“Green has over ten years of business development experience in the software and consulting industries, selling to start-ups and enterprise level organizations alike. His experience as a business development manager has shaped his sales methodology and approach to leadership. In this episode of Sales Lead Dog, host Chris Smith talks to Green about Sales leader skills and what it means to be a good sales leader, and how his background in technology has shaped his perspective on customer relationship management (CRMs).
Green is currently working with Briebug, software development experts who support Fortune 1000 companies with software implementation and management. When asked why he chose to move to Briebug, Green was clear: it’s all about culture. Briebug stands behind their products and guarantees success – and on top of that, they make culture a vital part of their hiring process. As a sales manager, Green knows that you can only make a difference in an organization if you can find a place for yourself within that culture. “Success with a team is just building a great culture,” says Green. Sharing the values and mission of your organization is essential for leadership and sales success.
As a former tech expert with experience in coding and development, Green has a lot to say on CRMs – particularly about finding a CRM that works with your sales team. As someone who has crossed boundaries from technology to sales to business development and consulting, Green is an expert on what it means to find software that supports your team, not just something that adds another step in the process.
What leadership and sales tips does Green have to share with the audience? Set goals for the day that are aligned with new opportunities, and be ready to interrogate how you do and do not meet those goals every week. Green is all about celebrating both success and failures – for him, failure is just another opportunity to learn something new.
Transcript:
Thu, 6/3 1:22PM • 33:03
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
sales, crm, important, people, sales process, sales team, Sales leader skills, role, success, team, closed, process, organization, companies, aligned, activity, person, emails, career, understand, moving
Speakers of Discussion about Sales leader skills
Jake Green, Intro/Outro, Christopher Smith
Intro
Welcome to the Sales Lead Dog Podcast hosted by CRM technology and sales process expert Christopher Smith, talking with sales leaders that have separated themselves from the rest of the pack. Listen to find out how the best of the best achieve success with their team and CRM technology. And remember, unless you are the lead dog, the view never changes.
Christopher Smith
Welcome to Sales Lead Dog. Today we have joining us Jake Green of BrieBug Software. Jake, welcome to the show.
Jake Green
Thanks for having me, Chris.
Christopher Smith
Great to have you here. Jake, tell us about yourself and BrieBug.
Jake Green
Yeah, so regarding myself, a little over 10 years in the business development and sales space selling mostly software and consulting advisory services into organizations ranging from startups to enterprise level organizations. I’ve been at mostly hunter roles into management roles over the few years. You know, and also developing business strategies for smaller organizations that are trying to grow their sales department, taking a real consultative approach to the sales process, try to implement a lot of best practices and methodologies that I’ve learned throughout my career, as well as through some of the trainings that I’ve been through, such as Sandler, John Barrows, and Challenger sales training. I’m sorry, go ahead.
Christopher Smith
I was gonna say, can you tell us about BrieBug?
Jake Green
Yeah, so been with BrieBug for a few months now. And what we do is, you know, we’re software developer building experts. We provide staff augmentation services to Fortune 1000 organizations, and the value we provide to them is really unique, and that we have proven experts who become a cohesive extension of their teams, allowing them to share those best practices and mentor their existing internal team that they have. And our biggest differentiator is that we guarantee our work, which in turn guarantees our clients success.
Christopher Smith
That’s awesome. We have the same guarantee. I think, if you’re not willing to back up what you’re doing with the hard guarantee, forget it.
Jake Green
Yeah, it’s something that really sets companies apart these days.
Christopher Smith
Yeah, that’s terrific. I ask this question to start out pretty much every podcast. Thinking about back over your career, tell us about the person who’s had the most impact on your success?
