Inside Sales Expert

Taking new clients only on a referral basis.

Helping leaders at early stage tech companies avoid mistakes in all aspects of growing their sales team in the US.

CRO and Founder

SmartBound

Sales development is changing rapidly with the advent of artificial intelligence.

For most CROs and sales leaders, asking "How can I use AI to power my pipeline generation team" leaves more questions than answers.

The team at SmartBound have an answer.

SmartBound combine two powerful things that make pipeline generation easier and more consistent: AI tooling and a conversation-first methodology.

I'm excited to join them as a Strategic Advisor as they grow their business.

Strategic Advisor

It Happened on the Sales Floor-100 Sensational Stories About Sales Leadership Screw-Ups and Big-Wins

📢 Exciting News! 🎉 My audiobook "It Happened on the Sales Floor: 100 Sensational Stories About Sales Leadership Screw-Ups and Big Wins" is now available on Audible! 🎧📚

In this audiobook, I share 28 years of sales and sales leadership experience at tech startups. Learn from mentors, my countless mistakes, and the resilience that led to success in building sales teams. Topics covered include hiring, training, coaching, firing, sales processes, leadership challenges, and more.

This audiobook is an easy-to-read companion, not a heavy instruction manual. Pick it up with your morning coffee, read a couple of stories, and gain valuable takeaways for the day. I wish I had this book 20 years ago to avoid mistakes and achieve success quicker.

Get your copy on Audible and learn from my sales leadership mistakes: https://www.audible.com/pd/B0C6FRZ1MC/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-353065&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_353065_rh_us 🎧📖

#SalesLeadership #AudiobookRelease #SuccessStories

Author

IVP Paragons are hand-selected operating executives with unique skills and a willingness to advise IVP portfolio companies become enduring market leaders. Paragons are experts at their craft, have a desire to give back, and actively want to participate in the start-up community (anywhere from Series B to newly
public companies).

(Full Disclosure:  I do not work FOR IVP.  This is an advisory role for their portfolio companies)

Paragon Advisor

Trellis Research

Advisor

Schmoop, LLC

Managing Member

Wonderway

Boldr

SEON Fraud Fighters

Hirect App

Helping leaders at early stage tech companies avoid mistakes in all aspects of growing their sales team | Advisor

Kevin has made 1000s of mistakes but that has made him successful. After building, fixing and growing sales teams at 8 startups and 3 liquidity events, he loves sharing these mistakes and learning lessons from over 25 years at pre-IPO tech companies so that you can avoid these mistakes and see faster success.

With KG, you get experience, not inexperienced opinions.

✅ 3 startups I’ve been with have had liquidity events (none fire sales)

✅ Helped build 3 businesses into Inc 500/Deloitte Fast 500 companies (that means fast revenue growth)

✅ Built sales teams at 8 Startups since 1997

✅ Built teams of 30 salespeople - 550 salespeople with GREAT gross margins

✅ Built multiple Inside Sales, SDR/BDR, Account Management and Enterprise Sales teams.

✅ Been in Sales Leadership since 1997

✅ Started 3 of my own businesses (Recruiting, Advising, Real Estate)

✅ Named to the AA-ISP Top 25 Most Influential Inside Sales Professionals 6 years in a row

✅ Made lots and lots of mistakes

Check out the recommendations section below to read what other people have said about me. 👇

Kevin Gaither

I hired this woman to sell for me and let me tell you, she absolutely sucked in her 1st 90 days.

But then she made President's Club 🎉

I was thinking, "Boy, I think I've made a hiring mistake with this one. Maybe I should let her go."

In her first 90 days, she wasn't ramping like all the rest. Wasn't nailing demos. Wasn't closing sales.

But she kept working at it. Hard. REALLY HARD. Following the playbook.

And she was unbelievably coachable. We listened to calls together. She listened to her calls by herself. Whatever I coached her on, she put it into place on the very next call.

And then it started clicking for her and by the end of the year, she made President's Club!

Learning Lesson: There's 4 types of salespeople:

➡️ Not coachable, not hitting goals. Term quickly. Like ASAP.

➡️ Not coachable but hitting or exceeding goals. Leave them alone and don't let anybody else on the team try to emulate them. These are naturals. They don't know why they're successful but they are.

➡️ Coachable and hitting goals. These are the examples you use for the rest of your team.

➡️ Coachable/Hard-Working but not hitting goals. Keep working with them in a defined, limited window. You'll be surprised how many will make it through when you give them good, solid coaching.

In your experience, how long would you work with a coachable salesperson who is not hitting their goals? 

