Inside Sales Expert

Taking new clients only on a referral basis.

Helping leaders at early stage tech companies avoid mistakes in all aspects of growing their sales team in the US.

CRO and Founder

SmartBound

Sales development is changing rapidly with the advent of artificial intelligence.

For most CROs and sales leaders, asking "How can I use AI to power my pipeline generation team" leaves more questions than answers.

The team at SmartBound have an answer.

SmartBound combine two powerful things that make pipeline generation easier and more consistent: AI tooling and a conversation-first methodology.

I'm excited to join them as a Strategic Advisor as they grow their business.

Strategic Advisor

It Happened on the Sales Floor-100 Sensational Stories About Sales Leadership Screw-Ups and Big-Wins

📢 Exciting News! 🎉 My audiobook "It Happened on the Sales Floor: 100 Sensational Stories About Sales Leadership Screw-Ups and Big Wins" is now available on Audible! 🎧📚

In this audiobook, I share 28 years of sales and sales leadership experience at tech startups. Learn from mentors, my countless mistakes, and the resilience that led to success in building sales teams. Topics covered include hiring, training, coaching, firing, sales processes, leadership challenges, and more.

This audiobook is an easy-to-read companion, not a heavy instruction manual. Pick it up with your morning coffee, read a couple of stories, and gain valuable takeaways for the day. I wish I had this book 20 years ago to avoid mistakes and achieve success quicker.

Get your copy on Audible and learn from my sales leadership mistakes: https://www.audible.com/pd/B0C6FRZ1MC/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-353065&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_353065_rh_us 🎧📖

#SalesLeadership #AudiobookRelease #SuccessStories

Author

IVP Paragons are hand-selected operating executives with unique skills and a willingness to advise IVP portfolio companies become enduring market leaders. Paragons are experts at their craft, have a desire to give back, and actively want to participate in the start-up community (anywhere from Series B to newly
public companies).

(Full Disclosure:  I do not work FOR IVP.  This is an advisory role for their portfolio companies)

Paragon Advisor

Trellis Research

Advisor

Schmoop, LLC

Managing Member

Wonderway

Boldr

SEON Fraud Fighters

Hirect App

Helping leaders at early stage tech companies avoid mistakes in all aspects of growing their sales team | Advisor

Kevin has made 1000s of mistakes but that has made him successful. After building, fixing and growing sales teams at 8 startups and 3 liquidity events, he loves sharing these mistakes and learning lessons from over 25 years at pre-IPO tech companies so that you can avoid these mistakes and see faster success.

With KG, you get experience, not inexperienced opinions.

✅ 3 startups I’ve been with have had liquidity events (none fire sales)

✅ Helped build 3 businesses into Inc 500/Deloitte Fast 500 companies (that means fast revenue growth)

✅ Built sales teams at 8 Startups since 1997

✅ Built teams of 30 salespeople - 550 salespeople with GREAT gross margins

✅ Built multiple Inside Sales, SDR/BDR, Account Management and Enterprise Sales teams.

✅ Been in Sales Leadership since 1997

✅ Started 3 of my own businesses (Recruiting, Advising, Real Estate)

✅ Named to the AA-ISP Top 25 Most Influential Inside Sales Professionals 6 years in a row

✅ Made lots and lots of mistakes

Check out the recommendations section below to read what other people have said about me. 👇

Kevin Gaither

I hired this woman to sell for me and let me tell you, she absolutely sucked in her 1st 90 days.

But then she made President's Club 🎉

I was thinking, "Boy, I think I've made a hiring mistake with this one. Maybe I should let her go."

In her first 90 days, she wasn't ramping like all the rest. Wasn't nailing demos. Wasn't closing sales.

But she kept working at it. Hard. REALLY HARD. Following the playbook.

And she was unbelievably coachable. We listened to calls together. She listened to her calls by herself. Whatever I coached her on, she put it into place on the very next call.

And then it started clicking for her and by the end of the year, she made President's Club!

Learning Lesson: There's 4 types of salespeople:

➡️ Not coachable, not hitting goals. Term quickly. Like ASAP.

➡️ Not coachable but hitting or exceeding goals. Leave them alone and don't let anybody else on the team try to emulate them. These are naturals. They don't know why they're successful but they are.

➡️ Coachable and hitting goals. These are the examples you use for the rest of your team.

➡️ Coachable/Hard-Working but not hitting goals. Keep working with them in a defined, limited window. You'll be surprised how many will make it through when you give them good, solid coaching.

In your experience, how long would you work with a coachable salesperson who is not hitting their goals? 

But if you really want to start hiring A-player salespeople like this, check out my Interviewing and Hiring Bundle in the the first comment.

(2) Feed | LinkedIn

li_at

JSESSIONID

Talks about #sales, #startup, #leadership, #insidesales, and #peoplehelpingpeople

CEO @ InsideSalesExpert.com Helping sales leaders avoid galactically ridiculous mistakes in all areas of building, fixing & growing their sales teams

6 of my sales reps forced me to hire a woman as their sales manager. 

Don't be so surprised. She was one of the best sales leaders I've ever had the fortune to work with.

But the way this all went down was crazy and a learning lesson for me.

We were ramping up our sales team and I started hiring a bunch of people from a failing daily deal site.

I personally do reference checks and I kept talking to this one sales leader, Lauren Delfino.

Finally, I had hired 6 reps that had worked for her and they finally came to me and said

"KG, you have to hire her. She'll be a game-changer for our sales team!"

And so I did. And she was. Grew one of our sales teams from 50 reps to over 150 reps. Helped open up a new sales office in AZ. Crushed it.

