companies, but but I think a 215 00:15:01.809 --> 00:15:03.929 lot of them I'm also just having to kind of learn by silent on the 216 00:15:03.970 --> 00:15:07.919 job too. That's great. Well, maybe will unpack a little bit more 217 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:11.039 of that Ryan in the second half here. What we're going to do right 218 00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:16.240 now is take a little break here from some software sponsors here who are probably 219 00:15:16.360 --> 00:15:20.960 on g two as well, and then we'll be right back with Brian Banucci 220 00:15:20.360 --> 00:15:26.789 learning about his buyers. Tree. Want to create high converting experiences for your 221 00:15:26.870 --> 00:15:31.669 demand strategies that accelerate pipeline and drive revenue. Look no further than our presenting 222 00:15:31.710 --> 00:15:37.940 sponsor, Uberflip, named a leader in content experience by GTWO and a leader 223 00:15:37.059 --> 00:15:43.620 in content activation by forester. UBERFLIP will help you accelerate every buyer journey by 224 00:15:43.740 --> 00:15:50.210 creating bingeable experiences that will allow your prospects to consume more content faster. Companies 225 00:15:50.289 --> 00:15:54.850 like Trimble, Wiley and stand tech are using UBERFLIP to power their go to 226 00:15:54.929 --> 00:16:00.809 market strategies, and we created one just for you. Head to uberflipcom journey 227 00:16:00.049 --> 00:16:06.399 to see how UBERFLIP can help you leverage the power of per senalize content experiences 228 00:16:06.519 --> 00:16:11.960 to drive demand our Ryan. So we unpact your career journey and, as 229 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:15.559 we know today, you were the Cmo of g two or, as I 230 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:19.230 like to say, the artist formerly known as g two crowd. And you 231 00:16:19.350 --> 00:16:23.590 know, I think what gt does, as we talk about the buyer journey, 232 00:16:23.710 --> 00:16:29.710 is very interesting because I think a lot of us think of software purchases 233 00:16:29.750 --> 00:16:33.179 as the goal is to get the buyer to spend time with our sales team, 234 00:16:33.259 --> 00:16:37.340 and that's everything that marketings trying to do is drive you to our sales 235 00:16:37.379 --> 00:16:40.940 team and then the sales team is going to do a great job at closing 236 00:16:41.059 --> 00:16:44.539 business. The other cool way that a lot of us hope for is word 237 00:16:44.620 --> 00:16:48.169 of mouth. And is it fair to say that that the future is to 238 00:16:48.649 --> 00:16:52.889 make word of mouth easier? Yeah, I think so. I mean I 239 00:16:53.009 --> 00:16:56.409 don't think that we should necessarily, as market to stop trying to focus on, 240 00:16:56.570 --> 00:17:00.129 you know, how do we best connect our sales teams or out consulting 241 00:17:00.169 --> 00:17:04.160 teams with with bias. I think the reality, though, is that, 242 00:17:04.279 --> 00:17:07.759 like whether we lack it or all, those buyers are so much more informed 243 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:12.799 now than they ever were before and they don't need necessarily to speak to yourselves 244 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:15.789 team. So, and what I mean by that is that there's so many 245 00:17:15.829 --> 00:17:19.990 providers today now that are just allowing people to buy stole try like, you 246 00:17:21.069 --> 00:17:23.710 know, thirty day trials, for example, freemium packages or just buying with 247 00:17:23.829 --> 00:17:27.430 credit cond so I think, you know, what we're seeing is it's all 248 00:17:27.470 --> 00:17:33.539 about ultimately reducing friction to sale. And so if buyer can learn a lot 249 00:17:33.579 --> 00:17:37.779 about your product and service from your customers online by coming to