The Sales Tactics Podcast

On this episode of the Sales Tactics Podcast, Jim welcomes guest Bill Lapp. Bill Lapp is the author of the SE Thoughts blog for pre- and post-sale technical/sales enablement (SE) leaders. As the Solution Architecture, Global Leader at Zscaler, he is responsible for partnering with clients to drive Digital Transformation by evolving strategy from Network Centric to Application & User Centric (SASE).Bill Lapp started his career by dropping out of high school and working in auto collision repair. After realizing that he has a complete lack of hand-eye coordination, he re-enrolled in school. Upon completing his BS/MS in Computer Science at WPI, he accepted a job at MIT. He eventually re-enrolled in school, received his MBA from Babson College, and spent 15 years doing software development, crisis management, and pre-sales in the big data, unified communications, security, and networking industries across international, government, education, large enterprise, and startup environments.In this episode, you’ll hear:How Jim met Bill Lapp and where their paths crossed during their careers.Why he started his blog, SE Thoughts, and how it contributes to helping technical sales.His tips for what leaders can do to better prepare for the technical side of the sales process.Who best fits the profile for an SE position and why that personality type is best suited to it.The reason he likes the whiteboard method and how you can apply that to training methods.What the ideal partnership should look like between technical enablement and SE and the three areas where technical enablement can assist.How you can use culture to increase engagement and participation with your team.The three things Bill Lapp looks for when hiring an SE.The level of expectation AEs should be held to in technical proficiency and why.What he sees as the solution to finding the next generation of SEs.The advice Bill Lapp would give to sales enablement leaders for starting a technical enablement function.Connect with Jim Jones:salestactics.comtwitter.com/jimjones425linkedin.com/in/jimrjones1Connect with Bill Lapp:sethoughts.comlinkedin.com/in/blapp

Today on The Sales Tactics Podcast, Anna Vuong from Zoom joins Jim to co-host this episode. They welcome Evan Kravitz, Vice President of Sales at Nacelle and a former colleague of Jim’s at Optimizely. In this episode, Jim and Anna focus on the processes Evan Kravitz developed to ramp new reps and coach his teams into a high-performing sales organization.In this episode, you’ll hear:What a “headless commerce platform” is and Nacelle’s market position in that space.How Evan Kravitz is translating what he learned as a sales leader at Optimizely to his Vice President role at Nacelle and how he categorizes coaching and professional development into two phases.The cadence he goes through during coaching and how it ties into his coaching philosophy.Why goals are crucial to new hires and how to keep them tracking toward their goals.How Evan Kravitz builds his ramp structure and why a repeatable process is key.Why intentionality and investing time upfront pays off over time in sales.How ongoing coaching with team members leads to payback and incrementally improves someone’s game over time.What Evan Kravitz’s competency model did for his day-to-day workstream and how it changed conversations with his senior reps.How becoming a VP has changed his competency model and the steps he plans to take to scale it for his team.His expectations of incoming sales leaders and how authenticity builds relationships and collaboration.Why sales enablement can be a great partner and how the feedback helps identify gaps.The fork-in-the-road pitch, how it works, and why it’s effective.The Payoff:  how Evan’s process yields great results in the life of one of his new hire reps.Connect with Jim Jones:salestactics.comtwitter.com/jimjones425linkedin.com/in/jimrjones1Connect with Evan Kravitz:linkedin.com/in/ekravitzwww.nacelle.comConnect with Anna Vuong:linkedin.com/in/annakvuong

In this inaugural episode of the podcast, Jim Jones welcomes Sarah Brazier to the podcast. Sarah is an account executive at Gong, and you’ll hear about her journey into sales and how she was able to parlay a number of activities into great social media success.In this episode, you’ll hear:How Jim and Sarah Brazier met and the serendipitous events that led her into sales.What she did to transition her passion for acting into a career as a successful account executive.Why the ability to tell a great story played an important part in becoming a successful salesperson.Sarah Brazier’s tips for reading a sales prospect’s body language and the agility to “convert in the room” during a presentation.Her first job experience in sales and why it frustrated her so much.What gave her the resolve to succeed.The tips you need to become a successful sales development representative (SDR).Her secret to becoming a LinkedIn superstar and how it has affected her sales at Gong.How trust and credibility play in Sarah Brazier’s favor at the end of a negotiation process.The keys to her ongoing success in her new role as an account executive.Why being promoted is different than being hired.What managers can do to help their SDRs succeed.Connect with Jim Jones:https://www.salestactics.com/https://twitter.com/jimjones425https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimrjones1/Connect with Sarah Brazier:https://www.linkedin.com/in/sjbrazier/