Laurel Smith

Want to break into the exciting world of tech sales? Or interested in accelerating and growing your sales career? Catch a replay of our "Insider Insights: Career Advice from Salesforce Women in Tech Sales," panel — streaming exclusively on LinkedIn. You'll learn from a group of all-star saleswomen building exciting careers as they share their favorite pieces of career advice, and what brought them to Salesforce.

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We’re hiring for a new AE and my direct report here at Offsite. During the most chaotic month we have had in a while. So many people are trying to plan last minute offsites (Someone just asked about December 4th, 2024 EEEK). We’re booking quickly through Q1 and all hands are on deck. I am thankful and grateful that Jared has helped me tremendously, while I am closing one of my biggest deals. At Offsite, we have a team of people who don’t think that a task is beneath them - we all pitch in here. As CEO, Jared has highly strategic priorities, which one can argue can be hiring, but in this phase of the business he’s helped me out a ton by: → Screening resumes for the best candidates. → Initiating first round interviews.  → Being the one man show in TA. I couldn’t be more grateful. With his help I am able to dive into a candidate pool that has been vetted and approved by the CEO. While it may make the hiring process more complex, it means that we are hiring top quality talent here at Offsite. Teamwork really does make the dream work here at Offsite. Feeling #grateful this week? Give thanks to someone in the comments who has helped you out this week!

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Today is a big day for Product Marketers who use Gong. Because today, Klue is launching our new Gong Integration. Here’s the scoop: ⬅️ Before: It was a challenge to track how often competitors come up over time ➡️ After: Gong tracker data is visualized within Klue so you can track competitor mentions ⬅️ Before: Deal support was reactive based on individual requests ➡️ After: Sort your calls by # of competitor mentions and prioritize deal that need support ⬅️ Before: The sales team was responsible for updating the competitive fields in the CRM ➡️ After: Automatically update these fields in your CRM based on competitor mentions ⬅️ Before: Klue content couldn’t be accessed in Gong ➡️ After: Sales can experience any Klue battlecard from Gong Engage Check out our landing page to learn more and test drive the product. Link will be in the comments.

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When I was a BDR at Zendesk I was a top user of 6sense BUT I received 0 training on the platform so I was extremely skeptical. I had no idea where the data was coming from, what the buying stages meant, or what best practices looked like. That's why I'm never surprised when I receive a daily DM from an AE or BDR who wants to learn how to use 6sense... sadly I can't train everyone (ya know, I got a bag to carry). UNTIL NOW. Our Next-Gen Sales Certification answers all your questions about 6sense. (Plus you can speed things up and listen to me, Ami, Ernest Owusu at 2x) Sellers, want a fighting chance at hitting quota? Get certified. Sales leaders, don't want to get fired for having a team that misses quota? Get your team certified: https://lnkd.in/dGTpkF3X Ami Arad doesn't need any more praise but he poured his (tiny rotting) heart and soul into this and it shows... this is a creative, funny, engaging masterpiece.

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I’m currently hiring for my West SDR team at Grafana (locations outlined in the listing below). In addition to the details on the job listing, I’d like to share a bit about my hiring philosophy for my team. If you’re someone who has tech experience - cool. If you’re someone who has SDR experience - also cool. If you can make 100+ cold calls a day - cool, and also, ick. None of those are required, nor do they automatically move you to the top of the candidate pool. Keep reading for more details… On my team we embrace: - Extreme Ownership: read the book, or at least the spark notes. - Selflessness: sales is a team sport, we have no tolerance for hero ball. - Consistency: 90% QoQ means more to us than 200% one quarter and 50% the next. - Collaboration: lone wolves need not apply. As of today, with one week left in our fiscal quarter, over half of my current team has hit or exceeded their Q1 number. Numbers are important, but how we get there is even more important. A core pillar of the SDR organization globally is the ability to hit your number in the right way. We don’t game the system here - we measure success based on not just number of opportunities, but the quality of those opportunities that progress into the funnel to support our company as a whole. If this sounds like a team you want to join and contribute to - please apply below. https://lnkd.in/ebVEbybT

