Stephanie Wells

“Top sales reps don't get laid off”   I've seen this a few times recently.   On paper it's hard to dispute.   But let me tell you a quick story.   In 2021 I helped a pre-IPO firm build their GTM team in ANZ.   We spent a year recruiting the best folk in the industry.   AEs. SEs. CSMs. Channel. SDRs.   All genuine A-players.   They did great. Signed some big logos. Tracking well.   Then the CEO announced they were pulling out of ANZ.   The entire team was let go including the VP.   It was properly shit. We felt terrible but no one saw it coming.   Now I can't speak for the rest of the world, but if hiring in APAC you've got to take this into account. Many SaaS firms completely pulled out of region here. Stop assuming good people dont get laid off. Being ignorant will cost you.   #techsales #gotomarket #saasrecruitment

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In January this year Hub Spot made 7 predictions on sales for 2024. How do you think they are all holding? I think they have done OK. HubSpot #sales #salesmanagement https://lnkd.in/g6NUMXhy

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Nick O'Neill is the greatest sales person in the southern hemisphere! The way he has helped Hype & Dexter | 5x APAC HubSpot Partner of the Year | Part of the Avidly Group grow over the years has been absolutely incredible. If you want to learn a thing or two from one of the experts in HubSpot and sales, tune in to the new RevSpot episode! Listen Here --> https://lnkd.in/e2nWjVGE #revops #crm #sales #ai #marketing #service #hubspot

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Sometimes the Next Catch (New Client Win) is the One You Let Go 🐟🐟 Just like a sales acquisition person or leader, I would find myself getting straight back into the field in anticipation of catching that next big deal. This past weekend we were back out in the harbour as my son wanted to reel in another big fish. This is following my sons big catch the previous week when he caught his largest fish ever—a King Fish. Before long, he hooked another big one, and our hearts raced together as he reeled it in. You can read more about that one here https://lnkd.in/g78pPExk This one was a beauty too — big, strong, and everything you’d imagine when you dream of landing the “big one.” But as he brought it closer and got a good look, we made a choice: he let it go. Why? Because not every big fish is the right catch for you. This can sound familiar to customers. This fish didn’t suit what we were after or align with the experience we wanted. Watching it swim away gave us a sense of clarity and reminded me of an important lesson in sales and business: Not every opportunity is worth taking. As salespeople, we’re wired to chase and win. Seeing a potential new customer or deal can spark that same excitement, but it’s critical to pause and ask: Is this the right fit for me, my team, and my business? Here’s why letting go of the wrong opportunity can be the best decision you make: 1. Values Matter – In fishing, respecting the fish and the environment matters. In sales, respecting your values and the alignment with a customer’s goals is crucial. If there’s a mismatch, it’s better to walk away than force a deal that may not work out. 2. Focus on Your Strengths – Catching a fish you can’t handle—or taking on a customer that doesn’t align with your expertise—can distract you from what you do best. Channelling energy into the right opportunities builds momentum and confidence. 3. Long-Term Thinking – Letting a fish go allows it to grow or find its place elsewhere. In sales, saying no to a misaligned customer makes space for the right one. It’s about quality over quantity and relationships built to last. The moment I watched that fish swim away, I felt peace. It wasn’t a loss—it was a choice to stay true to what matters most. Have you ever turned down a customer or deal because it wasn’t the right fit? What helped you make that call, and what did you learn from the experience? Let’s share stories and lessons in the comments. Sometimes, the hardest decisions are the most rewarding. #SalesLeadership #CustomerAlignment #StrategicDecisions #FishingForSuccess www.victors.nz

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The top decile enterprise sales leaders I’ve met enable their reps with one thing in particular, that the bottom 90% neglect. Across the several hundred revenue, sales, and value leaders I’ve spoken to as we’ve built Minoa, there’s a recognition that proving value and ROI is tough. Now, hand that responsibility over to a rep too busy dealing with admin, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for miscommunication and lack of customer buy-in. We get this question all the time - “how do I get reps to adopt our value selling initiative”? This frames it as an issue related to rep discipline, when the problem has nothing to do with this. It’s not that reps don’t see the point - they just don’t know how to navigate communicating the quantitative impact of your product’s value. The very best sales leaders empower their reps with clear frameworks of how quantitative impact (be it for revenue, cost, time etc.) maps to value drivers and use cases. Proving value can be hard, but having the power to communicate and match product value to measurable business outcomes in a long and complex sales cycle cuts through the noise. At Minoa, we help set up the value frameworks, calculations, and guardrails that give every single rep the ability, and more importantly the confidence, to use data and quantitative impact to sell on value.

