Salesforce

Strategic MuleSoft Account Executive

Responsible for the strategy, execution and growth of a Global System Integrator (GSI). Serving customers as a trusted advisor to deliver innovative analytics solutions targeted to their unique challenges and business outcomes.

Demonstrated sales management by managing upwards of 56 Analytics AEs (globally) to create an account strategy to align on messaging, use cases, POVs, and increase international sales into a complex business.

Effective use of LinkedIn and social media marketing to create brand awareness for Tableau and Salesforce.

Global Account Director, Tableau Global Enterprise

Leveraged territory and key account management to developed the overall account strategy, including research, account plans, points of view, forecasting, and business value hypothesis for Fortune 1000 accounts in my assignment. Demonstrated cross-functional team leadership by managing upwards of 30 Salesforce personnel inside each account to collaborate and develop POVs to prove to C-Level and key stakeholders an understanding of their business and provide immediate value at the first meeting. Handled the entire B2B sales process.
Worked with executive stakeholders to solve their strategic initiatives and problems by leveraging Salesforce's full portfolio of value-driven CRM enterprise software cloud solutions: Sales, Service, Platform, Integration, Data, HR, Marketing, Analytics, and Professional Services.

Enterprise Account Executive (Travel, Transportation, Hospitality, and Logistics Vertical)

Developed the overall account strategy, including research, account plans, points of view, and business value hypothesis for Fortune 1000 accounts in my territory. Responsible for managing upwards of 30 Salesforce personnel inside each account team to collaborate on accounts and POVs to prove to C-Level and key stakeholders an understanding of their business and provide immediate value at the first meeting.  Handled the entire B2B sales process.
Worked with executive stakeholders to solve their strategic initiatives and problems by leveraging Salesforce's full portfolio of value-driven Customer Relationship Management (CRM) enterprise software cloud solutions: Sales, Service, Platform, Integration, Data, HR, Marketing, Analytics, and Professional Services.

Client Account Director

Ricoh USA, Inc.

I was in this role because of my customers and the relationships I build with them.  When meeting with customers, I listen to what issues they have while asking the questions that reveal the full landscape and scope of the problem because a complete picture allows us to provide a solution that could solve multiple problems that the customer may not understand one solution can solve.   By bringing my team’s insights, hindsights, and foresights into play, we can bring simplicity to their complexity.

To illustrate our approach, I learned one of my customers was having issues in their Accounts Payable (AP) department.  Through multiple meetings with the customer, we uncovered problems not only in AP, but also in HR with on-boarding and regulatory headaches they had when being audited.  My team brought to the table a solution that streamlined their AP processes, gave immediate access to documents for audits, and would simplify their on-boarding to create a better employee experience.  After the implementation, the customer was amazed at the time that was saved, the better experience their employees had, and the cost savings generated.  In addition, we were able to bring a Digital Transformation in two departments by taking manual paper processes and digitizing them.

In this role, I was accountable for managing and growing market share as a trusted, strategic partner for large accounts with 1,000-10,000+ employees and establishing the Ricoh brand in new accounts. I lead an integrated, collaborative team of experts and engineers to identify and recommend new technology solutions that are scalable and consistent across the enterprise.

✔ Surpassed 100% of quota every year.
✔ Recipient of the Circle of Excellence Award, FY09, FY17, FY18, and FY19, for attaining top 10% in the nation.

Account Manager Enterprise Sales

Selected to take over a challenging territory with the majority of accounts in jeopardy of being lost by the company. Managed accounts with 20-100+ locations around the United States. Rebuilt and solidified relationships with enterprise accounts and large national accounts while securing future revenue producing opportunities.

✔ Ranked #1 highest producing Major Account Executive 5 consecutive years, FY 2011, FY 2012, FY 2013, FY 2014, and FY 2015.
✔ Surpassed 100% of quota every year.
✔ Expanded multiple high-profile accounts which didn't have expansion plans for next 5+ years outside of Florida securing national purchasing agreements for equipment including the addition of other product offerings beyond our core portfolio.
✔ Grew share of wallet opportunities in multiple accounts that previously only considered Ricoh for one type of product.
✔ Recipient of Circle of Excellence Award, FY 2009 for attaining top 10% in the nation.

