Conversations with Women in Sales: Recent Episodes
Lori Richardson
Conversations with Women in Sales is a top podcast hosted by Lori Richardson. Every episode features a woman in sales who is doing incredible work, or an interview with a male ally, or conversation on a related topic. For the past 100+ episodes, guests share practical advice for advancing one's sales career. The podcast is dedicated to the memory of Barbara Giamanco, who founded CWWIS in 2018.
Each episode features topics like: leadership, career management, dealing with imposter syndrome, overcoming adversity, sales and marketing alignment, B2B sales, strategic partnerships, building confidence, content creation and promotion, social media, building inclusive sales teams, and more.
Need a dose of energy and enthusasm? Feeling down?
Listen to and watch Women Sales Pros friend and ally, Dan Tyre, who joins the Conversations with Women in Sales podcast to talk about the most important aspects of becoming successful in sales or sales leadership - mindset and attitude.
Dan champions mindset and his big goal now that he's been so successful in business is "Do More Good For the Universe." He references my #SalesDecadesProject in the episode.
Pick up the audiobook or Kindle version or paperback Dan recommends: "Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life" by Martin Seligman.
Follow Dan Tyre: https://www.dantyre.com/
More about Women Sales Pros:
Women Sales Pros is a resource that has a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Tamar is the founder of eCore Services, a company she's bootstrapped and is celebrating six years in business with a team of 150 remote workers around the world. I've gotten to know Tamar this year, as she sponsored the #Salesdecadesproject as well as generously sponoring other women in sales and in business organizations.
We talked about:
Tamar shares her path from nonprofit work to becoming a stay-at-home mom, then rising from an entry-level remote role to an executive team before starting eCore to address costly bad data and to create opportunities for stay-at-home parents. She explains eCore's AI-plus-human model: AI finds patterns and flags issues at speed and scale, while a research team validates and applies judgment within an 80+ step validation and enrichment process, maintaining a people-first team of 150. They discuss how AI amplifies poor data, why trusted data requires ongoing validation, how overbuying cheap records pollutes CRMs, the need for training and change management, women's growing presence in AI communities, and how to learn via free resources, communities, and conferences. Tamar can be reached on LinkedIn and at eCoreservice.com.
00:00 Meet Tamar Gil
01:16 Why Data Matters
02:17 From Nonprofit to Founder
04:24 Choosing the Data Mission
05:14 AI Plus People
07:19 Inside eCore Workflow
08:56 Bad Data Breaks AI
11:00 Building Trusted Data
12:47 Women in AI
20:25 Learning AI Skills
24:09 Change Management
25:38 Wrap Up and Contact
Follow Tamar Gill: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamargill/
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Joanne Black is a 2026 Sales Decades Project Honoree. #SalesDecadesProject
She celebrates 30 years running "No More Cold Calling" consulting, training, and coaching business.
Joanne is open to connecting on LinkedIn - just make sure you customize the "ask" - say you heard about her on this podcast.
Founder, No More Cold Calling Sales leaders often think they have a pipeline problem. More often, they have a referral problem. Referrals consistently produce the highest-quality revenue in business. Yet most organizations treat them like a happy accident instead of building a strategy to generate them. For more than 25 years I've helped sales teams turn trust into predictable pipeline by implementing structured referral systems. Referrals aren't random—they're the result of intentional design. Through Your Referral Edge, organizations learn how to: • Make referrals their primary growth strategy • Systematize trust-driven opportunity creation • Generate consistent, qualified introductions without cold outreach The result is stronger pipelines, better conversations with decision-makers, and measurable revenue growth. If you're still guessing where your next deal is coming from, the constraint isn't effort. It's design. Because guessing isn't a strategy. Systems are. Joanne's three favorite words: Referrals Drive Revenue
Reach out to Joanne: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanneblackreferralsales/
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Maria Boulden got a degree in Chemical Engineering because she learned that a Chemical Engineer would be the highest paying engineering job possible. She was a rising star at Drexel University and landed a co-op role at DuPont while still in college. Since most of the sales roles were held by engineers back in the late 1990's / early 2000's it wasn't that hard of a transition when she landed her first sales role.
She became a Sigma "Black Belt" within Dupont - which was a big program for quality improvement in the 90's -
Maria found a way to balance family and work although it cost her the "fast track" in promoting, but it led her into a career in data and commercial application. Later she went on to Gartner and now is retired, but looks back to share some great lessons.
More about Maria: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-boulden-8a778b11/
More about Women Sales Pros:
we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Lynn Hidy has been helping inside sales teams and sales leaders for years. Her new book, "Mastering Inside Sales Leadership: Your Get-It-Done Leadership Success Guide" is available January 8th.
Lynn and I sat down to talk about sales leadership and career pathing in sales.
More about Lynn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynnhidy/
Learn about her new book here: https://masteringinsidesalesleadership.com/
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Episode 212 here, with a great sales leader named Shay Keeler, VP of Sales at Common Room.
Shay spent 4-1/2 years at Outreach, starting as an Account Exec and getting promotions throughout her stay there. Now she is at Common Room as VP of Sales. We talked about her meteoric rise in various organizations - what it takes to get a promotion into a new role or one you've never done before, and how selling is different in the age of AI.
More about Shay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shay-keeler-9a640632/
More about Women Sales Pros:
we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Jaime Diglio and I have a lot in common when it comes to our beliefs for success in sales.
Mindset is where it's at - first and formost. Jaime created a program that takes you from your "WAR" room in your head into you "WIN" room.
She agrees that the most important first sales conversation is the one you have with yourself.
Are you down and need a boost? Listen to this episode and we'll cover tips and ideas to help you get into your own WIN Room (WIN Room and WAR Room are TM by Jaime)
Jaime talks about the importance of Emotional Intelligence for your self awareness, and Social Intelligence so that you can understand others.
She says "The New ROI is the Return on Interaction" - building trust vs losing trust, and being clear on your goals and values.
More on Jaime: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaimediglio/
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Hear some of our favorite takeaways from the following Conversations with Women in Sales guests:
Jen Waltz
Ayana Gardner
Amber Hayes
Ashley Wilson
Kelly Hippler
Cynthia Cross
Erica Ettore
Tracy Young
Laura Lakhwara
Dr. Jane Sojka
Kayla Burke
You can catch the FULL episodes of any of these snippets on iTunes or on Youtube - start by going to https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
We're on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/@loririchardsonsales
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
It is an amazing new book: "Women and Power: Your Guidebook to Risk, Resilience, and Confidence" by U of Cincinnati sales and marketing professor Dr. Jane Sojka released in August, 2025. It's all about ways women can rise within a B2B sales career - and it happens to be good for men, too - and really anyone who wants to be more successful with their ideas, goals, and plans.
There are four parts to the book:
Part 1: Self-Limiting Beliefs
Part 2: Resilience Strategies
Part 3: Confidently Communicate Competence
Part 4: Lift as You Climb
This book rated a 10 out of 10 with my book rating system - is a must read for anyone wanting to feel more determined, strong, resiliant, competent, and confident.
More about the book: Amazon link here.
More about Jane Sojka; https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-sojka-bba54522/
Women & Power: Your Guidebook to Risk, Resilience, and Confidence is the ideal resource for women who are held back by their inner voice. Based on Dr. Jane Ziegler Sojka’s national award-winning class at the University of Cincinnati, this book brings Sojka’s techniques for eliminating self-limiting behaviors and common communication habits directly to you. Whether you start on page one or at the area you feel you need to focus on first, Sojka’s system allows women to close the gender gap in skills critical for success in sales. With options for reading on your own or with a group, the strategies and tools for reflection and practice offered by Sojka’s professional development course can now be followed by thousands of women of all ages and from all walks of life.
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Kelley and I had a great conversation about her sales career - some of the highlights below:
As a seasoned Chief Revenue Officer with over 20 years of global commercial leadership experience, Kelley specializes in driving sustainable revenue growth and transforming sales organizations.
She is a strategic, data-driven, people-first leader committed to achieving challenging goals through thoughtful planning, relentless execution, and clear communication. She values success, accountability, and perseverance, ensuring she leads with a strong will to win while empowering others to align with a shared vision and building teams that scale. Kelley thrives in scaling B2B businesses through modernized go-to-market strategies, optimizing operational efficiency, and building high-performing teams. Whether revitalizing mature organizations or starting from scratch, she's consistently delivered top- and bottom-line growth while navigating ambiguity and executing on ambitious targets. Currently, Kelley is Chief Revenue Officer at Briefly Legal, where her leadership spans marketing, business development, and customer success, all with a focus on creating scalable processes and fostering collaboration across functions. During her five years as Chief Sales Officer (CSO) at Forrester Research, her team grew company revenues 51% through organic and inorganic growth, reaching a company high $538m in revenue and $1.13b in market cap.
More about Kelley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelley-hippler/
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. @womensalespros
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
I had such a wonderful conversation with Channel Sales Leader and Mentor Jen Waltz.
As Chief Information Security Officer of Imagenative, Jen is:
FOUNDER and CISO. Empowering Your Business to Scale, Secure and Succeed.
She helps with: Cybersecurity and Emerging Technologies: Help partners build, deliver, and manage cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions. Enterprise IT & Digital Transformation: Adopt next-gen technology solutions by enabling the right partners, distributors, and vendors. Cloud & SaaS Enablement: Accelerate cloud, cybersecurity, and SaaS adoption across industries. Technology Distribution & Supply Chain: Evolve from traditional logistics providers to digital orchestration. Channel & Partner Ecosystem: Enable VARs, MSPs, and SIs to build profitable, service-led businesses.
More about Jen:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenwaltz/
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. We are looking for our 2026 sponsors!
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Listen to Ashley Wilson, Co-Founder of Momentum and the great conversation that happened. We talked about her career journey from sales and marketing to co-founder status.
We also talked about the adoption of AI and how things are changing. For years, in sales we had trouble with the data that lives in conversations on sales calls and in written form has long been left out of crucial follow up by reps.
AI is here to help sellers who sell complex services and products assist as the "co-pilot" to take away all of the tedious, busywork of research and note taking.
Sadly, a Harvard Business School associate professor reasearched and found that women are adopting AI tools at a rate 25% less than men.
Women in business - it's time to dive in!
Momentum has gained lots of traction lately due to client success stories - below are some resources, including visiting Ashley's profile on LinkedIn.
Ashley Wilson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/awilson820/
Momentum case studies on AI use: https://www.momentum.io/case-studies
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and @womensalespros on Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews
Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6
Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
Nhungly Dang and I had a great conversation around what four careers her parents expected her to do, and how she found her way into business and ultimately leading SDR and BDR teams to great success. Now she leads PipeVisionIQ as a consultant after more than 12 years building front line sales teams.
Nhungly has developed SDR workflows that are data-driven, technology-driven and adaptable to any organization’s environment. ✅ She helps growth-stage and enterprise teams fix SDR chaos fast—without a massive budget or overhauling your tech stack. ✅ She designs repeatable, scalable, and measurable outbound workflows that drive consistent lead-to-opportunity conversion. ✅ She aligns sales and marketing efforts so your SDRs are focused, productive, and delivering real pipeline.
Reach her on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nhunglydang/
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. We are part of Score More Sales.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Laura Lakhwara leads GTM teams and customers in transformative strategies that empower businesses to streamline operations and scale efficiently with AI, automation, robotics, and data-driven insights.
She has an incredible background from working at IBM, a first-ever partnership with IBM and Apple, and other companies like UI Path and Softbank Robotics.
We had a great conversation - her expertise spans market entry strategies, enterprise sales, customer success, and fostering customer-centric cultures that drive revenue growth and long-term partnerships.
Follow Laura: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauralakhwara/
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
I had a great conversation with co-author of the new book, "The Activator Advantage"'s Karen Freeman. Here is some information about the book from DCM Insights:
There is a growing problem in the professional services industry that is often acknowledged but rarely discussed openly: clients—even long-standing ones for whom firms have delivered unquestioned value in the past—are much less loyal to firms and partners than they once were. But top performers have figured out a radical new approach that is redefining what it means to be a "rainmaker" in today’s professional services market. Drawing on a comprehensive, quantitative study of nearly 3,000 professional services partners, The Activator Advantage identifies the five types of partners found across the professional services landscape and shows how only one of them—the Activator—drives consistent growth. Karen and I talked about what activators do: commit, connect, and create.
Take a look at the book information here: https://www.dcminsights.com/activator-advantage
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Thank you for sharing these stories! We want to inspire women to consider a sales career, stay in a sales career, and / or get promoted into leadership in B2B sales. We champion our male allies as well.
Tracy Young has been on our radar for some time, having co-founded PlanGrid (acquired by Autodesk) and now co-founder of TigerEye - a GTM modern analytics platform. As a successful co-founder, Tracy has a natural sales background combined with her engineer background - a powerful combination.