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How is your team navigating longer deal cycles and more decision-makers? Take a listen to see how the CRO of Gong leverages Sales Navigator to foster relationships with executives in deals critical to the business.

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There are 33 closing days until the end of the FY for most sales teams in Australia. There are 3 types of sales leaders right now. 1. I have made my team number and we are in bonus time. The biggest challenge is “what do I keep for next year while maximising bonuses and commissions for the team this year?”. I hope this is you! 2. I will make my team number but I need a few key deals to close. The total focus is on closing those deals. If you are not in category 1, I hope you are in this group. 3. I am not going to make it. Do I push as hard as possible to get as close as possible, or do I keep it all for next year. I hope this is NOT you. Does the CEO/Owner and CFO know where you are at? How are you going to address your key challenges whichever category you are in? If you are in category 2, here are some questions for you to ponder: 1. What is the customer’s process from now to contract signature? Who is involved and when? 2. What happens if they do nothing and let it slip until next year? Is there an impact on their business? 3. Are you across their business case? What is unique about our solution that means they have to select us to get those outcomes? 4. Is there budget to spend on this? Or is this process to get budget and then we need to get further approval to spend that budget? This is the process from contract signature to cash in the bank. If you are in category 3, our proven sales framework will ensure you are not in the same place next year (95% success rate over the last 5 years). #founders #salesleadership #salesframework #pamice

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When Alex and I started Apprento in 2021, our purpose was to level up the sales profession through better hiring, education, and coaching. With NZ's growing tech sector, we saw the need for a stronger sales talent pool, especially for businesses competing globally.   We always asked, "how can tech help us make a bigger, more sustainable impact?" Then we met Linda Jenkinson and the LevelUp Up crew including Alistair McLeay and Dan Ash. The rest is history—or rather, just the start of Grw AI!   Alex, Alistair and Dan have worked tirelessly to get to this point with a deadly combination of sales expertise, deep AI knowledge and an unwavering vision. An honour and pleasure to be involved gents!   So I'm excited to share a significant milestone...   Grw AI has raised NZ $2.4M pre-seed round—a New Zealand record! Led by Charles Hudson at Precursor Ventures (SF), with Incisive Ventures (led by legendary serial entrepreneur Martin Tobias) and Investible (Australia).   The round also included an incredible group of US-based angel investors, including:   Lauren Vaccarello - CMO at WEKA, former CMO at Salesloft David Brock- Founder & CEO at Partners In EXCELLENCE Shari Levitin - Founder & CEO at Shari Levitin Group Woodson Martin - Former EVP at Salesforce AppExchange David Schellhase - Former General Counsel at Salesforce, Slack, Groupon Colin Wiel - Co-founded & built multiple unicorns, including Invitation Homes Peter Kazanjy - Founder & CEO of Atrium and Modern Sales Pros Scott Persinger - Multi-exit founder including Heroku Connect   At Grw AI, we’re on a mission to help millions of sales teams exceed their goals with hyper-personalized AI coaching. We're passionate about coaching that enhances daily performance, critical thinking, and long-term skills. It is transformative and the ability for it to be scaled to millions of salespeople around the world with AI, is what drove us to start Grw AI last year.   And it's been paying off so far! With over 20 companies in the US and APAC seeing huge uplifts in sales performance from Grw AI — as high as a 400% increase in revenue in the first quarter after onboarding. Our customers range from growth startups in NZ like Relab through to large public companies in the US like IDEXX.   The funds raised will enable the team to set up an HQ in San Fran, and to expand our engineering team here in New Zealand. A number of Apprento clients have already been introduced to Grw AI and we'll be ramping up NZ activity in 2025.   Finally, a huge shoutout to those who have supported us on our journey so far. From our incredible advisors - Linda Jenkinson, David Brock, Lauren Vaccarello, 🇦🇺 Manik Surtani, 🏄‍♂️ Scott Leese, Shari Levitin, to our very first customer Glen Jones, and the countless others who have and helped us (special shoutout to Margaret Francis and Denise (Laguens) Leleux here!!).   There are countless others who have supported us along the way — far too many to list — but thank you to all of you!

