Kelly Wright

Topic: The Importance of Culture Driven Sales, Diversity, and Internal Alignment.

This is what you'll learn as you listen:
- Her journey from the start and how she landed at Gong
- Facing roadblocks and overcoming them
- The importance of connecting humans to humans first and why Culture Driven Sales must be taught
- How to understand the reality of data and aligning teams internally
- How to welcome diversity at work
- Tips for leaders, founders, and SaaS enthusiasts

This episode of Tech Sales Insights is the last part of our conversation with Kelly Breslin Wright, President and COO of Gong, and Founder and Thought Leader at Culture Driven Sales. Culture Driven Sales recognizes that people are behind every single interaction in business. Kelly shares what it means to prioritize people in terms of valuing your team and truly understanding the customer journey. She discusses how teams must be aligned in putting the customer first to reduce confusion and build… Show more

This episode of Tech Sales Insights is the last part of our conversation with Kelly Breslin Wright, President and COO of Gong, and Founder and Thought Leader at Culture Driven Sales. Culture Driven Sales recognizes that people are behind every single interaction in business. Kelly shares what it means to prioritize people in terms of valuing your team and truly understanding the customer journey. She discusses how teams must be aligned in putting the customer first to reduce confusion and build up customers to be successful.

HIGHLIGHTS:
- People build great companies, so companies must prioritize people
- Be authentic with mistakes and own them
- Managing sales and customer success management
- When the going gets tough, companies need to have very tight focus

QUOTES:
1) "What are the top 3 priorities? Priority number 1 is people. Priority number 2 is people. And what is priority number 3? It's people, you got it...Because, you know, it's people who actually build your product and services. It's people who engage with your customers and sell to your customers and support your customers."

2) "Most companies, because they have one team that's selling and then another team with customer success, I think that it's really important for us as companies to understand the entire customer journey. So it's not just there's sales that's one function and then they go to post-sales, because everything is a continual loop." Show less

This episode of Tech Sales Insights is the second part of our conversation with Kelly Breslin Wright, President and COO of Gong, and Founder and Thought Leader at Culture Driven Sales. At the heart of culture-driven sales is people. This challenges the idea of a sales-driven culture where operating principles are the priority. A strong people-first approach gets you the best talent and creates a positive work environment, which ultimately drives toward more and better sales. This means that… Show more

This episode of Tech Sales Insights is the second part of our conversation with Kelly Breslin Wright, President and COO of Gong, and Founder and Thought Leader at Culture Driven Sales. At the heart of culture-driven sales is people. This challenges the idea of a sales-driven culture where operating principles are the priority. A strong people-first approach gets you the best talent and creates a positive work environment, which ultimately drives toward more and better sales. This means that companies must be very firm with hiring based on behaviors that align with the culture that they are trying to create within their organization.

HIGHLIGHTS:
- Culture Driven Sales has a common mission and challenges conventions
- On hiring: Determine the right behavior traits that align with your culture
- Feedback and managing your culture with care and intention

QUOTES
1)"It's Culture Driven Sales. If you have a strong mission, strong culture, strong operating principles, strong people-first approach, then you're going to be able to get the best people and help to provide an environment where it's a positive place to work where you can get the most out of those people because they're empowered and then that in turn will drive more sales."

2) "Mission is really important to make sure the whole company understands the purpose and their why. This is a really important way to determine who wants to work for you, who [does] not. Are they passionate about that why? Do they care? So that's the first...The second is making sure that we're asking the right questions in the interview process that are teasing out not only experience and resume, but also how they align with the right behavioral traits that are core to your culture and your operating principle." Show less

This episode of Tech Sales Insights features Kelly Breslin Wright, President and COO of Gong, as well as Founder and Thought Leader at Culture Driven Sales.

HIGHLIGHTS:
- Selling books door to door
- Kelly's journey in sales and entrepreneurship
- Providing salespeople with actionable insights on what to do next

KEY QUOTES:

1) "So much of being successful in sales and in business is about grit and learning how to put hard work in, learning how to get knocked… Show more

This episode of Tech Sales Insights features Kelly Breslin Wright, President and COO of Gong, as well as Founder and Thought Leader at Culture Driven Sales.

