Branch

Commercial Account Executive

Meeting Quota Results:
December 2022 - February 2023: On ramp
March 2023: 135% Quota Attainment
April 2023: 110% Quota Attainment
May 2023: 160% Quota Attainment
June 2023: 120% Quota Attainment
July 2023: 100% Quota Attainment
August 2023: 180% Quota Attainment
September 2023: 100% Quota Attainment

SQO Quota Results:
Q1 2023: 233% Quota Attainment
Q2 2023: 133% Quota Attainment
Q3 2023: 143% Quota Attainment

- Winner of the Branch "Kindling Award" for Q2 2023, given to one person for continually going above and beyond to motivate, engage, and challenge their peers

Sales Development Representative

8STR8

Private Membership Community for High-Performing Tech Professionals looking to level up in their career and health.

Member

Modine Manufacturing Company

•	Sought out and quoted new business for strategic customers
•	Managed the relationship with Modine’s largest North American customer
•	Negotiated mutually beneficial contracts and pricing with the customer
•	Lead the commercial side of the project management process for incremental and replacement business
•	Created and tracked sales forecasts for customers for which I was responsible
•	Delivered sales presentations internally to management and externally to customers
•	Developed and executed short and long-term customer business development strategies 
•	Created a detailed pricing model in Excel for quoting our custom-engineered technology products

Key Account Manager I

Successfully negotiated a $5.1M price increase with Modine's largest NA customer, resulting in me skipping Account Manager III and being promoted right to Key Account Manager

Account Manager II

Account Manager I

•	Worked with Engineering team (Application, Manufacturing, and Product) on program quotes and commercial strategy
•	Performed detailed pricing analysis of custom-engineered products
•	Engaged in price negotiations with customers with the goal to achieve maximum profitability for Modine while maintaining a good working relationship with the customer
•	Performed detailed analysis of the off-highway vehicular market and forecast future sales for these customers
•	Assisted the operations group with matters pertaining to customer delivery and customer quality

Account Manager - Entry Level

Geneva National Resort & Club

Assisted golfers and other customers in various ways including preparing golf carts for use, washing golf clubs, carrying golf bags, and providing information among other things.

Player Services

Snap Fitness 24/7

Duties included customer service, signing up new members, equipment maintenance, and basic bookkeeping.

Assistant Club Manager

Bear Property Management, Inc.

Tended to various properties within the portfolio of Bear Real Estate Group. Some responsibilities included gardening, mowing, and property upkeep.

Grounds Maintenance

AE @ Branch | SDR to AE in 10 months | Helping newbies break into tech sales | Helping SDRs crush quota and promote to AE

I currently work as an Account Executive at Branch.io (based in Palo Alto, CA) where I focus on closing deals with commercial accounts. 

I use LinkedIn as a platform to document my journey and learnings in sales, with the intent of helping newbies get jobs in tech and helping SDRs make the jump to AE.

My sales background before I moved into tech was in key account management at Modine Manufacturing, focusing on enterprise customers in the automotive and heavy duty equipment sectors. 

I was in charge of the largest customer in all of North America (Fortune 500 farming and construction equipment company), negotiated several seven-figure deals, and was promoted 3 times in 3 years (including a double promotion), all while simultaneously getting my graduate degree in Management from the University of Illinois, finishing with a 3.89 GPA. 

My obsession with competitive greatness is what has gotten my this far and what will continue to propel me forward. 

I have a lifelong commitment to continual learning and self-improvement both in my personal and professional life. 

My three greatest values are impeccable integrity, unwavering self-discipline, and commitment to serving others. 

I make a concerted effort to act according to these values on a daily basis as they are what I use to measure and define success for myself.

If you've been missing quota lately,

Remember this:

Your job has nothing to do with your value as a human being.

Realize this and you will find strength in the hard times.

It's ESSENTIAL to separate your job from your identity.

Your work is not your worth!

Tyler Hickey

Sales is full of paradoxes. 
 
For example: 
 
 
The people who like sales, 
 
Are the people who are good at it. 
 
But you typically only like it if you're already good at it. 
 
And nobody is good at anything in the beginning. 
 
That means that you probably won't like sales or be good at it when you first start. 
 
This is why most people drop out early. 
 
The SDR role is a weed out position. 
 
They're searching for the people willing to stick it out. 
 