Major Account Executive

IKON Office Solutions

Promoted, sold and serviced business accounts in the South Florida territory including document management, workflow, equipment, MFPs, and stand-alone solutions for large accounts spending over $100K annually. Identified new customers, built and maintained relationships with existing customer base and focused on long-term customer development. Recognized customer needs, identified new opportunities and translated these into IKON solutions.

✔ Ranked #1 highest producer for Net New Revenue, FY 2008.
✔ Generated 25% of the total revenues for a 10-member team quota, FY 2008.
✔ Surpassed 100% of annual quota in FY 2007 and FY 2008 despite adverse market and economic conditions.				
✔ Closed an average of 5.6 deals per month compared to marketplace average of 1.7.
✔ Recognized as #1 AE in South Florida for FY 2007 and FY 2008.
✔ Circle of Excellence winner for FY 2007 and FY 2008 for attaining top 5% in the nation.
✔ Developed and maintained an opportunity through relationship building with a company who only purchased two machines and turned the account into the #3 revenue producing account in South Florida.

Senior Account Executive

Initially hired as an entry level Sales Representative in the Fort Lauderdale territory accountable for marketing the entire product line from basic Multi-function Printers (MFPs) to high-end production systems. Emphasis on prospecting for new business and developing new clients in the small business sized business market (20 employees or less).

✔ Recognized as the #1 Associate Account Executive in South Florida each quarter and for FY 2006.
✔ Ranked #2 Associate Account Executive in the Nation for FY 2006.
✔ Rookie of Quarter, Q1 FY 2006 attaining 307% to quota.
✔ Recognized as the #1 Ranked Top Associate Account Executive for Q2 FY 2006 attaining 207% to quota.
✔ Achieved quota every quarter of every year.
✔ Circle of Excellence Winner for 2006 for attaining top 5% ranking in the country.

Associate Account Executive  

Vector Marketing

Opened and oversaw day-to-day operations of a district office including recruiting, hiring, training, and mentoring a sales force of 250+ that led to a top performing office. Developed the office business plan and mission statement, conducted weekly sales meetings, and held fiscal accountability for sales materials, advertising, rent, administrative staff, and inventory. 

✔ Awarded Record Breaker Plaques at the District, Office and Personal Sales level during November 2000, becoming the only manager to have accomplished that all in one month during the company’s 56-year history. 
✔ Recognized in 2003 for breaking the all-time Florida sales record for an office during the Summer campaign generating sales approaching $1MM.
✔ Consistently ranked in the Top 3 in office productivity in the Division every campaign.
✔ Developed three sales associates to management positions within the organization. 
✔ Seasoned public speaking / speaker at company conferences and events in front of groups as large as 1000+. 
✔ Increased sales by 24% in 2003, increasing average order size and upsells.
✔ Designed the Home & Garden trade show sales script for the organization implemented company-wide. Increased sales at shows by an average of 750% per rep.

District Sales Manager

Responsible for direct sales of the Cutco product line through pre-set appointments with customers in South Florida. Personally responsible for the creation of the sales program used throughout the Nation at Home & Garden shows, boat shows, and other convention center venues. Effectively leveraged existing customers for lead generation to create a significant referral base of new leads. 

✔ Ranked the #1 representative in the Division out of 10,000 reps, Fall 1996, Spring 1997, Fall 1997, FY 1997, and Spring 1998.
✔ Ranked the #70 representative overall in the company’s 56-year history.
✔ Recognized as the #12 representative in the Southern Zone out of 35,000 reps, 1997.
✔ Personally sold over $301,000 in product sales year-to-date FY2005 through direct customer sales.
✔ Created and networked with a client base of over 1000 customers.
✔ Maintained a 90% closing rate and an average order of $350 (company averages were 50% closing and $200 average order).
✔ Awarded “President’s Club” 15 times out of 15 opportunities.
✔ Awarded “Academy of Champions” in 1997, “Inner Circle” in 2000 and 2001, and “Topper’s Club” in 1998 and 1999.
✔ Awarded the “Malik Cup” 9 times, finishing as one the Top 25 representatives in the country out of 100,000+ reps each time.

