Close Call: Real-world sales strategies for startups and SMBs

CLOSE.IO WOMEN IN SALES INTERVIEW SERIES blog.close.io/topic/women-in-sales

Host: Rebecca Luo, account executive at Close.io [email protected], @rebeccatluo

Emily Breuninger (https://digitallynomadicemily.com/) is the Partnerships Manager at Zapier (https://zapier.com/).

Episode highlights:

> Zapier's fully-remote company structure and the serendipity that brought her career there

> The moment she realized her dream of working and living abroad

> What type of person thrives in a digitally nomadic life?

> Two places that Emily will cherish for the rest of her life

> Minimalism: Food for thought and a few parting words

CLOSE.IO WOMEN IN SALES INTERVIEW SERIES blog.close.io/topic/women-in-sales

Host: Rebecca Luo, account executive at Close.io [email protected], @rebeccatluo

Melissa Rosenthal (https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissarosenthal5/) is the Executive Vice President at Cheddar Inc. (https://cheddar.com/).

Melissa was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 and Business Insider’s 30 Most Creative People Under 30. In 2010, Melissa joined Buzzfeed, where she became a key contributor to the early success of BuzzFeed’s branded content advertising model, and created the site’s first ads. She went on to become BuzzFeed’s Vice President of Creative Services where she led and grew her direct team to 100 creatives, working with Fortune 500 brands to create compelling, engaging, and social branded content.

We discuss her iconic career moments, working with Jon Steinberg (Cheddar CEO, Former Buzzfeed President & COO), and reinventing how sales teams work in the creative industry. Bonus discussion: what it was like for her to meet Terry Crews!

CLOSE.IO WOMEN IN SALES INTERVIEW SERIES blog.close.io/topic/women-in-sales

Host: Rebecca Luo, account executive at Close.io [email protected], @rebeccatluo

Julianne Gsell (https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliannegsell/) is the Director of MidMarket Sales at Databricks (https://databricks.com/).

Julianne was previously a Director of Enterprise Sales at Box, where she started her career as the company’s first SDR in 2009. Julianne studied Applied Science and Nutrition at California Polytechnic State University, where she also competed in NCAA Division 1A Cross Country.

Julianne began her career in newspaper ad sales, learning about solution-selling to business owners, before moving to technical sales at Box.

Over the course of her time at Box, Julianne was promoted five times, having been an integral part of the sales team and in building out the sales process.

In this episode we delve into Julianne's amazing career trajectory. Julianne shares how empathy turns technical conversations into people conversations, and how to give feedback and coaching to sales reps in a way that is unique to their learning style and personality type.

Check out the full blog post here: http://blog.close.io/user-experience-in-sales

Too many sales reps focus shortsightedly on the close. Because that's the moment they earn a commission. But there's a lot that happens leading up to that moment.

Today, I want to share how you can close more deals with less effort by designing a better buying experience.

Too many sales reps focus shortsightedly on the close. Because that's the moment they earn a commission. But there's a lot that happens leading up to that moment.

Today, I want to share how you can close more deals with less effort by designing a better buying experience.

It doesn't matter what part of the sales process you're focused on:

the cold email

the qualification

the sales call

the product demo

the meeting

the close

You can take insights from UX designers, and apply them to your sales approach to unlock massive sales growth. Stop chasing after prospects, and instead make them want to engage with you.

While everyone's trying to scale, automate, and optimize every touchpoint with their prospects, you can win by focusing on the quality of their experience. Zig when everyone's zagging.

More here: http://blog.close.io/user-experience-in-sales

CLOSE.IO WOMEN IN SALES INTERVIEW SERIES blog.close.io/topic/women-in-sales

Host: Rebecca Luo, account executive at Close.io [email protected], @rebeccatluo

Joanna Moshman is the Senior Manager of Business Development at Figure 1(https://www.instagram.com/jomosh/).

Her career today comes from two paths that converged: startups and healthcare. She previously served as the investor services manager at Golden Seeds, an angel investment firm focused on female-led and -founded companies. Prior to that, she assisted and volunteered through the AmeriCorps Volunteer Program at Hudson River Healthcare.

In discussing how she landed her current job, Joanna shares how to overcome the fear of asking when it comes to reaching out to people for introductions.

