Field Sales Unscripted

Get FREE Sales Leadership Resources at go.transformedsales.com/pod

In this episode of the Science of Selling STEM, I’ll be sitting down with Pete Tonsager, the Director of Worldwide Sales at MGK, a company that develops and delivers innovative insect control products. The youngest of nine, Pete worked several jobs while putting himself through college. His early work involved working in a composite wood research laboratory which served as a springboard to his career as a sales manager in specialty chemicals and composite products. He is customer-focused and a value-obsessed director of sales. 

He has had notable success in devising, defining, and executing short and long-term strategies to amplify revenue, sales, and customer service. He has an excellent history in managing budgets and ensuring efficient usage of the budget with aim of cost minimization. He is adept at assessing customer requirements and exceeding expectations for maximum client satisfaction and success. Companies he’s made a positive impact at including Sumitomo Chemical, Donatelle Medical, Liberty Diversified Industries, and Rehau. You won’t wanna miss this episode as Pete shares his great sales and sales team management wisdom with us. Stay tuned! 

On Today’s Episode of the Science of Selling STEM:

• Learning how to educate customers instead of selling them and making sure you deliver value (01:49)
• Why delivering value has nothing to do with the product you’re selling (02:40)
• How he coaches his sales team so they can keep performing at their best (05:06)
• Role-playing 101: How to make your role-playing sessions better (06:36)
• Giving the fresh sales talent the same type of support as the more seasoned salespeople (09:21)
• Developing a culture of collaboration within a sales team (10:30)
• The challenges they faced from going virtual since the pandemic began and how they tackled them (12:30)
• Remarkable achievements in helping salespeople achieve great results (17:15)

Connect with Pete Tonsager:

• Pete on LinkedIn

Connect with Wesleyne Greer:

• Wesleyne’s Website
• Wesleyne on LinkedIn
• Wesleyne on Facebook
• Wesleyne on Twitter

Rate, Review, Learn, and Share

Thanks for tuning into The Science of Selling STEM! If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn even more about what it takes to transform your sales, don’t forget to tune into our other episodes and share your favorite episodes on social media!

Join The Science of Selling STEM community on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and visit my website for even more content, information, and resources.

Get FREE Sales Leadership Resources at go.transformedsales.com/pod

In this episode of the Science of Selling STEM, I’ll be sitting down with Chris Rombach, the VP of Sales and Marketing at Asahi Kasei Bioprocess America, a leading developer of systems for pharmaceutical manufacturing and bioprocessing applications. Chris has held various leadership and sales management roles in leading B2B companies providing processing equipment to the Bio-Pharmaceutical industry through his 30-year career. 

He offers solutions that unlock efficiencies, improve safety and drive productivity in drug manufacturing. He will highlight the value of continuous learning in sales and talk about why a salesperson must first learn everything about the product they want to sell before they start selling it. He will also teach us what it really takes to kill it in technical sales so make sure you stay tuned and take notes. See you on the inside! 

On Today’s Episode of the Science of Selling STEM:

• How getting into sales at a young age led him into Bio-Pharmaceutical system and equipment sales (01:07)
• The satisfaction of selling practical solutions to common problems that pharmaceutical companies have (03:45)
• Being promoted to a sales manager role and what the experience was like (07:35)
• Understanding your sales team and build trust with them so you can help them succeed (08:41)
• Why educating customers about the product you sell is very critical in the sales process (09:45)
• Taking a greater level of professional management into Asahi Kasei Bioprocess America and the autonomy that comes with it (11:24)
• Learning to listen and learn before making any sales moves (15:25)
• Planning and prioritizing ideas and activities within a sales team (18:54)
• How to drive behavior to get the desired sales results (21:26)
• Re-implementing Salesforce to make their business more predictable and growing the business 299.6% (24:08)
• Success derived from multiple people pulling and pushing in the same direction (26:55)
• Understanding CRMs and how you want to use them before choosing the one to implement (30:06)

Connect with Chris Rombach:

• Chris on LinkedIn

Connect with Wesleyne Greer:

• Wesleyne’s Website
• Wesleyne on LinkedIn
• Wesleyne on Facebook
• Wesleyne on Twitter

Rate, Review, Learn, and Share

Thanks for tuning into The Science of Selling STEM! If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn even more about what it takes to transform your sales, don’t forget to tune into our other episodes and share your favorite episodes on social media!