GTCOM, like 250 00:17:37.900 --> 00:17:42.420 they much prefer to do that. Then you know, if they have questions 251 00:17:42.539 --> 00:17:47.130 and they need technical details answered or they want to better understand how to integrate 252 00:17:47.210 --> 00:17:51.049 something, no doubt like speaking to, you know, a solutions engineer at 253 00:17:51.049 --> 00:17:55.130 your company or you know, an experienced sales consultant will help them. But 254 00:17:55.210 --> 00:18:00.599 I think the sales process is really broken in the world right and the idea 255 00:18:00.680 --> 00:18:03.119 of, like you know, the first call is like we ask questions of 256 00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:07.240 the prospect to better understand who they are. We don't show them products in 257 00:18:07.400 --> 00:18:11.240 you know, maybe in call number two we met show them some screenshots of 258 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:14.670 the products. In call number three, maybe we show them at demo because, 259 00:18:14.789 --> 00:18:17.390 like now, we've been able to craft the demo and off based on 260 00:18:17.470 --> 00:18:19.349 what we hear from them, like we just I think, as business as 261 00:18:19.390 --> 00:18:23.190 we've created all of these steps to make sales teams be more efficient and in 262 00:18:23.309 --> 00:18:26.940 doing so, in some ways we've kind of like lost a lot of the 263 00:18:27.019 --> 00:18:32.819 humanity of buying and I think the reality is no one enjoys buying. I 264 00:18:32.980 --> 00:18:37.859 mean I should kind of preface that by saying I because I love buying clothes, 265 00:18:37.980 --> 00:18:41.609 I love buying gadgets, but I like being in control of the buying 266 00:18:41.650 --> 00:18:45.250 process right like when I'm buying electronics, I go on Amazon, I find 267 00:18:45.289 --> 00:18:48.009 out what I want and I buy and it's there, you know, late, 268 00:18:48.089 --> 00:18:51.569 maybe later that day or the next day. I don't actually enjoy speaking 269 00:18:51.609 --> 00:18:55.799 to sales consultants. I want to be able to learn everything objectively online now, 270 00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:59.000 watch youtube videos and then I want to be empowered to get what I 271 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:02.000 want, but I don't wanted to be a barrier that. So I think 272 00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:04.720 we've kind of I don't know, I'm curious like. Do you enjoy speaking 273 00:19:04.759 --> 00:19:07.759 to sales, or so you you, like me, seen your Marketa you 274 00:19:07.799 --> 00:19:11.349 must get to funny, look, it's fair. I mean it depends on 275 00:19:11.630 --> 00:19:15.670 I guess what I'm buying and what experience I want. I'll give you a 276 00:19:15.750 --> 00:19:19.990 great experience, a great example of a bad experience that's not in our space 277 00:19:21.069 --> 00:19:23.029 of software, which is buying a car. I mean, yeah, every 278 00:19:23.109 --> 00:19:26.819 time I have to buy a car, it's just painful. You go in 279 00:19:26.980 --> 00:19:30.700 there, you know what you want, you know you're going to have to 280 00:19:30.859 --> 00:19:33.500 haggle a bit, but then the process where they got to go in the 281 00:19:33.539 --> 00:19:36.779 other room and leave you for twenty minutes so that they pretend that they're doing 282 00:19:36.900 --> 00:19:41.329 whatever they're doing or actually doing something. That inefficient. Be Guys were nuts 283 00:19:41.289 --> 00:19:47.289 and and it's it's interesting. I mean pulling it more into the software space. 