Hunters and Unicorns

In this story session we cover: • Game changing examples of saving deals by aligning with Economic Buyers • How to view technology from the Economic Buyer’s perspective to win deals • How to connect problems to technology to avoid champion train wrecks Today we are joined by Keith Butler, Chief Revenue Officer at Observe Inc, for a Hunters and Unicorns exclusive. “People will follow you if they believe that you can take them somewhere they can't get by themselves - that is champion building. The customer will see that this person can help them solve a problem and they can't do it without them.” Whether you're at the top of your game or just starting out, listen discover how to apply Keith’s methodologies to real life business scenarios and learn preparation tactics, research tips, and best practices to prepare for your next meeting with an Economic Buyer. “Are you on the mission?”

In this story session we cover:     The benefits of a non-linear career trajectory and why you should stop fixating on your next title  How to know when the time is right to take a step up and challenge yourself in your career  Mentorship – what does mentorship look like and what to expect from a mentor  Finding your authentic self as a female in SaaS    Today we are joined Lauren Ball, VP Commercial Sales at Auditboard. We discuss her exemplary resilience and experiences as a female leader in SaaS and the importance of finding your “Why” in order to succeed in this environment. Highlighting the limitations of chasing titles, Lauren helps us to understand the benefits of a non-linear career trajectory in this industry and explains how her “lateral” journey to the top exposed her to opportunities that prepared her for future leadership roles.   “We're so focused on the title that we lose sight of all the credentials that we're gaining on our CV or resume, or even just life skills. The idea that titles translate to money is absolutely not true. They can translate to more money but have to be successful in the role to earn the money in sales.  You have to find a role that you can thrive in.  Whether you're at the top of your game or just starting out, listen to discover Lauren’s advice on how to navigate your long-term SaaS career trajectory with authenticity – learn how to articulate your “Why?” and shift your perspective to begin fulfilling both your personal and professional goals.      New to the 202020 Mastery Mission – Check out this blog for more information      “Are you on the mission?”  

In this story session we cover: -How to set up a two-way interaction and use your time most effectively in discovery. -Why you need to become a value expert. -How to use discovery to recognise a “no win” situation for your customer and know when to move on.   Today we are joined by VP Sales at Sutter Hill’s next rocket ship, Observe Inc. Sharing key insights and experiences from his career, Rob explains the science behind the success of his win-win approach and how to use it to yield deeper client relationships, lead successful negotiations and achieve great results in sales.  “By slowing down a little bit and not just taking the bait and following the client, a little bit of courageous pushback can result in a huge transformational deal.”   Whether you're at the top of your game or just starting, listen to discover how Rob’s strategies have led to success in real business scenarios and learn tactics, tips, and best practices for creating win-win situations in your business. New to the 202020 Mastery Mission – Check out this blog for more information   “Are you on the mission?”

Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission.       20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes.       We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery.       Today we are joined by Stuart Simmons, RVP Northern Europe at Lacework.     In this interview, Stuart discusses the attitudes and belief systems that underpin consistently high achievement in sales, and how anyone in sales can use this knowledge to help their business grow. Regarded as a fearless executioner, Stuart elaborates on how his experience inside the industry has enabled him to view senior level individuals through a different lens and shape his sales strategy from a new perspective.    “It's about mindset and it's the compass by which you execute an account. If you start with that belief system on day one, the hardest thing then is to execute with discipline against that every single day, because invariably you come up with a great vision and strategy but because it's set against big hairy audacious goals, it’s not going to come easy. You have to apply rigor, governance and discipline every day and have an unwavering focus and belief system.”    In a world where customers are infinitely more sophisticated than ever before, Stuart provides key preparation techniques to help you elevate yourself and articulate value, especially within larger accounts, and explains the importance of “thinking big” and attaching yourself to board level initiatives to drive impact and attract attention from C-suite execs.   Stuart believes that audacious goals drive action and talks us through the importance of consistent communication and how to set a bold vision and execution strategy for your customer from day one to enable growth and inspire the creation of solutions beyond expectation.  Sharing key insights and advice on how to accelerate execution in big accounts, Stuart talks us through his strategies for success and tactics you can use to make a good first impression, maximise your chances of qualification and remain focussed on your ultimate objective.    Listen to our story session to discover real business examples of how Stuart’s approach to sales has generated transformational results and learn how to apply his strategies and adapt your own belief system to navigate a successful future career in technology.  

Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission.  20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes.  We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery.  Today we are joined by Mike Musselman, Senior Director of Technology & Strategic Alliances at Lacework, the data-driven security platform for the cloud.  Leading Lacework's ecosystem of strategic relationships with cloud service providers and other independent software vendors for activities around co-sell, co-build, and co-marketing activities, Mike is well equipped to introduce us to the next chapter in technology sales – how to scale your business by aligning your technology, ecosystem, and sales playbook with the three major cloud service providers.  Mike explains the evolutions that are driving ecosystem development and the huge levels of opportunity attached to the emerging trend of aligning a cloud infrastructure to your business strategy.  I look at us being built on Amazon Web Services, then I look at them having hundreds of thousands of customers and us having less than 100 customers. The opportunity and the theory is - if I could ever make that partner bring business or accelerate our pipeline, then that makes us a multi-billion dollar company pretty fast, so every day, that’s what myself and my larger extended global team are aiming for.  By now, most organisations have moved some aspect of their business to the cloud. The inherent benefits of cloud computing are clear to them, but many may not understand how to accelerate their pipeline and customer base with the leverage of the cloud service providers.    Sharing tips and tricks from his experiences getting started and transacting on Marketplaces, Mike explains how to kick start your relationship with a cloud provider, build teams around “goal alignment”, and the importance of understanding your position in the ecosystem and nurturing relationships inside and outside of your own organisation.  Listen to our story session to discover more on how to apply Mike’s strategies to real business scenarios and learn tactics, tips, and best practices for aligning with a cloud provider to scale your business.         

Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission. 20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes. We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery. Today we are joined by Ceire McQuaid, Regional Vice President UK&I at DataRobot. In this interview, Ceire shares her knowledge on the evolution of MEDDIC from its inception at PTC through to the thousands of enterprise sales organisations that have gone on to embrace it. With so many voices and opinions talking about MEDDIC, and every organisation leveraging the methodology in a unique way, many candidates entering this space find themselves confused about which variation to align with and which company to join. Shedding light on this topic and demystifying the methodology, Ceire talks us through the different variations of the MEDDIC community, unpicks common misconceptions and helps us understand how to tap into the playbook network and “find your MEDDIC home”. “For individual contributors, I want you to go away and challenge yourself on what good looks like for you as a person and your life. I want you to do your research, have conversations and when you make that commitment, knowingly make that commitment as an investment in your career, not just for one year or a quick pay cheque, it needs to be the investment to learn this, to grow and develop because it will set up the rest of your career. Treat it like the biggest deal you've ever done in your life.” Sharing key insights and experiences from her own career, Ceire explains the four categories of MEDDIC and how the maturity of an organisation can hugely affect process adoption and change the conversation. She emphasises the importance of aligning individual skillsets and personality types to the right MEDDIC environment to secure career progression and offers advice and valuable interview techniques to help candidates understand a company’s principles of leadership from the outset and gauge whether this aligns with their career progression goals. Listen to our story session to discover more on how to apply Ceire’s strategies to real business scenarios and learn tactics, tips and best practices for finding the right MEDDIC organisation for you.

Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission. 20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes. We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery. Today we are joined by Ryan Precious, VP of Sales at Rockset, the real-time indexing database that enables companies to build data applications at cloud scale. In this interview, Ryan shares his wisdom with us on the subject of interviews, the do’s and the don’ts, and how to nail the recruitment process from beginning to end. “Everything's a test, from your prep email to your follow up to your interactions with your peers - every little part of your entire interview process is absolutely a test.” Giving us inside tips on how to impress hiring managers to not only secure your dream job but also enter a company with momentum, Ryan explains how presenting yourself with a strong interview can actually accelerate your development throughout an organisation before you have even set foot in the door. With preparation, mindset and ICCE as fundamental pillars of his hiring criteria, Ryan advises that past performance is considered a measure of future performance. He encourages candidates not to overlook the importance of their CV as a means to accurately represent their body of work and recommends tackling interviews like sales cycles, viewing the entire process as a microcosm of the role they are applying for. Listen to our story session to discover more on how to apply Ryan’s interview strategies to real life scenarios and learn preparation tactics, research tips, and best practices for showcasing your “A Player” characteristics to leave a lasting impression on hiring managers and CEOs in the playbook community.

Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission.     20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes.     We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery.     Today we are joined by Mike Earnest, Area Vice President at zero trust cybersecurity leader, Zscaler.     In this episode, Mike talks on his chosen topic of ‘Finding The “Why?”’ and why, in the fastest-growing, fastest-changing and possibly most demanding career sector, he is so passionate about inspiring his reps, teams and entire ecosystem to discover and keep sight of their personal and professional motivations.    “It really helps to renter and refocus on what we're doing and why we doing it and then build a path towards accomplishing those things and doing all the little things right along the way that help you realise that dream.”  Mike elaborates on the power of purpose and the strategies he uses to help his teams stay on track of their mindset and ultimate goals in order to become more capable of pursuing the things that give them fulfilment. He also strongly believes in the importance of learning from mistakes and celebrating the journey to achieving your “Why?”.   With advice for both reps and managers on how to operate differently, Mike offers tips and insights around how to implement a goal setting philosophy into every day interactions, using the “Why?” as a point of reference for all actions and decisions to allow for measured progress and definite, tangible achievement.  Listen to our story session to discover more on how to adapt your mindset and apply Mike’s strategies to real business scenarios – learn tactics and best practices for how to improve communication within your ecosystem and how to use goal setting to motivate and inspire your team to achieve better results.  

Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 202020 Mastery Mission.  20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes.  We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery.  Today we are joined by Florian Baeuml, VP EMEA South at Zscaler, the market leader in cloud-native network security.  In episode 9, Florian talks on the key Playbook theme of Coachability and the fundamental importance of developing and inspiring this character trait throughout his career.   As someone who was reluctant to accept advice in the early days of his career, Florian reflects on the negative consequences of having a “coachability blind spot” and explains how his transition of focus from relationships and emotion to improving business outcomes enabled him to accept guidance from his leaders and align with both personal and professional goals.  “Why is he spending so much time with me on that? Why is he giving such specific topics and guidance to me? Is it because he wants to bully me? Or is he actually interested in the positive outcome that could be achieved?” When I stepped back and kept my emotions out, I thought, “Maybe it's the second thing.”  Offering our listeners advice on how to cultivate a coachability mindset, Florian discusses the science behind making new behaviours automatic and highlights the potential in all of us to reach new levels of success through self-reflection and a willingness to learn.  Sharing key insights and experiences from his own career, Florian shares his thoughts on leadership and explains how to create the right environment for feedback to drive positive outcomes and inspire and motivate your team.  Listen to our story session to discover more on how to apply Florian’s strategies to real business scenarios and learn tactics, tips, and best practices for changing employee behaviour, overcoming challenging situations and reinforcing coachability from the top down. 

Welcome to Hunters and Unicorns, 20/20/20 Mastery Mission.  20 topics, 20 guests for 20 minutes.  We're here to unlock tribal wisdom from tech sales legends to help you get one step closer to mastery.  Today we are joined by Kirk Giddens, Vice President, Mid Market Sales North America at TripActions, the fastest-growing travel management platform disrupting the 1.5 trillion corporate travel industry.  In episode 8, Kirk shares his wisdom with us on the subject of pipeline generation and discusses the challenges associated with this integral part of the sales cycle.  “Take it seriously, but not too seriously. There will be times where someone on the other end of the phone will really ruin your day. There's an emotional side to it where if you're human, you'll probably feel it, and actually, if you're not feeling it, you're probably not doing enough Pipeline Generation.”  With a wide variety of experience in sales, Kirk shares his unique prospecting methodology and gives us some inside tips on how to nail your sales pitch and make an instant impact on potential clients. He explains how adopting a bullet-proof mindset, applying research, and taking a fact-based approach can arm you with all the information you require to start a conversation, combat objections, and ask questions that will lead to demos.  Listen to our story session to discover more on how to apply Kirk’s strategies to real life prospecting scenarios, and learn preparation tactics, research tips, and best practices to prepare for future growth at your company.