Join The Science of Selling STEM community on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and visit my website for even more content, information, and resources.

Get FREE Sales Leadership Resources at go.transformedsales.com/pod

In this episode of the Science of Selling STEM, I’ll be having a candid chat with Eva O’Keefe, the Vice President Sales at Azelis, a world-leading specialty chemicals distributor. She is an experienced vice president of sales with a demonstrated history of working in the chemicals industry. She previously worked for Horn/IMCD, where she was VP Strategic Accounts, and before that, she spent five years as sales manager for the former PT Hutchins, as well as with Dow as LATAM sales manager. She began her career with Arch Chemicals.

Eva is very skilled in sales, management, and specialty chemicals. She graduated from the University of Florida with dual degrees in Industrial and Systems Engineering and later attended the Graziadio School of Business at Pepperdine University where she earned her MBA. Eva will share her valuable insights on how one can translate their technical skills into sales leadership and emphasize the importance of continuous learning to succeed in sales. I can guarantee you that Eva won’t just be an inspiration but will also equip you with the knowledge you need to go out and kill it in your sales career. So stay tuned!

On Today’s Episode of the Science of Selling STEM:

• The incredible journey from getting two degrees to becoming VP of Sales (01:42)
• Things that set her up for success as she transitioned from an engineer working in a basement to her current leadership position (05:43)
• How her MBA taught her how to think strategically (06:45)
• Leading better from investing in her personal and professional development (09:52)
• Challenges she has had to overcome throughout her leadership career (12:35)
• Starting in sales for a small business with 5% market share and scaling the market share to 75% (17:11)

Connect with Eva O’Keefe:

• Eva on LinkedIn

Connect with Wesleyne Greer:

• Wesleyne’s Website
• Wesleyne on LinkedIn
• Wesleyne on Facebook
• Wesleyne on Twitter

Rate, Review, Learn, and Share

Thanks for tuning into The Science of Selling STEM! If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn even more about what it takes to transform your sales, don’t forget to tune into our other episodes and share your favorite episodes on social media!

Join The Science of Selling STEM community on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and visit my website for even more content, information, and resources.

Get FREE Sales Leadership Resources at go.transformedsales.com/pod

In this episode of the Science of Selling STEM, I’ll be talking to Justin Duplantis, the director of Business Development for Bioinformatics CRO, a contract research company that serves the computational biology needs of biotechnology companies, with a focus on genomics. Justin Duplantis comes on to share how he started his career in retail sales and worked his way up to corporate-level management.

Justin is a talented recruiter and technical trainer with a proven record of sparking exponential growth and positioning companies for success. He is an Analytical chemist turned sales leader who graduated with an undergraduate degree in analytical chemistry from Louisiana state university. Justin has over 15 years of full-cycle project management experience working with Fortune 100 companies

On Today’s Episode of the Science of Selling STEM:

• How he began his career to where he is now and his transition journey to something not chemistry related (01:33) 
• Sales experience in the retail world and its relation to biotech (03:48)
• Having relatability when approaching your customers in order to build rapport  (07:02)
• His transition from analytical chemistry to retail sales and then to the bioinformatics world (07:50)
• Pulling someone from outside the industry to bring diversity in perspective and thought (12:12)
• Having a global perspective and creating relationships with referral partners (13:48)

Connect with Justin Duplantis:

• Justin on LinkedIn
• Website: bioinformaticscro.com
• The Bioinformatics CRO Podcast
• Twitter: @BioinfoCRO
• Email: [email protected]

Connect with Wesleyne Greer:

• Wesleyne’s Website
• Wesleyne on LinkedIn
• Wesleyne on Facebook
• Wesleyne on Twitter

Rate, Review, Learn, and Share

Thanks for tuning into The Science of Selling STEM! If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn even more about what it takes to transform your sales, don’t forget to tune into our other episodes and share your favorite episodes on social media!

Join The Science of Selling STEM community on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and visit my website for even more content, information, and resources.

Get FREE Sales Leadership Resources at go.transformedsales.com/pod

In this episode of the Science of Selling STEM, I’ll be welcoming Katie Williams, Ph.D. to the show. She is an applied mathematician and the Director of Business Development for Applied BioMath, a pharmaceutical and biotech service provider that builds systems pharmacology models to inform critical drug discovery and development decisions. Katie comes on to share her insights on the relation between science and sales, what problem solving within team environments should look like, women leadership in STEM, and effective lead generation.

