SPEAKER_00 0:21

Hey everybody, welcome to yet another episode of Your Intention Matters the Podcast. Thank you very much for being here today. My name, of course, is Paul Madot. Today we have Jamie Dosher. He is go-to-market lead at ETO coming to us from the mile high. Jamie, how are things, man?

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Terrific, Paul. Terrific. Thanks for having me on today.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

You got it, man. Listen, how about uh how about those Nuggets in Avalanche? Are they going to do this year? They're making a good run.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Uh Paul originally from uh western New York State. So I am a diehard Bill Sabres guy. Did Sabres play tonight? So I'll be cheering for them.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

So well, as you know, I'm in Toronto, so I I really have no love for either team, quite frankly. But if I have to choose between the Sabres or the Canadians and the Haves, it's definitely the Sabres. Right. I don't want Montreal to win anything, so go Sabres all day, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:13

I I've similar to being in Denver where they've won a lot of championships. I think the Canadians have won like 23 Stanley Cups. Just one is the Mantra at Buffalo.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Just one is the Leafs fan as well. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Well, Jamie, thanks for being here. Say hi to everybody. Provide a real quick introduction.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

So I'm Jamie Dosher. Um, I've spent um over 27 years in enablement across multiple business verticals. My longest tenure, I was at STARS, the now app channel for uh 17-year um tenure. Um my wife and I actually will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary on May 12th. So we're pretty excited about that.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Congratulations.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Um, and as you mentioned, um, I'm a monster member of the Bills Mafia. And the one thing I highlight is during that 17 years at STARS, we worked with our distribution partners. And when I use that term, that's DirecTV, Comcast, Dish Network. Back then, they actually owned the relationship with the customer. So I led all of the enablement negotiations with those distribution partners to get our enablement strategy launched. It was an amazing experience. I had a lot of fun doing it.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Gotcha. Well, again, thanks so much for being here. I look forward to talking about mindset with you. Perfect. Perfect. Okay, good. So, you know, Jimmy, as we were talking before I hit record, you know, from my perspective, when it comes to mindset and sales, it's critical because an organization can provide their sales force with every tool and the toolkit to go dominate product training and systems training and and compare competitive intel and a CRM. And they can give them, you know, product training and skill set training. They can give them inbound leads as well. But that said, if they're not wired ready to go, in my opinion, they're not likely to get the results they want. I'd love your thoughts on that as well.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Yeah, completely aligned with it. I I've seen mindset as the most important influence on sustained success success for an individual or for a company. Because it shapes your behaviors, your actions, your approach. Um, so it's one of those things that's absolutely critical because applying using the CRM and the skills and all that doesn't matter if you don't have that mindset up front.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

Well, really well said. I couldn't agree more. You know, Jimmy, as you were talking about when you were saying hello to everybody, that you you're from Buffalo, Western New York. I had a chance to take a look. It looks like you took marketing in college. And so, you know, depending on who you talk to, marketing and sales are kind of like cousins with each other. But how did you actually get into sales?

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Um, I would never have told you back in college that I would have spent 27 years in it. I don't even think the term existed back then. Um, but what I love where I find passion is again that mindset for the sales team providing them the tools to be successful. And often it's bridging a divide, a gap, and most of that sometimes is based on mindset between a sales marketing and operations organization. So being able to get alignment across those functional groups is amazing when you can get that that ball in the end zone. Um, and a lot of fun. And that that's what's probably driven me to do it for so long.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Gotcha. And so, what was your first professional sales job? You remember?

SPEAKER_01 4:49

So I ran enablement. Again, I don't even we didn't call it that, um, at a company based in in then Buffalo called Client Logic, where we had um customer service inbound sales uh cues. Um, so we were to build the curriculum and training and all that stuff for the sales and customer support teams.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Gotcha. You know, it's funny when you when you talk about enablement, I'm a little bit biased here, but given what I do for a living, but uh enablement's kind of under siege right now a little bit. Organizations are making some changes, AI is coming into the fray, and that's causing companies to rethink their hiring strategy and their go-to-market strategy, and so on. And so, what are you seeing on the on the on the enablement side as it relates to what's happening today, current state?

SPEAKER_01 5:41

I think this ties to mindset because mine is like this AI thing is just exploded, and pretty quickly, how can enablement work to embrace it and figure out functionally how to embed it and simplify the sales process? And then be able to go to company leadership and say, hey, here's a what here's a tactic, a strategy that we can use to apply this AI functionality that's gonna help enablement drive more production. So I think in that case, you're you're you're controlling the narrative and you're not looking at at as necessarily a threat, but you're working to embrace it.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Gotcha. Jimmy, you mentioned that you're uh from Buffalo, you were with an organization for 15 plus years. What was the name of it again?