Sales Representative

Strategic Account Executive at MuleSoft, A Salesforce Company

𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱-𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 with 15+ years experience in technology sales with a focus on Enterprise consultative selling in addition to 7+ years as a People Leader in Sales.  I help companies grow revenue through my versatile business growth experience and a deep-rooted passion for analytical problem-solving with a proven track record of delivering $300 million+ in cumulative revenue generation through multi-year contracts, across multiple industries by focusing first on my clients’ success.

𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲:

๏ Created a POV following extensive research/discovery that resulted in a digital transformation of a client’s business across Sales, Service, Marketing, Integration, and Analytics with a multi-year contract and 400% ARR growth.
๏ Won new logo account against six competitors by understanding customer and their problems and then grew the account from $0 to over $50M in revenue.
๏ Surpassed quota 94% of my sales career
๏ Led, coached, and mentored 250+ sales executives resulting in the #1 Sales Office (out of 40).

Additionally, when not focused on helping my customers, you can find me doing the thing I consider the most important part of my life and my driving force to be the best version of myself…spending quality time being a husband to my wife of 13 years and a father to my two amazing kids ( 8yo boy & 6yo girl.) 

I get excited about opportunities where I am able to collaborate with a team in the enterprise technology space that involves strategic planning, executive relationships, and consultative selling.

𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀
Strategic Planning & Execution | Sales Strategy Development | Market Research | New Business Development Strategy | Enterprise & SaaS Sales | Platform as a Service (PaaS) | C-Level Communication & Negotiations | Executive Relationship Management | Go-To-Market Strategies | Consultative & Solution Selling | Sales Team Building, Development, & Mentoring | Account Management | Revenue Growth | Contract Negotiations | Client Retention | Artificial Intelligence (AI) | eCommerce | Customer Service | Digital Experience | Marketing Automation | Big Data | Digital Transformation | Data Analytics

Marco Montecchi

CEO @ Alpha Presales | Teaching smart people to talk less and sell more. The smarter your sales engineers are, the more they need this.

I run Alpha GTM. We help B2B tech companies sell more by training their sales reps and sales engineers to lead prospects instead of following them. 

We do virtual training, in-person workshops, and sales kickoffs. 

Previously, I was a top B2B sales rep who closed millions of dollars in both software and services deals (I also lost millions, and that's how you learn). Prior to that, I was a top Solutions Engineer (Presales), and before that, a software developer and engineer. 

My sales career taught me that the biggest problem in B2B tech sales are: 
1- Sales Reps are too agreeable and don't LEAD the prospect
2- SEs are geniuses, but they aren't good storytellers

This led to the creation of Alpha GTM and Alpha Presales. 

Since 2022, we have trained over 1000 B2B sales professionals from 23 different countries. We've helped clients improve close rates on qualified opportunities from 41.7% to 46.9% for companies like: NICE, MongoDB, Paylocity, Optiv, Netwrix and many more. 

We've been named a Top 10 Sales Training Company and the #1 Content and #1 Speaker at multiple sales conferences. We're the #1 training partner for B2B tech companies who want to stop losing control of their sales cycles and start leading prospects to close.

Follow me if you like learning or join my newsletter. I post tons of free content, and I sell absolutely nothing to individuals.

Rew Dickinson

Every sales organization should have at least 1 person making $1,000,000 per year. Minimum. 

Some people think this is wasteful but it’s the smartest thing you can do as an organization.

When sales reps see their peers succeeding and taking in millions, it’s motivating. 

Every sales rep wants to be the person who makes the $1,000,000 and seeing your peers be able to hit it gives you something to believe in. 

So before you scoff at the idea and say that it’s unnecessary (it is), consider the price you’re actually paying when you put a cap on compensation…

When you limit compensation you demotivate salespeople. When you demotivate salespeople they don’t perform as well. When they don’t perform as well, your company doesn’t perform as well. 

It all flows to your bottom line.

Lastly, what kind of people do you expect to attract to your company when you subtly tell them that their upside is limited? Elite talent? I doubt it. 