On the TigerEye website, the company's core values are: Wholehearted, Humility, Kaizen, Trust, and Simplicity. Tracy discusses how she leads the company and has battled in her own head what a construction CEO or a tech co-founder looks like. It looks like her: a petite, Asian woman.
Tracy belives that the focus on a great leader should not be whether they are masculine or feminine but rather how they build their team - they have a vision, they're authentic, genuine, and are great communicators who care.
Follow Tracy on LinkedIn
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Erica has helped build a global team at Workiva where everyone has a "me vs. me" mentality - working to improve ourlseves, not a competitive "me versus you" attitude. How can you get better? How can you deliver the best to your clients and internal consitutents.
Erica was named "Manager of the Year" and she says it is because of her incredible team.
We talked about holding people accountable - such an important issue for leaders to demonstrate. I love when Erica discusses what she looks for in top sellers (17 min in)
Erica has people on her team from Amsterdam all the way to the West Coast of the U.S.
She spent time at Morgan Stanley in Institutional Wealth Services, a few years at Direxion, and has now been at Workiva for 4+ years.
More about Erica: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericaettore/
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Amber Hayes is currently Director of Sales at a Toronto company called Voices, which is the #1 marketplace for voice-over. We had a great conversation about how you need to pivot and embrace change within your company so that it doesn't outgrow you.
She started at Voices as a Project Administrator, and listen to the episode to learn more about her move to sales, and now sales leadership. Amber is in her 11th year at Voices - unusually long tenure so we know good things are happening there!
Amber says,
"We're in a really fast-paced industry and it's changing all the time. This company has had a refresh in our approach, I would say every year to every other year. It's never been stagnant. When I signed on. What was important to me is that the leadership wanted us to continue to be like a head competitor in the industry.
And to do that, you need to pivot, you need to try new things, you need to change things up. And you do tend to cycle through leadership because the company can outgrow you if it's growing at a fast pace. And I think people miss that a lot, but I got firsthand exposure to it. So I was seeing some of our leaders that were great where we were at.
They were doing an amazing job. But for the next steps we needed to go to, they weren't elevating as quickly as the company maybe needed them to. So you saw people kind of cycle through leadership at this company as the company outgrew certain, maybe certain people in certain roles, or maybe people wanted to step away from where the company was going."
More about Amber here.
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
The time has come where we hit 200 episodes and it was a pleasure to have on good friend and "Sales Energizer" Alice Heiman. Alice also hosts a great podcast called Sales Talk for CEOs.
We need to keep talking about more women in sales and sales leadership since we still have huge opportunities for more women in sales and sales leadership.
Alice and Lori talk about the last ten years of effort to help create inclusive B2B sales teams, what has changed, and what we still need to do.
We remember Barbara Giamanco who started the podcast back in 2018. Her early episodes are really great and we encourage others to listen to them.
Thanks to all those listeners who have helped it be an award-winning podcast!
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Cynthia Cross was all set for a career in accounting when she went to college. A wise professor suggested she would not like that major and encouraged her to do something else where she could utilize her social skills and outgoing personality more. Upon graduation she moved to Wichita, Kansas and met a sales manager who encouraged her to get into a sales role.
Cynthia says the throughline in her entire career has been who she knows, not what she knows. Good question for the audience - how are you building your network? Do you work at it every day or week?
Most of us haven't been with one employer for more than a few years - Cynthia has now been at Cox Communication for over 17 years. Listen to her story and about her love of sales.
But we both agree - sales isn't for everyone - is it for you?
More about Cynthia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthia-cross/
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Katie McDonald was in sales previously. Now she coaches women in self-care because of so many of us who have gotten burned out or just put ourselves last. Hear some of Katie's suggestions for your crazy busy life. She talks about "ME management"
It's all about self-care strategies because the fact is most of us are running on fumes and we're borrowing future energy to get through today. Katie wants to disrupt that. When we think about what we're able to create in a compromised state she wants to leverage the wellbeing that we can create through our habits.
Katie also says that to create sustainable change and also have a legacy, leave a legacy behind that's intentional and come from a place of nourishment and restoration instead of deprivation and denial is the goal.
More about Katie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bnourished/
https://bnourished.com/
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Sarah Kiley has had a sales caree where she's risen through the ranks. She's built a reputation for aligning people, processes, and technology to deliver measurable outcomes. Whether it’s launching new products, driving cross-functional collaboration, or spearheading strategic initiatives, she has focused on creating value for customers, partners, and stakeholders alike.
More about Sarah: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahkiley/
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Samantha Craig wanted to be a teacher. She got through school but then had a hard time finding a job. She knew she loved to travel so she wondered if she could travel somewhere and teach.
Sam ended up teaching for a year in South Korea.
She came back to her home state of Massachusetts and realized she wanted to teach somewhere else so set off for Washington, DC.
At some point Sam considered a job "until she got her teaching job" in an office. But not just any office. Sam said that if she had to work in an office, it should be an amazing one.
She was interviewed in an amazing office and the hiring manager saw something in Sam for a sales role. This changed her life. Shoutout to Sarah Carcone!
Listen as Samantha talks about her rise into leadership and what it takes to be successful.
More about Samantha: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spierce1220/
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Kayla Burke is an Enterprise Sales Specialist at Microsoft and Founder of "The Tech Level" helping others to get a tech sales role.
When Kayla graduated from college she became a business analyst but found that it didn't bring her much joy in her job. A random person told her about sales hiring going on at IBM and she ended up becoming a Business Development Manager - and has loved technology sales ever since.
In addition to being an Enterprise Sales Specialist at Microsoft, Kayla launched a program to help get more folks into tech sales roles and has had great success at it.
Kayla Burke: https://www.thetechlevel.com/
Kayla Burke LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/burkekayla/
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
I first met Andrea Sittig-Rolf in the early 2000's - we had both recently launched our B2B sales consulting businesses and she was about to get her first of several books published. Fast forward to now, and she has a 22 year track record of success in helping thousands of sellers and hundreds of companies with the "top of funnel" prospecting part of professional selling.
More about Andrea:
2021 - 2024 CRN Woman of the Channel. Trusted co-selling partner for the world's top tech giants since 2002. Her company, BLITZMasters does workshops and has a co-selling platform.
In this episode we talk about some sales and prospecting fundamentals. Andrea will give some hints to their formula for success in their Blitzes and prospecting in general.
Follow Andrea here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theblitzmaster/
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Our goal at Women Sales Pros is to help support women in existing B2B sales roles to thrive, to get into leadership if they want to, and to recognize the companies and allies doing great things.
This is a short episode with host Lori Richardson to cheer on 2025 and share resources like these ones:
Find podcasts, women in sales organizations, and more here at Women Sales Pros - https://womensalespros.com/resources/
Get an e-newsletter 2x a month with stories about women in sales and more resources
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
Follow "Conversations with Women in Sales" for previous episodes here:
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
On LinkedIn: https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Ayana Gardner was recently named as one of "300 Women Making an Impact in B2B SaaS" so it is great that she kick off our first episode of 2025. Ayana is a ZCX Channel Leader at Zoom.
We are also starting 2025 with our Q1 sponsor, RapidScale.
Ayana has been in sales for a number of years and loves her current position which involves working with Zoom channel partners - a huge opportunity in B2B sales as so many companies sell through channels of one type or another.
Because she works for Zoom Ayana is virtual, and does virtual events and enablement within her role.
Ayana talks about being a lifelong learner- how our company we work for will provide some foundational training and learning, but it is up to us to learn what we think we need or want so we can grow.
More about Ayana: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayanagardner702/
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Partnerships Unraveled Podcast that Ayana mentions: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/partnerships-unraveled-podcast-7242555185363922944/
I always laugh about how so many women do wait to be tapped on the shoulder by a leader in the company to move into a different role - this did happen to Tania who began her career in her 20's in marketing.
Tania now is a successful author, former corporate enterprise seller, and now runs Mindful Quadrant. We had a great conversation covering a lot of ground.
Tania is working on a new version of her great planner currently sold as "Work It - a Modern Day Sales Planner" and wrote a book called, "Work It, Girl - a Modern Day Career Guide for Women in Sales"
Having worked at LiveRamp, Salesforce, Yext, Segment, and other sales organizations, Tania has been through a lot and learned a lot fo share with others newer to a sales career.
Follow Tania: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taniadoub/
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/ (all episodes accessible here)
When Elitsa and I spoke, we had many stories about competent women in sales and leadership roles who wait to get the "tap" on the shoulder to be promoted. Our male counterparts TELL their boss that they expect to be promoted many times and they initiate introductions with some of their C-level leaders, heads of other teams in their company and proudly state their accomplishments.
Are we too shiy to also do that, or is it in how we were raised - "don't brag," my dad would tell me.
Today in 2025 we say, "It isn't bragging if it is true."
Listen to Elitsa share about her career. Born in Bulgaria, Elitsa visited the US a number of times, going back and forth, then moved to the DC area in 2011 and started working for CEB (which became Gartner later). She got great sales training (these were the "Challenger" folks) and really fell in love with sales.
Due to an opportunity for her husband, she moved to Ukraine back in 2015 (no hint of a future war then). What was amazing was that when they did hear of turmoil happening at the beginning of 2022, they had to immediately leave Ukraine - while she was quickly building a virtual and in person sales team AND was six months pregnant. Any one of those three things is tough, but all together is incredible.
Listen to her story, and also how she created her original role at Preply by giving feedback to the CEO.
More about Elitsa: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elitsa-zaimova-a238a31a/
More about Women Sales Pros - we have a website, we are on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Subscribe to our 2x a month news, and share the podcast with others! We'd love a 5 star rating and comments on iTunes if you are so moved! It really makes a difference.
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
April Marks leveraged the communication skills she got in college to help her launch into a sales career - first as a BDR, then right into an Enterprise Sales role. She is currently at Pangea.
My current role enables customers to leverage processes integrating API-based security services and strategically managing enterprise accounts, currently at Pangea. I am driven by the mission to streamline security processes, which resonates with Pangea's innovative approach to delivering comprehensive services through a single framework. My commitment to fostering a collaborative culture and bringing diverse insights to the table ensures alignment with many organizational values and goals. In my experiences, I've led strategic customer engagements, expanding their use of services during crucial business periods such as new technical use cases, DevOps transformations, onboarding, and M&A events. I successfully proposed DevSecOps and AI processes, demonstrating my proficiency in these areas, and partnered closely with customers to tailor security solutions that matched their unique needs. My approach always involves a thorough understanding of customer metrics and standards, which has been instrumental in exceeding goals and securing marketable assets for the company.
More about April here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprilmarks/
April's recommeneded reading:
The Dark Side Of Interpersonal Communication, Brian H. Spitzberg Positive Communication for Leaders, Mirivel More about Women Sales Pros: https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-sales-pros/
Kaivona Parker works with companies and individuals to help get more underserved folks into tech sales and support and champion them to success.
We talked about the notion of people saying to bring your "whole self" to work, but in reality we can't all do that.
Kaivona wants to help build up those in sales to help them grow and flourish. She trains, coaches, and is an all around sales enablement pro, with career stops at Grainger, Yelp, Nestle', and Teachable, among others.
Listen and share your thoughts - we'd love to hear them.
Kaivona Parker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaivona-parker/
Women Sales Pros: @womensalespros on Instagram
https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-sales-pros/
2x a month newsletter about getting more women in sales; championing female sellers and sales leaders, and shining a light on our male allies:
sign up: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute a story: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
The book Ask Like an Auctioneer has a mission: to help 1 Million women ask for more and get it.
But it’s not just for women. It’s for you if you want to:
- Get the raise of your life
- Land that partnership that can change everything
- Expand your influence in your domain
- Secure that whale of a client
- Refuse to lowball yourself
- Use asking as a success strategy
I was thrilled to interview Dia because as a former fundraising auctioneer myself, I know a bit about Dia's successes -
A Communications Coach for two decades, Dia Bondi works with top CEOs, VC-backed founders, innovators, and creatives to speak powerfully and elevate their impact. After training as an auctioneer, Bondi translated the strategies she learned from the fundraising auctioneering stage into a program that helps women ask for more in their career and life. Based on the wildly successful keynotes and workshops, Ask Like an Auctioneer is an actionable guide that shows you the secret to getting out of your comfort zone and into your “zone of freaking out” (ZOFO).
Dia Bondi on LinkedIn
Women Sales Pros @womensalespros on Instagram, here on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-sales-pros/
Anna rose from inside sales support to a sales role at Oracle, to startup PlanGrid, then Autodesk (acquired PlanGrid) and now at TigerEye as VP of Sales. How did she do it?
Anna is very conversational and I really enjoyed hearing her tips in doing well in sales and also what she has to say about AI.
Listen to what she has to say about being a "lone wolf" and why you don't want to be that.
Follow Anna here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-r-a375483/
Follow Women Sales Pros: @womensalespros on Instagram
Sign up for our 2x a month e-news:
subscribe: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
Do you know what you want in your career?
