Sales Success Stories

Pascal Kaldenbach is the top individual contributor and the Head of Sales at EPI-USE Labs in Central & Eastern Europe. EPI-USA Labs is a global software solutions company that helps their clients maximize the performance so they can make faster, more accurate business decisions. Pascal is an extremely successful and knowledgeable sales professional who understands the amount of hard work and dedication required to become a success in this profession.

In today's bonus episode of I wanted to share a bit of a preview of this year's Sales Success Summit. At this point, I've got about 70% of the agenda figured out, which is even more than it sounds like because I try to keep 15-20% of it undefined so we can be flexible in the moment and either go deeper into a particular topic that people are interested in, or explore something important that comes up that we don't already have accounted for in the scheduled talks. So I'll really only be adding 2-3 more scheduled speakers. While I continue to work on that, let me tell you about what we do have set up so far and if you'll click over to top1.fm/2021preview I'll have all of these details in addition to links to each presenter's episode as well so you can go even deeper in your preparation for the event itself on October 11th and 12th.

Jennifer Zhou is the top Senior Account Executive at Attentive, a personalized text messaging platform built for innovative e-commerce brands. Attentive is the most comprehensive text message marketing solution, driving 18.5% of total online revenue for businesses by creating thoughtful SMS experiences. Jenn is an accomplished and knowledgeable sales professional who knows how to be effective and intentional in everything she does.

Lori Richardson is the founder of Women Sales Pros and a B2B sales and revenue growth strategist at her own firm, Score More Sales. Lori is also the host of the Conversations with Women in Sales Podcast, a show that features women in sales who are doing incredible work and their male counterparts who have become allies. Each episode features topics such as leadership, career management, overcoming adversity, sales and marketing alignment, content creation, and more.

This is the Sales Success Stories Podcast and I'm your host, Scott Ingram. I really appreciate you listening to this show, but listening is such a passive activity so I want to challenge you to get a little more involved in the Sales Success Community and to do something to improve yourself. So today I'm going to issue that challenge.

Chris Horton is the top Key Account Executive at Workstream, a text recruiting and hiring tool for local businesses, especially restaurants. Chris is also the first rep in Workstream’s history to close more than one million dollars, and he did it in just six months! His keys to success include turning ideas into action, bringing a vision of a bright future, and doing big things to change the world. Chris is a passionate sales professional who truly looks to provide meaningful and lasting value to his customers.

In today’s bonus episode, Scott sits down with Chief Revenue Officer at Proposify, Conor Cox. Conor joins the show for a deep dive into the impact that proposal software can have on the closing side of the business. Scott and Conor discuss best practices to help you win a higher percentage of your deals and what Proposify is doing to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. Conor talks in detail about the importance of having visibility and control over your proposals and speaks to how he structures his team at Proposify to put them in a position to be successful. Finally, Scott and Conor talk about the impact Proposify is having on management and how that is impacting their customers.

Patrick Joyce is a true one-percenter and he’s also the first sales hire Scott has officially made in his journey towards building his very own world-class sales organization. Patrick has been a lifelong seller with a diverse background including graduate-level mathematics, secondary education, insurance, and SaaS. He’s consulted over 100 startups and has a reputation for his unique ability to craft relevant, multichannel messaging that delivers results. Patrick has worked to successfully coach clients on breaking into new business ranging from SMB to Fortune 100 markets. Now, he’s joined Sales Success Media to help Scott build something incredible and lasting!

In this week's bonus episode, I've got the audio from the most recent All Things Sales Success webinar series sessions with Tim Clarke of UNCrushed for you. Stay tuned at the end to learn more about the connection between UNCrushed and this year's Sales Success Summit. Here's my conversation with Tim:

Rachel Shi is currently the Senior Manager of Partnerships at Vidyard, after leaving her previous company as their number one Account Executive. Vidyard is the video platform for Marketing and Sales Video hosting, enablement, and analytics that help their clients connect with more buyers, close more deals, and optimize their content for real results. Rachel is a driven, curious and quick on her feet sales and partnerships professional with a heart for creativity and a mind for business. Her experience driving business impact for startups to Fortune 500 companies is underscored by over ten years in design thinking. Currently, Rachel is building and scaling strategic partnerships for Vidyard’s ecosystem while growing her own sales consultancy business.

In today's bonus episode, I wanted to share with you Nina Butler's virtual presentation at last year's Sales Success Summit where she talked about The ABP's of Gifting in Sales. Alyce has been an incredible sponsor of ours all year long, and rather than telling you about Alyce this time. I'd really like for you to experience what it's like to get a gift from Alyce. If you're in the US or Canada, all you have to do is write a short review of this podcast either on Apple Podcasts or if you're not using an Apple Device then on Podchaser. Take a screenshot of that review and email it to me at scott@top1.fm and we'll set you up with the gift of your choice worth up to $50 from Alyce. I'll remind you again, but in the meantime, here's Nina to talk about gifting in sales:

Derek Sentner is the VP of Sales & Business Development at Driver Studios, an award-winning media and entertainment company focused on the development, production, distribution, marketing, and licensing of entertainment content. Derek is a highly motivated and entrepreneurial sales leader who is focused on driving revenue and building businesses. Employing a conversational sales style and a consultative sales philosophy, Derek has been able to achieve incredible results at Driver Studios and is consistently a top performer.