284 00:19:47.289 --> 00:19:51.450 It was very interesting. This just happening. I can't say the vendors 285 00:19:51.490 --> 00:19:55.559 or the solution, but we were evaluating an Uber Foot, buying a solution 286 00:19:56.039 --> 00:19:59.920 and given that we we know a lot of the MARTECH players well, we 287 00:20:00.119 --> 00:20:03.039 partner with a lot of them, it's hard to pick one, because it's 288 00:20:03.079 --> 00:20:07.109 like choosing your children. Which one of them do you love more? And 289 00:20:07.789 --> 00:20:11.990 one of the one of the people have a relationship at one of the vendors 290 00:20:11.029 --> 00:20:15.390 said, well, I don't feel like you spent enough time evaluating us. 291 00:20:15.750 --> 00:20:19.509 Now. We only got this much time with you and you chose someone else. 292 00:20:19.549 --> 00:20:22.099 And and my answer to them was, we don't need a lot of 293 00:20:22.220 --> 00:20:26.819 time. You know, to your point, Ryan, we you know, 294 00:20:26.980 --> 00:20:30.940 we may being reviews on g two, we may be talking to other companies 295 00:20:30.980 --> 00:20:36.009 that we know that use different solutions. We may have people on our team 296 00:20:36.490 --> 00:20:40.410 who have used different solutions at different companies and stops from the way. So 297 00:20:40.450 --> 00:20:45.890 a lot of our opinions are formed. It's really specific details that in some 298 00:20:45.049 --> 00:20:49.039 cases we can we can knock off in a one hour call. Totally, 299 00:20:49.799 --> 00:20:53.319 totally and I think to your car point right, I'm just I love I 300 00:20:53.400 --> 00:20:56.079 think one of the things that's made me a really good marketer is that I'm 301 00:20:56.119 --> 00:21:00.920 just very much like a consumer and I'm always consuming marketing messages and learning from 302 00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:06.789 them, and I think that Cavana have done just such a great job lately 303 00:21:06.950 --> 00:21:11.670 and marketing the value of their platform in terms of like using an APP, 304 00:21:11.190 --> 00:21:17.109 like listing your car, selling your car, just basically removing every single pain 305 00:21:17.269 --> 00:21:19.859 point out of buying and selling cause and like, let's be real, like 306 00:21:21.019 --> 00:21:25.140 have you seen their ads with their like their car vending machine? Like I 307 00:21:25.220 --> 00:21:27.740 didn't even know if that even really exists or not, but it's a really 308 00:21:27.859 --> 00:21:32.259 buzzy thing that gets lots of people talking about it. So they've done a 309 00:21:32.299 --> 00:21:33.690 great job at that. I added to your point. I'm with you. 310 00:21:33.849 --> 00:21:37.130 I've just recently bought a car and I didn't I just went on Mine, 311 00:21:37.289 --> 00:21:40.970 put my credit card in and I got to live it a week later and 312 00:21:41.009 --> 00:21:45.569 it was heavenly, like truly the most heavenly experience ever. And so yeah, 313 00:21:45.569 --> 00:21:48.839 I think, like I think, as markets in this like leaders in 314 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:51.960 business, we need to try and work at how do we how do we, 315 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:55.279 like, let really great products shine through and how do we kind of 316 00:21:55.319 --> 00:21:59.119 reduce friction so that buyers can learn as much as I need to income buy 317 00:21:59.160 --> 00:22:02.549 as quickly as possibly? It's very interesting as you as you say that, 318 00:22:02.630 --> 00:22:06.589 I think to myself a lot of this software that we're buying, a lot 319 00:22:06.630 --> 00:22:10.509 of the solutions that we're buying out in the market, they're designed to streamline 320 00:22:10.630 --> 00:22:15.470 the way we do business. So take something as simple as e signature a 321 00:22:15.630 --> 00:22:19.500 solution like Docu sign or hello sign other tools like that. They're really taking 322 00:22:19.579 --> 00:22:25.980 this arcade way of getting multiple parties to sign a document where they have to 323 00:22:26.059 --> 00:22:29.980 sign, print, scan, email. I