People who are willing to suck at something they don't like for a while because they see the opportunity for a brighter future. 
 
 
The lesson: 
 
If you're an SDR, 
 
Keep grinding. 
 
Push through. 
 
These are the hardest days of your career, 
 
But it gets exponentially better as you become more experienced.

As many of you know,

I'm a MASSIVE education guy.

I check out new sales content pretty much daily and am constantly updating my list of favorites.

I thought I'd provide an updated list since the last one I posted was more than 6 months ago.

Enjoy 👇 


🎤 PODCASTS:
-30 Minutes to President's Club with Nick Cegelski, Armand Farrokh, and Jen Allen-Knuth
-The Game with Alex Hormozi

📕 BOOKS:
-MEDDICC by Andy Whyte
-Gap Selling by Keenan .
-Outbound Sales, No Fluff by Rex Biberston and Ryan Reisert
-The JOLT Effect by Matt Dixon and Ted McKenna
-Selling With by Nate Nasralla
-How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
-Never Split the Difference by Christopher Voss
-Influence by Dr. Robert Cialdini

📈 COURSES:
Natoli's Nuggets by Anthony Natoli
All of Kyle Asay's courses and frameworks
All of Brian LaManna's courses
The Badass B2B Growth Guide by Josh Braun

🚀 COMMUNITIES:
Holistic Sales Co. created by Kyle Willis and Jc Pollard

🖊 LINKEDIN CREATORS:
Follow all the folks I listed above as well as
Cipriano Martins
Mike Gallardo
👩🏻‍🏫 Krysten Conner
Brandon Fluharty 🐝
Salman Mohiuddin
Haris Halkic
Christian Krause
Cait Kennedy 🏳️‍🌈 🥄 
💜 Will Allred
Ronen R. Pessar
Doron Luder
Jamal Reimer
Samantha McKenna
Chris Orlob
Dan Drucker
Ian Barker
Ian Koniak
Joey Gilkey
Kevin "KD" Dorsey

P.S. Apologies to all the people and content I missed (there's a lot). I could go on doing this forever 😁 

Not getting cold email responses? 
 
Here's why: 
 
 
1. Your list isn't well vetted (the list 𝘪𝘴 the strategy) 
 
2. Your subject line is too long and screams "sales pitch" 
 
3. You're using complex jargon and hard to understand language 
 
4. You're just talking about your product 
 
5. You're using more than 50 words 
 
6. You don't understand what problems you solve 
 
7. You're writing big blocks of text that requires too much work to read 
 
8. You're "spraying and praying" rather than doing real research 
 
9. You're asking for a meeting in your CTA 
 
10. You're not following up enough 
 
 
Fix these problems and I can pretty much guarantee you'll get more replies. 
 
What am I missing?

How can I avoid using complex jargon in my emails?

How can I improve my follow-up strategy for cold emails?

You can call.

You can email.

You can send videos or meet over zoom.

You can even send direct mail or handwritten letters.

But still,

NOTHING beats real, in-person conversations.

It's how human beings are programmed to communicate,

And was the source of most human communication until very recently (from an evolutionary standpoint).

Last week I attended MAU (Mobile Apps Unlocked) Vegas, which is the premier event in the mobile app industry.

I met some amazing people, learned a ton, and got to better know many of my colleagues.

The lesson:

Meet people face-to-face as often as you can!

P.S. I'm terrible at taking pictures, but here's a selfie of me and AE brother Tilden Berriman as we man the booth. It's the only pic I took all week!

My longest cold call ever lasted 25 minutes. 
 
It's my all-time favorite sales conversation. 
 
By the end of the call, the prospect sent ME a meeting invite,  
 
It was for a full hour,  
 
AND the person added two colleagues. 
 
There were multiple landmines I had to navigate. 
 
What did I learn? 
 
2 things: 
 
 
1️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 
 
They want to know what their prospect cares about deeply.  
 
Don't just pitch your product and it's benefits.  
 
Be genuinely curious about the prospect and ask questions.  
 
Don't just try to get the meeting and get off the phone.  
 
Dig deeper.  
 
Ask the why, not just the what.  
 
Active listening is one of the most important sales skills. 
 
 
2️⃣ 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲 
 
The longer the conversation goes,  
 
The more likely you are to book a meeting. 
 
Simple as that. 
 
 
What's your longest cold call conversation? 
 