💡 Learning Lesson: When you're hiring for new sales leaders, ask your sales reps who were THEIR favorite former sales managers and start networking with them to recruit and hire them.

What are some creative tactics you've used to recruit sales leadership talent?

But if you really want to start hiring A-player salespeople, check out my Interviewing and Hiring Bundle in the the first comment.

This dude legitimately showed up to an interview with me for a B2B tech sales job with neck tattoos & sleeves. 

I actually hired them!

At first, I was shocked. Couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Really? This isn't very professional. AT. ALL.

But I stuck to the objective hiring process I had created. Asked all my questions and remained open-minded as I listened to the answers.

I was blown away. Behind all that ink was one of the most humble, hard working, positive and motivated people I had ever interviewed. Not cocky and assumptive.

I hired that person and they turned out to be one of the best salespeople I have ever hired in my entire career.

Good thing I didn't judge the book by its cover right?

💡 Learning Lessons: 

✅ Develop your salesperson hiring benchmark with objective characteristics, 

✅ judge them based on their answers and their actions and not by how they look. 

✅ Reserve judgement on the candidate for after the interview, not before.

Removing bias from the interview process is critical. You miss out on great hires when you introduce bias into the interview process.

But if you really want to start hiring A-player salespeople, check out my Interviewing and Hiring Bundle in the the first comment.

My rep laughed when she got hung up on. 🤣

I hired this rep whose only previous sales experience was selling lingerie at Nordstroms. No B2B. No phone sales. No tech.

But I observed that she scored very high on optimism, resiliency and coachability during the interview.

So I took a chance on her anyway to break into B2B tech sales. What a great hire!

We were all on an open sales floor. I had a low-walled cubicle right on the other side of hers. 

When she got hung up on, she would stand up, peer over the cubicle at me and laugh about how she got hung up on. "Their loss," she would say.

And then sit down and go right back to making more cold calls without skipping another beat. My word.

The learning lesson here: When you're a leader hiring for new reps, sometimes the ones with NO relevant experience can be your best reps if they are optimistic, resilient and coachable.

Make sure you build that into your interview scorecards.

But if you really want to start hiring A-player salespeople, check out my Hiring and Interviewing Bundle in the the first comment.

The last time this person worked for me was exactly 18 years ago and I just got this text from them a few months ago.

This kind of stuff makes me so happy to read. A salesperson who worked for me nearly two decades ago still wants to share their successes with me long after we worked together.

If you're a sales leader and you're having a rough time, getting messages like this from salespeople who used to work for you is extremely up-lifting.

Wanna share some messages former reps have sent you in the comments?

graphical user interface, text, application, chat or text message

I hired an "experienced" sales manager and boy what a mistake that was. 🙇

We were scaling my inside sales team and needed to hire a bunch of new sales managers.

And I was referred to a guy who was literally at a direct competitor.

Nearly the exact same product. Same sales cycle. Same inside sales motion. Same deal size. Why wouldn't that be a fit?

My word, what a mistake that was. This guy was a train-wreck.

👎 He was a micromanager

👎 Managed through fear and intimidation

👎 Wouldn't listen to me or any of his supervisors 

👎 Made excuses for why he behaved the way he behaved

I fired him in less than 90 days. 

💡 Learning lesson: Just because the sales manager came from a direct competitor don't assume that they will be a good fit for YOUR TEAM and YOUR CULTURE.

Include the cultural questions in your sales manager hiring benchmark such as...

"Tell me about the last time you had an underperforming rep, what did you do about it?"

But if you really want to start hiring A-player salespeople, check out my Interviewing and Hiring Bundle in the the first comment.

When I was an inexperienced sales leader, I used to think Urgency was something you could coach.

I don’t believe that anymore.

Urgency is either in someone’s DNA or it isn’t.
It shows up in their current and past actions.
It shows up in their business AND personal lives.
And you usually don't have to dig that deep to see it...when it's actually there.

The candidates who follow up without being told.
The ones who are closing for next steps at the end of the interview.
The ones who treat the job interview like a live deal, not some B$ chat.

You can’t fake that kind of pace.
And you can’t teach someone to care more than they actually do.

Yeah, you can force Urgency.
Riding the rep to get stuff done quickly.

But that's no fun, for anybody involved.

So if you’re hiring sales talent, I’ll say the quiet part out loud that many of you might object to (that's okay):

You’re better off hiring somebody with Urgency than hoping you can train or coach for it and then hope it shows up later.

That gamble will cost you revenue and it might even cost you your job.

My favorite interview question to test for it?

“Tell me about a time you were up against a tight deadline or quota. What did you do when it looked like you might miss it?”

What to listen for:

Do they take immediate ownership and problem-solve fast, or do they rationalize and delay?

Do they talk about proactive actions (calling prospects, re-prioritizing pipeline, staying late, asking for help) or passive reactions (“waited to see what would happen”)?

And then ask them to tell you about ANOTHER time.

Urgency, in the truly urgent, shows up consistently and recently. Not every once in a while.

If they can't show you that they already have urgency, you’ll end up begging them to BE urgent later.

And that’s not your job as a sales leader.

Lesson I’ve learned from tons of my own hiring mistakes?

Hire the people who already show Urgency. You can't train that.

For most sales leaders, you're not just in it for the titles and the money.

Heck, if you were in it for the money, might as well be an IC and not have to deal with all the BS of being a sales leader.

No, you're in it because you can really make a positive and indelible mark one someone's life for decades to come.

