Training Your Teams for Complex Enterprise Sales with Frederik Maris
Mar 27, 2025
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Frederik Maris, Chief Revenue Officer at Atoss Software SE, brings a wealth of B2B sales leadership experience. He discusses the importance of recruiting sales talent with qualities like intelligence, character, and coachability. Frederik emphasizes the need for a strong discovery process to deeply understand client challenges. He also highlights the crucial role of first-line managers in fostering continuous learning and accountability within teams, coupled with the power of self-awareness in driving sales success.
Frederik Maris emphasizes the importance of early networking in sales, laying the groundwork for future opportunities and career success.
He highlights the necessity of thorough qualification in sales, focusing on understanding customer pain points and motivations for effective strategies.
Maris discusses the critical role of sales managers to be consciously competent, fostering supportive environments that enhance team performance and dynamics.
Deep dives
The Importance of Early Career Networking
Frederic Maris emphasizes the significance of building a strong network early in one's sales career. He describes his experience at PTC as an intense learning environment where he cultivated meaningful relationships. These connections have proven invaluable over time, providing career support and opportunities. Networking is not just about immediate benefits; it lays the foundation for future success and collaborations.
The Role of Qualifying in Sales
Frederic highlights the critical nature of qualifying not only deals but also customers, potential recruits, and personal career paths. This method of inquiry drives a deeper understanding of motivations and operational alignments, ensuring that all decisions align with long-term goals. He asserts that understanding the unique pain points of clients and identifying champions within the organization are foundational for successful sales strategies. Comprehensive qualification practices ultimately simplify subsequent stages in the sales process.
The Need for Consciously Competent Sales Managers
A key insight shared by Frederic is the necessity for sales managers to be consciously competent in their roles. He explains how early independence in his career led him to develop instinctual hiring practices, but later roles required a more structured and intentional approach. By developing clear competencies for interviews, he emphasizes the importance of understanding not just potential hires but also what questions and qualities lead to successful team dynamics. Effective management training ensures that leaders create supportive environments for all team members.
Discovering Customer Pain as a Sales Foundation
Frederic stresses that genuine discovery processes start with understanding a customer's pain points and their personal motivations. By tapping into both company-wide issues and individual buyer concerns, sales professionals can better align their solutions with customer needs. This foundational knowledge equips sellers to identify champions and advocates within client organizations, thereby improving their chances of success. Mastering discovery paves the way for smoother negotiations and ultimately drives revenue.
The Evolving Role of the CRO in Sales Strategy
Frederic also discusses the responsibilities of the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) in shaping overarching sales strategies. He notes that successful CROs must align their organizations behind a unified understanding of buyer personas and sales processes. This role includes ensuring that the entire company is attuned to market expectations and evolving buyer behaviors. Effective CROs serve as facilitators, encouraging collaboration and communication across departments to create a cohesive approach to sales.
In this episode of the Revenue Builders Podcast, hosts John McMahon and John Kaplan are joined by Frederik Maris, the Chief Revenue Officer at Atoss Software SE. Frederik shares his extensive experience in B2B sales leadership, offering insights on recruiting top talent, the importance of early career learning, and the critical role of first-line managers. The discussion delves into qualities to look for in sales reps, the significance of qualifying prospects, and how to instill a culture of continuous learning and accountability within sales teams. Frederik underscores the need for conscious competence in sales and leadership, and the value of self-awareness and emotional intelligence in driving success. This episode is packed with actionable advice for current and aspiring sales leaders.
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HERE ARE SOME KEY SECTIONS TO CHECK OUT
[00:02:26] Early Lessons in Sales: Learning and Networking [00:03:48] The Importance of Qualification in Sales [00:04:39] Becoming Consciously Competent [00:06:13] Building a Strong Network and Recognizing Special Opportunities [00:08:32] The Key to Sales Success: Understanding Pain and Champions [00:09:43] Effective Discovery Process in Sales [00:12:22] The Role of CRO in Aligning Company and Sales Strategy [00:23:02] Knowledge, Skills, and Culture in Sales Organizations [00:33:36] Scaling Challenges in Sales Leadership [00:33:50] The Importance of First Deals [00:34:00] Understanding the Sales Cycle [00:34:15] Conscious Competence in Sales [00:34:39] The Role of Sales Managers [00:34:50] The Science Behind Sales [00:37:15] Champion Building and Sales Science [00:40:13] Recruiting Top Performing Reps [00:41:50] Qualities of Successful Salespeople [00:44:22] Testing for Emotional Intelligence [00:54:42] Why Sales Reps Fail [00:58:13] Accountability in Sales Leadership [01:02:20] The Journey of Sales Success
HIGHLIGHT QUOTES
[00:04:00] "It's incredibly important to qualify everything, from deals to recruits, and even why you are at the company." [00:09:25] "The more you understand the pain points, the better you can build a champion." [00:12:13] "Sales reps need to earn the right to ask questions by being well-prepared and differentiating themselves from others." [00:37:22] "If you don't understand the science behind what you're doing, you can't teach others or replicate success." [00:39:29] "Strong first-line managers who can coach and develop their teams are essential for scaling any sales organization."
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