Sales Game Changers | Tips from Successful Sales Leaders

This is episode 186. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. DAVE'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "I think too often we don't step back and think about the fact that we're helping people and it's something that's a very important part of a company's existence and the American economy. We make a difference. Every day I get up and I'm excited to go and talk about these brands and help our clients grow their business." David Scopinich is the VP and Director of Sales at Entercom, Philadelphia. Dave has been in radio advertising sales since 2007. We also interviewed Ivy Savoy-Smith, Dave's counterpart in Washington DC for this podcast. Find Dave on LinkedIn!

This is episode 185. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. PAUL'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Put your cell phones down. This is a face-to-face business and I think unfortunately the younger generation of folks coming in have grown up with mobile technologies and they really believe that they can communicate in an effective manner by text messaging or social media or even email. The most important thing is networking and get face-to-face. If you're going to use your cell phone, actually use it as a phone." Paul Smith is the General Manager for Red Hat Public Sector. Prior to that, he held sales leadership positions at Veritas, Netscape and Oracle. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Institute for Excellence in Sales in 2017 Find Paul on LinkedIn!

This is episode 184. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. LEE'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Negotiation isn't about a winning and a losing part - negotiation is about winning for both sides. If you go into a conversation with a customer or you go into any type of interaction in life and you think about it that way, you're probably going to be better off. Leave some money on the table for the next guy and keep moving." Lee Kestler is the Chief Commercial Officer at Vantage Data Centers. He's been in the data center space for 20 years. Previously, he was involved with DuPont Fabros Technology (since purchased by Digital Realty), where he was very instrumental in bringing them to market and their success. Find Lee on LinkedIn!

This is episode 183. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. MICHAEL'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Be respectful. I want to encourage everybody in this field to respect your client, respect their buying processes, respect their finances, make sure that you're delivering on your promises. Most of all, respect yourself enough to prepare and do the right things and be the best you can be. I think that if you're respectful and you do the right things, you'll go in the right direction." Michael Euripides is the Vice President of Business Development for Proxios. Prior to going to Proxios, he held sales leadership positions at CC Pace and Impact Makers. Find Michael on LinkedIn!

This is episode 182. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. SCOTT'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "It's what they say in Jerry Maguire, "Help me help you." It's for them to tell their story and share how they're thinking, what they'd like to learn and give upward feedback to their leaders. If they do that, the leaders have a better understanding of them and they'll be much more apt to lead them more effectively." Scott DiGiammarino is the CEO and founder of MovieComm. He was a sales leader at American Express for 25 years. Find Scott on LinkedIn!

This is episode 181. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website PATTI'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Embrace learning, make mistakes, stay focused and find those friends and people that are going to inspire you and keep you motivated." Patti Dumas is the Senior VP of Sales at MOSAIC. Prior to MOSAIC, she held sales and marketing leadership positions at HBP and Balmar. Find Patti on LinkedIn!

This is episode 180. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. VINCE'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Don't give up. Follow up and persevere - show that grit. Those people who continue to forge ahead will always find a measure of success. Those that give up, they're making their own choice to not be successful." Vince Burruano is the VP of Commercial Sales for JK Moving. Prior to coming to JK he held sales leadership positions at Oce, Icon and Ricoh. Find Vince on LinkedIn!

This is episode 179. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. BRIAN'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Don't be afraid to qualify out. Stop trying to qualify in, start trying to qualify out and if you can't qualify it out, it's a good lead, it's a good prospect." Brian Egenrieder is the Chief Revenue Officer at SyncDog. Prior to coming over to SyncDog, he held sales leadership positions at Deltek, IBM, Web Methods and Sterling Commerce. Find Brian on LinkedIn!

This is episode 178. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. PATRICK'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Your #1 focus is to help the people that you are working with understand the value of what you do. Once you really understand the impact that what you're proposing can have on their lives and on the organizations that they work for, you almost have a fiduciary responsibility to do your best to make the case for it." Patrick Devlin is Chief Business Development Officer at Meridian Knowledge Solutions. He's held sales leadership positions at Cornerstone OnDemand, Blackboard and Symplicity. Find Patrick on LinkedIn!

