Summary

Lisa Ekeroth is a human rights advocate and abuse survivor who is passionate about the use of communication via intentional language practices as a vehicle for healing the human race. Lisa currently works as a clinical workflows consultant for Ritten, a venture-backed EHR startup. She comes on the show to talk share her wisdom on SDR development, what effective sales leadership looks like, why empathy in the workplace is important, and so much more. Stay tuned!

EHR and Ritten 101

• The concept of electronic health records has been around for a while and Ritten is specific to behavioural health, mental health, and addiction treatment.
• EHR spans all types of healthcare.

Eliminating Podcast Traumatic Bad Job Syndrome

• Recruiting new salespeople in SDR positions can be a daunting task but the most important part of managing is helping them sell and coaching them through problems.
• 2 or 3 months of not hitting quota shouldn't dictate if an SDR is good or not for the organization. A good sales manager doesn’t typically use quarterly trends to determine a salesperson's performance; the same should apply to SDR development and sales development in general.

Systemizing Great Sales Management/Leadership

• It’s a constant struggle for most sales organizations to build a culture where managers are accommodating to their teams regarding failure and making mistakes. It should be a norm that all managers adhere to.
• Getting rid of a salesperson after investing in their recruitment and professional development should not be done hastily.

Connection and Empathy in the Workplace

• When she started out in her last sales role, she devised a plan specific to how she would deal with all the triggers that could negatively affect her performance.
• She had two journals with her daily, one for work and one for personal use. The journals acted as a hedge for her to vent when she was triggered by anything or anyone.
• It’s critical for sales leaders to be empathetic towards their salespeople because it builds a trusting culture and salesperson is inspired to perform to the best of their ability.

A Career-Changing Discovery

• Learning to trust her workmates to support her when needed was quite a journey for her.
• She learned to focus less on the kind of product she wanted to sell or market she could sell in, and more on being in a conducive work environment with a great culture.

Communication Practices

• Through a course she’s been doing for her own personal development called “The Authentic Life Course”, she’s been able to fulfil her goal of building skills around authentic communication. 
• She’s learned how to engage with others openly and examine challenging questions. That has enabled her to hold space and have insights into her relationship with her job and how she executes her goals.

Resources

• Outreach.io

Connect With Lisa Ekeroth

• LinkedIn

Connect With Evan

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Connect With Ryan

• LinkedIn

Connect With OSoS

• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Ed Porter is the Founder of Blue Chip CRO and a Fractional Chief Revenue Officer helping companies align revenue teams and fix revenue problems. Today, he talks about how aligned revenue teams (marketing, sales, enablement, and customer success) can build accountability at every step of an organization, leading to accelerated and sustainable growth. He will also share some key sales and customer success strategies and so much more. Stay tuned!

Oopsing into Sales

- He grew up in the outsourced contact center world and by age 23 he was overseeing almost 1,100 people across several different locations.

Empowering Sales Reps

Ed highlights that companies are investing more in support and enablement geared towards supporting employees to be successful. He feels that that should go hand in hand with quarterly reviews. 

Team Alignment

Sales organizations are always bound to experience friction between channel sales and direct sales teams and Ed says that solving that boils down to defining and clarifying what goes through channel and what goes through direct. He breaks down how creating a charter can help eliminate sales conflicts and ensure that every team is autonomous.

A Unifying Metric

With marketing, sales and customer success teams using different metrics to measure how well they turn leads into customers, Ed says there must a shift towards focusing more on “company leads” founded on figuring out target buyers and their needs so the company can determine whether it can provide effective solutions to the buyers.

He applies the 5 Whys in Trish Bertuzzi’s book The Sales Development Playbook to guide him in viewing things from a buyer’s perspective.

The Importance of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity

He talks about his personal experience with the poor state of diversity in companies even with the strong research-based business case that proves diverse companies can win top talent and improve their customer orientation, employee satisfaction, and decision making. 

Do Playbooks Work?

While playbooks may be the bread and butter for sales enablement teams, they should be about making sure that sales reps have everything that they need to execute flawlessly when they're talking to customers. 

Resources

• Outreach.io
• The Sales Development Playbook By Trish Bertuzzi
• Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions By Keith Rosen

Connect With Ed Porter

• LinkedIn
• Blue Chip CRO on LinkedIn

Connect With Ashleigh

• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Connect With Ryan

• LinkedIn

Connect With OSoS

• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Ashley Zagst, Account Executive at Chili Piper, joins Ryan Woodward and Evan Patterson as she discusses women and queer people in sales.

Ashley’s Journey at Chili Piper

-She’s been at Chili Piper for one and half years now. She began as an SDR and has now been promoted several times to a closing position.

Proudest Accomplishments in her Sales Career

-She is the president of Proud Pipers, an employee resource group, which she began with the help of other employees in the organization.

Homophobia and Misogyny in the Workplace

-Sometimes, the customer is not always right, and they may go as far as being homophobic and also misogynistic. Ashley’s advice is to focus on what you can control, and you’ll win your day.

