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On today’s show, Gina, Zeev and Fred discussed live and hybrid events in October that will help selling professionals take their careers to the next level.
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GINA’S TIP: “At the Women in Sales Leadership Elevation Conference, we’re going to have a lot of frontline stories, and these will be panels and workshop-type things, discussions led by women who are already breaking the barriers with AI and really leading the way. Those will be really great conversations, but the biggest thing I want you to know is we’re going to have fun. We are going to have a lot of fun with this new tool we’re all going to be using, and we’re going to have fun figuring out how to put it to work for us.”
THE PODCAST BEGINS HERE
Fred Diamond: Welcome to another episode of the AI for Selling Effectiveness Podcast, a sub-brand of the Sales Game Changers Podcast. Zeev Wexler, we are doing close to 800 Sales Game Changers Podcast episodes. Every other show we’re doing a show on AI for Selling Effectiveness. We have Gina Stracuzzi on the show today. Everybody knows Gina. She is the host of the Sales Game Changers Podcast’s Women in Sales Leadership Podcast.
What we’re going to be talking about today, there’s events popping up all over the place as it relates to AI, but we specifically focus on selling effectiveness. We have two great events coming up on October 9th. It’s the Women in Sales Leadership Elevation Conference, Gina. It’s going to be on October 9th. It’s going to be live and in-person in Tysons Corner in Virginia. It’s a full-day event. It’s going to be fabulous. This is the fourth Women in Sales Leadership Elevation Conference?
Gina Stracuzzi: Yes. Unbelievable. Isn’t it?
Fred Diamond: Unbelievable. It’s also going to be run by the Center for Elevating Women in Sales Leadership, and that’s going to be live and in-person. Zeev Wexler, the next day on October 10th, we have another opportunity at the Carahsoft Conference and Collaboration Center and Virtual, it’s a hybrid program. It’s a Selling Essentials Workshop put on by the Institute for Effective Professional Selling. That’s going to be called Nine Rules for AI Selling Effectiveness.
Zeev Wexler: I’m excited for both. I’ll attend both, and I cannot wait. This is so exciting.
Fred Diamond: It’s going to be amazing. The selling professionals around the globe who participate in both of these, if they don’t take their career to five levels above after participating in both the conference and the Selling Essentials Workshop, they need to rethink how they do their learning.
Gina, let’s talk about the Women in Sales Leadership Elevation Conference. The future is female, women leading with clarity and conviction in an AI-driven sales world. What are we going to be talking about on October 9th?
Gina Stracuzzi: We’re going to be talking about a lot of things, Fred. This is such a unique point in history. We’re pretty much all of us, except for the rocket scientists of the world, coming into AI at the same time. It is crucial that women learn to not just use it, but fully appreciate its value so they can leverage it to advance their careers and get ahead, and to make sure that they are part of the conversation. Because if we’re not part of the conversation, then the future of what’s happening next won’t include us, not the way it should. AI isn’t coming. It’s already here, it’s rewriting the sales playbook, and women in sales need to be part of that conversation, period.
Fred Diamond: Gina, for people who may not know, the Center for Elevating Women in Sales Leadership, main sponsor for the program. Again, sponsorships are available. We’re going to have a lot of great corporations at the event, B2B, B2G sales professionals. Tell us a little bit about the Center for Elevating Women in Sales Leadership.
Gina Stracuzzi: The Center is something we’ve been working on since we started the forum almost eight years ago. It’s really the culmination of everything that we want to do to help women excel. The Center is an overarching umbrella of courses and communities and leadership opportunities, all meant to bring more women into sales, bring more women of color into sales, and make sure that we get every opportunity there is, and that we are leading the charge. It’s really meant to be this organizational opportunity to be involved at every level.
Fred Diamond: At the Leadership Elevation Conference, what types of companies will be there? A lot of times when people come to a conference, they also want to network and meet people that they can do business with. Is that going to be something that’s going to be a big part of this as well?
Gina Stracuzzi: Absolutely. One of the beauties of the Center and IEPS overall is the kinds of people that are in the room. These are all the big tech giants, AWS, Oracle, Intel. We’ll have people from Splunk and Okta and you name it, Cisco, huge names, Salesforce. In addition, we will have Hilton and Cvent and marketing companies and just, you name it, they will be in the room. It’s the opportunity to network, to grow your network, but also just align with other women and allies that can really bring this AI opportunity to life, is going to be exceptional.