Go do that.

PS: he took a chance working for me too...

You don’t “own part of the company” when you join a pre-IPO tech startup and get stock options.

You own a promise.

And most promises never cash out....like 90% chance your stock options will be worth NOTHING.

To make matters worse, Founders rarely explain your stock options to you.

And most employees never read the fine print either and/or self-educate, that's on them. They just sign and cross their fingers. Stupid.

Stock options in that sexy new AI startup sound like magic. The next big rocketship in flight. The HUGE potential payday.

Of course, it's a story we all want to believe but it rarely happens and if it does, it's rarely material.

I've been at 8 startups. 3 have had liquidity events, but that means that 5 did not have liquidity events.

So from experience, here’s what actually happens:

The valuation is inflated.
The vesting schedule is brutal.
The exit timeline? You think they're going to tell YOU?

Liquidity? Don’t hold your breath. If you're lucky you have a 1 in 6 chance of a liquidity event and even then, it won't be helicopter money like you think it should be.

Oh and here's one you'll learn the hard way...

You still owe taxes...even if your shares end up being worthless.

And if you have vested stock options but leave before some sort of liquidity event...God help you....

You’ve got 90 days to buy them or lose everything.

So should you ever join a startup just for the equity?

In my experience and in my opinion, never.

Equity is a lottery ticket. It's the icing on the cake.

Your cash comp is critical. If you can’t live on the cash, don’t gamble on the stock option upside because the chances of it happening are slim to none.

And if the Founders can’t back up the value of the options with a real, competitive TOTAL offer, to me, that’s a red flag.

Join for the mission.
Join for the team.
Join because you love the work (because you'll be working your ASS off, no quiet quitting)

But don’t join because someone promised you 0.03% and told you it’ll be “worth billions one day.”

That's just a trick. Don't be a fool.

Learning lessons: if you're going to work at pre-IPO tech startups, you had better learn about Employee Stock Options so that you can assess if you're getting a good deal or not and manage them properly.

Which is why I created a FREE course on Employee Stock Options, How They Work. I took all my learnings and dumbed it down so even a 3-year old can understand it.

Check the link in the first comment to sign up for the free course.

I hired a stay-at-home mom / photographer with no B2B tech sales experience and I should have seen what happened next.

She CRUSHED IT!

We were interviewing for another large hiring class and at that time, I was really involved in the hiring process.

All hands on deck at another startup!

And I was tasked with interviewing this woman who was a single-parent, stay-at-home mom, side-gig photographer.

She hadn't been in sales for 12 years as she was focused on raising her kids. And even then, the "sales role" she had wasn't even B2B sales.

I thought: "Why did this person make it through to the in-person interview?"

But she crushed her interview! 

You see we were interviewing for behavioral characteristics like Coachability, Organization, Competitiveness, Need for Achievement, Optimism and not experience and she had lots of recent stories that demonstrated that she possessed those characteristics.

I made sure we hired her and I'm glad we did. She made President's Club several times!

💡 Learning Lesson: Especially for sales roles at startups, interview mostly for behavioral characteristics that you CAN NOT teach above experience. You'll find diamonds in the rough that others, who are only interviewing for experience, won't find. It will be your competitive advantage. 

Trust me.

What do you think? Does this apply to all sales roles? Even Enterprise?

But if you really want to start hiring A-player salespeople, check out my Interviewing and Hiring Bundle in the the first comment.

99 out of 100 salespeople have common sense. But most policies and rules aren’t written for them.

They’re written for the 1 who either
1) is too stupid even have common sense
or
2) is just smart enough to exploit the gray area.

And that ONE person ruins it for everyone else.

It always sounds like this:

“Well I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to do that...”

Or worse:

“Nobody TOLD me I couldn’t do that...”

Give me a frickin' break. 🙄

This is why we get 14-paragraph HR policies.
This is why companies build a handbook thicker than a Bible.
Not to guide the 99...
No, to make it stupid-simple clear to the 1.

Because when left alone, the 1 becomes a problem child.

They test boundaries.
Twist intent.
Weaponize ambiguity.
Then play the innocent card when caught.

I once had this clever salesperson who was allowed to work from home but when I learned she wasn't working her leads/accounts, HR and I met with her the next day she was in the office

😡 But she claimed she didn't know the different between "Working from Home" and "Out of the Office."

She played stupid because I hadn't made the difference crystal clear IN writing.

And that’s when leaders start writing policies to cover every angle.

Which restricts freedom for everyone else.

So now, instead of trusting the 99, we start managing to the 1.
Instead of enabling high performance, we’re policing edge cases.
Which sucks.

Every leader knows who their 1 problem child is.
And every minute they avoid dealing with their BS
Is another minute you're asking for trouble.

Want to be untouchable at work?

Stop playing the loyal employee game and start building a war chest.

Here are 3 money rules that saved my sanity when I still had a boss:

1️⃣ Six months of cash in the bank. If you can’t disappear for half a year, you’re not free.
2️⃣ Track every expense. Live way below your means. If your lifestyle’s eating your freedom, you’re doing it wrong.
3️⃣ Build a side gig. Something that generates a little bit of something something at first.

You do those 3 things and you'll breathe a sigh of relief.

You stop saying yes to stupid meetings.
You stop nodding along when a new commission plan comes out that you don't like.
You stop fearing layoffs, reorgs, or your CEO's mood swings.

Because now YOU hold the power.

And with ZIRP (Zero Interest Rate Policy) dead and Wall Street breathing down every CFO’s neck, companies are being forced to run real businesses the right way:

🔒 Profitable
🔧 Efficient
📈 Growing

So ask yourself: are YOU running your life like a real Profitable, Efficient, Growing business?