But if you really want to start hiring A-player salespeople like this, check out my Interviewing and Hiring Bundle in the the first comment.

(2) Feed | LinkedIn

li_at

JSESSIONID

Talks about #sales, #startup, #leadership, #insidesales, and #peoplehelpingpeople

CEO @ InsideSalesExpert.com Helping sales leaders avoid galactically ridiculous mistakes in all areas of building, fixing & growing their sales teams

6 of my sales reps forced me to hire a woman as their sales manager. 

Don't be so surprised. She was one of the best sales leaders I've ever had the fortune to work with.

But the way this all went down was crazy and a learning lesson for me.

We were ramping up our sales team and I started hiring a bunch of people from a failing daily deal site.

I personally do reference checks and I kept talking to this one sales leader, Lauren Delfino.

Finally, I had hired 6 reps that had worked for her and they finally came to me and said

"KG, you have to hire her. She'll be a game-changer for our sales team!"

And so I did. And she was. Grew one of our sales teams from 50 reps to over 150 reps. Helped open up a new sales office in AZ. Crushed it.

💡 Learning Lesson: When you're hiring for new sales leaders, ask your sales reps who were THEIR favorite former sales managers and start networking with them to recruit and hire them.

What are some creative tactics you've used to recruit sales leadership talent?

But if you really want to start hiring A-player salespeople, check out my Interviewing and Hiring Bundle in the the first comment.

This dude legitimately showed up to an interview with me for a B2B tech sales job with neck tattoos & sleeves. 

I actually hired them!

At first, I was shocked. Couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Really? This isn't very professional. AT. ALL.

But I stuck to the objective hiring process I had created. Asked all my questions and remained open-minded as I listened to the answers.

I was blown away. Behind all that ink was one of the most humble, hard working, positive and motivated people I had ever interviewed. Not cocky and assumptive.

I hired that person and they turned out to be one of the best salespeople I have ever hired in my entire career.

Good thing I didn't judge the book by its cover right?

💡 Learning Lessons: 

✅ Develop your salesperson hiring benchmark with objective characteristics, 

✅ judge them based on their answers and their actions and not by how they look. 

✅ Reserve judgement on the candidate for after the interview, not before.

Removing bias from the interview process is critical. You miss out on great hires when you introduce bias into the interview process.

But if you really want to start hiring A-player salespeople, check out my Interviewing and Hiring Bundle in the the first comment.

My rep laughed when she got hung up on. 🤣

I hired this rep whose only previous sales experience was selling lingerie at Nordstroms. No B2B. No phone sales. No tech.

But I observed that she scored very high on optimism, resiliency and coachability during the interview.

So I took a chance on her anyway to break into B2B tech sales. What a great hire!

We were all on an open sales floor. I had a low-walled cubicle right on the other side of hers. 

When she got hung up on, she would stand up, peer over the cubicle at me and laugh about how she got hung up on. "Their loss," she would say.

And then sit down and go right back to making more cold calls without skipping another beat. My word.

The learning lesson here: When you're a leader hiring for new reps, sometimes the ones with NO relevant experience can be your best reps if they are optimistic, resilient and coachable.

Make sure you build that into your interview scorecards.

But if you really want to start hiring A-player salespeople, check out my Hiring and Interviewing Bundle in the the first comment.

The last time this person worked for me was exactly 18 years ago and I just got this text from them a few months ago.

This kind of stuff makes me so happy to read. A salesperson who worked for me nearly two decades ago still wants to share their successes with me long after we worked together.

If you're a sales leader and you're having a rough time, getting messages like this from salespeople who used to work for you is extremely up-lifting.

Wanna share some messages former reps have sent you in the comments?

graphical user interface, text, application, chat or text message

I hired an "experienced" sales manager and boy what a mistake that was. 🙇

We were scaling my inside sales team and needed to hire a bunch of new sales managers.

And I was referred to a guy who was literally at a direct competitor.

Nearly the exact same product. Same sales cycle. Same inside sales motion. Same deal size. Why wouldn't that be a fit?

My word, what a mistake that was. This guy was a train-wreck.

👎 He was a micromanager

👎 Managed through fear and intimidation

👎 Wouldn't listen to me or any of his supervisors 

👎 Made excuses for why he behaved the way he behaved

I fired him in less than 90 days. 

💡 Learning lesson: Just because the sales manager came from a direct competitor don't assume that they will be a good fit for YOUR TEAM and YOUR CULTURE.

Include the cultural questions in your sales manager hiring benchmark such as...

"Tell me about the last time you had an underperforming rep, what did you do about it?"

But if you really want to start hiring A-player salespeople, check out my Interviewing and Hiring Bundle in the the first comment.

When I was an inexperienced sales leader, I used to think Urgency was something you could coach.

I don’t believe that anymore.

Urgency is either in someone’s DNA or it isn’t.
It shows up in their current and past actions.
It shows up in their business AND personal lives.
And you usually don't have to dig that deep to see it...when it's actually there.

The candidates who follow up without being told.
The ones who are closing for next steps at the end of the interview.
The ones who treat the job interview like a live deal, not some B$ chat.

You can’t fake that kind of pace.
And you can’t teach someone to care more than they actually do.

Yeah, you can force Urgency.
Riding the rep to get stuff done quickly.

But that's no fun, for anybody involved.

So if you’re hiring sales talent, I’ll say the quiet part out loud that many of you might object to (that's okay):

You’re better off hiring somebody with Urgency than hoping you can train or coach for it and then hope it shows up later.

That gamble will cost you revenue and it might even cost you your job.

My favorite interview question to test for it?

“Tell me about a time you were up against a tight deadline or quota. What did you do when it looked like you might miss it?”

What to listen for:

Do they take immediate ownership and problem-solve fast, or do they rationalize and delay?

Do they talk about proactive actions (calling prospects, re-prioritizing pipeline, staying late, asking for help) or passive reactions (“waited to see what would happen”)?

And then ask them to tell you about ANOTHER time.

Urgency, in the truly urgent, shows up consistently and recently. Not every once in a while.

If they can't show you that they already have urgency, you’ll end up begging them to BE urgent later.

And that’s not your job as a sales leader.

Lesson I’ve learned from tons of my own hiring mistakes?

Hire the people who already show Urgency. You can't train that.

For most sales leaders, you're not just in it for the titles and the money.

Heck, if you were in it for the money, might as well be an IC and not have to deal with all the BS of being a sales leader.

No, you're in it because you can really make a positive and indelible mark one someone's life for decades to come.

Go do that.

PS: he took a chance working for me too...

You don’t “own part of the company” when you join a pre-IPO tech startup and get stock options.

You own a promise.

And most promises never cash out....like 90% chance your stock options will be worth NOTHING.

To make matters worse, Founders rarely explain your stock options to you.

And most employees never read the fine print either and/or self-educate, that's on them. They just sign and cross their fingers. Stupid.

Stock options in that sexy new AI startup sound like magic. The next big rocketship in flight. The HUGE potential payday.

Of course, it's a story we all want to believe but it rarely happens and if it does, it's rarely material.

I've been at 8 startups. 3 have had liquidity events, but that means that 5 did not have liquidity events.

So from experience, here’s what actually happens:

The valuation is inflated.
The vesting schedule is brutal.
The exit timeline? You think they're going to tell YOU?

Liquidity? Don’t hold your breath. If you're lucky you have a 1 in 6 chance of a liquidity event and even then, it won't be helicopter money like you think it should be.

Oh and here's one you'll learn the hard way...

You still owe taxes...even if your shares end up being worthless.

And if you have vested stock options but leave before some sort of liquidity event...God help you....

You’ve got 90 days to buy them or lose everything.

So should you ever join a startup just for the equity?

In my experience and in my opinion, never.

Equity is a lottery ticket. It's the icing on the cake.

Your cash comp is critical. If you can’t live on the cash, don’t gamble on the stock option upside because the chances of it happening are slim to none.

And if the Founders can’t back up the value of the options with a real, competitive TOTAL offer, to me, that’s a red flag.

Join for the mission.
Join for the team.
Join because you love the work (because you'll be working your ASS off, no quiet quitting)

But don’t join because someone promised you 0.03% and told you it’ll be “worth billions one day.”

That's just a trick. Don't be a fool.

Learning lessons: if you're going to work at pre-IPO tech startups, you had better learn about Employee Stock Options so that you can assess if you're getting a good deal or not and manage them properly.

Which is why I created a FREE course on Employee Stock Options, How They Work. I took all my learnings and dumbed it down so even a 3-year old can understand it.

Check the link in the first comment to sign up for the free course.

I hired a stay-at-home mom / photographer with no B2B tech sales experience and I should have seen what happened next.

She CRUSHED IT!

We were interviewing for another large hiring class and at that time, I was really involved in the hiring process.

All hands on deck at another startup!

And I was tasked with interviewing this woman who was a single-parent, stay-at-home mom, side-gig photographer.

She hadn't been in sales for 12 years as she was focused on raising her kids. And even then, the "sales role" she had wasn't even B2B sales.

I thought: "Why did this person make it through to the in-person interview?"

But she crushed her interview! 