Salespeople deserve every dollar they earn. 

Don’t put a cap on excellence.

This guy is amazing. He saw me speak in NYC last October and nominated me to be the keynote speaker at his company's Sales Kickoff in Dallas, TX, this past week. 

We did an interactive keynote/workshop on how to Win The Room With Storytelling for over 350+ Sales Reps, SCs, BDRs, and CSMs. 

Thank you, Alex Stanton, Keely Vallies (Hoover), and Alisa Chandler for your vote of confidence. 

Y'all are the best, and the RealPage team is the real deal!

I’m on my 3rd SKO of the year. Here are 3 tips for giving any presentation, regardless of whether it’s a sales kickoff or just a sales meeting:

1. Audience, Audience, Audience. This is seriously the only thing that matters. If your presentation is too long, if you don’t know what to say, if you are rambling…its all because you don’t understand your audience. When you get clarity on your audience, deciding what to present becomes easy.

2. Tell the audience what you’re going to give them within the first 60 seconds. Ditch the long intro. Until you tell the audience what they’re going to get, they are silently thinking, “what’s in this for me?”

3. Do not think of the audience as an audience. Think of them as your family or best friend. When you think like this you erase your fears because you’re so focused on them, you forget to worry about yourself. 

What other tips you got?

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I just spent 3 days in LA at Saviynt’s SKO. Here are 3 of my favorite things:

1. First off, we got to go to SoFi Stadium and take the field, which, as a kid growing up whose life was football, this was an amazing experience for me. 

2. This sales team is the real deal. Not only did they invest in storytelling training for the entire sales team and had me keynote their session, but we also did manager training beforehand, and an SE-specific discovery training the following day. That was so cool because, SEs never get any love at these events.

3. Whenever I go to an SKO, I can usually tell within a few hours if this is a “product-focused” company or a “sales-focused” company. I couldn’t tell with this one, so I asked some of the sales reps what the culture was and the overwhelming response was, “BOTH!” The sales reps were so happy to work here, and felt appreciated. I loved seeing that. 

I also met some awesome people like Ben, and traded war stories about running your own business. And others like Cameron who taught me a great line that I used in my speech “put on your listening ears.”

Thank you Kevin, Todd, Brooks, Paul, Sachin, Nick, Steve, Amar, Jaime, Mark, David, Ulrich, Jeff, Kevin, Jorge, Ari, and everyone else for having me! Saviynt is the place to be!

Everyone wants a fun sales kickoff event...and this was no exception. 

I'm so grateful for Intelex having me at their Revenue Kickoff (RKO) in Niagara Falls, Canada, yesterday to teach them the Alpha Storytelling Methodology. 

During our planning sessions, Cheryl told me the team loved to compete, so we put together a 14-team March Madness-style storytelling competition and had them compete head-to-head until we crowned a winner. 

This picture captures what I loved most about the event... every team gathered around their spokesperson and cheered them on during the competition, while our referees (Sales Leaders) judged.

Thank you, Cheryl, Eleni, Ben, Amy, Kelly, Brian, Gavin, and Robb, for having me!

Your team is amazing, and it's such a pleasure to work with them.

SALES, PRESALES, SOLUTIONS PEOPLE: Mark your calendar for DEMOFEST! 

What is Demofest? 
• It's the biggest presales conference on the planet with over 2000+ presales and many other GTM professionals and it's 100% FREE. 

When is it? 
• February 10-11, Virtual

Who should attend? 
• Anyone in the GTM, but especially Presales and Presales Leaders. 

Why anyone? 
• Because there are a lot of sessions that aren't just for Presales. 
• For example, I'm doing a workshop on how to "Win the Room With Storytelling" which is relevant to anyone in presales, sales, and leadership. 

Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/gd6DQuhR

Send this to your Slack or Teams channel and tell your friends. 

P.S. Who are you excited to hear from?

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Founder

Sales + Sales Engineering

Consulting + Software Engineering

Financial Analyst

Helping CROs and CSOs run a predictable GTM

CEO @ Alpha GTM

POV: You’re a sales trainer doing a sales kickoff (SKO) in Vegas. 

