ABOUT THE GUEST - HAMP HAMPTON, CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER AT CADALYS

From Hamp’s LinkedIn Profile:

C-Level Sales Pro, experienced Player/Coach sales manager with extensive experience building new business units, managing pipeline growth and sales processes, skilled at C-suite negotiations and long sales cycle management; scaling current revenue centers to exceed quotas, hiring, training & managing sales teams while also finding new enhanced revenue opportunities. Extensive expertise in business strategy and Go To Market planning for startups and growth stage companies. Advanced knowledge of SalesForce/CRM.

Find Hamp on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamphampton3/


ABOUT THE EPISODE:

One of the first things that struck me about Hamp was the recommendations he has on his LinkedIn profile. Full of high praise from direct reports about his leadership style, his dedication to his craft, and his commitment to those who work with him.

Hamp describes himself as a leader who leads from a set of principles, and he has had fantastic results from this approach. In this episode, Hamp shares many of these principles of excellent sales leadership. I highly recommend this one!

0:20 - What’s the best sales advice that Hamp has ever received - it’s about not asking for the order

1:50 - What’s the worst advice the Hamp has ever received - its about asking questions

5:27 - David offers some context for the conversation

7:06 - Hamp starts laying out some leadership principles that he believes should be “etched in granite” by talking about the importance of never asking someone to do something you are not willing to do yourself and the three components behind that core principle

9:30 - Hamp talks about the importance of listening and cooperative communication as core sales and sales leadership principles

11:59 - Does a lack of adherence to a set of core principles contribute to the short shelf life of some senior sales executives?

16:19 - What has Hamp found that works best when trying to create a solid sales culture

19:30 - How does a sales leader who is having trouble finding their footing take steps in the direction of a more principled and effective approach to leadership

24:00 - Hamp talks about a former direct report and his progression from a “reluctant rep” to a solid, highly effective, and well-rounded sales contributor and leader

29:20 - How to find and reach out to Hamp

ABOUT THE GUEST: ROSS NIBUR, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AT TOAST 

In Ross’ own words: 

I love solving the puzzles of scaling businesses and empowering front-line players to execute their jobs more easily. My idiosyncratic perspective is born from my entrepreneurial journey from prep cook to a sales rep, and now, operations leader at a Forbes Top 10 Cloud Company. My secret technique is the ability to scale the mix of data, process, and technology a modern team has to engage with to execute the core tasks that make up their day-to-day lives of their front line teams while generating the kinds of reporting that power executive leadership. 

*Speaker at Dreamforce and OpsStars 2019 on Revenue Operations and Cross-Functional Alignment 
*Panelist at Dreamforce 2018 on the impact of technology on Sales Leadership 
*2018 Top 10 Sales Development Leads in the World 
*2018 Top 100 Sales Coaches to Watch 

Find Ross on LinkedIn here: 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rossnibur/

 
ABOUT THE EPISODE:  

Ross has been with Toast for four years and has had a fast rise up the org chart as Toast has gone through a very rapid expansion in terms of revenue, headcount, and market share. In this episode, Ross talks about how he has grown from a tactical execution-oriented front line sales manager into a more strategic sales leader - and how others can adopt the kinds of perspectives that will help them succeed in that kind of rise and those kinds of roles as well.  

0:43 - What’s the best sales advice that Ross has ever received? It’s about curiosity  

3:45 - What’s the worst sales advice that Ross has ever received? It’s about lying  

6:45 - Some background from Ross, his current role and company, and the rapid rise of Toast for context  

8:43 - Ross talks about what he looks for in a person who is new to management as a sign that they might be cut out for a more senior sales management role  

11:12 - How does a sales manager grow beyond a tactical orientation and into a more strategic perspective in their work  

13:36 - How do you address the discomfort of growing from a tactical role to a more strategic orientation and more importantly, how do you navigate the path from tactical to more strategic  

17:22 - How following the metrics and/or the processes in your own organization and applying curiosity to how your business works can help you map an organization, understand your business, and excel  

19:51 - How embracing and refining the way that you think about business issues is a critical step in coming to understand your business strategically. Ross brings it home with an analogy about making a hamburger  

21:28 - What is leadership’s role in helping a rising sales manager navigate their transition from current to future roles. Check out how Ross makes a “yes and no” answer work!  

