The panel imparts their own personal wisdom on how to create a winning business strategy, be it rallying your sales team around greater pipeline generation, improving operational excellence, or increasing team trust throughout their development journey. 

Then stay tuned as they answer a rapid-fire round of audience questions.

Follow Alex: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexalleyne/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

And if you’re looking to level up in sales, sign up for Alex’s weekly newsletter. Reach new heights by building a world-class mindset grounded in discipline and resiliency: https://workweek.com/brand/on-target/

Alex is a Workweek friend.

After a near-fatal jet ski collision left him in critical condition for days, the Regional VP of Gartner awoke humbled by life and eager to set off on a journey of self-understanding.  

Mohy shares his unique outlook on life with Alex, and explains how his near-death experience helped him to become a lifelong learner in all aspects of life— not just sales. He also chats about the things he wishes he would have known early in his career growth— like being resourceful and scrappy to get to where he wanted to be. 

Then, Mohy shares why being prepared and playing a politician are two of the most beneficial things you can do to slide up the career ladder. 

Follow Mohy:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohyshams/

Follow Alex: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexalleyne/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

*Any opinions expressed on the podcast represent Mohy Sham’s personal opinions only and do not reflect the opinions of Gartner.

And if you’re looking to level up in sales, sign up for Alex’s weekly newsletter. Reach new heights by building a world-class mindset grounded in discipline and resiliency: https://workweek.com/brand/on-target/

Alex is a Workweek friend.

Jim MacDonald divulges the common qualities great sellers share in common, including the lessons he’s learned working for 25+ years in the tech industry. He also talks with Alex about the importance of hiring someone who is customer obsessed.

Plus, find out the differences in the hiring mindset when it comes to startup companies and bigger organizations and how enthusiasm, self-confidence, and resilience are invaluable qualities in new hires.

Follow Jim: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-macdonald-7172551/

Follow Alex: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexalleyne/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

And if you’re looking to level up in sales, sign up for Alex’s weekly newsletter. Reach new heights by building a world-class mindset grounded in discipline and resiliency: https://workweek.com/brand/on-target/

Alex is a Workweek friend.

Bill Rufo drops by the studio to chat with Alex about his customer-centric approach to pipeline generation. 

As the CRO for the IT sourcing firm, UpperEdge, Bill has a unique perspective on building and maintaining a more effective sales team.

He talks about the human aspect of building pipeline, the important role of curiosity in prospecting, and why articulating a vision ahead of time is a crucial part of ensuring scalability. 

Follow Bill:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billrufo/

Follow Alex: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexalleyne/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

And if you’re looking to level up in sales, sign up for Alex’s weekly newsletter. Reach new heights by building a world-class mindset grounded in discipline and resiliency: https://workweek.com/brand/on-target/

Alex is a Workweek friend.

What does a CRO who’s helped scale multiple startups into 40 million-dollar-plus businesses have to say about building a best-in-class sales team? 

With decades’ worth of experience establishing the process, playbook, and infrastructure for several companies, Josh Weisman believes building the perfect dream team boils down to a few core pillars.

He and Alex discuss the integral role that hiring, training, and onboarding play in creating an excellent workforce. Josh also explains why having difficult conversations with employees and dispensing feedback in digestible doses is critical to overall success.

Plus, find out why Josh thinks you should always be asking yourself if you’re happy with what you’re doing.

Follow Josh: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-weisman/

Follow Alex: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexalleyne/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

And if you’re looking to level up in sales, sign up for Alex’s weekly newsletter. Reach new heights by building a world-class mindset grounded in discipline and resiliency: https://workweek.com/brand/on-target/

Alex is a Workweek friend.

Get ready to elevate your sales strategy as Alex sits down with Chris, the VP of Sales at Hum Capital, for expert insights on the most efficient and transparent path to growth for companies and insider tips on successful leadership in the world of sales.

Together, they discuss team priorities, burnout in the industry, habits for building success and winning business, and much more.

