This week, we are launching Toptal’s “Rise of Remote” series, a special edition of The Talent Economy Podcast, featuring advice and perspectives from experts in remote work. Prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic that has accelerated the gradual advance of remote work into a stampede, we thought it was extraordinarily relevant to create a special series dedicated to hearing from experts on how to succeed when working remotely. In this episode, I speak with Mike Dowhan, VP of SMB sales at Toptal.

Mike is responsible for developing winning go-to-market strategies, coaching excellence, and for driving growth within the small and mid-sized clients incorporating inside sales, sales operations and enablement, account and relationship management, and outside and specialist sales roles to continue Toptal’s hyper-growth trajectory. He brings more than 20 years of experience in management, sales, operations, and technology from Morningstar, The Boston Consulting Group, and Goldman Sachs.

Mike and I discuss what it takes to be successful in consultative sales, how Toptal is helping its small business clients with their remote work transition, the importance of flexibility, and the opportunities that it can afford talent, and we share insights into best practices for working remotely.

Questions I ask:

• Would you help me understand your previous roles (at Morningstar and others) that were in more traditional and on-location environments?
• What are you hearing from your clients with regard to current events?
• How do you work with the other cross-functional leaders in this distributed environment and how is that different than having all of the executives sitting in an HQ?
• If we look out 18 months from now, what do you think will change about the way your clients (small-mid size businesses) get work done?

In this episode, you will learn:

• About some of the challenges a distributed sales team experiences.
• How the “watercooler conversations” can be modeled in a remote environment.
• About the tools and resources Mike uses to manage his globally distributed sales team.
• How Mike promotes a sense of workforce balance in a fully distributed global structure while still meeting client needs.

Connect with Mike:

• LinkedIn
• Email: mike.dowhan@toptal.com

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