mean I'm not talking facts days, 324 00:22:30.009 --> 00:22:33.490 I'm just talking modern day and they make it so simple. Yet, 325 00:22:33.490 --> 00:22:37.890 as you pointed out, when it comes to the sales process on those same 326 00:22:37.009 --> 00:22:42.769 solutions, we drag people through these elongated processes that maybe don't have to be. 327 00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:48.160 Yeah, I think so, and I think that comes down to oftentimes 328 00:22:48.440 --> 00:22:52.240 market is not doing a great job, and in kind of qualification, at 329 00:22:52.359 --> 00:22:56.480 asking people like where they are at in the buying process. You know, 330 00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:00.430 because if I think of myself right like we when I joined g two, 331 00:23:00.670 --> 00:23:03.670 I did a bit of a did a massive out a whole of them about 332 00:23:03.750 --> 00:23:07.710 my tech and all the technology where we're using, and I remember very vividly 333 00:23:07.829 --> 00:23:12.299 like filling out some demo forms of these platforms that I wanted to buy and 334 00:23:12.380 --> 00:23:17.099 then having to go through like these sales calls, and I remember just vividly 335 00:23:17.140 --> 00:23:18.819 being like Hey, I don't think you understand, like I'm ready to buy, 336 00:23:18.980 --> 00:23:22.059 like let's start talking price, like I don't want to know. I 337 00:23:22.420 --> 00:23:25.660 and and they almost feel like, well know, I actually want to like 338 00:23:25.779 --> 00:23:26.849 run you through these things. I was like no, no, you don't 339 00:23:26.849 --> 00:23:30.809 get it, like views are platforms. Many times, like I just want 340 00:23:30.849 --> 00:23:33.690 to buy. I like, let's talk about pricing, and it was like 341 00:23:33.849 --> 00:23:36.809 a lot of pushback and I think I had to like escalate it to like 342 00:23:37.049 --> 00:23:38.849 a more senior person company that I knew to Bekay, I don't know what 343 00:23:40.009 --> 00:23:42.039 the deal is here, like I just want, like I'm trying to buy. 344 00:23:42.680 --> 00:23:45.119 They let me give you my money, please. Okay, you don't 345 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:48.720 want to waste time talking to sales reps? No, just credit to sell. 346 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:52.759 There's which just like I'm a marketer. I wanted marketing and I know 347 00:23:52.839 --> 00:23:56.069 what I need to do marketing. I don't write talk to someone. So 348 00:23:56.190 --> 00:24:00.309 yeah, I think. I mean we're definitely hearing really good feedback from, 349 00:24:00.349 --> 00:24:03.349 you know, the millions of buyers that come to our site every week around 350 00:24:03.430 --> 00:24:07.069 how like we're helping them fire that better technology and we find that, like 351 00:24:07.390 --> 00:24:11.980 you know, some of our competitors that have similar looking sides put that are 352 00:24:11.019 --> 00:24:15.180 paid play, like cap terror as an example. We have a lot of 353 00:24:15.220 --> 00:24:18.500 companies that or buyers. It will come to us after they are bought technology 354 00:24:18.700 --> 00:24:22.019 off of Cap Terra and then they'll say, hey, we never even realize, 355 00:24:22.220 --> 00:24:26.009 like when we were on cap terra, the list was ordered by who 356 00:24:26.130 --> 00:24:29.650 was paying the most to be there. So they import software that they were 357 00:24:29.769 --> 00:24:33.170 thinking was going to be good for them turned out to be horrible for them 358 00:24:33.410 --> 00:24:37.289 and then they realize, like after only going through that horrible experience and it 359 00:24:37.369 --> 00:24:40.839 was paid to play. And so I think by a focusing on just like 360 00:24:40.920 --> 00:24:45.000 quality and, you know, being really authentic and having trusted reviews like