Follow Chris: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-reilly-01056086/ 

Follow Alex: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexalleyne/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

And if you’re looking to level up in sales, sign up for Alex’s weekly newsletter. Reach new heights by building a world-class mindset grounded in discipline and resiliency: https://workweek.com/brand/on-target/

Alex is a Workweek friend.

According to GTM exec and master strategist to companies like Twilio, Cisco, and Oracle, Chetan Chaudhary, having a chip on your shoulder and being able to navigate a direct route to market is any high-potential sales leader’s best weapon in the battle for SaaS leadership supremacy. 

He and Alex take a deep dive into the technical specs of what characteristics make a great sales leader, the core ingredients any successful go-to-market plan must have, and why having a killer value proposition can make or break your sales pitch. 

Follow Chetan: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chetanc12/

Follow Alex: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexalleyne/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

And if you’re looking to level up in sales, sign up for Alex’s weekly newsletter. Reach new heights by building a world-class mindset grounded in discipline and resiliency: https://workweek.com/brand/on-target/

Alex is a Workweek friend.

0:00 Intro

3:47 The Value Proposition of Software

8:10 What Makes a Great Sales Leader?

14:37 The DNA of High-Potential Sales Leaders 

20:28 Core Ingredients of a Go-to-Market Plan

23:55 Where Sales Leaders Fall Short

26:32 Being a Data-Driven Leader

30:57 The Importance of a Good Deep Dive

35:50 Time Management

38:57 Staying Healthy

42:02 Winning Business Principles

44:20 A Million Dollar Deal

46:35 Best Piece of Advice

48:38 Wrapping it Up

Alex chats with veteran and current VP of Sales at Dandy, Kyle Peterson, about what characteristics successful leaders in SaaS have in common and why mentorship efforts are the key to fostering professional development.

Kyle also explains why trust should always be the primary consideration in building a successful team foundation, how clear expectations can make or break sales goals, and why constructive feedback is critical to fueling individual and team growth. 

Plus, find out why having a great discovery mindset can place you in the top 20% of sellers.

Follow Kyle:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylepetersenco/

Follow Alex: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexalleyne/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

And if you’re looking to level up in sales, sign up for Alex’s weekly newsletter. Reach new heights by building a world-class mindset grounded in discipline and resiliency: https://workweek.com/brand/on-target/

Alex is a Workweek friend.

Matt is the VP of Global Sales at Vertice, the purchasing platform that helps clients manage their SaaS stack.

Alex and Matt get into why Matt still makes time to prospect every day, why blame culture is so destructive, and how great habits outside sales lead to great habits inside sales.

Follow Matt:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthicks85/

Follow Alex: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexalleyne/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

And if you’re looking to level up in sales, sign up for Alex’s weekly newsletter. Reach new heights by building a world-class mindset grounded in discipline and resiliency: https://workweek.com/brand/on-target/

Alex is a Workweek friend.

You make pipeline their number one priority. Tony Jackson is here to open the playbook on how.

Tony is a Senior Advisor at the Sales Impact Academy but he’s got deep roots in some of the biggest software companies out there, including MongoDB and Snowflake, which became one of the largest software IPOs in history.

Alex and Tony dive into why pipeline is everyone’s concern - not just your sales team, how to leverage LinkedIn in your sales strategy, and why you should be hyper-focused on how you spend your time to prioritize what’s really important.

Follow Tony: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyjackson1/

Follow Alex: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexalleyne/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

And if you’re looking to level up in sales, sign up for Alex’s weekly newsletter. Reach new heights by building a world-class mindset grounded in discipline and resiliency: https://workweek.com/brand/on-target/

Alex is a Workweek friend.

On Target is the all signal, all action show deep diving into the minds of sales professionals and giving you TWO actionable insights you can put into practice right away.

I’m your host, Alex Alleyne, an award-winning SaaS Sales Leader, Founder of Elite Level and Area Vice President, SMB Sales EMEA at Braze. I’m going to show you how you can scale your performance from good - to elite.