HIGHLIGHTS:
- Selling books door to door
- Kelly's journey in sales and entrepreneurship
- Providing salespeople with actionable insights on what to do next

KEY QUOTES:

1) "So much of being successful in sales and in business is about grit and learning how to put hard work in, learning how to get knocked down, and how you stand back up and you keep on going. Learning how to persevere. And there is no job in the world that is harder than selling something door-to-door because you're sized up in 15 to 30 seconds."

2) "We capture all of this data and then we're able to provide a lot of diagnosing and understanding of what's happening with that reality so that we can help improve coaching, onboarding of your teams, help to understand what's going on with your competitors, understand what people are saying about your products so all different groups — marketing, sales, CS, product — who are interested in knowing what's going on in our customers conversations, can get that learning from Gong."

3) "If you only get a slice of the data, it's only going to tell you a slice of the story. So, first, you have to have a comprehensive view of what's going on with the data, and that's really been Gong's approach." Show less

Our guest today is Kelly Wright, Founder of Culture Driven Sales, an organization on a mission to help companies create exceptional cultures. Kelly helps orgs drive sales by bringing all levels of the company together around a unified purpose, creating a healthier, more aligned culture. She is also the President and COO of Gong, a company that analyses customer-facing interactions to deliver the insights needed to close more deals.

We've all heard of companies having "core values," but, how do you make sure that they don't become just words on a wall? This week, Kelly Wright, seasoned board director and former EVP of sales at Tableau, discusses the power of staying true to your company's core mission statement. From hiring the right candidates to achieving long term goals, learn how developing a mission-centered culture can chart a company's path to success.

Kelly Wright has had a remarkable career in sales, from her early days selling books door to door to joining Tableau as a developing startup and helping them grow into a multi-billion dollar company as a key member of their executive team. Today, she is board director at Fastly, a leading cloud services provider.

In this episode of Go to Market Grit, Joubin and Kelly discuss Kelly’s incredible career path, including her decision to attend business school, how she landed at Tableau, and… Show more

Kelly Wright has had a remarkable career in sales, from her early days selling books door to door to joining Tableau as a developing startup and helping them grow into a multi-billion dollar company as a key member of their executive team. Today, she is board director at Fastly, a leading cloud services provider.

In this episode of Go to Market Grit, Joubin and Kelly discuss Kelly’s incredible career path, including her decision to attend business school, how she landed at Tableau, and how she secured a position as board director. Show less

You’ll want to be sure to stick around for the entire episode, because Kelly dives deep into important career skills like storytelling, listening to other people’s stories, and how to strategically think about your next career move. Kelly Wright is the former Tableau Executive Vice President of Sales, and was actually the first sales person at Tableau.

Two of the leaders behind Tableau shared the secrets that led to their massive success scaling from $0 - $1 billion in sales. Elissa Fink and Kelly Breslin Wright - former Chief Marketing Officer and former Executive Vice President of Sales at Tableau respectively －spent over a decade at Tableau long before it became the data visualization giant acquired by Salesforce for $15.7 billion. Very few people have ever achieved such an outcome.
The Lessons Learnt Going From $0 - $1 Billion

Kelly Wright grew sales from $0 to $850M over 12 years as EVP at Tableau. Now she's a Board Director at Fastly, Lucid, Amperity, and more. She goes behind the scenes on her leadership lessons and what really matters in company building.

