Conversations With Women In Sales

Skills session: Julie Hansen provides the "missing virtual selling skills you need today.  Customers today are being bombarded with vendor video calls – a never-ending parade of missed connections, bad lighting, worse eye contact, extreme close-ups, and awkward pauses/talk overs.  This session with former sales pro and actor, Julie Hansen - who has written 3 books on presenting skills for sellers will talk through some of her best tips and ideas. This is a "skills session" which we sprinkle through out our sales journey here. 

Heidi is a Diversity and Inclusion champion and change agent, entrepreneur and mentor. She is committed to supporting women and girls by continuing to push for racial justice, workplace and inter-sectional gender equity. Heidi invests in the leaders, companies and products she wants to see in the world. She is an active aging advocate who believes that older women (and men) are not obsolete. Age = Wisdom and Experience. Heidi is truly committed to closing the gender gap in B2B Sales, which is why we had such a great conversation!

In this conversation, Annie shares SO much insight about being good at your sales role, how she got into sales, and how her mom inspired her to do her best and ASK for what she needs. We talked about the need for women to speak up and really advocate for themselves. She says, "You don't have to be salesy to be in sales!" 

Jordan wishes she had gotten the advice about sales being a "long game" - a marathon, not a sprint. Try not to measure yourself based on your dashboard. Jordan Arogeti is Sr. Executive, Financial Services at Salesloft. She is a mom, a wife, and also a partner in Arogeti Endeavors. Jordan says that she is in an intense season in life right now with so much going on. We have a great conversation about her career path since college and some of the wisdom she's learned in sales. 

Jula Pereira can be found on LinkedIn supporting and encouraging others in professional sales - and is helping shine a light on making sales more inclusive. She is an SMB Account Exec at Hubspot and a peer advisor at re:work training. In this episode Jula talks about self acceptance and how she learned to feel at home in her skin. We also talk about the power of resilience in sales and I reference her book, "Six Weeks to Sales Confidence - A Guide for Women" which is available on Amazon. 

Chaniqua "Nikki" Ivey is a force to be reckoned with. She brings high energy and positivity to the B2B sales world, working hard to make it better - to level the playing field for all. Listen how this lover of words, who studied journalism, relates to professional selling - the mark she has made so far, and what's ahead for her. 

Ellen Stafford is Director, Presales and Solutions at Vidyard which means that she leads business development as well as the Solutions Consulting teams - an unusual combination but it works for her. She started selling cell phones after college and then, through connections, got an opportunity at Salesforce.com. She went from the mammoth company to Vidyard which was truly a startup with 35 employees when she started there, and has risen through the ranks. 

Mary Shea, PhD is an innovator in the B2B sales space, and she believes that with an innovation mindset, anything is possible. Now Global Innovation Evangelist at Outreach, Mary had a distinguished career as Principal Analyst at Forrester. She is a change agent and passionate about making the sales department an inclusive place. To think she began her career as a professional musician. Mary shares her thoughts about how we can change the face of sales in our conversation. 

Reva Pellerin has spent over 10 years in B2B sales. She did not know what selling technology even was when she got her first BDR role at Oracle but it opened the door to technology and SaaS sales. She is glad she took a chance and in a roundabout way ended up in a fantastic career - now at Vidyard. We had a fun conversation and Reva discusses her journey that could help others listening in. 

Kelly is a regional sales manager with years of experience managing sales managers and has inspired hundreds of sales reps. She works in a male majority industry and is a standout leader. Listen to how she talks about selling as a helping profession and how a servant leader mindset can help you become a great leader. 

Amy Volas is Founder and CEO of Avenue Talent Partners because "great sales teams aren't built on guesswork." Amy is Co-Founder of Thursday Night Sales, along with Scott Leese. Amy is incredibly proud of TNS because it really has helped create an amazing community where people are heard and can find insights to solve their issues as SaaS sales professionals. We covered a lot of ground in this conversation - good for leaders and reps alike to hear. 

She had me at "B2B sales literally changed my life." I heard it as "B2B sales SAVED my life" and although Jenny Anderson didn't say it, what a stable, well-paying career in sales did for her was revolutionary in her world. Listen to her journey and how she is working to pay it forward so other women and men can rise into this great career. 

Educated at Cornell, Zoya initially thought she might want to work in hospitality but had jobs on campus cold calling and working in fundraising. She recently moved to Gong as a Strategic Sales Development Manager. Her number one passion is developing people. 

Alexine has been in SaaS software sales for over 8 years. She and host Lori have some things in common- we had influence in our youth by relatives who were selling all around us, and impacted us. But with a dad who received his PhD from MIT and other interesting possibilities for Alexine, she did end up in B2B tech sales, specifically software-as-a-service (SaaS).  Additionally she is a rising voice for more women in sales and we champion her as she co-leads the Clubhouse "Women in Sales" club on Saturdays with Gabrielle Blackwell. Alexine also volunteers with great organizations like Aspireship, Victory Lap, and Re:work. 

Dr. Jane Sojka is Professor Educator, Marketing at University of Cincinnati. She teaches undergrad and grad students and does research. Is responsible for developing the professional sales program, implementing course curriculum, coaching the UC Sales Team and advising the UC Sales Club. Professor Sojka runs an incredible "Women in Sales" course at UC.  We have a great conversation about confidence and resiliency in women and men. 

Astha immigrated to the U.S. from India  in 2006 and talks on this episode about how she ended up in professional selling in a male-dominated industry.  As a researcher in a solar startup, she realized her passion for sales and mustered the courage to ask for a chance to be in sales at that company. Shining there and progressively making it through in a traditional all boys club of the electrical industry, she now leads a team of field sales reps managing a $100M+ quota. She balances being a great mom and being a passionate sales leader which she says makes life interesting.     

As a C-level Microsoft executive and thought leader, Gavriella Schuster leads a global portfolio of channel partners that has influenced over $1 trillion in ecosystem revenues. She brings over 20 years of leadership in digital and cloud transformation roles, driving strategy and execution spanning all aspects of business model and product development, launch, marketing, sales and partner development. Gavriella currently leads global recruitment, enablement and engagement of Microsoft’s fast-growing partner ecosystem. Check out her TEDx talk, BeCOME an Ally; How to Achieve Gender Equity. 

Lindsay is Americas Asphalt Supply Coordination Supervisor currently at ExxonMobile and has been in sales and logistics roles for the past 15 years in the oil and gas industry.  Lindsay is a believer that you don't have to fit the typical mold to be successful in sales. Many people opt out of sales careers early on, but she believes that we all have innate abilities that with awareness and  practice can lead to a rewarding career in sales. This is why she also writes and speaks on the topic of Authentic Sales.   

Hang Black is VP of Sales Enablement at Juniper Networks. She is one of the top enablement executives worldwide - which is impressive, but her story of getting to the U.S. as a child is amazing and totally captivating. Hang released a new book called, Embrace Your Edge where she talks about resilience, survival, and growth. One of her goals is to help empower women who have not been seen and may feel like they are in the shadows. #HangWithHang 

Ali Cudby is the author of the best-selling book, Keep Your Customers: How to Stop Customer Turnover, Improve Retention, and Get Lucrative, Long-Term Loyalty. We talk about pay equity in non-sales roles and what type of a career can someone grow into in Customer Care. There is a lot of growth and potential in this niche within B2B sales.