✅ Profitable: Expenses < Income. No excuses.
✅ Efficient: Cut dumb spending. Stack cash. Invest cash.
✅ Growing: Build other income streams. Anything. Something. Learning something new.

If your whole identity is tied to your job, you’re screwed the second it turns on you (not if...when).

Don’t wait.

Because the next round of cuts is already being planned and the people with options won’t beg, won’t cry, and won’t blink.

They’ll just leave and move on.

I've been laid off or fired 3 times in my career and my advice above has saved my bacon every time. And I've quit 2 high paying jobs quickly, with no job in sight when I knew it wasn't going to work out for the long haul.

Takeaway: If you're living paycheck to paycheck, you've let your employer take control over your life. Build the war chest that lets you walk the hell away on your terms.

I once hired a woman who crushed quota but had NEVER played a single sport in her life.

No soccer. No basketball. No volleyball.
But yoga? Oh, she dominated yoga.

She was a “front of the class” type. The kind who could hold poses others fell out of after 10 seconds.

But here’s the kicker.

While the rest of the class focused on breathing and balance...
She was peeking out of the side of her eye to see who was falling down.

She didn’t just want to master the pose just for inner peace.
She wanted to kick the other students asses and win.

But that’s when it hit me.

We keep throwing around this idea of hiring “sales athletes.”

We say bullshit things like:

"Find people who played D1"
"Look for team sports backgrounds"
"Only hire competitive athletes"

But it’s lazy logic.

Competitive doesn’t always look like cleats and sweat.

This woman was one of the fiercest reps I’ve ever hired.
Not because of her athletic background.
But because she had the Drive most reps don’t.

She was calm on the outside.
Cutthroat on the inside.

And she didn’t need a scoreboard to tap into it.

I've seen ex-athletes coast and non-athletes outgrind everyone.
The difference?
Real competitiveness is internal.

The best salespeople I’ve hired?
They don’t always talk the most.
But they are driven to win.

🔥 Lesson: Stop filtering your pipeline for sports. Start filtering for characteristics that you can't teach.

Leave room to be surprised. That’s where the killers hide.

But if you really want to start hiring A-player salespeople, check out my Interviewing and Hiring Bundle in the the first comment.

Every sales leader must HIRE for the "mindset" that they want. But don't be a fool.

You can teach skills, but mindset? That’s a whole different game.

I’ve learned this the hard way.

Every team has a few reps who need coaching.
That’s normal. It’s part of the job.
But when you're expected to be a therapist?
Something’s broken.

Truth is...
You can’t rewire someone who doesn’t WANT to change.
Mindset shifts don’t happen on Slack channels and daily standups and ice cream socials.

No, they happen when someone is open, humble, and ready.

And most people aren’t.

So yes, when you want to effect a big mindshift change on your sales team, roll it out!

Raise the bar. Give the training and coaching to those that are ready to change.

✅ But hedge your bets too.
Start HIRING people who already think the way you need your team to think.

Because trying to coach a salesperson into hunger, ownership, urgency, positivity or resilience...when they don’t even value those things?

Screw that. That’s a fool’s errand.

Mindset is not a module in onboarding.
It’s the foundation people walk in with.
Or they don’t.

And if they don’t?
You’ll spend a lot of time dragging instead of leading.

Lesson I’ve learned?
Train for skills
But when it comes to mindset, hire it.

You'll have a higher probability of success, in my experience.

PS: if you want to improve your changes of making a great salesperson hire, check out my Hiring and Interviewing Bundle in the first comment.

Google asked for my college transcript but I instantly knew I wasn’t getting the job.

They wanted to know my GPA. I gave it to them: 2.685 from UC Davis, class of '94 (If you want to see a screenshot of my transcript, ask me in the comments).

That was the first, and only, time in my 30-year career anyone asked for my grades.

Not when I became a VP. Not when I became a CSO. Not when I ran a 550 person sales team.

I’ve hired hundreds of salespeople (maybe 1000s). I’ve never once checked their GPAs from High School or College.

Why do we act like grades predict success ESPECIALLY in sales?

In my experience, they don’t. Drive does. Integrity does. Grit, effort, continual learning, coachability, taking action...that’s what matters.

Would a 4.0 have changed my career? Maybe I get that job at Google. But I wouldn't trade where I’ve ended up for anything.

💡 Here’s my advice to founders and sales leaders: stop overvaluing academic stats when hiring.

They don’t measure the things that actually help you win.

👀 Look for Drive, Need for Achievement, Competitiveness, Coachability, Continual Learning, Hunger, A bias for action, Self-accountability.

Those are the signals that really matter.

And you won't find those on some dumb transcript. 🎓

PS: If you want to start hiring like a real pro, check out my Hiring Bundle in the first comment.

Every sales hiring manager says the same thing: "We want to hire driven salespeople."

Cool. But what exactly does that mean?

Because in my experience, "driven" isn't on a resume. You can't really see "driven" on a resume. So here's the real question:

🤷♀️ Can you teach a salesperson to be driven?

Short answer: In my experience, with adults, no.

Drive isn't taught. It's uncovered. You find out if they have it already or not.

🟢 You can coach skills.
🟢 You can develop technique.
🟢 You can build confidence.
🟢 But drive? That comes from inside.

It's baked in. It's who someone is when no one's watching.