You’ll hear interviews with some of the most successful senior sales leaders in the business, sharing their playbooks through the lens of my unique framework for success: Pipeline, Operational Excellence, Deal.

Every week I’ll talk with an elite performer digging into their daily operating rhythm and exploring the tactics they use to find and close deals.

Season 1 drops soon with new episodes every week. Make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Looking back at the 20+ years of his experience in sales, Meshach shares that nothing would’ve been possible without consistency, a good system, and quality mentorship. Meshach, who discusses having five mentors in his life, stresses that the best professionals utilize quality mentorship and that it transforms your unsteady, uninformed journey into a pleasantly informed one.

Meshach also gets into the time sales representatives had nothing but traditional sources like the telephone to connect with people. Now that the internet has become the norm, a sales professional’s job has become better assisted. 

Further into the conversation, you might think: what about the uncomfortable, vulnerable times in your sales career when you need someone to lend you some time to listen to them? What about the up-and-down journey that sales often takes because of the lack of surety? Meshach talks about it all in this episode!

Key Talking Points:

●      Technology and sales

●      Consistency in sales

●      Getting on the journey to mastery

●      The lesser-known realities of the glamorous sales job

 
Meet The Guest!

Meshach is the Managing Director EMEA at Allbound Inc., a software firm based in Georgia.

Connect with Meshach!

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/meshachamuah-fuster/

Connect with Alex!

●      Website: www.elitelevel.co| https://www.alexalleyne.com

●      Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elitelevelalex

●      Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

●      YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/elitelevelpodcast

●      Learn with Alex: https://www.elitelevel.co

Recounting his journey to sales, Parker shares it hadn’t been easy for him. He started in university wanting to be a surgeon, pursuing courses in certain branches of medicine, and was dead focused on that goal, even scoring 98 percentile in the MCAT, the admissions test for medical school in the US. Parker was determined to find a job soon after med school after spending almost all his life in the library among books (studying for a goal now totally irrelevant). But after graduation, he started working at his friend’s startup to fund himself till he got a medical job. That’s where all his calculations started to fall apart – when he began falling out of love with medicine and the healthcare industry as a whole. He realized he couldn’t spend a significant part of his life doing something he did not enjoy. So while interviewing for medical jobs, he also worked wholeheartedly as an SDR. Even when he got the job he had been preparing for, for what felt like a lifetime, he knew he couldn’t accept it, and it came as a shock to his whole family, that was expecting him to be a doctor. He needed time to assess if the medical field was for him, and he happened to have done well.

The newfound interest in sales + its rewarding potential got into Parker completely. So when Darktrace found him, he was more than ready to take up the challenge. Today, Parker is not only an experienced sales representative but a leader and mentor who helps others find and succeed in their career in the industry.

Sit back and listen to this episode to learn about Parker’s impressive journey and the secrets and motivations behind his outstanding success!

Key Talking Points:

●      Using stress to your advantage

●      What the stoic philosophy teaches you about work and stress

●      How to drive forward in your career with freedom of choice

●      Cultivating grit

 
Connect with Parker!

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/winstonparkerashley

Connect with Alex!

●      Website: www.elitelevel.co| https://www.alexalleyne.com

●      Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elitelevelalex

●      Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

●      YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/elitelevelpodcast

●      Learn with Alex: https://www.elitelevel.co

Today’s guest, Eduardo Ynaty, would teach you how he amassed promising success in his career as a sales professional by being an invaluable asset to his startup firm despite his love-hate relationship with sales while starting. What’s most interesting about his career is that he started on this journey as a karate master – so technically, not a sales or tech role. But there was some sales he had to do there too – selling memberships. Though he had no idea he was going to become a top sales professional, later on, the experience did offer some start to his sales journey.

Eduardo started with tech sales as an SDR and worked tremendously hard in the role, with the desire to become a full-cycle rep soon. And he did. He then moved into account management before being introduced to a soon-to-be winning startup monday.com. Meeting the monday.com team was a game-changer in his life because 4 years later, he still loves learning, growing, and developing himself through new roles and responsibilities at the company. 