Jake Green
Yeah, so that would probably be the person that got me started into sales. Just for background, before sales, I was mostly in technology, grew up you know really into computers, hardware, and also coding and development. So had a background in that, and that’s, that’s where my career is gonna go. So I’ll work in coding and development, and I was working with a startup, you’re doing web development, managing their database, and kind of wanted to do something different, didn’t enjoy just sitting at the computer all day. And so I took a role as an account manager with a regional CPA firm, doing some business consulting and tax services. And, you know, I was lucky, that’s actually where I met the person that really got me into sales, one of the partners there that I was, you know, close with, he was going by every day, and he could just tell on my face that this wasn’t for me. And so he took me aside and he asked me, you know, “What do you want to do with your career? Where do you want to go? And, you know, what do you really enjoy doing day in and day out?” I said, “Well, you know, I really like talking to people, I really like hearing the value we provide, I kind of think I want to get into a sales role.” And we didn’t really have one at that time. So he said, “You know what, we’ll give it a chance, what we’ll do is we’ll let you be the business development manager, you can build out our entire sales and marketing process. And if it’s successful, then that’s great. And you’ve got a new role here. And we’ll see how that goes. And if not, I guess we’ll free up your future and send you on your way with a good reference.” And so he took a chance on me and I that’s what really launched my career had great success and building that out. It was a great learning experience. For me, it’s helped me throughout my career.
Christopher Smith
That’s quite a leap, that took some guts.
Jake Green
Yeah, yeah. But it’s something I enjoyed, you know, I like talking to people, you know, learning about new businesses day in and day out. And so sitting at the computer all day and typing away wasn’t something that I was no too fond of. So I was glad to have that opportunity.
Christopher Smith
That’s a leader, the person you described, you know, to look into you and give you that opportunity. That’s amazing.
Jake Green
Yeah, I’m still in contact with him to this day. You know, he’s been a great mentor along the way, when it comes to business in my career.
Christopher Smith
What are the top three things that have helped you the most in your career?
Jake Green
Um, you know, I think it’s taking those chances like that. It was a risk that I started out into sales and, you know, it could have ended up poorly, but you know, just taking risk, I think that’s something that’s really helped in sales. Second thing being to find a mentor, he was a mentor for me and throughout my career, I found people that have had great success that I’ve been able to work with and stay in contact with and be able to learn from them. And also just, you know, really share the best practices with me and and guide me along the way. So I have those people that are kind of leading me along that have already been in my shoes and and know how to get to that next step in sales. Third, I think drive is something that’s big. You’re going to say That’s something you have to have day in and day out, you can’t get discouraged in this, because there’s going to be a lot of no’s, there’s going to be a lot of voicemails and a lot of emails that don’t get replied to. But just having that continual drive to understand that that’s part of the process and keep moving. I think those are probably my top three.
Christopher Smith
Awesome. Thinking back to when you got your start in sales, we all think we know whatever, but what do you think you, or what do you wish you were taught when you got that first job in sales?
Jake Green
Yeah, so you know doing a lot of research and trying to get expertise and training in that, you one of the things that I didn’t realize would have been such a big deal was pipeline management, and outreach cadence. So when you’re working on that deal, sometimes you can be hyper focused on it, and you want this one to close and really want to really want to get there. So you’re focused on that one you kind of forget about you should be doing an outbound cadence and reaching out to other people, still need to have that activity in case this one doesn’t work out. So you have more in the pipeline for you. So I think just managing a pipeline, and having a standard cadence that I’m following to have those tasks and activities ready to go.
Christopher Smith
Awesome. Do you remember the first big sale you ever closed? And if you do, what can you tell us about how that felt?
Jake Green
Yeah, that the first one is always a the biggest and the greatest for you. It’s something you you’d never forget, you know. It was working with an outdoor sportswear manufacturing company out of Utah. And, you know, going after that, it was something that it was a big dream, to be able to close them and to get that opportunity in there. You know, it’s one of those things where all the effort that you put in and all the time and the resources that you’re focusing on it, it really comes to fruition. And you know, it was one of those that I still think back to is you can’t believe when you actually get that that contract back for a little bit, you’re able to see that they signed it, that everything’s moving forward. Just knowing that commission check’s coming to you, that’s a, that’s a big plus there.
Christopher Smith
Oh, yeah. Yeah, you gotta love that. When you are going through your sales career, at some point, you decided, hey, I want to be a leader. Tell us about that decision and what process you went through transitioning into a leadership role.