Joanna works remotely in New York while Figure 1 as a company is predominantly on-premise at the Toronto office headquarters. She shares how Figure 1 became a partially-remote company, how her team uses daily routines, and how she personally structures her time and environment.

CLOSE.IO WOMEN IN SALES INTERVIEW SERIES http://blog.close.io/topic/women-in-sales

Host: Rebecca Luo, account executive at Close.io [email protected], @rebeccatluo

Alicia Cornell is a Sales Manager at Shopify Plus ([email protected]).

Alicia graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa, and shortly after joined McGraw-Hill Ryerson, the Canadian division of McGraw-Hill, an educational publishing house. After a few years selling there, she traded in textbooks for e-commerce software and joined Shopify in 2014, where she was previously a manager for the Shopify Partner Program, and worked on the Enterprise sales team.

Alicia has always been a true student of the sales game, but at one point during her career, as the top salesperson on her team, she took a break from sales. Her heart told her to explore other functions within Shopify, which she did, only to eventually fall back in love with the craft of sales.

CLOSE.IO WOMEN IN SALES INTERVIEW SERIES http://blog.close.io/topic/women-in-sales

Host: Rebecca Luo, account executive at Close.io @rebeccatluo

Kelly Aizicowitz is the Senior Director of Business Development at Figure 1 (https://twitter.com/KellyAizicowitz), (https://www.instagram.com/kelly_aizicowitz/).

Special thanks to Ilya Motamedi, undergraduate student in computer sciences at the University of Toronto, for filming this interview.

Kelly held adviser roles between 2004-2010 with the Government of Ontario, before moving on to various roles in her career which included being at a government relations consultancy in Toronto for four years.

Kelly discusses what she learned about communication and stakeholder management from working in government and consulting. She also shares how her career journey has come full circle from her childhood aspirations to where she is today!

CLOSE.IO WOMEN IN SALES INTERVIEW SERIES http://blog.close.io/topic/women-in-sales

Host: Rebecca Luo, account executive at Close.io @rebeccatluo

Jolijt Tamanaha is the CMO & CFO of Freshprints ([email protected]).

Jolijt founded Farmplicity at 18 years of age while enrolled as a full-time student at Washington University in St. Louis. She created an online marketplace for farmers to sell directly to chefs and got acquired by Sunfarm Food Services in less than a year and a half.

Jolijt is now managing and coaching approximately 40 of 250 of Fresh Prints' on-campus student sales representatives and managers. Jolijt explains how she got the job by content marketing herself like a product - her Medium piece, “'Don’t Take Startup Advice’ and More Startup Advice” (https://medium.com/female-founders/don-t-take-advice-and-more-startup-advice-2723e7a169d3), caught the attention of the right folks and was even mentioned in a tweet by Marc Andreessen!

CLOSE.IO WOMEN IN SALES INTERVIEW SERIES http://blog.close.io/topic/women-in-sales

Host: Rebecca Luo, account executive at Close.io @rebeccatluo

Megan Orth is the Director at Freightview. In 2014, Megan co-led the development of Freightview as a part of a startup project within a company called Freightquote, and by 2015 Freightview was acquired by C.H. Robinson. She is a CPA by designation with a background in Finance and previously held a Manager role at KPMG.

Megan fully embraces the busy yet fun nature of running a startup and having a family of three children. She points out that both business and family are about empathy and listening. Megan talks about not allowing for “death by comparison” when it comes to parenting, sales, and management. She reminds us that sometimes life isn’t about being perfect all the time - sometimes, it’s about surviving the chaos and appreciating those around you.

CLOSE.IO WOMEN IN SALES INTERVIEW SERIES http://blog.close.io/topic/women-in-sales

Host: Rebecca Luo, account executive at Close.io @rebeccatluo

Liz Stephany is our very own Senior Customer Success Manager at Close.io. ([email protected]). She has worked in sales at Oracle and as a sales and account management team lead at Thomson Reuters. She received her JD at the Cecil C. School of Law at the University of Memphis.

We talk about overcoming doubt and disappointment when your career and life doesn’t go according to plan. Liz shares her take on being resilient and calm as someone in her role, which involves having difficult conversations with customers about their concerns and criticism.

Liz tells us about how she’s evolved from a self-proclaimed “yes” person at the start of her career to a highly adaptable, proactive, and respected leader at Close.io. She believes in treating your career like dressing for the job you want to have -- if you do the job you have now as well the job you want to have, you will get it!