Here’s a fun activity to do as an ice breaker: One Word Story”

- Go around your table
- First person starts by saying one word
- Next person adds to the story
- Keep the story going, one word at a time 

What’s your favorite ice breaker?

P.S. If you’re looking to up your storytelling game, check out Alpha GTM.

Alpha GTM

When I was a new Sales Engineer, I worried about everything: “What if I pause for too long? What if I don’t know what to say? What if I don’t know what to do next?”

The problem with this is that we're worried about ourselves instead of worrying about our audience. 

We worry so much about how we’re going to look, but the truth is that the more polished we look, the less compelling we tend to be. 

Being too polished is often a distraction. People focus on how impressive you are, and they lose sight of why they’re there -> to solve their problem. 

This is important for presales professionals to remember. 

“Looking good” in our demos provides absolutely zero value to our clients. It just feeds our ego. 

Think about it. If someone was selling to you and they paused, stuttered, said, “wait, I need to think about this for a second,” because they were so focused on helping you, would you think less of them? 

No way. You’d respect them even more for caring more about you and your success than their performance. 

That’s sales.

It’s service. 

P.S. SE Leaders: For monthly tips on how to improve presales, join 200+ presales leaders who get our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eKaaGeZr

Sales Engineers (SEs/SCs) are often the rock of the sales team: longer tenured than sales reps, consistent, dependable. But they usually don’t speak up nearly as much as they should. 

Here’s a quick story from my own experience as an SC and why it matters for SCs and Managers to speak up...

---

It was my first year as an SC, and I had by far the worst sales rep I’ve ever worked with.

- Zero social awareness
- Had no clue what the product did
- Told you what to do and how to demo

Some (not all) of these things are forgivable if you’re performing, but he wasn’t. 

We were wasting massive amounts of time on unqualified deals and had closed nothing. 

Like most SEs, I didn’t think it was my place to speak about problems with sales reps, but I spoke with my manager anyway.

I’m so glad I did because my manager thanked me for not letting problems go unnoticed and encouraged me to talk to the sales rep's manager directly.

I ended up doing so and the sales manager thanked me for it as well. 

It turned out that the sales manager had inherited this sales rep from another team and wanted to give him a fair shot before cutting him loose, but the feedback from me (who he respected) was an important data point for him in making his decision on what to do with the rep. 

Here I was, a 20-something-year-old SC who was afraid to speak up because of the negative repercussions, when in the end, I was applauded and respected more for doing so. 

SEs - always speak up, your voice matters. 

Managers - it’s our job to be an example. 

P.S. SE Leaders: For monthly tips on how to improve presales, join 200+ presales leaders who get our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eKaaGeZr

Sales Leaders need to stop saying: “Sales is all about relationships” because a lot of AEs and SEs are missing the point. 

I watch so many calls where the sales rep acts all jolly and nice, and thinks that they’re building a relationship, when really they’re just looking like everyone else. 

Yes, relationships are important, but how that relationship forms is important. Share this post with your team if you agree with it...

---

First off, despite running a sales training company called “Alpha” GTM, I’m one of the nicest and most empathetic people you’ll ever meet.

The truth however, is that most buyers are not looking for more friends. They’re not looking to have relationships with strangers. They’re looking to go home on time. 

Let’s take an example from when I was selling B2B software. 

Gary was one of my clients. He worked for the largest global truck manufacturer in the world. 

When I first met Gary, he was friendly. As I got to know him though, I found out that he’s not friendly because he wants to be, he’s friendly because he likes to avoid conflict and not waste time. He’s an engineer, and his goal is to get through the day as efficiently as possible. 

Gary’s has a family, a wife and kids at home. He isn’t looking to build relationships with sales reps (me). He has enough friends. 

Instead, he wants to do his job, and get home on time. 

So I could focus on building a relationship with Gary, or I could focus on getting him home on time and not adding more work to his plate.

I picked the latter. 

Whenever I scheduled a meeting with Gary, I was fully prepared. I told him where we were going, what I had done beforehand, and what was needed to get there. I ran an efficient meeting. 

It didn’t take more than 2 or 3 meetings with Gary for him to start liking me. Not the fake-friendly kind of liking, but the kind you reserve for people who always bring value to your day. 

