Tech Sales Insights

This episode of Tech Sales Insights is the last part of our conversation with Annelies Husmann, Head of Enterprise Sales and Growth at Gong. She shares some of the best advice she had learned over the years, including riding out overwhelm by focusing for 24 hours.She also discusses the importance of building multi-threaded relationships at the executive level. In sales, she comments on the magic of in-person meetings and the need to balance it with the mandate of doing things online. HIGHLIGHTSSales and rev ops are strategic counterparts of salesAdvice: Focus and ride out your ship in 24 hoursBuilding longer-term relationships with executives  QUOTESSales and rev ops allow teams to see around corners and execute more effectively - Annalies: "The importance of rev ops and sales ops and having a great strategic counterpart to help balance you out is just so mission-critical nowadays. And it's been great to see even how our team has evolved over the last couple of years."The best advice a former manager taught her - Annalies: "No matter what the problem is, if you really do take away distractions and focus on something, you'll probably be able to ride or at least have a path forward within 24 hours." Find out more about Annelies in the link below:About Annelies Send in a voice message to us: https://anchor.fm/salescommunity/message This episode of Tech Sales Insights is brought to you by: Sales Community | https://www.salescommunity.com/OpenSymmetry | https://www.opensymmetry.com/

This episode of Tech Sales Insights is the second part of our conversation with Annelies Husmann, Head of Enterprise Sales and Growth at Gong. Annalies dives into mentorship and how other women in sales should explore their networks to find a good mentor.In her experience, just having these conversations allows other women to see themselves in quota-carrying roles too. Annelies also discusses value selling as a requirement in today's macroeconomic situation and how sales conversations must always be tied back to value.   HIGHLIGHTSWomen in sales and the value of mentorshipValue selling should be tied to the company's key strategic initiativesHire based on competencies and behavioral traits vs past experiences  QUOTESValue selling is more important now with economic headwinds - Annalies: "I think now where we are, you really need to be very thoughtful with how you're building your business cases and how you're engaging with your executives, and you just have to stay 100% tied to value."Avoid getting stuck hiring certain profiles by focusing on behaviors - Annalies: "Focus more on competencies and behavioral traits versus past experiences, and here's why. I think if you focus just on past experiences, you could really go down this path of going down a profile that you typically for very, very quickly." Find out more about Annelies in the link below:About Annelies Send in a voice message to us: https://anchor.fm/salescommunity/message This episode of Tech Sales Insights is brought to you by: Sales Community | https://www.salescommunity.com/OpenSymmetry | https://www.opensymmetry.com/

This episode of Tech Sales Insights is the first part of our conversation with Annelies Husmann, Head of Enterprise Sales and Growth at Gong. Achieving true diversity in organizations is admittedly difficult.Annelies discusses how leaders need to be thoughtful during this process and to stay committed to this cause. She emphasizes how leaders must go out in the field as well to find the best talent. HIGHLIGHTSGong: Aggregating data streams and improving day-to-day livesDiversity best practices: Sales leaders need the commitment to recruit actively QUOTESGong aggregates data in a tangible and life-changing way - Annalies: "I have a command over my business I never had before. I'm making more money. And it's all those really small, personal levers of how gong is just changing their day-to-day operations. And those are the best customer stories."Leaders must do the legwork to find the best talent - Annalies: "When I start sending notes out to people, personally, through LinkedIn and email, I get great responses. And so, if I'm a leader saying this is something that's important to me, I'm also going to put my time where my mouth is and go out and start recruiting and selling people as well." Find out more about Annelies in the link below:About Annelies Send in a voice message to us: https://anchor.fm/salescommunity/message This episode of Tech Sales Insights is brought to you by: Sales Community | https://www.salescommunity.com/OpenSymmetry | https://www.opensymmetry.com/

