Conversations With Women In Sales

We had so many wonderful episodes this past year. Lori Richardson, podcast host, will share the top  listened to episodes and some of her favorite topics and guests. Plus she puts out a call at the end for everyone to do a hard look at their past year and review, then set some stretch goals and find an accountability partner or team. Lori mentions free tools to download for helping you evaluate 2022 and to kickstart 2023. You can reach out to her if you don't know how to reach the ones she's referring to. lori AT womensalespros DOT com.  IF YOU LIKE THE PODCAST, we ask that you go to iTunes, log in, download an episode or two and then give us a FIVE STAR rating - and then give us a review. It will go a long way and it matters if you have 100 reviews or if you have 20. Thank you in advance. 

Laura Colón focused on public relations in college at the suggestion of a counselor. She learned, however, that PR does not pay well right out of college. She went a different direction and ended up in sales, but is grateful for the learning she got about communication and PR which has helped her first as an individual contributor in sales, then as a sales leader. Laura has worked on both coasts, and is currently Regional VP, Mid-Market West for Vonage. She is also a Mentor at #GirlsClub and recently spoke on the main stage at the #GirlsClub "RISE UP" conference, where I met her and realized her energy would be a great addition to the podcast. 

Porchia Jenkins is currently Manager of Mid-Market Sales Development at a company called TripActions. But Porchia didn't start out in college thinking about going into sales... nope, she was focused on kineseology and exercise science. Got her Bachelors degree, and then her Masters in it. She was ready for her career in physical fitness - first working with adults, and then with kids. Somehow she ended up at a holiday party or two with folks in software sales. That got her thinking about a change - the rest is history. Porchia and I shared stories about formerly being a teacher then getting into sales. We laughed at how it "used" to be that hiring managers in sales didn't see a correlation sometimes for "grit" and "perserverance" as we toiled away with kids in classrooms. Really?  Porchia also talked about being a Black woman in a while male world - sales. How she's used being an "only" often to her advantage and who is really clear about who she is and the huge value she offers. I think this episode will ins

Helen Fanucci has written a much-needed book in "Love Your Team"  and it is different from so many other sales management guides because it helps managers, whether new or experienced to understand what to say, when to say it, and actual wording suggestions.  Helen has brought her years of sales leadership currently as a senior leader at Microsoft and previously at Sun Microsystems.  There are sections of the book on these conversations - on connection, performance, strategy, customer engagement, and internal alignment, Helen emphasises that "words matter" in sales - internally and with our customers - and I could not agree more. Check out our conversation and download a copy of her book to help your sales team - whether you are a sales manager, leader, or individual contributor - you will receive some great, practical ideas. 

Katie Visco was the youngest woman to run across the United States in 2009. Not only did she run across the U.S., but she gave talks all along the way. She repeated a cross-nation run ten years later, running across Australia with only bicycle support throughout the ride.  Now Katie is in a sales role at ADP in their retirement services - and winning awards doing it - no surprise.  Listen to Katie's transition into sales (she's also an entrepreneur) and learn what keeps her going.  This is our 140th episode to inspire women and appreciate our male allies in B2B sales and revenue growth. #shesells #seeitbeit #womeninsales   

Let's talk about the drop in outbound call connections - buyers have changed. How do we adjust and prepare and work to hit our sales numbers? Meet Heidi. Heidi Messer is an entrepreneur, board director, builder of networks and investor who founded several global businesesses including Linkshare and collective[i]. She serves on a number of boards, was granted two patents connected to collective[i]'s data analytics network and is listed in Wikipedia. The name collective[i] stands for Collective Intelligence-- a concept that when knowledge is shared, everyone wins. Heidi says the greatest sales leaders she's seen are resilient. She wants people to question logic from the past instead of being open to the future. Technology is not the change itself, but it helps enables change. Her latest venture works to remove time forecasting as well as inputing data. It connects buyers and sellers in modern ways - deep collaboration. People need the ability to collaborate and that is the next experience in selling. Check out

Wesleyne went to college to become a chemist. She was a chemist for four years, then got into a sales career - tripling the sales in her region in one year! She takes a scientific approach to selling, and uses data to prove what a sales team possesses and what it needs.  Take a listen to this fun conversation with my friend and colleague, Wesleyne and see how someone with a scientific background totally excelled at selling. Find more about Wesleyne at https://www.transformedsales.com/ She also has a podcast called Transformed Sales. 

This podcast aims to highlight so many women in sales who have created success without being "salesy" - you know that "icky" feeling after being "sold to?" that can happen in a bad sales situation. Robin Treasure wrote a book, "Heart-Powerd Sales - Grow Your Sales Exponetially with Emotional Intelligence and Intuition" and is a great resource for anyone in sales wanting to be in the admirable profession of selling, using heart.  Robin is a sales trainer and sales coach as well as a multi-lingual world traveler who has lived abroad in several different countries. She began her career as an Italian translator in Rome. www.robintreasure.com 

Her book starts with the powerful sentiment: "Sales isn't a dirty word!" and so did our conversation. Mandy is not only the VP, Global Accounts at Hospitality Performance Network but is also the author of a great book called, "Sales Tales: The Hustle, Humor, and Lessons from a Life in Sales".  Mandy has a very down to earth style in sharing what she loves about the sales profession and how everything we do involves selling - so embrace it rather than shy away from it. 