When I left sales to start my own business, I told Gary that I was leaving and he told me that he loved working with me. I asked him why and he said, “So many sales reps waste my time. I can’t stand wasting time. I loved working with you because you never wasted my time and I really valued that in you. Thanks.” 

We had a great relationship. Not because I focused on the relationship, but because I focused on something he valued - his time. 

This is why I’m all for building relationships, but I find that building the relationships is a consequence of doing the right thing and providing value. 

Do the right thing, and the relationship will form as a result.

If your sales reps aren’t using MEDDPICC or BANT it’s because you haven’t shown them why it’s valuable. I used them all the time as a Sales Rep and SE. Call me lazy, but I didn’t care as much about qualification as I did about knowing “how much work do I have to do?” 

Here’s why they’re valuable for AEs and SEs...

---

The question isn't "Is this deal qualified?"

It's "How much work do we need to do to close this?"

Because every deal is unqualified until it's closed.

The AE and SE’s job is to qualify it. And close it. 


MEDDPICC has gotten too long, so let's use BANT: 

Budget - Do they have it? If yes, the deal moves fast. If no, you'll need to build a business case. More work, but doable.

Authority - Are you talking to the decision-maker? Let’s be honest, you’re probably not. That’s okay. But if you are talking to them, stop pitching and figure out what needs to be done to close. 

Need - This is the big one. Is this critical or nice-to-have? If it's nice-to-have, you'd better create urgency.

Timeline - Is there a deadline? If not, you're sitting in limbo. Another reason to build that business case.

Your reps and SEs should look at any deal and know: "We have 3 out of 4. We need to uncover Authority and then we can close this," or "We only have Need. We have a lot of work to do."

If they can't assess this themselves, they're wasting time on deals that will take forever to close instead of building pipeline. Which is as big a problem as bad forecasting.

How do you use MEDDPICC or BANT?

Sales Leaders need AEs and SEs who aren't afraid to push back on clients. And yet, I'm constantly asked to teach teams how to do this.

Let's break down why they don't (from my personal experience being both an AE and SE): 

AEs: They get into “Deal preservation mode.” That’s where they’re so worried about keeping enough pipeline that they focus on "not losing" instead of winning. Ironically, this is exactly how they lose deals, it just takes longer.

SEs: Conflict avoidance. Most came up through a career path where pushing back wasn't the norm, so they're uncomfortable with it.

Here's what I learned looking back at my own sales and presales career:

1. I never once lost a deal because I was too bold. But I lost plenty because I was too docile.

2. My best clients were the ones where I created constructive tension. I pushed back, they told me the truth, and they thanked me for it. Those relationships were stronger and the business was healthier.

3. My worst losses were with people I didn't challenge and I gave space to do whatever they wanted.

Bottom line: It's your job as a manager to encourage boldness.

Stop playing not to lose. Start playing to win.

P.S. What'd I miss?

Coform just did a study on how Solutions Consulting/Presales teams are compensated. 

If you want to know what's working and what's not in terms of SC comp, join Yuji Higashi, Sara Jones, Pam Dunn, Ryan Krueger, Max LÜPERTZ, and I as we break it down on LinkedIn Live next week. 

https://lnkd.in/g84qXh4C.

Coform

Co-Founder of Better Career ◆ Co-Founded PreSales Collective ◆ Helping PreSales & Sales ICs and Leaders land jobs, build strategic networks, and accelerate their careers ◆ SE & AE Recruitment

Leading The Solutions Conversation | Chief Solutions Officer | “The Wonder Woman of Customer Service” | Driving the Presales Evolution

PreSales Leader | Strategic Advisor | Featured Speaker | Curious and Continual Learner | Startup Enthusiast | Podcast Junkie

Senior Solutions Engineer @ Glean | Enterprise AI & Presales Leader | Public Speaker & Host, Diary of a Sales Engineer

Better Demos. Bigger Deals. 💰 | Stop Losing Your Deal After the Demo | Actionable & Engaging Demo Workshops for SaaS | 🌈 Cologne Presales Meetup

I made this mistake as a Sales Engineer and I just had an SE in Alpha Presales training who almost made the same mistake. This is especially important for SEs and SE Manager’s to teach their team...

