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How a Kick A$$ Analogy Can Take You From Zero to One

9/11/2020

The inconvenient truth about selling for a startup is you’re often selling something new that requires both education and imagination for the prospect to fully grasp and eventually purchase. Knowing there are high levels of perceived risk by the buyer in procuring a product or service from an unknown startup, the seller’s job is to reduce the risk by positioning the solution as relatable and as simple as possible.

Essentially, associate your offering with something that is benign in nature and highly proliferated. This will help you capture those early sales and get the lift-off the startup needs to get off the ground. But what is the best way to do this? Well, how good are you at analogies?

Devising a good analogy for the solution offered has been a hallmark in my sales career. If you can come up with a simple analogy that resonates with everyone in the room - you win, period. Why? Because simplicity in problem-solving is key - the old K.I.S.S. model. No matter how complex your solution is, you want the message received to be dead simple and repeatable. Here are a few examples from my past:

PowerBeam: “We’re the wifi router for wireless power”
WePay: “We’re the swiss army knife for payments”
Braintree Payments: “We’re your lego blocks for payments”
Segment: “We’re the power grid for data”

Take note that nowhere in the above was there a comparison to another company. You want to try your best to avoid saying things like “we’re the Twilio for blah blah blah or the Datadog in the so-and-so space.” That’s not ideal and can actually hurt you as you’re relating your offering to the performance of another company in the market, so wherever possible avoid that correlation.

Once you’ve made your analogy statement, you can explain in more detail why you believe the analogy is appropriate - this helps with that education process you need to walk the prospect through. In the case of the Segment analogy, once I said “we are the power grid for data,” I would explain how when you walk into your office, home, or hotel room and plug in your laptop, phone, or even a light for that matter; it just works without you having to do anything at all. That’s because behind every outlet is a massive infrastructure that takes power generated at a source hundreds of miles away through a network of cables, transformers, sub-stations, etc. and delivers it to your outlet so you don’t have to think about how you’re going to power your device, you can just focus on how you use that device to improve your life. Not everyone is an electrical engineer who can appreciate the complexity of the power grid, however, 100% of the people sitting in that room have had the experience of plugging something into a wall and it just works. Hence, it is extremely relatable, simple to conceptualize which leaves room for imagination, neutral in nature, and widely propagated. The same could be said for a wifi router, a swiss army knife, and lego blocks.

The key is really to keep your analogy as simple and generic as possible - you want it to be remembered and repeated as it is the ultimate “seed planting” statement (more to come on this topic in a future post). Basically, what you want is your prospect using this analogy to sell internally on your behalf. You want it so bulletproof that when a co-worker at your prospect’s company says, “Hey, heard you met with X-company, what do they do”, the prospect immediately responds with “oh, they are the ABC for XYZ” and everyone just gets it. When everyone just gets it, it’s amazing to see prospects move from the education phase to that imagination phase where they start to collaborate and brainstorm ideas on how your solution solves their specific problems. When that happens in real-time, you know your analogy works and you’re starting to win.

Regardless of what analogy you create, if it’s simple and easily understandable - you’re reducing the cycles needed to spend on educating the prospect and their company. If it’s clever and well thought out - you’re stirring the creativity pot and getting the prospects to imagine how their situation is similar to what you’ve laid out and how they can start solving the problem with your solution. The sooner you can get past those hurdles, the sooner you can start closing deals and getting your startup the customers and revenue so desperately needed in the early days of going from zero to one million!

Bonus tip: towards the end of the first meeting where you’ve introduced your analogy, end with “if you remember nothing else from this meeting today, remember we are the ABC for XYZ.” Not only does this reinforce the message you’re looking to establish with your prospects but it also conditions your prospects with a repeatable message they can use to sell on your behalf when you’re not there. If you can get your customers to sell for you - how much easier did your job just become?

This One Question Led to Millions of Dollars in Sales. The Secret is in How and When You Ask.

8/14/2020

Over a 5 year period, I worked in the B2B SaaS space selling to technical buyers who are very sophisticated in the buying process, very knowledgeable about the technology they’re interested in buying (they do a ton of research before you ever walk in the door), and for the most part loath salespeople (I’m still not sure why but it’s a real bias that exists). During that time, directly and indirectly as a sales manager, I closed $15.4M in annual recurring revenue, averaging out to ~$3M per year. With an average quota for an Enterprise Account Executive (AE) at $1.5M per year, averaging at 2X quota capacity means not only working hard but also working smart. Let’s discuss the working smart piece.