This is episode 177. Read the complete transcript on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. RORY'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Think of others and put yourself in their shoes. I had a CEO that said to our salesforce many times, "Pull your chair around the side of the table and sit on their side of the table." Push hard at really understanding others and then doing something with that understanding." Rory Channer is the Chief Business Development Officer at the McDermott, Will & Emery Law Firm. MWE is a 2019 Institute for Excellence in Sales Innovation Award winner. Previously, he was at Ruffalo Noel Levitz, a marketing services firm. He was also at CEB, now Gartner. Find Rory on LinkedIn!

This is episode 176. Read the transcript on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. CLARA'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Never underestimate your growth mindset and constantly check yourself on this. We get bombarded with the media telling you there's going to be a recession, there's less opportunity, there's all kinds of things. You have to tune all of that out and focus on a growth mindset, because without a growth mindset you won't be able to embrace the new opportunities that are coming your way." Clara Conti is a partner at IBM and is an executive on the sales and growth team leading all capture and proposal for all large federal deals at IBM. She's held sales leadership positions at Source America and was the CEO at ObjectVideo, IPIX and Aurora. Find Clara on LinkedIn!

This is episode 175. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. HEATHER'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Continue to learn, grow, evolve and improve every day and so will you. Find the places that you're willing to learn to work hard, to continue to get better. Just keep on working at it and enjoy the journey." Heather Combs is the Chief Revenue Officer for 3Pillar Global and is passionate about the role that women play in leadership and sales. If you recognize her name, we previously interviewed Heather on her career journey in sales and sales leadership. You can find that episode at here. The Institute for Excellence in Sales will be holding its second Women in Sales Leadership Forum starting on October 11. We wanted to take this opportunity to talk to Heather about some of the opportunities facing women in sales and some ways that they can direct their career. Find Heather on LinkedIn!

This is episode 174. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. CHRIS' FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "If we all bring some of those basic elements of PRIDE to our work each and every day - if we're passionate, respectful, intelligent, we have a disciplined approach and we bring a lot of energy and effort to the job each and every day - we can have successful outcomes." Chris Brady is the head of North American Sales at Learning Tree International. He spent his entire career at Learning Tree International and has held multiple individual and management roles before becoming the head of North American sales. Find Chris on LinkedIn!

This show originally aired on March 13, 2019. Read the complete transcript on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. ALLISON'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "To be great in sales – to have a sense of real reward in your career – it is about the people. I would say mentor, learn from all of those around you and then share your experience and knowledge." Allison Patrick is a Senior VP of Sales at MAXIMUS Federal. Prior to coming to MAXIMUS Federal, she held leadership positions at Accenture Federal, SAIC and SRA. Find Allison on LinkedIn!

This is an encore presentation of an episode that first aired on April 17, 2019. Read the complete transcript on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. ROB'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Find something that you believe in. It could be a cool product, it could be a technology, it could be an industry, it could be a customer set like I'm passionate about serving the Defense customer. Once you find that, put everything you have into it. Just immerse yourself and then finally find somebody to hook your wagon to, to help you, guide you along the way and help bring you along." Rob Stein is the VP for US Public Sector at NetApp. Prior to coming to NetApp, he held sales leadership positions at Oracle and a number of defense contractors. Nice reference to past Sales Game Changers Podcast guests Mark Weber and Dave Rey. Find Rob on LinkedIn!

Encore presentation. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. BRIAN'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "The best of sales reps are always going to know their product and solution cold. They're going to know and appreciate the types of pains and issues that businesses have and because they have that passion, they're going to be able to connect that and have much more fruitful conversations." Brian Ludwig is the Senior VP of Sales at Cvent. He's been with Cvent for 19 years and took over sales leadership in 2007. Like Podcast host Fred Diamond, Brian is a native of Philadelphia and a graduate of Emory University. Find Brian on LinkedIn!

This is episode 173. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. DAVID'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Know your product, know your customers. Lean on your company for help and get your face in the place. Those are the things I think about the most." David Mitchell is the Senior VP of Worldwide Sales at Appian. If you recall the name Appian, we interviewed past sales leader Edward Hughes and Kristin Scott, current VP of US Sales at Appian, as well. Prior to coming to Appian, David was a President and COO at Version One. He was the CEO at Global 360 and was also the CEO at webMethods. Find David on LinkedIn!

