Evaluating Sales Team Productivity and Advancement Readiness

Mark Wendling is the Global VP of Data Cloud Sales and Alliances at Snowflake. He has a successful career in sales and has held various leadership positions in companies like S.C., Michael Page International, East Search Vision, ClearSlide, and Sumo Logic. Mark has been with Snowflake for the past seven years and has played a crucial role in scaling the company's sales organization.

In this episode, Mark shares insights into how Snowflake organizes its commercial sales teams and the key skills young sellers need to learn. He emphasizes the importance of focusing on the customer's pain points and metrics, rather than just selling the product. Mark also discusses the significance of memory in sales, the value of being coachable, and the power of creating a vision for customers. He highlights the importance of tracking meaningful metrics and shares his approach to negotiation and pricing. Additionally, Mark provides advice on scaling sales teams and the importance of focusing on the ideal customer profile.

Tune in and learn more about this episode of the Revenue Builders Podcast.

HERE ARE SOME KEY SECTIONS TO CHECK OUT

[00:02:03] Overview of Snowflake's commercial sales organization
[00:11:08] Command of the message framework for social selling
[00:12:07] Focusing on positive business outcomes and creating a vision
[00:15:08] Drive, memory, and coachability as important characteristics
[00:18:04] Using MEDDICC for qualifying and forecasting
[00:21:21] Coaching reps to understand and influence metrics
[00:23:02] The importance of reps knowing how they are measured
[00:24:45] Focusing on the answers you need, not just want
[00:27:29] Focusing on what you receive, not what you send
[00:28:20] Top reasons for deals going awry: lack of a champion and failure to identify pain points
[00:31:45] Understanding what matters to the customer and prioritizing give-get scenarios
[00:34:10] The importance of memory and being prepared with give-gets
[00:37:08] Need for exit criteria before moving to the next stage
[00:39:53] Importance of having multiple paths to reach sales targets
[00:48:22] Importance of equitable division of potential accounts
[00:56:49] Educating reps on the risks and challenges of career advancement

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Learn more about aligning customer-facing teams to improve execution: https://forc.mx/48o1jyP

Connect and learn more about Mark Wendling.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-wendling-0b1503/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/snowflake-computing/

HIGHLIGHT QUOTES
[00:19:50] "It's not about the answers you want, it's about the answers you need."
[00:25:02] "It's not about what you say. It's about all the signals that you receive and what you do with them."
[00:32:45] "If you try to sell Snowflake, you're going to fail. If you sell change, you are going to succeed."