Paul M. Caffrey (00:00.972)
I'm delighted to be joined by Guy Rubin, the founder of EBSDA and CEO. Guy, how's it going? How are
Guy Rubin, Ebsta CEO (00:08.184)
I'm very well, thanks for having
Paul M. Caffrey (00:10.086)
I'm delighted you're here and this is a quick fire episode. Let's jump straight into it. What is your number one prospecting tip?
Guy Rubin, Ebsta CEO (00:18.928)
My number one prospecting tip is know who your ICP is and build the right relationships with the right persona within that ICP because relationships drive revenue.
Paul M. Caffrey (00:32.556)
I like it. Relationships drive revenue. That is a great tagline. And moving on to sales. What's your number one sales tip, guy?
Guy Rubin, Ebsta CEO (00:41.808)
Qualify, qualify, qualify. We saw in the latest report that we did that 68 % of opportunities are leaving Discovery without being qualified correctly. And while they might move on to the next stage, they are less likely to close. So get really good at ruthless about your qualification and aim to close off about 30 % of your opportunities at that stage is lost. And then the deals that progress through the sales pipeline will be a whole lot healthier.
Paul M. Caffrey (01:10.274)
There you go. A healthy focus to qualify out of stuff that doesn't match your ICP is absolutely a great way to go. There's a lot of people listening to this who are on that career trajectory looking to get promoted, get to the next step. So what is your number one tip for somebody who is looking to get promoted, guy?
Guy Rubin, Ebsta CEO (01:27.792)
Become useful, you know, be the one that's, you know, I suppose I'm a little bit old school. So I talk, you know, the guys that are in early that, you know, stay on late, that are there to have conversations. The day runs away from us all very quickly. And I've got a team of sales people that perhaps I don't talk to every day, but if they want to find some time with me,
they'll stay late or I end up getting in very early most days as well. So, you know, find an opportunity to add value to the C levels, show them some insights that maybe they haven't seen before, do some analysis, show them that your brain works in different way to other individual contributors, that you can have a strategic conversation with them and try and engage with them out of hours. You know, talk to your boss's boss, you know, early morning or late in the evening.
they'll recognise it because I guarantee they're working late as well. So if they start seeing that you have the same behaviours and your brain works in a much more strategic way, then they're much more likely to think of you when the opportunities arise for promotion.
Paul M. Caffrey (02:38.412)
I really like that. look, let's face it, we all know those leaders who are generally in the office are working a little bit earlier or staying a bit later. So yeah, why not use that to your advantage and set yourself apart? Really, really nice tip there. When it comes to improving your sales skills, what books can be from the sales word or otherwise would you recommend people read?
Guy Rubin, Ebsta CEO (03:01.772)
there's a long list. I suppose crossing the chasm is a good one. just reread recently.
Paul M. Caffrey (03:05.442)
Feel free to just list them all out if you'd like.
Guy Rubin, Ebsta CEO (03:20.08)
trying to, there's, I mean, there's just, there's so many that I'm, you've caught me on the hop. So I'm gonna pause on that. I'll come back to
Paul M. Caffrey (03:30.816)
No problem at all. Let's jump into who is the best player to have ever played for Tottenham. I know you're a big Spurs fan, right?
Guy Rubin, Ebsta CEO (03:41.09)
I am. Well, unfortunately, we've not won very much recently. But we have had some I mean, when I you know, it depends on how far back you want to go. Obviously, we recently lost Harry Kane to Bayern Munich. But before that, you know, we had Gareth Bale and Modric used to play for Spurs as well. but if you want to go back when I was a kid, I was coming up, I suppose Gaza was
Paul Gascon was my
Paul M. Caffrey (04:10.104)
I going to say I was expecting to hear Gaza and the cup and all that stuff. Yeah. I was, I'd say we're a great time to be watching
Guy Rubin, Ebsta CEO (04:14.798)
Yeah, Gary Lineker, suppose, is probably in that list as well. So there's a few. We've had a few good ones.
Paul M. Caffrey (04:22.237)
Who was your favorite?