This is episode 172. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. JENNIFER'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Don't put blinders on. There have been so many opportunities that have opened up for me that if I had put blinders on and said - No, this is my path, this is what I'm going to do for a certain amount of time - I would have missed out on." Jennifer Ives is the Senior VP of Client Relationships at 3Pillar Global. Prior to coming over to 3Pillar Global she held sales leadership positions at LiveSafe, Top Employers Institute, and Arlington Economic Development. Find Jennifer on LinkedIn!

Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. CORDELIA'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Be authentic. Even Dolly herself would say, "I have the wig and I have the makeup and the hair" but at the end of the day she is authentic. You may be selling widgets, but as long as it's the best widget and you love it, be authentic and follow that passion there." Cordelia Marzak is the Director of Sales for the Dollywood Company. We conducted the interview at Dollywood's DreamMore Resort and Spa located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Prior to taking over the sales leadership role at Dollywood, Cordelia held sales leadership positions at the JHM Hotel in Orlando and has worked in the hospitality space for Marriott and Hilton properties. Find Cordelia on LinkedIn!

Read the complete transcription on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. MATT'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Figure out what jazzes you. Figure out what you're chasing and don't be afraid to expose some of those goals to your peers or friends or managers so that they become real and you get a little sweat on the brow when you're trying to move through them. Do it because you want to do it. Do it because you love it." Matt Strazza is the Senior VP of Global Sales at Deltek. Prior to coming over at Deltek, he held sales leadership positions at CA Technologies and Niku Software. He also owned his own software company for 10 years as well. Find Matt on LinkedIn!

This is episode 171. Read the complete transcript on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. LANCE'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "If my job 10 hours a day was to cut down trees, I'd spend 8 hours sharpening my axe. I think that's where you should be thinking sales-wise because sales is hard today and you've got to be on your game." Lance Tyson is the founder and president of the Tyson Group. He also is the author of Selling is an Away Game. He is an expert on helping sales teams improve their sales game and help sales professionals take their skills and their profession to the next level. We've interviewed some VP's of Sales for sports teams, Ryan Bringger with the Washington Nats and Patrick Duffy with Monumental on the Podcast. Find Lance on LinkedIn!

This is episode 170. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. DAVE'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Don't ever let anybody tell you you can't do something that you really want to do. If you have a plan and a mission and you have the right people supporting you, you will get there." Dave Schlosser is the COO of the value added reseller (VAR) ThunderCat Technologies. Prior to coming to ThunderCat, he held sales leadership positions at NetApp and Sun Microsystems. Find Dave on LinkedIn!

This is episode 169. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. DAVID'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "If you want to earn, that has to be really one of your chief motivators in going into sales. If someone is not motivated by money, then again I don't know if this particular career, regardless of what product or service you're selling, is for you." David Walker is the VP of Sales for the Washington Business Journal. Prior to coming to the Business Journal, David led sales at SouthComm Digital and the Washington City Paper. Find David on LinkedIn!

This is episode 168. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. TOM'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "There's so much you can do to change performance and help people grow in their careers. It's really heartening to watch people do that. As sales managers, you have a great role to play in helping people grow in their career and you should feel empowered to help them do that." Tom Steenburgh is the Richard Reynolds Professor of Business Administration at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. He wrote the classic article in 2012 in the Harvard Business Review about motivating top performers. In the November/December issue of the Harvard Business Review, he wrote a new classic article on selling new products and how that's changed. This podcast focused on those insights. Find Tom on LinkedIn!

This is episode 167. Read the complete transcription on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. JOEL'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "If you know your product and you know your customer and their needs you can really sell anything. I've been in coffee and food service for a long time but I've come to that realization that if you do your homework, you spend your time understanding what it is you're selling and who you're selling to that it's transferable across multiple industries." Joel Kline is the VP of Sales at Nestlé Starbucks Coffee. He's the second Nestlé sales leader we've interviewed for the podcast. The first was Dominic Strada, sales leader for Nestlé Nutrition. In 2018, Starbucks Sold Nestlé the Rights to Offer Its Coffee in Stores. Read more here. Prior to coming over to Nestlé Starbucks Coffee, Joel held sales leadership positions in sales at Sysco, Sodexo and ARAMARK. Find Joel on LinkedIn!