As we come up to the close of Q2 and the first half of 2021 I thought this was the perfect time to share Leila Mozaffarian's closing presentation from last year's Sales Success Summit on Writing Your Next Chapter. I think we're about to see another dramatic shift. We're not going back to where we were before the pandemic. We're accelerating and going forward to our future together post-pandemic. This is a great opportunity to reflect on what that could mean for each of us, as we start the second half of the year and Leila's message is perfect for just this type of transition period. You can get Leila's slides and the slides from all of the presentations from last year's Summit at top1.fm/2020slides, and I sincerely hope you'll consider joining us this October in Austin at this year's Sales Success Summit, sponsored by Proposify, Outreach, and Gong. You'll find all of those details at Top1Summit.com. And now, here's Leila:

George Mann is the top Account Executive at Multiverse, an organization based out of London, England that empowers and supports people to create their own realities as they journey through a fulfilling career. Multiverse is a true alternative to both a one-track university route and often uninspiring corporate training. Working with a range of companies from large corporates to small boutiques, George provides counsel and support to allow them to utilize the English Apprenticeship Levy, while also championing the role of young and diverse talent. George has extensive experience in public relations and public affairs and is a Teach First ambassador and advocate.

Brandon Fluharty is the number one top seller at LivePerson out of Sarasota, Florida, an organization that aims to make life easier by transforming how people communicate with brands. In his role as Vice President of Strategic Account Solutions, Brandon focuses on acquiring top-tier, strategic enterprise accounts. Through a combination of sales expertise and his PREP approach, Brandon has been able to close over $40M in sales in less than three years.

Sid Nazareth was the number one salesperson worldwide at Appian for two years in a row before starting his current role as a Strategic Account Manager at Amazon Web Services. During his time at Appian Sid made significant contributions in winning new business and was known as one of the best pre-sales consultants with technical skills, dedication, and work ethic second to none. Today, he works with some of AWS’ largest customers. Sid is the epitome of a thoughtful and intentional sales professional who believes in being compassionate and kind. It is his ability to relate and connect with people – one of his superpowers – that has led to a tremendous amount of success in his profession.

Today on the Sales Success Stories podcast Scott provides another bonus episode, this time with Avenue Talent Partners’ Amy Volas. In addition to being the CEO of Avenue Talent Partners, Amy is the co-founder of Thursday Night Sales. In this episode, Scott and Amy discuss all things sales, including why the market for sales professionals is currently brimming with lucrative opportunities and potential. Amy provides her thoughts on what she looks for in a sales organization before deciding the join it as well as the importance she places on culture and sales leadership.

Kevin Piket is the top Business Development Executive at Ascend Technologies, an organization that enables business growth through innovation and technology. Even though Kevin has just recently started in this role, he very quickly ascended to the top of the leaderboard after his first full quarter at full quota. There are two things Kevin really enjoys in his professional life; he enjoys everything about the sales and marketing profession and he enjoys helping people. Whether it's coaching sales professionals with skill development or helping customers solve their challenges and achieve their goals, it truly is Kevin’s passion. Kevin believes in using a blend of relationship sales, targeted marketing programs utilizing data, and working through his personal network to generate revenue. Overall, Kevin likes to bring his high energy and positive attitude to any opportunity that he’s involved with.

Today I've got another presentation from last year's Sales Success Summit for you, and this may have been my personal favorite presentation. I definitely learned some new things from Evan and his delivery is hilarious. It's even funnier if you see that slides that go with it and you can access those a top1.fm/2020slides If you ever sell to publicly traded companies and haven't ever dug into various financial statements, this could be game-changing for you, and even if you have I can almost guarantee that you're going to learn something new. Here's Evan Kelsay, Senior Director of Global Account at Seismic on Demystifying the 10K for Sales Professionals:

Jheryn Kenney is the top Enterprise Relationship Manager with LinkedIn Sales Solutions and is also Global External Partnerships Lead for LinkedIn’s Diversity Inclusion and Belonging. Throughout her illustrious career, Jheryn has had the privilege of working with talented people at leading enterprises including Pfizer, Abbott (AbbVie), Mary Kay Inc, Grainger, and now LinkedIn. She’s also learned from some of the very best minds in both academic and personal capacities about critical thinking, cause and effect, and problem-solving. Today, she partners with enterprise leaders to think differently, strategically leveraging the LinkedIn ecosystem to help their organizations become smarter and more insightful.