Retention Benefits to Attracting and Retaining Queer Talent

-For heads of companies to retain and attract talent in general, they should do what's going to help the human being who is coming to work for them. In the LGBTQIA community, the table stakes should be family planning and paternity leave benefits.

-Another benefit would be helping people deal with things that apply to the human race, not just one specific subsection of humans, and things that are not usually taught in school.

A most significant person in her Career

-Scott Haney from Chili Piper has been the most important person in her career in that he helped her get to the point where she was confident in the decisions she was making.

-He had her back, he was a good friend and a mentor, and he was generous with his time.

Resources

Connect with Ryan

-LinkedIn

Connect with Ashley

-LinkedIn

-Instagram

Connect with Evan

-LinkedIn

-Twitter   

Jamie Neubeck trusted Team “Other Side of Sales", for the first time, to share publicly her journey through opioid addiction and onward into living in recovery. We are honored and humbled to have had Jamie trust us with this nuanced and oh-so important topic and hope you will find encouragement and inspiration from her deeply personal share. If you or anyone you know is struggling under the burdens of opioid or any other substance or activity addiction, please find some resourceful links at the end of our notes. THANK YOU, JAMIE!

Shruti Kapoor, the Founder and CEO of Wingman, talks about her experiences as an Indian woman in sales and the lessons she has learned throughout her illustrious career across different industries including building Wingman from the ground up.

Why She Went into Sales

- She realized early on that being good in sales is valuable in every career.

- Sales enables people to improve on their products because part of the sales cycle is about listening to customers and using feedback to solve a problem in the market rather than selling a product.

Killing it as a Woman in Sales

- She has never really focused on her gender. It’s always been about achieving goals. Learning how to handle rejection was also critical. But carving out her own space in sales was the main way she was able to succeed.

- Figuring out work-life balance (Which holds back a lot of women from thriving in sales) was a huge contributor to her success.

Advocating For Inclusivity in Sales

- Shruti feels more organizations should be intentional about supporting and motivating female salespeople in their teams.

Biggest Takeaway From Sales

- Don’t focus too much on your ability to speak. To be an effective problem solver, you have to master active listening.

The Good and the Bad of Being “Brown”

- She says it takes some time to get comfortable in your own skin. She’s had varied experiences working in the US as a brown-skinned person. She had to learn to lean into who she is.

- With people having such a low opinion of an Indian woman in sales, Shruti says there was no other way to go but up.

Having a Role Model

- 15 years ago, when she worked at an investment bank, there was only one woman in the top leadership of the bank, and that was a great motivation for her.

- Kevin Dorsey has also been a huge inspiration.

Resources

• Wingman

Connect With Shruti

• LinkedIn

Connect With Ashleigh

• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Connect With Ryan

• LinkedIn

Connect With OSoS

• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

…………………………

Quotes

“If you are really willing to listen, you’ll actually find out so many more things that are going to be helpful in problem solving and that’s a large part of what we try to do in sales” - Shruti Kapoor

“You don’t have to be able to change everybody’s mind. You just have to find the people whose minds you want to change and whose minds you can change. When you’re making a sale you’re as much in charge of making that choice” - Shruti Kapoor

HIGHLIGHTS

• Sales development vs demand gen
• How to sunset the SDR role in increments 
• Publish content on social rather than pushing unsolicited content
• Leverage your innate talents for even more success demand gen
• Nelson's routines and successes in his failures
• Book recommendations: Ayn Rand’s works and inspiring fiction and nonfic

QUOTES

Nelson: "Why don't we have demand gen and we have sales development? That's basically what's going on in most companies is that they will have two marketing strategies, two different, basically, marketing teams trying to generate and qualify leads for sales." 

Nelson: "I really feel for SDRs who are running up against a brick wall because, again, they are kind of set up to fail, I think. I think the tactics that they're given, what they can do, the metrics, the goals, everything, it's so misaligned with how buyers want to be marketed to that it's going to be difficult."

Nelson: "Repurpose that talent to more productive use. They know your company, they've been doing really great work, and they're just capable of so much more, so don't underutilize them. So that is my message to SDR managers, leaders."`

Nelson: "I use demand gen as an umbrella term as the subdivision within marketing responsible for generating qualifying leads which can include community, it could partner marketing. It depends with every single company."

Nelson: "If you think about the B2B SaaS or software world, entrepreneurship and startups are all about trying to challenge status quo. And, in order to do that, you got to ruffle some feathers. You got to push back against the old ways of doing things. We have to rethink stuff."

Connect with Nelson by following the links below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelson-gilliat-2b260574/
• Amazon book link: https://www.amazon.com/Death-SDR-Birth-Centric-Revenue-ebook/dp/B09GT562GL/

Follow The Other Side of Sales by checking out these links:

• Website: https://www.othersideofsales.com/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/osos_pod
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/othersidesales/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/other-side-of-sales/

Brynne Tillman, the LinkedIn Whisperer and CEO of Social Sales Link, joins Ashleigh and Ryan to discuss social listening, authenticity, and leaving no connections left behind.