26:40 - Ross talks about the importance of an operations perspective for sales management success. It’s not just about customers and numbers, but how does your organization work and deliver for customers - internal and otherwise  

31:30 - Where to reach and learn more about Ross

ABOUT THE GUEST: ALLISON METCALFE, CRO AT DEMANDBASE 

Allison Metcalfe is the Chief Revenue Officer for Demandbase. In her role, Metcalfe is responsible for leading Demandbase’s revenue operations. 

Metcalfe joins Demandbase after a successful tenure at LiveRamp where she was responsible for building successful business lines and high-performing teams, including LiveRamp TV, the company’s multi-million dollar TV advertising division. Earlier in her career, Metcalfe was a Director of Customer Success at Demandbase. Furthermore, Metcalfe has held customer success roles at Salesforce (Data.com) and Equilar. 

Metcalfe holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Sociology from the University of St. Thomas in St.Paul, Minnesota. 

Find Allison on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonmetcalfe/

Or check out her cat videos on Twitter here"
https://twitter.com/allisonmetcalfe
 

ABOUT THE EPISODE:  
 
Allison steps into this episode fresh into a new role as CRO at Demandbase, a company that is having great success but is looking to take it to the next level. Allison was brought on as CRO to not only engineer massive growth, but growth from an integrated, silo-free organization focused on the customer experience. Her background in Customer Success is unique to a CRO role and could be just the perspective needed to reach these lofty goals. Allison is sharp, intense, and articulate, and in this episode, she elaborates on the philosophies, strategies, and tactics it will take to reach her goals and the goals of Demandbase from this new role.  

0:40 - Allison talks about the pivotal moment that Demandbase is facing and where her new role as CRO, several strategic acquisitions and internal shifts, and the sales organization in general fits into that  

3:55 - Allison talks about how her background in Customer Success impacts her perspective as a CRO, and why it matters - especially in a customer-centric organization 

5:20 - What are some of the points of friction that an organization might experience when moving to a more integrated and silo free approach to customer success and how can they be mitigated? 

7:30 - When a company is transitioning to a more customer-centric organization, how do you deal with the person-by-person issue of “that’s not how we do that here”? 

10:30 - When moving towards a more customer-centric organization, do you need to hire differently and what do you need to look for in contrast with a more traditional sales organization?  

13:58 - Is there something about the philosophy and methodology of sales itself that has to change when transitioning to a more customer-centric organization? 

15:13 - What does Allison hope to be celebrating after a year on the job 

15:55 - What are some of the resources that have helped Allison grow in her career along the way? 

18:45 - How can people find and connect with Allison

ABOUT THE GUEST: DEJUAN BROWN, SR. DIRECTOR, GLOBAL SALES AT SEISMIC 

In his own words... 

“Since I started waiting tables in the ‘90s, I've always had a passion for people and service. That passion has translated, decades later, most naturally into sales. I've had significant success as an individual contributor, and as a sales leader, and still believe that sales is a human contact sport.” 

Find DeJuan on LinkedIn here: 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dejuanbrown/
 
Or on Twitter here: 
https://twitter.com/StratusNow
 

ABOUT THE EPISODE:  

DeJuan took a step in his career that is not something everyone wants to talk about - a step from a VP of Sales role back to an individual contributor, but what makes his story and this episode great is how he articulates the deliberate reasons for doing so, and the core philosophy that drives his sales journey and gives context and meaning to this recent move and all that he has learned along the way.  

1:00 - What is the best sales advice that DeJuan has ever received?  

