Why do we sell? Some might say to simply make money. Others are in it for the chase. Still others are motivated by the ability to showcase success.
In 2021, there are plenty of career ladders with promising climbs that could also deliver success and financial stability. And yet more than 13 million people still hold sales and sales-related occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. So what is it about the sales field that draws people in and entices them to embark upon the oftentimes challenging process and potential ups and downs?
For Newsela Sales Manager Clayton Wheat, it’s all about living in the truth of the moment, whether that’s tackling business risks head-on, providing genuine support to clients, or most importantly, embracing team collaboration.
“I’m not just on the phone by myself; I truly feel supported from every angle, and so does my team,” Wheat said. “The hunger for knowledge and professional growth, coupled with thoughtfulness for our team and our customers, propels this collaboration.”
Built In caught up with Wheat and eight other industry pros to find out what makes their team cultures so unique, the valuable lessons they’ve learned throughout their career journeys and why collaboration remains the tool they all swear by.
Newsela builds reading comprehension by aggregating daily news articles from top national and regional publications and allows students to consume them across five different reading levels.
Unique culture: “For me, the enthusiastic collaboration really sets this team apart,” Wheat said. “At our weekly team huddles, everyone brings something they’re struggling with and something they’re excited about in order to share with peers and get feedback or advice. We have the opportunity to hear multiple perspectives on a challenge, and everyone on the team gets to build their problem-solving skills as a result. That takes real vulnerability and ultimately builds a much stronger, bonded team.
“And this collaborative spirit extends beyond my immediate team; whether I’m working with field sales reps, solutions architects, marketing or even leaders from other departments during management training, we all feel we’re part of the same team. We’re empowered to approach each new challenge with creativity and everyone is driven to support each other. It’s always a ‘How can we make this work?’ mentality, not ‘No, we can’t do that.’”
Valuable lessons: “Living in the truth in sales is critical, and it’s something we’ve ingrained into our team culture. Whether it’s with forecasting, holding customers accountable to the activities it will take to close a deal or being honest about the resources needed to reach our goal, honesty on these fronts enables us to build a more thorough and successful path to partnership with customers. When I’m checking in with my reps, we always make sure we really understand the risks in the deal, what it’s going to take to close and what information we don’t yet have.
“Living in the truth of the moment means we have a full understanding of the business: We’re not glossing over risk points or blockers; we’re hitting them head on. I focus on asking thoughtful questions and supporting everyone individually to speak up for what they need so the team can support them. And for me personally, it’s important to live in the truth of who I am. I don’t need to change who I am to do my job; I can still be myself and feel natural and confident in my work.”
I don’t need to change who I am to do my job; I can still be myself and feel natural and confident in my work.”
Emerging tools: “Two things stick out to me. The first is our sales enablement platform, Highspot. Being able to quickly find collateral and have a one-stop-shop for all sales playbooks, training and resources that’s well organized and searchable is a game-changer. My team can pitch and send customer messages directly from the platform, which not only saves time, but allows us to track responses and delve into the analytics of our campaigns, identify trends, and build more sophisticated, customized strategies for each region.
“The second tool I’m excited about is a customized video platform, Vidyard, that enables us to create and embed videos within our outreach. Personalized videos allow for creativity and a more human touch to outreach that has helped differentiate us in a customer’s inbox. Customers have been delighted by the videos, and we’re seeing an increase in responses. The videos are something we’re testing out to consider implementing as a best practice for my region.”
Alma makes it easier to find high quality, affordable mental health care.
Unique culture: “We are truly building something special,” Faust said. “If I had to define who we are, I’d say we are growth professionals who are committed to becoming the best individuals we can be both personally and professionally. We are dedicated to becoming product knowledge experts both in sales and in the mental health industry. We lead with empathy, transparency and expertise to build trust both internally and externally. We practice radical candor to push ourselves and others to be our best selves. We practice vulnerability in bringing our authentic selves to work every day, and in doing so, we create a safe space for others to do the same. We always assume good intent with those we interact with. We hustle to continue surpassing our goals and make money. And of course, we prioritize our mental well-being.”
We practice radical candor to push ourselves and others to be our best selves.”
Valuable lessons: “Empathy and transparency are keys to building trust and winning in sales. As they are also company values, we practice these skills both internally and externally, every single day.”
Emerging tools: “We’ve implemented Chili Piper. This tool allows us to automatically route and qualify leads and meetings to my account executives, reducing our speed-to-lead and the length of our sales cycle.”
Spring Health helps provide effective and digitally native mental health care solutions to businesses, empowering employees to take control of their mental well-being.
Unique culture: “This is, by far, the most collaborative sales team that I’ve ever been a part of, and I really think it stems from the diversity of backgrounds on the team,” Watson said. “We’ve been really thoughtful about who we’ve chosen to bring on and the team ranges from folks who’ve spent time as clinicians, health and benefits consultants, and people with decades of enterprise-level sales experience. All that is to say that we’re able to pull from everyone’s experiences in a way that really serves everyone on the team. Healthy competition is always exciting and can inject a lot of energy into a team, but true and genuine collaboration among everyone has really been the engine behind how quickly we’ve been able to scale and grow.”