Jake Green
Yeah, so you know, when it came to the the leadership role, it was something that was offered to me, and at the time, it wasn’t something I was exactly thinking about. So I had to take into consideration quite a bit, do some thinking about it. And if this was what I wanted to do, luckily, it was kind of a transitionary role, where I was still working in my my own prospecting, but also moving into that leadership position. So that was a soft transition. But I think the really, the thing that triggered me to move into the leadership was as I was seeing success with myself and understanding the process, you know, learning what the best way was to do everything, I really had that desire just to share that with other people, you know, closely collaborated with a lot of people on my team, and, you know, trying to help them out and trying to get them to that successful level that we could share in the success together. I think that’s something that really drove me into management, you know, just being able to help others share what I’ve learned and help elevate their expertise.
Christopher Smith
What do you think, are some of the common mistakes or why people fall on their face when they’re starting out in a leadership role?
Jake Green
Yeah, there, there are quite a few when it comes to that. I would say number one, probably being just not setting expectations and communicating those. So really getting to know your team and giving them a good understanding of here’s how I like to be communicated with, what’s the best way that you like to be communicate with. You may be sending emails to someone and they’re not replying at all, because they’re more of a Slack or a phone person, and also just really relaying and being transparent when it comes to how your own success is measured. So your team’s focused on their closing deals and their pipeline and what their quota is and what metrics they need to hit. I think it’s good for them to have an understanding of how you’re judged and what’s most important to you when it comes to leadership and what they’re looking at the team and how much activity they’re doing, what they’re closing, what kind of metrics are you going to be measured on when it comes to that and just making sure that they’re aware of this is what I’m really looking for and this is what’s important to me, here’s what’s important to you, and being able to understand that and have a good relationship
Christopher Smith
Beyond just overall sales, how do you define success with your team?
Jake Green
Yeah, I think success with the team is just building a great culture. You know, people are spending 40, 50, sometimes 60 hours a week in an office or with a team or working closely with these people. And I think just building a good culture where you’re able to share successes and learn from each other’s failures, I think that’s what’s most important when it comes to leadership.
Christopher Smith
That’s great. If, so you’ve only been at BrieBug for a few months. What was it about this job that, you know, made you say that this is where I want to work?
Jake Green
Yeah, so you know, just going back to culture again, that was something that was extremely important to them in the interview process. It was meeting with the VP of Culture, Andrea, and really talking through what the company looks like, what are their goals and their vision being a smaller organization and coming from an enterprise level companies. You know, really looking at how they’re trying to build a good team there and what their vision looks like for the future and how they’re going to maintain that by hiring the right people, bringing the right assets to be able to maintain that culture as they grow quickly, which is something they’ve been doing. So it was one of those things where I really want to be a good fit with the team and be part of that. And also just to be able to share in the success that the company was having and grow along with.
Christopher Smith
You guys are growing like crazy.
Jake Green
Yeah.
Christopher Smith
That’s awesome. What are some of the red flags if someone’s considering a leadership role somewhere? What are the red flags they should look for?
Jake Green
Yeah, so I think it’s, you know, looking at the culture and making sure that they want to be a part of that, if they’re going to be able to be impactful to the people that are working underneath them, the people on their team, to make sure that they’re able to really lead them. Is it a toxic culture? Is it something that, you know, they may not be able to help people who don’t want to be helped? What does that look like if you’re gonna move into leading these people and, and carrying that torch for them? You know really trying to be able to make sure that you’re going to have success in that role, that your team set up for success, and also that you have the tools and the resources from your own leadership, to be able to move into that successfully, and to be able to really grow and help the people on your team grow.
Christopher Smith
When you, you know related to your role as a sales leader, is there something that you used to believe when you were first starting out in a leadership role that you now know just was wrong?
Jake Green
Yeah, I think it is sales leadership roles, specifically, you know that no news is good news. Sometimes you have those reps that are not asking for help or not mentioning the problems they’re having, and they’re the ones that could need it the most. So I think just really keeping that open line of communication, making sure that you’re checking in weekly, at least, to be able to find out where they’re at in the process. You know, I haven’t heard from you a couple days, you haven’t had any updates on this, you know, what’s it look like, what’s going on? And just really having that that good relationship, where you’re able to communicate openly, that they feel comfortable being able to talk with you about some of the challenges they’re having, places that you can help them, or places you can provide extra support.
