The Rally Call: Recent Episodes
Jon Feldman and Andrew Smith
Jon Feldman and Andrew Smith have spent a combined 40 years in technology sales and sales leadership. Working at dodgy startups to blue-chip enterprise vendors and everything in between, they’ve worked at tech companies on a rocket ride to companies falling apart.
Join them each week as they give you insight into how you can launch your career in tech sales and most importantly how to thrive and survive the emotional grind of a sales career. You’ll learn the things they don’t teach you at school about power and politics and how to use it to enjoy a long and prosperous career
Meet Doug Ruth in our second episode of 8 with a Great.
Dough is a self-described accidental sales manager with a passion for training and developing other sellers so they can have a rewarding career in sales. He shares his experience stepping into the role for the first time, what works, what doesn't, and some pearls of wisdom.
Enjoy this conversation with a graceful sales leader who's made learning an integral part of his career.
In our first episode of "8 with a Great" we speak with Rosa Yupari Burns who shares her start in sales management, what makes a team a real team, and the value of coaching.
Enjoy this wonderful conversation with a truly great sales leader.
Jon and Andrew discuss a career in sales with Jacob Karp. Jacob discusses how he found his way into a sales career, what challenges and misconceptions he overcame, and shares his wisdom for new and experienced sellers.
Jacob Karp is an enterprise seller and a LinkedIn publisher with 35,000 followers.
Jon and Andrew take a break from tactics, strategy and sales skills to discuss the overlooked role of morals and integrity in companies and our careers.
Tech sales can be a lucrative career, and when there are life-changing money events there are opportunities to bend the rules and betray your values.
Listen to learn how to spot when you or your colleagues lose sight of your moral compass.
CEO and Leadership Team Coach, Matt Dion, joins Andrew and Jon to discuss:
- The importance of strategic planning in the boardroom
- How boardroom strategy relates to sales execution
- The rise of the LinkedIn Sales Influencer and the danger of a tactics tactics-basedbased sales approach
- How The Rolling Stones stay current (bear with us, we tend to ramble sometimes…)
The link to the episode is in the comments!
The people in your neighbourhood- it’s not just a Sesame Street skit. Any career requires that you understand how to play the game. SaaS sales is no different; to understand how to play the game, you must understand who else is playing.
In this episode, Andrew and Jon discuss the archetypes you will meet in the tech sales world: the helpful, the dangerous and the just plain bad. If you’re wondering why certain characters keep popping up no matter which company you work at then this episode is for you.
In a previous episode of "The Rally Call," we explored the idea that the successful salespeople of the future will act as "conductors" of technology. If you're actively involved in this field, you've probably noticed emerging trends among the contestants, as well as the introduction of new technology platforms tailored for sales professionals.
In Episode 16, Jon engages in a conversation with Amit Bendov, the Co-Founder and CEO of Gong. Amit will provide insights into how the Gong Revenue Intelligence Platform is poised to revolutionize the way salespeople approach their activities, unlocking possibilities previously unimaginable.
If you're curious about what the future of sales will look like, you won't want to miss this episode.
“I want to get into management”. We hear this statement in interviews with tech sales reps, which always makes us suspicious. Few people have the traits and skills required to be a salesperson, fewer still have the traits required to be a manager.
The first-line sales manager is the most difficult job in technology and one of the most misunderstood. If people understood what a first-line sales manager typically does there would probably be much less interest in it.
Many sellers push for a career trajectory in sales management without knowing what it is like, and if they knew the truth they might reconsider their career path. Not because it’s a bad choice, but because there are so many misconceptions about the job.
In this episode, Jon and Andrew will talk to 3 sales managers and learn about their preconceptions and misconceptions about sales management.
Jon, Andrew and Scott talk about how any why companies hit the panic button in difficult economic times and how you can not only survive but even thrive.
When companies react to difficult times by panicking it can unleash chaos on the sales organization. By being able to recognize the signs of panic mode you can adjust your behaviour to stay ahead of the chaos.
This is a timely episode given the current state of the tech industry.
Jon, Andrew and Scott speak with guest Werner Schmidt about the subject of sales capacity planning. In lay terms, why has the practice of adding sales rep capacity to already underperforming sales organizations been tolerated? We discuss the ethical conundrum of hiring sales reps that management expects will fail and how the tech sales industry arrived at this practice.
Recent macroeconomic factors have caused a shift in this thinking of growth at all costs toward revenue efficiency. Werner shares some ideas about how sales organizations can achieve revenue growth without the unethical and messy practice of hiring sales reps with no chance of succeeding.
The rise of selling technology has replaced many of the manual sales behaviours that sellers have traditionally relied on to perform. Can a professional seller be replaced by machines?
You as a seller, risk being made irrelevant, if you don’t understand how to adapt to new sales technologies.
Rally Call special guest Tony Hughes, co-author of Tech-Powered Sales, joins us for a candid discussion about both the current and future state of selling. Listen to this episode to learn how to adapt your techniques and emerge ahead of your competition.
About Tony Hughes
Tony Hughes has 35 years of corporate and sales leadership experience having generated record-breaking results as a salesperson, head of sales, and CEO leading the Asia-pacific region for multi-nationals. He is a best-selling author, consultant, trainer and keynote speaker.