Being thoughtful and creative in how we tell our story, show value and weave our offering into their gaps really sets us apart.”
Valuable lessons: “Creativity always wins! Having the presence of mind to know when you need to zoom out and look at things differently is really important given the size of the deals we are managing here. Oftentimes, these are lengthy sales processes with extremely educated buyers who are responsible for very complex ecosystems. We’ve learned time and time again that being thoughtful and creative in how we tell our story, show value and weave our offering into their gaps really sets us apart.
“A lot of this can be tied back to the diversity of backgrounds on our team. Because the team is made up of people who all have a deep knowledge of the space, yet are coming from different vantage points, there’s never any shortage of ideas around how we can be more thoughtful and creative in how we try and move the needle on deals.”
BentoBox offers a wide variety of tools and services to the restaurant industry, from website design to online ordering and gift cards.
Unique culture: “The thing I think is the most unique about our outbound sales specialist team is the true sense of camaraderie,” Johnson said. “Rather than the ‘every person for themselves’ mentality that can sometimes exist in sales, my reps are invested in each others’ success. They are constantly supporting one another by sharing best practices, on-the-fly website examples to show prospects, and talk tracks to build replicable processes together, from the front lines. My team collaborates every day, and I have seen that directly combating the challenges that come with remote work. As a manager, it’s been inspiring to see them reaching out and bonding far beyond just sharing work tips.
“I host optional office hours over Zoom on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and while I initially set this up so that my reps had dedicated time to chat with me and work through any blockers, I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see the turnout. Most of the team attends even though it is truly optional — it gives us back that in-office feeling that many are missing — and we chat about anything that’s top of mind. Topics range from interesting deals people are working on to what we’re all watching on TV.”
A big part of being successful in sales is remembering that above all else, you are a person talking to another person.”
Valuable lessons: “It sounds pretty simple, but a big part of being successful in sales is remembering that above all else, you are a person talking to another person. At BentoBox, we’re providing solutions to restaurant owners — people who had to transform their entire business model overnight due to COVID-19 restrictions. Most of the time, we’re pitching to mom-and-pop restaurants that have worked hard to build up their brand and survive through these challenges. So we take that extra time to ask about their business and really get to know the why behind it all: why they got started, what’s their most popular dish, what’s their personal favorite, etc. That consultative approach not only helps with the sale, it also builds trust and establishes BentoBox as a true partner to our customers right from the get-go.”
Emerging tech: “In an ideal world, we could meet with all our prospects face-to-face over coffee and share our technology with them. Since that isn’t always a possibility, we use a service called Thnks to send prospects digital gift cards so they can grab a coffee ahead of our scheduled meeting. It not only provides hard-working restaurant owners with a jolt of caffeine, but we’ve found it also makes the meeting much more memorable.”
Lively is a telemedicine company that brings the direct-to-consumer model to the world of hearing aids.
Unique culture: “There’s a really exciting feeling that we’re each laying the foundation for a company that is becoming a leader in an industry at a time of dramatic change,” Grafman said. “We’ve created a culture of people who are furthering the mission of broadening access to quality hearing care, despite many of us not coming from a background or connection to hearing aids.
“Considering that most people with hearing loss don’t get appropriate treatment — whether due to cost, accessibility, stigma or otherwise — we consider it a win when someone makes the decision to address their hearing loss in any way, be it through Lively or elsewhere, as long as they get the best possible outcome. As a result, our customers are confidently making informed purchasing decisions due to our customer-centric sales model.
“It’s common for people in sales to believe in the product they sell. What’s unique about the sales team at Lively is our buy-in on improving the industry and customer experience as a whole. As for team traditions, we’re still looking for a work-from-home-friendly alternative to our ‘one call close’ necklace, which is given to the rep who closes a sale on the first call.”
Think of every call as an educational opportunity — not exclusively about the product or offering, but to key insights to the industry as a whole.”
Valuable lessons: “Think of every call as an educational opportunity — not exclusively about the product or offering, but to key insights to the industry as a whole, and where the company and product fit within that landscape. The best way to create value around the relationship between a lead and sales rep is by highlighting the usage and applications of the product that a Google search wouldn’t tell them. For example, many people who have extensively researched hearing aids do not realize the device is likely to require periodic adjustments over time, which Lively makes easy with our remote care model. Before you can have a meaningful conversation about the product you are trying to sell, it’s vital that the lead is properly educated on the industry they are shopping in.”
Adtech software Smartly.io is designed to automate customers’ social advertising by combining media buying, creative and data into one platform.
Unique culture: “The Smartly.io sales team is incredibly collaborative and supportive,” Sinkin said. “I’ve never been a part of a sales organization where the team is genuinely rooting for one another and consistently willing to provide help when needed. Although we are all individual contributors, there is definitely a team culture, and we truly enjoy celebrating each other’s success.”
Collaboration is key and something we practice across teams and functions to solve our customers’ biggest challenges.”
Valuable lessons: “The most valuable sales lesson I’ve learned in the time I’ve been with Smartly is to always think of the customer first, which is one of our company values. This may seem obvious, but it is something that all of the teams at Smartly live by every day — throughout the sales process, when onboarding customers with our customer success team and especially with our product roadmap decisions.