Ben talks with former EVP of Sales at Tableau, Kelly Breslin Wright, about "How Tableau Did It". Tableau's magic was created and sustained within by the commitment to put their PEOPLE first. As Kelly talks about, people build great organizations, not processes! Kelly is a seasoned Board Director and Advisor with a broad depth of experience driving companies to best leverage technology, data, information, and the cloud in the digital age. She assists companies in getting the most out of their… Show more

Ben talks with former EVP of Sales at Tableau, Kelly Breslin Wright, about "How Tableau Did It". Tableau's magic was created and sustained within by the commitment to put their PEOPLE first. As Kelly talks about, people build great organizations, not processes! Kelly is a seasoned Board Director and Advisor with a broad depth of experience driving companies to best leverage technology, data, information, and the cloud in the digital age. She assists companies in getting the most out of their people by developing great cultures and workplaces. Show less

Let me ask you a question; think of your favorite film, how much can you remember? Pretty much all of it back to back, right? Now think of a sales meeting that happened 3-6 months ago, how much do you remember? Not too much I'm guessing. One of the reasons for this is that your favorite film is a story, which engages you on an emotional level and is far more memorable. Salespeople are missing so much opportunity by not utilising stories in their role, want to find out what, why and how, then… Show more

Let me ask you a question; think of your favorite film, how much can you remember? Pretty much all of it back to back, right? Now think of a sales meeting that happened 3-6 months ago, how much do you remember? Not too much I'm guessing. One of the reasons for this is that your favorite film is a story, which engages you on an emotional level and is far more memorable. Salespeople are missing so much opportunity by not utilising stories in their role, want to find out what, why and how, then tune in.

To discuss this, I'm joined this week by Kelly Wright, Board Director at Fastly, Lucid, Amperity, & Even. Lecturer at the University of Washington and Former EVP Sales of Tableau.

Kelly will be sharing her wealth of experience on why stories matter so much to us, particularly in the world of sales, how to utilise them into your process and examples of how she's used them throughout her career. If you want to start becoming more memorable to your customers, along with engaging with them far more effectively, then this episode is for you. Show less

Kelly Breslin Wright, former Executive Vice President of Sales at Tableau, shares her experiences and key lessons learned from building and scaling Tableau from $0 to $1B and managing over half of the 3400 person global team, including learnings from the 2008 financial crisis.

Kelly shares tactics for enterprise founders and sales leaders on how to scale companies, best engage with customers and motivate teams. As a current board member of multiple enterprise startups, Kelly also shares… Show more

Kelly Breslin Wright, former Executive Vice President of Sales at Tableau, shares her experiences and key lessons learned from building and scaling Tableau from $0 to $1B and managing over half of the 3400 person global team, including learnings from the 2008 financial crisis.

Kelly shares tactics for enterprise founders and sales leaders on how to scale companies, best engage with customers and motivate teams. As a current board member of multiple enterprise startups, Kelly also shares how she is seeing companies weather enterprise sales during this time. Show less

During college, Kelly Breslin Wright carried a 25-pound backpack door-to-door selling educational products. She had doors slammed in her face, dogs let loose on her, and even the police got involved. This adversity was the character building that later allowed her to grow Tableau from $0 into a multi-billion dollar company. Today's conversation talks about how to find mentors, leverage your network to get your next job, and being in the driver's seat of your career.

The illuminating Kelly Breslin Wright recounts how her days in door-to-door selling taught her to control what you can control: your own attitude.

Super excited to release ep1 of Operators where I interview Kelly Wright, who led Tableau from $0 -> $1b in ARR. In this episode we discuss sales culture, how to interview reps, what companies fail at in go-to-market and how Kelly got into sales and scaled Tableau.

Kelly Wright has over 25 years of experience in leadership, sales, operations, and strategy roles. Her deep Go-To-Market and general P&L management delivers critical expertise to the boardroom. Kelly has helped teams navigate multiple stages of growth, through an IPO, global expansion, leadership transitions, business model changes, and the demands of being a private and public company. Kelly has broad depth of experience in driving companies to best leverage technology, data, information, and… Show more