is 361 00:24:45.119 --> 00:24:48.680 going to see us win and the long term and our traffics growing fast than 362 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:52.160 all of our competitors. So that's nice to well, maybe one of the 363 00:24:52.279 --> 00:24:56.150 things that we uncovered that's maybe the separate bullet is, is if you started 364 00:24:56.230 --> 00:25:00.990 valuating software on who has the best buying experience, the best, yeah, 365 00:25:00.630 --> 00:25:04.950 process in buying that technology, maybe that's an extra column that we need on 366 00:25:06.069 --> 00:25:08.500 that list, not just how well the technical works, but but what was 367 00:25:08.539 --> 00:25:14.700 it like actually going through the selling process? Is it efficient? Was it? 368 00:25:14.940 --> 00:25:18.460 Yeah, honest, totally, and that's something that we've actually been toying 369 00:25:18.539 --> 00:25:22.049 with the idea of, like do we you know, because right now most 370 00:25:22.089 --> 00:25:25.690 of the questions that we ask for when people are leaving reviews is much more 371 00:25:25.730 --> 00:25:30.210 focused on the software the implementation. We don't focus a whole a lot of 372 00:25:30.250 --> 00:25:33.930 questions on the buying process. And you know, how authentic was your sales 373 00:25:33.970 --> 00:25:37.960 rapp and like how would you rate your sales wrap or your consultant? I 374 00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:41.240 thought about that. Is Like an interesting area for us to go down potentially, 375 00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:45.240 just to give more information back to these software companies around how they could 376 00:25:45.240 --> 00:25:48.359 do a better job, because I'm sure you know there's companies out of that 377 00:25:48.440 --> 00:25:52.390 are great products but maybe sales teams that don't do a great job of selling 378 00:25:52.430 --> 00:25:56.670 those products in a great way. And so, like, if I was 379 00:25:56.710 --> 00:26:00.470 a gem of that company, I would want to, you know, change 380 00:26:00.509 --> 00:26:03.269 things up a little bit potentially. Absolutely absolute. Yeah, it's a fun 381 00:26:03.299 --> 00:26:07.220 space. I mean in technology is like everywhere. I, like you and 382 00:26:07.299 --> 00:26:11.299 I right now talking on zoom. I've got Google Docs open in the background, 383 00:26:11.380 --> 00:26:15.500 Evan Open in the background, like Google Calendar Open. Like I think 384 00:26:15.579 --> 00:26:18.890 without realizing every day I'm probably using two does and different pieces of software at 385 00:26:18.930 --> 00:26:23.289 a minimum. Right maybe you using even more than that. You know, 386 00:26:23.609 --> 00:26:29.490 there's no way of getting around it. But yeah, that's definitely an important 387 00:26:29.809 --> 00:26:34.559 definitely expect exciting space you've landed in and really interesting how it actually ties back 388 00:26:34.680 --> 00:26:38.160 and an area that you're so passionate about, which is mapping better buy your 389 00:26:38.200 --> 00:26:44.200 journeys through sales, forest up spot exact target, all coming into full cycle 390 00:26:44.279 --> 00:26:47.789 heregy to Ryan, we're going to keep you around after a short break here. 391 00:26:47.950 --> 00:26:49.829 Will take a quick pause and then we're going to hear how you take 392 00:26:49.910 --> 00:26:59.190 breaks as part of your journey. Hey, Ryan, so we've learned about 393 00:26:59.309 --> 00:27:03.619 your career journey, which is fascinating, the buyer journey that you you're creating 394 00:27:03.859 --> 00:27:07.980 over a GTUBE. But what about taking time for yourself, for your family? 