You see we were interviewing for behavioral characteristics like Coachability, Organization, Competitiveness, Need for Achievement, Optimism and not experience and she had lots of recent stories that demonstrated that she possessed those characteristics.

I made sure we hired her and I'm glad we did. She made President's Club several times!

💡 Learning Lesson: Especially for sales roles at startups, interview mostly for behavioral characteristics that you CAN NOT teach above experience. You'll find diamonds in the rough that others, who are only interviewing for experience, won't find. It will be your competitive advantage. 

Trust me.

What do you think? Does this apply to all sales roles? Even Enterprise?

But if you really want to start hiring A-player salespeople, check out my Interviewing and Hiring Bundle in the the first comment.

99 out of 100 salespeople have common sense. But most policies and rules aren’t written for them.

They’re written for the 1 who either
1) is too stupid even have common sense
or
2) is just smart enough to exploit the gray area.

And that ONE person ruins it for everyone else.

It always sounds like this:

“Well I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to do that...”

Or worse:

“Nobody TOLD me I couldn’t do that...”

Give me a frickin' break. 🙄

This is why we get 14-paragraph HR policies.
This is why companies build a handbook thicker than a Bible.
Not to guide the 99...
No, to make it stupid-simple clear to the 1.

Because when left alone, the 1 becomes a problem child.

They test boundaries.
Twist intent.
Weaponize ambiguity.
Then play the innocent card when caught.

I once had this clever salesperson who was allowed to work from home but when I learned she wasn't working her leads/accounts, HR and I met with her the next day she was in the office

😡 But she claimed she didn't know the different between "Working from Home" and "Out of the Office."

She played stupid because I hadn't made the difference crystal clear IN writing.

And that’s when leaders start writing policies to cover every angle.

Which restricts freedom for everyone else.

So now, instead of trusting the 99, we start managing to the 1.
Instead of enabling high performance, we’re policing edge cases.
Which sucks.

Every leader knows who their 1 problem child is.
And every minute they avoid dealing with their BS
Is another minute you're asking for trouble.

Want to be untouchable at work?

Stop playing the loyal employee game and start building a war chest.

Here are 3 money rules that saved my sanity when I still had a boss:

1️⃣ Six months of cash in the bank. If you can’t disappear for half a year, you’re not free.
2️⃣ Track every expense. Live way below your means. If your lifestyle’s eating your freedom, you’re doing it wrong.
3️⃣ Build a side gig. Something that generates a little bit of something something at first.

You do those 3 things and you'll breathe a sigh of relief.

You stop saying yes to stupid meetings.
You stop nodding along when a new commission plan comes out that you don't like.
You stop fearing layoffs, reorgs, or your CEO's mood swings.

Because now YOU hold the power.

And with ZIRP (Zero Interest Rate Policy) dead and Wall Street breathing down every CFO’s neck, companies are being forced to run real businesses the right way:

🔒 Profitable
🔧 Efficient
📈 Growing

So ask yourself: are YOU running your life like a real Profitable, Efficient, Growing business?

✅ Profitable: Expenses < Income. No excuses.
✅ Efficient: Cut dumb spending. Stack cash. Invest cash.
✅ Growing: Build other income streams. Anything. Something. Learning something new.

If your whole identity is tied to your job, you’re screwed the second it turns on you (not if...when).

Don’t wait.

Because the next round of cuts is already being planned and the people with options won’t beg, won’t cry, and won’t blink.

They’ll just leave and move on.

I've been laid off or fired 3 times in my career and my advice above has saved my bacon every time. And I've quit 2 high paying jobs quickly, with no job in sight when I knew it wasn't going to work out for the long haul.

Takeaway: If you're living paycheck to paycheck, you've let your employer take control over your life. Build the war chest that lets you walk the hell away on your terms.

I once hired a woman who crushed quota but had NEVER played a single sport in her life.

No soccer. No basketball. No volleyball.
But yoga? Oh, she dominated yoga.

She was a “front of the class” type. The kind who could hold poses others fell out of after 10 seconds.

But here’s the kicker.

While the rest of the class focused on breathing and balance...
She was peeking out of the side of her eye to see who was falling down.

She didn’t just want to master the pose just for inner peace.
She wanted to kick the other students asses and win.

But that’s when it hit me.

We keep throwing around this idea of hiring “sales athletes.”

We say bullshit things like:

"Find people who played D1"
"Look for team sports backgrounds"
"Only hire competitive athletes"

But it’s lazy logic.

Competitive doesn’t always look like cleats and sweat.

This woman was one of the fiercest reps I’ve ever hired.
Not because of her athletic background.
But because she had the Drive most reps don’t.