“As a member of the sales team, I know it is my responsibility to make sure that product feedback reaches the product team in a timely manner. Collaboration is key and something we practice across teams and functions to solve our customers’ biggest challenges. Everything we do at Smartly.io is weighed on the value it will bring to our customers, which makes the sales process more enjoyable for all.”
Vimeo is a video hosting and viewing platform, offering a community of more than 200 million users and creators a space to share high-quality video content.
Unique culture: “One of the most unique things about my teams and the sales organization at Vimeo is our process for internal promotions for the SDR organization and the impact they’ve had on our business,” Sohr said. “Vimeo wants to promote people internally and the sales organization genuinely stands by it. We’ve been able to promote many SDRs to both account executive and account management roles, and it’s been great to see them successful as they grow in the organization.”
We must have open minds to process changes, update our tech stack, and adapt to sales cycles and customer needs.”
Valuable lessons: “Flexibility is something I’ve learned and adapted to while at Vimeo. With a sales organization growing at the rate we are, we must have open minds to process changes, update our tech stack, and adapt to sales cycles and customer needs. Especially with the pandemic over the last year, we had to make several adjustments on the fly and are constantly monitoring the new normal.”
monday.com is a work operating system (Work OS) where organizations of any size can create the tools and processes they need to manage every aspect of their work.
Unique culture: “It’s difficult to identify one quality that differentiates us at monday.com, so I’ll highlight a few,” Budovsky said. “First, our team weaves a consultative approach into everything we do. We spend a ton of time understanding what an organization’s goals are and how they’re solving for them today before even introducing our solution. In doing so, we not only identify where the pain points are and how monday.com can best drive outcomes, but we become an extension of the organization in the process. This has led to great relationships and truly unique interactions with our clients on a daily basis, something I hadn’t experienced in full before joining.
“Second, within our team and overall company culture, there is an emphasis on openness to learning from one another. Oftentimes you hear or experience a sales culture that has a lone wolf mindset or keeps success close to the chest, but monday.com operates in the complete opposite manner. It’s refreshing, motivating and a wonderful way to continuously learn from your peers and improve your game.
“Finally, our management team truly empowers each salesperson with the autonomy to try different strategies, new ideas and provide guidance when needed.”
Valuable lessons: “One thing I’ve always focused on, but especially so in the past year during COVID, is that in order to do your best work you have to be your best self outside of work. For anyone in sales, it’s very easy to let the ups and downs get to you and your confidence can waver if doubt and negative thoughts are let in.
“We place a great emphasis on work-life balance, which I realize can come off as a bit cliché, but I was really pushed to focus on how I could make personal time to bring that version of myself to work. Everyone has their own way of doing it, but things such as yoga and meditation in the morning and sitting down for a good meal during lunch have kept me consistently operating in a positive mindset.
“I’ve learned in doing so that I have a clearer headspace strategizing on key deals and building trust with clients. When things inevitably don’t go according to plan, I’m able to more positively react and adapt my next steps.”
If you love using the product you’re selling, it never feels like a pitch.”
Emerging tech: “At the risk of sounding like a sales pitch, we leverage monday.com for virtually everything we do. When I first joined, I hadn’t had any exposure to the platform other than the subway ads I’d run into on my daily commute, but that quickly changed after I started.
“We truly live and breathe our product internally, not because we have to, but because monday.com acts as our company’s command center. In an overly remote-driven world as of late, it’s amazing how connected we’ve been. Our global team initiatives, leadership vision, client implementations, or new product releases are readily available for consumption, input and feedback. We’ve really been able to perpetuate our company value of transparency through the daily use of the platform.
“Tying back to my role in sales and the consultative approach I mentioned, I like to think if you love using the product you’re selling, it never feels like a pitch.”
Riskified empowers merchants and shoppers to realize the full potential of e-commerce by making it safe, accessible and frictionless.
Unique culture: “At Riskified, every client success story is truly a team effort that cuts across the entire organization,” Stepanovich said. “Here, more than any other place else I’ve worked, collaboration happens daily across the company as we all share the belief that it is essential to driving successful outcomes for our customers. This extends beyond typical functions like marketing, business development and account management to include analytics, data operations and finance.”
Valuable lessons: “Each of our clients has unique problems they are looking to solve, from recovering lost sales to securing accounts and preventing refund abuse. We work closely with our merchants to understand their needs and then implement a solution that leverages the flexibility of our platform to solve them. Having this close relationship with them also enables us to uncover challenges they may not have realized even existed, which allows us to identify additional ways to reduce costs, improve return on investment and deliver an even better experience for shoppers. We want to continuously deliver greater value to our merchants, so this combination of curiosity and active listening allows us to do just that.”
Collaboration happens daily across the company as we all share the belief that it is essential to driving successful outcomes for our customers.”
Emerging tech: “Innovation has been core to our success from day one, so we use equally innovative tools across the entire organization — from Seismic to Ironclad to 6sense, to name a few. Our tech stack enables us to easily collaborate across teams and stay ahead of the evolving needs of our clients.”