2:05 - What is some of the worst advice DeJuan has ever received?  

3:54 - If traditional objection handling approaches suck, what’s a better way to handle objections?  

7:30 - David sets up the episode around DeJuan’s unique career path  

8:19 - DeJuan gives some background about his career path to give context for the rest of the conversation  

11:25 - DeJuan talks about how your career is like playing chess - and how the board and the game looks different as you grow as a player  

12:56 - What did DeJuan learn as a sales leader that makes him better now as an individual contributor  

14:55 - How does DeJuan balance the things he loves about sales leadership and the things he loves about being an individual contributor from the IC role  

18:10 - David and DeJuan talk about the discomfort of selling when you don’t have confidence that your company can fully deliver for your customer  

22:35 - What does DeJuan think salespeople can do and/or look for to make sure they find a great customer-focused organization when looking for a new role  

26:15 - DeJuan talks about his sales philosophy in general and how it was influenced by his love of Hip Hop  

29:55 - Where to find DeJuan, learn more about him and enjoy his content (or get his Hip Hop playlist)

ABOUT THE GUEST: STEVEN ANTONACCI, SENIOR TEAM LEAD AT SMITH AND ASSOCIATES 

From Steve’s LinkedIn profile: 

“In my role as Team Lead, I serve the team as mentor, teacher, and sales leader. My goal is to develop and maintain effective, mutually satisfying relationships and to bring my clients to the highest level of fulfillment by providing responsive service and addressing the full spectrum of their supply chain challenges. I do this through needs analysis, process review/improvements and establishing key cost saving programs.” 

Find Steve on LinkedIn here: 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-antonacci-0a733266/
 

ABOUT THE EPISODE:  

Steve is a unique seller because he is 100% focused on a service attitude and because he has a partnership and leadership first perspective that has served him, his clients, and his self-created partner network very well even through the craziness of Covid. In this episode, Steve talks about what it means to walk the walk of a trusted advisor and how to sell from a service perspective. Way more than lip service here - this is the real deal at a very tactical and practical level!  

0:45 - What is the best piece of sales advice that Steve has ever received?  

3:48 - What’s some of the worst sales advice Steve ever heard (it includes spaghetti)  

7:03 - David sets the context for the episode  

8:12 - Steve discuses his background at Smith & Associates to set the context for the conversation  

10:56 - Steve speaks more specifically about Smith & Associates and how they provide value  

13:10 - Steve talks about prospecting in the time of Covid  

17:35 - What are some of the unique challenges Steve is seeing in the marketplace among companies that are doing relatively well in this environment - those who are still selling and buying right now?  

20:45 - How does Steve suggest that sellers overcome the uncertainty that most of us are feeling in the market right now?  

22:35 - Does the way that a person expresses discipline in their free time correlate to the kind of discipline a person needs to succeed in sales and business?  

26:19 - What are some of the resources that have helped Steve to sustain the momentum he demonstrates in his personal and business life?  

28:11 - Where can you find and/or learn more about Steve

ABOUT THE GUEST - KEVIN MULRANE, VP MID-MARKET SALES AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE AT GLOBAL WEB INDEX 

Kevin Mulrane has 15 years of sales experience specializing in building and scaling Saas revenue organizations. Kevin's expertise is with early-stage technology startups scaling from zero to $50+ million in revenue. Kevin is currently the Vice President of Mid-Market Sales Customer Experience at GlobalWebIndex. Kevin has had held key revenue leadership roles at Madison Logic, AOL, and Feedvisor. Outside of building powerhouse sales organizations, Kevin enjoys spending time with his wife, two boys, Crossfit, and eating pizza and drinking wine on Friday nights. 

Find Kevin on LinkedIn here: 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinmulrane/ 
 
Find Kevin’s Podcast “Addicted to Growth” here: 
https://www.linkedin.com/company/addicted-to-growth/ 

  
ABOUT THE EPISODE  

The idea for this episode started with a LinkedIn post by David about hiring salespeople and the frustrations that surround it. Kevin commented, the conversation continued in messages and then in a phone call, and Kevin has such a deep and innovative perspective on hiring that we just had to do an episode around it.  