You want driven? Look for people who:

-Take action even when not being told to act
-Laugh at rejection and move on
-Ask for feedback before you offer it....and then IMMEDIATELY put that feedback into action
-Work their butts off without having to be whipped
-Go the extra mile without being told

You don't teach adults this. Drive is a character trait. It's WHO they are already!

If someone doesn't need the push, they'll probably go further than anyone you constantly have to motivate.

✅ The best reps I ever hired didn’t talk about how driven they were. They showed it.

They were always coachable.
They were always learning.
They continued to persist.

And when I asked where that came from?

It was never training. Never books. Never ME.

👉 It was always internal.

If you’re a hiring manager, stop asking outright if someone is driven.

Start asking them to tell you stories about how they persisted or worked theri butts off or went above and beyond or took initiative or incorporated feedback.

And if you're a rep trying to break out?

Don’t wait to be taught. Start proving it, daily.

Drive shows up in behaviors and real stories, not just words.

Founders, CEOs, Sales Leaders: What's your favorite question to ask to determine if you have a Driven salesperson on your hands?

PS: if you want to step up your Interviewing Skills and make better Sales Hires, check out my hiring bundle in the first comment.

When the CEO gives you massive goals for next year, don’t say:
❌ “We can’t hit that number.”

Say this instead:

✅ “Under what conditions could we hit that number?”

That one sentence changes everything and sends a pretty killer signal to the CEO...

It signals problem-solving instead of resistance.
It opens a door instead of slamming it shut.
And it shows you’re thinking like an owner, not a victim being handed unreachable goals.

I’ve been on both sides of this conversation.
The leader who says “this is impossible.”
And the one who asks, “what would make it possible?”

One shuts down conversations with their closed mindset.

The other starts a great conversation with their growth mindset.

CEOs don’t set easy goals. No. We all know they're crazy AF.

They expect you to test the limits of what's possible

But if you come back with a "now way we're gonna hit that" instead conditions that could exist that will help you hit that goal, the CEO is gonna be giving you the side-eye.

And then they start networking with other sales leaders.

Reframing the conversation with “under what conditions...”
makes you the person who can be reasoned with,
not the person who needs to be replaced.

It shows you’re solution-oriented, not just looking for easy street.

Lesson I’ve learned?
As the VP of Sales, you had better not be the "yes-person" and just agree to everything.
You BETTER challenge your CEO with diverse and divergent opinions.

But if you're gonna just say "there's no way we can hit those goals," instead of saying "under what conditions CAN we hit those goals," why are you even there?

Especially at a pre-IPO tech startup.

PS: if you want to quickly know if your VP of Sales is gonna make it or not, check out my free guide in the first comment.

"I can tell in one conversation if I'm going to hire someone."

Then why do only 30%-50% of your sales hires actually work out?

You can hire better if you stop thinking....

👎 I know what to look for in a sales hire but I haven't written it down

👎 I can hire successfully but I've never read a book on interviewing before.

👎 I'll ask them to "sell me this pen" and that's a good way to assess a salesperson (I saw it in the Wolf of Wall Street movie so it must be credible)

👎 Why would I measure my hiring success rate?

👎 "Do you hate to lose or do you love to win?" is one of my favorite interview questions.

Hiring successfully is a methodical process.

According to TopGrading, "The average mis-hire rate for companies ... is approximately 70% (if you want the source, ask me in the comments)

These aren't the only myths sales leaders believe when hiring salespeople.

But if you really want to start hiring A-player salespeople, check out my Hiring and Interviewing Bundle in the the first comment.

I had this one VP of Sales I worked for tell me to hire salespeople with a "sales personality." Here's what they meant by that:

Hire salespeople that are loud, extroverted and gregarious.

But I learned over time that if you're hiring "loud, extroverted and gregarious" salespeople, you're doing it wrong.

In fact, one time I hired this rep who the quietest salesperson on the sales floor but was also the #1 salesperson.

I could barely hear what this dude was saying to me during the interview. His answers were very brief. Yet his answers were solid and he knew his numbers and his track record of success was demonstrable.

Thankfully several people on the team referred him to me and told me to hire him. But he still went through my difficult interview process. No free rides here.

And I kept thinking 

"salespeople are usually more gregarious"

"salespeople are usually more talkative"

But instead of giving in to the stereotypes we lay on salespeople, I stuck to my hiring benchmark and hired him.

He quickly went on to become our #1 salesperson in no time at all. And I never heard him on the phones and yet he was always on the phones. LOL

Learning Lesson: Don't listen to the stereotypes that you think you have about great salespeople. Create and stick to your hiring benchmark, put the person through the full interview process without premature judgement and look at the whole picture of the candidate.

What are some other salesperson stereotypes us hiring managers should look to avoid applying when hiring salespeople?

But if you really want to start hiring A-player salespeople, check out my Interviewing and Hiring Bundle in the the first comment.

#Sales #Leadership #startups #InsideSales #ExperienceNotOpinions"

I once had to sit in front of HR and explain why I was trying to fire a rep who missed quota six months in a row...

…and HR wouldn’t let me.

Why? Because I made one of the most rookie mistakes a sales leader can make.

And the lesson I learned that day changed the way I lead forever.

Every CEO and Sales Leader thinks they’re clear with expectations.
I thought I was too.
Until HR proved I wasn’t.

I go deeper into this painful (but valuable) story, and two others, in my new Mini-Pod Series: “Sales Leadership Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make.”

🎧 It’s $4.99 and might save you from a $499,000 mistake someday.
👉 Listen today.

The link is in the first comment

Burst Medical Billing

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 '𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲' 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗕 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀
𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀

Your Part B Savings Are
Costing You Profits.

