In this episode of the DevReady Podcast, host Andrew Romeo chats with Graham Robinson, the Principal Consultant and Founder of DCE Sales Management Consulting. With over 40 years in sales, Graham shares how the industry has evolved from traditional selling to a modern, empowerment-driven approach. He offers insights on building trust, strategic communication, and the importance of genuine relationships in today’s sales landscape.

Graham shares insights from his extensive sales career, which began in 1983. His journey, from selling consumables for cash registers to dealing with Apple products, highlights the importance of resilience and adaptability in sales. He emphasies that success in sales is rooted in building trust with clients, as people are more likely to buy from those they know, like, and trust.

Graham critiques the outdated practice of feature-benefit selling, which he describes as a "dinosaur." Instead, he advocates for empowerment selling, where the focus is on helping customers build a business case for change. He stresses the importance of genuine relationships, integrity, and active listening in modern sales. A notable anecdote shared by Graham involves taking responsibility during a government sales pitch, which left a lasting positive impression on his clients.

Further into the discussion, Graham explains the concept of empowerment selling, highlighting the need for a deep understanding of the customer before any outreach. He discusses the importance of creating an ideal customer profile, identifying key factors such as the problem to be solved and the company's growth stage. He also underscores the value of speaking to the right decision-makers and building a strong business case that addresses critical drivers like revenue, profit, risk, and compliance, all while being mindful of how global events impact businesses.

Graham also emphasises the significance of strategic communication in sales. He explains that salespeople have very limited time to make an impression—7 seconds on a phone call or 18 words in an email. He warns against jumping straight into product demos without first establishing a relationship or understanding the buyer’s needs. Graham advises that demos should be used as proof points only after confirming that the product can solve the client's problem. Effective selling, he asserts, involves standing out from the noise and building trust before presenting solutions.

Lastly, Graham touches on the importance of adding value through content and becoming a key influencer in the market. He advocates for genuine relationships and authenticity, noting that real impact comes from building honest, human connections, rather than just focusing on profit. Graham shares emotional stories about helping clients in Western Australia, such as the Department of Child Protection, where his team successfully addressed trust issues rather than just technical specifications. These stories highlight the importance of solving real problems and creating value, which are the true hallmarks of successful sales efforts.

Graham Robinson on Turning the Sales Game Around | Ep 163 | DevReady Podcast

Validating and Idea can be one of the biggest challenges when building a new product. 

Are we solving a problem that our customers actually value? Are solving the problem with the right solution?

Let's face it, we all can fall in love with our ideas and sometimes this can mean we jump into delivery way too early.

In this episode of the DevReady podcast we interviewed Nick Coster. Nick is from Brainmates, where he and his team help product owners deliver products that customers love. 

Nick shared a step by step approach to designing and validating solutions with our target customers. 

If you have an idea and want to deliver a technology solution, this is a must listen. 

Visit our website, or follow us on social media for more insights
Website: https://aerion.com.au
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aeri...
Medium: https://medium.com/aerion-technologies
Twitter: https://twitter.com/aeriontech
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aerionTech

DevReady Podcast E03 - Nick Coster

Today's Podcast is with Mellonie Francis, a non-tech founder of Find Book Beauty. Learn about her journey that started out building an MVP with a website builder. This led to engaging technical advisor and dev team which she later had to sack.

If you are looking to take an Idea to Software this is a must listen.

Visit our website, or follow us on social media for more insights
Website: https://aerion.com.au
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aeri...
Medium: https://medium.com/aerion-technologies
Twitter: https://twitter.com/aeriontech
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aerionTech

DevReady Podcast E02 - Mellonie Francis

We have just launched our new DevReady Podcast. Our first interview is with Judy Celmins of Engage4Insights. She shares her story about jumping into the development of their own app, It’s a great story with plenty of interesting takeaways.

Visit our website, or follow us on social media for more insights
Website: https://aerion.com.au
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aeri...
Medium: https://medium.com/aerion-technologies
Twitter: https://twitter.com/aeriontech
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aerionTech

EDM Dance Party by Alex Menco | https://alexmenco.net
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

DevReady Podcast

DevReady Podcast E01 - Judy Celmins

In this week’s episode of the DevReady Podcast, we interviewed Robert Venter. Robert, thank you for coming on to the Podcast and sharing your journey.

Robert is the founder and CEO of Eazi-Tender.

In 2015 Robert set out on the journey to develop an all in one platform to solve the problem of having to work with multiple software packages with little integration in the project management space.

Throughout his journey, Robert engaged with several tech partners and was even invited to Silicon Valley accelerator to realise his dream.

