Vanta

I talk to security and compliance leaders every day, and these challenges come up again and again:

❌ Missing certifications = blocked deals and lost revenue
❌ Security questionnaires eat up valuable time—teams spend 10-40 hours per month on them
❌ Compliance is only a priority during audit season, making it tough to prove security year-round

That’s where Vanta helps:

✅ Continuous compliance – SOC 2 & ISO 27001 monitoring 24/7
✅ AI-powered automation – answers security questionnaires in minutes with 95% accuracy
✅ Less manual work – so your team isn’t stuck in reactive audit cycles

Security and compliance should support growth, not slow it down.

If these challenges sound familiar, let’s chat! 🚀

Senior Account Executive

Catalyst Software

- Full cycle AE trained on MEDDPICC & Command of the Message frameworks, driving substantial
revenue growth and client acquisition in a dynamic post-acquisition environment.
- Leveraged full-cycle enterprise AE expertise to exceed targets, contributing to the company's
growth and solidifying its market position after the Totango acquisition.

Senior Enterprise Account Executive

Outreach

- Achieved President's Club 4 times
- Ranked top AE among 75 in 2021.
- Closed five six-figure deals and secured 105 net new customers totalling over $5MM in revenue
- President's Club 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022

Enterprise Account Executive

- Managed full sales cycle for new and existing accounts achieving territory goals using MEDDPICC.
- Identified prospect needs and built effective business cases, demonstrating ROI and value of Outreach.
- Partnered with Solution Consultants for successful proof of concept demos to C-level executives
- Achieved quota attainment and maintained high pipeline generation and forecast accuracy

Commercial Account Executive

DocuSign

- Managed 80 customer accounts, upselling from web to corporate, achieving 104% sales targets. 
- Supported principal account executive in client outreach and meeting coordination.
- Enhanced client relationships through strategic upselling, driving revenue growth.

Associate Account Manager

- Led strategic outreach campaigns, surpassing quarterly targets.
- Achieved 134% of annual quota, generating $930K in pipeline opportunities. 
- Ranked #1 out of 30 reps in quota attainment, contributing to team success.
- Promoted rapidly, becoming 2nd fastest in company history
- Awarded Top SDR Producer for FY18/19, demonstrating exceptional performance.

Senior Sales Development Repesentative

Jordan Salon The Professional Man's Barber

•My father passed away while I was in college. I took a hiatus from college in order to oversee my family business and care for my 5 siblings and widowed mother. 
•Grew revenue from 90k to 460k by leading marketing, SEO, customer acquisition, lease negotiations, hiring, and overall business strategy. 
•Acquired barber license and gave over 1000 haircuts over 7 years to well-known tech leaders in the Seattle area such as the president of Microsoft, founder of Concur, etc.

Business Operator + Master Barber

Keller Williams Realty, Inc.

•Facilitated the buying and selling process, throughout the entire real estate transaction.

Real Estate Broker

Starbucks

•  Collaborated with team-members to develop creative and innovative solutions to deliver hot drinks to consumers.
• Formulated outside-the-box ideas while simultaneously working within the boundaries of the Starbucks core image and values.

Project Consultant via Foster School of Business

Macy's

•Refined customer services skills, advised customers, and learned management skills. and recognized as top performer.

Sales Consultant

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ  - وَمَا بِكُم مِّن نِّعْمَةٍ فَمِنَ اللَّهِ ۖ 

The obstacle is the way. 

When I was 19, my father passed away unexpectedly.

I had 5 siblings and a stay-at-home mom to take care of.

Lucky for me, I had spent many years with my father at his hair salon that he opened in 1987, where at age 9, I learned how to answer the phone, book appointments, and greet 6-foot giants with a firm handshake.

However, with no barber degree or management experience, I was thrown into the deep end and had to learn how to swim quickly.

