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Sales leadership can determine the B2B sales success of a team more powerfully than anything else. My guest on this episode of #SellingWithSocial knows that as well as anyone. Kyle Porter is the co-founder and CEO of Salesloft — a global business that serves the sales industry with amazing personalization and email delivery systems & assessment.

This conversation centers around Kyle’s sales leadership journey — his mistakes, lessons learned, and the attitudes toward growth that made him the incredible sales leader he is today. You’ll hear the slips and fumbles he made in the early days, the role mentors have played in his life, the skills and habits he’s developed to grow as a sales leader — and more.

It doesn’t matter what role you find yourself in — an aspiring or established sales leader — Kyle has many hard-learned and valuable insights to share, so be sure you listen to this episode.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”Want to learn powerful secrets to #SalesLeadership that fuels long-term #sales success? Listen to this episode of #SellingWithSocial, with guest @KylePorter of @SalesLoft and @M_3Jr of Vengreso. #SocialSelling #sellingwithsapcx @SAPSalesCloud” quote=”Want to learn powerful secrets to #SalesLeadership that fuels long-term #sales success? Listen to this episode of #SellingWithSocial, with guest @KylePorter of @SalesLoft and @M_3Jr of Vengreso. #SocialSelling #sellingwithsapcx @SAPSalesCloud”]

This podcast is brought to you by SAP Sales Cloud, the solution that enables your sales team to be more efficient, effective, and intelligent. With modern CRM, sales as you know it is about to change. Sell more with SAP Sales Cloud by visiting visit www.calliduscloud.com/vengreso.

Here's what we'll cover: Click to Show TOC

Customer Loyalty is Derived from the Sales Experience

A recent study states that 53% of customer loyalty — something we all want to have — is acquired through the sales experience. The WAY the buyer is sold to has the greatest influence on their decision to be brand loyalists. This makes your sales team’s approach and methods crucial to your long term success as a solution provider.

Kyle shares how he’s seen this reality play out, both in the way Salesloft has grown over the years and in the many experiences his team has had as they work with customers on their email sales campaigns. He also shares practical sales training approaches you can take to model and implement the right sales strategy. His advice veers away from short-term wins that spoil future opportunities. Listen or read on to learn how!

Secrets to Sales Leadership That Wins

Many of the things you hear referred to as “secrets” are not secrets at all – they are simply the result of time and experience, and hard-learned lessons most people don’t want to work long enough to experience. 

But for those willing to endure, keep trying, and learn, those so-called secrets come to light. Kyle Porter is a leader who relentlessly pursues growth, no matter the cost.

When sharing his advice for sales leaders in this episode, Kyle highlights these important points about those who are successful in sales leadership:

  • Leaders fail. They recognize it, admit it, and then share with the people around them so the entire team can learn and grow.
  • After a failure, great leaders develop a course of action to improve, measure changes, and make adjustments.
  • Successful leaders surround themselves with people who can help them improve – coaches, other leaders on the team, supportive spouses, and mentors.
  • Growing leaders cultivate a culture that enables the team to call them out when needed… and they accept and grow from the interaction.

These are just some of the things Kyle shares. You can hear him explain each one and illustrate how great leaders apply these lessons, on this episode.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”.@KylePorter of @SalesLoft shares secrets to #SalesLeadership that wins, on this episode of #SellingWithSocial with @M_3Jr of Vengreso. Listen now! #sales #SocialSelling #sellingwithsapcx @SAPSalesCloud” quote=”.@KylePorter of @SalesLoft shares secrets to #SalesLeadership that wins, on this episode of #SellingWithSocial with @M_3Jr of Vengreso. Listen now! #sales #SocialSelling #sellingwithsapcx @SAPSalesCloud”]

To Be A Great Leader You Must Be Both Symphony And Metallica

The kind of sales leadership that leads teams to long-lasting results is not easy to implement. Kyle says that leaders have to find a harmonious balance between many seemingly opposing approaches throughout the course of their leadership tenure.

Some examples:

  • The leader must be nurturing but challenging.
  • They must be loving and yet willing to reprimand when appropriate.
  • They learn to praise while effectively coaching team members up to a higher level.

These roles — and many more — have to be implemented appropriately and with a continual eye toward balance. These same traits can also be applied to the sales process itself — there must be a harmonious balance of the human, empathetic, curious side and the scientific, repeatable, process-oriented side.

As Kyle puts it, a great leader must be both symphony and Metallica.

Achieving Long-Term B2B Sales Success

Many factors contribute to having an effective sales team, which correlates to achieving long-term B2B sales success. During the podcast, Kyle and I discuss the importance of personalization and providing value when connecting with your prospects. 