Story: 

I was training a sales team and during the break, an SE came up to me and asked, “If my sales rep has already shown the prospect the evaluation process we’re taking them through, I shouldn’t show it to them again, should I?”

Yes. 

Yes, you should show it again. 

And again and again and again. 

I can’t reiterate this enough...repeat yourself regularly in a sales evaluation.

If this sounds odd to you, think about it this way…


We need to put ourselves in our prospect’s shoes for a second…

If they are talking to us, they are probably talking to 3 or 4 other vendors. 

Each vendor is probably giving them a 90-minute demo. 

That’s 4-6 hours of information being dumped on them.

Holy smokes. 

How much of that information do you think they’re actually going to remember? 

Probably nothing. 

So it’s good, in fact, it’s encouraged to show them the same thing over and over and over again. 

I did this regularly as an SE because I learned it from an SE Manager. 

To my surprise, it usually took the 3rd or 4th time I showed something to the prospect for them to finally say, “Oh yeah, I remember you showing this, good idea.” 

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your prospect is going to remember everything you say the first time. 

There’s a lot of noise that other vendors are introducing, and repetition will help your prospect cut through the noise. 

P.S. SE Leaders: For monthly tips on how to improve presales, join 200+ presales leaders who get our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eKaaGeZr

The problem I see over and over and over again in B2B sales is sales reps not owning the sale. They get to the end of a meeting and say things like, "What would be helpful for next steps?" or "Should we follow up next week?" and they give control to the client. You will NEVER be successful in B2B sales if you do this. Here's a 5-step plan that will help you own the sale in a way that is also ideal for your buyer. 

---

Last month, I had my first SKO of the season. This is an abbreviated version of an exercise we do in Alpha GTM workshops, which you can do individually or as a team to help you own the sale and lead your clients to a solution more quickly: 

1. Document what YOUR ideal sales cycle looks like (no extra meetings, demos, and POCs that are unnecessary). 

2. Now that you know what YOU want, ask yourself if that is the ideal buying process for the buyer?

3. If what YOU want and what your BUYER wants are not aligned, then rework things until they are. NOTE: This is sales, which means you should serve your buyer, but you shouldn't be SUBSERVIENT to your buyer (there's a difference). 

4. Now that you are aligned, turn the ideal process into a clear visual diagram or slide. 

5. Take that diagram/slide and use it in every single meeting you have with the buyer. 

When you do this, one of two things are going to happen: 

1. Your clients are going to be so happy that you gave them a plan for navigating the buying journey. Or...

2. Your clients are going to tell you more about their own buying process so that at least you know what's going on and don't get ghosted. 

Special notes for other roles: 

- Sales Managers -> If you can't forecast, this is why. Your reps are not owning the sale

- SCs -> It's your job to own the sale too. Do NOT, get to the end of a meeting and say things like, "we're happy to schedule a follow-up to go deeper into the product." 9 times out of 10, you solve nothing by showing more. 

Try this exercise in your weekly team meeting and never forget: 

You have done this hundreds of times. 
But your buyer hasn't. 
So LEAD them.

Every sales leader should share this with their team...

It's Curt Cignetti, the head coach of Indiana University, whose football team is undefeated (14-0).

In his press conference, he talks about the importance of preparation and wanting to be great. He contrasts wanting to be great with wanting to be normal and average: 

"There's no problem with average...Except for in my business...in my business, average is the enemy." 

This couldn't be truer for sales professionals. 

In most careers, just clocking in and doing your work is enough. But not for us. 

For sales careers, we need to relentlessly prepare and show up ready to play every day. 

That’s how we win- by providing more value to our customers than anyone else.

Over/Under?: 30% of your Sales Reps, SCs, and Managers talk for way too long? 

If it’s over 30% of your team (and it often is in B2B sales), get ready to sound like every one of your competitors. 

Here’s how to fix it...

---

During my career in consulting, sales engineering, and sales, I’ve seen way too many sales presentations with 5-8 bullet points per slide.