I made more mistakes than I would like to admit, but fast forward 7 years, I had learned some priceless things:

-Gave over 12,000 haircuts having a 97% return rate and a book of clients consisting of leaders and CEOs at Concur, Zones, Microsoft, Expedia, and many more.
-Became the top men's barber in Bellevue (35+ Yelp reviews :))
-Learned how to run a business, manage employees and satisfy customers

This gave me a unique perspective on business and life in general.

I persevered to gain entry into the UW Foster School of Business and ended up graduating with an emphasis in Sales and Marketing.

I knew I had a love for tech and a knack for sales, so when a client of mine, who was an SDR at DocuSign offered to refer me, I did not say no.

I was the fastest promoted SDR at DocuSign, lived through my first IPO with them, and learned a whole lot about SaaS.

After mass blasting emails from Outlook, we got Outreach at Docusign. 

I fell in love with the product and ended up getting hired by the VP of Sales, on the spot during my interview.

Never give up and always give 100%. 

You never know where life takes you. 

I speak Arabic fluently, and some English :)

Thanks for checking out my profile!  Feel free to connect with me.  Would love to meet you!

Mohammed Kiswani

It feels different when you build something of your own… especially when it’s around things you actually care about. Faith. Fitness. Tech sales. Fatherhood. Real talk.

Every few days Futhallah or I get a random DM from someone we didn’t expect saying they love the podcast. “You guys just flow so well. 

Even if I don’t relate to every topic, I enjoy listening.” That part has surprised me the most.

Deen & Deals as a side project Podcast after work and weekends…  has been ridiculously fun. 

I’m loving being a total beginner in something again. 

This whole thing forced me to learn video editing, how to make YouTube thumbnails, use Canva, cut short form clips, and understand the difference between mp4/mp3/wav.

Talking about things I actually enjoy… and hearing people find value in it… that feels rewarding.

Most podcasts don’t make it past 20 episodes. 

We’ve posted 4 and recorded 6. 

Already 25 % there.

Goals this week:
• Get to 100 YouTube subs (79 now)
 • Get to 30 Spotify follows (12 now)

If you’ve been listening… appreciate you more than you know.

Episode 4 snippet below--> My ideal morning routine and why the AM routine needs to energize you in order to have a solid day!

https://lnkd.in/eudXxrWG

Sales @ Clari | Podcast Host @ Deen & Deals

Open video: the best morning routine as a tech sales dad ! 👨 on youtube.com

the best morning routine as a tech sales dad ! 👨

I often struggle with prioritizing and getting ideas out of my head into action.

And trust me, I've tried many different productivity systems and to-do list apps to make it work

Here's what I found works best for me.:

2 apps: Google Tasks + Google Doc

Google Tasks is simple and easy, and I make a tab for every part of my life:
-One for my work
-One for my personal
-One for my side projects

Whenever an idea comes to mind of something I want to do, I take the stress away from remembering and just open Google Tasks and put it in the right category.

Often times the best ideas come to us when we're walking, in the shower, or doing something totally unrelated to work. 

I made this Google Doc called "brain dump/content ideas." 

When I see something online that I really like, that I want to repurpose and make it my own and put my own spin on it, I just open up my Google Doc and I put it in there. 

That way next time I have my laptop staring at a blank screen for posting or my newsletter, I have exactly what I need and I don't have to start from scratch. 

Makes it easy. 

What other simple systems do you have in place?

Salman Mohiuddin

Enterprise Account Executive, Marketing Cloud (Financial Services)

Helping sales pros + teams build healthy pipeline to close more deals faster | Sales Coach + Trainer @ SSA | 17 years as a quota carrier | ex-Salesforce, Asana and IBM | Interview Ace

Problem before Product. 

17 years of tech sales experience as an SDR + AE at Salesforce, IBM and Asana all as an individual contributor. There’s more 👉

Currently Founder at Salman Sales Academy.

#1 Sales Influencer in Canada 2025 (source: Favikon)

Coaching and training AEs, SDRs, BDRs + sales teams to find and close more deals.

Started as an SDR in 2006, moved to AE in 2007.