Big B Supply is counting on you
not doing the math.

Let me show you why:
Just 10 residents using
ostomy supplies twice a month.
That's 20 supplies.
At $30 per supply.
$600 per month.
$7,200 per year.

Going straight to your
Part B supplier's pocket.

Now add:
Every wound dressing × $20
Every catheter × $20
Every trache supply × $20

All billable.
All reimbursable.
All padding Big Supply's profits.

Think about yesterday.
How many wound changes?
How many catheter changes?
How many supplies used?

Multiply that by 365.

That's not your supply cost.
That's your revenue they're
banking every month.

Every single:
Wound pad
Catheter kit
Ostomy supply
Trache kit
Enteral kit
Bladder scan

Should be your profit.

Instead, the Big B Supply Giants
are cashing your checks.

You might have heard:
"We get our supplies for free"
"It's too much paperwork"
"Our Part B supplier handles this"

Translation:
"They pocket your profits"
"They want you confused"
"They prefer you in the dark"

Three simple questions:
Do you have long-term care residents?
Are they covered by Medicare B?
Do they use basic supplies?

Yes?

Then the Big B Supply Giants are turning
YOUR care into THEIR cash.

The fix is simple:
- If you don't get paid, neither do we
- No all-staff training required
- Keep your current suppliers
- No upfront costs

Want to know how much of your
revenue they banked today?

Schedule a 10-minute call today

PS. My name is Eric Hansen, 
I've been a LTC operator and vendor for 15 years. 
I plan to help usher LTC into the Intelligence Era but 
first i want every nursing home in the country to 
profit from their Part B supplies. 

Follow for LTC-exclusive content.

OWNER

Chart Star LLC

After an overwhelming outpouring of support, we elected to keep ChartStar alive to help salespeople in the long term care space close more deals. 

This is a unique industry and sales is complex at best.

The first call is free. 

Want to join one of our weekly Masterclass in LTC sales, looking for one-on-one training, DM MASTERCLASS to contact a rep

FOUNDER | BOARD OF DIRECTORS

FakeTie

1 out of every 3 websites designed by freelancers fails. Costing you thousands of dollars up front plus months of wasted resources and lost opportunities!

Fake Tie starts every project with quantitative and qualitative research to find out what your users want. We can't help you achieve your aims without helping your customers.

Website success hinges on planning. User-centric design requires a detailed, research-based approach.

A successful website plan involves uniting the planning with action. Every project starts with an Onboarding Workshop to share expertise and reach consensus.

Then the focus shifts and we create an amazing customer experience using study paired with strategy.

Our UX design is meticulously prototyped, iterated, and tried with real users. This ensures we stay on pace and meet goals by keeping the project user-centric.

You need results fast. Results you can be proud to share. So, you need a partner, not just a web designer!

Fake Tie’s creative talent married to a scientific approach and strategy will transform your underperforming website, win industry-leading awards, and make you the hero!

HEAD COACH | FOUNDER

Quality Medical Imaging

Key Accountabilities:
• Responsible for providing leadership and coaching for 1st & 2nd line managers.
• Relied upon to thoroughly train sales personnel by marrying innovative ideas with data-driven best practices 
• Increase Revenue deploying innovative sales techniques throughout the sales process, including prospecting, discovery, negotiations, & closing.

Key Achievements:
• Building new sales infrastructure from the ground up including hiring, training, pipeline dev and full cycle sales
- Created/launched the organization’s first Sales Training/Enablement program
• Expanded into 4 new states

NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING

TridentCare

Key Accountabilities:
• Responsible for providing leadership to 12 direct report personnel throughout the Wester US Region
• Relied upon to facilitate training/development across subject matter including Sales Theory and Sales Process(es)

Key Achievements:
• Built/launched an inbound sales enablement program that resulted in the team outperforming the next 3 teams combined and was then replicated/implemented by TridentCare to sales teams nationwide
• Leader of the Year Runner-Up (2020); Top CSAT (2020); Best Win/Loss Percentage (2020); Top Sales KPIs (2020); Top Salesperson (2021); Top CSAT (2020); Top 5 Win/Loss Percentage (2020, 2021)

REGIONAL MANAGER OF SALES & MARKETING

Key Achievements:
• Increased market share from 30% to 57% (2015-2017); Top 2 Win/Loss percentage (2015/2016)
• Sales performance and ability to uplift the capabilities of peers resulted in earning a promotion to NW Team Lead
• Implemented updated marketing strategies to earn top division ratings and increase customer base by 25%

KEY ACCOUNTS AND SALES DEVELOPMENT

Senior Sales Manager

Grand Villa Assisted Living

In-house manager of staff and operations
• Scheduling, Personnel Development, Staff Training
• Supply Inventory & Accountability (DMEPOS, Medication, Pharmaceutical)

Qualifed Medical Administration Person (QMAP)

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 '𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲' 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗕 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀
𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀

Your Part B Savings Are
Costing You Profits.

Big B Supply is counting on you
not doing the math.

Let me show you why:
Just 10 residents using
ostomy supplies twice a month.
That's 20 supplies.
At $30 per supply.
$600 per month.
$7,200 per year.

Going straight to your
Part B supplier's pocket.

Now add:
Every wound dressing × $20
Every catheter × $20
Every trache supply × $20

All billable.
All reimbursable.
All padding Big B Supply's profits.

Think about yesterday.
How many wound changes?
How many catheter changes?
How many supplies used?

Multiply that by 365.

That's not your supply cost.
That's your revenue they're
banking every month.

