Decoding Sales

Send us a textHaving all worked together on Dropbox for Business, Tido, Alex, and Peter share a special bond and respect for building the foundational elements of enterprise sales at Dropbox when it was still seen as a consumer brand. Now, as founder and CEO of Koala (getkoala.com), Tido shares his learnings, obstacles and opportunities that all founders who are learning enterprise sales for the first time should tune into. They discuss: Early challenges Tido faced learning to sell Koala during the early daysWhen is the right time to shift from founder-led sales to sales led sales?Hiring “builders” to lead GTM in the early daysHow to think about “jobs to be done” when building out GTM JD’sHow to master and think through demand generation and demand capture when going outboundAbout Tido: Tido is a Co-Founder @ Koala, is an end-to-end pipeline generation engine. Prior to Koala, he was Chief Product Officer at Segment from early days through its $3.2B acquisition by Twilio. Prior to that, he worked with Alex & Peter at Dropbox and was an early engineer on the Facebook Ads team. Follow Tido on LinkedIn and visit Koala here! Support the showTo get more sales advice from Peter, Subscribe to his YouTube Channel, check out Peter Ahn Sales School and purchase Peter's newly published book, Unlocking Authentic Sales!

Send us a textPeter and Alex discuss founder-led sales mistake #2: Spending too much time on bad-fit leads. They dive into:What makes a bad-fit lead? How do you qualify for fit and what questions can you ask to get clarity around this?When are some examples you may continue working with non-ICP customers? How do you know when to eject out of a deal midstream?Support the showTo get more sales advice from Peter, Subscribe to his YouTube Channel, check out Peter Ahn Sales School and purchase Peter's newly published book, Unlocking Authentic Sales!

Send us a textPeter and Alex discuss one of the most common founder-led sales mistakes he's seen early stage founders make: assuming they have a brand when initiating outbound sales. They dive into: Why establishing a digital footprint ahead of going outbound is importantThe value of offering lead magnets and thought leadership content ahead of asking for a meetingWhy personalization may not be what it once wasHow to get your digital brand started and tips to start posting on LinkedInFor the next episode they'll dive into Founder-Led Sales Mistake #2 so stay tuned for that discussion!Support the showTo get more sales advice from Peter, Subscribe to his YouTube Channel, check out Peter Ahn Sales School and purchase Peter's newly published book, Unlocking Authentic Sales!

Send us a textPeter and Alex discuss the state of sales at large companies and what it means to scale authentic sales. They explore the following questions and topics:Can startup sales be relevant at large companies?Why sales training isn't working for large sales teams What Toyota's innovation with building cars has to do with salesWhat leaders at public companies can do to reimagine what sales means for their growth and brandSupport the showTo get more sales advice from Peter, Subscribe to his YouTube Channel, check out Peter Ahn Sales School and purchase Peter's newly published book, Unlocking Authentic Sales!

Send us a textPeter and Alex review the elements of an effective pitch:The elevator pitch and leaning into your origin story (regardless of what VCs will tell you)What makes a compelling pitch deck and how not to bore your prospect with deckwareTeasing a demo to sell the second meetingOther episodes referenced: Episode 32: BANT and MEDDICEpisode 3: Call LeadershipSupport the showTo get more sales advice from Peter, Subscribe to his YouTube Channel, check out Peter Ahn Sales School and purchase Peter's newly published book, Unlocking Authentic Sales!

Send us a textAfter a break from recording, Peter and Alex are back at it with regular recordings. Catch-up to hear what Peter and Alex have been up to and how the state of play has changed within startup enterprise sales. Peter and Alex discuss:Standing out in a hyper competitive environmentThe importance of establishing founder brandingMulti-stakeholder sales in today's environmentThe role of AI in salesFounders mentioned on the episode for thought leadership examples:Victor Hunt, AvaJulian Park, BeziAshu Dubey, Gleen.aiAnimesh Koratana, PlayerZero.aiSupport the showTo get more sales advice from Peter, Subscribe to his YouTube Channel, check out Peter Ahn Sales School and purchase Peter's newly published book, Unlocking Authentic Sales!

Send us a textEvery day you're presented with moments where you can decide whether to take what's offered, or you can negotiate. Most of us take what's offered because it's comfortable and easy, but are you leaving something on the table? Peter and Alex share expert strategy for mastering negotiations with vendors, sales staff, contractors, and even friends. Learn to build stronger relationships, reach win-win outcomes and secure fairer deals for everyone, while also sharpening your your negotiation chops for those big ticket items. Learn actionable tactics, powerful phrases, and the key mindset to build your negotiation skill in everyday life and never feel taken advantage of again.This episode is sponsored by our friends at Salesroom who are building a video conferencing platform specifically for AE's and their buyers to build strong relationships in the virtual world. Built from the ground up specifically for sales interactions with video note-taking, real-time transcription and question detection, and AI-based recommendations, every feature of the platform is meant to help build rapport and trust. Go to salesroom.com to get access!Support the showTo get more sales advice from Peter, Subscribe to his YouTube Channel, check out Peter Ahn Sales School and purchase Peter's newly published book, Unlocking Authentic Sales!

Send us a textBANT and MEDDIC are two popular sales methodologies. Learn what each of them are for, how to apply them, and how they help you create a more effective sales process.This episode is sponsored by our friends at Salesroom who are building a video conferencing platform specifically for AE's and their buyers to build strong relationships in the virtual world. Built from the ground up specifically for sales interactions with video note-taking, real-time transcription and question detection, and AI-based recommendations, every feature of the platform is meant to help build rapport and trust. Go to salesroom.com to get access!Support the showTo get more sales advice from Peter, Subscribe to his YouTube Channel, check out Peter Ahn Sales School and purchase Peter's newly published book, Unlocking Authentic Sales!

Send us a text Sales and marketing teams need to be able to reach out to prospects cold. But prospects hate getting bombarded by irrelevant messages. What do you do with this necessary channel for building awareness for your company? Peter and Alex debate what makes cold outreach emails bad, what makes them effective, and look for common ground on what you should do if you want to make cold outreach emails that prospects don't hate.For more on outbound and how to be successful with cold outreach and cold calling, visit Belal Batrawy's #deathtofluff resource hub Support the showTo get more sales advice from Peter, Subscribe to his YouTube Channel, check out Peter Ahn Sales School and purchase Peter's newly published book, Unlocking Authentic Sales!

Send us a textHigh inflation, negative GDP - possible recession? It doesn't matter what you call it, it matters what you DO. In this episode:👀 Peter shares his view of the state of play and how sales teams should be reacting🎯 How a recessionary environment forces you to up your game and what you need to do differently🎱 How to forecast and adjust your quotas in the face of uncertainty 🤝What to do when a customer wants to renegotiate a contract due to layoffs or lost businessSupport the showTo get more sales advice from Peter, Subscribe to his YouTube Channel, check out Peter Ahn Sales School and purchase Peter's newly published book, Unlocking Authentic Sales!