Eduardo has time and time again proved his ability and talent to his company, being exceptional in sales, managing salespeople, quota carrying, and even helping with his fair tech knowledge. He currently manages the solutions engineering team there and has hired, managed, and trained many in the firm over the years.

He discusses all about his role, his changing goals and objectives after becoming a leader from a representative, career objectives, and driving forces in this episode. He also gives valuable tips for becoming an exceptional sales representative and leader. Not giving in to desperation and having the confidence and passion for succeeding are some of the most crucial takeaways from this episode. Tune in for more!

Key Talking Points:

●      The journey to becoming a full sales representative from SDR

●      The importance of confidence, grit, and tenacity for a sales professional

●      How to know if a company is good for you

●      Becoming an asset for the company you work for

Connect with Eduardo!

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eynaty/

Connect with Alex!

●      Website: www.elitelevel.co| https://www.alexalleyne.com

●      Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

●      YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/elitelevelpodcast

●      Learn with Alex: https://www.elitelevel.co

Most people would pick the latter option, but there lay our twist. Our guest for today's episode, an amazingly talented manager and leader and the GM/ Managing Director at Currys Business, however, chose the former. In her spectacular career, which included 7 years of working with the e-commerce giant Amazon, Molly Dobson decided to stick with the former option and allowed herself to feel pity whenever things went downhill. For her, accepting herself for everything she is and everything she will be, was and is incredibly important. 

In today's episode, she breaks down the amazing professional journey she's had, not stumbling over challenges, choosing to continually improve her skills, and sticking with her ambition even during the most tiring of times. 

Molly talks about her interest in analytical learning and curiosity about people's behaviors since she was young and how it matched well into a career and life in retail and fashion. She also gets into the secrets to her inspiring leadership skills, including creating a safe space for your teammates to talk to you and share their concerns with you, the lessons from her tough times and what (if any) about her journey she would go back and change if she could. 

A valuable point Molly shared in this conversation that also explains her fantastic choice of companies is the importance of researching the company you are preparing to work with. She shares that if you are in a position to connect with different organizations and have the flexibility of choice, you must first research the companies thoroughly. Upfront research always helps find a workplace that works the best for you. Remember, "you're interviewing a company as much as they're interviewing you." 

Key talking points:

●  The importance of continuous self-improvement
●  The traits of an elite-level leader
●  The importance of researching the company you’re planning to work with
●  The importance of acknowledging your emotions
Meet The Guest!
Molly Dobson is the GM/ Managing Director at Currys Business. 

Connect with Molly 

● LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mollydobson/?originalSubdomain=uk 

Connect with Alex

●  Website: https://www.alexalleyne.com 
●  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mralexalleyne/ 
●  Twitter: https://twitter.com/mralexalleyne 
●  YouTube: http://youtube.com/c/alexAlleyne 
●  Learn with Alex: https://www.elitelevel.co 

Agreeing to it further is Gavin Dimmock, now a trailblazing sales leader with over 27 years of experience and our guest for today’s podcast episode. Starting as a software engineer (a pretty good one at that), Gavin was pursuing his passion for complex problem-solving until, some time into his career, he came across the amazing life of the sales professionals at the company he then worked in. Interestingly, everything about their careers: their lifestyle, salary, job, sounded amazing to him, prompting him to eventually take a huge leap of faith in his professional career towards sales – a decision he’s clearly never frowned at.

In conversation with Alex, Gavin unpacks the lessons from his terrific professional journey, including working at the American multinational computer technology corporation Oracle for over a decade. His relentless effort, tenacity, curiosity, and zest to learn have led him to the mammoth success he enjoys today, and he’s dedicated to imparting this knowledge and skills to anyone who desires to be developed.

Listen up as he narrates his first days as a sales representative learning the nuances of the game to making a million pounds in commission and leading huge corporate teams. His hunger to help people and tenacity to succeed despite the odds are your keys to take away. Gavin also talks about his decision to go on a sabbatical and take better care of his health and happiness. 

 Tune in now!

Until next time!