Selling to a technical buyer persona can be pretty difficult. An Account Executive needs to be fairly technical (almost as technical as a Sales Engineer), needs to shed the Slick Rick personality, and genuinely needs to care about understanding the problem(s) the buyer is trying to solve to learn if their solution can actually meet the needs of that business. Being inquisitive and asking the right questions will go a long way to building credibility and ultimately closing the deal. But what is the right question(s) and how does one make it look none obvious as to maintain credibility?

The foundation of the key question is “Why do you ask.” This question in itself is not super novel. In fact, it’s basically Sandler Rule #12 — Answer Every Question with a Question. However, next time you’re in a sales meeting with a prospect, study the AE leading the meeting and see how many times he/she just answers every question the prospect asks. You’ll be amazed how many people do this based on society’s predisposition to answer a question when asked….I blame it on the education system :-)

As a sales manager, I personally made it a requirement for all the interviewer’s to track how many times a candidate would answer a question with a question during the mock pitch session. If they didn’t or only did seldom, everyone in the room knew where that candidate would end up. Around 90% of the time, the candidate didn’t make it past the mock pitch and as you can imagine, my team was very slow to hire.

Now, Sandler Rule #12 explains why this is important in general but why is this so important in the technical sale? It’s important because technical buyers want to have intelligent conversations with knowledgeable people in the space who have a credible perspective on the problem they’re trying to solve. To get to an intelligent conversation, the AE needs to fully understand all the context, variables, and dependencies that is leading this prospect to investigate a vendor for this solution (most often technical buyers can solve a problem with enough time and hours but it’s usually not the most efficient or scalable solution). To understand those details, responding with a simple question can open up the floodgates which will lead to a sophisticated dialog and ultimately reveal the true pain the prospect is trying to solve and, just as important, the concerns they have with your solution! Here are some suggestions that don’t come across patronizing or elementary:

Good question, is there context around that question that could help us better understand what you mean?
Can you provide a use case or example where answering that question positively would solve a pain point or business problem?
Are you asking that question because you’ve felt that pain before? If so, when was the last time, and what was the impact to the business?
You’re asking this for a reason, did you personally have that challenge in the past or did you hear that could be a challenge from a colleague or friend?

Of course, these are just a few suggestions and if all else fails you can simply say, “why do you ask.” I recall back in 2010 I was giving a pitch to a room full of executives at a speaker company and one of the guys turned to the group and said, “what’s with this guy, every time I ask a question he just asks a question right back.” I looked down, smiled to myself, and knew I was on the right path.

When to deploy this tactic is critical but here is the first step. Create a trigger in your brain. Yes, I’m serious. Train your brain to recognize when someone is asking you a question (good news is this only takes about 90 days or so). I’ve personally been doing this for years and yes, my wife still loves me! Do it with everyone at first, focus and pay attention when someone is talking to you and learn to set a mental trigger so if they ask you a question you immediately respond with simple phrases like “why do you ask” or “you must be asking for a reason.” Eventually, it will become second nature and you’ll find yourself both recognizing when someone is asking you a question and controlling whether to reply with a question or just answer (asking someone why they asked where the bathroom is probably is not the right etiquette).

Once you’ve mastered control over your urge to “ask why” it’s time to deploy this tactic in a prospect meeting. Be sure to use this method strategically to spark a conversation that will lead you down the right path. Over time, you’ll start to recognize themes in your space where asking a question at the right time will naturally lead your prospect down the right path but this does take a bit of time and a bit of practice so don’t beat yourself up if it takes a couple of rounds to get this part right. Overall, the goal is to get the prospect to peel back the onion and uncover the real challenges they’re having and why they’re asking the question on the table so that you can earn the right to present your solution as the most viable option.

Once you’ve fully understood the question and walked them through how your solution would solve it, you’ve now earned their respect and can proceed with whatever sales methodically your company subscribes to whether that be Command of the Message, The Challenger Sale, etc. with the other side of the table willingly (and usually happily) participating in the process. All too often I’ve observed AE’s going straight into a MEDDPICC barrage of questions before ever earning the right to ask these questions and watching the prospect just give generic, bland answers they know will quickly end the meeting so they can move on with their day. This obviously doesn’t lead to closed:won happy customers.