Guy Rubin, Ebsta CEO (04:25.072)
Probably Gaza, you know, very emotional. Everyone's got a story about him in London. you know, unfortunately, the alcohol kind of took over, but he was definitely a character.
Paul M. Caffrey (04:27.331)
Yeah.
Paul M. Caffrey (04:39.47)
Yeah, well, unbelievable player when people look back and check out some of the stuff. I always think that we see as athletes that even the Olympics is a good example. What is being done now? We just think, well, that couldn't have been done 20 years ago because of advances in equipment, this, that, the other. But obviously, when you look back at footballers, if you take Gazza and you pulled him out and plucked him into the put into today's game, I think he'd still be a superstar today. You he just had so much skill
The work rate was phenomenal, so you would know better than me. I only caught the tail end of his career at the end of Spurs and then whatever. So I vote him. Yeah, super, super player. What is your favorite movie guy? What movie just sticks out? you have to watch
Guy Rubin, Ebsta CEO (05:25.348)
Well, I suppose officially I have to say something like Goodfellas, because these are the classics. But I like junk films. I'm going to appall all your subscribers and say Starship Troopers is probably one of my favorite films.
Paul M. Caffrey (05:43.724)
No way! very good! We're not expecting it.
Guy Rubin, Ebsta CEO (05:46.449)
Anything I can get lost in the fantasy is always good for me. So I don't like anything too serious.
Paul M. Caffrey (05:52.77)
Love that. Yeah. Yeah. Well, there you go. I some of the younger generation may not even know what that is. So something to go and check out. And finally, what's the best concert you've ever been to?
Guy Rubin, Ebsta CEO (06:04.336)
Again, I'd say probably Michael Jackson back in the day. I found out that my wife went to the same concert that I did. We didn't know each other at the time, but I can't quite remember the name of the concert, but at the end of it, strapped on a, I suppose they played that he strapped on a jet pack and kind of jetted out of the stadium. Michael Jackson has now left the building. So I'll always remember that
Paul M. Caffrey (06:15.938)
No way.
Paul M. Caffrey (06:27.479)
Right.
Paul M. Caffrey (06:32.588)
That is a pretty incredible stuff. I guess getting a little bit more back onto the business track when it comes to preparation and your world. What does doing the work before the work look like for you guy?
Guy Rubin, Ebsta CEO (06:48.176)
Data is our friend, right? So understanding the insights from the data is really everything. So we spend a lot of time when we onboard a customer trying to understand what's worked in the past. So for example, you might find that there's a particular champion that if you get a particular persona as your champion, your win rates might be twice as high.
Knowing which personas are, data and insights are really everything. And you can't have the insights without the data, unfortunately. So for me, I always want to understand what good looks like and then use it as a benchmark. If we don't know what direction we're going in, then the chances us getting there are lot lower. yeah, try and understand what good looks like and use that as your guide.
Paul M. Caffrey (07:45.592)
Great. look, I really like the unders. There's lots of ways to know what good looks like, lots of ways to find out what what good looks like. I mean, had Archie Hollandsworth on recently who's founder of Fixer. I actually your colleague Sam is now an advisor to Archie and the team there. So whether it's insights from data, it's getting advisors, it's getting coached, it's getting mentored. So many different ways that you can do it.
I really like at the core, know, taking ownership and actually finding out what good looks like and making that work for you is so, important. People want to find out more about you guys, want to find out more about EBSDA and all the great things you're doing. How can they do
Guy Rubin, Ebsta CEO (08:31.184)
Well, you can reach out to me via LinkedIn. And if you mentioned the podcast, I'll definitely accept the invitation. Always interested in talking about data, insights, sales, you name it. AI and sales is something I'm really passionate about as well. So reach out through LinkedIn. If you are using HubSpot or Salesforce as your CRM, can ask for a free trial at ebster .com. You can also download the 2024 B2B benchmark reports, which we did with Pavilion.
for free at ebster .com as well. And there's a whole host of insights in there that hopefully people find
Paul M. Caffrey (09:08.728)
Great, well, thanks so much, Guy. Check out that report, guys. It's absolutely golden. Look forward to the next time we speak.
Guy Rubin, Ebsta CEO (09:16.186)
Very good.