Salespeople should be able to rise above the noise and deliver personalized insights that give the buyer a clear understanding of how your solution solves their pain points. The statistics below reveal actionable takeaways to improve your team’s performance. 

Sales Statistics Sales Leaders Should Know

The modern buyer performs more independent research to find solutions to their business challenges. Consequently, they are engaging sellers later in the sales process. These statistics below further prove the shift in the sales landscape: 

  • According to CSO Insights, buyers are twice as likely to say that salespeople meet their expectations rather than exceed them (61.8% to 31.8%). 
  • From the same report, 70.2% of buyers responded that they prefer to wait to engage salespeople until they already have a clear understanding of their needs.
  • In LinkedIn’s 3rd Annual State of Sales Report, 77% of decision-makers responded that they won’t engage with salespeople who don’t share specific insights or knowledge about their business.

You see, while quantitative data is important long-term sales success is also measured through qualitative aspects, such as developing relationships and creating value for prospects. This is one of the reasons we created the PVC Sales Methodology ™. 

The modern buyer seeks personalized communication and sellers who create value. Then, sellers can ask for a call-to-action that moves the prospect further down the funnel.

How Sales Leaders Build Great Teams

During one section of our conversation, Kyle and I dove into a discussion of the difficult process of establishing the right team. I drew from my experience in building Vengreso from the ground up, while Kyle tapped into the lessons he learned building Salesloft. We came up with several common questions sales leaders need to ask themselves:

  • Who do you have on the team?
  • Are they the right people to get you where you need to go?
  • Are they coachable to allow you to take them where they need to be?
  • Are they interested in and aware of their areas of needed growth?

Seriously considering these questions and their answers will help you assess potential and existing team members to determine if they are the right people in the right roles who will get your sales organization where it’s going. Don’t miss this conversation. The leadership lessons and insights Kyle shares are invaluable to helping you guide your team.

Is your sales team effectively leveraging digital selling techniques? For our State of Digital Selling with LinkedIn Report, we surveyed 862 sales reps across a number of different industries and found that most sellers aren’t properly using LinkedIn to generate leads.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”Discover how #SalesLeaders build great #sales teams from @KylePorter of @SalesLoft. Join @M_3Jr of Vengreso for this episode of #SellingWithSocial. Listen now! #SocialSelling #sellingwithsapcx @SAPSalesCloud” quote=”Discover how #SalesLeaders build great #sales teams from @KylePorter of @SalesLoft. Join @M_3Jr of Vengreso for this episode of #SellingWithSocial. Listen now! #SocialSelling #sellingwithsapcx @SAPSalesCloud”]

This podcast is brought to you by SAP Sales Cloud, the solution that enables your sales team to be more efficient, effective, and intelligent. With modern CRM, sales as you know it is about to change. Sell more with SAP Sales Cloud by visiting visit www.calliduscloud.com/vengreso.

Outline of This Episode

  • [1:41] Kyle Porter – CEO of Salesloft
  • [7:58] The beginning days of Salesloft – the vision and how it became a reality
  • [13:10] Why the buyer’s journey must guide the sales process
  • [18:10] Challenges experienced in growing Salesloft: leadership and focus on culture
  • [24:57] The things Kyle is doing to develop himself into a better leader everyday
  • [34:27] How to build the right team, with the right people, in the right seats
  • [40:21] A healthy culture includes calling out the leader when needed
  • [41:30] Sales Leaders must start measuring long-view oriented results

Resources Mentioned

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Click to Tweets:

[click_to_tweet tweet=”53% of customer #CustomerLoyalty is created DURING the #sales experience. Learn to make the most of it from @KylePorter of @SalesLoft. Join @M_3Jr of Vengreso for #SellingWithSocial. Listen now! #SocialSelling #sellingwithsapcx @SAPSalesCloud” quote=”53% of customer #CustomerLoyalty is created DURING the #sales experience. Learn to make the most of it from @KylePorter of @SalesLoft. Join @M_3Jr of Vengreso for #SellingWithSocial. Listen now! #SocialSelling #sellingwithsapcx @SAPSalesCloud”]

[click_to_tweet tweet=”To be a great #SalesLeader you must be both symphony and metallica That’s from @KylePorter of @SalesLoft. Join @M_3Jr of Vengreso for this episode of #SellingWithSocial. Listen now! #SocialSelling #sellingwithsapcx @SAPSalesCloud” quote=”To be a great #SalesLeader you must be both symphony and metallica That’s from @KylePorter of @SalesLoft. Join @M_3Jr of Vengreso for this episode of #SellingWithSocial. Listen now! #SocialSelling #sellingwithsapcx @SAPSalesCloud”]

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