Here is a bonus tip: I personally always like to close out any meaningful dialog with “Did I answer your question.” More times than not, the prospect would say yes and I would immediately follow-up with “Great, was the answer to your satisfaction?” Every now and again I would get an odd/surprised look but most often I’d get “yes, to my satisfaction.”

I asked this “to your satisfaction” question for two reasons. One, because anyone can answer a question but it doesn’t mean the person receiving the answer is happy with your reply and if they’re not, this opens the door for them to say “well, not really” and now you can continue to pull on the thread. Second, if they are happy with the answer, everyone in the room subconsciously knows it’s time to move on to the next topic on the agenda. Running an efficient and effective meeting is still the responsibility of the AE and if not managed properly, you could talk the entire time and never move the sales cycle forward. It’s a fine balancing act of course, but ultimately your job is to meet the needs of the prospects and convert them into a paying customer.

The Rise of the Angel Employee Class

9/5/2019

I recently finished Paul Graham’s book “The Launch Pad” where he states several times the best time to start a company is when you’re in your early to mid 20’s. Essentially, when the only responsibility you have is to yourself. I thought, “Boy, that sounds about right and that’s what I did.” Then I stumbled upon a Business Insider article by Sahil Lavingia where he talked about Angel Employees and how it’s a terrible path to wealth considering how the equity packages are structured. Based on my experiences, I wanted to provide some color and suggest that there is an ever growing pool of Angel Employees who should indeed be celebrated and rewarded.

Paul was certainly right based on my history. I started my first company at 19 yrs old, my second at 23 yrs old, and co-founded my 3rd at 25 yrs old. While my second had a successful exit, the third imploded four weeks before my wedding day. Shortly thereafter, we got pregnant and my priorities immediately shifted. While I certainly had the itch of the startup life, taking the risk with a young family at home just wasn’t practical anymore especially living in Silicon Valley.

So, I started looking for early stage startups where I could cover the basics of living standards but still feel the thrill of startup life and perhaps get some upside on equity while making cash along the way. Additionally, with two successful startups under my belt and earning my “Silicon Valley MBA” with the crash and burn of my third, I certainly felt there was some additional value to bring to the table.

My first endeavor was WePay which is a payment startup that competed with Paypal. I joined as an Account Executive on the Sales team right before the Series B funding round and the value at the time was around $60M. I stuck around for a little over a year and certainly agree with Lavingia that the equity offered was not compelling enough to keep me around...which was a shame considering my position we should move to a SaaS based payment platform which was the direction WePay ultimately took and recently got acquired by Chase for $400M. While I made cash while there, the equity payout as a result of the Chase purchase was certainly a nice Christmas bonus.

I moved to another payment startup post Series B funding called Braintree Payments which got acquired by Paypal just 6 months into the Enterprise Account Executive role. While I missed the equity payout and my options got moved to RSUs (hey, that’s the way the cookie crumbles) it was validating to know there is a world where my previous founder experience can help me pick the winners - or maybe it was just dumb luck. After working for Paypal for about a year, I had enough of that big company stuff.

I then joined Segment as employee 17 and the first dedicated salesperson the company ever had. Here is where I disagree with Lavingia that not all Angel Employee’s can/will get the short end of the stick and where a startup might have done it right - at least with me anyway. I joined shortly after the Series A round with a $70M valuation. I’ve been there for five years at the time of writing this and the company now has a valuation of $1.5B. At the time of the Series C with a $600M valuation, I personally contributed to 42% of the Business Tier ARR (annual recurring revenue) that year, 26% of the overall Business Tier ARR company wide and if we factor in self-service to the total ARR, the number settles at 19% total company ARR. Simple math would suggest I helped drive $114M toward the overall valuation. Am I getting even 1% of that slice, not exactly but based on my Angel Employee position I do feel I’m getting a pretty fair share and feel good with what I contributed. Should I exit based on the current $1.5B valuation, I wouldn’t be able to retire but would certainly have a nice cushion. Should the company exit at say $6.5B (similar to Mulesoft), I could “self-retire” as I call it and likely be set for life. So, am I getting the short end of the stick? Only if the company falls off a cliff...otherwise, doesn’t feel that way to me as an Angel Employee.