Many of us know we don't like where we are at or our role, but we don't know what we DO want.
Jaime Diglio's new book, "Moneyball Leadership" is not just for leaders - it is a quick read for anyone wanting to get out of the "war room" as Jaime puts it, and into the "win room".
Mindset is so important in business - especially sales and sales leadership.
Jaime explains:
"Today’s leaders are burning out at higher rates than ever before because they're measuring the wrong things and using outdated methods that work against the results they are trying to achieve — losing them money, time, and energy every day. In Moneyball Leadership, I reveal a better way to win that most are blind to. I offer a unique, proven blueprint you won’t find anywhere else, revealing the secret formula behind my clients' successes."
Jaime will teach how to play (money)ball and Master the New ROI: Return on Interactions, changing how you see the game you’ve been playing your whole life.
More on Jaime here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaimediglio/
Jaime's TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viXdeKVLwXo "From War Room to WIN Room - Change Your Room, Change Your Life"
Follow Women Sales Pros on LinkedIn and Instagram
2x month e-newsletter with interviews and resources for more #womeninsales
My guest today is Sarah Gross, VP of Global Enablement at RingCentral. Sarah and I go way back, and most recently she became a new mom which has given her new perspectives about women and work.
Sarah is also a top sales enablement professional who helps design process and support for sales teams like the ones at RingCentral. When Sarah and I first met, she was with Gartner, and has also worked at Procore and Vorsight in addition to others.
Sarah calls enablement the "octopus" of an organization because it is the only department that touches every other department.
Follow Sarah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahfricke/
Follow Women Sales Pros on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-sales-pros/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womensalespros/
2x month newsletter on all things women in sales:
signup: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
Brilliant business author Tamsen Webster has just released her newest book, Say What They Can't Unhear: The 9 Principles of Lasting Change.
Tamsen describes the new book: The book is a compact and actionable guide that will get leaders (and others!) thinking differently about where change comes from and how to initiate it. By introducing and exploring nine “persuasion proverbs,” I highlight the behavioral, cognitive, and psychological principles that underpin lasting change, and offer a powerful alternative to the standard tactics of influence and persuasion. The outlined concepts are easy to remember, simple to implement, and will give readers the tools to transform any audience of lukewarm prospects into passionate believers.
We started off talking about "ethical persuasion" - a huge important aspect in professional selling. Join the conversation and check out Tamsen's book.
https://tamsenwebster.com/ More on Tamsen
https://womensalespros.com/ More on Women Sales Pros
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/ All podcast episodes
Her parents were Somali refugees who ended up in the U.K. As a child, Misky Sharif learned to be careful around the drugs and crime in her low income neighborhood. She rose above it, while learning as she grew up. How many kids would dodge all of the negative and find something positive in that? Listen as Misky explains how. Misky overcame obstacles and currently is in FinTech as an Account Executive for Revolut, and if you are in sales and don't have an "accomplishment bank" - take a listen to the full episode - great action item to start one on your own today!
Misky Sharif can connect via LinkedIn
Womnen Sales Pros can be found on LinkedIn, Instagram, X, and other social posts.
Now more than ever, we are seeing the importance of how sales fits in pre-sale and after the sale, and how sales needs enablement like the examples Deirdre offers are what helps grow .
Learning, practicing, executing and coaching is the repeatable cadence
Lori and Deirdre talk about creating "work life harmony" and the value of keeping in touch with those you've enjoyed working with previously.
We talk about "just in time" coaching and how adults learn.
Deirdre helps Skillibrium to:
Assess your team's skills
Remediate with Learning paths
Practice with Stand and Deliver
Implement an Operational Cadence
Execute with Sales Playbooks
Predicably grow revenue
Promote based on objectivity
and Deliver exceptional experiences.
More is at https://skillibrium.com/
Women Sales Pros tracks top podcasts, books and speakers and has a 2x a month newsletter in addition to this award-winning podcast. @womensalespros
Xactly is a tech platform for assisting companies with compensation and forecasting with the sales team, and has been around since 2005. They started sharing research about men in sales roles versus women in 2014 or so - quite some time ago, and just released their 2024 research results which includes the following:
● Representation disparities: The gender ratio in sales is alarming. Women are underrepresented in sales roles, constituting only 34% of the sales force and only 29% of sales managers. ● Female salespeople earn less: On average, men earn 3.5% more than women as salespeople, and 3.7%* more as sales managers when it comes to fixed pay. Without adjustment of outside factors, men earn 9% more than women as salespeople, and 13% more as sales managers. ● Pay gaps widen over time: At the start of salespeople’s careers, men earn 2.2% more on average than women. After 2 years, this gap widens by 30%. After 5 years, the gap increases even more significantly, with a 77% increase. ● The gaps differ from industry to industry: The pay gap varies significantly across sectors, with female sales professionals in the Life Sciences and Pharma space reporting a 9% gap in pay and Manufacturing space with an 8% gap. It might be more opportune for women in sales to enter the Financial Services industry, where no pay gap was reported. ● State-by-state disparities: The state sales people live in seems to correlate with the pay disparities. Colorado and New Jersey hold the largest pay gap between men and women at 7%, with Georgia and Washington claiming the lowest pay gap at 1%. ● Performance remains unaffected: Despite the overwhelming disparities in representation and pay, female sales professionals consistently outperformed their male counterparts. Female salespeople outperformed men by 1.5%, and female sales managers outperformed by 3%. ● Loyalty is not a factor: Women tend to show greater loyalty to their Sales teams, staying with the same organization on average four months longer than their male counterparts. ● Unfair impact on quota assignments: Many organizations do not seem to recognize women’s higher performance. On average, male salespeople are assigned 3% higher quotas, and male sales managers are assigned 5% higher quotas, suggesting that sales teams assign men to higher potential sales territories or opportunities.
Follow Women Sales Pros for more research, interviews, and recommendations to add more women into sales and sales leadership roles.
Sign up for our newsletter for 2x month insights, ideas, and stories - and submit your own!
Sign up: https://bit.ly/thewspnews Contribute: https://forms.gle/v9rRiPDUtgGqKaXA6 Past News Issues: bit.ly/past_news_issues
Gretchen launched Unbound and Unbothered, a career coaching business for women in tech in 2021. She helps high achievers who are stuck, stifled or at a crossroads ditch the stress and overwork to have a life and a job without burning out.
Since she and I both got into tech in the "early days" (me earlier than her) we had a great conversation - I reference the title because we both worked for at least one company where the bathrooms were both for the guys since we were the first or second female hires.
Be sure and follow Gretchen here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gretchend/
Follow Women Sales Pros on LinkedIn, Instagram, X, and Facebook.
Our 2x month newsletter, The News is all about celebrating women in sales with upcoming events, feature articles, and stories about our male allies supporting us.
Past issues of The News here.
Please share this podcast episode if you find value in it! We love reviews on iTunes!
"A billion dollar quota is like a 100K quota - you have to be comfortable talking about money with others" - one of the topics guest Marva Bailer and I bond on in our conversation shared today. I'm thrilled that our sponsor, Skillibrium, brings on advisors like Marva so that we can have real discussions around how to be successful.
Marva was in sales before she learned how to drive - she and I share that young entrepreneurial spirit as well. Marva got into health, wellness and personal development before it was cool - and these are big topics in a successful sales career today.
Join us for a fun conversation about coaching, personal growth, and professional development as well - share your thoughts, and please share the podcast with one other woman or male ally if you can.
@womensalespros on Insta
@marvabailer on Insta
Ashley Philipps is the author of the new book, The Teacher's Guide to Changing Careers. Being a former teacher myself, I am always up for hearing about others who left the admirable profession of teaching due to the lack of pay, and who got into sales roles.
Ashley's book showcases other careers, but she did go into B2B sales and we talk about that on this episode.
You will also hear my tip for those in the job market - what is the best way to approach someone who is well connected, instead of saying, "Hey if you know of anyone hiring...." What do you say instead?
Ashley's book will certainly help teachers who feel like they are underappreciated, underpaid, and who are interested in continuing to be a teacher as a professional seller.
The good news about the B2B sales profession is that IT is also an admirable profession - a helping profession. Even with new AI tools, complex sales won't happen without empathetic, communicative, collaborative sellers like many former teachers can be.
Follow Women Sales Pros
I have known Michelle Benfer over the years and it was great to catch up with her in her role as SVP Sales, Business Line Owner at BILL. [Bill is (according to their website) the intelligent way to create and pay bills, send invoices, manage expenses, control budgets, and access the credit your business needs to grow—all on one platform.]
Michelle is a sales leader and in our conversation we talked about how things have changed in sales, how there is some "bad behavior" happening more than before due to the tougher economy and some advice for reps about taking control of their destiny and the big job that front line sales managers have.
Fun fact: Michelle's mom was her sales role model, setting up calls like today's BDRs and SDRs do. When her parents started thinking about college for her and her siblings her mom got a job at Boston College so her kids would get free tuition (perk of working at a university). Mom was smart!
More about Michelle Benfer, ex Hubspot, Limited Partner at Stage 2 Capital - now at Bill.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellehughesbenfer/
More from Women Sales Pros - sign up for our 2x month newsletter https://bit.ly/thewspnews
Page on LinkedIn "Women Sales Pros" or connect with Lori Richardson #seeitbeit
https://www.linkedin.com/in/scoremoresales/
https://www.instagram.com/womensalespros/
What is it like when two data focused people get together and talk? It does get a bit nerdy, but that's what I like about Sara, who lives in Stockholm, Sweden.
Sara has been doing nearly all roles - from individual contributor - like SDR, BDR, AE and all the way up to VP and CRO. Now she is running two companies, "Break the Box" and "Skills."
Like many of us who came from little money, Sara was amazed when she got her first paycheck in her sales career and said to herself, "I will never have to be hungry again."
That's why we talk about sales being a game-changer for those new into professional selling. If you are having a tough time at the moment - stick with it because sales can be such an amazing career if you are motivated, good at it, and have support from the company you're at.
Sara talks about her journey from selling consumer products where half of the sellers were women to being the only woman in the room and how she adjusted - and what many of us learn over time to "fit in" versus being ourselves - it is an interesting point in our conversation.
Also, Sara gives a great tip on what to say when someone sales something really inappropriate in front of you and others. Check it out.
Connect with Sara here on LI:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/saralstorm/
Learn more about Women Sales Pros here - we support all of the women in sales orgs and communities: https://womensalespros.com/
Sign up for our e-newsletter: https://bit.ly/thewspnews
We have had sales leader Gabrielle (GB) Blackwell on before (episode 85) and happy to have her back discussing some of her recent posting about toxic boss behavior in the sales workplace. GB and I were talking about more women than usual leaving B2B sales - something I am posting more about now as well.
GB shares her story about some really unhealthy situations she's found herself in previously - note we did not name names - it's not about that. It is about helping others in the same spot to see the red flags we may have missed or thought they were just part of being there.
I stand by what I say: "Go where you are celebrated, not tolerated."
GB talks about how if you are a woman, be sure and get feedback.
Get feedback not about your personality, but about skills. This is something GB noticed she'd get.
If you are a manager and simply write off a rep and don't give them any feedback, that's a form of abuse. (note: Manager, it is your JOB to support and develop all of the reps on your team)
What have we missed? Share in comments on LinkedIn or elsewhere. Keep this conversation going. Let's not lose women because of something that is changable with support of women in sales and our male allies.
Reach Gabrielle here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielleblackwell/
More Conversations with Women in Sales here: https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
How can you be in intergrity and hide part of your story? That was one of the big takeaways from my conversation with Jaime Konzelman, sales leader at tech company Rackspace.
Jaime wrote a memoir called, "Dealmaker" that chronicles her life from college into exotic dancing and on into a stellar B2B sales career.
Jaime has done big deals - hundreds of millions of dollars worth, at companies like IBM, Unisys, and Xerox. She leads teams of sellers now. Jaime knows her stuff.
Let us know how you like the episode - and please give us a rating on iTunes if you will - and a comment - and share with other women to help inspire them.
More on Jaime: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jkonzelman/
More podcast episodes from Women Sales Pros:
https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Shoutout to our sponsor, Skillibrium! https://skillibrium.com/
When Meredith graduated from college, she taught English as a second language in Spain. She had graduated in 2011 and from Spain saw and heard that her friends back in the San Francisco Bay / Silicon Valley area were all getting tech jobs. Friends encourged her to hurry back and get on with a big tech company.
Using her background as an NCAA varsity field hockey athlete, she walked into a sales role at Yelp - a super fast growing company at the time.
We talked about office dynamics at some of the companies Meredith went on to work for. She said that she had left amazing opportunities because the in-office dynamic was so intolerable. A boy's club.
Listern to her journey and currently Meredith is at pclub.io working to grow sales there, and also at Meredith Chandler Consulting
Connect with Meredith here.
