Ep. #41 Joshua Feinberg, CEO of DCSMI | Data Center Go-to-Market Podcast

Episode #41 of the Data Center Go-to-Market Podcast comes from the live stream Data Center Go-to-Market, Sales, and Marketing Q&A 13.

Learn strategies for effective branding and marketing in the data center industry
Navigate changing buyer journeys and gain leverage early in the process
Discover tactics for getting representation and partnerships to grow an optical interconnect solutions business
Achieve product-market fit and go-to-market fit for hyper-converged infrastructure and AI companies
Identify ideal customers, build target account lists, and develop key stakeholder relationships
Understand how to navigate the data center industry as a newcomer
Find data center equipment manufacturers and clients
Generate better leads through content, thought leadership, and trusted advising
Improve content creation and go-to-market strategies by understanding buyer personas

Host:
Joshua Feinberg, CEO
DCSMI

Special Guest:
N/A

Joshua Feinberg emphasizes the importance of building a personal and company brand as a go-to expert in the data center industry. He stresses the need for early engagement, expertise in design and build projects, content creation, and a robust go-to-market strategy to stay competitive. Feinberg also discusses the importance of early representation in the buyer's journey, adapting to changing dynamics in the ecosystem, and establishing trust and credibility with clients. Additionally, he shares insights on how newcomers can navigate the complex data center industry, including understanding different types of operators, recognizing changes in buyer behavior, and adopting a multi-pronged approach to find available manufacturers for representation.

Action Items

Reevaluate positioning and focus on being seen as subject matter experts rather than transactional salespeople. (Optical interconnect solutions company)
Build out ideal client profiles and target account lists, and identify primary and secondary buyer personas. (Hyper-converged infrastructure and AI company)
Understand the different industry segments and who provides what within the data center ecosystem.
Reposition as subject matter experts and thought leaders to get involved early in the buyer's journey.
Educate and build trust with buyer personas to shape evaluation criteria.
Conduct buyer persona research and create a content strategy centered around key goals and challenges. (Broadband fiber and IT services provider)

Outline

Branding and marketing strategies for the data center industry.

Joshua Feinberg discusses branding in the data center industry.

How companies can get representation to grow, with a focus on the changing buyer journey.

Joshua Feinberg discusses representation strategies for various tech companies.
Buyers research and compare options before meeting your sales team; 83% of the journey now happens before vendor contact.

How to get representation for a company in the optical interconnect industry.

Joshua Feinberg emphasizes the importance of getting representation early in the buyer's journey to establish oneself as a trusted advisor and gain leverage.
He questions whether companies are getting representation solely for the first 83% of the journey or missing out on valuable learnings from ideal clients throughout the entire journey.
Joshua Feinberg highlights the importance of early buyer engagement in shaping the criteria for a successful sales strategy.
Feinberg advises businesses to invest in repositioning their team as experts in their space to gain leverage throughout the buyer journey.

Choosing the right sales representation for a tech company.

Joshua Feinberg advises companies on approaching sales and branding in the digital age.
He emphasizes the importance of building a personal and company brand in today's marketplace.
Joshua Feinberg highlights the importance of selecting the right representation for optical interconnect solutions companies, emphasizing the need for a high level of sophistication and expertise in the industry.
Feinberg advises companies to carefully evaluate the quality of representation they receive, ensuring that the rep company's marketing efforts align with their brand and reputation in the marketplace.

Product market fit and go-to-market fit for hyper-converged infrastructure and AI companies.

Joshua Feinberg discusses product market fit and go-to-market fit for hyper-converged infrastructure and AI companies.
He emphasizes the importance of understanding ideal client profiles, unit economics, and sales costs to achieve product-market fit and go-to-market fit.

Identifying ideal customers and building relationships with key stakeholders.

Joshua Feinberg discusses understanding client value and building an ideal client profile.
Identifying the right customers and building a target account list is crucial for growth.
Joshua Feinberg identifies two most important stakeholders to build relationships with based on research and select educated speculation.
He prioritizes primary Buyer Persona and builds a calendar for creating content, thought leadership events to educate and build trust at scale.

Navigating the data center industry for newcomers.

Joshua Feinberg emphasizes the importance of understanding Buyer Personas and their behavior to personalize content and earn a virtual seat at the table.
He advises companies to show up in 50-75% of the 28 touch points in the buyer's journey to establish themselves as experts and earn trust.
Joshua Feinberg navigated the data center industry as a newcomer by providing training on growing a trusted technology advisor business.
Feinberg saw MSPs moving in 3 directions: ERP, custom software development, or colocation.

Navigating the data center industry as a newcomer.

The data center industry consists of various operators, tech companies, and construction firms.
Joshua Feinberg provides insights on navigating the data center industry as a newcomer.
Expert predictions suggest massive investment in data centers, with a 100-fold increase in demand over the next decade.
Datacenter equipment manufacturers can be found through a multi-pronged approach, including self-service research and sales development.

Adapting to buyer preferences in tech sales.

Joshua Feinberg advises manufacturers' reps to reposition themselves as trusted advisors, educators, and thought leaders.
Feinberg suggests prioritizing buyer personas, documenting their goals and challenges, and building relationships with key stakeholders.

Finding data center equipment manufacturers and clients.

Joshua Feinberg: Manufacturer reps must provide extreme value to change the dynamics of interactions.
Feinberg: Content, thought leadership, and events help demonstrate value and stay in front of buyers.
Joshua Feinberg advises on finding data center equipment manufacturers and clients.
He recommends reevaluating positioning and investing in expertise for growth.

Generating better leads for data center design and build companies.

The speaker discusses how companies can generate better leads by repositioning their business developers as consultants and advisors.
The speaker emphasizes the importance of providing unique insight and expertise in the early stages of the buyer's journey.
Joshua Feinberg emphasizes the importance of early and frequent engagement with potential clients to shape their design and build options in the data center industry.
By investing in content experiences such as ebooks, blogs, webinars, and events, companies can establish themselves as trusted advisors and increase their chances of being selected for large design and build projects.
Joshua Feinberg emphasizes the importance of understanding lead and sales opportunities.
He stresses the need for companies to use their expertise and institutional knowledge to educate and build trust with buyer personas.

Improving content creation and strategy for broadband fiber and IT services companies.

Identify if clients buy all three categories of products/services to create a single ideal client profile.
Identify primary and secondary Buyer Personas through research and internal input.
Joshua Feinberg emphasizes the importance of understanding guests' goals and challenges to create an effective content strategy.
He suggests using webinars and offline events as the pillars of content strategy and repurposing content for other marketing channels.

Improving content creation and go-to-market strategy for data center companies.

Joshua Feinberg emphasizes the importance of educating and building trust with buyers at scale.
He stresses the need for sales professionals to be seen as teachers, trusted advisors, and subject matter experts.
Joshua Feinberg recommends improving content creation and go-to-market strategy for a company offering broadband fiber and IT services.

Guest Resources

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