Sales Melon

“We think you’re ready.” Those were the words that came out of my CEOs mouth when I learned that I was being promoted from running field operations to running an entire sales organization. - Did I have any experience running a sales team? Nope. - Did I have any training in sales leadership or management? A little. (I had taken a generic AMA “being a manager” class on my own.) Running a sales organization was my goal - so this was my goal achieved…well, until I realized I truly had no idea what I was doing. I wasn't ready. Two days in, I was already feeling like a dog chasing a car down the street, never knowing what direction it was headed. I naturally fell back on my default training…being a salesperson. That’s what I knew. My leadership approach? A random combobulation of the things that stuck with me from leaders I had worked for in the past. Sound familiar? As a salesperson, I had a structure…a framework. As a revenue leader, my calendar and to-do list was my framework.?And, given that I didn’t really know how to do anything on said list/calendar, Advil became my mid-afternoon snack. So, being the nerd that I am, I created a structure…a framework for revenue leadership. It became the foundation for my planning, strategizing, seeing the holes before they formed, communication…and when the heat went up in the kitchen, I had it to fall back on: my new default. I used it for the next 10+ years, optimized it, researched/sciencized it, and laid it on a bed of transparency. I’ve been teaching it (a lot) to revenue leadership organizations, wrote a book about it, and now, starting in February, in conjunction with Sales Assembly, we’re bringing it to first-line revenue leaders. I'm totally biased, but for a virtual program series, I've made it as entertaining, head-slapping, and immediately actionable as possible. Optimized for how we learn and retain (which also means there's an attendee max), it's not “theory”…just stuff you can use to maximize your impact and the performance of your teams, sleep better, sound smarter, build lasting culture, and hopefully take with you for the rest of your careers… I'll let Jeff Rosset, Matt Green, or Brad Rosen weigh in here on the details and the process to sign up. Let's get nerdy...

Training for Revenue Managers has always been a huge gap in the ecosystem.? Sales Assembly + Todd Caponi are here to help. I’m over-the-moon excited to introduce a brand new offering from Sales Assembly: The Revenue Manager Lab. What is the Revenue Manager Lab? In collaboration with Todd, we’ve developed a 3-month cohort program to provide newly promoted (or soon to be promoted) first-line Revenue Managers with a proven framework they’d need to excel in their role. The 3-month program will consist of: - Six LIVE, 75-minute sessions led by Todd Caponi - Regularly scheduled Office Hours with Todd - A custom framework, backed by research and real-world experience - Implementation tools, workbooks, and other resources you’d need to implement the learnings What will participants learn? - Check out the fancy slides Who is this program for? - It’s built specifically for front-line leaders overseeing AEs, AMs, CSMs, and XDRs. This is the very first program that Sales Assembly is making available to both members and non-members alike. We’re running only 2 cohorts in 2025, with the first cohort kicking off on February 20th. We’ll have no more than 50 seats per cohort, as we want to ensure a curated crowd that Todd can interact with. Check out this page to learn more and enroll: https://lnkd.in/dT6i2UAW For those of you who are looking to use up your individual L&D budgets before EOY, well, here you go. ??

Thirteen years ago, I was working for a “unicorn”, running one of the company’s four US regions’ sales teams. We were hiring 20-30 new salespeople per month. The senior leaders asked me to step away from my team to instead rebuild the enablement function from the ground up to support that growth. I said yes. Step one, pull up Google and search “What is enablement?” (it was pre-household-term) ?? We did pretty well. Built a team of 11 to support the eventual 300+ salespeople and partners, set up to optimize for how our brains learn, retain, and act. Two years later, we were acquired by Salesforce for just under $3B. I developed such a passion & affection for enablement through that experience. That passion and experience somehow did NOT translate into an easy time getting enablement prioritized and funded in my next company, serving as a CRO. ?? I talk a lot about transparency, negotiations, and leadership - but I don’t get to tell these stories of changing perceptions, justifying, measuring, and optimizing enablement… So, I can’t wait to bust this out, speaking at next week’s Revenue Enablement Society's "Experience Conference" in Chicago. I’ll be yapping on Wednesday, October 23rd at 9:30am. Yeah - and if you're in the audience, buckle up for some lessons from 1800s writer Mark Twain, 1600s philosopher Francis Bacon, and early 1900s writings on sales leadership we can use today to #ProveIt that you’re worth it, too. Wanna get nerdy? Come join us…

The countdown to #RESExperience2024 is ON! We’re bringing five enablement powerhouses to the stage this year—this is a lineup you won’t want to miss: ???Keenan, CEO of A Sales Growth Company, Author of?Gap Selling. ???Todd Caponi, Founder of Sales Melon, Author & Sales Historian. ???Sheevaun Thatcher, CPC, Strategic Enablement Advisor at Thatcher Consulting.? ???Meredith Thatcher, Chief Engagement Officer at accelerate ai inc. ???Juliana Stancampiano, CEO of Oxygen Exp. This is your front-row seat to insights from some of the most influential minds in revenue enablement. And what better place to soak it all in than the amazing city of Chicago? To grab your ticket and view the full RES Experience agenda, visit:?lnkd.in/eMTiFMmb. #RES #RESExperience #SalesEnablement #RevenueEnablement

What’s the foundation for building a successful sales strategy in today’s fast-evolving world? According to Todd Caponi, it’s one simple thing: transparency. As a self-proclaimed “Transparency Nerd” and award-winning author, podcaster, and sales and leadership trainer, he should know. Check out our latest How I Sell newsletter as Todd shares more about the importance of transparency, his love of sales history, what he learned from his biggest failure, and how he thinks AI will transform selling. #B2Bsales