6 years at IBM
- SDR 
- SMB + MM AE
- small Enterprise AE

7 years at Salesforce
- MM AE (new logo)
- Enterprise AE

2.5 years at Asana
- Enterprise AE 

2 years at startups 
- SMB AE (new logo)
- Enterprise AE

I currently coach + train AEs, AMs, BDRs, SDRs and Sales teams on prospecting, problem enablement, discovery, demos, deal strategy and interviews.

DM me for:

- 1:1 Sales coaching 
- Sales team coaching + training for your company
- 1:1 Sales interview consults to help you land an offer
- Speaking engagements or sessions for your company
- Podcast guest 


✅ Widely recognized as a master prospector & hunter

✅ Experienced in consultative selling to C-level, Information Technology (IT), Marketing, Ops, HR and more.

✅ Sales Interview Ace - the interview playbook I've built has resulted in an 80% success rate in interviews

✅ Possess an Honors B.A., Economics

[Sales COACHING]

➡️ Problem Enablement [build confidence in truly understanding your persona and the problems your solution solves for]

➡️ Prospecting [cold email, cold calling, warm calling, objection handling]

➡️ Discovery [full 5-step discovery framework to help lead your calls with confidence and in the flow of the conversation]

➡️ Demos [full demo framework, engaging demos, justifying spend, taking control of deals, PoC/Pilot strategy, etc…]

➡️ Deal Strategy [multithreading, uncovering power, executive alignment + engagement, quantifying pain, business case, negotiation, dealing with objections throughout cycle, taking control of your deals, champion building, mutual plans, forecasting, etc...]

➡️ Interviews - I've refined my interview playbook that has help 80+ folks land offers [interviews, mock cold calls, mock discovery, mock presos, territory plans (that will wow a hiring manager)]

I've built an entire Sales playbook from prospecting to close in everything in between based on my 17 years of experience as an individual contributor in tech sales.

No fluff. All actionable sales insights and content, with real examples, that you can start using right away in your role and see immediate results.

Check out the coaching programs and testimonials here:  www.salmansales.com

or DM me. Happy to help.

Founder

Helping AEs, SDRs + Sales teams find and close more deals. 🚀 Boosting income and revenue. 

17 years of tech Sales experience, all as an individual contributor. I've been in your shoes as an SDR, Commercial, and Enterprise AE at companies like Salesforce, IBM and Asana. In the trenches. Exceeding targets. Even in economic downturns.

Documenting all of my learnings, I've built out a Sales playbook. Now I want to give back to YOU.

I teach individual contributors + Sales teams on how to sell better, exceed targets, boost income / revenue, and accelerate growth. All with actionable Sales content and insights that you and your team can start using right away. Seeing immediate results.

My AVP at Salesforce to me on last day of the fiscal year: “Thank you for not listening to me.” 😐

Let’s roll the clocks back 9 months prior.

I took over an account. Not just any, but the largest bank in the country.

My AVP - who was the AE on the account years ago - pulled me aside my first few weeks in role and said, 

“Salman, just take down the small deal in this account. We’ve sold them almost everything.” 

Not exactly what I wanted to hear from my AVP when I took over the account.

They’d already invested quite a bit with us, I get it. But I had a quota to hit. A big one.

Nobody thought we could sell them more. 

There was a small opp… and they recommended I just take it down

and move on.

……………………………………………..

Well, here’s what I did to prove them wrong 👇


BACKGROUND CHECK

- spoke to the CSM, SE, Core teams
- specialists, external partners, SI’s, etc…
- to get the lay of the land across the account


- identified a segment that had whitespace
- it was their Wealth management division


BUILT A POINT OF VIEW

- did some initial digging and discovery
- built PoV on how they may be losing rev to competiton
- because of insights not captured in real-time on digital channels


STARTED WITH THE PROBLEM

- focused on this business challenge
- uncovered a exec priority at risk because of problem
(increased market share)