Fred Diamond: Zeev, one thing that Gina alluded to that we talk a lot about on the AI for Selling Effectiveness Podcast is that this is the Wild West, as you describe it. Gina made a great point that we’re all coming at this at the same time. One of the themes that we hit on every other week with the AI for Selling Effectiveness Podcast is that people are all over the place, and corporations, organizations are trying to get their arms around this from a governance perspective.
Zeev Wexler: Absolutely. Before that, first of all, Gina, what you guys do is amazing. The comradery, the level of women, it’s amazing. It’s not just networking. You guys help each other. I’ve seen you grow, and it’s incredible and amazing the level of ladies that come and the way you guys help each other. Then something that we found out, Fred, and we’ve shared it together, is women, especially women with experience, are the best users of AI. We got to encourage them to come in and learn and actually share their wisdom, because they know how to use AI even better than some of us men. Men have a lot more confidence, but you guys have a way to contextualize and give so much more, and it’s so useful for AI. I’m so excited for this event, and I’m so excited to bring in some more guidance and bring in some more structure to how to use AI. Women are so greatly equipped to use AI, even more than us.
Gina Stracuzzi: Yeah, that is so true. It really aligns with why women are so great at sales overall. They’re good at listening and then thinking, and then helping people make those connections, tie all the things together and then help everyone out in the room. I love that you said that, and that research backs it up.
Fred Diamond: Gina, before we talk to Zeev about the October 10th event, what is your message to people listening to today’s podcast, the AI for Selling Effectiveness Podcast? What do you want to tell them so that they’ll definitely put October 9th on their calendar?
Gina Stracuzzi: We are going to be covering everything from the new sales landscape using AI and how women can, should, and are already being part of that, so that you know if you’re doing everything you can. We’ll be talking about the career opportunities that are coming up. We’re going to be talking about what it means to be at the strategy table for selling for your sales organization, and why it’s so critical that you are at that table. We’ll be talking about policy and ethics, and why we have to use our voices when it comes to this, because to Zeev’s point, we’re all still feeding AI. We are helping it to learn. If our voices aren’t part of that, it’s not going to learn our point of view. Those point of views are critical to the sales organization’s success. That’s been proven many times over. If you don’t have women involved, you are leaving money on the table. That’s going to be even more true with AI. It’s how to have your voice in this, how to feel brave, how to feel convicted, and how to be part of it.
Fred Diamond: It’s going to be exciting, October 9th. It’s in Tysons Corner, Virginia. It’s going to be a full-day event. Just before we get on, Zeev, you also have a very special keynote as well.
Zeev Wexler: I do. I’m really excited about it. The sales game is changing with AI, but sometimes not for the better. Fred, you and I had so many conversations about that. Sometimes we become mediocre by using AI wrong. That’s something that we’re going to teach people how not to do. This is something that excites me, and I’m going to invite everybody that comes to your incredible event on the 9th, which I can’t wait to see. There are rules to using AI, and sometimes if you use it wrong, you are just becoming noise. We’re going to teach professionals how to not become noise, how to not become mediocre, how to use AI to increase their sales, increase their closing, B2B, B2G, how to use AI the right way. Because like a lot of us see, sometimes, or a lot of times, salespeople don’t use AI correctly. That’s what we’re going to teach them. We have a great program. We’re going to teach them the steps, how to do it, what to use in order to use AI and make their own voice amplified, and not some AI voice that just is noise.
Fred Diamond: On October 10th, it’s the Selling Essentials Workshop from the Institute for Effective Professional Selling, Nine Rules for AI Selling Effectiveness. It’s going to be hybrid. If you’re around the globe, you can participate via the program on Zoom. If you are in the East Coast of the United States, you can come to Reston, Virginia, the Carahsoft Conference and Collaboration Center. We’re going to be opening the doors at 8:00 for a light breakfast. Then for an hour and a half, from 8:30 to 10:00, we’re going to be talking about these. Zeev, give us one of the nine rules that you’re going to be talking about.