Heidi Solomon-Orlick is a force to be reckoned with. In our conversation she will talk about her career in sales (currently now Sr. VP, Bus Dev at Arise Virtual Solutions) and the impetus to launch her organization, GirlzWhoSell. Heidi has amazing amounts of energy as it seems she is always working on a new project or idea for more women in sales.  I met Heidi when we both lived in New Hampshire and I was impressed with her networking to key people, and for believing in the idea to put a book together with 30+ women sharing their sales journeys to inspire other women to consider a sales career. GirlzWhoSell has a non-profit foundation and an academy where young women can learn about sales and be mentored. 

I met "my people" when I met Elyse Archer - she has a big abundant mindset and is helping men and women entrepreneurs and professional sellers to gain success through mindset, too. Elyse has a soft spot for women and founded She Sells to offer programs specifically for women - also a She Sells podcast. Elyse is also a personal brand strategist and a video confidence coach.  I hope you find this episode inspiring - would love any feedback. Check out Elyse at https://elysearcher.com/ 

Samantha McKenna is Founder of #SamSales Consulting. We had an amazing conversation about the negative stereotype sales still has - and the wonderful attributes a sales career actually offers.  Do you have the ability to have a conversation, to run a process? You could be great in B2B sales. This is a profession where you can impact your earning potential by how you "run" your territory. It is very entrepreneurial. You can also customize your lifestyle with a sales career. "If you master the foundational skills in sales, you can crush it forever" according to Sam. Follow Sam on LinkedIn - Follow this podcast and please share it! 

Katie Walsh was a Division 1 College Field Hockey player and atributes a lot of her success in sales and leadership to her collegiate athletic career. Katie is Director of Sales at Hubspot. Unlike most of us in software and SaaS, she's been at Hubspot for the past NINE years. Yep - sometimes you find a great work home and have talented leaders who inspire you to stay and grow with the company.  Katie received a solid foundation in selling through her work at EMC making lots of calls and setting up meetings for the AEs there. She said that time at EMC, while not a career "fit" for her, was critical for her future success.  We talk about preconcieved notions about sales, growth within one company, and what the future holds. #sales #seeitbeit #shesells #womeninsales  

Our guest today wrote a fantastic book that will help you to build more empowered conversations as you rise through the sales organization or the company in general. Roberta Matuson is the author of "Can We Talk: Seven Principles for Managing Difficult Conversations at Work" Roberta and I had a rousing conversation and you'll find some gems to take away if you want to be a better, more effective communicator. 

Amy Franko is a keynote sales speaker and the author of "The Modern Seller: Sell More and Increase Your Impact in the New Sales Economy" Amy is also the Chair of the Board of Directors of Girl Scouts of Ohio's Heartland where they are building an amazing STEM project for their Girls Scouts which we also discuss. Learn how Amy got into sales as an English and Communication college grad and how she's been drawn to tech during her career. Learn more about Amy at https://amyfranko.com/

Jen and I talked about a lot of different things but what grabbed me was her speaking about how becoming a podcast host helped her be better at storytelling. Storytelling is such an important skill within professional selling that I wanted to highlight that - we talk about a leader who made a big impression on Jen and our first sales experiences. Who you work for early on in your career matters - which is why we need female voices to help encourage women up and coming in sales today. Jen says, "There is a much wider network than within your company" Jen and I both encourage women to build their brand on LinkedIn. Build YOUR brand - not your company's brand. We can build trust at scale. It is important. Check out Jen's podcast as well. 

Natalia Gallo is a changemaker in the male-dominated world of roofing. She has risen through the ranks to Regional Sales Director and spent years helping to mentor and support other women to succeed. Natalia brought the idea of getting the women in sales within GAF together to learn from each other, and the WinS program was created. Listen to how she started as an architect and is now one of the top women in the roofing profession. 

Natasha Hemmingway took her college degree in Biology and a leap of faith into pharmaceutical sales and never looked back. After eight years she pivoted into medical device sales, and did that successfully for another eight years. Now she runs her own coaching practice and is focused on teaching others how to Sell with Heart Not Hustle (R)  Natasha has a powerful story she shares in this episode about losing her full term baby and how poorly a situation like that is handled in most companies - many sales teams are not prepared to help women get back to their team after a devastating loss. Natasha went on to create her own company and coaches others on how to sell. I really appreciated our conversation and hope you do too. If you do, please share it with others. Rate it on iTunes. Thanks.

Before a woman leaves a sales role due to issues she isn't comfortable with - such as her environment or a life event, she needs to ask about a different accomodation rather than us losing another woman in sales. My conversation with Yamini Bhat, CEO & Co-Founder at Vymo covered the many unconscious biases there are in the workplace. Vymo is a sales enablement platform and so we talked about within her company as well as with clients and customers how women and men differ. It was a varied and interesting conversation sure to be of interest. We cover: Women exceeding men in conversion rates, but also women exceeding men in attrition. Join us as we dive into the data. 

In her new book, "Right on the Money - New Principles for Bold Growth", author and sales strategist Colleen Francis discusses the current sales landscape and offers some great strategies - and tactics - to win over today's buyers.  One of the #WomenInSalesAuthors with bold strategies for revenue growth.