If you have ever wanted bigger deals to build or to work on, you need to know our guest this episode, Dr. Barbara Weaver Smith. Having known Barbara for the last 10 or so years, I don't know why she hasn't been on the show sooner - and today she is talking about a new service she's launched utilizing generative AI, "Barbara AI" and the launch of her online Whale Hunters Institute.
Barbara runs The Whale Hunters and is entirely focused on helping people win bigger deals through a process she's refined over the last 20 years. She is author of "Whale Hunting with Global Accounts" and co-author of "Whale Hunting - Land Big Sales and Transform Your Company"
Listen to Barbara's journey from education to non-profits to sales and how she is still contributing massively to the sales field through her new online institute.
She's the first person in sales I have seen using AI the way she does.
Barbara Weaver Smith https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbaraweaversmith/
https://thewhalehunters.com/the-institute/
Find more stories of amazing women in sales at Women Sales Pros and "Conversations with Women in Sales podcast. If you LIKE what you hear, PLEASE review on iTunes - it means a lot. Women Sales Pros consults with companies to help them find, hire, and retain more great women for their sales teams. https://womensalespros.com/
It started for both Cherilynn and me by selling Girl Scout cookies. Like me, she LOVED selling cookies, and it seems to be one of the commonalities in our sales careers.
Cherilynn Castleman wants to empower 1 million women for C-suite success by 2030!
She is a force to be reckoned with - listen to our conversation and how we both want everyone to know how selling is really helping others.
Learn sales skills and become "too good to be ignored" - as Cherilynn says.
Follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherilynn-castleman/
Women Sales Pros hosts this podcast and also "The News" newsletter for things happening around the sales ecosystem for women in sales. Follow us on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and wherever women in sales is being discussed.
Hannah and I had a rousing conversation about all things sales. Hannah is founder of Revenue Funnel and is based in London. She and I talked about many topics - including:
A Conversation with Hannah Ajikawo - Journey from Sales to CEO and Founder of Revenue Funnel In this episode, Hannah Ajikawo, CEO and Founder of Revenue Funnel, discusses her journey through experiences in Sales to forming her company. Raised in inner-city areas heavily influenced by crime, Hannah obtained a degree in Criminology and Social Policy before finding her way into Sales. She discusses her experiences working across various companies, and how her curiosity about the functioning of companies led her to setup her own business. Hannah also talks about the importance of networking and continuous learning for success in Sales. She advocates for keeping focus on improving specific areas based on individual needs. Furthermore, she emphasizes the critical role Sales plays in personal development, stepping into power, and generating wealth. 00:00 Introduction and Guest Presentation 00:38 Hannah's Journey into Sales 01:01 Transition from Academia to Sales 02:24 Challenges and Triumphs in Sales 05:42 Personal Struggles and Career Progression 09:32 The Shift to Consulting 10:34 The Importance of Authenticity 12:24 Advice for Job Seekers 18:09 Hannah's Involvement in Sistas in Sales 21:32 Recommendations for Aspiring Salespeople 28:32 Conclusion and Contact Information
Reach Hannah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-ajikawo/
Reach Lori Richardson and Women Sales Pros on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/scoremoresales/
In a candid conversation, communication expert and sideline reporter for the Seattle Seahawks and the Seattle Mariners, Jen Mueller shares her perspective on maintaining focus and supportive beliefs amidst challenging times, such as a difficult economic climate or personal setbacks. She discusses the significance of honesty in assessing failures and emphasizes the importance of competing against oneself to improve. Jen also highlights the value of small, incremental successes in boosting confidence.
She provides insights from her experience with athletes, drawing parallels between the sports and professional world, underscoring the need to start fresh after every setback, utilizing team support, and focusing on strengths. Finally, Jen suggests proactive measures such as celebrating small victories to build momentum towards success. 00:00 Introduction and Welcome 00:40 Discussing Mindset in Difficult Times 01:39 The Importance of Honesty and Self-Competition 03:02 The Power of Starting Fresh and Focusing on Strengths 05:20 The Role of Teammates and Celebrating Small Wins 07:03 Conclusion and Contact Information
Welcome new Premier Sponsor Skillibrium.
Find all of our episodes on iTunes or at https://womensalespros.com/podcast/
Your host for Conversations with Women in Sales is Lori Richardson.
Carole Mahoney has written an excellent book for sales professionals and entrepreneurs on collaborative selling and in changing the sales industry. She mixes in stories, anecdotes and statistics to help one learn and improve around critical sales skills and mindset for success.
00:00 Introduction and Guest Background
00:59 Carol's Journey and Book Contribution
02:48 The Impact of 'Buyer First' on Salespeople
04:57 The Concept of Collaborative Selling
09:20 The Importance of Mindset in Sales
10:56 Overcoming Non-Supportive Beliefs
17:49 Personal Growth Through Writing 'Buyer First'
19:39 Dealing with Bad Sales Days and Final Thoughts
Find Carole on LinkedIn
Order BuyerFirst on Amazon or here: https://carolemahoney.com/books/buyerfirstbook/
I hadn't planned an episode about "She Sells" but jumped at the chance when a wonderful interviewer, Caroline Jones, offered to ask me about it. This session is dedicated to those who helped me with their stories and stats which are included in the book. It is exciting, too, that it just won "FIRST PLACE" in Top Sales Magazine's Sales Book of the Year. Wow.
00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome 00:26 Discussing the Impact of 'She Sells' 03:06 The Importance of Male Allies in Sales 05:20 The Journey to Writing 'She Sells' 07:11 Addressing Gender Disparity in Sales 07:50 The Impact of the Pandemic on Women in Sales 15:21 The Importance of Diverse Representation in Sales 18:59 Overcoming Biases in the Hiring Process 26:13 Career Growth Opportunities for Individual Contributors 28:51 Promoting Diversity and Inclusivity in Sales 33:28 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Thanks to Caroline - check out her podcast, "Rep Matters"
Find "She Sells" on Amazon - Kindle or paperback. Writing a review really matters - please consider it for either the book OR the podcast!
Join the Women Sales Pros newsletter where we share interviews and discuss upcoming events from all of the women in sales communities.
Need some help finding more women for your sales team or retaining them? Check out Women Sales Pros or reach out to Lori directly through website or LinkedIn.
Visit us on Instagram or X @womensalespros
Kristie's parents were both in real estate sales and Kristie grew up hearing her parents talk at the dinner table about commissions, sales, and more. After getting a degree in Journalism from University of Kansas, she ended up as a waitress and then worked for the legendary Kansas City department store called The Jones Co (later became Macy's)
Kristie worked as a sales leader for companies like Network Solutions, Gainsight, and Netskope. Listen how the universe conspired for her to start her own sales consultancy.
This year, 2024, Kristie's new book, "Selling Your Way In" will launch.
Get updates about the book here.
Follow Kristie Jones on LinkedIn here.
Podcasts brought to you by Women Sales Pros. Reach out to help sponsor our efforts!
Women Sales Pros has updates on our LinkedIn page, and on our website.
Reach out to Lori Richardson through her LinkedIn profile.
Know of a female sales rep or leader we should interview? Reach out to Lori.
Thanks for listening, and the ultimate gift is for you to share on LinkedIn AND/OR post a review on iTunes plus a blurb as to what you liked about it. Thanks in advance.
We had a big year at Women Sales Pros and now are going through the review of all of our wonderful podcast guests in 2023. I would like to thank all of our guests for their focus and contribution to topics we discussed such as:
Getting into sales in the first place as a woman or another "only"
Growing in your sales career
Becoming a sales leader - what is required?
Dealing with a "male majority" environment and if you are a leader, how you can improve it.
Various industries, like avation, SaaS, and manufacturing.
Fundamentals for sellers.
And other topics.
We also discussed how you can give us a "5 Star" rating and you can post comments on iTunes which greatly helps our visibility. I'll personally give you a shout out if you and two other people go to iTunes, listen to an episode, and rate it - if all 3 rate it, I'll talk you up on the next episode.
Donate to the Sales Education Foundation's Giamanco Memorial Scholarship for Women in sales programs here: https://salesfoundation.org/barbara-giamanco-memorial-scholarship-fund/index.php
Follow us @WomenSalesPros on Instagram, X, LinkedIn and Facebook.
Send us names of amazing women we should interview - or male counterparts. They must be in B2B selling or managing currently.
Thank you to our listeners, we'd be nothing without you!!
Riley Blaisdell is currently a Major Market Account Executive at Paycor. In his AE role, I'd say Riley has done more for helping shine a light on women in sales than many senior leaders I know. He has done this through his growing visibility on LinkedIn. Right now during "Women in Sales" month, he's talking up different women in sales each day.
I noticed that Riley has this list of women he gladly shares anytime one of the "bro's" in sales will post a number of guys and here will come Riley's list of some amazing women in sales and sales leadership he's been introduced to.
We wanted to talk Riley up in this episode to show that as a male ally, you don't have to wait until you have a power role in your company to speak up and support the effort for more #womeninsales - you can do it now. If you like the episode, please comment and share it. Ultimately a 5 star review and comment about the podcast on iTunes is a winning move we'd love to see.
Riley Blaisdell on LinkedIn - connect with him!
He references the work of Brene' Brown
If you enjoy this podcast, consider a donation to the Barbara Giamanco Memorial Scholarship to give scholarships to women in Sales Education Foundation recognized Universities and Colleges here.
More at Women Sales Pros - where we're working to help change the face of sales.
Follow Women Sales Pros on LinkedIn, as well as President Lori Richardson
Recommend a woman in a sales role or awesome male ally! They could be featured next.
Rana Salman, MBA PhD, is the author of the new book, Sales Essentials: The Tools You need at Every Stage to Close More Deals and Crush your Quota. She is CEO of Salman Consulting, started in research, and stumbled (as she says) into sales and consulting. Rana is also co-founder of WISE (Women in Sales Enablement) We had a great conversation about her childhood and how her dad's sales role made a huge impact on her.
For more info: www.salmanconsulting.com Follow us on Twitter: @SalmanConsult email me: rana.salman@salmanconsulting.com
Women Sales Pros can be found on Instagram and X @womensalespros
Connect with us on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-sales-pros/
Miram (Mimi) Ebrahim is Brand Sales Leader for the GTM Team at Yelp. She has been in sales and sales leadership for more than eight years and has a background in television production and has an MBA. We talked about how she got into sales in the first place, what she loves about sales, and has tips for reaching prospects in addition to lots of other great advice. "When I think of No, I think of KNOW" and she tells her reps, "Your goal is to build momentum"
Miram talked about staying motivated and being not just a woman in sales, but Egyptian and also a mom.
More on Miram here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miramebrahim/
Conversations with Women in Sales podcast now has over 160 episodes with amazing sales contributors and sales leaders - large companies and small - new reps and seasoned veterans. If you like the podcast, please SHARE it with another woman or a male ally. Please rate it and review it as we do not get many reviews and really could use them. For more help with adding women to your sales team, reach out to Lori at Women Sales Pros.
https://womensalespros.com/
After hearing Rhasheeda Hughes on a panel webinar, I had to invite her to join our podcast so that others could learn about her journey and her strategies for being a successful woman in sales leadership.
Rhasheeda has a proven record as a sales expert, trainer, and team leader with a reputation for enhancing organizational capabilities. She led a national team of 10 Account Managers with full responsibility for team hiring, development, and performance coaching.
She is adept at consultative sales strategies based on data-driven analysis and a relentless focus on customer service.
Rhasheeda has a reputation as an empathetic leader who builds inclusive culture while coaching individuals to develop high-performing teams.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhasheeda-hughes-mba-4a81b313/
Conversations with Women in Sales podcast now has over 160 episodes with amazing sales contributors and sales leaders - large companies and small - new reps and seasoned veterans. If you like the podcast, please SHARE it with another woman or a male ally. Please rate it and review it as we do not get many reviews and really could use them. For more help with adding women to your sales team, reach out to Lori at Women Sales Pros.
https://womensalespros.com/
It was a LinkedIn post that got my attention. Sales managers are acting poorly, according to Tara Ryan's coachees. As an Executive and Leadership Coach, she's heard more complaints from women in sales roles about managers with lack of empathy, perhaps fear-motivated.
I couldn't let the conversation go - so we recorded.
What is important to you in a sales manager?
I wrote about making reps more coachable, with some very interesting data.
Learn more about what a coach does in this conversation with Tara Ryan, Founder of InfiniDEI.
Host Lori Richardson speaks, writes, hosts this podcast, consults, trains and coaches B2B sales leaders and helps their teams grow. Find out more here.
When you think about careers for women in sales, we typically talk about revenue responsibility roles plus sales leadership. In the past 5-7 years we started to see sales enablement roles as well as RevOps. .Personally I get a little confused between enablement and ops, so I brought on a team of RevOps leaders at Xactly to help us understand what their roles are and how they both got into them. Meet Bayley Fesler, Director, Revenue Ops, and Annie Jones, Revenue Ops Business Partner. Together these women break things down for us and dispel myths about forecasting - it isn't hard anymore, for one thing!
