Welcome to another Front Line Friday with my very special guest, Bridget Gleason. On this week’s episode, Bridget and I discuss, among other topics, how she is hiring a sales team for her new position of V.P. of Sales at Logz.io, how far Tel Aviv is from San Francisco, and even Boston, how to accommodate account executives with relocation issues, and how complex sales need a complex infrastructure.

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[3:04] Bridget’s new job of V.P. of Sales at Logz.io has her looking for technical account executives in the Boston and
San Francisco areas. Her contact information is below!

[3:51] Bridget is, once again, setting up a sales organization from scratch. Challenge number one is time and geography. Her company is a startup, based in Tel Aviv, 10 hours ahead of San Francisco and seven hours ahead of Boston.

[4:56] Learning how to set up and manage distributed teams in a global market is something we will all have to learn to do well. Here in the U.S., Bridget is not geographically optimal for Logz.io. Boston is better than San Francisco, for time overlap.

[7:53] The sales model Bridget is building, is an inside/hybrid role. There will be an SDR team, helping filter inbound and making outbound. There will be account executives, with some experience in SMB mid-market, looking to grow their careers.

[10:18] The biggest challenge of remote management is where people are located, vs. where they are needed. Where should they optimize their talent? Great talent is really hard to find.

[13:44] Great employees are requiring flexibility on where to live. Can they be accommodated and still cohere into a team?

[16:04] Bridget looks for people who are self-directed, motivated, smart, and curious, and who have integrity, that have some affinity for technology.

[17:10] Andy looks for big-picture ‘systems thinkers,’ for the kind of sales role under discussion. He looks at what they have done so far, and he asks them probing questions.

[20:26] In Bridget’s view, there is one team — not a U.S. team, and a Tel Aviv team. She looks for team-oriented people.

[22:03] Andy describes a $1B company that does not have a sales function. They have project teams that sell. That team mentality and cooperation are needed for complex deals.

CONTACT BRIDGET GLEASON

Bridget is VP of Sales with Logz.io, in the U.S. office in Boston, and was previously VP of Corporate Sales at SumoLogic. Prior to that her recent experience includes being VP of Sales for Yesware and SVP of Worldwide Sales for Engine Yard. She can be contacted at [email protected].

LinkedIn: Bridget Gleason

Send your questions for Andy and Bridget to [email protected].