This is episode 166. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. CHRIS' FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "If you remember nothing else, remember the value of listening, being authentic and having fun. I've been fortunate to get a lot of positive feedback in my career, but I've also gotten my fair share of constructive criticism. I think being able to listen to that, the good, the bad, the ugly and grow from it is a way that's helped me continue to grow and evolve my career. Chris Krackeler is the Vice President of Non-Profit Sales at Blackbaud. Prior to coming to Blackbaud, he held sales leadership positions at Convio and GetActive. Find Chris on LinkedIn!

This is episode 165. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. KRISTIN'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Stay curious. Be open to learning new things - and that could be new ways of selling, that could be new solutions you're offering, that could be really understanding what your customer's needs are. Make lasting relationships and act with a spirit of generosity. The importance of being generous and raising your hand to new opportunities, to helping people, to sharing your opinions and comments and advice and helping colleagues, it all comes around to help you in the end." Kristin Scott is the Vice President of US Commercial Sales at Appian. Prior to taking over sales leadership at Appian, she held sales leadership positions at CEB now known as CEB Gartner. Find Kristin on LinkedIn!

This is episode 164. Read the complete transcription on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. RANDY'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "it's the importance of giving your best and highest performance every day. Performance and performance alone dictates the predator in every food chain. Sales is no different. Each and every day in sales, people and sales leaders need to commit and understand what it takes to bring our best performance to our customers and to the company and to our teams." Randy is the Vice President of Sales Republic Sector at Akamai. Prior to taking over this role, he's held leadership positions at F5 Networks, Red Hat, and Cisco. He spent 8 years in the US Marines. Find Randy on LinkedIn!

This is episode 163. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. JOHN'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "I have never regretted thinking Big. Thinking of these goals that far surpass where I was last year, where I'd like to be and never been daunted by what I need to do to get there. Just believe in yourself and ask others and constantly improve, focus on winning and I guarantee you will." John Ryder is the VP of Global Sales at the Washington Speakers Bureau, also known as WSB. Prior to coming to WSB, he held sales leadership positions in the telecom space at AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint. We also interviewed Sandy Lutton, the former Chief Revenue Officer at WSB. You can find her show here. Find John on LinkedIn!

Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. DEB'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Sales is a team sport. Don't be a lone ranger. Get out there and use the resources at your fingertips to help you close. By helping each other, everybody wins." Deb Wiker is the VP of Sales at Nortec Communications. Prior to coming to Nortec, she held sales leadership positions at American Greeting Cards and AT&T. Find Deb on LinkedIn!

Read the complete transcript on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. PHIL'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "If you can get to where the client includes you as part of the fabric of the organization, you understand their issues and you're delivering solutions that really impact the business, then you're a trusted advisor. I aspire to that, all my team inspires to it and I think if you're in professional services, attaining that role is like finding nirvana." Phil Curran is a Senior VP at USI Insurance Services where he runs the DC Metro practice. Prior to coming to USI, he was at Mercer HR Consultants, Hewitt Associates (now AON Hewitt) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC). Find Phil on LinkedIn!

Read the transcript of this episode on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. MATT'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "It's never crowded going the extra mile. Don't be afraid of hard work, don't be afraid to go the extra mile for your customers, prospects or clients." Matt Chubb is the Executive Director of Sales at Kaiser Permanente in McLean, Virginia. Prior to coming to Kaiser Permanente, he was with a third-party administrator that was owned by Blue Cross. He also worked at New England Financial and Great West Life. He is a graduate of Virginia Tech. Find Matt on LinkedIn!

This is episode 161. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. SHAWN'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "What's really critically important about achieving your goals is to write them down and have them displayed so that every single day, several times a day you pull those goals out or you look on your wall or your board and you actually are reviewing your goals on a daily basis." Shawn Doyle is best-selling author of 22 books on leadership, motivation and sales excellence. In 2018, he published The Goal Tender. It's an exceptional guide to help sales professionals set an effective course. Learn more about his books here. Today's Special Episode focused on the importance of setting sales goals to really get your career to the place where you want it to be, really exceed and really get far. Find Shawn on LinkedIn!