MULTITHREAD

- the PoV + disco helped gain meetings with Dir/VPs
- leveraged our internal x-functional teams
- SE, CSM, Business Value, Product mgmt, etc…


VALIDATION + ALIGNMENT

- business problem, impact to the business
- uncovered metrics important to each stakeholder 
- how said metrics were being affected by problem
- impact to business if nothing actioned on


CUSTOMER’S BEST INTEREST BEFORE OURS

- shared pros and cons to each option
- options included ones that wouldn’t work in our favor
- we didn’t take one side or other, which built trust


CO-CREATED BUSINESS CASE

- with our champion
- got buy-in from each stakeholder


MUTUAL PLAN

- which was truly MUTUAL 


NO BUDGET WAS ALLOCATED

- we uncovered a problem that put a priority at risk
- they dug up budget from other areas of business

………………………………………..

The result?

Our champion achieved the 1% club, because of the impact the platform had on their segment.

I closed one of the largest deals of my career 

because our internal teams worked together to solve a big problem.

Hit almost 200% of my number (when I was told to take down the small deal)


The deal came on the last day of the fiscal year and the AVP sent me a message,

“Thank you for not listening to me”

………………………………………………………

I took my AVP’s statement at the start of the year as a challenge.

Don’t let a few words stop you from accomplishing something you believe you can do.

Helping Sales Pros Close More Deals + Crush Quota | 17 Years as an AE | ex-Salesforce, IBM + Asana | Founder, Salman Sales Academy | #1 Sales Influencer in Canada 2025

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

If I started a new AE role tomorrow, I wouldn’t open the CRM.

I wouldn’t review the product slides (for now). 
I wouldn’t watch demos of features & function. 

Here’s what I would do instead in my first two weeks (and why it works) 👇


1. Find the top 3 AEs in the org
 Buy them a coffee (virtual or not) and ask:
 → “What are you doing that others aren’t?” → “What would you do differently if you had to start over?”
 I used to let ego get in the way of these convos.
 I realized: replicating what already works saves you months of trial and error.


2. Skip product enablement (for now)
 You’ll get flooded with features anyway.
 Start with problem enablement.
 Build a simple doc:
 → choose 3-5 buyer personas → list out real problems they face
→ (not capabilities, jargon or buzzwords)
→ understand how they typically tackle them today → map out the negative impact on them and business  → identify what metrics they care about/how affected 
Document how those problems show up in their world.
 This helps you speak the prospects language, when everyone else is just pitching features.

Prospects will think “this person gets me”.


3. Study your competition (and status quo) 
Not just from a deck, go deeper:
 → where they win → where they fall short → what your product does better → what problems your differentiators actually solve

👆 that last one is the most important
 You can’t stand out if you don’t know what you’re up against.


4. Master 3 customer stories
 Not surface-level. Break it down:
 → what problem were they facing → what negative impact it had (think metrics)
→ bonus points if there was a priority it put at risk → what changed after they used your product → what were the positive business outcomes

(make the champion the hero)


5. Meet your internal teams
 SDRs, SEs, CSMs, Legal, Deal Desk, Partner team, etc
 Ask them: “What can I do to make your life easier?”
 It builds trust fast, and that pays off when deals get complex.

…………………………………

Do these 5 things and you won’t just ramp up super fast 
you’ll build your internal brand.


P.S. Problem Enablement (2) is an absolute game changer… my clients ramp up SO much faster

17 years as an AE I was never taught one crucial skill.

→ how to quantify pain in deals

I was told that I should do it.  Got some high level theory on how to approach it.

Told that I needed a business case to drive deals forward.

Provided some building blocks to get there, but nothing tangible that I could use on a repeatable basis.

I tried, but couldn't crack the code.

One of the key reasons early in my career I couldn't get prospects to justify the spend and lost more deals than I won.

Until I realized something.

We're usually all measurable on something. We're accountable for certain metrics.

For salespeople it could be ACV, ARR, quota attainment, pipeline, call metrics, etc...