If your building a SaaS (or want to), here are the top 7 summer reads to level up with ???? 1. Rework by Jason Fried How to become a founder that works smarter, not harder. And build a profitable business while your at it. You need less than you think. 2. Obviously Awesome by April Dunford How to position your product and business so customers 1. get it, 2. buy it and 3. love it. Without a ultra clear positioning you will never cut through the noise. 3. The SaaS Playbook by Rob Walling How to build a lean million-dollar SaaS, market against large competitors, and use your position as underdog as an unfair advantage. 4. The Transparency Sale by Todd Caponi How to sell more by using transparency and honesty to build trust and credibility with prospects, customers, and partners. 5. Getting Acquired by Andrew Gazdecki How to grow a SaaS company, build a compelling brand story to scale, and optimize likelihood of a great exit for the founder. 6. Founder Brand by Dave Gerhardt 5?? How to build your personal brand as founder and use it to grow your startup. 7. Product-Led Growth by Wes Bush How to build a product that sells itself. PLG as GTM or not - imo all startups today need to use growth loops and engineering to acquire customers, instead only relying on traditional sales team. What do you think - any books missing from the list? Add them in the comments. Also, link to all of the books on Goodreads in the comments if you want to add them to your TBR list ??

What is transparency in sales? Is it a methodology? It depends on what you define as a methodology. I'd like to think it's more of an "applied philosophy". While it feels good to be transparent and honest, as it turns out, it actually sells better than attempting to position yourself, your products & your solutions as perfect! You see, when you buy something online, I'd guess you read reviews first, right? But, are you one of those weirdos who skips the 5-star reviews and reads the negative ones first? The 4s, 3s, 2s, & 1s? As it turns out, that doesn't make you a weirdo. It makes you a human being. We need to know the downsides, the risks, or what is given up to be great at a solution's core to even process the positive - and come to a purchase decision. And, due to the proliferation of feedback and reviews on everything we do, buy and experience, we have to do it anyway! The truth will always prevail - especially today. I help you apply it - to your messaging, positioning, qualification, formal messaging, negotiating, and leadership! The results - on the sales side are faster sales cycles, higher win rates, better qualification IN, faster qualification OUT, and you'll differentiate in the way you sell! On the leadership side? A foundation for maximizing revenue capacity, all optimized by science, on a bed of transparency - leading to high performance, longer tenures, higher engagement, faster time to hire, and stronger advocacy. I'm (Todd ??) here to help - reach out, and if it's not me, I'm so happy to point you in the right direction either way. https://lnkd.in/eRwF3tcw

Sales Assembly is not always the right investment. And we're up front about that Companies choose to partner with us because they dig our specific approach: -Year-round training (250+ annual programs) -LIVE, interactive programs -One flat annual subscription (unlimited seats and usage) -Community-based learning amongst 100+ companies & 6000+ learners -Curriculum focused on foundational skill development -Programming for pre sales, post sales, & mgrs too Of course, I'd love any B2B revenue leader to give us a look if the above resonates. But sometimes we're not what someone needs / wants ,or has budgeted for - so here are some other resources to check out: On-demand (e-learning) skill development - pclub.io or JB Sales Negotiation training or IRL leadership training - Sales Melon On-demand (e-learning) leadership training - Sales Leadership Accelerator Executive / C-level education - Pavilion In-house CS-specific training - Carema Consulting Coaching resources - Beautiful Savage Sales Academy Methodology - Challenger In-house, IRL training - Samantha McKenna, Brian Bar or Jen Allen-Knuth Enablement projects - Elissa Carroll or Del Nakhi Sales system implementation - Skaled Consulting or Winning by Design And I'm sooo sorry for those I ran out of room to tag! Listen...at the end of the day, I'm incredibly bullish on the idea that to win in 2024 and beyond, revenue orgs MUST invest in their people. Companies can no longer *add headcount* their way to success, or *buy more tech* their way to growth. Growth / success stems from having a highly effective, peak performing team...top to bottom. So engage with Sales Assembly. Or engage with one of the other companies listed here (I can make intros). Or engage with someone else you've been referred to. But bottom line, take action. Invest in your team's success.

Feeling extra grateful for this past week and #feelgoodfriday. I’ll take being known as the avid soccer guy on the team as I checked a bucket list item off to see what I believe is the best soccer player to ever play and GOAT, Messi. Then I headed back down 95 to Philly for our East Region Mid-Year conference under the new leadership of Jeff Simes. For any successful firm to drive results or team to climb the pinnacle and win a World Cup in 2022 takes an incredible amount of deliberate focus and strategic planning. Not only do we feel more well equipped to partner with our advisors and TPA firms after these few days, we got to do it through hearing failures and successes aside one of the best teams in the industry. We’re all firm believers in selling transparency and listened again to Todd Caponi’s fantastic storytelling of ‘The Transparency Sale.’ I’m pumped for the rest of the Copa America tournament and watching Messi play for Argentina but equally excited for our firms 2nd half and see where we’re headed with crucial advisor and TPA partners here at Ascensus. Cheers to the GOAT, Messi and my just as bias GOAT 401(k) sales team for delivering a transparent initiative. #asenseofascensus Anthony Bologna Jeff Simes Lori Zeman Carolyn Lemke Fraser Russ Winchester Jim Walker Mindy O'Connor Stephen Carrera Todd Davis Justin Sabol