Key Talking Points:

 ●      What switching careers feels like

●      Why hard work is a key ingredient to success of any kind

●      Life as an SDR starting out

●      The importance of a people development mindset for leaders

●      What differentiates elite leaders from good ones?

Meet The Guest!

Gavin Dimmock is an experienced GTM leader with expertise in building and growing enterprise software businesses. He currently serves as the Senior Vice-President & GM EMEA at Terminus, an AMB platform provider based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Connect with Gavin!

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavin-dimmock-27416b2 

Connect with Alex!

●      Website: www.elitelevel.co | https://www.alexalleyne.com

●      Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elitelevelalex

●      Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

●      YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/elitelevelpodcast

●      Learn with Alex: https://www.elitelevel.co

Our guest for today’s episode, Grant Coleman, is a stellar example. Grant started his career as a dealer at a local Mercedes Benz showroom for five years. (This is after quitting university in three months to find a proper job.) Managing 20-25 customers daily, handling their expectations – some very demanding ones, and dealing with team mechanics- were all the tiny heavy stuff he had done there. Little would he have known how he would grow to become the successful sales leader he is today!

When Grant realized the massive debt he had built up all these years, he decided to quit Mercedes Benz and find a job to help him get out of debt. And this time, rather than working for the cash machine, he decided to take up a job in sales. To his delight, he saw an advert in the newspaper about a sales job with an earning potential of 20,000 pounds a month. He knew that was it. It was an investment property sales role in Dubai, the company that paved the way for his sales career.

Though challenging, demanding, and heavily disciplined, the job introduced him to the real world of sales – where competition was tough, metrics were constantly looked at, and ethics and behavior were highly valued. Further in his career, Grant moved into real estate too, and the company he joined proved to be an incredibly rewarding experience – he worked 18 hours a day there, but this time, it wasn’t because someone asked him to, but because the work genuinely got into him!

 Listen to this episode of the Elite Level Podcast to hear first-hand about the massive progress Grant made in his career – from a dealer to a sales representative and now a leader managing huge sales teams!

 Key Talking Points:

●      Cultivating the willingness to take up new responsibilities

●      Deciding if you’re fit to be a manager

●      Relationship-building for success in sales

●      The role of a mentor in your career

Meet The Guest!

Grant Coleman is the Senior Vice President & General Manager Customer Experience (CX), EMEA North at SAP. He was promoted from Emarsys to own the full SAP CX suite within EMEA North. 

 Connect with Grant!

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grantcoleman1 

Connect with Alex!

●      Website: www.elitelevel.co| https://www.alexalleyne.com

●      Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elitelevelalex

●      Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

●      YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/elitelevelpodcast

●      Learn with Alex: https://www.elitelevel.co

That’s one of the things Andy, our guest for today’s episode, revealed when asked about his success mantra. Leaving behind his life in the military to begin on a new path, Andy chose sales and succeeded pleasantly in it.

With more than 2 decades' worth of sales experience, Andy has amassed a wealth of understanding of the industry. As the Vice President & General Manager of Highspot, Andy has served as the Sales Director at multiple companies, achieving commendable success on the professional front. 

In this episode, he talks about his life so far to Alex, getting into the challenges and success clues from his career. He shares the times making tough decisions, the practice and effort that went into it, and the effort it took to continue growing and developing his career. Coupled with his army background, Andy’s inherent skills and the willingness to continually grow and never settle, he reveals, have taken him to greater heights.

 This episode is your crash course on trust, hard work, accountability, a conviction for success in any career and the power of humility and compassion in leadership. Andy discusses the importance of being prepared to take the tough decisions as a leader, which includes walking the line between having a good level of camaraderie with your team but not getting too close. A little distance could, in fact, be useful for you.

 Before we part for the day, remember to keep challenging yourself. Don’t get comfortable in what you do because as soon as you stop, others will overtake you. Make sure to tune in to this episode for more!

Key talking points:

●      The importance of trust at work

●      Making the tough decisions and holding by them

●      The characteristics of an elite-level leader

●      The importance of continuing to challenge yourself professionally

Meet The Guest!

