Decoding Sales

Send a text 💸 How do you organize your sales team to scale? 🔗 The importance of aligning your product roadmap and sales org design. 📞 How do you share knowledge across sales teams and offices? 📍 The ways sales teams can specialize and how to tell it's time to specialize? Support the show To get more sales advice from Peter, Subscribe to his YouTube Channel, check out Peter Ahn Sales Schoo...

Send a text How to navigate the modern sales tools suite to accelerate sales 🛫 What tools do you need beyond your CRM? 🤼 How to close deals faster by bringing data out of Salesforce and into your workflows 🌎 How to pull in publicly available data to make your sales data more useful 🔮What the future of sales tools might look like Thanks to our episode sponsor, Momentum. Momentum is a no code de...

Send a text 🛤 Career tracks in sales vs engineering. 🏁 The importance of staying in the trenches to be a sales leader. 💲 Setting and managing the sales team's quota. 💸 How to manage + raise quotas as a team grows. 😰 How to tell if your sales leader is mismanaging the team. Support the show To get more sales advice from Peter, Subscribe to his YouTube Channel, check out Peter Ahn Sales Sch...

Send a text What to do when you aren't making the sales. ❓ The first question to ask when debugging the process.  🎎 How to figure out the right buyer persona for your product. 🪓 How to tell you should fire your sales leader. 🔬 The importance of being hands-on when sales isn't working. Support the show To get more sales advice from Peter, Subscribe to his YouTube Channel, check out Pe...

Send a text What rookie salespeople get wrong - and how to avoid them. Key mindset shifts for new salespeople - and how to know you're making them Key rites of passage How new salespeople throw away leads too quickly How to get feedback and support as a founder Resources and links Episode on the price   Episode on the first sales hire Episode on sales myths Peter's article on how the bes...

Send a text How to write emails that get results - and when to switch to other channels.     - How do you know when an email you're writing is too long     - How Peter uses the "phone test" to tell if his email is going to get a response     - When - and how - to switch to text messages, phone or Slack (and how to handle it gracefully when your outreach is rejected)     - Why respon...

Send a text Facts and myths about salespeople  What really motivates salespeople (it's not just the number!) What shapes customer perceptions of sales (it's not the average sales person) Peter confesses that as a professional sales leader, he doesn't know how to play golf (and why golf isn't an essential sales skill) Peter explains what's replaced the importance of the rol...

Send a text Signing a deal is a legally binding agreement - and legal negotiations can kill deals. Learn the ins-and-outs of navigating the landmines separating you from the prize:  how to avoid complex legal negotiations in the first place  When you have to negotiate, where to give - and where to hold firm The key things to never write into a contract - and what to do instead How to balance the s...

Send a text Peter relives some end of quarter moments and discuss what it's like to experience that final inning rush.  What does it feel like to manage the end of quarter close? How to prepare for the end of the quarter ... at the start of the quarter How Peter manages the stress of both the buyer and his sales team at quarter end What are the typical last-minute holdups on deals...and how t...

Send a text Learn to catalyze revenue growth through your early customer community.  How your first customers differ from later customers The formula for finding and winning those customers (and avoiding the wrong first customers) The formula for creating systems to turn your first customers into referral engines The incentives that drive individual buyers to choose innovative products Support the...

Send a text Peter shares his experiences adapting to COVID, and  How COVID upended and accelerated the traditional sales process The new profile of the ideal salesperson What happens when things return to normal, what's changed for good, and what opportunities are opening up Let us know - how have you seen sales change and where do you see it going post-COVID? Support the show To get more sal...

Send a text  How Peter got his start in sales The two key ingredients to advancing to sales leadership How Peter thinks about finding the right company Overcoming stereotypes and how Peter flipped the script to turn perceived weaknesses into strengths Support the show To get more sales advice from Peter, Subscribe to his YouTube Channel, check out Peter Ahn Sales School and purchase Peter's n...

Send a text How to pick and set up your first CRM tool. What CRM does Peter recommend? How to quickly set up your CRM so you can get back to selling Common pitfalls setting up a CRM Beyond CRMs - what other tools do you need? As a bonus - what will the next wave of successful sales tools look like? Support the show To get more sales advice from Peter, Subscribe to his YouTube Channel, check out Pe...

Send a text How engineering and product contribute to closing deals How NBCUniversal took a leap of faith on the Dropbox's team and vision How a team-oriented approach build trust when selling a roadmap and vision When to pull in the CEO...and a story of Peter pulling in his CEO at just the wrong time Sales as the eyes and ears of the organization The pitfalls of a team based approach when no...

Send a text How sales comp is structured - including real talk about numbers How do you set a quota? More sophisticated bonus structures - how to incentivize business value beyond deal price How to change quotas as the business changes, without burning our your sales team The best compensation plans Peter has seen ... and the worst How to negotiate sales compensation in the hiring process Enjoying...

Send a text 📅 When to hire your first salesperson - and how to find them.  ❗ Mistakes technical founders make in hiring and evaluation.  ⚙ Why your first sales hire need to think like a technologist.  🤝 What you should NEVER compromise on.  🚀 How to sell them on your company before you've taken off.  💰 And finally - how much to pay them.  Enjoying Decoding Sales? Leave us a rating or rev...

Send a text Find out how CEOs blow their demos - while thinking the call went great. How to prepare for a demo without sounding scripted. How Peter handles curveball questions during a demo. Why feature dumping doesn't work - and what to do instead . How to handle a distracted prospect. Getting meaningful feedback at the end of a demo. When demos aren't the right tool, and what to do ins...

Send a text In this episode Alex and Peter break down potential pricing models and how to think about conveying your price if you're a startup.  Topics covered include: Different pricing models to explore in SaaS Positioning your price and different negotiation levers you can employ to get a deal done How to think about discounting and the discounting boundaries based on company size & de...

Send a text In this episode Alex and Peter discuss how to structure effective proof of concepts to help get the deal done while keeping the prospect accountable to specific milestones. Topics include: The collaborative aspects of setting up a mutual proof of concept structure How to establish tangible success criteria for the evaluation period What milestones to track throughout the POC period How...

Send a text In this episode Peter and Alex discuss how client dinners and meals outside of the regular cadence of emails & calls, can positively impact deal progress. Topics covered include: When to offer client dinners & meals  How to make these engagements productive and fun at the same time The importance of conveying your authentic self and culture during client meals If you have feedb...

Send a text In this episode Peter and Alex discuss how to handle unexpected obstacles that come about during a high stakes negotiation.  Topics covered include: How to handle prospects asking for additional discounts when they've agreed to a floor already The ability to think aloud during a negotiation call while using common language to bridge differences Ways to ensure the deal does not get...

Send a text In this episode Peter & Alex discuss what it means to effectively lead business calls and conversations.  Key learnings include: How to start strong with a powerful intro How to give the floor to the other person on the call The importance of laying out a roadmap for the call Employing "bridge phrases" to naturally jump from topic to topic Setting up tangible next steps a...

Send a text In this episode Alex and Peter discuss what it means to effectively find the right person to champion a business deal.  An org chart is oftentimes not enough to map out an impactful strategy to navigate stakeholders. Tune-in to this episode for some tips around how to mobilize your prospect and perhaps even more importantly, how to also cut your losses and move on from ineffective deal...

Send a text In this pilot episode, co-hosts Alex Allain and Peter Ahn demystify sales and discuss what it means to facilitate authentic sales conversations and methodologies.  While Peter is a career salesperson, Alex's unique perspective as an engineer sheds light on how modern sales techniques can be broadly applicable to any human engagement.   Feel free to email us at podcasters@decodings...