GE 267: CommercialTribe Cofounder Paul Ironside on Lessons Learned from Providing 40,000 Sales Call Assessments (podcast)

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

• [00:42] Before we jump into today’s interview, please leave a review and rating and subscribe to the Growth Everywhere Podcast!
• [01:28] Paul likes to say he was born and raised a gardener; an individual contributor turned sales manager.
• [01:55] He has built and scaled businesses over the last 20 years.
• [02:05] CommercialTribe was originally built on the premise that B2B sales execs advance sales cycles based on their ability to articulate a value proposition to a prospect or customer.
• [03:15] They did a flagship Hubspot study. They came in to help their sales team understand how to be effective one-on-one.
• [05:32] You can record inside CT or upload a webinar and practice your pitch.
• [05:56] Someone will then provide feedback on your practice sales call.
• [06:25] They will provide assessment results to the sales manager.
• [06:43] CT is a SaaS-based technology. He would also say they keep more humans in the loop than AI tech.
• [07:00] They often work with large multinational companies and charge per user per month.
• [07:21] The range is $20-25/user/month.
• [07:40] There is no minimum, but they typically work with businesses who have at least 100 employees.
• [08:48] They have done close to 40,000 assessments of sales calls to date.
• [10:40] Paul has personally built up a network of sales professionals.
• [11:35] You will run into a consensus-based environment when selling to the Global 2000.
• [12:15] CT lectures sales managers about how to more effectively manage their teams.
• [13:15] As an entrepreneur, don’t outsource. Pick up the phone and figure out a way to solve your own problems.
• [13:48] You have to find creative ways to get in front of the people you need to see.
• [14:48] It’s important to always identify your target market.
• [15:18] Salesloft has helped them deal with their BDR’s.
• [15:30] Salesforce and Hubspot are also tools that help CT succeed on the daily.
• [17:30] One big struggles they faced at CT, is the question about when to scale.
• [17:53] Paul has considered this particular question one of his biggest learning experiences.
• [18:20] CT’s strength is in selling.
• [18:50] However, it took them a while to realize they didn’t really have a market fit.
• [19:15] Paul realized they really need to be in the workflow of the front line manager.
• [19:35] If the front line manager is not modeling the behavior you would expect, the rep will never adopt those behaviors.
• [20:00] If the manager doesn’t do something, why should the sales team?
• [20:34] Typically, they target sales organizations.
• [20:45] They tend to be able to more easily help larger organizations.
• [21:05] Paul structures his week around engineering and product development.
• [21:22] This was once his greatest weakness.
• [23:02] The waterfall approach tends to be less reliable than the agile approach (which is more iterative).
• [24:06] One new “tool” that has added value to Paul’s life has been his home gym.
• [24:40] Paul recommends the book The Checklist Manifesto and also How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Resources From This Interview:

• Commercial Tribe
• Paul on LinkedIn
• Paul on Twitter
• SalesLoft
• Salesforce
• Hubspot
• Must-read books:
  • The Checklist Manifesto
  • How to Win Friends and Influence People

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