This is episode 160. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. ANDREA'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Engage. You have to play to win and you have to really be focused on what you do and how it impacts everyone else, your customer and their customer. If you can get that level of understanding, you'll be very successful." Andrea Cohen is the VP of Civilian Sales for Verizon Federal. Prior to coming over to Verizon, she worked for Winstar and AT&T. We also interviewed Verizon Public Sector Chief Mike Maiorana on Episode 100. Find Andrea on LinkedIn!

This is episode 159. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. DOMINIC'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Never get comfortable. If you always have that mentality that either you don't know enough or somebody can take away what you have today, you'll lose your edge. Never think you have a problem solved long-term and never think you have all the relationships that you need in order to be successful." For the first time we're interviewing someone from Nestlé. We're talking to Dominic Strada, he's the Head of Sales for Nestlé Nutrition. Prior to this role he was the VP for Pet Specialty and e-Commerce at Nestlé Purina Pet Care. Find Dominic on LinkedIn!

This is episode 158. Read the complete transcription on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. JAMES' FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Make sure that the individuals that are in your organization know that you're invested in their success. This is a people business so start first by hiring the right people, make sure that they're trained, give them the tools they need to compete and win. Then empower them and support them with everything you've got." James Yeager is the VP of Public Sector and Healthcare at CrowdStrike. Prior to coming to CrowdStrike, he held sales leadership positions at Tanium, McAfee and Oracle. Find James on LinkedIn!

This is episode 157. Read the complete transcript on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. CHRIS' FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "There's this negative connotation that's around sales that we're out there trying to push things on our customers that they don't want. That's the furthest thing from the truth. We're actually in there helping our customers advance their business and we can be relevant to the mission and be a part of some really impactful - especially in federal, because the mission is so important. ." Chris Townsend is the VP of Symantec Federal. Prior to coming to Symantec, he held sales leadership positions in Cisco and Blue Code. He's an expert on cybersecurity. Find Chris on LinkedIn!

Read the complete transcription on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. DOUG'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Be proud of sales as a profession. It's one of the great careers. There's a lot of companies that need their problems solved and if it wasn't for us walking through the door and asking those questions, they couldn't grow and they couldn't change. I think it's one of the finest careers you can aspire to." Doug Traxler is the Chief Revenue Officer at WebbMason, a full-service marketing firm based in Hunt Valley, Maryland. He's been there for 24 years. He was employee number 11 and now they have over 400 employees. Find Doug on LinkedIn!

Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. CLAY'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Selling is serving. Recognize that when you are in front of people, they're more interested in you than they are in the feature and benefit set of your particular service or product. Don't think about your quota, don't think about all of the reasons why not, put your head in the place that says, 'I am here to genuinely see if this is the right fit for this organization' and if it is, then you start putting all of that credibility and all of that reliability and all of that intimacy." Clay Deming is an 18-year veteran sales leader at Kastle Systems. Prior to coming to Kastle she was at Herman Miller. Find Clay on LinkedIn!

Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. BOB'S TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "If you're true to yourself and true to your customers, they will be true to you. If you could live that way and set a foundation that is firm that you believe in, you'll be successful in sales." Bob Dunn is the VP of Federal for Juniper Networks. He started his career at NYNEX before moving to Nortel. He also was a CEO at PacStar and also worked in private equity. Find Bob on LinkedIn!

This is episode 155. Read the complete transcript on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. BOB'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Keep your eye on the metrics that are important. When you determine what the metric is, then focus on the impact that paying attention to those metrics will have on the end user/end customer because if you're doing your job correctly and you're doing your job well, you're having a positive impact on people's lives." Bob Sanregret is the Senior VP of Sales at Cricket Media. Previously, he held sales leadership positions at Learning Tree International. He was the co-founder of the Hot Lava Software company that was sold eventually to IBM. Find Bob on LinkedIn!