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Starz.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Starz?

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Yeah, it's the premium channel now app on your phone.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

Gotcha. So here's my question for you. You know, you spent 15, almost 20 years there. I'm sure different different roles over those years, of course, I'm sure. But uh I would say for some listening and watching this podcast, that is a foreign thought for them. How could somebody stay with a company for 10, 15, 20 years? It seems to be today there are companies that are so there are salespeople that will work for a company for 18 months, leave on their own, or the company leaves them, or vice versa, two years, three years. There doesn't seem to be um as much commitment to both sides as there was back in the day. And I'm curious about your decision to move on at the time. Was that an easy one for you?

SPEAKER_01 7:19

No, so STARS was well, and and real quick, my dad uh was a union guy. He worked for the power company back home from the day he turned 18 to the day he retired. So he even sees any of the moves I've made is not staying with one company's room here.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

It's all it's all relative, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:38

It's all relative, it's all relative. So STARS is headquartered in Denver, and um the company got sold to Lionsgate. So the sales functions moved out of Denver, and I just my wife and I didn't want to relocate, so that's why I left STARS. Um, we wanted our daughter to be able to finish her school through high school journey here. Um, so that's that's that's why I left SARS.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

But it was an amazing experience. And the reason I think in reflection, Paul, that I was there so long, the customer that we supported kept changing. So when you think about when I started there, um the distributors had just launched high-speed internet. That was new.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

I remember that, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

And when you think about the world today, it's just shifted and changed. Where you're on a device, you're on a phone, you're on a i uh an iPad, and you're not watching it in the traditional format that it was always there. So we constantly had a shift and pivot and change based on that dynamic with our customers. And since I'm no longer there, our distribution partners were pretty entrenched. So getting them to change and adopt to new ways to do things was challenging and really fun. I enjoyed every minute of it.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

You know, Jamie, we talk about sales and sales training in Enablement. You know, my background, uh really where I gained my pedigree my pedigree and my background, my foundation for selling was at Xerox. And I was in uh sales across the board, sales rep, product specialist, sales manager, sales trainer, and so on. And while I spent the majority of my life in the Toronto area, there was a time where I actually moved to Western Canada for a couple of years, and that was actually a pretty big decision for me. You know, at the time, I was in my mid-30s, uh single, like no commitments, no kids, no dog, no real anything. But that was a long process for me to pick up and just move myself across the country. And I'm curious about your decision to leave Buffalo for Denver. I imagine that was not overnight either.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

It was pretty quick. Um, so Starz had an office in Buffalo. Um, we used to have there was a former cable company called Adelphia.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

Yeah, I remember them, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

And the Regases and all that kind of stuff. So they were headquartered in Cowdersport, which is in rural Pennsylvania. So Buffalo was the closest metro area to there, so that's why there was an office there. So when the Adelphia thing exploded, um STARS recruited me to come out to Denver to take that enablement strategy that we launched with that distributor across the company. So that's why I ended up coming out to Denver.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

Gotcha, gotcha. And you've been with ETO now for how long? Since February. Okay. And so ETO, we were talking a little bit about the company, they're a bit of a startup at this point, correct?

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

So, what was behind your decision from a mindset perspective to join a startup after all these years?

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Build from scratch, baby, and be able to influence something from the ground up. Um, and I keep saying to the team I'm working with now, a year from now, we're gonna have a glass of wine, bottle, whatever your cocktail is, and we're gonna look back and say, we did that. Um, because there's definite pressures as being a startup, and you're doing a lot of different roles. But unlike what what I had fun doing at STARS was changing the model, here I'm able to create the model, and I find that very intoxicating.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

You know, I can appreciate your your thought process on uh uh from a guy who who left a major corporation like Xerxes out of my own business as well. I kind of like the idea of betting on myself, being a part of something from the ground up and seeing what I could create. I always felt, you know, myself, and you might feel the same way about yourself, and that is I had a pretty strong resume. I always thought, well, if it failed for whatever reason 15 years ago, I'd get a job somewhere else if I if I needed to, of course. And it didn't, but sounds like we're on the same, you know, glide path in terms mentally regarding what you wanted to be a part of.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Yeah, I think uh one of the expressions I use is life is just too short. Um, and that's probably not a perspective I had when I was 21, but I do now. And if you're not doing what you love in a way in an environment that's conducive to who you are, your DNA, what are you doing? So culture fit and the opportunity is really what drives my mindset today.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

You know, Jimmy, as you think about your your career and your life to this point, uh either in Buffalo or in Denver, a combination of both. So can you if you think about a time, is there one that pops out when you think about that requires you to kind of dig in mentally to kind of figure something out either professionally or personally? Anything come to mind?