Tony is Co-founder and Sales Innovation Director at Sales IQ Global. He serves on advisory boards and has been published by The American Management Association. Tony has also taught sales for Sydney University, University of New South Wales, and within the MBA program at the University of Technology, Sydney.
He has been ranked #1 sales blogger globally by both Top Sales Magazine and Best Sales Blogger Awards. Tony is ranked a top 3 sales expert and thought leader globally by LinkedIn and the most read person on the topic of B2B selling within their platform. He has more than 500,000 blog followers and has been rated the most influential person in professional selling within Asia-Pacific for the last three years in a row.
His first book, The Joshua Principle – Leadership Secrets of Selling, is in its 10th printing and his most recent books, COMBO Prospecting and Tech-Powered Sales are published by HarperCollins Leadership New York. Tony speaks at conferences internationally and his clients are some of the best-known brands in the world including Salesforce, Grant Thornton, SAP, IBM, Flight Centre Travel Group, Adobe, Siemens, Docusign and other market leaders.
In this episode, Jon and Andrew welcome Shahed Khalili, the former product leader at Galvanize and now consultant focused on helping organizations in achieving corporate alignment. The lads delve into what the true meaning of corporate alignment is, how it impacts organizations when it's broken and the opportunities that are unlocked for those who get it right.
This one gets a little deeper than our other episodes, so pour yourself a coffee (or your favorite beverage) and concentrate.
Sales Automation Tools have promised an easier path to success and results, but do they deliver? In this episode, Jon, Andrew and Scott discuss the pros and cons of sales automation tools and technology, and what role they play in a difficult selling environment.
- How do the best sellers use sales automation tools?
- How does a negative economic situation affect sellers and their sales strategy?
- How do you turn challenging economic times into sales opportunity?
Tune in to learn how you can make the most of the tools in your sales tech stack and turn this economic downturn into a career accelerator.
Part 2 of our conversation with Greg Wolfe.
In this episode Jon and Andrew speak with Greg Wolfe, a software executive and sales leader. We speak with Greg about his journey from his first sales job at Xerox to executive positions at SAP and Marketo. He had so much wisdom to share that we've had to break it into two parts.
In Part 2 of this episode you will hear about:
- How to make the difficult decisions about people that a leader must make
- Why going against your gut instinct is more often than not a mistake
- How to use the lessons along the way to understand your strengths and weaknesses
We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it.
If you are early in your sales career you may be wondering where this career can lead. Is there anything more to a sales career than 90-day sprints punctuated by QBRs and Sales Kickoffs? Will it be the same quota-chasing experience over and over again? Where can this career take me?
In this episode Jon and Andrew speak with Greg Wolfe, a software executive and sales leader. We speak with Greg about his journey from his first sales job at Xerox to executive positions at SAP and Marketo. He had so much wisdom to share that we've had to break it into two parts.
In this episode you will hear about:
- What is possible for a sellers journey
- What to look for in a company and in its leadership
- How the right leader can make or break your career early on
- Why going against your gut instinct is more often than not a mistake
- How to use the lessons along the way to understand your strengths and weaknesses
We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it.
Jon and Andrew speak with Mike Myers of the Sandler Institute about the sellers mindset. Our previous episode described the highs and lows of life as a seller. Mike will speak about how you can navigate these effectively and maintain a sense of sanity and balance in an uncertain profession.
What you will learn in this episode:
- What is the seller's mindset and why it is critical for your success
- How to compartmentalize your life as a seller
- Tips to maintain your sanity through the good and the bad.
As always, hit the like and subscribe button!
Jon and Andrew share their insight and personal experiences of going through the inevitable peaks and valleys that are synonymous with a career in selling and what you can do to stay on top along the way.
Jon and Andrew discuss the problems with the Quarterly Business Review, and why it is time to kill the QBR.
There's a better way review sales performance and to plan for the future.
Tune in to learn how!
May the QBR rest in peace.
Jon and Andrew discuss the topic of first-time sales managers: how to work as a seller for a rookie sales manager and how to survive as a rooke sales manager.
First-line sales management is one of the most difficult jobs in the tech industry. You're sandwiched between the demands of the upline organization and the realities of the front line. Learn about how to thrive in this reality as both a seller and a manager.
Every company and sales role has its challenges and problems. But how do you know if the warning signs you're seeing mean the company or role is headed for trouble or if it is just a temporary problem?
If you ignore the warning signs you might find yourself on a sinking ship, which can set your career goals back by years. But there's opportunity in chaos, and jumping at the first sign of trouble creates may cause you to miss an opportunity.
In this episode, Jon and Andrew discuss the warning signs you cannot ignore and what to do when you see them.
Jon and Andrew discuss how to avoid fatal career mistakes. How you are perceived at your job matters, and avoiding a few small missteps can put you on the path to prosperity instead of obscurity.
We discuss managing your boss, how to show the right optics, and every seller's favorite event: the Quarterly Business Review.
Jon and Andrew talk about how to recognize the power dynamics at an organization and why you must play the power game if you want to succeed.
Jon and Andrew discuss why enter into tech sales in the first place and what to do when you get there.
- Why do people fall into tech sales?
- How do you find a good company to join?
- What are the characteristics of a good seller?
- How do you get started?