Gabrielle Blackwell is the Business Development Manager for Strategic Accounts at Airtable and Co-Host and Co-Founder of Women in Sales Club. She begins by talking about studying in France and hustling as an au pair. Upon arrival back in the US, she shares how she entered sales and quickly moved up the ranks. She imparts some nuggets of wisdom on why a career where you thrive and not just survive should be a priority and how sales leaders can move away from traditional and transactional sales models. In her experience, being cared for as a person and experiencing inclusivity had a direct correlation to her own professional growth.

HIGHLIGHTS

Studying at La Sorbonne and working as an au pair
Entering sales: Starting as an SDR then AE then BDR Manager
Choose a career where you thrive, not just survive
Get sales leaders who value their people and embrace inclusivity
Women in Sales Club: Starting conversations for better choices

QUOTES

Gabrielle: "I don't really feel like just being in spreadsheets all day long even though that's what I do now as a manager, but I can go talk to people. So I'm going to go start off in sales as my first step forward to being a CEO."

Gabrielle: "I'm going to be in a career for 20, 30 years and I want to enjoy it. I want to thrive in it. I don't want to just be somebody who's punching in, punching out, miserable. And I made a very thoughtful and intentional choice and over the years I feel like I've been very blessed and fortunate to do what I love to do which is managing BDRs and SDRs."

Gabrielle: "I kind of see myself as a shepherd, a guard at that, which is one, we're going to set a standard of professionalism, a standard of performance, but also a standard of here's how you take care of yourself as a salesperson in this career."

Gabrielle: "Here's where I feel like SaaS sales or sales in general, I think here's where we can be much better is really demonstrating a level of leadership that raises the standard of sales. And what I mean by this is pivoting away from smile and dial, treating people like resources that can be easily tossed out."

Find out more about Gabrielle in the links below:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielleblackwell/
Clubhouse (Women in Sales Club): https://www.clubhouse.com/club/womeninsales