So that means our prospects, the personas I speak to, are likely accountable for something as well.

.....................................................................

I began applying this principle in discovery:

Once I uncover a problem and its impact.

I ask these questions in the flow of the conversation 👇 

1. what’s the KPI or metric they care about

"Linda, usually when I speak to leaders like yourself they are usually accountable for certain metrics like conversion rates or campaign ROI. If you don’t mind me asking, what KPI or metrics are most important to you?"

- they’re typically measured on something, find out what that is


2. how’s the metric being affected

"How’s that KPI or metric being affected by this problem you're facing today?"

- e.g. for a marketing leader, conversion rates could be suffering


3. do they have a target

"What's your ideal target for this KPI or metric?”

- they may have a goal to it; built trust and uncover it

(don’t create a business case on one call)


4. have they done any internal analysis 

"Not sure if you've done any sort of internal analysis, but you been able to quantify the impact to your business?"

- most cases they won’t be able to quantify the impact... still ask

……………………………………………………………

My recommendation, ask these questions to each key stakeholder in your cycle.

Each will usually have their own KPI + metrics they’re measurable on.


It will give you the foundation you need to help quantify pain

and build a compelling business case in their language... not your's.

Got a verbal from a prospect, “We’ve decided to move forward with your platform.” My response:

“Sounds great! I’ll send over an order form later today.”

I forecasted the deal for the month and told my manager the good news.

Got the internal approvals and sent it out.

One day passed. Nothing. Two days. Crickets.

Finally got a hold of them:

“When can we expect a signed order form?”

Prospect: “It’s not that simple. We’ll need to go through vendor approval. You’ll also be hearing from InfoSec to fill out some forms. Plus, we need to get in touch with legal to discuss the MSA.”

Me: “How long do you think that’ll take?”

Prospect: “I’ve seen it take as little as 6 weeks and as long as 6 months.”

Head down. I had to break the news to leadership on a deal I’d committed

👆 This situation happened more than once for me earlier in my career. Lesson learned.

................................................

Don’t assume a deal is done because a prospect gives you the thumbs up.

It’s on us to uncover their buying process, early.

You could try something that sounds like this:

You: “Linda, you’ve been with the company for 5+ years. Fair to assume you’ve been part of evaluations like this in the past?”

Prospect: “Yup.”

You: “Could you walk me through how you typically evaluate, decide, and purchase tech? What are the steps and who’s involved?”

..................................................

Or something like this, for more complex deals:

“Linda - working with customers like you, I’ve noticed that once a platform gets the green light, there’s often a vendor onboarding process

which could include InfoSec, privacy assessments, and potentially getting legal involved.

Is that something you anticipate and if so could you walk me through the process and who’s involved?”

...................................................

Get ahead of the process in your deal cycles.

It’ll save you a headache and heartache.


P.S. who’s heading over to Sales Enablement Summit in downtown Toronto today?

See you there!

Have you ever experienced something so incredible that it didn’t really hit you until after it was over?

Like way after...

That’s how I felt looking back at what happened last month in Toronto.

Our 2nd annual Sales Sprint conference. This time bigger and better.

All I can say is… next level (just check out the video below).

What I loved about it wasn’t just the top notch speakers

wasn’t just the AEs, SDRs, and Sales Leaders who attended (more than a third flew in for the event)

wasn’t just the actionable Sales content shared by some the top voices in the game

But it was the RESULTS that came out of it.

one AE messaged me , “We’ve already started implementing some of the learnings — we booked 10 meetings from our recent sales sequence!” 

another AE, “I’ve got calls I can apply the learnings to this week.”

“I put the guidance on a call today and it made a noticeable impact.”

They even intro’d myself and another speaker to their Sales Enablement lead recommending that we run training for the sales team.

Other leaders asked speakers to run sessions for their team after the sales insights shared at the conference.

THIS is why we put this on. So we can spread the knowledge, help the Sales profession level up, and allows folks to learn from each other.