She was calm on the outside.
Cutthroat on the inside.

And she didn’t need a scoreboard to tap into it.

I've seen ex-athletes coast and non-athletes outgrind everyone.
The difference?
Real competitiveness is internal.

The best salespeople I’ve hired?
They don’t always talk the most.
But they are driven to win.

🔥 Lesson: Stop filtering your pipeline for sports. Start filtering for characteristics that you can't teach.

Leave room to be surprised. That’s where the killers hide.

But if you really want to start hiring A-player salespeople, check out my Interviewing and Hiring Bundle in the the first comment.

Every sales leader must HIRE for the "mindset" that they want. But don't be a fool.

You can teach skills, but mindset? That’s a whole different game.

I’ve learned this the hard way.

Every team has a few reps who need coaching.
That’s normal. It’s part of the job.
But when you're expected to be a therapist?
Something’s broken.

Truth is...
You can’t rewire someone who doesn’t WANT to change.
Mindset shifts don’t happen on Slack channels and daily standups and ice cream socials.

No, they happen when someone is open, humble, and ready.

And most people aren’t.

So yes, when you want to effect a big mindshift change on your sales team, roll it out!

Raise the bar. Give the training and coaching to those that are ready to change.

✅ But hedge your bets too.
Start HIRING people who already think the way you need your team to think.

Because trying to coach a salesperson into hunger, ownership, urgency, positivity or resilience...when they don’t even value those things?

Screw that. That’s a fool’s errand.

Mindset is not a module in onboarding.
It’s the foundation people walk in with.
Or they don’t.

And if they don’t?
You’ll spend a lot of time dragging instead of leading.

Lesson I’ve learned?
Train for skills
But when it comes to mindset, hire it.

You'll have a higher probability of success, in my experience.

PS: if you want to improve your changes of making a great salesperson hire, check out my Hiring and Interviewing Bundle in the first comment.

Google asked for my college transcript but I instantly knew I wasn’t getting the job.

They wanted to know my GPA. I gave it to them: 2.685 from UC Davis, class of '94 (If you want to see a screenshot of my transcript, ask me in the comments).

That was the first, and only, time in my 30-year career anyone asked for my grades.

Not when I became a VP. Not when I became a CSO. Not when I ran a 550 person sales team.

I’ve hired hundreds of salespeople (maybe 1000s). I’ve never once checked their GPAs from High School or College.

Why do we act like grades predict success ESPECIALLY in sales?

In my experience, they don’t. Drive does. Integrity does. Grit, effort, continual learning, coachability, taking action...that’s what matters.

Would a 4.0 have changed my career? Maybe I get that job at Google. But I wouldn't trade where I’ve ended up for anything.

💡 Here’s my advice to founders and sales leaders: stop overvaluing academic stats when hiring.

They don’t measure the things that actually help you win.

👀 Look for Drive, Need for Achievement, Competitiveness, Coachability, Continual Learning, Hunger, A bias for action, Self-accountability.

Those are the signals that really matter.

And you won't find those on some dumb transcript. 🎓

PS: If you want to start hiring like a real pro, check out my Hiring Bundle in the first comment.

Every sales hiring manager says the same thing: "We want to hire driven salespeople."

Cool. But what exactly does that mean?

Because in my experience, "driven" isn't on a resume. You can't really see "driven" on a resume. So here's the real question:

🤷♀️ Can you teach a salesperson to be driven?

Short answer: In my experience, with adults, no.

Drive isn't taught. It's uncovered. You find out if they have it already or not.

🟢 You can coach skills.
🟢 You can develop technique.
🟢 You can build confidence.
🟢 But drive? That comes from inside.

It's baked in. It's who someone is when no one's watching.

You want driven? Look for people who:

-Take action even when not being told to act
-Laugh at rejection and move on
-Ask for feedback before you offer it....and then IMMEDIATELY put that feedback into action
-Work their butts off without having to be whipped
-Go the extra mile without being told

You don't teach adults this. Drive is a character trait. It's WHO they are already!

If someone doesn't need the push, they'll probably go further than anyone you constantly have to motivate.

✅ The best reps I ever hired didn’t talk about how driven they were. They showed it.

They were always coachable.
They were always learning.
They continued to persist.

And when I asked where that came from?

It was never training. Never books. Never ME.

👉 It was always internal.

If you’re a hiring manager, stop asking outright if someone is driven.

Start asking them to tell you stories about how they persisted or worked theri butts off or went above and beyond or took initiative or incorporated feedback.

And if you're a rep trying to break out?

Don’t wait to be taught. Start proving it, daily.