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🚀 Breaking into Tech Sales 🚀 If you’re looking to land your first tech sales role, read on. (And no, this isn’t just another generic list of tips.) Quick caveat: I’ve spent 3 years hiring early-career tech sales pros (i.e. Sales Development/Business Development/Account Development), but these tips are gold for Account Executive roles too. DO’s: 1. 💡 Research the company and role: Dive deep—look up the company on Repvue, Glassdoor, LinkedIn, and even chat with industry connections. The more you know, the better you’ll show up. 2. 🎯 Find your WHY: We all know tech is a competitive space for good reason, but WHY this company? WHY this role? WHY you? Hiring managers want to see someone ready to invest as much in the company as the company will in them. 3. 🌟 Stand out from the noise: Hiring managers get flooded with DMs and emails, and yes, we can tell when it’s a ChatGPT template. What catches my eye would be a strong, personalised message that also shows me you’ll go the extra mile to grab our prospects’ attention. Remember, YOUR brand should be the easiest sell you ever make. DON’Ts: 1. 🚫 Don’t expect a referral just because you know someone: A connection on LinkedIn doesn’t automatically equal a referral. Your network needs to believe in you. Like we build champions in customer accounts, build trust with employees of your dream company—the referrals will follow. 2. 🚫 Don’t just apply and wait: In sales, that’s like sending one email and expecting a signed deal. Follow up, multithread, and show initiative. Any sales manager will notice someone who goes above and beyond. 3. 🚫 Don’t forget to stay in touch, even if you didn’t get the role: Sometimes, it’s not about you—it’s about fit or timing. Keep building relationships. I’ve seen strong candidates come back around, either joining my team later or getting a referral from me to join another tech company. It’s all about relationships and building your champions. Got any tips I missed? Let’s help each other succeed. 💬🤝

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Had an awesome conversation with Carmen Hudson, CSM yesterday about being a recruiting generalist vs. a recruiting specialist. Being a generalist is not about being average at everything; it's about being open to everything. It's about having the curiosity to learn, the boldness to lead, and the vision to innovate. So, as we march forward, let us not just celebrate depth but also the breadth of knowledge and the many lessons it brings with it. After all, sometimes, to go deep, you first need to go wide.

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Sales Development Managers can’t just be a CRM DJ 🎧for their SDRs. - “Turn up call volume by 9%” - “Turn up email volume by 14%” - “Turn down total accounts target spread by 7%” You could just have an automated system and AI figure this out for SDRs. We also have to be the producer in this orchestration. This means understanding what style of prospecting fits best for each rep and designing a proper mix of prospecting instruments work best for each person. Dig into each input and work with your reps to figure how the best way to play each instrument with the end goal of getting them to quota. Sweet, sweet melodies 🎶 Hopefully my music minded network appreciates this example and explanation. This came to me as I was playing the piano this morning. 🎹😁 #sales #salesdevelopment #salesmanagement

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One of my favorite things about CS-life (ie working as a SaaS Customer Success Manager) is client summits. As a people person there’s nothing quite like 3 days of getting to hang out with the people that you communicate with all year long on a day in and day out. I love the incredible moments of intense focus talking shop, taking on big ideas, getting in the weeds in workshops, and of course the liesure time *not* talking shop. There’s always a sense of reinvigoration and excitement during and coming away from a summit. Initiatives launch, ideas are grown and seeds are planted. Thats why I’m so stoked to be a part of and promote Redlist Attain! This is the news conference for professionals, eager to stay ahead of the curve in maintenance and reliability through the integration of advanced technology in AI! Whether you’re a reliability leader, plant manager, or CFO, you’ll discover how Redlist’s solutions with AI integrations can enhance your total productive maintenance (TPM) strategies – turning data into *actionable* intelligence that improves efficiency, extends equipment, life, ensure seamless operations, and reduces the pain of employee turnover. Come and join us October 21st-23rd in Utah!!

