In the fast-paced world of startups and technology, there's a constant pursuit of strategies and playbooks that promise success. Yet, according to Jerry Brooner, President at Enable Software, the secret sauce to building successful companies isn’t about following a pre-defined playbook.
In a recent conversation with Anne Gherini of Sierra Ventures, Jerry shared profound insights into his approach to leadership, hiring, and company culture. From his criteria for choosing the right company to join to the essentials of building a customer-focused sales culture, Jerry's perspective is a treasure trove of practical advice for founders and sales leaders alike.
Join us as we dive into Jerry's journey, exploring his unique approach to sales leadership, the fundamentals of building a strong sales team, and the critical strategies for driving revenue growth.
As a sales leader or any leader, it’s crucial to know your team, similar to knowing your customers. Understand their short-term and long-term career goals by asking them in various ways, not just once. How do they operate? What motivates them? By listening intently, they will tell you what they want. Knowing your team allows you to work just as hard to bring them opportunities. Top performers often won’t ask, so you must understand their desires and provide them with what they need internally. Then, you can provide opportunities accordingly.
Everyone’s burnout threshold is different. Jerry's first lesson is to identify what causes burnout. What causes burnout for one person may not affect another, which circles back to understanding your team. For many top performers, burnout is often caused by not being in the best position to succeed while being overwhelmed by work unrelated to their goals.
Jerry frequently encounters these typical errors among founders. First, founders often fall in love with their product, which is understandable. However, the problem arises when the market does not want it, and they hold on too tightly, resisting changes to their original product. Founders might also operate assuming they can manage their business from the zero to one to two million stages. Jerry recommends that handing over the reins to those who can handle processes at this stage might be best when you reach the one-and-a-half to two-million mark. Each subsequent stage, from two to three million and beyond, presents a whole new set of challenges.
In this startup world, you either make something or sell something directly or indirectly. Focus on your output. When considering your marketing team, their main priority is to generate leads that will turn into opportunities that will close. The sales team is compensated on these closes, so the goal is aligned. Both teams must stay on the same page, working together to find and create the right opportunities. The teams must be aligned on the same output if they are on different paths. Inputs may differ, but they are important.
The first underrated role is sales operations. Jerry emphasizes that it’s more than just making your CRM look good. It’s about analyzing territories, adjusting quotas, and more, which is the secret sauce of sales operations. The second role is sales enablement, which ensures progress every quarter by building out your pipeline and examining your sales cycle. The last role is value consulting, which includes value engineering and business case consulting. In today’s world, everything revolves around numbers.
Every quarter is the most important quarter. If you don’t set yourself up for the next year, you will have a bad quarter. Any manager can achieve short-term goals, but a great leader can balance short-term and long-term objectives. Spend time planning ahead while analyzing metrics like efficiency, revenue growth, and employee productivity.
Jerry’s first thought for leaders of any function is this: It’s okay not to feel excited about your role. That might be a sign to take note and consider something else. Understand that you’ll never have all the answers, and it’s beneficial to ask questions and seek help. It’s not just about the role; you should find the challenging parts exciting and have the drive to figure them out.