In today’s episode of the Startup Selling Show we have Niko Hughes. Niko is the Co-Founder and COO of SDRemote.

SDRemote is an outsourcing & consulting company focused on helping early stage startups (Pre Seed – Series A) achieve market validation, logo acquisition and build the revenue stream they need to receive additional funding or reach profitability.

 

Prior to starting SDRemote, Niko spent the last 5 years working in sales and marketing with a number of different startups. Niko, along with his brother Anthony, decided to start SDRemote because they saw that early stage companies had a need to ramp up thier sales, but lacked the know-how.

Throughout the course of the conversation, Niko and I talked about sales process management, specifically focusing on the top of the funnel.  We dive into some of the biggest mistakes companies make when starting to build their pipelines, how to test a new market for your product, some best practices for cold calling and how you should be qualifying your inbound leads so that you can close more deals – faster. 

LISTEN RIGHT NOW HERE

Even better, why not subscribe to the “Startup Selling Podcast: Talking Sales with Scott Sambucci” on iTunes?

Some of the specific topics we covered are:

• Biggest mistakes companies make when kicking off their sales work.
• Personas VS Target Buyers.
• How to test a market.
• Laser focus selling.
• Length of the buying process.
• Cold Calling best practices.
• Warm Calling.
• How to qualify inbound leads.

Tools mentioned

• SalesLoft
• Outreach

Books Mentioned:

• Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

How to get in touch with Niko:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikohughes/
• SDRemote: sdremote.co
• Email: [email protected] – If you’re ever in Portland, Oregon, shoot him a note to go for coffee or beer.

Get a FREE copy of my book: “Startup Selling: How To Sell If You Really, Really Have To And Don’t Know How.”

Justin Vandehay, along with his brother, Jeremy, Co-Founded Disco. Disco is a software company focused on helping teams appreciate each other on top of other communication platforms.

Prior to Disco, Justin worked at Intuit as Territory Sales Manager, he was also Account Executive at Gigya, and Director of Enterprise Sales at Nomu.

On this episode, Justin and I breakdown some of the important – and often overlooked – features of building sustainable company culture.

We go into the importance of brutal honesty, we contrast cash rewards against experiential ones and we break down the distinct differences between mission, vision and values – they’re not as alike as you think.

If you’re a founder, manager or if you’re an HR professional, this episode is for you. There are plenty of actionable steps shared throughout the episode that you can implement right away with your team.

Enjoy!

LISTEN RIGHT NOW HERE

Even better, why not subscribe to the “Startup Selling Podcast: Talking Sales with Scott Sambucci” on iTunes?

In this episode we dove deep into Company Culture and Core Values. Some of the specific topics that we covered are:

• What is company culture?
• Mission/Vision/Values – The difference between each.
• Growth mindset.
• Keep it 100 – Being brutally honest.
• Tying circles – Being able to iterate fast.
• Using qualitative and quantitative analysis.
• Cash Rewards vs Experiential Rewards
• Backward-bending labor supply curve.
• Most popular experiential rewards — Personal/Career Growth, and Personal Wellness.

Some of the books, and resources that were mentioned:

• Backward-bending labor supply curve:
• Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio
• Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations by Dan Ariely
• Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely
• The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age by Reid Hoffman

 

Where to get in touch with Justin:

Email: [email protected]

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinlvandehey/

Website: www.justdisco.com

In today’s episode of the Startup Selling Show we have Xan Gentile. Xan is the Head of Account Management at Blend (also, one of the best dressed men in the mortgage industry). He has been with Blend since the early days, joining the team before headcount reached 100. Since then, he’s seen the head count grow to over 400+, a few big contracts close and Blend grow to raise a series D (at at $500M valuation).

We discussed the enterprise mindset and the importance of establishing credibility while creating momentum within an organization to drive post sale product adoption and usage. We break down some of the projects we worked on together a few years ago and how implementation plans managed expectations for our enterprise prospects setting the tone for long term customers. We tie it all up by outlining why hiring product managers for your sales teams will help with your sales effectiveness – especially at the enterprise level and we cover how to use The Agile Methodology as well as the 3x3x3 method.

Xan’s has been selling large enterprise software deals to the mortgage and financial markets for three and a half years, so given his success and experience I thought he would be an AWESOME guest for the Startup Selling Show.

Enjoy!

LISTEN RIGHT NOW HERE

Even better, why not subscribe to the “Startup Selling Podcast: Talking Sales with Scott Sambucci” on iTunes?

Show Notes & Topics

In this episode we went deep into Customer Success, Account Management, and Enterprise Sales. Some of the specific topics that we covered are:

• Using a Situation Slide for your product demos.
• Tribal Cultures.
• Post-Sale Product Adoption & Usage.
• Implementation Plans.
• Product Road Maps.
• Hiring project managers for your sales teams.
• Agile Methodology.
• 3x3x3 Weekly Review Method.

How to get in touch with Xan:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandergentile/

Twitter: