Carl Ferreira

Refine Labs

+ First Sales Hire
+ Built Sales process and took over selling from Founder
+ Architected sales process to be highly consultative and driven by mutual commitment
+ Enabled sales team to sell new messaging and positioning as well as evolving pricing
+ Metrics/Specific Performance available upon request

Director of Sales

HubSpot

2021
+ Presidents Club
+ Achieved annual number by October
+ Carried my own quota + interim manager in q4 for a sales team without a manager
2020
+ Won Rookie of the Year - Finished over 130% annual number
+ Partnered with Directors to strategize reducing ramp time which was a challenge for the org

Team Lead | Senior Account Executive

+ Pro-actively engage with businesses in the Mid-Atlantic region helping them to build out or evolve their Go-To-Market Strategies

+ Message me if you want to better understand:
 - who your best customers are
 - sharpen your strategic narrative and messaging
 - how to build a revenue process that is predictable, delights your customer, and increases profitability
 - how to increase the valuation of your company to prep for exit

Im open to conversations with growth-minded business owners and revenue leaders.

+2020 President's Club
+2020 Rising Star Award | #1 Rookie Sales rep in the Mid-Market & Enterprise Verticals

Account Executive

Ministry Brands

Enabling Communications/Marketing Directors to engage with their donors, funders, and members more effectively driving growth and awareness.

Senior Account Executive

Journal Communications Inc.

-Field sales rep selling print advertising to businesses including major hospitals, universities, and other community leading businesses.

US Navy

Naval Special Warfare

The Force:
+ Ton of energy
+ Passion | When I find something I want or love I...am..all...in.
+Ambiguity | I love it. Lack of structure and process is an opportunity for me to build. I want more of that!
+ Capacity | I have a ridiculous "capacity" - I can handle a huge amount of stress...absorb huge amounts of information and make sense of it. Do you know how people are always overwhelmed by the "firehose"? I like the firehose and can make sense of it and action it effectively. Quick time to Mastery. 
+ Competency Transfer | I have an uncanny ability to make complex things simple. Whether its software, complex processes, career growth..etc. Simply put...I can transfer competency not just knowledge effectively. 

The Dark Side:
+ I get bored easy
+ I can be long-winded if I'm not focused.
+ I am working on my listening to understand vs listening to reply skills

I love the Slack "huddle" feature and im a notorious cold huddler. I cold huddle folks like Cassidy Shield daily ( he stopped answering months ago).

So I am hereby proclaiming myself as the inventor of the Cold Huddle and I am naming it a C/uddle™. 

Just thought yall should know. Happy Friday

#salesfam #sales #marketing #saas 

 Carl Ferreira

#salefam

One of the positives this recession will bring is a return to Good Sales Coaching as a competitive advantage and a focus on Rep Productivity 

My coaching strategy in 2022 wasnt amazing and im not that proud of it but it honestly probably looks like your coaching strategy..
+ Weekly Deal Reviews with reactive advice
+ sporadic comments left on call transcripts in C.I. software
+ async advice and Q and A

This isnt great coaching. Its Random or Reactive Acts of Coaching (R.A.C.s) Sorry but its not that helpful and RACS don't STAC! ( yes im rhyming now)

I did alot of coaching of the play in 2022..and not enough coaching of the player.

Now its not all doom and gloom. My sales team is made up of 1.25 sellers and we closed won over 8 million dollars and added enormous enterprise value to the business. Thats world class Productivity per Rep and most companies would kill for 1 seller that could produce more than one of their entire teams likely produces. 

But this year im making Sales Coaching a Competitive Advantage for Refine Labs and we are going to see even more explosive growth.

2023 Coaching Plan - high level
+ Coaching the Player and less of the play ( 80/20 )
+ Focusing on 1 high impact skill at a time per rep. They dont graduate to the next skill until mastery is achieved.
+ Taking all the random acts of coaching out of C.I. software comments and spreadsheets and into CoachCRM to help us structure and stack learnings and wins.
+ Weekly deal review - 30 minute call | Manager Reviews notes in CRM before call with rep so rep doesnt repeat themselves | Focusing in on major deal friction points and establishing action items
+ Bi-weekly Player coaching | what skill are we working on | What progress has been made | Proof | Clearing Roadblocks
+ Of course there will be the one of slack stuff as well

When I think about the challenges that face me and my team this year..victory will boil down to 2 things...the quality of our sales conversations which is dependent on the quality of my coaching. 

Just sharing my journey..open to your feedback. Happy New Year #salesfam

#sales #coaching #saas #enterprisesales 

#salesfam Sunday Sales Comp Thoughts

id like to see 2 things come to sales comp that I think might solve some issues. 

1. Residual pay: you close customers that stay for many years? you get paid as well for many years. 
2. Multi year contracts: like an athlete. Sign a 5 year 2 million dollar contract with Clari for instance. 

This would do a few things....
1. Hiring would be more rigorous
2. less churn and burn..that company now has to invest in you. they cant just PIP and fire you. Company has way more skin in the game.
3. Seller cant just become an influencer and change jobs every 6 months. they are locked in..committed. 


Today there is no mutual commitment between sellers and companies. so they both suffer. These 2 changes would transform a sales org. sellers would actually work..and earn life changing money and companies would have more sellers with enormous tenure and experience instead of training a whole new team every 18 months. 

 #sales #team #enterprisesales 

#salesfam

Friday Hot Tip: Before you buy the sales guru course on selling to the #CFO...trying talking to and interviewing your own CFO first.

Business Acumen is acquired through talking to business leaders...not through buying courses. 

Go straight to the source..learn everything you can first....then....if still necessary...you can blow your money on a guru course. 


P.S. im not anti guru course. But I am anti, stupid investments over simple conversations with the people you want to learn more about. 

#enterprisesales #sales 

#salesfam a.i. and chatgpt is cool and all and will likely revolutionize how we work, sell, research, market, buy , etc in the future. 

Don't forget that in the meantime ( and forever ) consistent execution of the boring basics over a long period of time is the catalyst for winning. 

Some boring sh*t that I love to do consistently.. that drives pipeline and closed won revenue

+ Canvasing back through closed lost deals quarterly
+ What customers or buyers that you lost have changed jobs?
+ Texting Customers you closed every once in a while when they experience wins with your team...and when they experience friction with your team.
+ Hey there is lots of great companies visiting my website that never convert! Maybe I should have a plan for those instead of always focusing on ice cold outbound
+ Who converted on the website and never booked a meeting or no-showed? Lets revisit them. 
+ What Dream Customers can I invite onto my podcast to open a relationship with them?
+ What Companies are clearly struggling with marketing as evident from their ads and cold outbound to me that I can just reach out to and offer ideas?

We over complicate sales and marketing. There is typically wods of pipeline and cash just laying "on the floor" waiting to be picked up. 

Master execution of the basics...then layer on top the fancy stuff. 

What basic boring plays would you add to my list?

#sales #marketing #enterprisesales #closingwithcarl 

#salesfam


Ever heard of a Loss Lense™? ( you havent..cuz I just invented it and trademarked it)

If I lost this deal today...what would be the reason?

My favorite question to ask of every single one of my oppys. ^^
As sellers we typically only think through why we are perfect for this buyer and all the ways we win. 

As you grow older and saltier in sales ( like me ) you have a more pessimistic take on your deals. Its not all negative. But having a "Loss Lense™" on all your deals keeps you sharp. 

Ever lost a deal and told your manager "yea that champion was kinda flaky and they weren't a good fit" or lost a deal and all of a sudden all those little feelings and hints and non-verbal Q's made sense?

You ignored the truth.. due to false positivity. You swept that odd little feeling of risk under the rug and didnt take action on it. 

Sellers...trust your inner algorithm. You have been training it for years and years...deal after deal. When you sense something isnt right..pay attention. Your inner algo is way more powerful than Chatgpt, google, or linkedin. 

The best way I have found..to give my slightly salty, inner algo a voice in all my deals is to simply ask "Why would I lose this deal?"

You are forced to now deal with the risk..you have named it. So what action can you take to mitigate it? 

Do it.

#sales #enterprisesales #saas #closingwithcarl 

#salesfam im excited about the buzz around A.I. 

most of it today seems to be focused on copy writing. Not really improving a humans copy but producing some copy faster, optimizing, generating ideas, etc. 

im curious....has anyone seen a compelling use case for A.I. that they believe will materially change or impact sales teams other than copy? 

what tech do u have your eye on? 

 #sales #tech #saas #ai

#salesfam

Lets talk about 1:few outbound. Feels like all the outbound strategies out there are 1:many. 

Erik MacKinnon, Matt Wilbanks, and I are standing up some 1:few Outbound experiments which we will share out when we are done. 

Whats the point of this post?

It's odd to me that all the gifting and 1:few/Outbound Marketing tech vendors all push this a.i., automation, scale..narrative when it comes to their playbooks and tech but that actually really turns me off. 

I want to design a strategy that melts the mind of my future, best fit customers...the last thing I want to do is "scale" that, or automate it, or leave it up to some a.i. to pick a gift? Thats literally the exact opposite of what im trying to do. 

I dont want to scale or automate the first impression with my dream customers. Last thing on my mind. 

I want a legendary strategy that is anti-scale. I want to create preference for meeting with me and working with us. I dont want to create demand or curiosity. I want to go beyond that...deeper...preference creation.

I want my dream clients to feel how unscalable my first impression was/is.

Just my opinion and wanted to share a bizarre paradox that I encountered when digging around and learning more about the space. 

P.S. Totally get that your ACV will dictate what makes sense and which outbound strategies are available to you. 

#enterprisesales #outbound #sales 

#salesfam

Noone likes long sales cycles...but (hot take)....really fast sales cycles are also a red flag to me. 

Why? Commitment from the buyer. The best buyers and customers are committed to exploring, investing, commitment to spending time, building concensus..etc. This is how we qualify deals ^^ 

So when a buyer wants to rip through the sales process it can actually be a sign that they are not commited. Its not worth more of their time to really dig deep and learn and make the right business decision. Its a red flag. Forcing a big considered purchase to be transactional sounds amazing for quota and commission but rarely works out.

Its really hard in these situations for the seller. How do you pump the brakes and do it right? You know this road leads to bad expectations ( because there is no time to set them) and fast churn. 
But again...are you gonna slow down a buyer? Really? How do you do that? Very challenging! 

I dont have all the answers here but here are my tips for this rareish situation. 

1. Remember that you can only control what you can control. If your buyer is dying to buy and doesnt want to go through the sales process...and as far as you can tell you can help them...my opinion is you let them buy. Im not going to totally block a buyer and shut them down. 
2. Be at peace that you set the right expectations given the time you had with the buyer. I will setup, before signing paper work, a final "expectations call" with the buying team and do one final reminder of exactly what we do and what they can expect. Ill let them know "hey we went really fast on this decision..i want to get some things out and make sure we all align". 
3. Over communicate with your internal Customer Success/ Services Team - let them know that details are a bit sparse and that the sales process was extremely fast. Let them know whats coming. 
4. Dont be afraid to Lose it...these deals rarely work out in the long run. 

Advice for Sales Leaders: Dont be jerks. Listen and trust your reps. If they lose deals like this seek to understand instead of beating them up and remember that even though you didnt retire quota...the best decision was made for the company. 

Advice for Buyers: Don't do this. Stop rushing. Slow down. Buying decisions are important and you ruin your internal brand when you rush major purchases. It shows that you are immature as a leader and will erode your credibility. Take your time...do it right. Stop with the constant fire drills. 

#sales #enterprisesales #marketing

Strategic Advisor: Im a value add to the founding team
Cory Bray: Whats the value add?
Strategic Advisor: Just watch this. Youll soon understand 
#salesfam #sales #advisor #saas 

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