Tom N.’s Post

Pre-Sales is a blend of strategy, foresight, and precision. It’s not just about responding to client needs but anticipating them—right from identifying ICPs to building data-driven models that spot key market trends. Imagine this: you at the core—designing a pre-sales lifecycle helps reduce operational costs by 20%, turning a $200K ARR deal into a long-term partnership. That’s the power of pre-sales done right. At Expand My Business, we are hiring folks that can own the end-to-end pre-sales process whether it’s developing models or structuring deals that drive value. #PreSales #TechSales #BusinessGrowth #Hiring #ScalingInnovation

Earlier this year, I noticed a concerning trend that few (if any) are talking about: Experienced sales teams at established media tech vendors are struggling to meet their quotas. The primary catalyst appears to be the wave of contractions hitting major media companies, marked by widespread layoffs and aggressive cost-cutting measures. For example, top media conglomerates, including Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, and Paramount Global, have collectively reduced their workforce by ~15% in 2023-2024. To better understand this shift, I conducted in-depth interviews with 8 sales leaders at media technology vendors, ranging from cloud-native startups to established enterprise providers. Three key findings stood out: 1. The era of the 20-year relationship with a single decision-maker has ended, forcing sales teams to rebuild relationships from scratch. 2. Decision makers are risk-averse with ever-looming layoffs and/or may lack experience in the workflow or technology which is stifling innovation. 3. Tech purchases now require approval from 23 stakeholders instead of 11, dramatically extending sales cycles. 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆: In media tech sales, the focus has shifted from maintaining individual relationships to orchestrating relationship networks. The winners will be those who can build and nurture these broader relationship ecosystems. How can sellers adapt? • Focus on sharing customer successes. • Selling the value and not the technology. • Creating multi-threaded relationships across departments. • Connect with emerging leaders before they become decision-makers. Agree? What relationship-building strategies are you seeing succeed in this new landscape? —---------------- Hi, I'm Alyson. I decode M&E sales trends to help tech vendors improve their go-to-market success. Follow me for more insights like this. If this was helpful, repost ♻️!

"If we hire 10 sales reps, each with a $500k quota, we’ll hit $5M in revenue in a year.” Sounds great, right? Think again. The headcount-driven revenue model looks great on paper but rarely works in practice. Here’s why: 1️⃣ It assumes reps will always generate their own demand. Spoiler: often not true. 2️⃣ It overlooks ramp times and hiring delays. It could take months to achieve quota. 3️⃣ It bets on conversion rates staying consistent. If you don't have a solid team performance infrastructure in place it won't happen. For early-stage companies transitioning from founder-led to sales-led growth, this mindset is especially risky. Misjudge it, and you’ll waste time, money, and momentum. Instead, focus on understanding what’s driving demand, whether it scales with more reps, and how to enable new hires to win consistently. Build a system that works before scaling headcount. That’s how you set up for success.

The best #sales reps are nerds. It used to be the case that persuasion, wooing, rapport-building, and clever comments, coupled with hard work, hustle, and let's not forget "grit" were the desired components of a top performer. Nah. Give me a mad scientist. I'll take the gal who spends 3x the time prepping for a discovery call than the duration of the call. The guy who's insatiably curious and asks great questions--that's who I want. Introvert or extravert? Who cares. I'm hiring nerds.

With our most recent sales hire at Elevar our #1 priority was hiring for segment fit. There were 800+ applications for the role and we turned away a ton of incredible candidates. We gave immediate no's to reps that had years of Enterprise SaaS sales experience at recognizable orgs. Why? SMB sales is very different from Mid-Market and Enterprise sales. Closing a deal in 1-2 calls and needing to close 15-20 deals per month to hit your quota requires a unique skillset. You need to be an expert at buying signals, driving urgency/immediacy, and asking for close. Reps that have been selling to Enterprise for years often lose this skillset. They've been focused on multi-threading, org mapping, etc. because it's necessary to be successful in their segment. One skillset is not better than the other, they're just different. The rep we hired (shoutout Blair Gignac) had significant SMB sales experience and proved our assumptions about hiring fit right. Closed his first deal in 7 days, 90% to quota in his first month, and has been 100% to quota since. #smbsales #saas

Can founder-led sales tactics really help to propel the hiring flywheel? With the costs of sourcing, hiring, and retaining sales people nearing $600K/person, companies must look at the bigger picture of what attracts potential candidates. Candidates consider professional development opportunities, company culture and mission, and inspirational leadership, to name a few. Founder-led sales not only create visibility and credibility within an industry, but they demonstrate leadership style, potential for mentorship, values, and model the behavior at your company. Read more about how founder-led sales can help you recruit the best and the brightest: https://hubs.la/Q02W_V910 #saas #salesstratgy #marketingstrategy #hiring #sales #recruitment

In today’s fast-paced tech world, one thing remains constant: change, which also means the challenges that come with it. Discover how five standout sales teams embrace change to stay ahead of the curve. #Hiring #NowHiring

If you fit the description, and are in the #Bay or #NYC, I can’t understate the speed at which you should run to explore this opportunity. Navid Zolfaghari is the truth. #Jobs #SalesLeadership #Metronome

Wondering if you’re ready to scale your sales team? Check out this advice from someone who scaled his company and hired 100+ sales people.

Do you know what’s the fastest growing job in the US? RevOps    According to a job analysis report performed by LinkedIn in late 2023, #RevOps is the fastest growing job in the US compared to functions like sales, marketing, HR, and finance.    But let’s take it a step further.    In a business world where: 📈 Sustainable and efficient growth is paramount.  📉 Inbound and outbound are not working the way they used to.  🍪 3rd party cookies are starting to go away.    Partnerships keep growing in importance 💪.    Tapping into the networks of influence and trust that your partners possess is critical.    And you can’t do that without the proper GTM strategy (#Nearbound) and execution, but also, without the tools, processes, and metrics to go with it.    Hello PartnerOps 😎!    #PartnerOps focuses on creating, managing, and optimizing partner processes and activities, internal and external.    It also focuses on reporting performance and measuring impact, and, in some instances, can include other elements such as partner enablement.    So yes, this is a post advocating for and hoping 🙏 that we start seeing PartnerOps grow as fast as RevOps.    So, let’s give a hand 👏 to those leading the charge! If you are a Partnership Leader, do you have PartnerOps roles in your team or are you planning to hire them?    #Partnership #Hiring #Strategy #Operations