Christopher Smith
I think being a leader, a big part of being a leader is cultivating people for a future leadership role. What are some of the things you look for in your team that says, hey, this person, I need to start cultivating them or moving them towards a management role?
Jake Green
You know, I think being successful in the role, that’s something that’s apparent, and it’s key to the aspect of moving into leadership. But I also think there’s a lot of personality aspects that come into play there. You know, sometimes the best players don’t make the best coaches. So finding someone who may take time out of their busy day, they’re driving a lot of activity, they have phone calls, they have emails, they have meetings, but did they take their time out of the day to really work with the team and be able to share some of the expertise that they have? Are they someone who likes to help people up, rather than just focus on their own quota and their own self? So I think, you know, having that personality, where they’re able to really learn, teach and, you know, elevate the team skill sets, so that you’re able to share in that, I think that’s something that’s a personality trait that should be really important when selecting someone for leadership.
Christopher Smith
I think one of the hard things about being a leader is dealing with people that are underperforming. What’s your approach, or how do you go about that scenario, we have someone who just is not, for whatever reasons, not getting it done?
Jake Green
Yeah, it’s just taking the approach of being proactive about it. When numbers start to slip, maybe it’s activity, maybe it’s pipeline, maybe it’s closed one deals, I think, really being able to be proactive about as soon as you start to see that, find out what’s going on. You know, is it something where they’re struggling at one part of the process, whether it’s the discovery, the solution, alignment, maybe the closing, you know, where are they really falling off in the deals? And where can you really focus on trying to help them with that part of the process and really help them get to where they need to be? I think that’s part of that performance management. And, again, having that transparent relationship and openness to be able to say is it something else going on, maybe they have a personal issue in their life that’s affecting their work, and just having a good understanding of that. So you’re able to work with them and be able to get them back on track and be successful.
Christopher Smith
That’s great. Can you tell us about the attributes of the most successful person you’ve ever hired? And what was it about them that made it, made them so successful?
Jake Green
Yeah, you know, one I think back to was, you know, pretty early in my career, I was interviewing people that were going to be on my team and had this role it was young college graduate that didn’t really have much sales experience at all, a lot of customer service that were kind of coffee shop and, but not a lot of business or sales specific experience when it comes to managing a quota or, you know, cold outreach, anything like that thing. You know, during the interview process, just going through the motions. And so she was taking quite a few notes. And then it got to that point in the interview where you say, “What questions do you have for me?” And that she turned the page of her notebook, and it was full of questions on the entire page. You know, that’s the moment I said, okay, this this person, she’s organized, she wants to understand, she doesn’t assume, she knows to ask the right questions, which is such an important part of the sales process, understanding those pain points, and doing a full discovery to find out is this pain, the really the problem they’re trying to solve? Maybe it’s something else. So you know, just hiring her. And she ended up being extremely successful. It wasn’t someone that I at first glance through the resume thought, this is gonna be a great salesperson, but ended up doing really well and had a successful career. She’s still in sales. She’s on the operation side. But, you know, it was one of those things where it kind of catches you by surprise. And, you know, I caught myself making the assumption there.
Christopher Smith
Oh, yeah. It’s, it’s easy to do that. It’s very easy. But I, you know, my personal mantra is I like to hire smart, because I can teach everything else if you’re smart. You know, if you’re not smart, it’s it’s a lot harder.
Jake Green
Yeah, that’s, that’s true.
Christopher Smith
You know, you were talking about asking questions, and really getting in, what do you do to teach your team or younger salespeople how to ask those great questions, the second third level questions, to really get at the heart of what’s going on at that prospect?
Jake Green
Yeah, and you know, that’s something that with deals that maybe don’t close, maybe they’re ones that you lost to a competitor, or or maybe they just fell off in the sales process, and going back and analyzing those to look for the points of what could we have done to really uncover this in the beginning. You know, maybe they mentioned something later on in the process that really triggered that. Why didn’t we ask that in the first question, and really just kind of doing a recap and a review of those closed, lost opportunities to say, here’s where we missed our mark. Here’s what we didn’t identify the right pain points, here’s what we didn’t identify what’s most important to them, and how we’re able to provide that value to them and how it aligns. So I think just reviewing a lot of missed opportunities or missteps, and being able to leverage that information, to go back and refine the process with the team. And just doing that openly with the team, you know, being able to share in successes is great. But you know, being part of a team that’s really working together and cohesive, I think being able to share your failures and learn from those is something that’s important as well.