Let me know in the comments 👇

Most people hate cold calling.  
  
And I get it.  
  
It's not fun when a prospect kicks you in the teeth.  
  
The fear of this result makes the whole activity uncomfortable.  
  
But...  
  
It's still an incredible channel for prospecting.  
  
And it's not just about booking meetings.  
  
It's also about getting information, referrals, and other nuggets that you can use later.  
  
Talking to someone on the phone is often the first step in breaking into an account.  
  
But here's the secret to success:  
  
You have to genuinely believe that you can help the person on the other line.  
  
That's where it all begins.  
  
If you don't have this,  
  
You'll never see results from the phone.  
  
Why?  
  
Because you'll eventually give up and stop dialing.  
  
The fear of cold calling is rooted in feeling like you're calling the person to sell them something.  
  
That's the wrong mindset.  
  
And it makes getting kicked in the teeth not seem worth it.  
  
How about telling yourself this before you dial:  
  
"I'm going to try to help this person solve their problem."  
  
That mindset shift is the difference between success and failure.  
  
It's what makes you keep going on bad days,  
  
And what makes you feel like a million bucks on good days.  
  
The last thing I'll add here:  
  
Cold calling is a zero-risk activity.  
  
The worst thing that can happen is you still don't have their business,  
  
And they don't need you to help solve their problem.  
  
It's not that bad of an outcome when you think about it.  
  
Always remember that.

10 reasons why cold calling may not be working for you: 
 
 
1. Your opener makes you sound untrustworthy 
 
2. You pitch before building rapport 
 
3. You're calling the wrong people (the list 𝘪𝘴 the strategy) 
 
4. Your connect rate is terrible (not always your fault, but you need to do all within your power to drive the connect rate up, such as properly prioritizing good numbers) 
 
5. You're talking too fast 
 
6. You're using too many sales buzzwords and jargon 
 
7. You have a nervous tone that includes excessive upward inflection 
 
8. You use a different opener on every call, preventing you from getting good at any of them 
 
9. You're clearly reading from a script and sound like a robot 
 
10. You're not calling enough (this is the number 1 problem 80% of the time) 
 
 
What am I missing?

The quickest way to earn your prospect's trust? 
 
Establish yourself as a subject matter expert. 
 
This was one of the top differentiators for high performers in the study done for the 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘑𝘖𝘓𝘛 𝘌𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵. 
 
I mean, put yourself in the prospect's shoes: 
 
 
You jump on a discovery call with a salesperson you've never met. 
 
You know they're trying to sell you something, 
 
So you're naturally skeptical. 
 
However, it's immediately obvious that they know WAY more than you about this particular subject. 
 
They've evidently seen the problem you have many times and have already teased a few different ways of solving it. 
 
This is a person you now want to learn more from. 
 
 
Building a real relationship with your prospect takes a while. 
 
Personal trust is something that's established over time through lots of interactions. 
 
But if you want to get them trusting you on a particular subject ASAP, 
 
Show them that you understand the subject (and, therefore, their problem) on a very deep level. 
 
This will have them coming back to you again and again to solve their problems related to this matter.

Great sellers ask great questions.

Not just to impress the buyer,

But to identify if there's a mutual fit between the two companies.

When you're interviewing for a job,

You're selling yourself.

And asking great questions is the only way you'll be able to determine if the role is worth pursuing.


Here are my 5 favorite questions to ask for this purpose:

1️⃣ What % of reps are hitting quota?

2️⃣ How is the team goaled (SQLs? Meetings? etc.)?

3️⃣ Who are your main competitors and what would you say sets you apart from them?

4️⃣ Can you describe the culture of the sales org and of the company in general?

5️⃣ What kind of professional development opportunities are available to make sure your employees are successful?


If you don't feel comfortable with the way they answered any of these questions,

That's a red flag.

And don't be a afraid to dig.

Seek out red flags.

It's better to identify them early so you don't get burned.

And if you want to start filtering out companies before you even get to the interview, check out this resource: 

https://lnkd.in/gYN4_SfN

Wanna get promoted to AE? 
 
Here's my best advice 👇 
 
You need to run calls. 
 
As many as you can. 
 
If you're already hitting quota, 
 
Your ability to run calls is what will put you over the top as a candidate. 
 
And these don't even have to be customer calls. 
 
You may not have an AE that will let you take the lead on customer meetings. 
 
