Sales Assembly

It’s time to rethink how you’re reaching out to executives with cold emails. Executives are way more likely to engage when the focus is on their problems—not your product. Here’s how Congresswoman Jen Allen-Knuth’s problem prompter approach helps shift that focus: ✓ Start with something they've publicly discussed—be relevant and specific. ✓ Don’t assume you know their challenges. Say, "I’m not sure if this is happening, but...". ✓ Share insights from similar companies facing the same issues. ✓ Rather than selling, ask if they’re open to hearing how others tackled the challenge. ✓ No pressure—just a friendly invitation or personal note. Huge thanks to Jen for sharing this during a recent Value Articulation certification session with Sales Assembly!

Here's the one thing that never gets old in this field of work - Working with driven people who actually WANT to get better. I ran over 50 workshops + keynotes for sales teams this year as part of kick-offs, new initiatives, or ongoing enablement Teams like: Autodesk, Mentimeter, Comcast, Sales Assembly, PORCH 💚, CMiC, GWI, SWBC, and ValueLabs I did a similar number of one-on-one coaching sessions with sellers and founders People who show up to better themselves are the kind of person we should all be striving to surround ourselves with In team sessions it's the people who put their hand up, stayed behind afterwards to ask questions, sent a question in my DMs, or even challenged my advice People like: Agne Seibokate, Michele Castro, Nathan McCallion, Marina Mansurova, Patrick Felberg, Beetoo Ieru, Alfie Miller, Nicolas Bertin, Mrinalini Balakrishnan, Jake Trethowan, Tatyana N., Josh Strauss, Ryan Zeidenberg, Alexa M., and Kelly Jackson In one-on-one coaching it's everyone who went out of their way to get better at overcoming whatever challenge was holding them back: Brent Parr, Niels van Melick, Shaun Bourque, Michelle McLennan, Kyle Delperdang, Kimberly Brokling, Loïc Barbero, McCall Delaney, Tanisha Ghorpade, Parker Williams, Sharm Chelliah, Tyler Sims, Alejandro Pérez, Celeste Berke Knisely, MTA Thanks to all y'all, hoping to work with more people just like you next year.

If you're a CSM and you want to stand out, here are 2 things you can do before EOY (1 simple, 1 a bit more complex): 1) Send a personalized holiday note. Don't rely on the company's Hubspot email that goes out. Write something personalized. Email works, but the gangster move would be a physical card. If you don't have their mailing address, a quick email that always works for me is: SUB: Mind sharing your mailing address? Body: No glitter bombs. I promise. 🙂 That's it. 2) Send them a "year in review." What you'd wanna do here is remind them why partnering with you was the best decision they made all year. A couple of key components to this and things to keep in mind... - Start with the big picture Frame the conversation with the macro trends affecting their industry and how they’ve risen to the challenge. Every business leader is asking, “Are we staying ahead?” Show them how they are, with your help. - Metrics are the hero Data is the universal language of business. Show them the ROI: increased revenue, reduced churn, time saved, or efficiency gains. But don’t stop there - tie those numbers back to their goals. Did you help them unlock new markets? Grow wallet share? Make it personal and impactful. - Tell a story Numbers are critical, but stories sell. Highlight specific wins—moments where your partnership made the impossible possible. Did you help them navigate a major disruption? Solve a costly problem? Deliver on a moonshot project? Put the spotlight on their success. - Shorter = better Don’t bore them with 10 slides of text. One chart that screams “WIN” beats a wall of data. Use visuals to make the story stick...a before-and-after graph, a client testimonial, or a timeline of milestones achieved. - End with the future The best relationships aren’t just built on what you’ve done - they’re built on what you’ll do next. Lay out a vision for the year ahead. What new goals can you crush together? What’s the next chapter in their success story? In a world where loyalty is earned (and re-earned) every quarter, this is your chance to reaffirm your value. It’s not about you - it’s about them. When done right, this isn’t a recap. It’s a recommitment. A great CSM doesn’t just deliver results. They deliver confidence. Your clients read this and think, “I can’t imagine doing this without them.”

Thrilled to have completed Sales Assembly Value Articulation certification! 🎉 The courses—Relevant Storytelling, Effective Demo Strategies, Differentiating to Win, and Communicating Value—have been incredibly impactful, sharpening my skills for success in my current role and as I work toward future goals. Grateful for the opportunity to keep learning and growing, and I’m excited to put these strategies into action! 🚀 #ProfessionalGrowth #SalesAssembly #ValueArticulation #AlwaysLearning Brad Rosen Jeff Rosset Matt Green

Excited to share that I’ve officially completed the Value Articulation Certification through Sales Assembly! This certification has deepened my understanding of how to communicate the unique value of solutions effectively and confidently, a skill I’m excited to implement in my career. A huge thank you to the Sales Assembly team, including Jeff Rosset, Brad Rosen, and Matt Green. Here’s to continual learning, growth, and celebrating wins!