Christopher Smith
Oh, yeah, I, I hear this all the time. But you always learn more from your failures, where you know, where you didn’t succeed. I think that’s a critical part of, of honing your sales process. You know, sales process should never be static, it should always be growing and adapting. And that’s one of the best ways to have that feedback loop from your failures into your sales process.
Jake Green
Exactly.
Christopher Smith
Tell us about your personal success habits.
Jake Green
Yeah, so you know, as far as habits that I have, one of the big ones that I like to start every morning with, is just sitting down at my computer with a cup of coffee, obviously. And I have a notepad, I buy them in stacks from Amazon because I go through so many, because what I do every day is I write down Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday at the top, and I write down what I have going on for the day on one side of it. So I have my calendar listed out there, and I know how I can plan my time. And on the left side, I said what activities and tasks I need to complete. And you know, it’s not always just to make 30 calls today, send 30 emails, I like to set them as more goals that are aligned to opportunities. So, you know, make 30 connections by phone, get 10 replies to emails, you know, really focus on goal setting for the day, and just being able to follow that. I have that constantly sitting in front of me on my desk, so I’m able to look at it and see I got this appointment coming up. But I still need to make 10 more connections. So let me get on the phone right now and drive these before I have to jump on there.
Christopher Smith
Yeah, I love that. You’re doing goals based on moving the needle, not just, you know, I need to make 30 calls. I want 30 calls that are going to move the needle.
Jake Green
Yeah, exactly. It’s not just going through the motions.
Christopher Smith
That’s right. How do you measure success for yourself? And then how do you measure it for your team?
Jake Green
Yeah, so success for myself, you know, in a sales role, 100 times you’re looking at closed one, you’re looking at quota, you know, where you’re able to attain that and those numbers that are able to measure up. And I think having a good understanding of that is extremely important. So understand the CRM software and understanding the reporting aspect of it. That’s one of the things that I learned pretty early on and leveraged my technology and development background is being able to pull those reports and just really look at it, look for identifying metrics where things might be failing or where I’m having the most success. But I think really looking at that is something that’s important to understand where you’re at and understand where you’re going and also setting those goals to make sure you’re attaining those throughout the day, you know, flipping the sheet over every day and marking Tuesday and then marking Wednesday, I’m able to look back throughout the week because I have those right there. Okay, now this week, I really failed at connecting on the phone. Why is that? Is it something I didn’t focus enough time or activity on, I think just looking at what your goals are, and how far you are at attaining them, I think that’s something that’s important with my own success. You know, when it comes to the team success, I think making sure that people are successful in their role, that you’re helping them day in and day out, have a great culture there, where everyone’s learning from each other, and sharing in some of the education that they have. And this really worked for me, or this email was great, and I got five responses off of it. You know, being able to have a culture where everyone’s really encouraging, I think that’s something that’s important, along with, you know, really helping people grow in their careers, you know, making sure that they know, as they’re moving through the sales process and learning more about this, and maybe they want to go into leadership or operations, or maybe they don’t want to be in sales at all, you know, being that guiding force to be able to mentor them and help them throughout their career is something that I’ve always encouraged people on my team, I’ve always told them, you know, once a year maybe, reach out, you know, look at a couple of companies and apply, see what you’re worth in the market. It’s not something that’s offensive to me, maybe you’re not happy there, but at least know what you’re worth out there.
Christopher Smith
Yeah. Rejection is always a big part of sales. It’s a major part of sales. Can you tell us about the deal you lost that hurt the most? And what was it that you learned about that that’s impacted your approach moving forward?
