Product Development Collaboration | Tim Condon | MSP #280

The Modern Selling Podcast

Hey there, did you know that a CEO and a CRO walk into a podcast and reveal an unexpected secret about driving business outcomes? Their collaboration led to a 12-month transformation that boosted revenue by 150%. Want to know how they did it? Stay tuned for the surprising strategy they used.

If you're feeling the frustration of sales teams not aligning with product development, and your efforts are not driving better business outcomes, then you are not alone!

This is Tim Condon's story:

Tim Condon's foray into the realm of sales and product development collaboration unfolded during his tenure as CRO at Clutch, a prominent B2B services marketplace. Drawing from his extensive background at Home Snap and The Washington Post Company, Tim shares compelling insights into the intricacies of working with product leaders. He delves into the distinctive challenges and victories encountered, offering a captivating narrative that resonates with professionals seeking to elevate revenue generation and streamline product development processes.

Tim's unique storytelling approach and wealth of experiences provide an engaging and relatable perspective, shedding light on the critical importance of fostering seamless collaboration between sales and product teams for achieving unparalleled success in today's competitive landscape.

You want to build a big successful company and you're just taking two different views and lenses on how to get there. But if you sort of think about this as just one big giant sales call, right, like, and build that sales relationship and do it in the right ways where you're trying to help and build something together, that's how you be successful with a product leader. - Tim Condon

Our special guest is Tim Condon

Tim Condon serves as the Chief Revenue Officer at Clutch, where he leverages his extensive experience in marketplace and software businesses to provide valuable insights into sales and product development collaboration. With a proven track record of successful initiatives, Tim brings a wealth of expertise to the table, offering practical perspectives on driving business outcomes and revenue growth through effective collaboration. His strategic approach and deep understanding of the dynamics between sales and product development make him an invaluable guest for this episode's exploration of enhancing collaboration in the modern selling landscape.

As the CRO at Clutch, Tim Condon's extensive experience in both marketplace and software businesses provides a unique vantage point on the collaboration between sales and product development. With a track record of successful initiatives, Tim brings valuable insights into driving business outcomes and revenue growth through effective collaboration. His expertise and innovative approach make him an exceptional guest for this episode's deep dive into the dynamics of sales and product development collaboration.

In this episode, you will be able to:

• Master sales and product development collaboration for enhanced revenue generation.

• Build successful sales strategies to drive business growth and customer satisfaction.

• Harness the power of customer feedback in product design for market-leading innovations.

• Streamline the onboarding process for SaaS products to boost user adoption and satisfaction.

• Leverage marketplace platforms for B2B services to expand reach and increase sales opportunities.

Key Moments: 00:00:00 - Intro 🎬 00:01:16 - Introducing Tim Condon and Clutch 🏢 00:04:21 - Tim’s Passion for Stephen King 📚 00:08:09 - Types of Product Leaders 🎛️ 00:09:49 - Success Stories in Working with Product Counterparts 🏆 00:14:24 - Implementing Variable Technology 💡 00:15:33 - Prioritizing FlyConnect over Variables 🔄 00:17:31 - Business Outcome Over Customer Requests 🎯 00:21:18 - Understanding Product Usage 📊 00:26:01 - Collaboration Between Sales and Product 🤝 00:27:44 - Reducing Product Complexity for Additional Revenue 💸 00:32:52 - Learning from Customer Feedback 🗣️ 00:37:39 - Building a Strong Relationship with Product Leaders 💪 00:39:32 - Connecting with Tim Condon 🔗 00:41:15 - Tim’s Favorite Movie 🎥 00:43:00 - Outro 👋