Happy to share my first certificate within the Sales Assembly Program. Thanks for a great Journey so far and looking forward for more. Jen Allen-Knuth, Mitch Schafhauser, Todd Caponi, Brad Rosen, Jeff Rosset, Matt Green

Sales Assembly had a good year.  Not a great year, but a good one (and I’m perfectly fine with good years).  Some highlights + what helped us get there: - A 26% YOY lift in new logos. We have a sales team of one (🙋♂️), aren’t blessed with inbound, and don't do outbound - though that’s changing next year. So what drove enough pipeline to allow us to close nearly a logo per week?  The 3 R’s: Referrals Relationships #samsales Consulting's linkedin stRategy Referrals = self explanatory Relationships = members take us with them if they move from one company to another LinkedIn = People find us on here, seem to like the cut of our jib, and we start DMing.  So I guess that’s a version of inbound.  Regardless, we follow Samantha's guidance, and it works. - A 10% lift in ACV We have 3 different tiers of membership based on a company’s GTM team size.  Via the 3 R’s above, we just happened to attract a few more orgs that fit into our MM and ENT buckets than we did last year. Plus, I just got better at not giving away the farm via discounts.  I mean, I still am a bit of a pushover.  As long as someone says “please” I’ll think to myself “Well, who am I to NOT give a discount to such a polite person?” But I’m making progress. - A 29% decrease in sales cycle length One word can account for this: Fluint We have a bunch of tools, but none of them have had a bigger impact on our GTM efforts than Fluint.  And it’s not even close. The best part here is how much faster our deals are closing when you consider that there are more stakeholders involved than we’ve ever experienced.  Again, Fluint ftw. Start using it if you're not already. - Hit 105% of our in-person event sponsor revenue goal Dunno what to say other than we throw the best events with GTM leaders in the space.  I don’t mind saying that. And when you have a great product, people will buy it.  There’s a reason why our sponsors stick with us each year.  Because we deliver what we say we’re going to deliver.  Now, again, a good year - not a great one.  We missed our new logo target by 4.  Our ACV, while improved over last year, was still short of goal. While we only missed our new logo target by 4, the gap between our actual ACV and our goal was....not as close. 😬 But that’s balanced out by the fact that we’ve had the opportunity to provide skills training to 8,754 ICs and front-line leaders of Sales Assembly member companies this year. Yes, 8,754 is the exact number (as of Friday, at least). We’ve also awarded 476 certifications this year on skills such as Deal Management, Value Articulation, Negotiation, Risk Mitigation, Relationship Management, and others. That, of course, is why we get out of bed in the morning. 476 certifications. 8k+ ICs learning from us. Shit, I changed my mind. Maybe it was a great year? I can't extend enough thanks to all of our members, partners, and friends. SA turns 8 next year, and we wouldn't be here without you.

Pumped to be running it back with Sales Assembly next week. I ran my first ever session in front of 100 AEs in May around "Strategies to Differentiate From the Competition." SaaS is noisy than ever and being able to -tastefully- set your solution apart, is everything. 3 critical components: 1. Strong Discovery - true understanding of #1 priority 2. Market awareness - what in your solution is table stakes vs. differentiated? 3. The art of tieing both together That's when you win - when you show how your solution, is the only one who can solve for their top priority. Just as much art as it is science. Thanks for having me again Jeff Rosset Matt Green Brad Rosen Excited for Wednesday! 💜 P.S. 2 min clip from last Session on my Hook, Line, Sinker method to differentiated on my new YouTube channel: https://lnkd.in/g9KYPNUj

Original gangster Kimberly Pencille Collins shares her strategy for building awareness by categorizing prospects into three key groups: ➔ 3% ready to buy now ➔ 67% open to being influenced ➔ 30% not interested Kim advises not to focus solely on the 3%, as competition is extremely high for this small group. Instead, she recommends a more thoughtful approach to engage the 67% who could be influenced over time. This strategy makes your outreach more effective than simply targeting "low-hanging fruit." As for the 30% at the bottom, she suggests they generally aren’t worth significant effort since they’re unlikely to enter the market for the product. Kim dives deeper into the strategies for creating awareness in her Cold Communication session she ran for Sales Assembly. Thank you, Kim, for sharing your insights with us! #kimisbetterthanSamantha