So why should the Angel Employee be celebrated and rewarded? Risk vs reward yes, but more importantly impact. Someone once said the first 25 employees make up the culture of the company and while that’s true - I’d argue the first 25 have the biggest impact. When founders can recruit and retain talented individuals that have entrepreneurial experience, understand what it takes to get a startup off the ground, scale the startup, and drive revenue in the right direction it can have a significant positive effect on the overall success of the company and the commensurate valuation associated with a startup’s success. These are the folks that give their blood, sweat, and tears. They bleed your company’s colors, take ownership as if it they were a founder, and make sacrifices for the good of the company. So why not reward them with an equity package that makes them feel like an owner? It worked for me and is a major contributing factor to my dedication to the company.

While cap tables can influence founders ability to reward early employees - it would behoove them to not take equity for granted as part of the compensation plan and invest in the team members that can help drive the business forward in all regards. Feeling like an owner is more powerful than any other motivator for the Angel Employee class and shouldn’t be reserved just for a future Exec-Level hire who will wait to join the company until the risk is reduced and there is a parachute package. In fact, I’d argue Angle Employee’s should be treated the same as those future C-Level hires, if not better, because if the company doesn’t get off the ground...well, there will be no opportunity to dole out those reserved stock options as the company simply won’t exist.

30-minute Comedy Break

3/5/2019

Back in 2001, my family had a reunion after a 10-year gap and I was meeting a lot of family members I barely knew. One such member was my cousin Gaetana. We all had an amazing time and laughed for what seemed like all weekend. Shortly after, Gaetana called me and asked how I kept such high spirits, I replied with “Well, I watch The Simpson’s like four times a day.” Back then, I was in college so I obviously had a lot of free time. Also, I just came off of a psychology 101 course which we reviewed a case study on a man who had cancer and used laughter to help him beat the disease. So, I figured it was a pretty good idea.

It wasn’t the particular show – The Simpson’s – that put me in such great spirits but more so the concept that laughter is a positive influence in one’s life and comedy is a major source of laughter. This isn’t a profound statement or anything as many sales books speak to keeping a positive state of mind. Jeffery Gitomer quotes in his book – The Sales Bible: “Make them laugh, make them buy.” He also mentions how all things being equal, people buy from those they like and all things being not-so-equal, they still buy from those they like. So, what’s the best way to get people to like you – make them laugh!

While having 2+ hours a day available while in college, that’s definitely not realistic in the working world. More to the point, especially in Sales, it’s far too easy to let the pressure and stress of the day-to-day suck the positive energy right out of you and that can of course lead you down a very unsuccessful spiral. So, what’s one way to keep the positive energy up and maintain high spirits?

I’m a firm believer in the “30-minute comedy break.” Essentially, carving out at least 30 minutes a day to watch, listen, read, etc., something that makes you laugh. Whether that’s jumping into in a conference room and spinning up a few YouTube clips or sneaking in your favorite comedy sit-com on your commute into the office, doesn’t really matter. The point is to dedicate time each and every day to make sure you’re laughing and keeping your positive state of mind. Why is that important in Sales?

Who would you rather buy from – the person who makes you laugh, feel comfortable, and has a positive outlook on life or someone who is short, stressed, and maybe even pressuring you as their negative framework feels more like a late night news reporter? The answer is pretty straightforward but again, it’s all too often overlooked as the daily grind starts to take its toll. This also helps holistically as you interact with co-workers, family members, and even strangers on the street.

Team, Product, Hustle – What you need to master to succeed in your new gig

8/2/2018

I’ve recently been helping to onboard a plethora of new hires to our sales team and have noticed a very common trend among the more successful account executives (AEs) who ramp up fast and start to produce.

When I meet with a new hire for the first time, I always challenge them with the old African proverb which most people have never heard. I myself learned about it in Asia of all places. It goes like this- “When the sun raises in Africa, it doesn’t matter if you’re the Lion or the Gazelle, you better start running your ass off.” And I always follow-up with “This is Africa (T.I.A.) – every startup is.” The purpose of this orientation is to ensure everyone is giving 110% to the company and hustling as hard as they can. While that certainly is a major factor, I’ve learned along the way that the truly best sales professionals need three fundamental foundations to maximize their effectiveness – Team, Product, then Hustle.