If that's you, 
 
Schedule a mock call with a different person in your org every week. 
 
This will get you used to different personalities, objections, and will also get people talking about your commitment to getting better. 
 
Yes, I know mock calls suck, but they're absolutely necessary if you want to stand out. 
 
While I dreaded every single one I did, 
 
My experience doing mock calls is one of the biggest reasons I was promoted. 
 
When the time came for my final presentation, 
 
I was ready. 
 
At the end of the day,  
 
Doing the job is what is going to get you the job.

"Let the prospect do most of the talking, while you do most of the listening." 
 
You see this advice everywhere. 
 
It's sales training 101 these days. 
 
But is it good advice? 
 
Recent data makes me question it. 
 
According to 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘑𝘖𝘓𝘛 𝘌𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵, which is the result of one of the most comprehensive sales studies ever done, 
 
Sales reps talked 58% of the time in won deals, 
 
And only 52% of the time in lost deals. 
 
Now, WHAT reps are saying in these conversations is obviously incredibly important. 
 
And this doesn't mean that you should talk the whole time instead of listening to your prospects. 
 
Active listening is still an important part of great selling. 
 
What they concluded in the book, 
 
Is that subject matter expertise is valuable. 
 
And if you have it, 
 
You shouldn't shy away from sharing it. 
 
Prospects value the opinions of those who know what they're talking about. 
 
So the lesson isn't that you should talk more on calls. 
 
It's that you should become an expert in the field that you sell into. 
 
THAT is what gives you the right to talk more on calls. 
 
At the end of the day, 
 
It all comes back to adding value to the prospect.

Tech is recovering from a recent slowdown, 
 
But there are still lots of open SDR jobs. 
 
Why is this? 
 
 
1️⃣ It's very important 
 
SDRs and BDRs are the lifeblood of revenue teams.  
 
Everything starts at the top of the funnel. 
 
If you can't break into accounts, 
 
You can't close deals. 
 
With so many companies having dry pipelines, 
 
They need folks to fill it back up. 
 
 
2️⃣ It's tough to find qualified talent 
 
Identifying these folks is another problem entirely. 
 
It's not like there are college graduates with pipeline generation as their specialty. 
 
They usually have to find people that they like, 
 
And then train them how to do the job. 
 
This means that if you can already do it, 
 
You have a massive advantage. 
 
 
So, what should you do? 
 
Educate yourself. 
 
Read books. 
 
Listen to podcasts. 
 
Get active on LinkedIn. 
 
Figure out how to do the job. 
 
And then: 
 
 
DO the job to get the job. 
 
Reach out to hiring managers and recruiters. 
 
SHOW them what you've learned. 
 
A lot of people do the education piece. 
 
But most don't put it into action during the hiring process. 
 
Do this, 
 
And you'll move yourself to the top of the list very quickly.

If you're trying to break into tech sales, 
 
Leverage your previous experiences. 
 
Here's what I mean: 
 
 
Say you're an SDR hiring manager for a company that sells finance software. 
 
You have one candidate who was a financial analyst and the other who worked in health care. 
 
Who would you rather hire? 
 
The financial analyst of course. 
 
They understand the world you sell into. 
 
Now, obviously there are many other factors that go into hiring, 
 
But you need to take any advantage you can get in this game. 
 
The riches are in the niches. 
 
If you know a specific niche,  
 
You're going to have the upper hand over those who don't. 
 
 
So. 
 
Stop sending random applications to companies you know nothing about. 
 
Instead, get very targeted. 
 
Reach out to hiring managers at companies where you can directly apply your experiences. 
 
Your chances of getting hired will go up significantly.

The best salespeople are always learning.

But information can only take you so far.

I posted a list of my favorite educational resources yesterday.

But here's the thing:

If you don't execute on the knowledge you've acquired,

You haven't actually learned anything.

Real learning requires behavior change.

So make sure to evaluate whether or not you're actually taking action on your newfound knowledge,

Or if you're just doing the same things and using knowledge acquisition to justify to yourself that you're making progress.

Execution is the key!


P.S. Here are some of my favorite sales educational resources in case you missed my post yesterday: https://lnkd.in/gvNf2bVq

How can behavior change lead to real learning?

Why is execution important for real learning?

How can knowledge acquisition be used to justify lack of progress?

"Don't build confidence."

"Build evidence."