Every single:
-,Wound pad
- Catheter kit
- Ostomy supply
- Trache kit
- Enteral kit
- Bladder scan

Should be your profit.

Instead, the Big B Supply Giants
are cashing your checks.

You might have heard:
"We get our supplies for free"
"It's too much paperwork"
"Our Part B supplier handles this"

Translation:
"They pocket your profits"
"They want you confused"
"They prefer you in the dark"

Three simple questions:
Do you have long-term care residents?
Are they covered by Medicare B?
Do they use basic supplies?

Yes?

Then the Big B Supply Giants are turning
YOUR care into THEIR cash.

The fix is simple:
- If you don't get paid, neither do we
- No all-staff training required
- Keep your current suppliers
- No upfront costs

Want to know how much of your
revenue they banked today?

Schedule a 10-minute call today

PS. My name is Eric Hansen, 
I've been a LTC operator and vendor for 15 years. 
I plan to help usher LTC into the Intelligence Era but 
first i want every nursing home in the country to 
profit from their Part B supplies. 

Follow for LTC-exclusive content.

ERIC HANSEN

If Lawmakers Had to Spend One Night in a Nursing Home, We’d Have Reform by Morning

I don’t know who still believes this system works.

But whoever they are, they’ve never seen a 
caregiver cry in a supply closet because 
the supplies ran out.

they’ve never watched a nurse sprint down a 
hallway because nurses were 
cut to “save costs.”

They’ve never watched an administrator try 
to explain to a family why staffing 
ratios are a “budget issue.”

Everyone talks about innovation. 
About reform. About “rethinking healthcare.”

But nothing changes, because the people making
the rules never have to live under them.

We built a machine that measures everything 
except the people keeping it running.

We buried common sense under policy.
And somehow we convinced 
ourselves this is progress.

I’ll tell you what the problem is… It’s cowardice.
We’ve got a bunch of *beeping* cowards 
running things at the top.

Nobody in power wants to tell the truth out loud
Because they can’t risk losing the next election.

So, they’ll just keep bleeding the system dry 
and then blame the other side when 
there’s no one left to tow the line.

— Eric 🐼

P.S. are you worried about senior care?

——
If you like your health and senior care news equal parts sarcasm and solvency, you’re in the right feed. Follow for heaps of it 🔔

Eric Hansen (“e.h.”) converts Part B supplies into rent money for nursing homes.

Master healthcare before it masters you | CEO & Founder | Speaker | I help nursing homes pay the rent | #1 Senior Care Super Fan

CDC Advises Americans To Limit ER 
Visits To Ones They Can Afford

New campaign slogan
“Dont get sick if you’re poor”

In a bold new public-health directive, 
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
(CDC) is reportedly advising Americans to first 
check their bank balance before dialing 911. 

One senior exec said, “It would sure make things 
easier on us if they just didn’t go to 
the ER in the first place.”

Another commented “it’s really hard to pay for them. Really hard.”

-
Let’s take a second to unpack the 
real world backdrop shall we?

In 2021 there were 107 million treat-and-release 
emergency-department (ED) visits in the U.S., 
racking up $80.3 billion in costs.  

Meanwhile, individuals with lower incomes make 
2.5 times as many preventable ER visits 
than higher‐income patients.  

And if you’re uninsured, one ED visit may push 
you past the threshold of “catastrophic health 
expenditure”. Out-of-pocket costs that 
exceed 40% of a person’s income.  

In other words, the system still 
sucks after 100 years.

If you can’t afford the visit, 
maybe the diagnosis is you’re too poor. 

Ironically, the very thing a good healthcare 
system is supposed to treat.

-
If you like your health and senior care news equal
parts sarcasm and solvency, you’re in the right 
feed. Follow for heaps of it 🔔

Eric Hansen (“e.h.”) converts Part B supplies 
into walking-around-money for nursing homes.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗜 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗚𝗣𝗧 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗷𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀

I don’t talk with families anymore. But I used to.
Back then, I’d sit across from a daughter holding a notepad full of words she couldn’t pronounce. She’d point to one and ask, “What does non-healing stage 3 pressure ulcer with necrotic tissue actually mean?”

The nurse had explained it twice. The doctor had charted it perfectly. But no one had truly 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 it.

Today, I drop that same note into ChatGPT. 
Then I write:

“Explain this to a worried daughter with no medical background who has barely slept in two days.”

What comes back isn’t cold. It’s kind.
“Your mom has a deep sore that isn’t closing yet. The outer part has some dead tissue, but the care team is cleaning it and helping her heal.”

It’s nice to simplify language.
We lose trust when we speak in code. 
AI gives us a second language.

It's a tool for brainstorming a different approach.

-Eric 🐼

P.S. AI won’t replace compassion. 
But it could help us translate it.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴... 
𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝗵**!

We talk a lot about innovation. 
But we still fax. 
Every. 
Single. 
Day. 

(Does Gen Z even know what a fax machine is?)

We have AI that can write clinical summaries, 
but we chase signatures on paper 
that jam in the tray.

We’re short on time but we cling to
keeping broken systems alive.

Because we’re to afraid to be the first.
The risk is too high.

No one wants to say it out loud, 
but healthcare runs on the 
good ‘ol days mentality.

Forms that haven’t changed since the 90s. 
Policies written for a world before Wi-Fi. 

We talk about caring for the future, 
but half our workflow is trapped in the past.

If we want to help the next generation of seniors, 
Maybe need to stop worshiping the crappy old 
machines that built it all.

— eh

P.S. agree or disagree?

