Culture Driven Sales

Hosted a Southwestern Advantage meeting yesterday with a hard-working team of college students from Estonia running their own business selling books door-to-door in WA. Southwestern was a profound experience for me, providing me with a four-year character-building experience in college. Selling books door-to-door taught me foundational lifelong skills and lessons about grit, belief, communication, empathy, commitment, emotional connectedness, how to control what I can control, and much more. Great to spend time with the next generation of sellers and entrepreneurs. We chatted about the lifelong impact of what they are now doing and then had some good fun! #southwestern #doortodoor #culturedrivensales

Great article on leadership in uncertain times by Alissa Finerman, published by The Wharton School. Key takeaways: - Share your vision and the "why" - Communicate and Listen - Maintain a focus on People, People, People Alissa, your advice is spot-on! I have always agreed on your philosophy on leadership. Thank you for interviewing and including me in your article. Quick piece that highlights how to lead with purpose and compassion to drive high engagement and results. Worth a read! #culturedrivensales #leadership

Thank you Esther 🌱 Ayorinde (ENFP) and GrowthQ for hosting me on the final episode of this season’s Dear Future CRO podcast. We shared best practices for Go-To-Market leaders, talking all things sales and culture. We discussed how to best tie the corporate strategy to the GTM strategy. We talked about handling rejection and how to control what you can control. Fun and engaging conversation! Some key takeaways: ·        *Culture Is Everything* - A company's culture, mission, vision, and core values aren't just corporate fluff. They are the critical DNA that should run through every aspect of a business for driving alignment, impact, and top results. ·        *Emotional Connection in Sales* - The art of sales is deeply rooted in storytelling and deep understanding of prospects and customers. It’s not just about pushing a product but about emotionally connecting on a human level. ·        *Chief Belief Officer* - Your job as a leader isn’t just about driving sales productivity, efficiency, and results. The best sales leaders know that much of their role is to inspire and motivate, helping the team think and believe big. Catch the full episode in the comments. #culturedrivensales #sales #GTM

And that's a wrap! Last night, we closed out this year's term of Mktg 579: Culture Driven Sales & Go-To-Market Strategy at UW Foster School of Business. I teach this class to provide graduate MBA students with an intro to Sales and Go-To-Market. Did you know that there are no classes on this topic in core MBA programs? This is true despite the importance of sales and revenue to every company and even though almost all B2B companies have a huge percentage of overall employees working in the sales organization. Crazy! This is why I decided to teach! In this class, we cover the basic principles of GTM, including: - Mission/Vision - Core Values - Company Story - Differentiated Value Propositions (DVP) - Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) - Sales Motions - Ideal Seller Profile (ISP) - Sales Operations During each GTM lesson, we review what good looks like. We discuss best practices for implementing these principles in practical and applied ways. We host amazing speakers who are subject matter experts on these topics, including Elissa Fink on Mission/Vision/Values/Company Story, Matt Dixon (author of The Challenger Sale and many other top selling sales books) on Sales Motions and seller profiles, and Sarah Bedwell & Nate Vogel on Sales Operations/Sales Enablement. The culminating final capstone is a Sales Audit. Project teams do a comprehensive audit of an existing company's overarching GTM and sales strategy. Teams assess 1) how the company applies the principles taught in the course and 2) whether these GTM principles are executed in an effective and integrated way. Regardless of what industry or function they choose for their career, students leave this class knowing and understanding the elements of GTM and Sales, with an appreciation of how important GTM is for driving forward the corporate strategy. Teams created videos to summarize what they learned in their sales audits. I love seeing how students bring creativity, fun, and even high-end production capability to showcase what they learned. Team Amgen this year won the best video category by a massive landslide. This photo is our end-of-term class photo with the winning team in front. Thank you students for spending this term with me. Congratulations to those of you graduating! Wishing you all great success in your next roles and careers. Question for past and present students: What were your top learnings and takeaways from this class? Please share how you have applied these principles in real life? I'd love to hear! (For those of you interested, yes, I do offer workshops to help executives and GTM teams build best-in-class GTM & sales strategies. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/giUUUkrz.) #culturedrivensales #UWFoster #GTM #Sales

Thank you Ricky Sevta and Sean Diljore for hosting me on the latest episode of SaaSy Talk Unfiltered. What a perfect name for a Sales and GTM tech podcast! Episode's Title: "Transforming Companies through Purpose and People" Key Topics: - Correlation between strong culture and top sales results - Data-driven decision-making - Characteristics of the best salespeople - Building a high-performance team Podcast is out out on all major platforms. Check out our conversation here: https://lnkd.in/gvi2giEr Also find a quick 2-minute blog in the comments too. #culturedrivensales #leadership #sales

“Culture ties back to the overall essence of the company” - Kelly Breslin Wright In this latest SaaSy Talk Unfiltered episode, Kelly shares her remarkable journey from selling books door-to-door to becoming a prominent figure in tech. Kelly has over 30 years of experience in leadership, sales, operations, and strategy. She has served in multiple executive roles, including as President and Chief Operating Officer at Gong and as Executive Vice President (CRO) at Tableau Software. Kelly is currently Founder and CEO of her own thought leadership platform Culture Driven Sales. With a focus on the critical role of culture in sales and business success, Kelly discusses her transition into board roles and teaching, emphasizing the importance of mission, vision, and alignment in creating effective teams and compelling sales strategies. 𝗙𝗨𝗟𝗟 𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗢𝗡 𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗠𝗔𝗝𝗢𝗥 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗦 👉 https://lnkd.in/gmCURrKr 𝗡𝗼 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁? 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝟮-𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://lnkd.in/gpUJCpMD =========================== Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast and blog to stay updated on episodes featuring exceptional leaders and their insights. #Leadership #SaaSyTalk #CEO #Founder #startup #culturedrivensales Ps. Nate Vogel - Thanks for setting this up.

Have you listened to the latest "Dear Future CRO" episode yet? You won't want to miss this one 👇 In our latest episode, Kelly Wright, Founder and CEO of Culture Driven Sales shares invaluable insights on the power of connecting emotionally with prospects and understanding their story. She reminds us that, "Connecting emotionally with prospects and understanding their story is not just about sales; it’s about helping them on a personal level." ▶ Tune in to this thought-provoking discussion on how to bring a personal touch to your sales approach and make a meaningful impact. 🎧 Listen to the episode here: https://lnkd.in/gEfdSf35 #SalesStrategy #EmotionalIntelligence #FutureCRO #DearFutureCROPodcast

Just recorded a podcast episode for Dear Future CRO with GrowthQ and Esther 🌱 Ayorinde (ENFP). Great conversation! We talked about all things Sales, GTM, and Culture. Here's a short snippet about the importance of having all elements of a company's overarching strategy tied to and integrated with the go-to-market strategy. Tune in Wednesday when the full episode drops. #culturedrivensales