Why is Team so important – because Teamwork Definitely Makes the Dream Work! Seriously, every deal whether small or large takes a team to execute. While larger deals require larger teams, rarely is any deal closed by a single, superhero Account Executive. As a new AE, it is critical to take the time to meet every member of the team, even those who are not on the immediate team, to develop a strong working relationship. All too often, an AE is focused on passing their sales cert so they can get out there selling - which makes sense - but that’s like flying through boot camp only to get to the front line of battle without a gun. Yes, you’re at the front line but you didn’t take the time to stop by the armory to meet the sergeant who issues firearms. So now, you need to go back to the armory and introduce yourself, likely in a sheepish manner, to ask for something – in this case your gun. And it won’t be the last time, your gun will break, you’ll need a different type of weapon along the way, etc. As is the case in sales, an AE tends to “go back” and ask for something from the company to ensure that a deal closes. This could be simple things like a discount for a multi-year contract, or no use of logo, etc. but in other cases, it’s something like a new product feature or an extension on a current feature that isn’t par with the market. If you haven’t taken the time to learn who does what within the organization, how those teams are structured, how they work, etc. – meeting the needs of your prospect to get the deal over the line is going to be very difficult and potentially could even kill your deal. I’ve seen deals die simply because someone was afraid to ask or thought they couldn’t meet the request so never even tried. Having a strong team dynamic and professional relationships in place will avail such concerns and at least give you the opportunity to work with the right folks to meet the needs of your prospect.

Why is Product so important – well, sure, if you don’t know what you’re selling then you’ll lose all credibility with the prospect and ultimately the sale. That’s fairly well known. However, what I see with most new AEs is they only take the time to learn the product on the surface – just enough to get through the first sales meeting and then let their Sales Engineer (SE) take it from there. While you can skid by on that for a bit, you won’t close any monster deals that way and you’ll flatten out. What the best AEs do is learn the product, sure, but then learn all the Use Cases the product solves and explain why their product is the best tool to solve for those Use Cases. You see, most prospects actually really only care about the end result, what they can do with the product, and how it will help move the needle. The best way to communicate this is through Use Case stories – everyone loves stories of course. However, if you explain a Use Case and someone asks, “that’s awesome, how does your product achieve that,” and you have a blank stare on your face…..boom, you just lost the deal because now you’ve lost credibility. So, why is it so important to learn about the Product……so you can learn the Use Cases and explain them both from a business perspective and also a technical perspective when challenged.

Why is Hustle so important – because you either eat or get eaten….T.I.A. If you need any more explanation on this point – maybe you shouldn’t be in sales :-)

Before you send that Proposal

4/27/2016

You’ve done all your research before the first sales call. You know what their business is all about; their economic drivers, their KPI’s, what their potential pain point is and why they’re talking to you. You even looked up your prospect on LinkedIn and found a few common connections. You’re completely confident before taking that first call with the prospect and you’re ready to blow their socks off.

Then, you take the call and true to form you learn everything about their business needs. You learned more, dug deep, and find out what the ever-elusive compelling event is and the timing around bringing your solution on-board. The prospect is excited and you think, “oh man, this is a real qualified prospect and I think it’s a right fit.” Now you’re just as excited as the prospect and he/she says, “can you send me a proposal,” you say, “of course, I’ll get it to you right away.” STOP! You’ve just made a terrible mistake! Here’s what you likely don’t know from a first call.

First of all, do they really want to buy your product? Is this truly the solution they’re looking for or did they just get excited because the passion and enthusiasm you have in your voice transcended the phone line and they’re riding your energy. Are they the economic buyer? Will they sign on the dotted line or someone else? Who else is involved in the decision making process? What is the process for bringing a solution like yours into their organization? What criteria must be met for all the stakeholders to sign off on this deal? Who are the other stakeholders?

As you can see, there is a lot more work that needs to be done here and if you blindly send off a proposal without truly understanding the landscape your prospects operates in; you’re setting yourself up for failure. You’ll send off that proposal which outlines your offering, your price, etc., and then you’ll hear the sound of crickets similar to that of a warm summer’s night.

