Hubspot revenue officer: Accelerate sales with an always-be-helping mentality
NEW YORK–Instead of having the always selling mentality, Mark Roberge, chief revenue officer of Hubspot, suggests having an always-be-helping mentality.
http://www.meetup.com/Enterprise-Sales-Meetup/events/226838352/
Roberge’s sales talk last December 17 at Enterprise Sales Meetup in midtown Manhattan was especially meaningful as it’s not too often you hear someone from a programming background lead sales teams.
The topic, Sales Acceleration Formula, was the same title of his book based on his experience taking a job in sales at Hubspot and coming from a programming background.
“My professional world has been viewed through this lens of data technology and science
And it was that lens that I challenge the norms of traditional sales executions,” he said.
Roberge said he got his first deal in when he was 23. “You have to network your way,” he said as he pointed out the significance of hiring the right people for your business.
He offered several tips on how accelerate sales through his mission of predictable, scalable revenue growth:
- Hire the same type of successful salespeople
- Train the salespeople the same way
- Provide each salespeople with the same quality and quantity of leads
- Have salespeople work the leads using the same process.
For him, the key to success is finding salespeople who have, in order, coachability, curiosity and work ethic. Curiosity is important, especially those who ask questions, because it indicates their genuine interest.
Not many people have a positive response to the word sales but companies know they need it along with marketing, social media and content development. “Read blogs about prospects, follow their Twitter feed and retweet tweets,” he said.
Hubspot hired a journalist from the New York Times as its 20th hire when other companies wait longer. “Try to get (someone with a) journalist mindset,” he said.
Other sales tips:
- Make sure things are clear with sales to avoid infighting
- Have a repeatable playbook
- Think of what the buyer is going through. Then build a, sales process that supports it
- Sales contests are effective but make the team the winner
- Have a unique context to understand inbound marketing