Kelly Wright has over 25 years of experience in leadership, sales, operations, and strategy roles. Her deep Go-To-Market and general P&L management delivers critical expertise to the boardroom. Kelly has helped teams navigate multiple stages of growth, through an IPO, global expansion, leadership transitions, business model changes, and the demands of being a private and public company. Kelly has broad depth of experience in driving companies to best leverage technology, data, information, and the cloud in the digital age, all key board discussion areas. She recently retired from Tableau Software (NYSE: DATA) as Executive Vice President of Sales after a 12-year run. Kelly joined Tableau as the company’s first salesperson one month prior to the launch of v1.0, and she helped grow Tableau into a multi-billion-dollar public company as a key member of the executive team. She grew Tableau’s worldwide sales and field operations from zero to $850M in revenue and managed over half of Tableau’s global team as the company grew to over 3,400 employees. In addition to building a public company, Kelly has hired thousands of employees and has been instrumental in building strong corporate cultures and high-performance teams. Kelly is an accomplished speaker on topics including Sales, Culture, High Performing Teams, Operational Excellence, Diversity, and Scaling. Show less

Kelly Wright has over 25 years of experience in leadership, sales, operations, and strategy roles. Her deep Go-To-Market and general P&L management delivers critical expertise to the boardroom. Kelly has helped teams navigate multiple stages of growth, through an IPO, global expansion, leadership transitions, business model changes, and the demands of being a private and public company. Kelly has broad depth of experience in driving companies to best leverage technology, data, information, and… Show more

Kelly Wright has over 25 years of experience in leadership, sales, operations, and strategy roles. Her deep Go-To-Market and general P&L management delivers critical expertise to the boardroom. Kelly has helped teams navigate multiple stages of growth, through an IPO, global expansion, leadership transitions, business model changes, and the demands of being a private and public company. Kelly has broad depth of experience in driving companies to best leverage technology, data, information, and the cloud in the digital age, all key board discussion areas. She recently retired from Tableau Software (NYSE: DATA) as Executive Vice President of Sales after a 12-year run. Kelly joined Tableau as the company’s first salesperson one month prior to the launch of v1.0, and she helped grow Tableau into a multi-billion-dollar public company as a key member of the executive team. She grew Tableau’s worldwide sales and field operations from zero to $850M in revenue and managed over half of Tableau’s global team as the company grew to over 3,400 employees. In addition to building a public company, Kelly has hired thousands of employees and has been instrumental in building strong corporate cultures and high-performance teams. Kelly is an accomplished speaker on topics including Sales, Culture, High Performing Teams, Operational Excellence, Diversity, and Scaling. Show less

Career Talk celebrates the contributions of Wharton alumni on our annual Wharton Business Radio "Reunion Radio" special. Meet Kelly Breslin Wright (WG'98), Advisor and Board Director for multiple companies, as she discusses tips for finding a fulfilling job once you graduate with host Dr. Dawn Graham.

In episode #11 of Founder Real Talk, my guest host Crystal Huang and I interview the incomparable Kelly Wright. Kelly joined Tableau pre-launch in early ’05 as the first sales person, and she culminated her run in late ’16. Under Kelly’s leadership, Tableau grew revenue from zero to $850M! She led worldwide sales and all field operations, with over half the company’s 3,400 employees reporting up through her. In the episode, she shares incredible insights on the value of hiring, training and… Show more

In episode #11 of Founder Real Talk, my guest host Crystal Huang and I interview the incomparable Kelly Wright. Kelly joined Tableau pre-launch in early ’05 as the first sales person, and she culminated her run in late ’16. Under Kelly’s leadership, Tableau grew revenue from zero to $850M! She led worldwide sales and all field operations, with over half the company’s 3,400 employees reporting up through her. In the episode, she shares incredible insights on the value of hiring, training and supporting great people, using data to manage go to market and the importance of prioritization as a leader. I also love the lessons Kelly learned while selling books door to door to put herself through college, and how she put that experience to work throughout her tenure at Tableau. In short, you’ll love this episode! Show less

The Leadership Stories session will give an intimate look into the cycle of confidence and failure in leadership from the perspective of four accomplished leaders in diverse fields. Our speakers will share their stories in a way that goes beyond simply sharing about success, highlighting the failures, challenges, and forces that have shaped them.