I was once guilty of this myself and I’ve seen this happen all to often with other sales folks; especially when you’re selling a high-ticket item. The reality is it takes a lot of effort and time on your end to craft a proposal that meets the needs of this specific prospect. More to the point, once you submit that proposal you’re pretty much locked into that price; even if you uncover later that there is a lot more work needed to support this account. So, avoid that pain of disappointment and pile the onion back now to see if you’re going to be making onion soup for dinner or just tearing up after the first cut.

Here’s my response: “Sure, I’d be happy to send you a proposal. I have a few questions first. I’d like to establish that this is truly the product you want. If I told you the product was $1, would you buy it today?”

Prospects tend to get thrown off by this question. “It’s only $1?” Of course it’s not, but what you’re doing here is saying that the money isn’t relevant at the moment. What needs to be established is that no matter what the price, this is the right product at the right time. I’m not saying price is a myth; it’s real and deals do get killed because of price. What I’m saying is that the business case needs to be identified and solved first, before getting to price.

This gets the prospect thinking about the check boxes mentioned above – i.e. who else needs to be involved, what does success look like internally, who will sign off on this, etc. Now you’ve challenged the prospect and you’re getting them to think about if this is truly the right product or if they’re just trying to get a price so they can qualify YOU! I once had an evaluator tell me, “I can’t even take this to my boss based on the price in this proposal.” We ended up doing the deal with her company. Why you ask? Because the business case was strong and that is what ultimately matters.

This tends to be an assertive approach and akin to The Challenger Sale. It’s an approach that most prospects are not accustomed to when soliciting bids with vendors, so you may get some pushback. If that happens, it’s okay to verbally give them a ballpark number because you don’t want to seem like you’re hiding something and being upfront/honest is the forefront of a long-term relationship. Also, this is a good opportunity for you to do some additional qualifying before you go do all the work associated with that proposal.

Say something like, “our standard pricing for a deal like this is $ABC” or “based on what you’ve told me, I suspect this would be around $XYZ” or “in the past, we’ve done similar deals like this for $123.” However, always follow that up with “of course, each business is unique so this is just a general ballpark and the price could be higher or lower based on your exact needs and requirements.” Again, not locking yourself into anything specific that could come back to bite you.

Once you’ve pumped the breaks and slowed things down a bit, the prospect will start thinking about what he/she needs to do internally to move forward. Typically, the result of this type of dialogue will lead to a follow-up call with other stakeholders. That next meeting is the critical moment for you to determine if there is a real deal here and warrants the work of a lengthy proposal with a price tag. It may turn out that there is no deal to be had.

The good news is, if there is a deal here, you’ve made it far enough to set appropriate expectations so when you send your proposal it will have the backing of multiple stakeholders and the conversation will become about “how do we make this happen” verses “should we even do this?”

You FLIPPIN’ get what you FLIPPIN’ pay for!

2/27/2016

I bought my wife a Canon XL1 camera for Christmas so I could record her live singing performances on Sunday mornings at church. I ended up finding a used one online on Amazon for half the price and I figured “it’s basically the same thing right.” Boy, was I wrong.

The camera arrived late which wasn’t the end of the world, I have a very understanding wife, but it was a little annoying. When I tested it out, the flipping thing didn’t record! It didn’t capture any video at all. I was pretty furious but figured it was just that particular camera; not systemic. So, I packaged everything back up and returned it - paying $40 out of my own pocket for return shipping and waiting weeks for the refund.

Once I received the refund, I bought a similar used camera from a different vendor this time and tried it out right away to make sure it worked. Thank God, this one did. So, finally, I was able to start recording my wife singing on stage.

Once I used up the first 60 minutes of recording I went to export the data. What? I need a FireWire cable? It didn't come with a FireWire cable. That’s okay I thought, I’ll just swing by a BestBuy and pick one up. What? BestBuy doesn’t sell FireWire cable anymore? How ridiculous is that? Now, I have to order it online for $15 and wait for it to come in the mail.

About a week later I receive the cable. Yes, I can finally download the recordings. I open the package and proceed to plug into my MacBook Air. What? I don’t have a FireWire plug on my MacBook? Oh boy, I thought, this is really starting to become frustrating. So, now I have to order a FireWire to USB cable online for another $15 and wait another week.

