The Goats of Growth

This is the introduction of a new format designed to highlight companies that are actively hiring, and to give my listeners an exclusive way to apply. In this episode you'll hear how passionate and vested Tammi Pirri, Vice President of People Operations at Arcadia, is about building a culture that focuses on the happiness, inclusion, and overall well-being of their people. Based on my experience,...

In this episode, I interviewed Kelly Mark, a sales leadership expert and strategist with  over 25 years of experience selling and managing successful sales teams focusing on the pain points organizations face as the pace of technology continues to grow and change rapidly. We dove deep into the habits that are consistent in some of the core competencies found in successful strategic sellers.  This...

In this episode you'll hear my discussion with Eric Sherman, Northeast RVP of Sales for Dynatrace, about the overall approach he takes to leading, coaching, and managing to drive results. Throughout our conversation he stressed the importance of having the right people, taking a pragmatic approach to assessing the business as a new leader, enabling his sales managers to run their businesses effect...

Brent Taylor, RVP of Sales for MuleSoft--Canada, recently joined me to discuss the importance of getting it done and doing it right as it pertains to sales performance. Whether he is sitting down with a member of his current team or interviewing someone for an open position, he wants to know that people are achieving success in a way that is verifiable and can be sustained over time? Additionally,...

In this episode you will hear me without a guest simply talking about the state of enterprise sales people as it pertains to unemployment.    Over Quota is sponsored by the j. David Group, a software sales recruiting firm. If you're looking to hire a sales leader or individual contributor,  click here.  to schedule a call. On the other hand, if you're an overachieving sales leader or sales rep,  c...

Mackey Craven is a Partner at OpenView Ventures, whose investments have included Zapier, Calendly, Datadog, Twillio and Cogito—to name a few. As a headhunter, I wanted to know how he assesses existing leadership teams when he decides to invest in a start-up. In this episode you'll hear Mackey share the core competencies he looks for in members of the executive team, how the role of the sales leade...

Looking for a job can be stressful. In this episode, I interviewed Zoe Silverman, Director of Talent & HR at Yesware, to help de-stress the entire process from start to finish. We covered a lot of ground, including what will likely hurt you on your initial phone/video screen, how to demonstrate that you're thoughtful and self-aware upon your initial meeting, particularly if it's virtual, what you...

In this episode you will hear my conversation with Sandler Training franchise owner, Peter Oliver. I've known Pete for many years now and had the fortune of attending his President's Club sales training multiple times. What you'll hear in this episode is the practical and actionable approach he takes to advising sales leaders and individual contributors. There are 3 critical elements at the core o...

You can't get to where you want to get quickly, "without looking at the data". That sentiment was expressed  by my guest, Colleen Manning, VP of Sales at Clora, during the discussion we had about the importance of using data, sharing (and receiving) feedback, and communicating effectively as a leader. Careful scrutiny of data is paramount, especially in the early days, like when she scaled her for...

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Kenneth Merritt, Partner at DayBlink, a top 50 boutique consulting firm, about how leadership teams should navigate their companies through this difficult time and how digitally transforming their operations is at the heart of it. Listen carefully to the shockingly high percentage of companies that had not adopted a digital strategy before the pandemic...

In this episode you'll hear me speak to James Mulvany, a serial entrepreneur and Founder & CEO of Radio.co, Podcast.co, and MatchMaker.fm. I invited him on to Over Quota, somewhat selfishly, because I wanted to get some of my questions answered about how to successfully grow and, perhaps, monetize my podcast. So if you've ever had a thought about starting and growing your own podcast, this episode...

I recently interviewed Samuel Clemens, Partner at Accomplice VC & Founder of Reprise, which helps customer facing teams capture, edit, and assemble the perfect demo every time.  We discussed the 3 types of sales leaders critical to early stage start-up success. The first type is simply founder-led sales because they know the product best and should be able to close the first handful of sales on pa...

This special episode was recorded on  Juneteeth (June 19th), a virtually unknown holiday, until recently, which celebrates the day back in 1865 on which Major General Gordon Granger of the Union Soldiers brought news to Galveston Texas that the slaves were free. News traveled much slower then and came almost 2.5 years after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. I spoke with Shawn Reigsecker, CEO of...

I recently spoke with Natasha Farooq, Global Talent Acquisition Lead at AxiomSL.  She went deep into how talent acquisition professionals and recruiters find the most relevant applicants, (including a brief screen sharing session of her LinkedIn Recruiter account), how to optimize your resume and LinkedIn profile, when she typically screens for hard skills versus soft skills, and what question can...

I recently spoke with Don Thorvund, Director of Talent Acquisition at Gainsight, about how job applicants and candidates can de-stress the search process and increase their likelihood of finding their next job. We discussed best practices for how to structure your resume, strategic approaches to applying for jobs, the biggest mistake candidates make during an interview, the one thing that all hiri...

In this episode Jeff Hoffman, of Rapid Sales Revenue, talks about the sales process that he codified that helps software sales teams achieve rapid results. It begins with a definitive growth strategy, followed by a repeatable sales process, and ends with the right execution. Additionally, he discusses the importance of having the right people for the process and how "cowboys" have no place on his...

Can a venture-backed start-up scale to become a unicorn in a world where they might be forced into a hiring a fully distributed team? The answer is yes. In this episode, you'll hear Ryan Burke, former Head of Sales at InvisionApp, discuss how they had 35 remote employees when he arrived and how they had over 850 people (fully distributed) around the globe , and over $100M in ARR.  You'll hear Ryan...

In my opinion, it's always better to work smarter rather than harder. In this episode, you'll hear Kate Weir, GM & SVP of Sales for iMotions, talk about how she likes to find bottlenecks in the sales process, remove them, and find new opportunities to increase sales. You'll also hear how she used that same approach to literally create her first sales leadership role, and how improving operational...

So, what't the difference between top salespeople and everyone else? In this episode with Matthew Leaney, CRO of Silent Eight, I learned that small nuances in the way salespeople interact with their customers and prospects can have a major impact on sales.  You will hear what the best salespeople do less of than those that typically struggle, and the simple approach to answering stakeholder questi...

Now that the unemployment rate has sky-rocketed to over 14% I wanted to start interviewing HR and Talent leaders to help my listeners better navigate through their job search. In this episode I speak with Amy Suchanek, Chief People Officer of Noble, which is like Amazon to the U.S. Military. We covered everything from what to do the moment you start looking for a job all the way through how to han...

In this episode you'll hear the story of how a childhood actor, who earned as much as $2700 in two days, went on to become a Fulbright Scholar, an overachieving sales rep, an overachieving sales manager, and then went on to co-found a financial technology company. His story is fascinating, but certainly pay close attention to what he says were the keys to his success as a sales rep. William Glass...

I came away with 3 big takeaways from my recent interview with Brooke Freedman, Senior Director of Sales at Litmus. From onboarding new team members to building a sales process,  you'll here that the focal point of her leadership and management style has been centered around process, preparation, and ownership.  More specifically, you'll hear her talk about how she coaches people who are strugglin...

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing John Davagian, a transformational sales leader that I've known for close to 15 years.  The reason I wanted to have him on my podcast was so that I could learn about how he's been able to consistently make an impact and drive results over sustained period of time. Think about this: He's held leadership roles in only 4 companies over the last 20 years! Sur...

I recently interviewed Erika Bzdel, VP of North American Sales for Allego--a sales learning and readiness platform serving over 200,000 sales professionals.  We spoke about a wide range of topics, but one particular element critical to the success of her high performing teams over the years was her emphasis on practice, collaboration and feedback.  Listen to why she puts so much emphasis on that a...