Built with talent

In this episode of the GTM Mentors Podcast, Carrie Ball discusses her experience with Rippling, focusing on the company's rapid growth in the APAC region and the unique challenges of hiring in a competitive market. She emphasizes the importance of a well-resourced recruitment team, the cultural fit of candidates, and the strategies employed to attract top talent. Carrie also shares insights on leveraging LinkedIn for candidate engagement and offers practical advice for job seekers on how to stand out in the hiring process.

In this episode, Dan Shaw shares his unique journey in sales leadership, discussing the importance of resilience, communication, and problem-solving skills. He emphasizes the need for leaders to adapt and prioritize effectively in high-pressure environments. Dan also highlights the significance of understanding market dynamics and the value of taking on challenging roles to advance one's career. The conversation provides insights into the characteristics of successful salespeople and leaders, as well as advice for those looking to transition into leadership roles.Comfort with discomfort is key to success.Hiring from diverse backgrounds can yield great results.Sales reps and leaders require different skill sets.Clear communication is crucial in sales.Problem-solving mindset is essential for leadership.Leaders should prioritize urgent and important tasks.Understanding market dynamics is vital for sales success.Taking on challenging roles can accelerate career growth.Leadership is about impact and solving interesting problems.The path to leadership is not always linear.

In this episode, Daniel West, CEO of Prospection, discusses the concept of go-to-market and the changes he has seen in how businesses approach it. He emphasizes the shift towards a senior executive role responsible for all functions that contribute to a company's go-to-market strategy. West also shares insights on the challenges faced by SaaS businesses, such as revenue leakage, and the importance of clarity and a compelling value proposition for the sales team. He highlights the need for characteristics like resilience, curiosity, effective communication, and a process mindset in salespeople. Daniel also discusses his career trajectory and offers advice for aspiring go-to-market leaders.

An excerpt from the episode with Bethany Nyberg, former AVP, DocuSign.

Beth Nyberg, former Area Vice President at DocuSign, shares her journey into tech sales and offers advice for success in the industry. She discusses how she stumbled into tech sales after discovering the value of technology in solving business problems. Beth emphasizes the importance of being customer-obsessed and highlights that solution selling is a highly skilled craft. She also talks about the challenges and pressures of the fast-paced tech sales industry and the need for work-life balance. Beth shares her philosophy on setting up a commercial sales practice, including building an intentional culture and focusing on org design. She emphasizes the importance of hiring hungry, coachable, and resilient individuals and provides tips for evaluating these traits during the hiring process. Beth also offers career advice for those starting their tech sales careers, including the importance of continuous learning and creating a career plan.

Jeff Chan, Global Enablement Sales Onboarding Lead for APAC at Salesforce, discusses the importance of onboarding and enablement in sales organizations. He emphasizes the need for sales reps to have a strong foundation in product and technical knowledge, negotiation skills, and deal mechanics. Jeff also highlights the significance of building rapport and trust with customers, as well as the value of teamwork and collaboration. He shares insights on the onboarding program at Salesforce and provides advice for startups on creating their own enablement function. Jeff concludes by discussing the qualities of successful salespeople, including their ability to see around the corner and provide unique insights to customers.

Nathan Schubert, a go-to-market expert in the Australian SaaS industry, discusses his experience and insights on scaling SaaS startups. He highlights the different phases of growth that startups go through and the various roles he has held in sales and go-to-market leadership. Nathan emphasizes the importance of adaptability and being entrepreneurial in the early stages of a startup. He also discusses the shift in buyer behavior and the need for a more holistic approach to go-to-market, including marketing, customer success, and revenue operations. Nathan suggests analyzing acquisition spend, focusing on right-fit customers, and aligning sales productivity and efficiency. He also emphasizes the role of revenue operations in driving go-to-market strategies and the potential for automation and AI to improve efficiency in the sales process. The conversation explores the changing dynamics of sales in the SaaS industry and the need for a more unified go-to-market approach, and the implications for Salespeople and Sales Leaders.

The latest episode of GrowthPulse The B2B Sales Podcast is now live, featuring the insightful Jonjo O'Hara! 🏆Join me Daniel Bartels and Simon Peterson as they dive into the essential traits that define top-performing sales professionals. In this episode titled "Be the Sales Rep Every VP Wants to Hire" you will learn:💪 The Importance of Resilience: Discover how resilience helps sales professionals bounce back from setbacks and continuously improve.🔥 Harnessing Competitiveness: Understand how a competitive spirit can push your team to exceed their targets and innovate.🎯 Effective Hiring Strategies: Get actionable tips on identifying and recruiting top talent with the foundational traits needed for success.Tune in to gain valuable insights and practical advice that can elevate your sales game to the next level. Whether you're a sales leader, an aspiring salesperson, or just passionate about B2B sales, this episode is packed with nuggets of wisdom you can implement right away.

Tom Karemacher shares his experience as former APAC Head of Procore, scaling the business from founding team to +180 staff over five years. He shares the challenges and rewards of fatherhood, the impact of mentorship, and the ingredients for high-performance career. He also discusses the future of green tech/ climate tech and the potential application of the traditional SaaS model to drive growth to 'net zero 2050'.