Andy is the Vice President & General Manager of Highspot, a sales enablement platform based in the US.

Connect with Andy & Alex

 ●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexalleyne/

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andychampion

The guest for today’s episode of the Elite Level Podcast is Ashley Brinsford, a brilliant sales leader with over two decades of experience. That level of experience also means he’s handled everything about sales – ​​from data entry, SDR work, field work to running a 120-person organization across Europe, he’s done it all phenomenally well. Starting his career with door-to-door medical equipment sales, Ashley gradually upped his skills to become the #1 sales professional at Symantec, crushing profit targets greater than 200%, making his mark felt at the company. 

Aside from sales, Ashley is interested in sports and has a sporting background. He’s played cricket for a large part of his life and imbibes valuable life skills from the sport. When asked about it, he reveals that teamwork, camaraderie, competition, winning and losing are all lessons that stay with him to date. Additionally, the friendships that he made when in the sport helped in his sales career significantly. 

His hard work, tenacity, willingness to learn and the ability to learn from his mistakes proved game-changing in his career. So much so that he left the others immensely impressed. His success spoke so loud that people at ALL levels in his company – the senior-level professionals, leaders, and teammates alike wanted to be involved in the work he did.

Success followed him because he let his work speak for itself. He was only invested in growth – both his and his company’s and outlived any targets, proving his worth every step of the way. In today’s conversation, sit back with Alex to learn about the sales maestro and the ingredients to elite-level success – it has everything worth writing a whole book about!

Key Talking Points:

●      The early days of your career could be tough, but the hard work you put in then really matters for the rest of your career.

●      The importance of focussing on keeping your growth curve upwards

●      Why not be afraid of failure

●      How a mentor can level you up in your career 

●      How to get success to follow you

Meet The Guest!

Ashley Brinsford is the Head of EMEA Sales at Island, UK. He has over two decades worth of experience in sales, working with the software development organization Symantec for over a decade.

Connect with Alex & Ashley!

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexalleyne/

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-brinsford-%F0%9F%8F%9D%EF%B8%8F-9b6a5410

 It all began when Anup unknowingly landed his electrical retailer employer a customer while working as a cashier. Sales came naturally to him. He could understand and communicate customer needs clearly and efficiently align their needs with available options. His employer, who discovered this, offered him to hop into a sales role -- and the rest is history! Today, Anup works as the General Manager and Vice President at Attentive, managing all its revenue growth outside North America.

 Today, on the Elite Level Podcast, get to know Anup and his insightful journey into becoming a global sales leader. Learn about his humble journey, mentality, passion, and skills that led him to where he is today.

Breaking down his understanding of the most important skills needed to succeed in sales, Anup says three things: 

>> Get to know the people

>> Get to know the product

>> Get to know the process

 Though simple, it is these three P’s that determine your career trajectory in sales. Grow in them.

Further in the conversation, Anup also reveals why leadership skills outweigh technical expertise, even for sales leaders. Though domain knowledge is critical, being able to empower your team comes first. Listen up for a better understanding of all of this and more!

Key Talking Points:

●      How to empower your team as a leader

●      The importance of self-awareness in your career

●      The importance of a learning mindset

●      How a mentor can level you up in your career 

●      The importance of being unafraid to fail

 Meet The Guest!

Anup is a veteran sales leader with over 20 years of experience in the industry. He currently serves as the General Manager and Vice President at Attentive, managing all its revenue growth outside North America.

Connect with Alex Alleyne

● Website: www.elitelevelpod.com | www.alexalleyne.com
● LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexalleyne/
● Instagram + TikTok @EliteLevelAlex

 Success in sales definitely requires unbeatable talent and resilience. But above them all comes the ability to work in a team, fit into the organizational culture, and work in a role or position that brings you joy, says Ollie Sharpe, our guest in today's heart-warming episode of the Elite Level Podcast.