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For my CS leaders and IC's actively interviewing, here are three questions to ensure Customer Success is a company focus and not just a function. Remember, they're interviewing you and *YOU* are interviewing them. 🏠 Just like a big investment; you fully vet how they view CS, your time invested here is priceless. ❗Let's avoid being 90 days in and realizing you're on an island alone❗ Here are three to get you started: 1. When and how does the exec team review customer insights?  ✅ Looking for a monthly cadence and the team doing this *together* in a meeting for live discussion. 2. What's a strategy implemented or outcome from these meetings that's not driven by Customer Success? ✅ Looking for *action* in the form of elevations and/or adjustments to the planning process, marketing or sales strategy, product strategy and innovation, etc... 2. How is product adoption measured and reviewed today? ✅ Ideally *both* Product and CS are held accountable for adoption. No more building and then passing the "adoption baton". At Calendly, our product team created and tracked adoption KPIs for betas and new releases as a launch requirement. My CS loving heart was happy 💙 These are a few to get us started, what other questions have you had success with? Comment below to share the wealth!

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Here’s why sellers need to involve stakeholders early in the process using org charts. Sales reps must understand who makes the purchasing decision before visiting a hospital or lab. Imagine visiting a lab and trying to sell to grad students or lab techs who don’t have the authority to make purchase decisions. Or, imagine you drop in unannounced only to find out your key point of contact isn’t onsite or doesn’t want you onsite. Or, imagine you get buy-in from every clinical decision maker and get shut down by procurement, materials management, or the CFO at the finish line. Creating an “org chart” gives you a visual overview of how your account buys. But creating org charts takes a lot of time if done manually. Data providers like ZoomInfo have already cataloged much of this information and can show you which key stakeholders aren’t yet involved in a deal who need to be. Technology supplements on-the-ground knowledge, allowing you to spend less time on prospecting and more time selling. How are you using org charts in your sales processes?

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 🚀 Elevating Sales Performance with Gong Coaching Programs! 🚀 As a Revenue Enablement Manager, I'm a big Gong fan girl! This tool provides innovative tools and data-driven strategies that can help enhance coaching programs and transform sales teams. 🌟 🔍 Tagging Calls for Precision Coaching: Gong's ability to tag calls lets you categorize and analyze interactions based on specific criteria. Precise tagging helps deliver targeted feedback and improve specific aspects of the sales process, whether it is a prospecting call, a demo, or a negotiation. 🎧 Call Snippets for Best Practices: One of my favorite features is the ability to create call snippets. The ability to capture and share the most effective parts of sales conversations ensures access to best practices. Using these snippets, teams can replicate successful techniques and strategies. Big thanks to Jessica Hendricks for teaching me this trick a few years ago. 📝 Keyword Trackers for Real-Time Insights: With Gong’s keyword tracking, we monitor the use of critical terms and phrases during sales interactions. This helps us understand the effectiveness of our messaging, identify emerging trends, and ensure compliance with key talking points. Real-time alerts keep our team informed and agile, ready to adapt on the fly. 📊 Dashboards for Comprehensive Overviews: Get a comprehensive view of sales performance thanks to Gong's customizable dashboards, which include rep metrics and team-wide trends. This allows you to identify top performers, measure progress, and identify areas for improvement quickly. 🤖 Gong AI for Advanced Analytics: By providing predictive insights and automatically highlighting critical moments, Gong AI allows you to focus on the most impactful areas. Therefore, you're not just reactive, but proactive, addressing potential issues before they occur. 🎭 Role Play for Skill Enhancement: Role-playing is a cornerstone of any coaching strategy. These sessions can be guided by Gong's insights, ensuring they align with real-world challenges and opportunities reps face. 📈 Data-Driven Metrics for Continuous Improvement: Gong’s platform provides detailed metrics on talk-to-listen ratios, objection handling, deal progression, and more. This data-driven approach ensures coaching is focused, effective, and aligned with our sales strategy. To all my L&D & Enablement friends...how have you used Gong in your coaching programs? What successes have you had?

