My guest on this episode is Michael Coscetta. Michael has held several high-level sales roles at companies like Square, Compass, his own company, and his current role as CRO of Paxos, and through it all has become an expert in designing and managing sales teams.

This was a fantastic conversation about all things sales and building sales teams and is one I will be re-listening to several times over the coming years. While a large portion of Michael’s time has been spent in very large sales organizations, the principles he talks about are still widely applicable in companies of any size, and all regular listeners to this podcast are in for a treat.

Michael and I talk about writing high-value sales contracts, the growing importance of high-performing sales operations, how sales have become data-driven and more quantitative, how to recruit for sales, and the leadership of sales.

One final note before the episode, I want to meet more sales professionals, especially in data and data software. If you, or someone you know, have expertise in data enterprise sales I would love the chance to connect. You can find me on my website alexbridgeman.com, LinkedIn, and Twitter, or send me an email directly at [email protected]. Thank you, I look forward to chatting soon!

Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. 

Links:

Paxos

Michael on LinkedIn

Superhuman's Fundraising Playbook with CEO Rahul Vohra on the Acquired Podcast

On Revenue Quality with Bradley Roofner and Logan Brown - Ep.145 of TLAO

Topics:

(4:32) - Michael’s background and career

(7:03) - Are there any common principles you’ve picked up over the course of these vastly different experiences?

(9:28) - What have learned about building valuable sales contracts?

(12:42) - What processes or strategies have you developed to find the right pricing matrix arrangement?

(15:49) - Are there any questions you ask customers to find optimum pricing?

(18:55) - Have you seen an evolution in how sales teams are viewed in companies?

(22:04) - Is there any data set that has the most impact on a sales team?

(24:37) - What are the differences between sales orgs of less than 50 people and larger ones?

(27:33) - How do you go about setting sales goals?

(30:38) - Do you have a sense for trigger points for when you separate different parts of the sales process into their own individual teams 

(32:42) - How do you view renewals or upsells for existing customers vs. new ones?

(33:57) - What personalities or characteristics work best for filling out different sales roles? 

(40:31) - Are there any helpful questions or interview styles to determine whether a candidate is a good fit?

(42:57) - What are some best practices for making sure sales and products are communicating effectively?

(45:57) - Are there any communications methods that work well with customers?

(48:51) - How does the product team decide what customer feedback is valid and what is noise?

(53:09) - In this environment, how do you continue to build and improve your sales team?

(55:54) - Can you expand on the concept of the sales org being the brains of a revenue organization?

(58:00) - How can a CEO get more involved with their sales team in a non-disruptive way?

(1:00:16) - What strongly held belief have you changed your mind on?

(1:01:11) - What’s the best business you’ve ever seen?

(1:04:06) - What other companies do you study and admire for their sales org?