I help organizations create modern learning strategies for their people, partners, and customers | AE @ Docebo | 🎙Host of Stories of Selling Human

Sometimes in your life it feels like you lose everything.  

Like the year I was laid off.  Interviews pushed from COVID 19,  But then the real bomb hit,

My Dad got diagnosed Leukemia.

Just 5 months later, unfortunately my Dad passed away.  Despite losing so much, I'll never lose what my Dad taught me about life.  Things like selflessness, a relentless work ethic, and a thirst for knowledge.

His best lesson was how to create genuine connections with everyone in your life.  I've taken that approach to sales my whole life.  I’m still the 8 yr old kid who loved meeting people so much that he went door to door selling Ham and Cheese out of a catalog.

I got genuine connections out of it and the Sony Boombox I won wasn’t half bad either!

Highlights from 15 years in professional sales:

🔥 I launched a new team where I successfully recruited financial producers for a firm owned by Fran Tarkenton, Hall of Fame QB.

🔥I was named the top sales rep in an office of over 50 media sales people.  Judged not just by sales attainment but also by activity.

🔥At Monster, I sold the biggest partnership contract in the history of our team. $300k ARR, 3 year deal. 

What am I most proud of professionally?

A 15 minute meeting.  I drove 3 hours to Chicago to meet a client I’ve never met in person.  For 15 mins to say hi and drive back.  It wasn’t to close a deal.  It was just a Tuesday. 

Those “Just Tuesday” moments are why I love this gig.

I’ve had success in my career because I genuinely seek to understand people. 

An understanding strategy IS my sales strategy.

My relentlessness isn’t driven by my product or a sales number. I'm motivated by digging deeper to discover the “un-discovered” problem.   Sales is something that happens for and with your buyer not to them.  You're a guide on a discovery together with the intention to help and add value.  ALWAYS.

The best feeling in sales isn’t ringing a bell, (even though that’s always fun). 

The real joy is in being told three simple words.

“I trust you.” 

That’s what really lights me up and what I'm going for.

Finally, my approach in sales is guided by attuning yourself to what someone’s entire world is like, actively listening without any agenda, being genuine, and putting them first.

I call these things, “Selling Human”.  I practice it daily.  I think we can all do it.

I choose to study it.

If you want to learn it with me, listen to my podcast:  Sell By Being Human 
(wherever you get your podcasts)

AND for more,

Follow #sellbybeinghuman

Alex Smith

It’s Wednesday, and instead of putting out a podcast episode, I’m putting out a shout out.

Shout out to my friend Jen Mueller.

I get reached out to by lots of people to be on the Sell By Being Human Podcast  

But I was absolutely giddy when Jen’s team reached out to me to have her on.

Jen is a long time sports reporter in Seattle.

She’s covered the Mariners, Seahawks and many of the famous teams and events in that region for years.

And if that’s not enough, she has an awesome cooking show and is an engaging keynote speaker.

I always say we all can sell things through the lens of human connection.

Jen sells the value of spending time with her to the players on the team.

She’s not just asking questions.

She’s building relationships.

It’s how she sees the players that gets them to want to tell her things most reporters don’t hear.

Take a listen to how she does that effectively in our episode below. 👇 

So it meant so much for me to see this pic this morning of her on the team plane with the Superbowl trophy!

Congrats Jen.  🏆. 

You are the Champion!

#sellbybeinghuman

I help organizations make learning enjoyable across their people, partners, and customers | AE @ Docebo | 🎙Host of Sell By Being Human

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I’m getting on a plane to see my mom this week but I also need your help.

Hoping someone out there has worked with a parent that is searching for assisted living or memory care.

This week we’ll be looking at some places and its a whole journey I’ve bever been a part of before.

So always good to find people that have travelled that same journey.

I also know its big to shout out birthdays on Linkedin recently so shouting out my Mom for turning 79 this past week!

79 has brought a lot of joy and tough realizations.

She’s the same age as my Dad was when he passed away 6 yrs ago.

As your parents age you start counting experiences you’ll have with them in person on your hands.

Trying to squeeze in more time because you know it’s finite.

I always hear people say, 
I’m not ready for my parents to get there.

But its not about being ready.

You’ll never be ready.

Its about being present.

So value the time you have before it’s too late.

Lucky that we have this week and hopefully more weeks in our future to be present.

Presence is the present at 79.  😊

She wasn’t trying for the Gold.

