Evan Santa discusses his background in building sales teams for Canadian tech companies and his current role at Keep, a fintech company. He shares his experience at Vidyard and how he challenged the sales system to sell to smaller customers and improve the buying experience. Santa emphasizes the importance of creating a strong sales system and finding hungry individuals with a drive to compete with themselves. He also discusses the need for transparency in pricing and providing enough information for buyers to qualify themselves for a product. In this conversation, Evan Santa and Kyle discuss the importance of building trust and providing value in the sales process. They emphasize the need for salespeople to be seen as assets and sources of information rather than just trying to close deals. They also highlight the importance of setting clear expectations and being transparent about pricing. The conversation touches on the relationship between sales and customer success, and the need for alignment in providing a consistent and positive customer experience. They also discuss the shift towards a more partnership-oriented approach in sales, where the focus is on helping customers succeed rather than just making a sale.
Takeaways - Building sales teams for Canadian tech companies requires a focus on creating a strong sales system and finding individuals with a drive to compete with themselves.
- Challenging the sales system to sell to smaller customers and improving the buying experience can lead to success.
- Transparency in pricing and providing enough information for buyers to qualify themselves for a product is essential.
- Sales leaders should prioritize individuals who are putting in the most effort and have a hunger to succeed. Salespeople should aim to be seen as assets and sources of information for customers, rather than just trying to close deals.
- Transparency and clear communication about pricing and expectations are crucial in building trust with customers.
- There should be alignment between sales and customer success teams to ensure a consistent and positive customer experience.
- The focus in sales should be on helping customers succeed and providing value, rather than just making a sale.
Sound Bites
- "Building out sales teams for Canadian tech companies"
- "Selling to smaller customers and improving the buying experience"
- "Competing with themselves and setting realistic goals"
- "Make them feel informed enough. So they're like, okay, this is great. I'm not reaching out to somebody because they're trying to sell me. I'm reaching out to somebody because they are going to be my key to information."
- "How do we make our salespeople complete assets from the moment they're engaging with a prospective customer, that customer is going like, you're my person who's given me the information. I trust you. I enjoy speaking with you and you're giving me all the information I needed lightning fast in a lightning fast speed and manner."
- "I think it's really, really important to be able to provide your sales team with ballparks that they can sit, that they can provide. Cause really what's happening a lot of times when we get asked for prices, salespeople on the first call is the buyer knows that they're going to have to spend."