Bayley Fesler, Director, Revenue Ops, Xactly Corp
Annie Jones, Revenue Ops Business Partner, Xactly Corp
Their latest article about AI and Sales
Podcast is hosted by Lori Richardson, President of Women Sales Pros, a community helping to get more women into sales and sales leadership. Lori is also author of "She Sells: Attract, Promote, and Retain Great Women in B2B Sales" available here on Amazon.
Learn about and donate to the Barbara Giamanco Memorial Scholarship for women in university sales programs here.
Jaquelin Jenkins is Executive Director of Client Services at Tangible Security, having worked previously at Citrix and other orgs. She graduated from University of Alabama with degrees in Political Science and Communications - so how'd she end up in sales roles? Listen to this episode and learn how she pivoted once she realized how much she loved working with people and the idea of sales in her head for some reason.
As a 5th generation North Carolinian, Jaquelin has a passion for serving her community. If you find this episode inspiring or helpful, please share it! Our goal is to expose more women to all of the roads into B2B sales opportunities and to encourage those in sales to grow in their role - build a career and if it makes sense, to consider sales leadership.
Radhika Shukla is a long time sales leader in the tech sales space, working for big brands like Microsoft and IBM. We have a wonderful conversation about all of the skills and traits that women bring to the table when we are able to be our authentic selves.
Join us to learn more. Reach out to Radhika on Linkedin.
This is an important episode for anyone who has ever been paid less than their peers doing the same role, or who was fired while pregnant (yep, it still happens in 2023) or who got downsized and didn't negotiate severance - my guest, Dan Goodman will cover it all.
Dan is Founder and CEO of TruCommish, an app that helps verify true commission - and Dan also has been shining a light on horrible compensation situations that companies have been doing quietly - to advocate on the part of the seller or sales leader.
We appreciate Dan as a supporter of women in sales and his work with dozens and dozens of women working to solve employment, PIP, and severance issues - in addition to offering advice to others at the same time.
Follow Dan Goodman on LinkedIn - he is an amazing resource and a treasure for us in a time of big layoffs and sometimes poor leadership choices.
Niya Khatri is a long way from her home of Kathmandu, Nepal. She is a Millenial b2b seller who has lived in Pune, India, Colorado Springs, Toronto, and now the Bay Area, SF. She brings a wonderful and different perspective as a woman of color, as a woman "up and coming" in sales, and has openly helped her employers to improve revenues by looking through a different lens. We had a fun conversation.
Katherine Andruha has been leading sales teams for 14 years at brands like Aruba Networks, Anaplan, Sugar CRM, Cloudflare, and now at Simpplr. Katherine's advice, "Focus on your job, and hit your numbers - you'll be OK" -
She also advises to speak up about your career goals and be intentional.
Katherine is now focused on strategy in her leadership roles. She encourages women to not just settle for a position - "life is too short to work for a crappy boss" - words to live by.
Lori Harmon is a consummate tech sales leader. I've had the pleasure to know her over 8 or 9 years. In her recent role at Cloudflare, Lori is Global Head of Business Development.
Reflecting on her 20+ years of building, leading, and transforming inside sales organizations, and as author of "42 Rules for Building a High-Velocity Inside Sales Team: Actionable Guide to Creating Inside Sales Teams That Deliver Quantum Results," Lori has an immense passion for developing meaningful strategy, executing tactfully, and working to inspire people early in their careers to perform and advance, which she is working to impart to her teams at @Cloudflare.
In this conversation, Lori shares some of her lessons learned and about her journey into sales leadership - a place not enough of us are at.
Karen Keating is a Strategic Account Director at Salesforce. She's created a great life through professional selling - and always working at the Enterprise level of selling. She lives in Utah where her passion for the snow continues. We had a great conversation about how she got into sales in the first place and someone "saw" something in her to encourage her to consider selling. Once she got bit by the sales bug, she has spent her career selling.
It doesn't seem fair that our society has developed boys and men who can be loud and agressive and everyone thinks that is fine. When a woman is not even agressive but assertive, and speaks up, she is often labeled one of an assortment of names - one is five letters and starts with a B. Women who thrive in sales leadership learn the "dance" between not being "too much" and being "enough".
There is no road map for this - that's why we talk to amazing leaders like Ang McManamon, who has been at Gilt Groupe, Amazon, Knotel (among others) and now VP Sales at Crunchbase. Ang talks about her climb into leadership and how she supports her people so that they feel like she has their back.
Stephanie Chung is a transformational expert and a commercial strategist with passion for people. Stephanie serves on many boards. She's led businesses through significant change in unprecedented times which has given her great appreciation and resolve to align organizational goals and amazing teams behind a shared vision and purpose to achieve the desired results. As an accomplished, innovative leader, Stephanie has 20+ years of demonstrated success of steering companies from start-up into maturity, propelling record sales growth, and building highly engaged and loyal teams for global entities. Deemed the first African-American to lead a major private aviation company, Stephanie was honored to earn accolades as a “Trailblazer” on the 2020 Ebony Magazine Power 100 list, "Top Visionary Changing The Luxury World Right Now" Robb Report 2021, "Top Executive" 2022 Savoy Magazine, and "Most Influential Female Executive" Women's Inc 2022 .
We had a great conversation. I had no idea what her first job in aviation was at Logan Airport - amazing - and shows how one can climb the corporate ladder all the way to the C-Suite.
Tonni has been a sales leader in tech companies for over 14 years. I wondered how she started out in a leadership role so early in her career. We also talked about momhood / parenthood as she now has two kids so juggling family as well as work and a sales team is a lot. We talked about how great leaders who ARE parents can be in hitting goals and being productive. We also talked about how many women coming up in newer sales roles don't visualize that they could actually have a family some day and stay in sales or be in a sales leader role. Tonni's success dispels this myth. We'd love your feedback on this episode - consider posting on iTunes - and thank you in advance!
If nothing else, connect with Nirvanna to follow her LinkedIn posts and shares - she is so great at putting things "out there" on topics like leadership, stress, inspiration, and dealing with change. I met Nirvanna in Boston a number of years ago. She's always been focused on her professional development, and committed to being in a leadership role. Learn how she rose from individual contributor to a leader - she would not settle for another individual role. I am inspired by her "can-do" attitude and how she is sharing what she is learning through her posts on Medium here as well as on LinkedIn.
Nancy Calabrese is Founder and CEO of One of a Kind Sales - a lead generation and appointment setting firm working primarily with B2B companies, helping them grow revenue. Her team loves cold calling, lead development, and top of the funnel services. Most people don't, so this has given Nancy a robust business for many years. In our conversation she'll share her story, how she grew to love sales so much, and some tips and ideas for success in getting meetings and in speaking with future buyers.
Nancy sees calling as one of the marketing channels and assuming you are professional and use the multi-channel approach to reach prospective customers, between all of the channels, you'll be successful. You need to be open to where your buyer is and where what you say or do resonates with them.
This is a quick teaser about what is ahead for 2023 on the podcast, Conversations with Women in Sales, as well as with the "women in sales" community. Lori is solo on this one to share some information and perhaps a little inspiration at the end.
We had so many wonderful episodes this past year. Lori Richardson, podcast host, will share the top listened to episodes and some of her favorite topics and guests. Plus she puts out a call at the end for everyone to do a hard look at their past year and review, then set some stretch goals and find an accountability partner or team. Lori mentions free tools to download for helping you evaluate 2022 and to kickstart 2023. You can reach out to her if you don't know how to reach the ones she's referring to. lori AT womensalespros DOT com.
IF YOU LIKE THE PODCAST, we ask that you go to iTunes, log in, download an episode or two and then give us a FIVE STAR rating - and then give us a review. It will go a long way and it matters if you have 100 reviews or if you have 20. Thank you in advance.
Laura Colón focused on public relations in college at the suggestion of a counselor. She learned, however, that PR does not pay well right out of college. She went a different direction and ended up in sales, but is grateful for the learning she got about communication and PR which has helped her first as an individual contributor in sales, then as a sales leader. Laura has worked on both coasts, and is currently Regional VP, Mid-Market West for Vonage. She is also a Mentor at #GirlsClub and recently spoke on the main stage at the #GirlsClub "RISE UP" conference, where I met her and realized her energy would be a great addition to the podcast.
Porchia Jenkins is currently Manager of Mid-Market Sales Development at a company called TripActions. But Porchia didn't start out in college thinking about going into sales... nope, she was focused on kineseology and exercise science. Got her Bachelors degree, and then her Masters in it. She was ready for her career in physical fitness - first working with adults, and then with kids. Somehow she ended up at a holiday party or two with folks in software sales. That got her thinking about a change - the rest is history. Porchia and I shared stories about formerly being a teacher then getting into sales. We laughed at how it "used" to be that hiring managers in sales didn't see a correlation sometimes for "grit" and "perserverance" as we toiled away with kids in classrooms. Really?
Porchia also talked about being a Black woman in a while male world - sales. How she's used being an "only" often to her advantage and who is really clear about who she is and the huge value she offers. I think this episode will inspire a woman - maybe a Black or Brown woman - to consider sales - or consider staying in sales (don't leave...) or moving into sales leadership as Porchia has done. I think the sky is the limit for Porchia and I can't wait to see what is ahead for her. This time of year, we could use a "gift" of a 5 star review on iTunes if you are so moved! Please write a comment too, on iTunes as it makes a difference. Thanks!
Helen Fanucci has written a much-needed book in "Love Your Team" and it is different from so many other sales management guides because it helps managers, whether new or experienced to understand what to say, when to say it, and actual wording suggestions. Helen has brought her years of sales leadership currently as a senior leader at Microsoft and previously at Sun Microsystems.
There are sections of the book on these conversations - on connection, performance, strategy, customer engagement, and internal alignment, Helen emphasises that "words matter" in sales - internally and with our customers - and I could not agree more. Check out our conversation and download a copy of her book to help your sales team - whether you are a sales manager, leader, or individual contributor - you will receive some great, practical ideas.
Katie Visco was the youngest woman to run across the United States in 2009. Not only did she run across the U.S., but she gave talks all along the way. She repeated a cross-nation run ten years later, running across Australia with only bicycle support throughout the ride.
Now Katie is in a sales role at ADP in their retirement services - and winning awards doing it - no surprise.
Listen to Katie's transition into sales (she's also an entrepreneur) and learn what keeps her going.
This is our 140th episode to inspire women and appreciate our male allies in B2B sales and revenue growth. #shesells #seeitbeit #womeninsales
Let's talk about the drop in outbound call connections - buyers have changed. How do we adjust and prepare and work to hit our sales numbers? Meet Heidi. Heidi Messer is an entrepreneur, board director, builder of networks and investor who founded several global businesesses including Linkshare and collective[i]. She serves on a number of boards, was granted two patents connected to collective[i]'s data analytics network and is listed in Wikipedia. The name collective[i] stands for Collective Intelligence-- a concept that when knowledge is shared, everyone wins. Heidi says the greatest sales leaders she's seen are resilient. She wants people to question logic from the past instead of being open to the future. Technology is not the change itself, but it helps enables change. Her latest venture works to remove time forecasting as well as inputing data. It connects buyers and sellers in modern ways - deep collaboration. People need the ability to collaborate and that is the next experience in selling. Check out the collective[i] forecast at https://www.ciforecast.com/
Let's talk about the drop in outbound call connections - buyers have changed. How do we adjust and prepare and work to hit our sales numbers? Meet Heidi. Heidi Messer is an entrepreneur, board director, builder of networks and investor who founded several global businesesses including Linkshare and collective[i]. She serves on a number of boards, was granted two patents connected to collective[i]'s data analytics network and is listed in Wikipedia. The name collective[i] stands for Collective Intelligence-- a concept that when knowledge is shared, everyone wins. Heidi says the greatest sales leaders she's seen are resilient. She wants people to question logic from the past instead of being open to the future. Technology is not the change itself, but it helps enables change. Her latest venture works to remove time forecasting as well as inputing data. It connects buyers and sellers in modern ways - deep collaboration. People need the ability to collaborate and that is the next experience in selling. Check out the collective[i] forecast at https://www.ciforecast.com/
Wesleyne went to college to become a chemist. She was a chemist for four years, then got into a sales career - tripling the sales in her region in one year! She takes a scientific approach to selling, and uses data to prove what a sales team possesses and what it needs.
Take a listen to this fun conversation with my friend and colleague, Wesleyne and see how someone with a scientific background totally excelled at selling. Find more about Wesleyne at https://www.transformedsales.com/ She also has a podcast called Transformed Sales.
This podcast aims to highlight so many women in sales who have created success without being "salesy" - you know that "icky" feeling after being "sold to?" that can happen in a bad sales situation. Robin Treasure wrote a book, "Heart-Powerd Sales - Grow Your Sales Exponetially with Emotional Intelligence and Intuition" and is a great resource for anyone in sales wanting to be in the admirable profession of selling, using heart.
