Grit

SVP Revenue at GitHub, Erica Anderson: Combining Top-Down and Bottom-Up Sales Motions

Jun 21, 2021

43:26

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Erica Anderson, Senior Vice President of Revenue at GitHub, shares her dynamic journey from sales operations to a pivotal sales executive role without prior quota-carrying experience. She discusses GitHub’s unique top-down and bottom-up sales approach and reveals the value of strong partnerships between sales operations and leadership. Erica reflects on the crucial lessons learned about hiring strategies, the importance of individual forecasting, and the need for agility in adapting sales techniques, all while navigating her leadership insecurities in a growing tech landscape.

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Quick takeaways

Leadership requires empathy and active listening to navigate unfamiliar roles and build trust within teams effectively.

Integrating bottom-up and top-down sales strategies is essential for balancing organic growth with direct engagement in larger markets.

Deep dives

Agility and Growth Mindset

Emphasizing agility and a growth mindset is crucial in navigating the evolving landscape of business. Adapting to changes and remaining focused on goals enables individuals and teams to overcome challenges. The interview highlights the importance of fostering a culture of collaboration, where teams work together to achieve common objectives. This collaborative approach, grounded in shared goals, is essential for building resilient organizations that can adapt to the continuous shifts in the market.

Intro

3min

From Babysitting to GitHub: A Journey of Growth

6min

The Power of Strategic Partnerships in Sales

2min

Navigating Leadership Insecurities

15min

Understanding Forecasting: A Vital Tool for Sales Success

2min

Balancing Sales Strategies at GitHub

14min

Embracing Grit in Team Dynamics and Job Opportunities

2min

Erica Anderson had never carried a bag before she was promoted to Vice President of Worldwide Sales at GitHub in 2019.

With a successful career as a sales operations leader under her belt, Erica has since been promoted twice at GitHub — most recently to Senior Vice President of Revenue.

On this week’s episode of Go to Market Grit, Joubin and Erica talk about the lessons Erica has learned about leadership throughout her career and the combined bottom-up and top-down selling approach of GitHub.

In this episode, we cover:

'The Home of Open-Source Software': How GitHub is used for software development and when Erica joined the company. (3:12)
How Erica was promoted to VP of Worldwide Sales at GitHub despite never having been a quota-carrying salesperson herself. (5:35)
The Value of Partnerships: What a successful relationship between sales operations and a sales leader looks like. (8:51)
'Listening and learning': The methods Erica used to develop a new skill set for the sales leadership job she had never done before. (10:47)
Hiring too soon: The 'very painful lesson' Erica learned at GitHub about hiring and expanding before fully understanding product-market fit. (15:43)
Finding what fuels 'internal drive' — and the differences between external and internal competitiveness in sales. (19:18)
How Erica's overall focus changed when promoted to a sales leadership role from a sales operations position — and the importance of individual forecasting for sales reps. (23:36)
Sales motions: The 'internal selling' Erica did to convince GitHub to embrace top-down selling in addition to its existing bottom-up sales structure. (27:41)
'Aggregating customer feedback': How GitHub decides which product feature requests to prioritize. (34:01)
The counterarguments made when Erica and her team advocated for a top-down selling motion to enterprise clients at GitHub. (38:03)
How Erica defines grit. (41:37)

Links:

Connect with Erica
- GitHub
- Email: mailto: eanderson@github.com
Connect with Joubin
- Twitter
- LinkedIn
- Email: gtmg@kleinerperkins.com
Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

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Grit

SVP Revenue at GitHub, Erica Anderson: Combining Top-Down and Bottom-Up Sales Motions