(Folks came up to me saying they got a few leads from folks attending too!)

If you know me, I've always been a believer about sharing ACTIONABLE sales content based on experience in the trenches, not theory. 

So people can apply the learnings and make an impact in their day-to-day as an AE, AM, BDR or Sales leader.

..............................................................

An absolute unreal 2-days.

Highlight of the event was the Discovery and Cold Call role-play competition powered by Hyperbound's platform.

Huge shoutout to them for being a great sponsor (btw, if you haven’t checked out Hyperbound for sales enablement AI coaching, you’re missing out). Folks were raving about them at the event.

So grateful.

Let’s run it back next year!

(If you’re interested in locking in a spot for Sales Sprint ‘26, hit me up)

P.S. HUGE shoutout to MVMNT Media for capturing Sales Sprint with incredible photo and video coverage. If you’re hosting an event in the Toronto area, these folks are the real deal.

website: www.themvmntmedia.ca
Insta: @themvmntmedia

Wish someone had told me this about discovery when I stepped into my first AE role at IBM (a long time ago 🙃 )

→ “Vague, generic questions will give you vague, generic responses.”

Would've made a world of a difference if I knew this back then.

Why?

Because here’s how my discovery sounded like back then:

➤ When I uncovered some pain, asked a few questions around it, and got to impact, I’d ask:
 
“What impact is this having on your business?”

The response? Pretty generic and high level.

➤ Or when I wanted clarification on next steps after a demo, I’d ask:

 “What do next steps look like?”

The response? Pretty vague. Nothing of substance.

Then I realized… wait. My questions aren't cutting it.

Sounded like a rookie (which I was).
I needed to be more specific and more purpose behind my questions.

............................................................

Flip the script 👇 

To uncover impact, for example:

“Was talking to a few leaders in your space recently who came across this challenge, and they said it’s leading to product launch delays and missed revenue opps. Not sure if you’re seeing this, but what would you say is the ripple effect across the business?”

To uncover next steps after the a good demo, for example:

“Linda, let’s say we agreed to an investment you and your team were comfortable with, what would happen next? Could you walk me through your internal process step-by-step on how you’d get this approved and who usually gets involved?”

.........................................

When you go from asking vague, generic questions

 → to thoughtful, intentional, and specific ones

You’ll get answers with much more substance...

and it’ll help you navigate your sales cycle with much more confidence.

It starts with HOW you ask, in discovery.

Was at a conference yesterday and had 60- seconds to pitch a Sales Enablement leader I’d never spoken to before.

I had to run to a meeting and the next session was about to start.

Wanted to try to catch the leader whom I heard from someone else said she was looking for training for her team.

No time to qualify or run any discovery.

Just a shot to earn her trust (and a next step).

Here’s what 23-year-old Salman would’ve said:

“Hey Linda, heard you’re looking for sales training. I can help streamline your manual processes, help with your sales execution and increase win rates.”

😐


Here’s what 27 year-old Salman would’ve said:

“Hi Linda, how are you? What inspired you come to the conference?… that’s great. Hey I heard you’re looking for training. What are you hoping to accomplish?”

😐


Here’s what 42-year-old Salman actually said:

“Hi Linda, how are you enjoying the conference so far?”

Linda: “Going really well.”

Me: “Hey, know we got a minute before the next session. Just wanted to say I was on your website and I love how you focus on the problem you actually solve for.”

[I talked through the specific problem they solve for with no buzzwords, no product jargon]

“It’s refreshing to see that because I don’t very often.” I said


Linda: “Really appreciate that. I’ll definitely share what you just said with my internal team.”

Me: “Thanks. Ya the thing I see today with a lot of sellers is that they tend to focus more on the product vs truly understanding and articulating the problem, in the prospects language not their language.”

Linda: “You’re right…. we should connect.”

Me: “Know we have to run but let me send you a note and we can find some time, sound good?”

Linda: “Let’s do it.”

She smiled the entire convo.



Problem before product.

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