"Confidence comes as a result of evidence. Not the other way around."

"Confidence without evidence is delusion."

- Alex Hormozi


This perspective totally changed the way I think about confidence. 

But it's very rational if you think about it.

How do we determine if something is true?

We compile the evidence that allows us to conclude that it's true.

When I first started in sales, I had no confidence in my abilities.

I tried to fake it.

What I realize now is that having no confidence at something that I haven't had success at yet is perfectly okay.

Why would I be confident?

There's no evidence to indicate that I should be.

The key early on is to start building that evidence.

This requires hard work.

You have to work harder than the people who already have the evidence.

Alex calls this "outworking your self-doubt."

Once you do that, your confidence starts increasing.

Which helps you build more evidence faster.

Then you get even more confident.

And it keeps compounding and you start seeing exponential returns.


The lesson of all this?

Don't build confidence.

Build evidence.

The confidence will then come along for the ride.

Hard truth: 
 
Promotions can get political. 
 
The most qualified person doesn't always get the job. 
 
Instead, it usually goes to the person who 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 the most qualified. 
 
And to hiring managers, 
 
The people that seem the most qualified are those they like and are most familiar with, 
 
As well as candidates who other people in the company recommend. 
 
What does this mean? 
 
It means that if you want to get promoted from SDR to AE, 
 
You need to develop an internal personal brand. 
 
Build relationships with as many AEs as you can. 
 
Make sure they know your end goal and show them why you're a great fit. 
 
Do the same with their bosses and, of course, your future manager. 
 
Have periodic 1:1s with these people. 
 
Figure out how you can add value and help them. 
 
Then when the time comes, you'll be top of mind and have a big advantage as the evaluation process begins.

One-third of your life is spent at work. 
 
Maybe even more. 
 
I remember this whenever I feel like slacking off on the job. 
 
Why? 
 
Because if I'm failing in my job, 
 
I'm failing in one-third of my life. 
 
And to me, that's unacceptable. 
 
My mental health suffers, 
 
And it creates a spillover effect to other areas of my life.  
 
So. 
 
Do the work. 
 
Give your best effort every day. 
 
It's so much more rewarding that way.

An underrated prospecting tool? 
 
Outreach Tags. 
 
You don't hear people talk about them much, 
 
But they're critical for bucketing your leads. 
 
I especially like to use them for cold calling. 
 
I have 4 tags I use religiously in this regard: 
 
1. Connect Validated Number 
2. Valid Number 
3. Questionable Number 
4. Invalid Number 
 
If you do this for a while, 
 
All you have to do is run a quick tag filter and you'll have a big list of valid and connect validated numbers you can call at any time. 
 
Also, there's often more than one number attached to the prospect. 
 
In that case, you can either use more than one tag or just use whatever tag you think would be most useful to filter for later (for me that's validated and connect validated). 
 
So if you're trying to get more efficient in your prospecting, 
 
Start taking advantage of Outreach Tags.

There are 5+ million sales reps nationwide. 
 
And over 100 million globally (conservatively). 
 
And yet most business schools don't offer sales as a major. 
 
This is absolutely mind-blowing to me. 
 
Sure, they have usually have marketing, 
 
But it's not the same thing. 
 
Sales is 1 to 1. Human to human. 
 
Marketing is 1 to many. 
 
The skillset is completely different. 
 
Is sales just not academically interesting enough? 
 
If that's the reason why, then the needs of the professors are being put before the needs of the students, which is major educational malpractice. 
 
Do they think it has a bad reputation (snake oil salesmen, etc.)? 
 
Well, I would think a good educational system would take control of changing that reputation rather than casting it to the side to make schools look more "prestigious". 
 
Regardless of the problem's cause,  
 
I think that the failure of the formal education system to educate sellers is one of the biggest reasons why we see so many fail. 
 
It's also a big reason why online entrepreneurial sales education businesses have flourished. 
 
The demand is there, so someone has to provide the supply. 
 
Maybe one day business schools will figure it out. 
 
But until then, 
 
Take control of your own education. 
 
Soak up as much knowledge as you can via coaching, courses, books, videos, and (of course) LinkedIn content. 
 
The best sellers have mental models in their head learned from years of self-education. 
 
Like interest, knowledge compounds. 
 
The fact that you're reading this LinkedIn post means you've got a great start. 
 
Now just keep going.

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