Jake Green
Yeah, and you’re exactly right. The rejection is a tough part of it. But it’s something that you’re gonna face throughout the sales career. And it’s something that you just have to get used to and be able to learn from. One that comes to mind offhand that really hurt was one that I really thought I landed, that it was a 100% sure thing it was going through, you know, this is working, selling and benefits and HR software, and I had everything going through the process and had a great relationship with the prospect. By the time that we got to the proposed part of it, we had to bring in another person who was actually going to be signing off. And that’s where I really found out that I’d missed the mark, I had aligned all of my presentation, all of the material, and all my pitch was to this one person I’ve been speaking with and the challenges they were facing in their daily role. But when it came down to it, we brought in that leadership person that was actually making the decision. They had different priorities, they had different things that they were focused on when it’d come to looking for a solution to the problem they were solving. And I just missed the mark on those. And so it really taught me to build that person as an internal champion, aligned to what’s most important to them and their daily duties, but also, you know, having that conversation with them. Okay, so we’re going to meet with Mark next week, what’s most important Mark? How can I tailor this to make sure we can solve your problems by also solving Mark’s problems? So it was one of those where I learned that I really need to do that preparation by understanding who’s gonna be the decision maker that’s signing on this and what’s most important to them.
Christopher Smith
That’s great. CRM, do you love it? Do you hate it?
Jake Green
Is a love hate relationship an answer to that? Is that is that avoiding?
Christopher Smith
I love that answer. Yeah.
Jake Green
Yeah, no, CRM is great. It’s such an important part of the sales process. And it’s a great tool, but it’s something that you really need to use effectively. I think that, you know, having a CRM is an amazing thing. I’ve worked for companies where we did everything out of spreadsheets, and it was extremely difficult. It teaches you a lot about organization. But just having that tool to be able to have a database of all of your contacts, understand we’re having the sales process, quickly track and report on activity. I think that’s something that helps you grow as a sales rep is being able to evaluate yourself by the activity, the pipeline, and the reporting metrics that you’re able to pull through CRM. So do love it in that aspect, sometimes you get a little frustrated with it and you hate it.
Christopher Smith
Oh, yeah, that’s, I believe it. Have you ever been part of the CRM implementation that just fell on its face, just didn’t work? And what what was it about that, that you think, you know, was the root cause?
Jake Green
Yeah, so I was with an organization that we were changing CRMs. And you know one of the things that really caused issues there was they rolled it out, great, powerful platform. But at the same time, you know, they didn’t have the permission set correctly, you know, being able to access the pieces that all the reps needed, wasn’t there. You know, people were trying to figure out ways to get around this and having to email people to get a report on something or, or pull a report on something. It was just a complicated process. So I think that really looking at who needs to access what and what level of access do they need to be able to fully do their job and fully utilize the CRM, it’s a huge investment investment that organizations are making, but if you can’t use it, then it’s pretty much worthless.
Christopher Smith
What do you think, you know, for the companies that are struggling with CRM particularly around engagement with the sales team, what are some of the things they should be doing or should be considering to, to improve engagement with the sales team?
Jake Green
Yeah, I think proactive training would be a big one, worked in a lot of places where reps may have not used that specific CRM before. And they struggle getting off the ground with being able to track and being able to log information, and they’re able to find the tools that they need to make them successful. I think that ends up being kind of a waste of money for most organizations, if they’re not fully utilizing it, and don’t have experts in that that can really help the sales team just be engaged in importing, reporting, and cleaning up the CRM and training others on that. I think that’s something where companies fall short, just having that the full utilization of what they’re paying for.
Christopher Smith
Do you think when it comes to rolling out CRM, you know, I kind of break it down, you can use a carrot or you can use a stick, or a hybrid, what’s your approach?
Jake Green
Yeah, with the CRM I, I would probably take more of the carrot approach of, you know, here’s where we’re going to be if we can fully utilize this, you know, what’s the impact it’s going to have on the organization and the sales team, and how’s this going to help them do their job better. You know, really aligning to their success and being able to fully leverage a platform that’s going to be able to teach them and train them. And they’re going to be working in a day in and day out for pretty much most of the day. So I think it’s something where you really have to show them what success they’re going to have with it, and where it’s going to get them by solving a lot of the problems that they may have. Maybe they’re not able to track a report on certain metrics, maybe they’re just challenge when it comes to slowness or not being able to have multiple tabs open with it. There’s things like that that come up, but just being able to fully understand it and utilize it. I think that’s most important.