Vijay talks about his experiences at NetSuite, AirWallex and BlackLine, emphasizing the importance of hiring for character and resilience. He discusses the different approaches to building go-to-market sales organizations and the cultural aspects that contribute to a high-performance sales culture. Vijay explores the generational shifts in the sales industry and the changing motivations of younger sales professionals. The conversation explores the changing landscape of sales and the characteristics of the next generation of sales professionals. It emphasizes the importance of passion, ethics, and a focus on personal development in sales. The discussion also touches on the impact of societal changes on the sales industry, such as shifting life ambitions and the desire for more immediate experiences. The conversation concludes with insights on how to attract and nurture the new generation of salespeople, including creating a culture of making a positive difference and providing opportunities for growth and learning.

In this episode, Jonjo and Carl provide an update on hiring trends and compensation in the SaaS go-to-market industry. They discuss the state of the market, the areas of opportunities, the demand for leadership roles and customer success, the resilience of new business reps, and the impact on salary conditions. They also offer advice for candidates and hiring managers. The episode concludes with a mention of a compensation and hiring trends report available to listeners.

Luke Power is Managing Director Australia of Trellix. Trellix is a global cybersecurity company, formed as a merger between FireEye and McAfee Enterprise. He’s also previously held Managing Director roles at tech businesses including Cisco, and Avaya.Luke shares his journey into the tech sector, starting from a young age and building his skills through hands-on experience. He emphasizes the importance of mentors and the value of learning and self-training in the fast-paced tech industry. Luke also discusses the path to sales leadership. He encourages individuals to own their own careers and work backwards from their desired end result. Luke also shares his personal experience of being diagnosed with cancer and how it shaped his perspective on leadership and resilience. 

I'm joined by Keith Payne, Vice President, Nintex (Former insightsoftware, SAP Concur) on the latest episode – ‘A winning sales culture’.In sport and sales I’ve always been fascinated by culture. How do you instil a culture when you take on leadership of a new organisation? Keith brings over a decade of experience as a Sales Leader, and somebody who thinks about this question a lot,A big Man City fan, I ask him about Pep Guardiola and how he was able to impact the culture of a club in such a significant way. And how this translates in the corporate world.If you’re interested in sales, sport this is a really fascinating conversation. And, a unique insight in to a VP Sales first 90 days in a new organisation.

A brilliant chat with Adam Hobbs, VP Global Sales at HammerTech. Founded in Melbourne, the business supports 80% of the top 100 Building Companies in Australia, including +100,000 users. Adam has since helped launch in the US, Canada, UK, and New Zealand. Residing between California and Melbourne, Adam travels constantly and shares best practices in managing health and productivity in transit. Including how he makes a 10k run in each new city he visits!We talk elite performance, and the demands, challenges, and joys of scaling internationally. 

I was joined by elite Leader, Matthew Hanmer for a candid account of life as a VP Sales in the competitive and rewarding industry of technology sales. Currently Vice President and Managing Director, APJ at Anomali, Matt has spent more than 19 years APJC experience as a Senior Executive in IT and Cyber Security. With a track record if driving growth, I was curious to understand the secret to building high-performance teams.I was intrigued by Matt’s approach to commercial success, but also a thoughtful and balanced philosophy to work and life. We discussed:The state of sales in 2023/24Building high-performing teamsBalancing stakeholder, corporate and employee value and expectations + much more.* The views and opinions expressed are the speaker’s own and do not represent the opinions of Anomali.

Alistair is a former Australian Pro Golfer one one of the country's most recognised elite players. He competed at the US Open, the PGA Championship and Masters Tournament. Since retiring from the professional game he's transitioned to a career in technology sales, finding early success with Oracle and Mpower MSL. We discuss his entry to professional sport and the tenets that led to his journey to the very elite level of professional golf. We also talk about his transition to the corporate sector, and the skills and experiences that have translated to the sales profession.

With a sales and leadership career spanning + 15 years, Allie has worked with some of the world's most prominent technology brands including Salesforce, Adobe, NetSuite, and now Zendesk. Passionate about building high-performance teams, we discuss the current state of 'outbound' + much more.

About a year ago, I posted about an impressive chap. A teacher, he called and asked if I could help him get in to tech sales. There was a great community response and we ultimately crowd-sourced an intro to one of the best firms in the business. The rest was down to him. As expected, he's been a fantastic addition to Salesforce and a consistent high performer. I have so much time for Vinodh Narasimhan so was really pleased to have him on this week's podcast. We talked through his first 12 months as 'high-performing teacher' turned 'high-performing tech BDR'.  

Meri Kukkonen is a former elite athlete and Sales Leader, currently AU Country Manager with US HQ'd Software firm, MitraTech. Meri took an early interest in leadership and has spent almost 10 years manahing high performing teams in the software industry. She shares her journey in to leadership, career development, and the traits she looks for when building a team. 

Elite performance in SaaS sales?I ask Ankesh Chopra who's led some of the most disruptive, high performing SaaS firms in APAC (AppDynamics, ZScaler and now ClickUp).We discuss:What makes a great rep?Can reps go from good to great?The roots of success?Coaching for greatness + much more.