Zeev Wexler: One important rule is there’s a lot of systems out there, and many of us tend to just use one, let’s call the elephant in the room, ChatGPT. As good as ChatGPT is, all of the ChatGPT prompts and what comes out of them sound the same. What we’ll be teaching you is how to use different models, how to use ChatGPT maybe to start with, but then going into some different models to really differentiate your own voice, to make sure that you sound the way you should be and not how everybody else sound when they use ChatGPT. That’s one of the nine rules, but we’re going to dive deeper and we’re going to really teach you how to prompt, what you need to do, how you need to make sure that what you’re putting out there is not what everybody else is putting out there.
Fred Diamond: For both programs, on October 9th, the Women in Sales Leadership Elevation Conference, and the Selling Essentials Workshop on October 10th, it’s for B2B and B2G selling professionals. The other people who would also get a lot of benefit are people who are responsible for setting some of the governance. One of the things we keep talking about is at the rep level, at the AE, at the sales manager level, a lot of tool use is happening. Like you just said, Zeev, could be good, could be bad, whatever, but a lot of things people are learning. They’ve learned how to use certain tools for writing emails, for doing research, for messaging, whatever it might be. But one of the big challenges is how does your corporation, how does your organization get their arms around this?
Gina, before we wrap up on today’s AI for Selling Effectiveness Podcast, I mentioned briefly, we have a great keynote as well on October 9th, Dr. Margie Warrell. Talk a little bit about what she’s going to be talking about and why we’re so excited to have her.
Gina Stracuzzi: Margie is just a phenomenal speaker, and she has a book, which is a lot of what she talks about, The Courage Gap. The reason she is such a phenomenal speaker to kick off the day, is with all the insights and knowledge that women bring to the table, it can still be hard to speak up, to take a stand, to make suggestions, especially if when you do it’s not met with the best reaction, or maybe it’s not met with any reaction at all, and that holds people back. That really holds women back.
Margie’s book is The Courage Gap, and it’s really about what happens when women shy away from using their voice, because courage isn’t about defeating dragons or something. It’s really about using your voice, feeling confident, and taking that chance. That’s why that piece is going to be so important in the AI revolution, that you are courageous and that you feel empowered to use AI in ways that you hadn’t maybe thought of. I would say come to the conference and then stick around for Zeev’s presentation on the 10th, because the two are so closely tied together. Knowledge is power, as always.
Fred Diamond: Once again, if you’re local to the DMV, the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, you definitely want to attend both. If you’re looking for something to do for a couple days, come to Northern Virginia to attend the Leadership Elevation Conference on October 9th in Tysons Corner, and Zeev Wexler, the Selling Essentials Workshop in Reston, Virginia on the 10th. Zeev, any final thoughts you want to share before we ask Gina for her final thoughts?
Zeev Wexler: I cannot wait to come on the 9th and listen to Margie. I think The Courage Gap is so important. So many women in our lives are so brilliant, yet us men, we just got the confidence to shout it out. I love that. I cannot wait. I cannot wait to see everybody at the event. Then please stick around because there’s so much to learn with AI. With AI, it’s education, education, education. Fred, you and I both know this, even guys that are used to knowing everything, and our leaders, they don’t want to get into something new. AI is not going anywhere, ladies and gentlemen. AI is here to stay and to completely disrupt what we’re doing. Come and learn with us. Come be in a room full of people that are really good at what they do, but are learning how to use AI better in order to sell. I cannot wait, and Gina, I cannot wait to see your event.
Fred Diamond: Gina, any final thoughts? Give us a final encouragement.
Gina Stracuzzi: One other thing we’re going to be doing at the conference is we’re going to have a lot of frontline stories, and these will be panels and workshop-type things, discussions led by women who are already breaking the barriers with AI and really leading the way. Those will be really great conversations, but the biggest thing I want you to know is we’re going to have fun. We are going to have a lot of fun with this new tool we’re all going to be using, and we’re going to have fun figuring out how to put it to work for us.
Fred Diamond: Both days are going to be great, October 9th, October 10th. Go to theieps.com and you’ll see the links to both events to register. It’s going to be a lot of fun. I want to thank Zeev Wexler for being on today’s AI for Selling Effectiveness Podcast, and Gina Stracuzzi, the President of the Center for Elevating Women in Sales Leadership. It’s going to be a lot of fun as we approach both of those events. My name is Fred Diamond.
Transcribed by Mariana Badillo