While most sales leaders think about how to hire in terms of ads, resume screens, and interviews, Kevin starts well before then by asking if it is the right time to hire, if the company is prepared to support new salespeople, and how they can make sure the new people win alongside the existing team.  

Kevin shares some solid ideas and insights around all of that and more. It’s a great episode - enjoy!  

0:45 - What’s the single best piece of sales advice that Kevin has ever received?  

3:42 - What’s the worst advice about sales that Kevin has ever heard or received?  

5:09 - David sets up the topic for the show - frustrations around hiring for sales roles  

05:46 - Kevin starts his consideration for hiring into sales roles in a unique place - when to hire - and here he starts to unpack why that’s important  

7:37 - What kinds of metrics should a company look at before considering whether or not it’s the right time to add more salespeople to the team?  

9:58 - How hiring at the wrong time or for the wrong reasons has a negative impact on team culture  

11:12 - What are some of the other big pieces that a sales org should have in place before deciding to add new salespeople to the team?  

13:05 - Most companies don’t have the kind of well-established ecosystem Kevin describes to hire into, so what’s the big deal? What’s the negative impact of hiring when the company they are hired into doesn’t have their duck in a row?  

16:07 - Kevin explains the idea that “a good marketing team is actually a really well-trained sales team” and the power and impact of a first impression with prospects in the market  

16:49 - Is there a connection between bad sales hiring practices and the short shelf life of the average VP of Sales?  

19:18 - How organizations who are hoping for a sales miracle within an siloed environment can start to take a more integrated approach to customer success from multiple departments?  

20:54 - The future of successful sales organizations is bigger than the future of successful sales organizations  

23:11 - What advice would Kevin offer to someone who is in sales now and who might be considering a move into sales management  

26:08 - Where is the best place to find Kevin and his content

ABOUT THE GUEST - RAKHI VORIA, DIRECTOR, IBM GLOBAL DIGITAL SALES DEVELOPMENT 

As the Director of IBM Global Digital Sales Development, Rakhi Voria manages a team that is responsible for the strategy, implementation, and revenue of the Digital Sales Development (DSD) function globally. Within the DSD sales force, there are ~350 Digital Development Representatives and Business Development Representatives responsible for driving client engagement, deal progression, and closure of select deals. Rakhi previously worked at Microsoft and most recently served as the Chief of Staff to the Corporate Vice President of WW Inside Sales, where she played a key role in building a new digital sales force for Microsoft, growing the team to 2,000 digital sellers globally and the business to over $5B in under 3 years. 

Rakhi has a strong passion for advancing women in sales and millennials in business and regularly shares her thoughts on these topics by speaking at conferences and writing publications in Forbes as a member of the Forbes Business Development Council. She currently serves as Executive Co-Chair of Women@IBM NYC, which is focused on attracting, retaining, and advancing women. 

Rakhi has been featured in Geekwire, The Seattle Times, Career Contessa, and other publications. She was named a Top Sales Woman to Watch in 2019 and a Top Woman in Sales Keynote Speaker in 2020. She earned her M.Sc. from the University of Oxford and her B.A. from Colorado College. Rakhi is based in New York City. 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rakhivoria/ 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rakhivoria 
Forbes articles: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/people/rakhivoria/#48e2218175a1 
Women in sales documentary feature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHAnPbQJSHQ  

 
ABOUT THE EPISODE  

In this episode, Rakhi and David focus their conversation on hiring salespeople and issues around women in sales.  

0:35 - What is the best piece of sales advice that Rakhi ever received?  

3:25 - What’s the worst piece of advice that Rakhi ever heard?  

6:00 - Rakhi shares some thoughts about why hiring salespeople is different from other kinds of hires and why a generic approach to hiring salespeople isn’t the best approach.  