Robin is a sales trainer and sales coach as well as a multi-lingual world traveler who has lived abroad in several different countries. She began her career as an Italian translator in Rome. www.robintreasure.com
Her book starts with the powerful sentiment: "Sales isn't a dirty word!" and so did our conversation. Mandy is not only the VP, Global Accounts at Hospitality Performance Network but is also the author of a great book called, "Sales Tales: The Hustle, Humor, and Lessons from a Life in Sales". Mandy has a very down to earth style in sharing what she loves about the sales profession and how everything we do involves selling - so embrace it rather than shy away from it.
Heidi Solomon-Orlick is a force to be reckoned with. In our conversation she will talk about her career in sales (currently now Sr. VP, Bus Dev at Arise Virtual Solutions) and the impetus to launch her organization, GirlzWhoSell. Heidi has amazing amounts of energy as it seems she is always working on a new project or idea for more women in sales.
I met Heidi when we both lived in New Hampshire and I was impressed with her networking to key people, and for believing in the idea to put a book together with 30+ women sharing their sales journeys to inspire other women to consider a sales career. GirlzWhoSell has a non-profit foundation and an academy where young women can learn about sales and be mentored.
Heidi Solomon-Orlick is a force to be reckoned with. In our conversation she will talk about her career in sales (currently now Sr. VP, Bus Dev at Arise Virtual Solutions) and the impetus to launch her organization, GirlzWhoSell. Heidi has amazing amounts of energy as it seems she is always working on a new project or idea for more women in sales.
I met Heidi when we both lived in New Hampshire and I was impressed with her networking to key people, and for believing in the idea to put a book together with 30+ women sharing their sales journeys to inspire other women to consider a sales career. GirlzWhoSell has a non-profit foundation and an academy where young women can learn about sales and be mentored.
I met "my people" when I met Elyse Archer - she has a big abundant mindset and is helping men and women entrepreneurs and professional sellers to gain success through mindset, too. Elyse has a soft spot for women and founded She Sells to offer programs specifically for women - also a She Sells podcast. Elyse is also a personal brand strategist and a video confidence coach.
I hope you find this episode inspiring - would love any feedback. Check out Elyse at https://elysearcher.com/
Samantha McKenna is Founder of #SamSales Consulting. We had an amazing conversation about the negative stereotype sales still has - and the wonderful attributes a sales career actually offers. Do you have the ability to have a conversation, to run a process? You could be great in B2B sales. This is a profession where you can impact your earning potential by how you "run" your territory. It is very entrepreneurial. You can also customize your lifestyle with a sales career. "If you master the foundational skills in sales, you can crush it forever" according to Sam. Follow Sam on LinkedIn - Follow this podcast and please share it!
Katie Walsh was a Division 1 College Field Hockey player and atributes a lot of her success in sales and leadership to her collegiate athletic career. Katie is Director of Sales at Hubspot. Unlike most of us in software and SaaS, she's been at Hubspot for the past NINE years. Yep - sometimes you find a great work home and have talented leaders who inspire you to stay and grow with the company.
Katie received a solid foundation in selling through her work at EMC making lots of calls and setting up meetings for the AEs there. She said that time at EMC, while not a career "fit" for her, was critical for her future success.
We talk about preconcieved notions about sales, growth within one company, and what the future holds. #sales #seeitbeit #shesells #womeninsales
Katie Walsh was a Division 1 College Field Hockey player and atributes a lot of her success in sales and leadership to her collegiate athletic career. Katie is Director of Sales at Hubspot. Unlike most of us in software and SaaS, she's been at Hubspot for the past NINE years. Yep - sometimes you find a great work home and have talented leaders who inspire you to stay and grow with the company.
Katie received a solid foundation in selling through her work at EMC making lots of calls and setting up meetings for the AEs there. She said that time at EMC, while not a career "fit" for her, was critical for her future success.
We talk about preconcieved notions about sales, growth within one company, and what the future holds. #sales #seeitbeit #shesells #womeninsales
Our guest today wrote a fantastic book that will help you to build more empowered conversations as you rise through the sales organization or the company in general. Roberta Matuson is the author of "Can We Talk: Seven Principles for Managing Difficult Conversations at Work" Roberta and I had a rousing conversation and you'll find some gems to take away if you want to be a better, more effective communicator.
Amy Franko is a keynote sales speaker and the author of "The Modern Seller: Sell More and Increase Your Impact in the New Sales Economy" Amy is also the Chair of the Board of Directors of Girl Scouts of Ohio's Heartland where they are building an amazing STEM project for their Girls Scouts which we also discuss. Learn how Amy got into sales as an English and Communication college grad and how she's been drawn to tech during her career. Learn more about Amy at https://amyfranko.com/
Jen and I talked about a lot of different things but what grabbed me was her speaking about how becoming a podcast host helped her be better at storytelling. Storytelling is such an important skill within professional selling that I wanted to highlight that - we talk about a leader who made a big impression on Jen and our first sales experiences. Who you work for early on in your career matters - which is why we need female voices to help encourage women up and coming in sales today. Jen says, "There is a much wider network than within your company" Jen and I both encourage women to build their brand on LinkedIn. Build YOUR brand - not your company's brand. We can build trust at scale. It is important. Check out Jen's podcast as well.
Natalia Gallo is a changemaker in the male-dominated world of roofing. She has risen through the ranks to Regional Sales Director and spent years helping to mentor and support other women to succeed. Natalia brought the idea of getting the women in sales within GAF together to learn from each other, and the WinS program was created. Listen to how she started as an architect and is now one of the top women in the roofing profession.
Natasha Hemmingway took her college degree in Biology and a leap of faith into pharmaceutical sales and never looked back. After eight years she pivoted into medical device sales, and did that successfully for another eight years. Now she runs her own coaching practice and is focused on teaching others how to Sell with Heart Not Hustle (R)
Natasha has a powerful story she shares in this episode about losing her full term baby and how poorly a situation like that is handled in most companies - many sales teams are not prepared to help women get back to their team after a devastating loss. Natasha went on to create her own company and coaches others on how to sell. I really appreciated our conversation and hope you do too. If you do, please share it with others. Rate it on iTunes. Thanks.
Before a woman leaves a sales role due to issues she isn't comfortable with - such as her environment or a life event, she needs to ask about a different accomodation rather than us losing another woman in sales. My conversation with Yamini Bhat, CEO & Co-Founder at Vymo covered the many unconscious biases there are in the workplace. Vymo is a sales enablement platform and so we talked about within her company as well as with clients and customers how women and men differ. It was a varied and interesting conversation sure to be of interest. We cover: Women exceeding men in conversion rates, but also women exceeding men in attrition. Join us as we dive into the data.
In her new book, "Right on the Money - New Principles for Bold Growth", author and sales strategist Colleen Francis discusses the current sales landscape and offers some great strategies - and tactics - to win over today's buyers. One of the #WomenInSalesAuthors with bold strategies for revenue growth.
Precious Williams KNEW there was a STAR inside of herself - she was not raised with confidence but she learned to embrace herself and own who she is. She is a world class master communicator and a shining light in our sales world (and the world at large)
Sales and pitching skills are vital to charting your own destiny. Precious shares part of her story and you should be watching for Precious - she is going big places!
Jen is an author contributor to the new book, "Heels to Deals" with 33 women's stories about their journeys in B2B sales. It was pulled together by Heidi Solomon-Orlick of Girlz Who Sell and is a GREAT read!
Jen does a popular LinkedIn Live show where she shares stories, as she did in the book and on this episode about challenges she ran into as a woman in sales - in hopes that other women coming up in sales will learn from others and not get stuck in the same corner or be speechless if and when someone says something totally inappropriate or disrespectful. We cover a lot of topics in this one.
Natasha has had a most interesting journey into and through sales. She grew up with a most unconventional upbriging (you'll have to listen to see what I mean) and had no idea what business was, let alone sales. Through her education and early roles she learned about sales and has been involved in it now for the past 20 years. Listen to Natasha's journey and get inspired.
Andy Paul is a mentor, coach, supporter, and champion of more women in sales. He is also a global sales advisor and top podcaster. In his new book, Sell Without Selling Out, he shows you how to take charge of your own sales career without selling out using the four "Sell In Pillars" of connection, curiosity, understanding, and generosity. These are pillars women have used in sales for YEARS. Now it is a must for everyone in sales because these soft skills are what bots and computers cannot yet replace. Check out Andy's book and you will thank me! It is an easy read, and a one-sitting read if you are as engaged with the topic as I am.
What does an inclusive sales culture look like? How do we get men to be our advocates, not just allies?
I talked with TikTok B2B Sales standout Leslie Venetz, Founder, Sales Team Builder, about her 15 year sales journey and how far we still need to go for more women in sales. We talk about working remotely and how that can be a game changer for a mom with child or kids at home - and how you don't need to be a "road warrior" to be a sales leader anymore. That is great for more women sales leader candidates and ultimately more women in sales leadership. #SheSells #SeeItBeIt @SalesTipsTok "Breaking Corporate Bro Culture"
Meg Hewitt has had a number of varied roles which we talk about this episode. She's been a rep, a manager, a head of sales dev, trainer, coach, Director of Sales, Regional VP, and now a Strategic Account Executive, Retail & Consumer Goods at Salesforce. Meg shares that it's not the title but what you learn, and how you can work to plan out what it is you need or where you want to go in sales.
What is wonderful about B2B sales is that you can take your career many different directions. Meg shares about her geographical moves as well as climbing the career ladder.
In this session Alli and I talk about the topic of feeling like an imposter and what you can do. Why is it so prevalent in women, and can men have it too? Join us and learn.
We kick of 2022 with a new sponsor, Reprise. Big thank you to them. They have some amazing women in sales, including their head of sales. VP Sales Grace Tyson sat down with us to share about her journey and stops along the way to her current role.
We discussed the idea of product led growth and got some inspiration from a top sales leader. If you know of a woman sales leader or amazing sales rep, let us know - if they inspire, we want to share their insight and story here.
We had an awesome, amazing year of interviews here at Conversations with Women in Sales. I'll review all 36 episodes and share what is ahead for Women Sales Pros and the She Sells Summit. If you know of a woman in sales or woman sales leader in B2B who would make a great guest, please refer them our way AND please share this podcast with your sales leader or company leader, whether they are male or female. We depend on our male allies to help affect change in B2B. Also, reviews are welcome and appreciated on iTunes as well as any endorsements on LinkedIn or elsewhere.
Ashley is co-founder of Somersault Innovation and the author of "Naked Sales: How Design Thinking Reveals Customer Motives and Drives Revenue"
In this episode we discussed what design thinking is, what her journey in sales has been like, and some great insights she had to share with us.
Shawanda Roberts is a force of nature - upbeat, positive, and always moving forward. She is VP Sales at Frost & Sullivan where she leads a team of talented and energetic Business Development Directors and Managers responsible for selling solutions to C-level executives focused on identifying, prioritizing and implementing growth strategies through research and custom advisory solutions.
Shawanda is also a mentor for GirlzWhoSell. We cover a lot of topics in this conversation - I met her in person at the last event I attended prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. We talk a bit about how such a worldwide disruption accelerated change in big ways. Let's dive in.
Top go-to-market teams are different. They create an authentic buyer journey by leading with buyer goals and payoffs rather their product across sales, marketing, and customer success . In this session, Brent (our very first male guest) talks about the power of empathy, communication skills, listening, and other traits women bring in big ways to sales conversations.
Brent is President of Winalytics and is focused on building go-to-market strategies across sales, marketing and customer success teams.
On November 3, 2021 the first ever "She Sells Summit" will be happening. It is a B2B sales virtual event with most of the speakers being women who have founded groups focused on helping get more women into sales or into sales leadership. Learn how this #sales conference came to be, who is participating, and why it is historic. Big thanks to all of the sponsors of this event, as well as the participants. #sales #seeitbeit #shesells #womeninsales #allieswelcome
As a people first leader, Jaime's passion is for building strong teams, running toward complex problems and "digging in" to help clients deliver outcomes during periods of massive organizational change & transformation.
Over the last 15+ years while holding sales leadership roles at Gartner & Microsoft, her teams overachieved year over year growth targets by building trust based CXO relationships to drive millions of dollars of net new revenue. Today she consults and advises clients on how to attract, inspire and maintain high performing teams (specifically) during times of change.
Jen Miller is passionate about sales strategy, networking, and training. She is Senior Vice President, Producer Development, at Marsh & McLennan Agency where she has helped thousands of sellers get the onboarding and training they need to be successful in their roles.
Jen has been writing a post a week since the pandemic began and writes about sales leadership, mentorship, trust, the sales journey, credibility and other great topics. She also shares the power of LinkedIn for sales pros. Seeing her content will help grow your career.
