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20Sales: The 3 Profiles of a Sales Rep, How to Negotiate in a Sales Process, How to Sell to a CFO & How You Should Shift Sales Messaging in a Downturn with Frank Fillmann, CRO @ Salesforce Australia

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Mar 22, 2023

Frank Fillmann, the CRO for Salesforce Australia, shares his journey from selling kitchen utensils to leading a $1B revenue line. He emphasizes the importance of resilience and adapting strategies for sales success, especially around understanding client needs over pricing. Fillmann discusses building effective sales playbooks and highlights the CFO's role in the buying process, advocating tailored messaging. He also touches on multi-threading relationships within organizations and innovative tools for remote collaboration, revealing strategies for thriving in today's sales landscape.

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ANECDOTE

Early Sales Experience

Frank Fillmann's first sales job was selling knives door-to-door during college.
This experience taught him the importance of recruiting and gave him early sales experience.

INSIGHT

Tragedy and Resilience

How one handles tragedy shapes their resilience and persistence.
Frank Fillmann believes it instilled in him an "unstoppable" feeling.

ADVICE

Define Your TAM

Define your Total Addressable Market (TAM) by considering factors like deal size, timeline, and whether the demand is known or unknown.
Work backward from the TAM to build your sales playbook.

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Frank Fillman is CRO/Country Leader Australia for Salesforce where he is responsible for responsible for the overall strategy, execution, success, and growth of the $1B+ Australian market across all industries. Prior to Salesforce, Frank was SVP/GM @ Tableau where he was responsible for the strategy, execution, and growth of Tableau's Top Accounts. Over the last 10 years at Salesforce, Frank's accomplishments include $500M+ new revenue closed in 5 years and $1B+ revenue managed. As a result, Frank has been awarded #1 Sales VP of the Year, North America, 3 times! Huge thanks to Zhenya Loginov @ Miro for the intro to Frank today.

In Today's Episode with Frank Fillman We Discuss:

1.) From Selling Kitchen Utensils to Leading $1BN Revenue Line for Salesforce:

How did Frank first make his way into the world of sales selling kitchen utensils?
Why does Frank believe, "how you handle tragedy defines you"? How did it define him?
What does Frank know now that he wishes he had known when he started in sales?

2.) Build and Execute the Sales Playbook:

How does Frank define what a "sales playbook" is today? What is it not?
Literally, what are the first steps to building a sales playbook? Is it the founder who does it?
What does a good playbook have? What does a bad playbook have? What makes the best?
What tools should founders and sales leaders use to create their playbook?

3.) Enterprise Deal Dynamics 101:

Why does Frank believe that you should never start with the price or "send over numbers"?
How can enterprise sellers create urgency in a deal cycle? What works? What does not work?
How does Frank advise sales teams on the use of discounting?
How open should reps be in communicating the win for them as well as the win for the customer of closing a deal?

4.) Building the Bench:

How does Frank structure the hiring process for all new sales reps?
Why does Frank believe that all sales leaders want to be super reps?
How does Frank rank high potential vs high experience when hiring reps?
What matters more; the exec have experience in the sector you are selling into or the deal size?
What are the single biggest mistakes founders and leaders make when hiring sales?

5.) Setting Quota and Deal Reviews:

How does Frank advise founders on setting quotas? Why does Q1 set the tone for the year?
How does Frank conduct deal reviews? How often? With who? What is the agenda?
What is the one question that Frank always asks when a rep says, "the client told us it was not a priority and so it slipped into next quarter"?
How does Frank advise founders and sales leaders on multi-threading large enterprise accounts?

Items Mentioned in Today's Episode:

Frank's Most Recent Book: The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea