MongoDB

Second-line leader responsible for new business sales for the commercial, mid-market, and lower enterprise segments in North America. 

- FY 2024 160% revenue target 
- Increased Employee Engagement from 59% to 84% 
-Rebuilt struggling org (went down to 8 ramped reps) back up to a team of ~40 while simultaneously going from lowest to highest rep productivity globally
- Accomplished the above with fewer than 2 inbounds per AE per year and only one SDR covering my entire org

RVP, Acquisition

Second-line leader responsible for new customer acquisition for the Midwest, Northeast, and Canada regions.

RVP, High Tech Acquisition - Midwest, Northeast, and Canada

Qualtrics

Responsibility increased to oversee all SAAS revenue for all Midwest accounts up to $2 billion in annual revenue as well as all SMB revenue in North America.

Second-line leader working with a phenomenal leadership team that oversees 60+  fantastic Account Executives.

2021 President's Club winner.

Proudest accomplishments of tenure were:

1) Lowest attrition of any sales leader across the company
2) Helping ten individuals achieve their goals of promoting into leadership roles

Regional Vice President of Sales, Corporate Midwest

Building out our new Chicago office. Second line leader responsible for all Customer Experience, Product Experience, and Brand Experience revenue for Midwest accounts up to $1 billion in annual revenue. Qualified for my 4th straight President's Club. All of my eligible direct reports (Sales Directors) also qualified for President’s Club.

Regional Vice President of Sales, Midwest CX

Asked to take on second-line leadership responsibilities to begin building our new Midwest Market Unit for our CX, PX, and BX product lines.

Director, Corporate Sales

I was the #1 CX Sales Manager for FY 2019 (out of 15+). In addition to being the top performing team as measured by revenue over quota, our group also led out in percentage of reps attaining quota as well as employee engagement. President's Club winner.

Senior Manager, Corporate Sales

I was the #1 CX Team Lead for FY 2018 out of 20+ in my cohort. The highlight of this year / role was Q4 when 100% of the reps on my team exceeded quota which gave us momentum into our record breaking 2019. President's Club winner.

Manager, Corporate Sales

- 2017 #1 Account Executive (out of 200+ AEs worldwide)
-  Averaged 157% of quota across five quarters
- President's Club
- I finished the personal quota chapter of my career story at a cumulative 140% quota attainment ($2.15 million in new business bookings on a $1.5 million quota)

Senior Account Executive

Account Executive

Sales Development

Brigham Young University

- Led team that presented findings to director as well as partner level PwC employees
- Gathered and compiled information relating to most efficient practices that laid the groundwork for process changes within the organization

Field Study Intern with PwC - Team Lead

VP at MongoDB | SalesIntroverts.com | Sellers promote faster with my frameworks

I begrudgingly started my career in sales as an SDR at Qualtrics. After realizing there was no way out, I decided I might as well get good at it and qualified for five consecutive President’s Clubs as an AE, front-line leader, and second-line leader. 

When I'm not refreshing Clari and sending passive-aggressive slacks to my teams at MongoDB, I'm building frameworks to help other sellers replicate (and exceed) my success. 

You can view those frameworks and sign up for updates on new projects at SalesIntroverts.com.

The funniest cold call I’ve heard happened because we had a (small) competitor called “Ask Nicely.”

The SDR cold called a guy and gave his mini-pitch and then asked how they were measuring customer experience:

Prospect: “Yeah we’ve got a tool in place for that.”

SDR: “Can I ask what it is?”

Prospect: “Ask Nicely.” 

SDR: *nervous chuckle* “Can I please ask what tool you are using?”

Prospect: 

SDR: 

Prospect:

😂😂😂

Kyle Asay

As an AE, I spent months trying to get into an account at “senior” levels. No one responded.

I started reaching out to entry-level professionals. One agreed to meet.

I could have quickly disqualified them as they were clearly not the right contact. Fortunately, I still decided to run a full discovery.

They gave me insight into a C-Level goal (NPS at 60 by 2021) and a breakdown of internal systems.

Using this information, I created a business case for how we could help them achieve that goal within their current internal systems.

Sent a message to the CEO with the subject line, “NPS to 60 by 2021?” and attached my business case for how we could help. He responded immediately, and we kicked off the evaluation.

Here’s the lesson: stop thinking that initial conversations are only valuable if they convert into an opportunity.

Your first conversation with an account is probably not with your eventual buyer. If you worry only about “converting” the opportunity, you’ll leave the call without being any closer.

Shift your mindset from “how can I qualify an opportunity” to “how can I better learn the value I can add to this company,” and you’ll end up with the strongest opportunities of your career.

Honest job postings would be more fun to read and more helpful for job-seekers:

“Best-in-class training” becomes “we just hired someone to build an onboarding program and she seems pretty bright so we are optimistic.”

“Competitive compensation” becomes “we pay lower than the average in our industry but our 401k is pretty solid and we have an ice cream machine.”

“Great work environment” becomes “only four people have rage quit this year, down 40% since we fired Bob last year.”

"Opportunity for rapid advancement" becomes "Most people don’t last long, so you’ll climb the ladder simply by sticking around longer than six months."

"Dynamic and fast-paced work environment” becomes “You’ll be doing the work of three people because we can’t keep staff and don’t want to hire more."

"Must be able to work under pressure" becomes "The targets are unrealistic, and you’ll be constantly reminded about them."

"Seeking a self-starter" becomes "You’ll get little to no guidance or support, so figure things out on your own."


This would be much better than today where all postings look identical and no one believes them.



h/t to Haris Halkic for a few of these he had added to one of my prior posts!

I was promoted to AE after only 3 months as a part-time SDR, even though I wasn’t good.

Here’s how:

I worked for a startup desperate for AEs, so they promoted SDRs as soon as we knew where the bathroom was.

I definitely wasn’t ready to be an AE, and that’s a big part of why I struggled for two years after the promotion.

SDRs much better than I was have taken a lot longer to earn their AE promotion, because they weren’t in the environment I started in.

Just a reminder to not compare promotion timelines to anyone else:

Their circumstances aren’t your circumstances.

Why this email works:

1) Catches my attention with “how often are you the only woman in the room?”

Definitely had to open this one to see where it took me.

2) Understands my current state

I’ve spent my career in tech, so definitely in a “network of bros.” We’ll just ignore that I’m one of them so as not to screw up a great email. 

3) Personalized 

The sender has seen women RVP High Tech Acquisitions like me eventually shine. 

I also want to shine. Tell me more.

4) Researched 

He has my LinkedIn so I know he knows me. He also has resources to empower me. 

What an incredible combo. 

Unfortunately, the follow-through was poor. I responded and asked him to please review my LinkedIn and then send me the resources as I was very curious. 

He hasn’t responded :(

We asked our CEO what type of cold outreach earns his attention (he gets a TON).

Here’s what he said:


1) Outreach that proves you understand his problems

2) Evidence you work with someone he trusts (internal or external)

3) Specific and relevant proof points

Next cold email you write, ask:

“What problem does this seem to solve? Will my prospect care?”

“Who do we work with that my buyer might know and respect?”

“Does this proof point match the problem they care about?”

And I suspect you’ll set higher quality meetings.

I often receive notes from AEs wanting a job at MongoDB. Let’s break down what they almost all look like and how you can improve your job-seeking outreach.

Here’s an example of what I usually receive:

“I’m interested in speaking with you about the High Tech Account Executive positions MongoDB is hiring for.

I want to apply for the position but wanted to get your insight on the role before applying.

Are you available to talk tomorrow at 10:45am?”


This is what this outreach sounds like to me:

“I think I might want to work for your company. Can you teach me about it so I can decide?”


Instead of putting the “burden” on the hiring manager, try this approach when you are reaching out:

- share what you’ve learned about the company (here’s where I did my research before joining MongoDB https://lnkd.in/gag9DYxe )

- share what you’ve learned about the role

- share why you think you would be a good fit for the role

- have a “low effort” CTA


It might look like this:

“Hey Kyle,

Blown away at the market opportunity I’m seeing for MongoDB. Seems like the growth of AI is an accelerant for your go-to-market.

It also seems like Mongo puts a major emphasis on rep development. Combining a huge market opportunity with dedicated rep enablement is incredibly appealing!

I’d love to walk you through how I’ve led my team in pipeline generation and quota attainment the last two quarters to see if my skill set may be a good fit for your org.

What’s the best way to ensure my application is reviewed by a member of your team?”


This approach takes more time/research, but will help you stand out and make sure you join the right company. 

If I were looking to join a new company today, this is the first place I’d go to start my research: 

https://lnkd.in/gag9DYxe

Last week, an AE in my org sent a six-figure contract that was signed in three minutes.

Never seen a turnaround that fast. 

Didn't even have a chance to ask for updates. 

Never felt so cheated. 

What complete strangers on LinkedIn must think my calendar looks like:


(disclaimer - I’ve also received very thoughtful connection requests that I’m happy to accommodate where possible)

Has anyone else noticed this? Or am I the only one? 


And yes, I'm much more fun on X, so you should join me here: https://lnkd.in/guUAaNMr

Ending my discovery calls by “empowering the no” doubled my win rate for qualified pipeline. 

Here’s what I’d say:

“Based on our conversation today, we might be able to help you improve [outcome]. 

If we continue the conversation, we’ll go deeper into how we drive that outcome through [use case].

The last thing we want to do is waste either of our time pursuing a non-priority. 

Is [outcome] enough of a priority to warrant more discussion?” 


If my discovery hadn’t found a significant priority, I’d rather end the conversation after one call than lose the deal after six. 

Giving the customer an easy out ensured I only continued conversations with people that felt we could help them solve a big problem. 

And solving big problems led to big win rates.

Ten SaaS sales realities I’ve learned the hard way:

1) If you only hear good news, you are losing the deal. All deals have risk. Champions share risk. No risk shared means no champion. No champion means you lose.

2) The longer it takes to close a deal, the longer your buyer has to realize they are ok without your solution. No velocity, no deal.

3) Solving a problem doesn’t win deals. Solving THE problem does. Every exec has hundreds of fires burning - they only pay money and spend time to stop the fires that threaten to burn the whole thing down.

4) More people constantly getting added to the evaluation committee isn’t often a good thing - it means nobody wants to take ownership of the decision.

5) Your buyers spend most of their calls with you multi-tasking. If you don’t quickly capture their attention and keep them constantly engaged, your calls are a waste of time.

6) No one believes your ROI projections. If the business case isn’t in your buyer’s language with their numbers, it’s not taken seriously.

7) Buyers are biased against sellers. Any time you sound the same as other sellers, you strengthen that bias. If you want to win, learn to sound different.

8) You can’t create compelling events (end-of-quarter discounts don’t count). The only consistent way to accelerate deals is to make the buyer’s status quo unbearable.

9) A poorly run deal with a strong executive connection beats a well-run deal with no executive connection. If you have a six or seven-figure deal, and you’re not talking to the C-Level, you’re going to get blindsided by the competitor that is.

10) There is nothing more important to cover at the end of the call than selling next steps. Much better to skip agenda items and align on next steps than to finish the agenda and take next steps “offline.”

What’d I miss?

I’m going to have to completely change my leadership strategy if this law impacts all of North America.

Instead of sending, “Any updates on your deal?” after work hours I’m going to have to send, “Any updates? This is an emergency.”

Leadership is all about keeping up with new rules/trends. 

And I’m up for the challenge.

Time kills deals. To improve deal velocity, shift your mindset away from “our average deal cycle is 3-5 months” to “our average deal cycle is 5-7 decisions.”

I’ll teach you how in two minutes. 

p.s. My best video content will be going on YouTube every week - subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/gVC8v6Yx

As a new AE I'd get excited when my prospect listed their requirements and we met them all.

"We can do ALL of that!" I'd think.

I'd show them the demo, commit the deal to my manager (after all, I showed them all the things), and prepare the proposal.

Then, I lost deal after deal with my prospect saying, "Your competitor also meets our requirements and they cost 40% less."

The problem with buyer requirements is they are basic.

The problem with basic is all of your competitors offer the same.

The problem with all competitors offering the same requirements is it becomes purely about price.

So, unless you sell the cheapest product, you lose.

Everything changed when I learned a technique called "trap-setting."

In it's most basic form, trap-setting is influencing your buyer's requirements to include your product's differentiators.

Done right, it disqualifies your competition because your buyer understands their success is best met through capabilities unique to your solution.

Here's how to run this play:

1) Define your differentiators

Identify your differentiators across three types:

- Unique (features only you provide)

- Comparative (features you share with the competition that you do better)

- Holistic (company advantages, e.g., more engineers which lets you innovate faster)

2) Defend your differentiators

For unique differentiators, you’ll need to defend why your company took a different approach than the competition and the value it will bring your customer.

For comparative, you must define why it’s better and matters.

For holistic, establish why these advantages would give your customer peace of mind (think: how does this de-risk our solution?)

You should introduce unique and comparative differentiators early in the sales process.

Here’s one way to introduce on a discovery call after your customer describes one of their required capabilities:

“Many customers that require [insert customer required capability] also require [insert unique or comparative differentiator]. 

They’ve found that without that capability they [insert negative consequence].”

Holistic differentiators are best at the end of the deal cycle. Use them to give your customer confidence they are partnering with the right company, not just purchasing the right product.

Effective trap-setting takes preparation and planning, but few things in sales are more fun than disqualifying your competition from consideration.

You’d be sick if you knew how many of your hard-fought deals ended with a 30-second conversation between your champion and their boss.

“Sounds interesting, but this isn't a priority right now.”

Here are two questions to ask your champion to see if they are ready to sell:

1) How would you summarize the value of our solution for you and your team?

If they don’t have a good answer to this question, they aren’t going to try very hard to sell internally.

2) How would you summarize the value of our solution to your company?

If they don’t have a good answer to this question, they won’t be very convincing when they try to sell internally.

Want to learn how to both motivate AND enable your champion? Take 3 minutes to read this: https://lnkd.in/gmJs2hn2

As a new leader, I felt validated when my people had success because of my involvement:

- Getting shoutouts for helping close big deals
- Being told, “We couldn’t have done this without you”

Now, I love nothing more than seeing success without my involvement:

- Winning deals where I never met the customer
- Hearing, “We handled this because of what we learned from you”

My goal for every role I take on is to enable my people to the point where they no longer need me.

If they no longer need me, I’ll either get fired or promoted.

So far, it’s worked out well.

Leaders: shift your mindset from “be so valuable that my team can’t function with me”

to:

“Make my team so valuable that they can succeed without me”

and watch your career take off.

“People hate being sold, but... please follow a rigid sales process that makes people feel like they are being sold."

Yikes.

IMO, this is the biggest misalignment in sales.

Look, I get it. I empathize with companies trying to build sales orgs. Process scales and scale is necessary.

Unfortunately, most scalable processes are built for the lowest common denominator.

And top performers don't excel by following those processes better than their peers.

The good news is that you can take the sales process you are taught and adapt it to become a top performer.

Here's one simple tweak to get you started:

Stop thinking, "How do I get my buyer to the next step in the sales process?"

Start thinking, "What does my buyer need from me to get to the next stage in their buying process?"

Sure, this may mean you give pricing before discovery. Could mean you show a bit of a demo on the first call.

Supporting your buyer on their journey may lead to "breaking" all sorts of rules.

But I'd rather break some rules and win instead of following the rules and lose.


Shameless plug: I’ve been obsessed with flexible frameworks ever since I spent two years failing as a seller while following a rigid sales process.

Moving from process to frameworks helped me become the top AE.

Teaching frameworks instead of process helped me promote to VP.

Now, over 3,200 sellers are promoting faster by implementing my Frameworks in their sales motion.

Whenever you are ready, you can join them at hitmyquota.com


If I started at a company and knew nothing about my buyers I’d use these three ChatGPT prompts to:

- Identify who to target
- Understand what they care about
- Instantly get serviceable messaging 					

Here they are:						

Prompt One (identify target personas):		
				
“I sell [insert use case] technology to companies. These are the outcomes we provide:		

1) [Outcome one] 
2) [Outcome two] 
3) [Outcome three] 
4) [Outcome four]

What departments within companies should I target for my sales outreach?”
						

Prompt Two (what personas care about, what they are doing, how we help):

“For each of those departments, please summarize below points. Return the data in tabular format, with the below points as column headers. Each department will have its own row. Here are the points to summarize:		
				
1) What individuals in each department care about as it relates to business outcomes
2) How individuals in each department spend their time to achieve business outcomes
3) What individuals in each department often struggle with to achieve those business outcomes 4) How the solution I sell may be able to help individuals in each department”						


Prompt Three (example messaging):			
						
“Now, let's write four prospecting emails: one for each department. Here's the outline to follow when writing each email:

1st sentence needs to evoke emotion from the recipient by describing a painful problem they are currently facing that our solution can solve.
						
2nd sentence needs to describe how they are likely trying to solve that problem and why it may be insufficient.						

3rd sentence needs to describe how our solution could solve the problem presented in sentence 1 better than how they are trying to solve it as described in sentence 2.						

4th sentence needs to ask if they are interested to learn more about how we could help. 

Each email needs to be fewer than 150 words and written at a 5th grade reading level.”

Download this full prompt guide (no cost) here: https://lnkd.in/gH5UPA-7

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