Katie also serves as the President-Elect of Women in Bio, an international non-profit organization promoting gender parity in the life sciences. She is passionate about mentoring and building connections so that we can all grow and advance professionally. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Mathematical Biology from the University of Michigan and her doctorate in Applied Math from the University of Arizona with a dissertation titled "Anti-cancer treatment and the cell cycle: Cellular-level mathematical models." 

She also interned with Takeda Pharmaceuticals in both the Clinical Pharmacology and Modeling & Simulation departments where she developed mathematical models to support teams in many stages of drug development. Katie has spent the last 10 years working at the intersection of mathematics, biomedical engineering, and medicine. She now applies this experience to align business and scientific objectives

On Today’s Episode of the Science of Selling STEM:

• How her interest in science and mathematics from a very young age led her to where she is now (01:43)
• Figuring out where mathematical modeling provides valuable solutions (04:40)
• How she has been able to marry her Ph.D. with her work as the director of business development (06:16)
• Making the market understand the problem that Applied Biomath solves (08:23)
• Her amazing work with Women in Bio (09:46)
• Having more women in STEM in leadership positions (13:50)
• The effectiveness of the lead management system she implemented (14:54)

Connect with Katie Williams:

• Katie on LinkedIn
• Applied BioMath

Connect with Wesleyne Greer:

• Wesleyne’s Website
• Wesleyne on LinkedIn
• Wesleyne on Facebook
• Wesleyne on Twitter

Rate, Review, Learn, and Share

Thanks for tuning into The Science of Selling STEM! If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn even more about what it takes to transform your sales, don’t forget to tune into our other episodes and share your favorite episodes on social media!

Join The Science of Selling STEM community on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and visit my website for even more content, information, and resources.

Get FREE Sales Leadership Resources at go.transformedsales.com/pod

In this episode of the Science of Selling STEM, I’ll be sitting down with Justin Musiek, the Director of sales training and enablement at Kate Farms, a medical nutrition company that offers plant-based tube feeding formulas and shakes for adults and children over the age of one. Justin Musiek comes on to share his insights on sales training and enablement and how he has built a sales training department within Kate Farms.

Justin has 15 years of successful sales experience in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and medical nutrition industries. Justin earned his master's degree in Healthcare Administration at Saint Joseph’s College and his BA, political science at Lehigh University. Jason considers himself a through and through salesperson at heart who gravitates towards challenging roles and loves leaving a footprint.

He has previously worked at Takeda, a multinational pharmaceutical R&D-driven global biopharmaceutical company as a U.S Sales Training Manager-rare disease. Before That Justin worked at Boston Scientific, a manufacturer of medical devices as a Senior Territory manager/sales Trainer-Pulmonary Endoscopy.

On Today’s Episode of the Science of Selling STEM:

• How he started his journey and progressed on to discover more about what sales were and his particular style of sales when engaging with customers (02:20)
• Breaking down the difference between being a sales manager/leader and the person training the sales manager within a company (03:40)
• Understanding the internal needs of the company when setting up learning and development for the sales team or sales leadership (05:46)
• Setting up an individual development plan as a roadmap for growth potential among your salespeople (08:40) 
• Some of the things Justin has instituted into the organization that has helped it grow (10:19)
• Defining the sales player-coach role (14:54)
• Integrating a sales leadership vision in your team through delegating (17:40)

Connect with Justin Musiek:

• Justin on LinkedIn
• Katie Farms on LinkedIn
• Website: kate farms.com

Connect with Wesleyne Greer:

• Wesleyne’s Website
• Wesleyne on LinkedIn
• Wesleyne on Facebook
• Wesleyne on Twitter

Rate, Review, Learn, and Share

Thanks for tuning into The Science of Selling STEM! If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn even more about what it takes to transform your sales, don’t forget to tune into our other episodes and share your favorite episodes on social media!

Join The Science of Selling STEM community on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and visit my website for even more content, information, and resources.

