How To Build A Winning Sales Career And Become A Respected Sales Leader, with Kim Green-Kerr, Episode #66

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These days, nobody starts their sales career with the intention of staying with one company for over 20 years, but Kim Green-Kerr has done exactly that. She is Senior Vice-President at Sprint Business Solutions, a post she’s attained by climbing her way up the Sprint corporate ladder. I asked her to be my guest on this episode of #SellingWithSocial because I knew she’d have great insight into how to build a successful sales career through hard work, relationship building, and dedication. But I also believed she’d be able to give advice about how to progress into the executive level of any company. She didn’t disappoint. Kim shares varied insights from her experience – from advice specifically for women and minorities in the modern sales force, to how to manage and lead the growing number of millennial sales professionals on the scene today. Don’t miss this great conversation.

The Basis of a Successful Sales Career: Prove You Can Get The Job Done

When I asked Kim what she recommends to women in the sales industry who are looking to advance to in their companies, she gave great advice – but it doesn’t only apply to women. She said that sales success beyond closing deals depends on a few elementary things.

1. Prove you can get the job done
2. Be visible through your availability to take on projects outside of what’s normal
3. Find a sponsor, someone who advocates on your behalf when you are not there

Obviously, a list like that doesn’t provide nearly enough insight into what she shared. I suggest you take the time to listen to this episode and find out how you can put her strategies to work in order to advance your own sales career.

If You Want to Climb Into The Ranks of Sales Leadership, Be Visible

A point Kim shared concerning the climb to sales leadership is one that is at the top of my list as well. Establish relationships with people higher up in the organization who can serve as your sponsor. It sounds official, but it’s not official at all. It’s a relationship that builds over time as you prove yourself to those who are in leadership positions within the organization. As they become confident about your character and skills, they may begin to advocate for you even when you’re not around. THAT is a sponsor. What are ways you can establish those kinds of relationships? On this episode, Kim shares great advice about developing sponsor relationships, including the need to impress leaders with what you produce in your current responsibilities, why it’s advantageous to become a subject-matter expert in areas where the company has need, and the significance of volunteering to explore and solve obvious problems within the organization. Kim’s insights will provide you new vision for the trajectory of your sales career.

Don’t Wait! Begin The Journey to Become a Trusted Advisor to Customers

Whether you’re hoping to climb the leadership ladder or you are eager to become the top salesperson in your company, you need to master this piece of advice: Become a trusted advisor to prospects and customers. A consultative approach, where you serve clients much like a physician would his/her patients establishes you in a position of credibility and authority that customers naturally look to in order to get their questions answered and problems solved. But how do you establish that kind of authority? On this episode, Kim explains how it happens and provides advice about how get moving in that direction.

The Sales Approach That Gave Sprint Its First Profitable Quarter in 3 Years

In August of 2017, Sprint surprised stockholders with very welcome news – its first profitable quarter in three years. It was the culmination of a great deal of hard work and was the company’s best financial performance in more than a decade. There were many things that contributed to this outcome – cost-cutting and improvements to its network were certainly part of the formula – but it also happened because of a renewed focus on its small, medium and enterprise business sectors. That’s the area of Sprint’s business that Kim is directly responsible for and that she has cultivated within the company for a very long time. She says their trajectory includes the development of a selling methodology, investments in their people through training and tools, and a new focus on social selling to help influence buyers along their buyer’s journey. Kim goes into more details about the Sprint sales approach and makes recommendations based on her experience, on this episode.

How Sales Leaders Can Best Utilize The Growing Millennial Sales Force

It’s estimated that by 2020, Millennials will make up 46% of the workforce, and many of those will naturally become involved in sales. And though there has been a lot of complaining and negative characterizations made about this amazing group of people, they are the shape of things to come, so I think we’d better make the most of it. I asked Kim what she has experienced in working with Millennials and how she recommends sales leaders manage these energetic young people who are seeking to build successful sales careers. She said we first need to understand the experience of Millennials – they grew up with technology so they want to be able to do their job with the right technological tools in hand. She also pointed out that because they are so adept at social media, they are often taking initiative in their job search to check out potential employers, managers, or supervisors. That means the social profiles of sales leaders need to demonstrate that they understand the impact and power of social. It’s insights like these that prove why Kim has become the sales leader she is. Listen to this episode to hear how she applies these thoughts practically.

Outline of This Episode

• [1:20] How Kim wound up in the 2018 Top Global Sales Leaders and what she does for Sprint/Nextel
• [7:06] How minorities can make their way to the top in sales
• [13:34] The difficult but vital task of finding a sponsor in business
• [19:14] Kim’s view of how the world of buying and selling has changed
• [25:16] Advice to sales leaders in view of the changes that are happening
• [31:06] Ideas for managing the growing Millennial salesforce

Resources Mentioned

• Kim on Twitter: @KimGreenKerr
• Kim on LinkedIn
• Sprint
• Kim’s all time favorite movie: Gone With The Wind
• Dreamforce
• CEB – A Gartner Company
• Social Business Engine Podcast – Bernie Borges
• You can also check our best sales books to read list and the best sales podcasts list!

Connect with Mario!

• www.vengreso.com
• On Facebook
• On Twitter
• On YouTube
• On LinkedIn

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