It finally arrives; I plug it in and NOTHING. Turns out, you can only download photos through a USB port. What? Now I have to order a Thunderbolt to FireWire converter online for $40. By now, in addition to rotating through 2 different cameras I’ve spent $70 on stupid cables. It’s been two months since I made that first purchase and I have absolutely nothing to show for it.

Look, we all know the saying and we never think it’s going to happen to us….so let me say it another way. You FLIPPIN’ get what you FLIPPIN’ pay for. I’m replacing the word I want to say with FLIPPING because I ultimately don’t know who is going to read this.

Morel of the story – don’t be FLIPPIN’ cheap, maybe that’s why I’ve been a MAC/iPhone guy for years now, and I’m lucky to have such an understanding wife (even for a Jersey girl:-).

Transaction Relationship vs Relationship Transaction

2/22/2015

What’s the difference between the professional salesperson and the fly by night sales guy? What’s the difference between the sales person that everyone loves and the person that gives all other sales folks bad names and makes tech developers absolutely hate us? The difference is understanding the relationship between the transaction.

I recently on-boarded a new customer to Segment that I had actually closed when I was at my previous company, Braintree Payments. The new customer is famous in the tech world and is notorious throughout the tech world as being one of the hardest companies to work with. They have a very “not made here” mentality and vendors often run into the cultural challenges of the internal dynamics.

However, when I approached them to take a look at Segment and my exciting new gig, I was welcomed with open arms. In fact, all the folks I worked with previously were happy to see me and looked forward to working with me again. I was surprised and honored, to be honest.

When I think about my first transaction with this particular company, I came to realize that I invested heavily in the relationship while still maintaining a professional status which allowed me to not only create a great partnership but also allowed me to close the deal, making both ends of the stakeholders happy and satisfied. I was friendly and kind, but not so much so that I crossed over into the “friend zone.” I was honest and fair and did everything I could on the business side to get them the best possible commercial terms based on my limitations and communicated clearly that I did so.

Often times, I see so many sales people think only about their immediate satisfaction and trying to squeeze every single penny out of the transaction. The usual suspects are typically high-pressure sales tactics, trying to push a specific agenda, diving deep for those “one liners” like they’ll actually help to close the deal – which is a bit sad. At the end of the day, when you’re selling for growth, selling in the tech world and in the micro-bubble known as Silicon Valley, those type of shenanigans are quickly dismissed.

What people ultimately value and respect is when you provide a great product at a fair price and that you’re as straight up as possible. And if you can offer the best commercial terms (price, terms, conditions, etc.) and make it known that you have fought hard to get the best terms, people, respect and remember that. They come to trust you and now you have relationship in place and that you can take anywhere – which is the ultimate compliment to a professional salesperson.

Patience AND Persistence

6/15/2014

Shortly after we moved into our new Braintree office in San Francisco, the team decided we needed to name the conference rooms. They were nice enough to lovingly name the room I spend half my day in the “Shark Tank.” Mostly because this is where I lock myself in, pick up the phone, and make cold calls for 3-4 hours a day almost every single day; also because my colleague Pat once drew a shark eating my head on the clear glass window.

Cold calling is by far the hardest and most mentally straining activity associated with sales. This reminds me of what it takes to be successful as a sales person. What I have come to realize over the years is that a good salesperson knows how to balance patience and persistence!

When I think about some of the biggest deals I have closed, they’ve mostly started with a very persistent cold calling session. But once I made a connection and established a relationship, it usually took months (if not years) to actually close the deal. When I think about my first company – Phastcash.com – it took us 6 months to land our most profitable paying customer. When I think about my second company – GEP – we literally started the conversation 15 months before the first group from Russia actually landed at SFO.

At PowerBeam I sold to the CTO at Honeywell, top executives at Duracell, AT&T, Samsung, etc.; all of which took months to close. However, the biggest development deal we did was with the audio group at Logitech. What was the sales cycle on that deal? Over 2 years of conversations and dialogue before we actually got a check. But it was a big check and the project we did had the potential to be a real game changer. The most enjoyable development deal we did, of course, was with Apple; once they decide to do something they do it quickly and efficiently.

Even when I was at WePay, which had a typical sales cycle of just a few weeks, I landed one of the biggest and fastest growing accounts of the 2012 calendar year by spending 5 months and dozens of follow-ups with a prospect that others would have just written off after a few “no response” calls.