We had a fabulous panel discussion on how to deal with the unique issues women in sales roles - and parents in general need to deal with when it comes to variable pay, ramp up, quota and other issues that standard corporate family leave policies often don't take into account. Listen to Alicia MacDonald of Brandwatch, Jordan Arogeti of Salesloft, and Michelle Benfer of Hubspot speak about their stories, insights, and lessons learned over a number of years discussing these issues. Company leaders should listen to better understand how to attract and retain more women in sales for their companies based on the policies they create.
Elizabeth Ionita is Account Executive at Allocadia and founder of COMWUNE. She grew up and lives in Canada - was 1st generation Canadian in her family. Elizabeth has raised two kids and been in a sales role, so we talk a bit about her maternity leaves and how coming back can be tough. Listen to her journey as a full cycle rep and what she was looking for when making a move to another role. Good food for thought for anyone contemplating change - to really know what type of company and environment will suit you well. Also learn how she moved from selling to a different persona moving from one company to another.
Irina Soriano is VP, Enablement at Seismic and author of "Generation Brand: Controlling your life-brand for likes, loves, and career advancement". She also has a terrific TEDx talk called, "Gender Parity Starts with Controlling our Life Brand". In this conversation we discuss how Irina rose in her career to a VP level, and how your brand can support you (or not support you) in your career growth.
Tiffani Bova is the Global Customer Growth and Innovation Evangelist at Salesforce and a thought provoking change maker. She's has a storied career currently at Salesforce, formerly as a Distinguished Analyst at Gartner, and as a pioneer in technology launching or advising on cloud services and digital transformation in the 90's 2000's, 2010s up until now.
Tiffani Bova is author of the Wall Street Journal best seller book, Growth IQ: Get Smarter About the Choices that Will Make or Break Your Business. She is host of the podcast "What's Next - with Tiffani Bova". In addition to Tiffani's great successes in business and technology she is committed to helping build a more inclusive tech world - including within sales, where she got her start in tech. We had a great conversation about building confidence, doing things that make us uncomfortable, establishing credibility, and how age gives us wisdom to not need to shout out the answer. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did
Skills session: Julie Hansen provides the "missing virtual selling skills you need today.
Customers today are being bombarded with vendor video calls – a never-ending parade of missed connections, bad lighting, worse eye contact, extreme close-ups, and awkward pauses/talk overs.
This session with former sales pro and actor, Julie Hansen - who has written 3 books on presenting skills for sellers will talk through some of her best tips and ideas. This is a "skills session" which we sprinkle through out our sales journey here.
Heidi is a Diversity and Inclusion champion and change agent, entrepreneur and mentor. She is committed to supporting women and girls by continuing to push for racial justice, workplace and inter-sectional gender equity. Heidi invests in the leaders, companies and products she wants to see in the world. She is an active aging advocate who believes that older women (and men) are not obsolete. Age = Wisdom and Experience. Heidi is truly committed to closing the gender gap in B2B Sales, which is why we had such a great conversation!
In this conversation, Annie shares SO much insight about being good at your sales role, how she got into sales, and how her mom inspired her to do her best and ASK for what she needs. We talked about the need for women to speak up and really advocate for themselves. She says, "You don't have to be salesy to be in sales!"
Jordan wishes she had gotten the advice about sales being a "long game" - a marathon, not a sprint. Try not to measure yourself based on your dashboard. Jordan Arogeti is Sr. Executive, Financial Services at Salesloft. She is a mom, a wife, and also a partner in Arogeti Endeavors. Jordan says that she is in an intense season in life right now with so much going on. We have a great conversation about her career path since college and some of the wisdom she's learned in sales.
Jula Pereira can be found on LinkedIn supporting and encouraging others in professional sales - and is helping shine a light on making sales more inclusive. She is an SMB Account Exec at Hubspot and a peer advisor at re:work training. In this episode Jula talks about self acceptance and how she learned to feel at home in her skin. We also talk about the power of resilience in sales and I reference her book, "Six Weeks to Sales Confidence - A Guide for Women" which is available on Amazon.
Chaniqua "Nikki" Ivey is a force to be reckoned with. She brings high energy and positivity to the B2B sales world, working hard to make it better - to level the playing field for all. Listen how this lover of words, who studied journalism, relates to professional selling - the mark she has made so far, and what's ahead for her.
Ellen Stafford is Director, Presales and Solutions at Vidyard which means that she leads business development as well as the Solutions Consulting teams - an unusual combination but it works for her. She started selling cell phones after college and then, through connections, got an opportunity at Salesforce.com. She went from the mammoth company to Vidyard which was truly a startup with 35 employees when she started there, and has risen through the ranks.
Mary Shea, PhD is an innovator in the B2B sales space, and she believes that with an innovation mindset, anything is possible. Now Global Innovation Evangelist at Outreach, Mary had a distinguished career as Principal Analyst at Forrester. She is a change agent and passionate about making the sales department an inclusive place. To think she began her career as a professional musician. Mary shares her thoughts about how we can change the face of sales in our conversation.
Reva Pellerin has spent over 10 years in B2B sales. She did not know what selling technology even was when she got her first BDR role at Oracle but it opened the door to technology and SaaS sales. She is glad she took a chance and in a roundabout way ended up in a fantastic career - now at Vidyard. We had a fun conversation and Reva discusses her journey that could help others listening in.
Kelly is a regional sales manager with years of experience managing sales managers and has inspired hundreds of sales reps. She works in a male majority industry and is a standout leader. Listen to how she talks about selling as a helping profession and how a servant leader mindset can help you become a great leader.
Amy Volas is Founder and CEO of Avenue Talent Partners because "great sales teams aren't built on guesswork." Amy is Co-Founder of Thursday Night Sales, along with Scott Leese. Amy is incredibly proud of TNS because it really has helped create an amazing community where people are heard and can find insights to solve their issues as SaaS sales professionals. We covered a lot of ground in this conversation - good for leaders and reps alike to hear.
She had me at "B2B sales literally changed my life." I heard it as "B2B sales SAVED my life" and although Jenny Anderson didn't say it, what a stable, well-paying career in sales did for her was revolutionary in her world. Listen to her journey and how she is working to pay it forward so other women and men can rise into this great career.
Educated at Cornell, Zoya initially thought she might want to work in hospitality but had jobs on campus cold calling and working in fundraising. She recently moved to Gong as a Strategic Sales Development Manager. Her number one passion is developing people.
Alexine has been in SaaS software sales for over 8 years. She and host Lori have some things in common- we had influence in our youth by relatives who were selling all around us, and impacted us. But with a dad who received his PhD from MIT and other interesting possibilities for Alexine, she did end up in B2B tech sales, specifically software-as-a-service (SaaS).
Additionally she is a rising voice for more women in sales and we champion her as she co-leads the Clubhouse "Women in Sales" club on Saturdays with Gabrielle Blackwell. Alexine also volunteers with great organizations like Aspireship, Victory Lap, and Re:work.
Dr. Jane Sojka is Professor Educator, Marketing at University of Cincinnati. She teaches undergrad and grad students and does research. Is responsible for developing the professional sales program, implementing course curriculum, coaching the UC Sales Team and advising the UC Sales Club. Professor Sojka runs an incredible "Women in Sales" course at UC.
We have a great conversation about confidence and resiliency in women and men.
Astha immigrated to the U.S. from India in 2006 and talks on this episode about how she ended up in professional selling in a male-dominated industry.
As a researcher in a solar startup, she realized her passion for sales and mustered the courage to ask for a chance to be in sales at that company. Shining there and progressively making it through in a traditional all boys club of the electrical industry, she now leads a team of field sales reps managing a $100M+ quota. She balances being a great mom and being a passionate sales leader which she says makes life interesting.
As a C-level Microsoft executive and thought leader, Gavriella Schuster leads a global portfolio of channel partners that has influenced over $1 trillion in ecosystem revenues. She brings over 20 years of leadership in digital and cloud transformation roles, driving strategy and execution spanning all aspects of business model and product development, launch, marketing, sales and partner development. Gavriella currently leads global recruitment, enablement and engagement of Microsoft’s fast-growing partner ecosystem. Check out her TEDx talk, BeCOME an Ally; How to Achieve Gender Equity.
Lindsay is Americas Asphalt Supply Coordination Supervisor currently at ExxonMobile and has been in sales and logistics roles for the past 15 years in the oil and gas industry.
Lindsay is a believer that you don't have to fit the typical mold to be successful in sales. Many people opt out of sales careers early on, but she believes that we all have innate abilities that with awareness and practice can lead to a rewarding career in sales. This is why she also writes and speaks on the topic of Authentic Sales.
Hang Black is VP of Sales Enablement at Juniper Networks. She is one of the top enablement executives worldwide - which is impressive, but her story of getting to the U.S. as a child is amazing and totally captivating. Hang released a new book called, Embrace Your Edge where she talks about resilience, survival, and growth. One of her goals is to help empower women who have not been seen and may feel like they are in the shadows. #HangWithHang
Ali Cudby is the author of the best-selling book, Keep Your Customers: How to Stop Customer Turnover, Improve Retention, and Get Lucrative, Long-Term Loyalty. We talk about pay equity in non-sales roles and what type of a career can someone grow into in Customer Care. There is a lot of growth and potential in this niche within B2B sales.
Gabrielle did not plan on becoming an amazing sales leader - especially when she was in France or when she was learning about public policy. Hear about her path into one of the coolest careers in the world - She is a Magical Sales Development Leader in service to the virtues of: Empowerment, Advocacy and Enlightenment
Cultivating expertise in:
Sales Leadership
Sales Training
Sales Management
Change Management
Sales Coaching
Personal Coaching
Sales Enablement
Abby Golub shares her story about how she went from working in a family business in Vermont to making a move to Boston and finding not only a BDR / SDR role but also with a company where she knew she'd be trained well and would be in a good team with great leadership. Lots to learn here for those newer in sales or those hiring BDRs and SDRs.
"If an inclusive sales culture was easy, maybe you would have done it already - don't just check the box on diversity." - Joyce Johnson. Meet 7x author, speaker, sales influencer, business coach, and founder & CEO of the Why Sales Network, Joyce Johnson.
Joyce hosts a podcast called, "Let's talk about it #collegelife" and is just releasing a new book, "No Back Doors for Me" Reach her at https://iamjoycejohnson.com/
Anna Baird is an accomplished C-Level executive, with a tremendous background in finance and in accelerating high growth companies. She is currently CRO (Chief Revenue Officer) at Outreach.io and oversees all of the sales and revenue initiatives there. Listen as I ask Anna about her career journey and hear her advice for women in sales and aspiring leaders.
Alice Katwan wanted to get into a tech sales role in Silicon Valley and started in Customer Support - a smart way to begin a sales career, because she rose to Enterprise Account Manager, Area Sales Manager, Sales Director, and now Senior Vice President of North American Sales for Salesforce. Listen as Alice discusses her journey, and in what she and I agree about when it comes to professional selling.
Professor Stefanie Boyer is a changemaker - she is helping thousands of college and university students learn how to be a professional seller through her work as a professor and also as the co-founder of RNMKRS. We had an interesting conversation about sales education and more.
Lindsey Boggs is Digital Sales & Development Leader at Citrix where she manages, develops, and retains top talent by teaching social selling, prospecting, cold calling, and pipeline creation. Prior to that she's been a mainstage speaker on social selling and worked at other top companies in sales and leadership. When tragedy struck in her family she had a nervous breakdown, got help for it, and used that situation to help others through the co-founding of Uncrushed.org. She also gave a TEDx talk, and does ongoing speaking (as she did here with us) about the stigma of mental health and how those in our sales organizations feeling depressed or isolated have people to talk with. We also talk about Imposter Syndrome.
Becc Holland is a woman on a mission to help Sales Development Reps - and anyone at the front of the sales process to better communicate with and help buyers buy. She has an exhaustive library of plays for those newer to sales to try in order to reach buyers and have more positive conversations to ultimately move deals forward. Her Flip the Script program offering is free for others to learn, and paid for by sponsors. We talk about how her helping others internationally when young, along with her love of music and selling helped bring her to where she is today.
Galem Girmay is an Account Executive at Flywire and co-founded RevGenius, the community for sales professionals with over 7,000 members. As a Black woman, she offers her support and recommendations to companies to help them find women of color for sales and sales leadership roles. Learn more about the SDR role, where she began her sales career and gain ideas about the great possibilities of sales in this episode.
Chantel George is doing big things. She is an Account Executive at LinkedIn, the Global Program Manager for the Black Inclusion Group at LinkedIn, and also Founder & CEO of Sistas in Sales, which is the first community of women of color sales professionals. We talk about Chantel's journey from acting to law to sales, and have a good conversation about what majority women can do to support her efforts to see more women of color in our sales profession.
Sheevaun Thatcher is an outspoken leader in the practice of Sales Enablement worldwide - as a frequent speaker and as a Founding Member & Member of the Board of Advisors with the Sales Enablement Society.