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Sitting down with Justin Geller (VP of Sales at Gong) was a treat. One of their early GTM hires he's risen the ranks - instrumental in their rise to category leading/defining growth and market dominance. Interviewing 1000's of candidates - he shares valuable lessons learnt about the strategic importance of clear communication and mission alignment in hiring Practical advice on sourcing top talent And trusting your instincts and maintaining honesty in the recruitment process The new episode of Between Two Hires (The Subtle Art of Not F#*king Up Your Team) drops this Thursday at 9AM PT! #saleshiring #salesrecruiting #hiring #startup #sales #between2hires

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COLD CALLING. Is it still relevant in today’s sales world? I say, “YES!”  Cold calling still has its place. Creating a human connection is needed because humans don't want to buy from a bot. On this recent episode of the Sales Reinvented Podcast, Paul Watts, CSL CSE CPSC and I discuss the importance of mastering the craft of cold calling in today’s technological environment. Much of this mastery comes from understanding the art of cold-calling soft skills versus the science of procedures. Thank you, Paul, for having me on your show! Click the link in the comments to listen to our conversation. #sales #salesreinvented #coldcalling #salesleaders

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Introducing GTM Mentors APAC, a new series by talking tenets. Episode #1 Nathan Schubert: The new SaaS economics of Go To Market - Implications for Sellers & Sales Leaders A GTM and RevOps expert with a unique background, he's also been an AE. Most recently he was Head of GTM - New Products with Go1. He believes that unit economics are broken in many SaaS orgs. Lean is better to combat the challenges of unit economics and the importance of optimizing CAC payback time. The way in which SaaS companies achieve this can have far-reaching implications for AEs. If done well, AEs could find greater support from a unified sales, marketing and RevOps team, be laser focused and intentional on a the right customers, at the right time. Done poorly, AEs will face more pressure to do much more, with less support. 🔗 Listen or Watch now (Links in comments).

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Tanya Neary, APAC Sales Director at Culture Amp told me they have a "𝐘𝐚𝐲, 𝐰𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝" slack channel! Unlike most sales environments where failure is feared, Culture Amp celebrates it, turning it into a powerful tool for growth. This approach creates an environment where team members feel safe to try new things, even if they might fail. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥: 1. Learning accelerates 2. Results improve 3. Retention increases 4. Innovation thrives It is no surprise that Culture Amp is one of the most successful tech startups founded in Australia. 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤? If there is none, maybe it’s time to rethink your approach. Because in sales, as in life, the only real failure is not trying at all. 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘪𝘨𝘩-𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘚𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘗𝘰𝘥𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵, 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦: Site: https://lnkd.in/g8FcTm79 Youtube: https://lnkd.in/gR_7ZcHk Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gF5wE-fc #EmbraceFailure #GrowthMindset #Innovation #Resilience #Leadership #ProfessionalGrowth #switchgears

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It should not be so hard to empower your sales teams. But, in 2023: 📉 53% of CROs struggled to increase sales velocity and rep productivity 📉 72% of salespeople spent time not selling 📉 28% of sales reps expected to attain quota This year, learn how to leverage the power of sales enablement 🚀 https://lnkd.in/eHDKVJ_J #salesenablement #change #saas

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Are you an SDR or BDR in Australia? There’s always a lot of chatter about how to get into softwares sales. However, as a community, post-hire support resourcing has been scarce to date, leaving many reps lost in their roles. In recent months the Earlywork team has begun a Sales Club with it’s alumni to offer the kind of support that has been lacking for folks making there first steps in software sales. But they haven’t been the only ones in need of that kind of support… 🥁🥁🥁 From today, we’re opening up our free alumni community of 100+ Aussie SDRs, Sales Club, to a select few tech sales reps outside of our alumni! If selected, here’s what included as a Sales Club member: 1️⃣ SDR Slack Community Join a private community of 100+ Earlywork sales alumni. Learn how other reps deal with similar sales challenges, share & discover great sales resources, keep up to date with sales events, and meet other ambitious SDRs. 2️⃣ Fortnightly Events All Year Round URL & IRL events with local sales leaders to help reps level up their sales skills and build deeper peer relationships. Previous guests have included the former ANZ Country Manager of HubSpot and the founder of the Salesforce SDA Grad Program. 3️⃣ Curated Sales Mentor Network A pre-vetted group of AEs and SDR managers from our network who have offered to help graduates with tactical sales and career advice anytime. 4️⃣ SDR Resource Bank No-bullshit frameworks, guides & templates built by the Earlywork team to help reps hone their sales craft. Think career development trackers, target calculators, 1:1 templates and more. 5️⃣ Exclusive Job Opportunities Looking for an SDR promotion or AE role? Be the first to apply for roles at our partner companies before they go on market. If you’d like to throw your hat in the ring, apply for free today 👉 https://lnkd.in/gwujw7th Know someone who would be a good fit? Tag them in the comments below 👇

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SWAT teams rather than armies. Hearing this phrase from lots of sales teams recently. And there is lots of logic - to a smaller highly trained (and coached ;-) elite team rather than a larger team, whether SDR’s or quota carriers. Here’s the drivers… - Sales Efficiency, the obvious one. Growth at all costs is gone, presumably forever. Cost of acquisition and sustainable growth are now key. - Raise The Bar, a smaller elite and well coached (couldn’t resist this time) team removes the weakest performers, the time and resources spent trying to pull them up and raises the bar for everyone on the team. - Bottom Up Economics, teams resourced based on on actual pipeline not multiplying quotas by team size. Quota carriers, even if good prospectors, can’t and arguably shouldn’t create all their own pipeline. If you don’t have the pipeline from SDR’s and inbounds, the team is bloated. - Elite is easier , With a smaller well chosen/recruited team, it’s more realistic with time and resource to help make them elite. And with an elite team, everything is easier. - Cheaper, it’s not just sales efficiency. It’s cost and budgets. They are smaller and what is possible or affordable has changed. What are you doing to create your SWAT teams?