Get FREE Sales Leadership Resources at go.transformedsales.com/pod

In this first episode of Season 3 of The Science of Selling STEM, I’ll be having a chat with Jennifer Wiens, the Senior Director of Business Development for Briotech, a late-stage startup that seeks to transform health and disinfection worldwide through the biohacking technology of H-O-C-L. Jennifer will talk to us about the value of having soft skills as a sales leader and share some of the best strategies to use when hiring salespeople (And other employees in general)

Her background after her first degree in Neuroscience started as a Bench Scientist turned Department Lead working in both the Biologics R&D and GMP space. This provided a strong Data Science foundation she applies to the wide range of Business Management functions and decisions she makes to this day.  After getting her Executive MBA and growing two startups in Boston, she came back to her home state in the PNW looking for the right fit. 

When the pandemic hit, and an opportunity to join Briotech as a Director of Product Management came along, it was an easy decision for Jen to make. With a genuine appreciation for Briotech’s mission and comradery with her new Brio-teammates, she now supports all teams cross-functionally, including Product Development, Marketing, Sales Strategy, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Regulatory, Scientific R&D, Safety, BrioEarth, and Organizational Development initiatives so all Briotech business functions are effectively matrixed, harmonized, and supporting one another. 

On Today’s Episode of the Science of Selling STEM:

• The 10 years as a scientist that equipped her to later on pivot into business (02:15)
• How she transitioned from being a bench scientist to leading teams of scientists (03:35)
• Attracting the best talent by reassuring new and potential employees of your reliability (05:30)
• Forming the chain of support that works well in ensuring each employee at every level keeps growing for the benefit of the business (08:02)
• Improving on both your soft skills and technical skills in order to lead your team better (10:06)
• Moving into the business side of things after leading technical teams (11:02)
• Learning to gain the skills she needed to take on a sales leadership position (13:34)
• Sustaining a lean, mean operation by building an external workforce (15:43)
• Successful strategies behind their immense success in distribution (19:41)
• Offering the world their transformative health-oriented technology (21:06)

Connect with Jennifer Wiens:

• Jennifer on LinkedIn
• Briotech
• 25% Off Coupon Code for Briotech Products - PRIDE25
• Get Your Free E-Book on 10 Simple Strategies to Kick Start Your Sales

Connect with Wesleyne Greer:

• Wesleyne’s Website
• Wesleyne on LinkedIn
• Wesleyne on Facebook
• Wesleyne on Twitter

Rate, Review, Learn, and Share

Thanks for tuning into The Science of Selling STEM! If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn even more about what it takes to transform your sales, don’t forget to tune into our other episodes and share your favorite episodes on social media!

Join The Science of Selling STEM community on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and visit my website for even more content, information, and resources.

Get FREE Sales Leadership Resources at go.transformedsales.com/pod

Thank you for tuning into my podcast, “Snack Sized Sales,” where I focus on sharing three actionable tips on one topic that you can use to transform your sales. Today, my guest is David Presley, the President of Hydro-Chem Systems (HCS), a comprehensive washing solutions provider. Within the 24 years that he’s been with HCS, he has overseen the development of the automated division and is responsible for the overall design of an automated wash system. 

David will talk to us about the value of a salesperson getting hands-on experience in different areas of their preferred industry, why an educational approach to sales is very effective, and what it takes to build a strong sales team. His degree in electrical/electronic engineering and his technical background have instilled a quality-driven work ethic. His business management skills combined with his technical abilities have piloted HCS to the highest sales in the company’s 48-year history. David is very hands-on providing exceptional customer service.  

On Today’s Episode of Snack Sized Sales:

• Being entrepreneurial from a young age, going into sales and electronics, and growing truck washes into a thriving giant (02:08)
• Going up the ladder from different roles to the president of the company and growing it about 5X from $2.5 Million to $10 Million (05:00)
• Using an educational approach and a customized solution to differentiate (06:49)
• Why building a bridge to your sales team is essential to their performance (09:34)
• How the willingness to ask for the sale is necessary for technical sales success (10:56)
• Succeeding in sales for the last 10 years and 5Xing his company’s sales (13:25)
• A notable success story where they over-delivered on their customer’s expectations (18:14)

Connect with David Presley:

• David on LinkedIn
• Hydro-Chem Systems Website

Rate, Review, Learn, and Share

Thanks for tuning into the Snack Sized Sales podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn even more about what it takes to simplify and transform your company’s back-office and online customer journey. Don’t forget to tune into our other shows and share your favorite episodes on social media!

Join the community of Snack Sized Sales fans on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and visit my website for even more content, information, and resources about leveraging the media.