395 00:27:07.180 --> 00:27:10.980 I know you got some dogs. How do you make time for all 396 00:27:11.059 --> 00:27:15.690 that being this tmo of a company that's growing at a crazy rate? Yeah, 397 00:27:15.730 --> 00:27:19.130 you know, I've always this isn't ever been something that's been a massive 398 00:27:19.210 --> 00:27:22.890 struggle for me, and I think I'm lucky in that I'm Australian and I 399 00:27:23.410 --> 00:27:26.490 grew up outside of the US, to be honest. So in Australia, 400 00:27:26.930 --> 00:27:29.769 you know, like I guess a lot of parts of the world now, 401 00:27:30.039 --> 00:27:33.319 and you will leave, is something that's kind of part of the the government 402 00:27:33.400 --> 00:27:37.359 said so in Australia, right. You know, it's like my it's like 403 00:27:37.480 --> 00:27:41.279 my privilege to get for so I privilyse is the way to putting it. 404 00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:45.390 It's like my like like legal right that I should get four weeks off the 405 00:27:45.430 --> 00:27:47.869 year. So I don't know, I grew up in that kind of a 406 00:27:47.950 --> 00:27:51.470 system where, but I don't feel grateful for that. Like that's just like 407 00:27:51.829 --> 00:27:56.630 the bare minimum. I I like have something brushing your teeth, so press 408 00:27:56.670 --> 00:27:57.940 yeah, it's kind of just it's really like rushing to do. It's just 409 00:27:57.980 --> 00:28:02.700 something that you don't think about. And so I've always been really, really 410 00:28:02.740 --> 00:28:04.619 a big believer in that. Like in Australia we took a lot about our 411 00:28:04.619 --> 00:28:07.339 culture. It's like work hard, play hard, and I don't think like 412 00:28:07.500 --> 00:28:10.700 I can work as hard as I do if I don't, you know, 413 00:28:10.859 --> 00:28:14.250 to have to have time off. And so I've always been really direct with 414 00:28:14.410 --> 00:28:17.569 my boss has and that, you know, I like to take three to 415 00:28:17.730 --> 00:28:22.089 four weeks off every year around, you know, the holidays. So you 416 00:28:22.170 --> 00:28:26.089 know, like in in a few weeks after kickoff, for around New Year, 417 00:28:26.130 --> 00:28:30.680 I'm going to barley for three weeks just to like sweetly shut out from 418 00:28:30.759 --> 00:28:36.279 work. Lived in the rainforest. Dude, looks of Yoga. So yeah, 419 00:28:36.279 --> 00:28:37.880 I'm just a really big believer and you need to like switch off from 420 00:28:37.880 --> 00:28:41.950 work and and I have pretty like good boundaries around. I try not to 421 00:28:42.109 --> 00:28:47.869 text colleagues after hours or slack them after hours. If my boss takes me 422 00:28:47.990 --> 00:28:51.269 after hours, I went reply to him until the morning. I just like 423 00:28:51.470 --> 00:28:53.150 to train people that it can be aud to. I mean to get me 424 00:28:53.190 --> 00:28:56.059 wrong, if he's if he's texting me and he's like the world is burning 425 00:28:56.099 --> 00:29:00.660 down right now, we need help, like obviously different story, but the 426 00:29:00.779 --> 00:29:06.299 reality is like ninety nine percent of the texts and more just like idears and 427 00:29:06.380 --> 00:29:08.740 things like that. And it can be easy. You can if you like 428 00:29:08.900 --> 00:29:11.809 what you do, which I do, it's easy to then get seduced and 429 00:29:11.849 --> 00:29:15.769 then respond in the moment. But I I like have, I think, 430 00:29:15.890 --> 00:29:21.170 over the years, learned to actually not do that and to not just like 431 00:29:21.369 --> 00:29:25.319 slack my team whenever random idea and instead maybe add it to their a sauna 432 00:29:25.559 --> 00:29:29.160 project for our oneonone so that I'll speak to them in a few days when 433 00:29:29.160 --> 00:29:30.160 we actually catch up. On that way, I'm not like, you know, 434 00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:33.279 missing and messing up in their flow and I think by doing that my 435 00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:37.039 team