This is episode 154. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. BRYNNE'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "We are ignoring our new connections all the time. Put together a great welcome message that has an insight, a piece of content - not a sales pitch, don't talk about you or your business. Give them some really great value that leads back to your solution but isn't leading with your solution." This is a special episode with Brynne Tillman, the CEO at Social Sales Link. She's known as the LinkedIn Whisperer and is of the top LinkedIn for Sales experts on the planet. We're going to be talking about optimizing LinkedIn for Sales. Find Brynne on LinkedIn!

This is episode 153. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. CONNOR'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Be willing to forgive people if they make mistakes. Be willing to forgive yourself if you make a mistake. You always need to be thinking about what's in front of you, what's next and if people are looking back, it can impact the level of work and the greatness that you can drive." Connor Marsden is the Senior VP of Strategic Accounts at Salesforce. Prior to coming to Salesforce, he held sales leadership positions at Microsoft. Find Connor on LinkedIn!

This is episode 152. Read the complete transcription on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. CHRIS' FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Every day is a chance for a new beginning - embrace that opportunity. Focus on what you can control, influence what you can influence and smile otherwise." Chris Wilkinson is the Senior Vice President of Sales at DLT. Prior to coming to DLT, he held sales leadership positions at immixGroup and DHL. Find Chris on LinkedIn!

This is episode 151. Read the complete transcript on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. ALEX'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Time how much you speak on a demo. Are you speaking for 70% of the time and the prospect is speaking for 30%? What can you do to speak less and let your prospect or your client speak more? What can you do to listen more?" Alex Rolfe is a senior director for event solution sales at Cvent and been with Cvent for 13 years holding various sales and sales leadership positions. He is the third person that we've interviewed from Cvent. We've interviewed Darrell Gehrt, the VP of Sales for Cvent Mobile and Brian Ludwig, Senior VP of sales for the company. Find Alex on LinkedIn!

This is episode 150. Read the complete transcript on The Sales Game Changers Podcast website. JAMES' FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Know your industry and market, get to know the people, the companies, the buyers and sellers. It's as easy as spending 30 minutes a day reading the trade magazines, combing through LinkedIn or Twitter, or listening to a podcast to get the latest news trends and information." James Hanson is the VP and Publisher of Nextgov, the federal technology media division of Government Executive Media Group. Formerly, he was at Connelly Works and at Defense News. Find James on LinkedIn!

This is episode 149. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast. WRAY'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Be sure to smell the roses along the way. Sales positions can provide a lot of really great experiences for folks, such as travel, sometimes it's other things, it's meeting new folks. Be sure you take time to enjoy that. Don't be so driven to the sale that you miss some of those things." Wray Varley is the VP of Systems Integrators & Federal Partners with MetTel. He also held sales leadership positions at CentryLink, Infinera and Qwest Government Services. Find Wray on LinkedIn!

This is episode 148. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. KEVIN'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Never stop learning. When you stop learning, start digging. It's amazing how there's that tuning fork moment where you make the perfect call, the perfect stop by and it literally changes your life. To see that happen to the people that I work for day in and day out is incredibly powerful and uplifting." Kevin Hoverman, the VP of Sales at COS: Capital Office Solutions, a Xerox company. Prior to taking over sales leadership at COS, he was with Impact Office Products, where he created their technology division. Find Kevin on LinkedIn!

This is episode 147. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. CORDELIA'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Be authentic. Even Dolly herself would say, "I have the wig and I have the makeup and the hair" but at the end of the day she is authentic. You may be selling widgets, but as long as it's the best widget and you love it, be authentic and follow that passion there." Cordelia Marzak is the Director of Sales for the Dollywood Company. We conducted the interview at Dollywood's DreamMore Resort and Spa located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Prior to taking over the sales leadership role at Dollywood, Cordelia held sales leadership positions at the JHM Hotel in Orlando and has worked in the hospitality space for Marriott and Hilton properties. Find Cordelia on LinkedIn!

This is episode 146. Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. MICHAEL'S FINAL TIP TO EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "Focus on the customer, understand their challenges first and second, try new things. What got you here today to be successful won't get you where you're trying to go. The customer landscape, the competition is changing so invariably you have to change and adapt and try new things to be successful in the future." Michael Lewis is the General Manager for Iron Mountain's Public Sector Business. Prior to Iron Mountain, he held sales leadership positions at IBM, Siemens and General Electric. Find Mike on LinkedIn!