And...
You guessed it…
I’ve remembered absolutely nothing from those sales presentations. 

To stop this, I use a framework that I call the CCC. 

It’s so simple that every Sales Rep, SC, and Leader can use it whether they’re giving a sales demo or a board presentation. 

CCC stands for “Cut, Categorize, Combine.”

Every time I see a long PPT slide, a long sales email, a long elevator pitch, a lot of adjectives, a boring sales presentation, I ask myself: 

1. What can I CUT from this list that is not important? 
2. What can I CATEGORIZE? 
3. What can I COMBINE? 

My goal is to get the list down to just 3 things or less. Sometimes I can’t. Sometimes it needs to be 4. 

That’s okay.

The less you talk, the more people remember what you say. 

P.S. SE Leaders: For monthly tips on how to improve presales, join 200+ presales leaders who get our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eKaaGeZr

When I watch sales calls, I see most sellers and SEs give the same pitch regardless of the audience. That’s why they’re good at getting a deal to Stage 3 and then it dies a slow death and never gets to the CFO. 

Here’s an exercise you can do to help your team fix this...

---

Let’s take an example to make this real: 

I don’t have a full-time CFO or CRO for Alpha GTM so I act as both. 

This past year my team and I decided that we’re going to do more SKOs this year, so we wanted to get some live footage from one of my events so that we could share with prospective customers to see what we’re all about. 

I was speaking to a group of 400+ people in London so my team decided that we should film the event and create a 2-minute highlight reel for marketing our services. 

The team called a few film agencies and we got some quotes. 

$2,500 bucks. 

When I heard that, CFO Rew said, “are you [expletive] kidding me!?”

$2500 for 45 minutes of filming!?

That’s $3,333 per hour!

CFO Rew was out. 

But then CRO Rew jumped in and thought, “When we do SKOs, we often do a keynote as well as workshops. That can easily net us $20,000 or more. So if this 2-minute highlight reel gets us just 1 more SKO this year, it pays for itself 8x over.” 

CRO Rew was in (and since we’re in growth mode, CRO Rew usually beats CFO Rew).

---

The challenge for sellers is knowing who your audience is. 

As a general rule of thumb: 

- CFOs often prefer to save money because it increases margin which is often how they’re compensated. 

- CROs often prefer to make money (revenue) because it’s often how they’re compensated. 

- Most other people just want to go home on time and not work on weekends. 

Next time you are getting ready to give a sales presentation ask your team, “How would you change this sales pitch if we were only speaking to the CFO?”

If your pitch doesn’t change, then you probably have a lousy pitch. 

P.S. Here’s the highlight video: https://lnkd.in/gP3hseXu

P.P.S. If you were selling to ‘CFO Rew’ how would you have pitched this?

There are a few quotes that I cite regularly in my sales training workshops. This is one of them...

MLK: "A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus."

The reason why I cite it in my sales training workshops is because it is just as applicable to salespeople as it is to leaders. 

Enterprise Sales is an extremely strategic job where you can't just go around looking for people who agree with you. 

- You have to shape people's opinions.
- You have to listen.
- You have to project manage.

You have to get 15 to 25 people, all with competing priorities, to come together, ditch the way they've been doing things, and do something new. 

That is insanely hard and you don't do it by learning how to present.

You do it by learning how to LEAD. 

Thank you, MLK.

Epic time in Canada with the Intelex team! Sales training, competition, and an incredible team! Thank you Cheryl, Amy, Brian for having me!

What happens when you mix a storytelling framework with playoff brackets and add 100+ Intelexians ready to compete?
 
New ways to connect with customers and build stronger trust.
 
The energy and teamwork on Day 2 of RKO 2026 will help us make an even bigger difference for our customers.
 
Special thanks to Rew Dickinson and Alpha GTM for coaching and inspiring our team!
 
#RKO2026 #AllSystemsGo #Storytelling #B2BSales #GTM #SalesEnablement #MarketingAndSales #Intelex

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The Battle

Marco Montecchi

Rew Dickinson

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taplio

The Battle

Marco Montecchi

Rew Dickinson

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Rew Dickinson's LinkedIn Performance

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