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I made 2500 cold calls to Aussie SMB owners, so you don't have to. Book meetings and start conversations with my three value 🪝 framework, script, and process ⬇ 🤠 If you want the templates, give me a shout below, and I'll send them to you! 👉🏻 This script and flow delivered the first 20 B2B customers for a new SaaS company using this process and leaning into... ◾ Understanding deeply the irresistible pains to solve for the prospect ◾ Building authority with industry language ◾ Opening yourself up to objections ◾ The simple SPIN call framework ◾ Using a 1,2,3 call pattern What's often overlooked or misunderstood for first-time callers is that the goal of the call is to have a conversation, start a relationship and qualify a prospect. You are trying to work out if you can work with the person on the other end of the call or if they are not the right fit, right now or ever. In the startup world the disqualifying is about... ◾ Identifying your ICP's as fast possible ◾Investing in the best fit prospect for your product right now ◾ Keeping the non ICP's who you know you can't deliver value to warm ◾ Playing the longer game by fostering these early relationships and bringing people on the journey. If you are going to make claims you best be ready to explain at a business and functional level. This process worked because it... ◾ Brought forward objections with folks intrigued/challenged the 3 value 🪝's ◾ Focused on getting past the intro section to hold them on the call ◾ Lined up the hurdle ready for you to jump over ◾ Makes sure you can talk at a 'business level' ◾ Makes sure you can talk at a 'product level' And you know the difference between these 👆 Remember that the objection is merely a hurdle in the shape of a question or statement to be understood, empathised with, stripped back, and moved forward with in a direction. I wanted to share this from a highlight period of my dialling career where I was hitting a 5% conversion rate from call to booked and knew exactly how to run my week to hit quota! Do cold calls fit your market? If this is helpful, please let me know, and I hope it saves you 2500 calls to work out how to build your script and process! --- I am Sean the Founder of Sell Anything We have worked with 300+ Founders alongside some of the best Incubators, Accelerators, VCs and Scale-Ups in Australia. We help SaaS/Tech businesses build $0 to $5m ARR and beyond.. and we bloody love it! Reach out if you need help in sales and revenue growth you'll be working with people who have grown companies from $0 to 8 figures in revenue 🤝 #sales #coldcall

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Between September 2023 and January 2024 I spent hours with leaders in APAC in different roles, different industries to try and learn where the biggest gaps where and this is what I learnt. 1️⃣ AE leaders DO NOT think your SDRs are ready to be in the AE seat but you as an SDR leader do 🔋 2️⃣ Leaders who aren’t ready to be leaders. Businesses lost a lot of senior leaders through all the redundancies and now we have a huge skill gap where we promoted junior leaders into senior roles too soon. The result? Churn, employeee satifaction goes down and burnt out leaders not knowing what they did wrong. 💣 3️⃣ Metrics / Cross Functional Allignement .This may sound obvious but from enablement to CSM to AE to SDR if we do not have a metric that matters to us all, it will always be a combination of competing priorities, lacks of alignment and it doesn’t matter how many operating principles your business has, you need to be clear about what you want from your teams and it needs to be aligned. 📈 🎦 Tomorrow I’ll do a video about a fix to these 3 points! #leadership #saas #talkingpoints

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Too many sales leaders are obsessed with scaling: - More calls - More leads - More emails - More meetings - More opportunities Without nailing: - ICP - Discovery - Messaging - Buyer journey - Value proposition Better to 2x what works than to 10x what doesn’t.

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How did Samantha Stephens and her team at Gong 3x their win rates? 📈 It’s simple: they make sure to engage at least three key contacts early in every deal. This focus on multithreading has been such a game changer, it’s become a team-wide mandate. And it's paying off big time. With Gong’s integration with LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Samantha and her team can identify and connect with the right stakeholders faster than ever, using Sales Navigator’s advanced AI-powered features — all without leaving Gong. We couldn’t agree more! Gong and Sales Navigator really are better together. 🤝 #SalesConnect24 #B2BSales #FutureReadySales

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