Timestamped summary of this episode: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Vengreso and FlyMSG Mario Martinez Jr. introduces himself as the CEO and founder of Vengreso, the creators of FlyMSG, a free personal writing assistant and text expander application. 00:01:16 - Introducing Tim Condon and Clutch Tim Condon, CRO at Clutch, shares his background and the services provided by Clutch, a B2B services marketplace with over 350,000 companies across 157 countries. 00:04:21 - Tim's Passion for Stephen King Tim shares his passion for Stephen King and being a hardcore fan of his work, showcasing a personal side that many may not know about him. 00:08:09 - Types of Product Leaders Tim discusses the three types of product leaders he has encountered—those who see revenue as the enemy, those who prioritize revenue, and those who strike a balance between buyer and seller perspectives. 00:09:49 - Success Stories in Working with Product Counterparts Tim shares a success story about collaborating with a product team to automate a process, which resulted in a better product and increased productivity for the sales team. 00:14:24 - Implementing Variable Technology Tim discusses the need to implement variable technology in their fly messages, similar to first name tokens in email marketing. This technology would personalize the messages based on the recipient's name, enhancing customer engagement. 00:15:33 - Prioritizing FlyConnect over Variables Tim evaluates the time and effort required to build variable technology versus flyconnect. He emphasizes the importance of automating the seller's process, reducing time spent on personalization, and prioritizes building fly connect first. 00:17:31 - Business Outcome Over Customer Requests Mario highlights the importance of understanding the business outcome before fulfilling customer requests. He emphasizes the need for sales leaders to question the impact of building a product on the business and suggests tying it to a live deal to justify investment. 00:21:18 - Understanding Product Usage Tim emphasizes the importance of understanding the product team's focus on product usage and the impact of building unused features. He advises sales leaders to align their requests with the product team's goals and commit to a specific value when requesting new products. 00:26:01 - Collaboration Between Sales and Product Tim and Mario discuss the importance of collaboration between sales and product teams. Tim suggests inviting product teammates to client meetings and exposing them to the sales process, fostering mutual understanding and effective communication. 00:27:44 - Reducing Product Complexity for Additional Revenue Tim discusses a product at Clutch that was hastily put together, resulting in a complicated and hard-to-sell offering. By simplifying the product and providing clear guidance, revenue increased from 8% to 20%. 00:32:52 - Learning from Customer Feedback Tim shares his experience with Fly Message and the challenges faced due to lack of customer onboarding. Through customer feedback and research, they optimized the onboarding process, reducing it to five minutes and improving customer retention. 00:37:39 - Building a Strong Relationship with Product Leaders Tim emphasizes the importance of treating the relationship with product leaders as a sales process. Understanding their goals, pain points, and building rapport can lead to successful collaboration and alignment towards common goals. 00:39:32 - Connecting with Tim Condon Mario Martinez Jr. encourages listeners to connect with Tim on LinkedIn and acknowledges the personalized connection request as a good practice. 00:41:15 - Tim's Favorite Movie Tim shares that his all-time favorite movie is "300" for its strategic storyline of using pressure situations to compete effectively. 00:41:33 - Movie Mix-up Tim and Mario discuss a movie, with Tim confusing the lead actor in 300 with Russell Crowe. They try to remember the name of the female character in the movie. 00:41:52 - Lead Actor The conversation shifts to the lead male actor in the movie, with Tim realizing that it wasn't a big name like Russell Crowe. They struggle to recall the actor's name. 00:42:16 - Movie Recommendation Mario recommends the movie "300" to the listeners and encourages them to watch it. He then transitions to a promotional message for the podcast. 00:42:28 - Podcast Promotion Mario asks for a 5-star rating and review for the podcast on iTunes. He also promotes the text expander and personal writing assistant, "flymessage" for increased productivity. 00:43:00 - Conclusion Mario thanks the listeners for tuning in and encourages them to keep selling.

Customer-Centric Product Design Simplifying products based on customer feedback and understanding their pain points can lead to significant revenue growth. Aligning product development with customer needs and behaviors is crucial for driving revenue through customer-centric strategies. Fostering open communication and mutual understanding between sales and product teams can lead to impactful product development that meets both sales team and customer needs.

Revenue Generation Collaboration Working closely with product development to drive revenue requires finding a balance between focusing on revenue and creating products that serve both buyers and sellers. Collaborating with product leaders who understand the importance of revenue generation can lead to successful product development. Aligning productivity with outcomes and focusing on customer needs can result in better business outcomes and successful products.

Winning Sales Strategies Emphasizing the need to understand business outcomes before investing time and resources into product development can lead to strategic decision-making. Tying product development to live deals and leveraging new features in sales negotiations can drive revenue growth. Building credibility and collaboration with product counterparts through understanding their perspective and product workflows can enhance sales strategies.

The resources mentioned in this episode are:

• Connect with Tim Condon on LinkedIn to discuss sales strategies and product development.

• Download FlyMSG for free to save 20 hours or more in a month and increase productivity.

• Reach out to Tim Condon via email at xpcondon to discuss sales and product development strategies.

• Follow Tim Condon on Instagram for business-related updates and insights.