Drive shows up in behaviors and real stories, not just words.

Founders, CEOs, Sales Leaders: What's your favorite question to ask to determine if you have a Driven salesperson on your hands?

PS: if you want to step up your Interviewing Skills and make better Sales Hires, check out my hiring bundle in the first comment.

When the CEO gives you massive goals for next year, don’t say:
❌ “We can’t hit that number.”

Say this instead:

✅ “Under what conditions could we hit that number?”

That one sentence changes everything and sends a pretty killer signal to the CEO...

It signals problem-solving instead of resistance.
It opens a door instead of slamming it shut.
And it shows you’re thinking like an owner, not a victim being handed unreachable goals.

I’ve been on both sides of this conversation.
The leader who says “this is impossible.”
And the one who asks, “what would make it possible?”

One shuts down conversations with their closed mindset.

The other starts a great conversation with their growth mindset.

CEOs don’t set easy goals. No. We all know they're crazy AF.

They expect you to test the limits of what's possible

But if you come back with a "now way we're gonna hit that" instead conditions that could exist that will help you hit that goal, the CEO is gonna be giving you the side-eye.

And then they start networking with other sales leaders.

Reframing the conversation with “under what conditions...”
makes you the person who can be reasoned with,
not the person who needs to be replaced.

It shows you’re solution-oriented, not just looking for easy street.

Lesson I’ve learned?
As the VP of Sales, you had better not be the "yes-person" and just agree to everything.
You BETTER challenge your CEO with diverse and divergent opinions.

But if you're gonna just say "there's no way we can hit those goals," instead of saying "under what conditions CAN we hit those goals," why are you even there?

Especially at a pre-IPO tech startup.

PS: if you want to quickly know if your VP of Sales is gonna make it or not, check out my free guide in the first comment.

"I can tell in one conversation if I'm going to hire someone."

Then why do only 30%-50% of your sales hires actually work out?

You can hire better if you stop thinking....

👎 I know what to look for in a sales hire but I haven't written it down

👎 I can hire successfully but I've never read a book on interviewing before.

👎 I'll ask them to "sell me this pen" and that's a good way to assess a salesperson (I saw it in the Wolf of Wall Street movie so it must be credible)

👎 Why would I measure my hiring success rate?

👎 "Do you hate to lose or do you love to win?" is one of my favorite interview questions.

Hiring successfully is a methodical process.

According to TopGrading, "The average mis-hire rate for companies ... is approximately 70% (if you want the source, ask me in the comments)

These aren't the only myths sales leaders believe when hiring salespeople.

But if you really want to start hiring A-player salespeople, check out my Hiring and Interviewing Bundle in the the first comment.

I had this one VP of Sales I worked for tell me to hire salespeople with a "sales personality." Here's what they meant by that:

Hire salespeople that are loud, extroverted and gregarious.

But I learned over time that if you're hiring "loud, extroverted and gregarious" salespeople, you're doing it wrong.

In fact, one time I hired this rep who the quietest salesperson on the sales floor but was also the #1 salesperson.

I could barely hear what this dude was saying to me during the interview. His answers were very brief. Yet his answers were solid and he knew his numbers and his track record of success was demonstrable.

Thankfully several people on the team referred him to me and told me to hire him. But he still went through my difficult interview process. No free rides here.

And I kept thinking 

"salespeople are usually more gregarious"

"salespeople are usually more talkative"

But instead of giving in to the stereotypes we lay on salespeople, I stuck to my hiring benchmark and hired him.

He quickly went on to become our #1 salesperson in no time at all. And I never heard him on the phones and yet he was always on the phones. LOL

Learning Lesson: Don't listen to the stereotypes that you think you have about great salespeople. Create and stick to your hiring benchmark, put the person through the full interview process without premature judgement and look at the whole picture of the candidate.

What are some other salesperson stereotypes us hiring managers should look to avoid applying when hiring salespeople?

But if you really want to start hiring A-player salespeople, check out my Interviewing and Hiring Bundle in the the first comment.

#Sales #Leadership #startups #InsideSales #ExperienceNotOpinions"

I once had to sit in front of HR and explain why I was trying to fire a rep who missed quota six months in a row...

…and HR wouldn’t let me.

Why? Because I made one of the most rookie mistakes a sales leader can make.

And the lesson I learned that day changed the way I lead forever.

Every CEO and Sales Leader thinks they’re clear with expectations.
I thought I was too.
Until HR proved I wasn’t.

I go deeper into this painful (but valuable) story, and two others, in my new Mini-Pod Series: “Sales Leadership Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make.”