But she got it.

I love a good comeback story and what it can teach us all.

A skater that won world championships as a 16 year old in 2019.

Her whole life was skating.

Pressure.

But she said she didn’t have the time to know herself so she left the sport.

She found joy on a ski trip.

Instead of chasing medals.
She chased joy.

The medal was a residual of joy.

In practice rounds where others were thinking over every jump.

She was taking pictures on the ice.

So it’s no wonder she skated flawlessly.

Alyssa Liu teaches us all.

Find joy first.

Your goals will follow.

#teamusa #olympics

Hey, I know that guy on the TV!  Props to Keenan for an awesome move this weekend.

Jim Keenan aka Keenan . has been a huge mentor to me from afar with his book Gap Selling.

Excited for his coming book Gap Prospecting.

Anyone who wants to know the essence of sales, I always direct them to his book.

Sales is about finding problems worth solving and he outlines it perfectly in this book.

For Christmas this year, he surprised his family with a trip to The Olympics.

To make it even sweeter, one of his daughters is in serious competition to be an athlete there one day in moguls.

Dual moguls is wild, a race to the finish with tricks in between.

I love it bc you can fall but still win with the difficulty of your tricks.

Congrats to all the medalists but especially Elizabeth Lemley who go on the podium with bronze after a tough fall.

And props to the entire Keenan clan cheering them on.

And also, like your sales skills, your sign game is on another level.

#teamusa #olympics

Today, I'm posting the last episode of my podcast.  Well sort of.  The last episode before a new look.

I've always thought that everyone in the world is in sales.
But the only ones that admit it are those with it in their job description.

So I set out to find people in every profession.
That sell things through the lens of human connection

Nurses
Magicians
Parents
Teachers
Entrepeneurs
Speakers
Marketers
HR Leaders
Learning Professionals

I've interviewed them all.

And some themes emerge when I ask people:

What does it mean to you to Sell By Being Human?

To Be Curious
To Align Yourself
To Care About The Person
To Find Value
To Listen
To Solve Problems

My 153'rd episode is with Amos Balongo.

Amos moved from Africa to America when he was a boy.
Learned English and how to make an impact through relationships.

He's now a keynote speaker and executive communications coach.

Unlikely road, maybe.  But not when you meet him.

I love his approach to speaking below.

There's a difference between:

Speaking At People
Speaking To People
And Speaking Into People

Can't wait for you to see a new look.  

More on this coming!

This year, I'm going hard into this.
Maybe it doesn't grow.  Maybe it does.
Or maybe it's a foundation for something else.

Either way, look to see more as I dig into even more professions that you never thought were in sales but are.  

And contrast them with professional sellers.

And help everyone unlock the human side of sales in your own work.

#sales #sellbybeinghuman

Erik Boemanns

Mirability, LLC

Providing fractional CTO/CIO/CISO to companies looking to level up their scalability, security, and resiliency and be ready for the next round of opportunities.

Founder & Chief Technologist

Atlanta ToolBank

The Atlanta ToolBank serves community-based organizations by providing tools, equipment, and expertise to empower their most ambitious goals.

Board Member

Improving

Leading all technical consultant resources (team of more than 100), including hiring, retention, salary, promotions, as well as mentoring and training on technology and leadership topics.  Internal CSO overseeing the SOC II Type 2 compliance audit, directly supporting sales portfolios, providing technology solutions to startup, medium, and global enterprise businesses, including cloud transformation, modern application design, virtual desktop, secure computing, integration, and data warehousing.  Provided transitional CTO as a Service to customers, leading all technical and information security operations.  Provided cutting edge software solutions (distributed cloud, containerization, automation) and data science operationalization and risk management.

Vice President, Technology, Security / vCTO vCISO 

Innovative Architects

Leading product and process re-imagining using best-of-breed cloud technologies, Microsoft stack, enterprise integration, data warehousing and analytics for medium and large organizations.

Architect, design, and develop enterprise-grade software solutions, including both sophisticated business UI's, system integration, business process automation and business intelligence solutions.

Vice President, Enterprise Architecture

Woodside & Boemanns, P.C.

Providing intellectual property, technology, and business legal counsel to Georgian individuals and small businesses.

Of Counsel

Provider of software development, website design and development, and website hosting.

Managing Member

Deloitte at CDC

- On-site contract position providing .NET and SQL application architecture and development.