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✨ Hiring Manager Spotlight! ✨ I am so excited to be partnering with Matthew Boehm to help recruit for his San Francisco Mid-Market AE team at Gong! 🎉 Want to get to know him and what he is looking for in his next hire? READ ON! 👀 Fun Fact first! -- Matt went sykdiving a few years ago in order to conquer his fear of flying head first. Spoiler: It didn’t really work 🙂 😂 Why does he love Gong? Gong has provided me 6.5 years of incredible opportunity. It’s provided me the opportunity to learn every single day and get better every single day. It’s a culture filled with top performers who are invested in everyone’s success, where everyone from our CEO on down is willing and excited to help. Finally, career advancement is through the roof and I’ve been able to move up to multiple roles and be challenged in these roles over my time here - but I’m far from the only person with that story. Everyone that I’ve started with at Gong has moved on to be Enterprise AE’s, Directors, VP’s, you name it - and the career opportunities are only increasing with time. How is his team doing? His team has achieved ~113% to goal in Q1 and Q2, with top performers averaging 150% over goal (and two team members at or nearly at their annual quota already) 👏 What are you looking for in your next hire? Looking for an Account Executive that has a high motor and will to succeed, is coachable and excited by self-improvement & has the ability to bring fantastic new ideas to drive our culture in a positive way that betters the team as a whole. Did this resonate with you? If you are a SaaS seller with 3+ years of closing experience with deal size experience in the 50-250k range, comfortable in a complex sales cycle with multiple stakeholders and are looking to be coached by one of the best -- please apply here: https://lnkd.in/gtZQQWUD We look forward to hearing from you! #hiring #saas #jobalert #midmarketAE #accountexecutives #sales

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20/100 | 100 Days 100 Posts Challenge Chuck Feeney, co-founder of Duty-Free Shoppers, made billions. But what sets him apart? His commitment to give away his fortune during his lifetime. Here’s what made his journey remarkable: 💸 The Atlantic Philanthropies - Feeney established this foundation to donate over $8 billion to causes close to his heart, including education, healthcare, and human rights. 💸 $6.3 billion for education - One of his most impactful contributions was helping underprivileged students gain access to college education. - His commitment to making education more accessible changed countless lives. 💸 “Giving While Living” - Feeney lived by the principle that wealth should be given away while you’re alive. - By the time he passed away in 2023, he had only $2 million left—having given the rest away to those in need. 🧠 What’s in it for Startups and Entrepreneurs? Chuck Feeney’s story is a powerful reminder that success isn’t just about accumulation—it’s about impact. Entrepreneurs can learn from his giving while living philosophy by focusing not only on profits but also on giving back to the community. How will you use your success to create a lasting impact? (Repost if you like it ♻️) 😄 #entrepreneurship #startup #business #founder #founderfragments #wealth #money #billionaire *** Enjoy this? Share it with your network and follow me Vaibhav Sharma for more in future! I write about interesting businesses, entrepreneurs, and high performance. Join my inner circle here: https://lnkd.in/gZKZ_Zdb

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As a Scale Customer Success Manager juggling multiple accounts, staying proactive and replicating success can be a challenge. But that's where Gong has been a game-changer for me! With Gong's AI, I can: 💎 Uncover hidden insights: Gong surfaces hidden gems in calls, revealing customer needs and trends I might have missed. This allows me to tailor my approach and deliver the most valuable solutions to each client. 🤝 Drive impactful coaching: Call summaries and Smart Trackers provide a treasure trove of information for coaching my reps. We can pinpoint specific areas for improvement and celebrate wins, leading to a more effective and high-performing team. 📈 Scale efficiently: Gong allows me to share best practices and winning plays across the entire CSM team. This ensures consistency and reduces the need for reinventing the wheel with each new client. The result? Faster onboarding, happier customers. #Gong #CustomerSuccess #AI #Scalability P.S. Huge shoutout to the Gong community! Sharing Ask Anything prompts and successful Smart Trackers has been invaluable. Keep it up!

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A job can be a powerful tool to positively impact others. As a Customer Success Manager at WWT, an organization that aligns with my values, I'm fortunate to do just that. I'm passionate about helping businesses by supporting the individuals who keep them running. I help them execute their plans, succeed in their roles, achieve their goals and KPIs, stay focused, drive value, and ultimately find greater job satisfaction. This is what truly motivates me: making a difference in people's lives. It's about more than just numbers. When we support each other, we can achieve both individual and collective success. The numbers will naturally follow. I hope you've also found a job that allows you to help others! 🙂 World Wide Technology #help #customer_success #grateful #business_outcome #teamwork

