Ep. #95 Joshua Feinberg, CEO of DCSMI | Data Center Go-to-Market Podcast

Episode #95 of the Data Center Go-to-Market Podcast features Joshua Feinberg, CEO at DCSMI.

Discover how to identify and target ideal clients in the data center ecosystem.
Learn to create effective buyer personas for sales and marketing success.
Understand the importance of educational content in modern buyer journeys.
Explore strategies for improving brand recognition and lead generation.
Master techniques for building trust with prospects through value-driven outreach.
Gain insights into developing new sales channels for data center products.
Find out how to adapt sales and marketing playbooks to today’s digital-first world.
Align sales, marketing, and executive teams for strategic growth.
Position your team as trusted advisors and thought leaders.
Improve mission-critical data center sales outreach.

Host:

Joshua Feinberg, CEO
DCSMI

Joshua Feinberg discusses the importance of understanding the buyer's journey in sales, emphasizing the need for sales teams to evolve from traditional pitching to becoming consultants and trusted advisors. He highlights six key sales and marketing challenges, including finding new wholesale data center leads, creating structured cabling content, and improving industrial construction sales. Joshua stresses the significance of buyer personas, the impact of digital transformation on the buyer's journey, and the necessity of educational content and events to maintain relevance and trust. He also touches on the importance of channel partnerships and the need for sales teams to adapt to modern buyer behavior.

Action Items

Define the ideal geographic region, company size, and industry for wholesale data center leads.
Identify the key stakeholders with whom to build relationships for wholesale data center sales.
Determine the buyer personas and their goals/challenges for structured cabling content.
Evaluate where the data center critical facilities company has been most successful historically.
Establish a separate ideal partner profile and buyer personas for a data center racks and accessories channel program.
Understand where the design, build, and management company has had the most success in the data center ecosystem.

Outline

Understanding the Sales Journey and Proactive Engagement

Joshua Feinberg emphasizes the importance of understanding the typical journey of stakeholders in data center companies.
He advises sales teams to focus on their prospects' goals, challenges, and stressors to become trusted advisors.
Proactive engagement as a teacher and consultant can increase the surface area of the buyer's journey.
Joshua introduces the Data Center Go-to-Market Sales and Marketing Q&A Live Stream, aimed at addressing sales and marketing challenges across various roles in the data center ecosystem.

Agenda and Introduction to Sales and Marketing Challenges

The agenda includes tackling six significant sales and marketing challenges, such as finding new wholesale data center leads and improving brand recognition.
The discussion will cover creating informative structured cabling content, increasing industrial construction sales, and improving mission-critical data center sales outreach.
Joshua encourages listeners to subscribe to the Data Center Sales and Marketing Newsletter for updates on educational events and resources.
The first question addresses how to find new wholesale data center leads and improve brand recognition.

Identifying Ideal Clients and Lead Generation

Wholesale data center leads often involve large spaces sold to data center operators or hyperscale clients.
Companies should identify their ideal clients based on case studies, logos, and client testimonials.
Defining geographic, company size, and industry preferences helps narrow down ideal clients.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator and LinkedIn Campaign Manager are useful tools for targeting leads based on employee headcount and industry.

Understanding Buyer Personas and Stakeholder Relationships

Identifying primary and secondary buyer personas is crucial for effective lead generation and brand recognition.
Research should be conducted to understand the goals, challenges, and stressors of these personas.
The importance of building relationships with key stakeholders, such as CIOs, CFOs, and CEOs, is highlighted.
Buyer personas should be based on actual research and select educated speculation.

Adapting to the Modern Buyer's Journey

The buyer's journey has significantly changed, with 83% of it now happening before vendor contact.
Sales teams need to adapt to this reality by becoming teachers, consultants, and trusted advisors.
The role of educational content and events is emphasized in earning back the attention of prospects.
Companies should prioritize making their brand the definitive go-to experts in their niche.

Creating Informative Structured Cabling Content

Structured cabling content should be relevant to the target buyer, typically data center managers, telecommunications managers, or CTOs.
Research should be conducted to understand the goals, challenges, and stressors of these personas.
The content strategy should include blogs, podcasts, videos, email newsletters, and educational events.
The goal is to educate and build trust with the primary and secondary buyer personas.

Improving Industrial Construction Sales

Data center critical facilities companies should identify their ideal clients and stakeholders.
The importance of understanding the company size, geographic location, and industry is emphasized.
Sales teams should position themselves as consultants and teachers to add value early in the buyer's journey.
Educational content and events should be used to build trust and educate prospects.

Responding to High Data Center Demand

Electrical and mechanical engineering firms should focus on their existing talent and recruiting capabilities.
The importance of repositioning sales teams as consultants and teachers is highlighted.
Educational resources and events should be used to add value and build trust with prospects.
The goal is to be seen as the definitive experts in the data center engineering space.

Developing New Sales Channels for Data Center Racks and Accessories

Companies should differentiate themselves from commodity providers by focusing on network infrastructure expertise.
Research should be conducted to identify ideal clients, stakeholders, and watering holes.
Channel partner programs should be developed to support indirect sales channels.
The importance of regular support and enablement for channel partners is emphasized.

Improving Mission-Critical Data Center Sales Outreach

Design, build, and management companies should focus on their historical success and ideal client profiles.
The importance of understanding the self-driven buyer's journey is highlighted.
Sales teams should position themselves as consultants and teachers to add value early in the buyer's journey.
Educational content and events should be used to build trust and educate prospects.

Resources

Do you want to stay up to date about upcoming episodes?

Subscribe to the Data Center Sales and Marketing Newsletter

Data Center Go-to-Market Podcast, Data Center Go-to-Market, Sales, and Marketing Q&A