Christopher Smith
I agree. I always recommend, hey, have a stick ready, you know, cuz you may need it. Yeah, start with the carrot, show value, you know, figure out how this is going to make it easier for them to do their job, you know, so that they’re not struggling, that they’re not emailing people, “Hey, can you help me give me this info?” It should be making their lives easier and enabling what they’re doing, not dragging them down.
Jake Green
Yeah, sales can be tough anyway and then you also have you deal with technical issues or maybe software that’s just tough to use or not giving them everything they need. I think that makes it a lot worse. And sometimes that hurts a little bit more than the rejection that you’re getting.
Christopher Smith
Yeah, yeah. For people in the technology leadership roles, what do you think they should be doing to better support the sales team and the sales process?
Jake Green
Yeah, and I think it’s just something that departments feel a little bit siloed in. And it can be technology, or IT thinks the sales reps need this one specific tool, or they need this specific part of it or feature or function, and we’re going to implement it this way. I think having that full understanding of who the user is that’s going to be working in it for their entire week, I think knowing what’s most important to them, and what’s going to make their job easier. I think that’s most important. If you’re going to be implementing a huge CRM platform. It’s not a small investment that any company makes. And it’s something that’s extremely important to sales leaders in their roles. So I think being able to understand what’s most important to them, and not just looking at the technical side of it, the numbers of what it can do, or how big the database is, or how is the process, but making sure that that follows your organization sales process and it’s going to work streamline and effectively when it comes to implementing.
Christopher Smith
I agree. A feature set really should be almost secondary, that it’s really it’s about your process. It’s about addressing those issues, cultural issues, all of that needs to be addressed in collaboration with the sales team, then start talking about the technology platform.
Jake Green
Yeah, yeah, it’s got to be a process first implementation.
Christopher Smith
What role do you think CRM technology should play in supporting the sales process?
Jake Green
It’s a big one, if not the biggest besides the phone or the Outlook client, I think the CRM is probably the most important. You know, it’s, it’s the information that you’re having to do for your daily tasks. So it’s going to keep you on track, keep you organized, keep all of your prospects in one place, all their information, just right there at your fingertips is something that’s really important, and also the reporting feature. Love reports myself, you know, it’s a great way to measure your own success, measure your team success, look at activity and pipeline. I think that really helps you identify where it’s going wrong in the process, If you’re able to look at okay, maybe Dave is happy having problems with setting the next call after the discovery call, maybe he’s not asking the right questions. But Tim over here is not getting to the close, so where is he falling off in that process? Is he not aligning to power? Is it something that is going on in this part of the pipeline where we really focus our time and training to make them a better rep, so I think that is so powerful, and it’s something that is extremely important to the role.
Christopher Smith
That’s great. The, you talked a little bit about, you know, being able to identify certain things that are happening in your sales process. When you are looking at, you were talking about different salespeople, do you believe that companies should allow teams to see, you know, here are, you know, this, is my performance related to everybody else on the team? Or do you think they should be, not have access to that level of detail?
Jake Green
Yeah, and that’s a good question. Depends on the culture probably a little bit. But at the same time, most of the people that had the personality for sales that go into sales, you know, really treat that dashboard of activity, pipeline, and closed one, they treat it like a scoreboard. So I think that it helps motivate other people on your team. You know one of the things I always liked was seeing my name at the top of activity levels of pipeline of, you know, closed one. So I think it’s a driver for a lot of people that have that personality for sales to really see, okay, I’m in third place here, what what can I do to get to the first place? How can I see my name at the top and get that recognition? So when leadership opens up the dashboard that they have and, you know, looks at how the sales team is doing, I want my name to come up near the top in everything. And that way I can get that recognition internally with the company and have them know my name.
Christopher Smith
That’s awesome. Well, we are at the end of our time, thank you so much for being on, Jake. It’s been great.
Jake Green
Thanks Chris, has been great.
Christopher Smith
If people want to get in touch with you, what’s the best way for them to reach out and connect with you?
Jake Green
Yeah, on LinkedIn is always a great way, or they can email me it’s [email protected] or through our website BrieBug.com.
Christopher Smith
Awesome. Thank you again for being on Sales Lead Dog.
Jake Green
Thanks for having me, Chris.
Outro
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