The Rolodex

-When Brynne found LinkedIn over a decade ago, she quickly recognized that it solved her biggest sales struggle, cold calling.

-LinkedIn is a dynamic Rolodex, giving you access to not just your network, but the networks of all your connections.

Social Listening

-Go by the “two under two” rule. Find two things in under two minutes that you can use to connect with a prospect.

-Before you reach out you need to understand who their clients are, the issues they face, and what’s happening in their industry.

Automation

-Ashleigh and Brynne are split on this topic. Brynne advocates for never using automation while Ashleigh advocates for light and strategic use of automation.

Content

-Good content talks to your buyer before they know they need you. You need to know what they are searching for two steps before you come into the process.

Authenticity

-The biggest problem in sales is that there is a dollar amount placed on a prospect prior to the first conversation. And, this is noticeable to the prospect.

-You need to enter the conversation aware that you have to earn the right and add value. Think about what you are worth to the prospect not what the prospect is worth to you.

Connect and Forget

-There is no point in building a Rolodex of people who don’t know who you are. Slow it down, connect personally, and start real conversations.

-Before you do anything, export your connections into an Excel spreadsheet and analyze it. Who are you connected with who you should be leveraging?

Resources

-The Little Black Book of Networking by Jeffrey Gitomer

-Gap Selling by Keenan

-The Challenger Sale by Brent Adamson and Matthew Dixon

-The Challenger Customer by Brent Adamson

-Endless Referrals by Bob Burg

Connect With Brynne

-Making Sales Social

-Social Sales Link

Connect With Ashleigh

-Instagram

-LinkedIn

-Twitter

Connect With Ryan

-LinkedIn

Connect With OSoS

-Instagram

-LinkedIn

-Twitter

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/

Ashleigh and Sunanda are joined by Nirvanna Lildharrie, Senior Enterprise Account Executive at RippleMatch, to talk about in-person and virtual networking, leadership, and diversity in the workplace.

Sunanda and Nirvanna

-Nirvanna attended a Women in Sales Everywhere Everywhere event in Boston, excited to connect with other femme-identifying Account Executives, but there were hardly any.

-Frustrated, she went on LinkedIn and searched for Account Executives in the area, adding the women she came across, which is how Nirvanna and Sunada met.

Networking

-Whether it’s LinkedIn connections, in-person events, or Zoom calls, finding the networking strategy that works for you is important.

Her Sales Journey

-Nirvanna didn’t take the SDR track. She began as an Account Executive in the advertising industry before crossing over into sales.

-It wasn’t until she started in her second sales position that she developed a love for the profession.

-And working specifically in SaaS is when she began to contemplate and see herself one day taking on managerial roles.

Advocating for Yourself

-After being passed over for a promotion she felt qualified for, Nirvanna started to be more vocal about what she wanted out of her career.

-It’s never too early in the hiring process to tell your interviewers what you want. In her interview with her new company, Nirvanna was upfront about wanting to be on a leadership track.

Leadership and “The Broken Rung”

-Leadership roles aren’t for everyone. Think about what you want and what the best position is for your skillset, not what you’re supposed to do.

-Across all industries, there are not enough women in leadership roles. This can be attributed to the crucial moments at the beginning of a woman’s career as they are continually passed over for promotions, slowing the overall pace of their career.

Resources

-The Broken Rung

-Radical Candor by Kim Scott

-Selling Above and Below the Line by William Miller

Connect With Nirvanna

-LinkedIn

Connect With Ashleigh

-Instagram

-LinkedIn

-Twitter

Connect With Sunanda

-LinkedIn

-Twitter

Connect With OSoS

-Instagram

-LinkedIn

-Twitter

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/othersideofsales/message
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/othersideofsales/support

DeJuan Brown, Solution Specialist Director at Microsoft with over 20 years of sales experience, joins Ashleigh and Ryan to talk about career portfolios, authenticity, and self-awareness.

His Sales Journey

-Through a relationship he built while working in the service industry, DeJuan was drawn into sales.

-The first company he joined in a sales role he was at for 12 years before moving on to work in outside sales at Bloomberg. Since then, he has worked in a variety of roles in the sales industry at a wide range of companies.

Career Portfolio

-DeJuan emphasizes following your passion rather than money. Doing this allows you to stay open to conversations, relationships, and experiences.

-You can have success in sales by being regimented and following a linear path. But you can also find it by being creative and freeform. It’s about finding a company that supports you and a product you believe in.

Self-Awareness

-There are many types of sales, so there is no need to stay in a role where you are not finding success or happiness. You have to understand what is or isn’t working for you.

Resources

-Sales For The Culture

-Enneagram

Connect With DeJuan

-Twitter

-LinkedIn

Connect With Ashleigh

-Instagram

-LinkedIn

-Twitter

Connect With Ryan

-LinkedIn

Connect With OSoS

-Instagram

-LinkedIn

-Twitter

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/othersideofsales/message
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/othersideofsales/support