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Yesterday, I had the incredible opportunity to host a panel with two powerhouse female leaders at Stripe, Nancy Seid and Beth Robertson (shoutout to Chris Anderson-Villalobos and Sydney Swiatkowski for helping me make this happen!) 3 things I learned: 🌟 Career Growth & Mindset Evolution: We spoke about the highs and lows of becoming a leader, and one thing was clear – success isn’t linear. A key takeaway for me was growing up doesn't mean your values change, if anything, stay close to your core values and let that be your 'superpower'. 💪 Self-Advocacy: Nancy touched on the importance of speaking up for yourself. In a world where it’s easy to be overlooked, advocating for your growth and your needs is non-negotiable. It’s a practice that can unlock doors and propel your career forward. Link to Nancy's panel where she spoke more about her self-advocacy journey: https://lnkd.in/gHcWMVv2 🚀 Risk-Taking & Leadership: Beth spoke about calculated risks—how stepping outside of your comfort zone can be a gateway to unforeseen opportunities, going from social enterprise work in the mountains of Nepal to rolling up her sleeves in board rooms. Both leaders agreed that leadership is often about standing out by driving impact, showing up authentically, and taking risks when others may hesitate. ❤️ Work-Life Integration: Nancy's honesty on the sacrifices women sometimes make to integrate their personal and professional lives hit home. Balancing leadership with personal priorities is never easy, but it’s about making intentional choices that align with your values. Takeaway? Be bold. Be strategic. Self-advocate. And most importantly, always lift up the women around you. Together, we grow stronger :) Thank you to Nancy Seid and Beth Robertson for your openness to share the ups and downs of navigating work life! #WomenInLeadership #Mentorship #WomenEmpowerment #CareerGrowth #SelfAdvocacy #LeadershipJourney

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“Outbound is dead” just means you are lazy. I rarely make grand proclamations, but I just can’t see any other way around this one. I get it, sales is hard, probably harder than ever before but that doesn’t mean outbound is dead. As sellers, we just have to work smarter, get creative, and adapt. This means understanding new buyer behaviors and expectations and leveraging every tool in your arsenal to stand out and knock down the door. This may take a little more effort but if you aren’t willing to do it, there are bigger questions to be asked. Now I’m not one to say all this and leave you without an example. So, here is how I put this into action to book a meeting with an account I’ve been following since before I even joined Evabot. Work Smarter - I used Evabot AI for Sales Outbound 2.0 to keep an eye on this company as I got up to speed over my first 60 days. Got a notification last month that their account score had jumped to 94. I checked our research and saw they were announcing new products and expanding their sales organization. I dove deeper and found they were hosting a product launch webinar the following week so I registered and joined. Get Creative - I joined and watched the entire webinar to educate myself on the progress of the organization. I took a selfie while I was on the webinar and sent it with my gaining access email. It took 2 minutes, 120 seconds to get a response. This meeting took place earlier this week, my contact specifically mentioned how much he appreciated the approach, and we already have our next call scheduled. Adapt -  Would I have thought to include a selfie in an email a few years ago? Probably not. Did it take a little extra time in my week to join the webinar? Sure. But, times have changed and I want to be educated and informed to give my buyer the best possible experience. Truthfully, I think this is the most fun I’ve had in sales in a long time. Come try to bury me with outbound, I dare you. Respectfully, of course.

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Stoked to share that Nooks just raised $43M in our Series B! Shoutout to Kleiner Perkins for believing in our mission to help sales reps crush their pipe-gen goals. Since I beta-tested Nooks in March 2022, I was sold on the platform as an essential part of my tech stack & knew I had to join the team myself. We’ve already got the 🥇AI Dialer 📞 + Virtual Salesfloor in the space… what's next? Now, we’ve launched a suite called the AI Sales Assistant Platform – with two new AI assistants: - AI Coaching Assistant with automated scorecards and AI roleplay to cut onboarding by 40%+ - AI Prospecting Assistant that lets you research accounts, build lists, and draft emails that engage your best prospects This suite of tools helps teams get back to focusing on the human side of selling. If you’re a sales leader that wants more pipeline (who doesn’t?) then you want to check out what we’ve built here - www.nooks.ai If you’re on the job hunt, tag folks in your network & check out our career page because we’re growing fast - www.nooks.ai/careers (Feel free to reach out to me personally for Sr. SDR & SDR Manager roles) 

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