However, success wasn’t realised until he discovered that the problem he was attempted to solve needed refinement. 

A core focus on a single problem that could add significant value to a large client base.

If you are a non-tech building tech, this episode drives home the importance of understanding what your customers really need.

DevReady Podcast E04 - Robert Venter

In today's Episode of the DevReady Podcast we interviewed Cary Gee, founder of BOTTY Limited. 

Cary shared his story of how he went from growing and exiting a 200+ stores restaurant chain across Asia to now running his second tech Company. 

In 3 short years, this non-tech has grown the Botty team to over 25+ dev and engineers working across contextual AI and Machine Learning supporting 1,000+ clients.

Through the Podcast Cary shared a great insight into how big questions have shaped entrepreneurial journal.

If you are a non-tech looking to convert your ideas into a successful business, this Podcast will provide you with some significant insights.

DevReady Podcast E06 - Cary Gee

Thank you Stewart Marshall for joining us on the DevReady Podcast this week.

In this episode, we discussed some of the key challenges that a SaaS business can face.

Did you know that 10/11 SaaS businesses fail and that in every SaaS category there is an average of 10 competitors?

Through this podcast, you will learn about how to get ahead in this highly competitive landscape.

If you run own a SaaS business or a looking to build a SaaS product this is a MUST listen.

DevReady Podcast E07 - Stewart Marshall

In this week’s episode of the DevReady, we had Tim Walmsley join us from BenchOn.

Tim shared his story of how he has continued to pivot his business, operations and even target customer to solve a major problem that we can all have in our businesses. Staff under-utilisation.

Tim shared how this non-tech SOLD THE HOUSE and went all-in on his vision.

In 2019, 4 years into the business BenchOn was name the “Defence Connect Australian Defence Industry Start-Up of the Year for 2019”.

In this episode, Tim shared some great insights into what it really takes to create value.

DevReady Podcast E08 - Tim Walmsley

Thank you Brian Ruddle for joining us on the DevReady Podcast this week. Brian is from Impact Innovation where they have been helping startups and corporate with their product innovation for over 13 years now.

Brian has been involved in 4 successful startups, is an advisor in the startup space and is now the Chair of Innovation Management Standards at @standards Australia.

In today’s episode, Brian shares his model describing Idea Complexity. The Idea complexity model provides a great framework to ask the right questions, explore our assumptions and validate ideas and business cases within a structured approach.

This is a great episode for anyone that has had that lightbulb moment and looking for a model to maximise their potential of success.

DevReady Podcast E09 – Brian Ruddle

Thank you Martin Batur for joining us on the DevReady Podcast.

Martin is the Co-Founder of GigSuper, a startup out of Melbourne that is helping the self-employed understand the importance of Superannuation.

Did you know that over 1.3+ million Australians are self-employed and that 75% are NOT currently contributing to Super?

Worst of all 20% have a NO super at all!

GigSuper aims to solve this problem by educating the market and providing an innovative SaaS product to help self-employed folks build their super balance.

In this episode, Martin shared how they approached the development of their product as non-techs.

Learn about what they would have done differently if they had the opportunity to start all over again.

DevReady Podcast E10 - Martin Batur

In today's episode of the DevReady we had Jamie Skella join us. Thank you, Jamie, for taking the time to share your journey of developing digital products in both corporate and startup environments.

At 13, Jamie first embraced technology as an online gamer and later played for Australia's top-ranked esports teams.

Jamie has now gone full circle, where he now manages Mogul, Australia's first publicly listed esports company.

We first met Jamie when he was running Horizon State, Winner of the World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer award, joining the likes of Google, Airbnb, and Spotify. Voted 7 of 100 on a list of world-changing technologies by The Australian.

Jamie Skella

DevReady Podcast E11 - Jamie Skella

We started the DevReady podcast to help non-techs build better technology. We have been exposed to so many non-techs that describe the struggle, uncertainty and challenges that can come with building technology.

The objective for the DevReady podcast to share these stories and give you the tools and insights so that you to can deliver on your vision and outcomes.

You will learn from non-tech founders that have invested their time and money into developing technology. We will discuss what worked, what didn’t and how they still managed to deliver real value to their users.  These stories are inspirational – demonstrating the determination, commitment and resolve it really takes to deliver technology.

Throughout the DevReady Podcast we also invite subject matter experts to the conversation to give you proven strategies and techniques to successfully take your idea through to delivery and beyond.

Enjoy the Podcast, it will challenge you, inspire you and provide the tools you will need to deliver real value with technology.

Graham Robinson on Turning the Sales Game Around | Ep 163 | DevReady Podcast

DevReady Podcast

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