Speakers:
Cort Worthington (Lecturer, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley)
Tanya Holland (Executive Chef and… Show more

The Leadership Stories session will give an intimate look into the cycle of confidence and failure in leadership from the perspective of four accomplished leaders in diverse fields. Our speakers will share their stories in a way that goes beyond simply sharing about success, highlighting the failures, challenges, and forces that have shaped them.

Speakers:
Cort Worthington (Lecturer, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley)
Tanya Holland (Executive Chef and Owner, Brown Sugar Kitchen and B-Side BBQ)
Kakul Srivastava (Tech Entrepreneur, Tomfoolery, WeWork)
John Thompson (Co-Founder, Chief Operating Officer, Intero Real Estate Services, Intero Foundation)
Kelly Wright (Executive VP, Sales, Tableau Software) Show less

Kelly Breslin Wright wrote the Foreword for Skip Miller's book Selling Above and Below the Line - Convince the C-Suite. Win Over Management. Secure the Sale

Most salespeople work hard to become proficient in reaching the frontline managers in their markets. Cost, service, functionality--they know the value propositions that speak to their most visible customers. But while many of these managers hold the initial decision-making power that can lead to that first sale, even they report to a… Show more

Kelly Breslin Wright wrote the Foreword for Skip Miller's book Selling Above and Below the Line - Convince the C-Suite. Win Over Management. Secure the Sale

Most salespeople work hard to become proficient in reaching the frontline managers in their markets. Cost, service, functionality--they know the value propositions that speak to their most visible customers. But while many of these managers hold the initial decision-making power that can lead to that first sale, even they report to a higher authority who evaluates the manager’s decisions from an entirely different perspective. A salesperson who wishes to achieve long-lasting success with a client will learn how to also appeal to top-level executives from an “above the line” perspective.In Selling Above and Below the Line, master sales trainer Skip Miller shows how to simultaneously sell to both the frontline manager as well as the executive who is more concerned with profit/loss indicators such as ROI, time saved, risk lowered, and productivity improved--a strategy used by Google, Apple, Cisco WebEx, and other powerhouses. Salespeople wishing to gain a clear advantage over the competition will learn how to:• Create energy by including executives early in the sales process• Ask the right questions and pinpoint big-picture financial needs• Keep “below the line” managers from feeling bypassed• Uncover value propositions that target each set of decision-makers• And moreToo often, sales that seem locked in will stall or go dark. Or customers who have been loyal to you suddenly back out of the relationship due to decisions made above the manager’s head. Oftentimes, this could have been avoided had the salesperson been intentional to sell both the technical and financial fit. In Selling Above and Below the Line, learn to effectively communicate both, leading to more successful and lucrative deals than ever before. Show less

Kelly Wright leads worldwide sales for Tableau Software. Kelly brings 20 years of experience in leadership and sales roles, including ten years at Tableau selling the company’s award-winning applications. She has previously held positions at a number of high profile companies, including VP positions at At Hoc, a major venture-backed software company in Silicon Valley, and sales and management positions at Southwestern, Inc., Dale Carnegie and Bank of America. With an MBA from The Wharton School… Show more

Kelly Wright leads worldwide sales for Tableau Software. Kelly brings 20 years of experience in leadership and sales roles, including ten years at Tableau selling the company’s award-winning applications. She has previously held positions at a number of high profile companies, including VP positions at At Hoc, a major venture-backed software company in Silicon Valley, and sales and management positions at Southwestern, Inc., Dale Carnegie and Bank of America. With an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an undergraduate degree from Stanford University, Kelly has also spent time at strategic consulting firms Bain & Company and McKinsey & Company, helping executives solve strategic questions about organizational structures, channel conflict, operations, pricing and international expansion. Show less

Success in Technology & Sales: 5 Tips for Breaking Down Belief Barriers

This week I interviewed Kelly Wright, Executive Vice President of Sales at Tableau. Since sales and technology are known to be male dominated fields, I was anxious to ask Kelly about her experiences. I found her story, her philosophies, and her work ethic to be inspiring and I can’t wait to share them with you.