This episode of Tech Sales Insights is the last part of our conversation with Eric Brock, Chairman & CEO of ONDAS Networks and Diana Shapiro, CEO of Dynam.AI. They talk about who their buyers are and what it takes to weather recessions and come out of them successfully. They also share some of the insights they've gained from mentors and their own personal experiences. HIGHLIGHTSIt takes different skill sets and experiences to be successfulAutomation helps cut costs in a recessionary timeSelling to non-tech-savvy buyers in target marketsDiana and Eric share about the mentors they've learned from and the things they also want to teach QUOTESWeathering the trying times in a struggling financial market - Eric: "You have to deal with outside forces. And today those forces are difficult, they're tightening up. I think in this environment, like everyone, you have to spend time prioritizing what you need to do. You could have a hundred things to do but you can actually do them all in the next 6 months and you have to make these difficult decisions."Value selling when going through recessions - Diana: "The easiest way to increase the bottom line is by cutting costs. While that's not what salespeople want to hear, they can position themselves with companies that are looking to help companies reduce costs, increase ROI, and the very best way to accomplish that is through automation." Find out more about our guests in the links below:About EricAbout Diana Send in a voice message to us: https://anchor.fm/salescommunity/message This episode of Tech Sales Insights is brought to you by:  Sales Community | https://www.salescommunity.com/OpenSymmetry | https://www.opensymmetry.com/ 

This episode of Tech Sales Insights is the second part of our conversation with Eric Brock, Chairman & CEO of ONDAS Networks and Diana Shapiro, CEO of Dynam.AI. Eric first introduces ONDAS and what they do for businesses that need connectivity over wide areas. They then talk about defining automation at the highest levels and what their partnership means in creating relevant technologies and solutions. HIGHLIGHTSEric talks about ONDAS and their focus on dronesAutomating decision-making and manual processes at a high levelBringing together different technologies to create great solutions QUOTESOn having something that defines the industry and defines solutions - Eric: "It is about understanding what the customer needs and we come in solving that critical bottleneck. We're removing the pilot and the FAA is giving us permission to do that which is really difficult to do from a fully-autonomous platform that works every day as a workhorse without human intervention."The partnership of ONDAS and Dynam.AI - Diana: "They're not just solving a problem for one customer, they're solving an industry-related problem. When you do that, you're just levels above your competition because you're thinking way bigger than just one customer. You're thinking, what can I do for the industry to help get it to the next level?" Find out more about our guests in the links below:About EricAbout Diana Send in a voice message to us: https://anchor.fm/salescommunity/message This episode of Tech Sales Insights is brought to you by: Sales Community | https://www.salescommunity.com/OpenSymmetry | https://www.opensymmetry.com/

This episode of Tech Sales Insights features Eric Brock, Chairman & CEO of ONDAS Networks and Diana Shapiro, CEO of Dynam.AI. When we think of AI in the business space, it's only natural to first think about using it to automate manual processes.Today, Eric and Diana each talk about their careers so far and how they arrived in the tech sales world. Diana first introduces Dynam.AI, how we're approaching an upcoming space called decision intelligence, and the AI technology they are currently working on. HIGHLIGHTSHow Eric and Diana each ended up in tech salesDiana talks about the decision intelligence space and introduces Dynam.AI QUOTESThe top things CEOs are looking to use AI for - Diana: "Interestingly, the top business priorities for AI at companies start with automating business processes, improving existing products or services, improving competitive differentiation and it just goes down the line." Find out more about our guests in the links below:About EricAbout Diana Send in a voice message to us: https://anchor.fm/salescommunity/message This episode of Tech Sales Insights is brought to you by: Sales Community | https://www.salescommunity.com/OpenSymmetry | https://www.opensymmetry.com/

This episode of Tech Sales Insights is the last part of our conversation with MJ Leslie, Owner & Principal of Chapter 3 Ltd and Larry Irvin, Principal of Black Diamond Revenue Advisors. MJ and Larry share their points of view on how sales will look 5 years from now. They also talk about trying out new markets demographically as a start-up, value selling, and the leaders in the space that they follow and respect. HIGHLIGHTSHow sales will change 5 years from nowWhen should a start-up explore new markets?Supplement the talent pool with alternative choices for value sellingLarry and MJ talk about the sales leaders they respect and learned from QUOTESOn using effective tools and strategies - MJ: "Through the pandemic and going into whatever the next stage of society is, knowing who you're going after and what is the value to sell to them becomes really important. So the more intel that you can gather on the individual you're trying to connect with is why I like ZoomInfo."US SaaS start-ups looking to explore different markets - Larry: "The whole idea of the game is revenue acquisition. Sometimes, especially early-stage founders, get wrapped around the idea of wanting to be a global company and selling in all these different countries. And they lose sight of the fact that the whole goal is to capture revenue. Especially if you're a US-based company launching here, there's a ton of opportunity just within this country." Find out more about our guests in the links below:About MJAbout Larry  Send in a voice message to us: https://anchor.fm/salescommunity/message This episode of Tech Sales Insights is brought to you by: Sales Community | https://www.salescommunity.com/DecisionLink | https://www.decisionlink.com/