8:50 - How can you identify the best potential salespeople, specifically those who have the grit it takes to succeed in modern sales roles?  

10:40 - How can you identify whether a prospective candidate for a sales role CAN sell and WILL sell?  

12:40 - What are some of the things that have surprised Rakhi when hiring for sales roles?  

15:15 - Should there be a different approach to hiring women into sales roles than men?  

18:21 - Is non-diversity bias always deliberate or is it at least sometimes a blind spot?  

20:24 - Why does it matter if there are more women in sales or not?  

22:47 - What are some of the unique challenges that women face in sales?  

25:59 - How can an organization get started to move in the direction of increased diversity and decreased internal bias?  

27:54 - What is one thing that Rakhi learned during her professional journey that she wishes she knew at the start of her career?  

30:35 - Where to learn more about and connect with Rakhi

ABOUT THE GUEST: ALFRED “AP” PARKER IV, DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AT DUPRÉ LOGISTICS 

Alfred “AP” Parker IV is a self-described servant leader who has leveraged his time in multiple operations roles to become a successful complex logistics sales and marketing leader. AP recently started a podcast called "The Driving Force Podcast" for aspiring logistics, transportation, and supply-chain professionals. AP along with Matt Loggins, interview guests to share their journeys of success, and to share things they wished they had known early in their careers. AP recently celebrated his 11th wedding anniversary to Kelly Parker. They are the proud parents of Quinn, Aldynn, and Kaden. 

You can find AP on LinkedIn here: 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/aparkeriv/
 
Learn more about his company Dupré Logistics here: 
https://www.duprelogistics.com/
 
Or check out his podcast called “The Driving Force Podcast” here: 
http://thedrivingforcepod.com/
 

ABOUT THE EPISODE  

Our guest this week, AP, had a very non-typical path into sales. Prior to taking on a sales role, AP was part of the sales operations team at Dupré Logistics, which is an asset-based provider of transportation and logistics services. In this episode, AP talks about how his background in operations set him up for success in a direct sales role, and how an operations-oriented perspective can help all of us who drive revenue to do so more effectively.  

0:59 - What’s the best piece of sales advice AP ever received?  

3:10 - What’s the worst sales advice AP ever received?  

4:37 - AP talks about Dupré Logistics to offer some context for describing his operations and sales roles later in the episode  

5:01 - AP gives an overview of his operations roles as context and contrasts that with his current role in complex sales  

6:15 - AP starts to talk about the contrast between operations roles and sales roles and what were some of the early big differences that AP noticed between the roles  

9:03 - What were some of the early challenges that surprised AP when he moved from sales to sales operations?  

10:43 - What are some of the elements of sales operations that have been a big benefit to AP in his direct sales role?  

13:03 - Why is it a problem that many managers and VPs of sales are not strong enough in operations?  

15:57 - AP talks about the importance of lining up internal stakeholders with their external counterparts to ensure a smooth deal flow before and after the contract is signed  

17:45 - David talks about The Border and the importance of getting all of the questions answered before a proposal is put on the table  

19:29 - How can an organization create a better synergy between sales and sales operations?  

22:40 - What does AP know now that he wishes he knew when he started?  

24:58 - How to reach out to AP and find him online

ABOUT THE GUEST - IAN MOYSE, EMEA SALES DIRECTOR AT NATTERBOX 

Ian Moyse is EMEA Sales Director for Natterbox. He has sat on the boards of a number of industry bodies; FAST (Federation Against Software Theft), CIF (Cloud Industry Forum) and Eurocloud. 

He was awarded the accolade of BESMA UK Sales Director of the year and in 2019 was listed in the top 50 Sales Keynote speakers by Top Sales World . 

Ian was rated #1 Cloud influencer Onalytica and has been recognized as a leading cloud Blogger, listed in the EMEA top 50 influencers in Data Centres, Cloud & Data 2017 and Top 50 Cloud Computing Blogs 2020. 