🎧 It’s $4.99 and might save you from a $499,000 mistake someday.
👉 Listen today.

The link is in the first comment

Dextego

Dextego is an Autonomous Sales Coaching Platform that ingests data from the best sales experts in the world, combining it with your business's unique knowledge, making it the most accurate, real-time coaching available. Our clients manage to increase engagement by 21x, reduce attrition by 50%, and shorten sales cycles by 30%.

Founding VP of Sales

BuyerForesight

Sales Team Leadership, Go-to-Market Strategy, Lead Generation Optimization, Strategic Partnership Development, CRM Optimization, Revenue Strategy Engineering 
✔ Directed and motivated a high-performing sales team by implementing targeted training and motivational strategies, resulting in a 25% revenue increase in the first quarter.
✔ Designed a Go-to-Market Strategy through market analysis and strategic planning, achieving a 30% increase in customer acquisition.
✔ Streamlined lead generation strategies via data-driven approaches and automation tools, leading to a 40% upsurge in qualified leads.
✔ Brokered strategic partnerships through effective negotiation and relationship-building, contributing to a 15% growth in overall company revenue.
✔ Utilized SaaS to optimize CRM systems by integrating advanced features and improving user adoption, reducing churn rate by 10%.
✔ Engineered the company's overall revenue strategy by aligning cross-functional teams and leveraging novel market opportunities.
✔ Spearheaded sales, marketing, customer service, and revenue management departments by fostering collaboration and aligning efforts with revenue goals for consistent progress toward targets.

Managing Director, North America

GDS Group

Visionary Leadership, Performance Management, Employee Engagement, Lead Generation, Digital Strategy, Sales Process Improvement, Strategic Business Alliances
✔ Led a team of 30+ sales reps through visionary leadership and performance management, increasing regional unit sales by 40%.
✔ Established and promoted a dynamic start-up culture by implementing employee engagement and retention programs, achieving a 70% reduction in turnover and accelerating revenue growth by 50%.
✔ Championed lead generation initiatives by using targeted marketing campaigns, driving a 40% increase in qualified prospects.
✔ Steered a comprehensive digital strategy by integrating advanced digital marketing tools, leading to a 35% boost in conversion rates.
✔ Standardized sales processes through the development and execution of best practices and training programs, marking a 30% increase in deal close ratio in the company’s enterprise software segment.
✔ Organized strategic business alliances by partnering with key industry players, contributing to a 22% surge in annual revenue.

Vice President Sales Development

Lendio

Account Management, Sales Presentations, Sales Operations Strategy, Business Development, Digital Marketing, Enterprise Software Sales, Process Optimization
✔Built and strengthened client relationships through effective account management and personalized service, increasing sales by 25%.
✔Created innovative sales presentations by leveraging creative design and data-driven insights, boosting conversion rates by 20%.
✔Led and managed the sales operation strategy through process optimization and team alignment, increasing productivity by 20%.
✔Instituted a business development plan by identifying market opportunities and tailoring client outreach, attracting and retaining 5 major clients in the first quarter.
✔Executed digital marketing strategies by effectively using targeted campaigns and analytics, resulting in a 35% growth in online sales.
✔Supervised the enterprise software sales process by applying structured methodologies and training programs, attaining a 50% improvement in total sales volume.

     

Duarte, Inc.

Mentorship, Performance Coaching, Business Development, Predictive Forecasting, Data Analytics, CRM Transformation, Customer Loyalty, Competitive Marketing Strategy
✔Empowered a team of 15 sales professionals through mentorship and performance coaching, keeping annual sales growth of 20%.
✔Revitalized business development efforts by leveraging strategic partnerships and alliances, leading to a revenue increase of $2M.
✔Instituted predictive forecasting models using advanced data analytics and machine learning techniques, which enhanced sales operations and achieved 98% accuracy.
✔Transformed CRM systems by employing user-friendly features and comprehensive training programs, increasing customer loyalty and repeat business by 30%.
✔Formulated a competitive marketing strategy by conducting market analysis and identifying key differentiators, maintaining a 40% increase in market share.

Vice President - Academy Sales

DatacenterDynamics

Strategic Planning, Business Strategy Design, Market Analysis, Strategic Alignment, Team Collaboration, Continuous Improvement, Revenue Growth
✔Took sales initiatives by developing and implementing long-term strategic plans, resulting in a 35% year-over-year revenue growth.
✔Steered efforts in business strategy design and enactment through in-depth market analysis and strategic alignment, achieving a 20% increase in annual profit margins.
✔Fostered a high-performing team environment by promoting collaboration and continuous improvement, leading to sales exceeding targets by 18%.