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Yeah, I think the the one, and maybe it's even the highlight of my career, and this is when I was at STARS. So I mentioned our um distribution partners are pretty entrenched. So STARS was sold at that premium category level. Yeah, so there were SARS, HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, and we were kind of the cherry on top of the Sunday. So the customer had to buy through a lot of levels of service just to get to the chance to buy us. And again, it was an entrenched model. Um so when we analyzed the data, we did a pretty hard drive because we did not own the sales data, the distributors owned it um and they didn't provide it. So that was challenging. I was able to negotiate getting access from I think three or four of my uh contacts to get that day-to-day sales data. It was the first time we had visibility to that. What it showed us as we analyzed it, literally one of my contacts, Paul, was giving me spreadsheets like you didn't get this for me. But what it showed is I think 83% of star subscribers also subscribed to HBO. So we weren't competitors to the level of thought that most people thought we were, because most customers bought us as a bundle.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

Of course.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

The reason I give that perspective is it was season two of Game of Thrones, huge window, it was in April. I went and negotiated with our distribution partners to do what we called an overlay to that Game of Thrones window, where stars would get added to that HBO sale. Which, as I just mentioned, Paul, was happening in like 83% of the time anyway. So as I was pitching this and negotiating this based on that analysis, there was a lot of resistance. And uh one of my distribution partners actually said I was trying to hijack was his word, HBO's window. But the data and the customer sell through did not support that narrative. So I'm gonna simplify the negotiation incredibly. We're able to lock in that window and get stars um uh bundled on top of that HBO sale, uh, and then my team had to go out and train and show everybody how to position it. Yeah, Paula was one of stars best performing windows ever because of all of that volume that was coming into the sales channels, because Game of Thrones was generating that interest. And in fact, one of the questions I asked my counterparts in negotiation is how much is spending to market Game of Thrones? How much is HBO spending? It was millions of dollars. And the goal of that spend that we got to was I called it the Walmart example. You're getting the customer to call in, visit the store. How do we add more product to it?

SPEAKER_00 15:58

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

So I think that's one where that approach, that analysis, um really had measurable sus sustained success. And I hope it didn't drag on too long, but I'm really fired up about that story.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

Not at all. Uh uh, you have me curious about, you know, you really simplified the like the actual negotiation part of it, but from start to finish, how long did that how long did that was that actually taking? How long did that take?

SPEAKER_01 16:26

It probably took us like, I don't know, two to three months from start to from my from actually probably longer because we had we took some time to do that analysis. But when I first reached out to our distribution partners, it's probably like two months from start to close because there's a lot of approvals that had to get done.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

So gotcha. Well, congrats on the result.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

Oh, so much fun, Paul.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Yeah, you know, Jamie, I'm having fun talking to you as uh as I've been talking about your journey so far. And you I talked about my journey at Xerox and now doing what I'm doing for a living as well. I've been in sales for over 25 years now. I can't believe I'm actually saying that because you know it's such a cliche, but time does fly. And as a result of you know what I do and who I've worked with, I've had a chance to work with and get to know some amazing people, and therefore I've been given some really good advice over the years. And I'm curious about something as we're kind of you know, kind of think about closing up the podcast episode right now. If you think about your your career over the years, is there a best practice or a thought or an approach that has served you well over the years? Anything come to mind?

SPEAKER_01 17:37

I think foundationally, Paul, it's always start with your customer, always and in always. And that can be a throwaway line and looks nice in a placard, but you really got to be able to do that. And one of the things, specifically from an enablement standpoint that I've asked, and this is legit. If this was my company, if this is Dosher Incorporated, would I do it this way? And if and and if I say yes, great, let's move forward. And if I say no, let's explore that more and see if there's a way to change or go a different route. I always encourage people to pursue feedback from multiple stakeholders. I will share with you, Paul, some of the most impactful feedback I've gotten through out my career. It's not been from a supervisor or manager, it's been from a direct report of mine. Because their mindset, their their lens is a little bit different. So start with the customer always, and in always. If this is your company, would you do it that way? And get feedback from multiple stakeholders and be resilient about that.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

I love it. Think like the employer, not the employee.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Exactly right.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

Got it. Jamie Dosher, nice to meet you, man. Thanks so much for being here.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

Thank you, Paul. This is amazing. I really appreciate the opportunity. It's nice to meet with you and chat about uh these successes. So thank you.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

It was my pleasure. Thanks so much for being here, everybody. We're gonna wrap it up right now. Remember, as I always say, your intention matters. Why? Because that's the result you'll tend to get. We're out of here. We'll do it again next week, and I'll see you in the next episode.