No alternative text description for this image

The question every great client asks
and the one that worries me.

It sounds harmless. And usually comes near the end of a meeting. Right after the handshake, before the goodbye.

“𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨?”

It’s the right question. It means they’re thinking long-term. They want to grow. They trust you.
But it still worries me. Because sometimes that question hides another one:

“𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸?”

Which is where things break.
I’ve seen companies chase speed instead of clarity. (Heck, I'm guilty of this). 

More tools. More vendors. More noise. They confuse 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 with 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴.
Every great client eventually asks how to do more. The best ones pause long enough to ask 𝘸𝘩𝘺.

To me, that’s the difference between 
scaling and spinning.

— Eric 🐼

P.S. The best follow-up question I’ve ever heard:
“What could we stop doing if we started X?”

——
If you like your health and senior care news equal parts sarcasm and solvency, you’re in the right feed. Follow for heaps of it 🔔

Eric Hansen (“e.h.”) converts Part B supplies into rent money for nursing homes.

Calling all CPAs.
We’re in the market for a super smart and awesome accounting genius.

DM me if you or someone you know may be interested.

To all my LinkedIn buddies out there. 
Please connect me to people you trust.

We move fast over here, so anyone interested can expect a quick decision.

Thanks a million!

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗻𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗕 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀.

It isn’t the rules. It isn’t the software.
It’s the math.

You need a full-time employee to chase every code, track every item, fix every denial. $50,000 a year in wages. $65,000 with benefits.

And after twelve months of work, most recover $30,000.

They call it “owning their billing.” But what they own is the labor. The noise. The time.
The ROI doesn’t lie. It just whispers: 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘵.

— Eric 🐼

P.S. In Part B, independence costs more than partnership.
DM me for a free estimate and see how much you can make.

Pharma Announces New Side Effect: 
Bankruptcy.

A bold new pill promises relief from 
everything except your credit score.

The FDA called it a “miracle drug.”

And in a way, it is.

It miraculously transfers your 
money to someone else.

The new medication, code-named Lotsadebt™ is clinically proven to relieve mild discomfort and any lingering sense of financial stability. 

In a double-blind study, patients reported feeling “lighter,” though researchers clarified that they were referring to their wallets.

Meanwhile, regulators have decided unpaid medical bills can still affect your credit score. 

A federal judge recently voided the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s rule that would’ve kept those debts off credit reports (Axios, AARP).

Which means your hospital can save your life 
and kill your credit simultaneously.

When asked, a CEO said, “This is a masterclass in efficiency, now two things happen instead of one. Two is more than one. You’re welcome”.

One patient in the trial asked, “Is this in-network?” and was immediately billed $200 for asking questions.

PS. Should medical debt be included on your credit score?


-
If you like your health and senior care news equal parts sarcasm and solvency, you’re in the right feed. Follow for heaps of it 🔔 

Eric Hansen converts Part B supplies into rent money for nursing homes.

The single biggest cause of death 
isn’t what you think.
It’s not cancer.

Not heart disease.
Not accidents, infections, or genetics.

It’s aging.

Every condition we fear
Alzheimer’s, organ failure, arthritis 

is just a byproduct of aging

We treat aging like it’s inevitable 
instead of treatable.

We pour trillions into managing symptoms
and almost nothing into slowing the clock itself.

If a disease killed 100% of humans,
we’d call it a crisis.

But because it happens slowly,
we call it “life.”

Oddly enough,
Aging is the only condition we’ve normalized.
The only one we’ve stopped trying to cure.

(Except for the fringe)

Maybe it’s time to stop calling it “natural”
and start calling it what it really is

the most widespread, 

untreated disease in human history.

CMS Announces New Initiative: 
“Dying at Home Saves Everyone Money”

Finally, a bipartisan solution 
everyone can agree on.

By expiring in your own home, 
you’ll help reduce healthcare costs,

free up hospital beds,and keep 
Medicare solvent for at least 
another fiscal quarter.

“Patriotism,” officials say, 
“starts with personal responsibility.”

-eh 

PS. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps 
and save taxpayers some money!

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗻𝗼 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗪𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱.

Insurance works because of numbers. Many people pay a little so no one pays everything. When people drop out, the math changes. The pool shrinks. The risk doesn’t.

The same bills still come. Hospitals still treat. The cost doesn’t disappear... it shifts.
So premiums rise. Deductibles stretch. And the ones who stayed in pay for the ones who couldn’t.

That isn’t politics. It’s business. But business doesn’t make good speeches, so the idiots at the Capitol talk about anything else.

You don’t need a hearing to know how this ends. Fewer people paying means everyone pays more. It’s simple arithmetic...

the kind they keep failing.

— Eric 🐼

P.S. You don’t have to listen to the folks in Congress.
The math has been telling the truth longer than they have.

——
I help nursing homes get reimbursed for non-DME part b supplies

DM me for a free estimate and see how much you can make.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝘆𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆.

Everyone says compassion heals. 
No one talks about what it costs. 

The system runs on it... stretching every nurse, every aide, every family member past 
the point of recovery.

When someone burns out, 
we don’t fix the system. 

We hire another heart to break.

Caring isn’t the problem. 
It’s the new business model 
built on assuming it never runs out. 

One day, it will. 
One day it will.

-e 🐼

P.S. Compassion isn't a renewable resource. 
Protect it dag nabbit.

taplio

The Battle

Kevin Gaither

ERIC HANSEN

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taplio

The Battle

Kevin Gaither

ERIC HANSEN

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Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Kevin Gaither's LinkedIn Performance

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