is a learned that and they do the same things. And so, 436 00:29:37.559 --> 00:29:40.269 yeah, when I go on vacation for those three weeks in Bali like I 437 00:29:40.349 --> 00:29:44.190 will delete every workout from my phone. I won't checking now. I like 438 00:29:44.349 --> 00:29:48.190 I truly won't, and my team knows, like my VP's know, if 439 00:29:48.190 --> 00:29:49.269 they need me, they can call me. But I mean, we're not 440 00:29:49.430 --> 00:29:52.980 solving cancer here at jet. As much as I love what I do, 441 00:29:52.140 --> 00:29:56.900 like, no one's going to die. And so yeah, I think, 442 00:29:56.900 --> 00:29:59.819 I think if you're a leader that can't take hold days and you need to 443 00:29:59.900 --> 00:30:03.059 be on that is a big fat sign that you are a failure as a 444 00:30:03.099 --> 00:30:07.529 lead up because you haven't built a team that can leave without you. And 445 00:30:07.130 --> 00:30:11.849 that's like my biggest job in my mind, is like to build teams that 446 00:30:11.009 --> 00:30:15.970 can function without me and don't need my help to make decisions. And you 447 00:30:15.009 --> 00:30:18.369 know, if they want my input and I can be additive, great, 448 00:30:18.450 --> 00:30:22.599 but but yeah, I'd feel like I was a complete failure if they needed 449 00:30:22.680 --> 00:30:26.279 me for everything. That's, I think, a great philosophy when it's definitely 450 00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:30.759 hard to live by. But I'm sure you've got a better balance just by 451 00:30:30.839 --> 00:30:33.759 making it such a focus. So thanks a lot for sharing that, right, 452 00:30:34.119 --> 00:30:37.470 thanks for sharing everything that you've brought to the marketers yaree today. That 453 00:30:37.589 --> 00:30:41.950 Randy. Yeah, this was great. Yeah, we really got a great 454 00:30:41.950 --> 00:30:45.710 idea of your entire career, how you think about the buyer and how you 455 00:30:47.589 --> 00:30:51.420 make a focus for your own personal life within that, all within about thirty 456 00:30:51.460 --> 00:30:55.460 minute. So I hope everyone who is tuned in is enjoyed this. Every 457 00:30:55.500 --> 00:30:59.940 week I'm getting to chat with amazing executives have different ways that they've scaled to 458 00:31:00.099 --> 00:31:04.009 leadership roles that they're in. Ryan story is truly unique and I hope you'll 459 00:31:04.170 --> 00:31:07.890 listen in to some other unique ones that we've got until next time. This 460 00:31:07.970 --> 00:31:11.609 has been the marketers journey. I'm ready, fresh from UPER flip. Thank 461 00:31:11.650 --> 00:31:15.970 you so much to Ryan Bunchi from GTUB. Thanks for ready see. Yeah, 462 00:31:18.039 --> 00:31:22.279 all right, everybody. We really hope you enjoyed the marketers journey. 463 00:31:22.519 --> 00:31:26.720 Again, just there's the marketers journey and apple podcasts or wherever you do. 464 00:31:26.799 --> 00:31:30.680 You're listening, subscribe, leavor review if you like it and tell a friend 465 00:31:30.680 --> 00:31:37.150 if you think they'd enjoy it. Okay, until next time. I hate 466 00:31:37.190 --> 00:31:41.430 it when podcasts incessantly ask their listeners for reviews, but I get why they 467 00:31:41.470 --> 00:31:45.309 do it, because reviews are enormously helpful when you're trying to grow a podcast 468 00:31:45.349 --> 00:31:48.700 audience. So here's what we decided to do. If you leave a review 469 00:31:48.740 --> 00:31:52.380 for me to be growth in apple podcasts and email me a screenshot of the 470 00:31:52.460 --> 00:31:56.819 review to James At sweetfish Mediacom, I'll send you a signed copy of my 471 00:31:56.900 --> 00:32:00.819 new book, content based networking, how to instantly connect with anyone you want 472 00:32:00.819 --> 00:32:02.769 to know. We get a review, you get a free book. We 473 00:32:02.930 --> 00:32:04.369 both win.