Find Ian on LinkedIn here: 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianmoyse/ or here ianmoyse.co.uk

Or at his personal website here: 
https://about.me/imoyse

Or on Twitter here: 
ianmoyse.cloud

 
ABOUT THE EPISODE  

“Social Selling” is an expression that means different things to different people, and some have pretty strong feelings about it one way or the other, whatever it is they think it is. Ian Moyse has a very specific way of thinking about and more importantly using social media as a strategic tool in his sales toolbox. In this episode, Ian shares a lot of great practices that he has used himself, with his team, and with his clients to leverage the sometimes overwhelming amount of information we have available to us into solid techniques, tactics, and processes for getting into a conversation with prospects for whatever it is that you sell.  

0:45 - What is the best piece of sales advice that Ian has ever received?  

4:16 - What’s the worst advice that Ian has ever received?  

7:08 - How does Ian define social selling - and what’s the right way to leverage it in sales?  

17:46 - How social selling is about finding the right reason to reach out and start a conversation with a prospect that could lead to a sale  

21:15 - How can someone leverage social media to get into a real conversation, which is a much better medium for selling than a message exchange  

22:20 - Ian offers some examples of social selling in the real world  

30:20 - How Ian uses these social methodology principles with his sales team  

33:05 - How to reach Ian and find him on social  

ABOUT THE GUEST - JENNY KNIGHTING, FOUNDER AND CEO AT THE NUTCRACKER AGENCY 

Jenny has worked with a number of ambitious start-ups, leading commercial strategy and making bold business growth plans a reality. With a wealth of experience in media, manufacturing, services and events, Jenny brings a unique creativity and perspective to every launch, scale and strategy. As founder and CEO of Nutcracker Agency, Jenny has led her team to win multiple awards, including finalist in the Best New Business at The National Business Awards. Since launching Nutcracker in 2014, the business has grown 60% year on year, helping countless clients in a wide range of industries to fulfill their vision through targeted, exciting and results-driven marketing. 

You can find Jenny on LinkedIn here: 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-knighting-a948501/
 
You can find The Nutcracker Agency web site here: 
https://www.nutcrackeragency.com/
 
You can reach Jenny by email here:  
[email protected]

 
ABOUT THE EPISODE:  

Jenny has a unique perspective as the main driver of sales at an agency focused on marketing. As such, sales and marketing alignment are as much a critical internal issue as it is a service they offer to their clients. In this episode, Jenny talks about how Nutcracker adapted their approach to new business development during the changes that arose at the start of the COVID crisis in the first half of 2020 and also about some general sales and marketing alignment issues that evolved from that experience as well as the experiences of a diverse range of clients.  

0:50 - What’s the best sales advice Jenny has ever received?  

2:46 - What’s the worst sales advice that Jenny ever heard?  

6:15 - Jenny offers some background on Nutcracker pre-Covid to set up a conversation about how they adjusted to the changes that came with Covid  

9:00 - How Jenny and Nutcracker addressed the negative revenue bump that came with Covid  

11:00 - How Jenny and Nutcracker refined the approach of the BDR team to adjust to the new Q2 2020 reality we all faced  

12:20 - How sales and marketing alignment supercharged outbound efforts  

14:30 - What changed when sales and marketing became more aligned within Nutcracker?  

16:30 - David talks about the importance of clear expectations about expectations and Jenny adds to the thoughts about how proper KPIs contribute to that  

18:03 - Should the SDR/BDR be a part of sales or marketing and why?  

21:00 - How to decide if the SDR/BDR role is a sales or a marketing function in your organization?  

22:15 - How proper marketing can impact effective sales efforts and diminish the need for a high activity model, and allow organizations to move towards a more quality-focused approach?  

25:50 - What are some of the best resources that have helped Jenny along the way?  

27:45 - How to reach Jenny and Nutcracker