- Led the design, development, and implementation of two Internet-facing ASP.Net applications enabling grantee programs to manage progress reports. 

- Supported Enterprise Performance Life Cycle (EPLC) and Certification and Accreditation (C&A) process.

- Used XML-based Model Driven Development (MDD) to create a code-generation framework to support the evolving requirements of the 5-year programs.

Contract Consultant

ista North America

- Responsible for development of ista North America’s first internal audit and risk management group.

- Managed team of two analysts focused on audits of company financial and operation performance against contract obligations and quality of performance.

- Managed all commercial liability insurance processing requirements.

- Responsible for ensuring compliance initiatives are undertaken by relevant business units, including FACTA “Red Flag”, SAS 70 audits, PCI DSS compliance, and others.

Director, Business Assurance

e:so, a division of ista

- Interim Corporate Counsel from Aug. 2009 - Nov. 2009

- Led legal team during transition between corporate counsels.  Group included one paralegal, one temporary attorney, and one legal assistant.

- Responsible for all corporate and regulatory matters, including corporate governance, employment, litigation, outside counsel, contracts, government affairs, media relations, and dispute resolution.

- Researched areas of utility law at state and municipal levels that impacted ista’s sub-metering service.

- Began implementation of process-improvement projects to reduce time spent on routine activities and department stability plans to ensure legal team met all of ista’s needs.

- Legal liaison between e:so, a division of ista North America, and ista’s legal department.

- Responsible for client and vendor contract drafting, negotiation, administration, and management.

- Established vendor management processes for all key vendors and managed procurement for services – accomplishments include reducing SAS 70 audit fees by half compared to prior year.

- Developed comprehensive master service agreement to cover all e:so services for energy retail clients.

Director, Legal and Business Affairs

- Developed detailed service level agreement for the energy retail billing services, including drafting all contract provisions, plus architected OLAP software to support contract provision.

- Client facing interaction through sales and contracting efforts

- Helped kick off internal KPI and sales process efforts

- Developed marketing materials including trade journal articles and advertisements

- Redrafted client service contract

- Helped with knowledge management and communication initiatives.

Product Manager

On-site contract position for ista designing and developing BizTalk 2006 solutions, including development of Orchestrations, Maps, Schemas, Compensation logic, and business logic in CSLA framework.  Also developed ASP.NET administrative interface using Castle, IBatis, and CSLA.

Contract Developer

Lead by lifting. Let's change the world…

Leading IT risk to IT reward. 

As a fractional IT compliance executive, I help companies looking to reach their next level of maturity. Either via my ComplianceXO Expertise as a Service platform or through custom assessments and implementation plans, I help figure out where your IT systems are today, what your business risk is, and where you need to go to achieve your goals. And then I stick around to help make sure it gets done.

I do this as a licensed Georgia Attorney and 30 years of real world IT experience.

As the Vice President of Technology, Security at Improving, I oversaw a team of more than 100 consultants, providing cutting-edge software solutions, cloud transformation, data warehousing, and information security services to clients across various industries, including healthcare, finance, insurance, and government.

I leverage my legal background and deep understanding of compliance requirements, such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 2, and SSAE 16, to ensure that our projects meet the highest standards of quality, security, and governance. I also have experience in providing transitional CTO as a Service, leading technical and security operations for customers, and offering strategic and tactical guidance on technology and leadership topics. My mission is to make the technology impossible happen, while empowering and enabling my team to grow and excel in their careers.

Leadership: 
• Proven track record in strategic thinking and tactical effectiveness.
• Experience leading enterprise teams from 5 to 150 members.
• Emphasis on human-centric growth, leading teams from career beginnings to career excellence.
• Diverse industry experience including energy, healthcare, finance, insurance, banking, government, logistics, and law.

Compliance: 
• Detailed understanding of HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 2, and SSAE 16 requirements.
• Proficient in developing and maintaining governance controls over IT projects.
• Ensuring compliance requirements stay aligned business needs and technical capabilities.
• Active licensed Georgia attorney (2007) with focus in privacy and technology law.

Technology: 
• Proficient in "hands on" delivery of solutions involving cloud transformation, containerization, cloud cost management, mobile, and data.
• Knowledgeable in emerging technologies like multi-cloud, blockchain, IoT, AI/ML.
• Adept at ensuring projects meet their goals on-time and within budget.
• Vendor and architecture agnostic, having worked with every major platform (Open source, Microsoft, Oracle, .net, Java, and more).

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