MDM is in full SHIFT mode, with just six weeks until our Sept. 11-13 conference in Denver. Between now and then, expect to see more primer content that gives our audience a taste of what to expect during those two-and-a-half days that will be packed with thought leadership, case studies and expert insights for wholesale distributors across top-of-mind issues, alongside plenty of peer networking opportunities.

We kicked off the 11th season of the MDM Podcast last week with a preview of our Sept. 12 SHIFT keynote by the McKinsey & Company team of Kevin Sachs and Victoria Bough. This week features a conversation between two individuals who have shaped MDM’s in-person conference content for years: longtime MDM steward Tom Gale and Indian River Consulting Group Co-Founder and Managing Partner Mike Marks.

The topic at-hand was sales transformation — one of the core content pillars for our SHIFT event. More specifically, the duo identified five “fatal flaws” of this transformation. Distribution sales practices have been transforming since at least the advent of the desktop computer, but the pace of change has never been faster than today as sales leaders contend with the digital landscape and customers’ evolving expectations.

Marks has never been shy to infuse drama into his sales best practice coaching, but rather than convey a do-or-die tone for these fatal flaws, I’d like to present their inverse — with five things that drive sales transformation success covered by the podcast:

• Set valid expectations
• Prepare appropriately 
• Recognize and fix poor processes
• Understand your customers
• Craft a real strategy

Marks and Gale outlined each point in their discussion, providing practical examples along the way to help illustrate them. Here’s one from Marks regarding that first point about expectations, which likewise captured the value that our SHIFT conference offers:

“The key thing about proper expectations is they don’t know — because they’re sitting in an echo chamber — they don’t know how much the world has actually moved. A very practical example: One of the attendees at last year’s SHIFT was a newly-appointed VP of sales. He had a good sales background, but had finally taken over the whole thing and had been working for an old-school sales manager. So, he kind of went basically because his boss said that he needed to go. And when he got to SHIFT, he came back — his view was that it was shock and awe. He had no idea any of this stuff was going on and that people were doing it. And so the key point I want to make there is that if people don’t have an awareness of what others are doing, they think they’re doing fine. They don’t realize that they’re falling further and further behind.”

Overall, the conversation highlighted th importance of a comprehensive approach to sales transformation, including both people and process change.

Check out the full episode via the audio player above, and you can find our full library of past episodes here at mdm.com/podcasts. 

And, of course, sales leaders will sharpen their sales transformation playbook by attending MDM’s SHIFT conference. Find the event’s registration and full agenda here. We’d love to see you in Denver!