She is the Global Learning and Enablement Leader at RingCentral and oversees a worldwide remote team. Sheevaun has a way with words - which makes her an amazing storyteller.
Maria Tribble is VP of Enterprise Sales at PathFactory. She raises flowers in her #5-9 and believes in the critical importance of kindness. We had a tough time recording this one because Maria had been previously recorded with Barb, before her passing, but the episode hadn't launched nor had we found it - so we re-recorded.
Sara Levinson, VP Business Development at Prometric has sold and launched transformational technology initiatives - multi-million dollar deals - with the world’s largest & most influential brands. After grad school, Sara got into a marketing role which morphed into more of a sales role in the newspaper business in Pittsburgh. Hear how she got into the technology sector and how who you know is key to not applying for positions.
Cynthia Barnes is author of "Reach the Top 1%: A Strategic Game Plan for Warrior Women in Sales", and is a keynote speaker, sales trainer, LinkedIn top sales influencer, and CEO of the NAWSP.org. In this episode we discuss how sales changed Cynthia's life, how we both agree that women do NOT lack confidence! and more.
Tamara Schenk's goal is to help empower human potential. She is a mainstage speaker on all things sales enablement; having spent 25 years in international roles spanning multiple industries. Tamara has also been the "only" woman in the boardroom many times. We discuss the great opportunities for women in B2B sales enablement roles and Tamara's love of the field is in everything she shares.
Nancy McNeill is Chief Revenue Officer, responsible for global sales strategy for Dow Jones' suite of professional information products. She has more than 20 years of management experience, leading global sales organizations in the financial services information industry. We talked about supportive company leaders, mentors, and how sales can be successful working remotely.
Jill Fratianne is Partner Channel Manager at Hubspot, where she has been in various sales roles for over 10 years. Jill came to Hubspot when it was a startup and has been through massive growth of the company, including seeing it go public. Jill received her Masters in Music from Northwestern University and was going to be a Violist but ended up getting an insurance sales job right out of school. Jill talks about the great lessons she learned in this role and how it made her appreciate future sales roles.
This is the beginning of "Act 2" for Conversations with Women in Sales. Lori Richardson and Women Sales Pros will continue to publish episodes with interviews of amazing women in sales roles. We want to carry on Barb Giamanco's vision and mission. Your feedback and support welcome. This conversation was with Lori, Joanne Black, and Deb Calvert on Barb's passing and the future for CWWIS.
There is often a stigma associated with failing but never making mistakes means never learning and growing. In this episode, I talked with Ashley Zagst from Zagst Consulting. She is a professional dancer/choreographer turned digital marketer. She is the former Head of Marketing at Bravado.co, the first digital community exclusively for sales professionals committed to elevating the profession by changing the stigmatized perception.
Hilda Kwa, Regional Director at VMware is my guest in this episode. Your employees are your company “brand ambassadors”, as such they are your organization’s greatest asset. Too often companies forget that employees drive the customer experience – either positively or negatively – and that impacts revenue in the same way.
Julie Hansen is a sales presentation expert and the founder of Performance Sales and Training, helping sales professionals communicate with greater confidence, clarity, and influence.
Julie spent 20 years as a sales contributor and leader. She also worked as a professional actor, performing in over 75 plays, commercials and television shows including HBO’s “Sex and the City.”
Mary Grothe, is CEO and Founder of Sales BQ. She is a former #1 rep in the MidMarket B2B SaaS Payroll / HR industry. After 8 years and millions in revenue sold, she founded Sales BQ, and leads a team of fractional VPs of Sales across the country as they rebuild their clients' sales departments, all while focusing on the behavioral quotient.
In this conversation, I was joined by Kate Bradley Chernis the Founder & CEO of Lately, which uses Artificial Intelligence to automatically turn blogs, videos and podcasts into dozens of amazing social posts, which is then syndicated across unlimited channels. Lately customers use the platform for personal branding communications, brand marketing management, executive thought leadership, employee advocacy and social selling.
Marietta Davis is VP North America Communications and CSI, IBM Global Markets. Marietta is a seasoned sales executive with an extensive career in the technology industry holding high impact positions at IBM, Lotus Development, Ameritech, and Tata Consulting. At Microsoft, the highest ranking African American in North America, Canada and Latin America, Marietta led an organization of more than 400 sales, marketing and technical experts serving Microsoft’s business customers with Dynamics ERP and CRM Solutions. While at Microsoft, Davis successfully managed and grew multiple businesses to $1B and triple digit growth milestones. Her diverse leadership portfolio extends to mentoring strong leaders into key roles and acting in an advisory capacity to incubation and small startups.
Tracy Eiler is the Chief Marketing Officer at InsideView. She has been driving marketing strategy at both cloud-based and traditional enterprise technology companies for 25 years. At InsideView, Tracy leads the end-to-end marketing strategy and initiatives. Tracy came to InsideView from her own marketing consulting firm. Previously, Tracy held executive roles at Replicon, Cloud9, MarkLogic, Postini, and Business Objects. She also founded and ran a successful technology communications agency.
Keri Schull grew from a real estate solopreneur to one of America's most successful real estate agents, according to REAL Trends and The Wall Street Journal. She has scaled multiple businesses including The Keri Shull Team, with over 80 members and counting; DKA Development; and the HyperFast Agent coaching platform and academy, which teaches real estate agents everywhere how to grow and scale their real estate businesses.
Monique Russell teaches individuals and teams to have positive and productive relationships at home and work using effective communications strategies and tools. She is the managing partner of Clear Communication Solutions, LLC and is a frequent guest on local, national and international radio sharing her advice as a subject matter expert in leadership and effective communications.
Joanne Black is America’s leading authority on Referral Selling. She is an author, speaker, and sales contrarian. She's written two books, No More Cold Calling™:The Breakthrough System That Will Leave Your Competition in the Dust, and Pick Up the Damn Phone!: How People, Not Technology, Seal the Deal.
Alli Rizacos is a Regional Sales Manager at Salesforce, and she has been in sales for over 10 years. We talked about why sales leadership suffers when not provided enough training or support.
Rakhi Voria, is the Director of IBM Global Digital Sales, and she manages a team that is responsible for the strategy, implementation, and revenue of the Digital Development Representative sales function globally. We talked about how she made the big decision to move to IBM to take on a new leadership role.
Catie Ivey is the Regional Vice President of Sales at Demandbase, which is a leading B2B marketing platform. Prior to joining Demandbase, Catie ran revenue teams at Marketo, Insightpool, Salesforce, and Meltwater. She has deep expertise in MarTech specifically and how to better leverage technology to scale revenue teams. Catie is a huge advocate for getting more women into sales and sales leadership, so many of the topics we talk about here on ‘Women in Sales’ are topics she speaks passionately about.
Diana Cappello brings over 15 years of experience in sales, marketing and revenue operations to her current role as Lead Sales Engineer at Clari. Prior to Clari, she was a SE Manager at Apttus. And before becoming a SE, she was a Business Systems Manager for several startups. If she’s not selling through demos, you can find Diana exploring Tahoe with her husband and 2-year-old daughter.
Judy Frank, Consulting Partner at RAIN Group is my guest in this interview. She has been building and leading sales teams in the Fortune 50 to achieve aggressive growth for over 30 years. Years ago, Judy taught 5th and 6th grade and many of the lessons she learned then has proven to be invaluable in creating and leading teams.
Alexandra Adamson is the Executive Director of Women In Sales Everywhere (WISE), a digital platform dedicated to developing the next generation of female sales leaders. She is also the Head of Organizational Strategy at CloserIQ, a modern recruitment firm offering a holistic talent solution for building engaged, diverse and high-performing sales teams and parent company to WISE.
In this interview with Kelly Del Curto, Director of Sales at Lever, we talked about imposter syndrome and how that can impact your success. At any stage in your sales career - especially when you're new in a role - it's easy to get this sense that somehow you ended up in that role by accident and you don't really belong. Our fear leads us to try to fake it until we make it when opening yourself up and asking for help is usually the better way to go.
Caroline Gregory is an Enterprise Regional Sales Manager with Okta. She has 16+ years selling IT infrastructure and software to CIOs and CTOs to medium - fortune 500 companies for Workday, EMC and Okta. In our interview, we talked about the importance of salespeople remembering to choose the right culture fit at a company for them.
Rachel Gray has been selling for the past 10 years after fleeing from the career she first thought she wanted, which was being a lawyer. We talk about how important it is for salespeople to look after themselves mentally and physically every day. If you don't take care of number 1 first... you are ultimately no good to anyone else.
Heather Combs is the Chief Revenue Officer for 3Pillar Global, an Inc. 5000 developer of client-facing web and mobile applications. She oversees marketing, business development and operations for the nearly 1000-person multinational company, creating the revenue acceleration strategies that drive 3Pillar’s continued double-digit growth. Heather has been named one of Software Report’s Top Female Tech Services Leaders and Member of the Year by the Institute for Excellence in Sales.
Kristie Jones is the go-to expert for companies looking for help evaluating, building, training and scaling their Sales teams. Her 19+ years in the SaaS space, willingness to get her hands dirty, and “take no prisoners” approach is what makes her so valuable to her clients.
Brooke Bachesta is an SDR Manager at Outreach, a leading Sales Engagement Platform. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion and specifically, bringing more women into sales and sales development organizations.
Lauren Rearick is an Account Executive for Lessonly-- a team training software company on a mission to help teams change how they work, so they can live better lives. Barb talks with Lauren about being vulnerable and how that can positively impact sales success.
Barb talks with Alyssa Merwin, Vice President, LinkedIn Sales Solutions, Americas about her passion for supporting and guiding the next generation of women in sales. Alyssa leads a team over of 250 people within one of LinkedIn’s fastest growing businesses.
In this episode, Barb's guestis Caryn Kopp. She is the Chief Door Opener® at Kopp Consulting, an Inc 5000 winner, recognized for the Door Opener® Service where they get their clients meetings with high level decision makers in almost every major company.
In this episode, Barb talks to Kristina McMillan, VP of Research at TOPO about why it is so important to FOCUS on the right activities if you want to achieve the right sales results.
In this episode Barb talks with Amanda Georgoff, Enterprise Sales Rep at SalesLoft about how personal authenticity is a competitive sales advantage.
In this episode Barb interviews Cynthia Barnes, Founder of the National Association of Women Sales Professionals. Our topic of discussion is Reaching the Top 1% in Selling.
In this episode Barb interviews Dana Dupuis, founder of ECHO Listening Intelligence. You'll learn how listening is a critical component of sales success.
In this episode Barb interviews Sydney Sloan, Chief Marketing Officer at SalesLoft about The Customer First Advantage in business and sales.
In this episode Barb interviews Amy Volas, Founder and CEO of Avenue Talent Partners about How the Bots HAVEN’T Taken Over. How to Be Human in Sales.
In this episode Barb interviews Jamie Crosbie, CEO of Proactivate, about How to Qualify and Select Rock Star Sales Talent.
In this episode Barb interviews Alice Heiman, CEO of Alice Heiman, LLC about the Sales Leaders Role in the Complex Sale.
In this episode Barb interviews Louise Anderson, Director of Digital Sales Enablement at Modus.
In this episode Barb interviews Mandy Bynum McLaughlin, Director of Sales Development at New Relic.
In this episode Barb interviews Christel Mauffet-Smith, Sales Director at Cadence Design Systems.
In this one Barb interviews Alea Homison, VP Sales Enablement/Sales Development at AlphaSense.
In this episode Barb interviews Melissa Lui, Sales Development Manager at ServiceTitan.
In this episode Barb interviews Lindsay Zwart, GM US Cloud & Enterprise Business Marketing Group at Microsoft (Azure).
In this episode Barb interviews Mavis Norwich, Director of Sales Development at TINYPulse.
In this episode Barb interviews Christine Kaszubski, Chief People Officer at SalesLoft.
In this episode Barb interviews Jackie Lipnicki, Head of Business Development Representatives for North America at ScribbleLive.
In this episode Barb interviews Allen Mueller, Chief Revenue Officer at Miller Heiman Group.
In this episode Barb interviews Amy Guarino, COO at Kyndi and former Vice President of Business Development at Marketo.
In this episode Barb interviews Christine Zmuda, Sr. Sales Leader, Dynamics 365 WW Global Sales at Microsoft.
In this episode Barb interviews Lisa Earle McLeod, Sales Speaker and Author of Selling with Noble Purpose.
In this episode Barb interviews Shari Johnston, an experienced VP of Marketing who is also an Advisory Board Member for MarTech Advisor.
In this episode Barb interviews Debbie Dunnam, Corporate Vice President of Inside Sales at Microsoft.
In this episode Barb interviews Rakhi Voria, Chief of Staff and Sr. Business Manager to Microsoft's Corporate VP of Inside Sales.
Here's what you can expect from Conversations with Women in Sales, hosted by Barb Giamanco!