SVP Sales, Americas 

The Conference Board

Sales Strategies, Service Delivery Optimization, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty, Sales Presentation Optimization, Sales Lead Conversion, Process Efficiency
✔Drove a 28% increase in sales through the deployment of targeted direct sales strategies, which significantly boosted revenue.
✔Enhanced service delivery through efficient processes and customer-focused practices, securing a 30% improvement in customer satisfaction and loyalty rates.
✔Streamlined sales presentations by optimizing content and delivery techniques, leading to a 20% boost in sales lead conversion rates.

VP, Audience Development 

VJL Consultation

✔Created a new sales strategy focused on cross-selling and upselling to existing customers by identifying customer needs and training the sales team, resulting in a 15% increase in revenue per customer.
✔Designed an account-based marketing strategy to target Fortune 500 companies by utilizing data analytics and personalized marketing campaigns, leading to a 50% increase in qualified leads.
✔Executed a new sales territory management plan by analyzing market data and optimizing territory assignments, increasing sales rep productivity by 25%.

Vice President of Global Sales

Pipeline Whisperer | Prospect Intel + Events = Revenue | Bridging the Gap between Sales & Marketing | Dad Jokes are how eye roll!

I’ve dedicated over 30 years to driving revenue growth and leading high-performing teams across various industries.

That journey has been centered around the people on the teams I've built and the honor of watching those sellers blossom into the best versions of themselves.

People ask all the time, "What makes a great seller?"

My response has always been the same...

Coachability

Accountability 

Resilience

Emotional Intelligence

With these simple traits, I have developed world-class sellers hundreds of times over the 18 sales organizations I've built from the ground up.

Regardless of industry, sales cycle, or ICP my primary focus has been on helping sellers believe in themselves because belief beats scripts and playbooks every day of the week. 

A belief I've taken to my work with Dextego, an AI-enabled sales coach that helps you prefect your sales conversations before you actually have them!

If you think I can help or just want to joke through 15 minutes, feel free to book a call!

Joe Fontana 🐘

Ted Lasso of Sales Teams! | Dad Jokes are How Eye Roll | Building and Leading Sales Orgs for 20+ years!

Read the part again where she burns her theivin’ mouth on my porridge…




#thesearethejokes

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The majority of your SDR team is getting promoted… 



Congratulations, you're cracking the leadership code!

I hit up my pal Matthew Baston ☎️💰 the other day and asked, “How’s the team doing, my friend?”

He said, “Pretty good… we’re about to have 5 promotions in the next 60 days.”

Most managers would panic.

Matt just grinned and said, “Ask me again in 2 months when all our big hitters have moved up 😂

But then he said, "I just gotta build the next group.”

That’s the moment I knew that this dude gets it.

Your best people outgrowing their roles is NOT a problem!

That’s the scoreboard lighting up in your honor.

It means you coached, developed and pushed people so hard they had to level up!

It means you gave them the tools to succeed and they are out in there in the wild doing it!

And that is what being a sales leader is really about.

You’re not managing a team.

You’re running a farm system.

Grow.

Promote.

Rebuild.

Repeat.

So here’s your public shoutout, Matthew.

Hold that head up with pride my friend because you’re doing it right, brother.

To every other manager out there...

If your team keeps getting promoted, try to remeber that while you are losing a rep you’re also creating legends.

THAT is doing the job the right way...

So let's shout out the great sellers!

Who’s the next one on your roster ready to move up?



#SDRLeaders
#SalesLeadership

Welcome to the era of fools making tools for fools...


I've been on my walkabout for almost two months now and every time I log into LinkedIn, it's the same thing...

Fools making tools for fools.

And LinkedIn can't get enough of it!

Every week, some “sales founder” with who's had three roles that never lasted more than four months as an SDR posts about the next great prospecting tool.

Spoiler: they’ve never hit quota.

But they’ll tell you how their Chrome extension, or the bot they created on their Mom's couch “changed their workflow.”

No it didn’t.

It just gave them something to talk about between PIPs.

Meanwhile, the real sellers , the ones ACTUALLY closing, are out there using the same tools they’ve used for years...

Their phone.

Their brain.

Their follow-up email that actually makes sense.

You can stack 10 shiny tools on a weak rep and still have a weak rep.

You can hand a hammer to a fool and he’ll still miss the nail.

Sales isn’t about the stack.

It’s about the skill.

And most of what’s being posted here lately is cosplay, not craft.

So before you take advice from someone whose career hasn’t lasted longer than their trial period…

Ask yourself: are they selling tools, or are they selling you?


#salesenablement
#SDRleaders
#Salesleadership

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