This episode of Tech Sales Insights is the second part of our conversation with MJ Leslie, Owner & Principal of Chapter 3 Ltd and Larry Irvin, Principal of Black Diamond Revenue Advisors. MJ and Larry share their opinions on the increase of titles and if they actually matter for a company. They also discuss the sales, marketing, and customer success functions being part of the CRO role and the importance of SaaS experience for reps even outside of sales.  HIGHLIGHTSShould the CMO report to the CRO?Go-to-market functions being added to the CRO role is laborious but can make sense.The customer success side is becoming an increasingly important functionHow important is SaaS experience when hiring sales reps? QUOTESCustomer success develops advocates within an organization - MJ: "I have seen a ton of peripheral success not just by a certain customer renewing and expanding their deal but them going out and becoming very much like public advocates or referrals coming through those solid accounts because you've invested in them and they have a relationship with the company."Importance of CROs in revenue retention - Larry: "The easiest people to sell to are those that have already bought. The ability to expand is super important. I love the function, I think it's an easier way than traditionally putting this on sales. As a sales rep, if you close the big deal and you know that you probably block yourself out of an account revenue-wise, you're not going to spend time there." Find out more about our guests in the links below:About MJAbout Larry  Send in a voice message to us: https://anchor.fm/salescommunity/message This episode of Tech Sales Insights is brought to you by: Sales Community | https://www.salescommunity.com/DecisionLink | https://www.decisionlink.com/

This episode of Tech Sales Insights features MJ Leslie, Owner & Principal of Chapter 3 Ltd and Larry Irvin, Principal of Black Diamond Revenue Advisors. In the world of SaaS and many other industries, companies are becoming more and more focused on not only acquiring customers but also retaining customers. Hence, the introduction of the Chief Revenue Officer or CRO.MJ and Larry talk about their sales journeys and some key lessons they've learned so far. They share their insights into what a Chief Revenue Officer actually offers and what level of a company actually needs the CRO role. HIGHLIGHTSMJ and Larry talk about their careers and sales journeysWhat is a Chief Revenue Officer anyway?The ideal stage of a company relative to having a CRO QUOTESThe CRO's job in a macro level - MJ: "Anything that falls within that big, wide umbrella can be part of that. Larry and I were chatting about what stage of that makes sense for a company because if you only have five people, that's a pretty small umbrella. But as you grow, just understanding and looking at what departments make sense in the revenue generation versus retainment section define the CRO role."Is it ideal for start-ups to have CRO? - Larry: "You start getting into that, 'alright, we need to have a structure.' You need to have separate disciplines within marketing, sales, within customer success. That consistent look and feel is key. But to early stage, you're creating layers of structure that creates inefficiency when you can least afford inefficiency." Find out more about our guests in the links below:About MJAbout Larry  Send in a voice message to us: https://anchor.fm/salescommunity/message This episode of Tech Sales Insights is brought to you by: Sales Community | https://www.salescommunity.com/DecisionLink | https://www.decisionlink.com/

This episode of Tech Sales Insights is the last part of our conversation with Kevin Connolly, SVP of the North America Mid-Market at Dell Technologies. He shares his insights into the importance of partnerships when it comes to medium businesses. Kevin also talks about how building trust and confidence has changed over time across different generations. HIGHLIGHTSPartnerships as a key piece to the sales puzzleHow do all generations build trust and rapport with clients without face-to-face meetings?Kevin and Randy discuss their mentors QUOTESThe difference between generations in getting trusted relationships fast - Kevin: "This generation of buyers want it a different way. Their version of trust and confidence might come through social media, it might come through text, or through email. What I perceive as building trust and confidence comes through servicing them really well in the way that they want to be serviced."Leveraging the partner community's reach - Kevin: "Sales partnerships are critically important. But if you even think about this as not too much of an intellectual concept, our job at this type of business at scale is to bring new customers. We have a lot of opportunities to do that even if you just look at market share alone." Find out more about Kevin in the link below:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinconnolly222/ Send in a voice message to us: https://anchor.fm/salescommunity/messageThis episode of Tech Sales Insights is brought to you by: Sales Community | https://www.salescommunity.com/Dell Technologies | https://www.dell.com/