In my opinion, one needs to be super aggressive and persistent in making that first connection and actually getting someone on the phone. However, once you make contact and start to develop that relationship you want to show a level of professionalism that is respectful to their timelines and also displays a sense of confidence on your end. If you are still very aggressive to move the deal along and become “annoying” you run the risk of looking like someone who NEEDS the deal. There is an old saying – a broke salesperson stinks. Don’t stink – that’s why you take a shower everyday. So once you have them interested, slow down and move foreword wisely.

Patience also shows your experience and maturity. Anyone that has sold to Fortune 500 companies knows that these deals tend to be complex, involve multiple layers with several decision makers, and take time to become a priority within the business unit. If you don’t understand this, you can come off as naïve and turn off your prospects. Also, remember, everyone in a big corporation as to justify to their bosses why they are working for you – so you and your company need to be credible.

Now, with that being said, there certainly is an appropriate time to lean in and close the deal. In fact, when the timing is right, it is more than appropriate. It’s akin to dating. In the beginning, you get those first few dates. Then the girl/boy starts to like you and the next thing you know you two are in a serious relationship. After the appropriate amount of time goes by you decide, “hey, time to move forward with our relationship or move on.” Once you feel that in your business relationship with your prospect, that’s when you start to be a bit more persistent in terms of the close. If you have developed the relationship appropriately, bring the right value to the table, and are the right fit for them…not only is it appropriate but your prospect will embrace the nudge and recognize it is time to make a decision. You will then be in a much better position to close the deal and be a hero. If not, you cut it loose and get back to hunting. Again, very similar to dating.

It is important to remember that the bigger deals take longer, so set you and your boss’ expectations of this fact. The worse is when you get an inexperienced boss who wants everything “now, now, now.” I worked for a guy like that once, BUT only for 3 months and I’ll never do it again. As with life, it’s a marathon so get in the right race, with the right team, with the right product, and enjoy the ride. If things are running smoothly, you should be getting a runner’s high.

The Great Debate: Is Sales a Science or an Art?

3/28/2014

Since the beginning of the formal sales process, executives have debated on if sales people are born or made. Essentially, can sales people be taught to be successful or are they simply naturally born successes? My view on the matter is that it’s not a choice between one or the other, the answer is both!

The “science” of the sales process can be taught and deals can be closed. If a sales person is diligent and follows the process as designed by proper leadership, that person can have a very successful career. But it takes the “art” in the sales person to close the really big, tough deals. It takes touch, intuition, charisma, relationship building, etc. to close the “elephants” or “whales;” the type of deal that pays everyone’s salary for a year or even two.

I was asked by a VP of Sales to give a presentation on the topic a few weeks ago to her sales team. I have included the slide deck below, which are helpful to look at but not as effective without the verbal content. I literally took the entire hour to go over 10 slides.

I had two main points I wanted to get across. The first one is that sales can either SUCK or ROCK depending on your personal leadership and outlook on life. It is managements’ responsibility to support the sales person, provide the proper resources, training, leads to ensure commission checks are fat, etc. But at the end of the day it is the individual’s duty to ensure his/her own success.

The second point is that sales is both a science and an art. The processes and practice I outlined can provide a model for a successful sales process. If one follows a similar process, they have a daily routine to hold themselves accountable to that process and use the tools out there designed to help them be successful (i.e. CRM’s like Salesforce or Zoho), even a person who does not consider themselves a natural sales person can be successful. The bottom line in the entire process – lock yourself in a room for 2-3 hours every single day (even Monday and Friday) and MAKE THE CALLS. Be disciplined and you WILL see the results.

Now the art of the sale is a little more in depth and can’t be taught in a one-hour presentation. Experience and a good mentor are probably the best teachers. In lieu of those resources, I recommend reading books like The Sandler Rules, The Sales Bible and I just started reading The 10X Rule which is really excellent. In terms of fundamentals, I would say The Sandler Rules is the best book out there. I personally re-read this book at the beginning of every quarter. I also consistently listen to a sales book or other business related book on a daily basis (I’m a big audio book guy based on my commute). You need to learn from the best if you want to be the best and if you want to win a gold medal in the Olympics, you need to train hard every single day.

So get out there, find a process that works for you, and go kill it!

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