Get FREE Sales Leadership Resources at go.transformedsales.com/pod

Thank you for tuning into my podcast, “Snack Sized Sales,” where I focus on sharing three actionable tips on one topic that you can use to transform your sales. Today, my guest is Jeff Behrens, a serial biotech entrepreneur with experience in general management, business development, finance, and operations. Jeff will highlight the one thing that all successful people have in common and tell us why listening more than talking can help us thrive in sales.

He is currently the CEO of GelMEDIX, an ophthalmology startup based on work from Mass Eye and Ear and UCLA. He is also the Founder and CEO of LabShares Newton, a biotech incubator for biotech startups run by biotech entrepreneurs. Formerly, Jeff was President and CEO of Siamab Therapeutics, a biotech company focused on developing antibodies targeting glycan targets in cancer that he exited in 2019. Previously, Jeff served as Senior Director, Business Development and Operations at Edimer Pharmaceuticals (funded by Third Rock Ventures) and also worked at Alnylam and Biogen Idec, where co-founded Biogen’s Innovation Incubator. 

In 2003, Jeff sold his healthcare IT company, The Telluride Group, to mindSHIFT Technologies, a Fidelity-funded rollup. Jeff has a Ph.D. from EPFL (Lausanne, Switzerland), an MS from the Harvard/MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST), an MBA from MIT Sloan, and graduated from Harvard College. He teaches HST590, a Ph.D. level course at MIT, and lives in Newton and Wellfleet, MA. This is one episode you won’t wanna miss so stay tuned.

On Today’s Episode of Snack Sized Sales:

• Being in business and healthcare simultaneously (02:24)
• Success by being in a sales mode most of the time (03:32)
• A necessary mind shift needed to succeed as a salesperson (05:22)
• The multi-step sales process of raising funding for a biotech business (06:40)
• Listening and asking relevant questions versus lecturing (07:00)
• Building a sales team around getting a product out to market (10:20)
• One thing that’s missing in a lot of sales organizations today (12:47)

Connect with Jeff Behrens:

• Jeff on LinkedIn
• Email Jeff at [email protected]

Rate, Review, Learn, and Share

Thanks for tuning into the Snack Sized Sales podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn even more about what it takes to simplify and transform your company’s back-office and online customer journey. Don’t forget to tune into our other shows and share your favorite episodes on social media!

Join the community of Snack Sized Sales fans on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and visit my website for even more content, information, and resources about leveraging the media.

Get FREE Sales Leadership Resources at go.transformedsales.com/pod

Thank you for tuning into my podcast, “Snack Sized Sales,” where I focus on sharing three actionable tips on one topic that you can use to transform your sales. Today, my guest is John Adams, the Senior Vice President at Growth Practice at Lean Focus LLC, a management consulting firm that helps businesses overcome their biggest challenges by transforming them for the better, and for the long-term. John will talk to us about the importance of building up an effective sales process and automating it with a CRM, and how to continuously improve the performance of our sales teams.

John is a driven and dynamic leader with diverse experience in general management, international operations, strategic marketing and sales, product development, and manufacturing. He has a proven track record of executive leadership in change management, P&L management, strategic planning, sales and marketing, product development, and operational excellence. His record of leadership has resulted in measurable benefits to companies. 

On Today’s Episode of Snack Sized Sales:

• Focusing on customers first since he was a teenager (01:51)
• The first opportunity he got to learn about sales (03:06)
• How he grew a business by 40% organically over 6 years by just implementing strong lead generation and sales execution infrastructure (04:38)
• Using a CRM system only to automate an existing and effective sales process (07:24)
• Some of the challenges he faced when he was a new sales manager (09:46)
• Teamwork in dealing with quality issues that led to a client not succeeding (13:50)
• Steps to take when trying to figure out why you’ve lost a deal (18:22)
• Why articulating who your competitors are is critical (21:47)
• Excelling in sales leadership through constant engagement and feedback with the sales team (23:17)

Connect with John Adams:

• John on LinkedIn

Rate, Review, Learn, and Share

Thanks for tuning into the Snack Sized Sales podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn even more about what it takes to simplify and transform your company’s back-office and online customer journey. Don’t forget to tune into our other shows and share your favorite episodes on social media!

Join the community of Snack Sized Sales fans on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and visit my website for even more content, information, and resources about leveraging the media.