In his decades-long career, Ollie shares, he's faced countless ups and downs – both personally and professionally – including his wife's battle with cancer seven years ago. Among the many things he's learned is learning to prioritize yourself. In his words, "I am not LinkedIn, I am not SalesLoft (both are companies he's worked in). It's a vehicle for me to provide money for me, to provide opportunity for my family and my priorities."

As a leader, Ollie intentionally accounts for the happiness of his employees. He believes the role, among other things, should focus on putting your people first, providing them with a reason to work for you. Happy minds are powerful. If your work brings you happiness, success inadvertently follows.

How do leaders assess potential employees on the happiness and cultural aspect?

Ollie's organization assesses how a person gets along with others. Even an A player can annoy everyone else in the team. That makes for a bad cultural fit.

Besides the people aspect, Ollie also touches on the more technical assessments he carries out in his organization – including experience metrics, curiosity, self-development, learning mindset, and intelligence. Tune in to this conversation for a wholesome understanding of leveling up your sales career!

Key Talking Points:

●      Understanding how sales recruitment works

●      Why one must look for happiness at work

●      The importance of prioritizing yourself over anything else

●      The foundations to a great company culture

Meet The Guest!

 Ollie Sharpe is an experienced business leader in the B2B marketplace and has managed teams. He has helped take SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions and professional services to EMEA's corporate/ enterprise and staffing markets. With 11 years of experience in the recruitment industry, starting his career at CD Recruitment to working close to 10 years at LinkedIn as a sales leader, Ollie has extensive industry experience we can all lean on to.

Connect with Alex

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexalleyne

Connect with Ollie

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olliesharpe

 Sales to him was something that was done by a ‘certain type of person with a certain mindset’. He saw the profession as a limiting one and believed that the people who achieved success in it were of older ages. But all those negatives which stemmed from a lack of information flipped for the better with his growing interest in technology. His growing interest in exploring technology unknown to most people, and his love for customer interaction and account management brought him closer to sales, and he's ever since grown in it to a massive extent.

Today’s episode features Luke Moore and his journey to becoming a passionate sales leader. From discipline, consistency, self-learning, to hunger to do more, you’ll get to all the different skills that would take you to elite-level salesmanship.

According to him, developing efficiency is one thing, but cultivating the discipline to use that skill responsibly and consistently comes above everything else.

There are precious insights you can take away from today’s episode. But let’s part with one – be open to identifying better ways of doing things. Come out of the traditional mindset, and find innovative ways of accomplishing tasks – those are the keys to building an absolutely sustainable sales career!

Key talking points: 

●      The mindset of a successful sales professional

●      Is discipline built or, is it innate?

●      The process of self-learning – learning without a mentor

●      Waiting for the opportunity vs creating it

Meet The Guest!

Luke Moore is the Chief Revenue Officer at Chattermill, UK.

Connect with Luke

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moorius

Connect with Alex

●      Website:  https://www.alexalleyne.com

●      YouTube: http://youtube.com/c/alexAlleyne

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexalleyne/

How do you overcome some of the adversity of being told that you can’t do something, that you aren’t good enough to want something?

Working medium-hard wouldn’t get you very far in your career in that state. It takes immeasurable hard work, grit, and determination to achieve something, dropping any plan ‘B’ before the thoughts of it even occur to you.

As our guest on the Elite Level Podcast, Laura Bartkiewicz concludes, “it does take a bit of rejection to make you want it more.”

In today’s episode, Alex interviews Laura Bartkiewicz, a recruiter turned sales leader from Boston. Struggling to find a recruiting job starting off, Laura moved to multiple countries in her career, from recruitment to sales to management, before settling finally in the UK as an established leader. Today, she leads a team of nine AEs and is having a super-fun time doing it.

Laura explains the sequence of events and experiences that led her to become the leader she is today, including the mindset and skill training she adopted for the same. Of the many important nuggets she shares is the importance of being comfortable with you because no matter what happens, you and only you will be there with you always. It is also immensely beneficial for your personal development.

Key talking points: 

●      Are grit and willpower innate skills?

●      How to grow past challenges and failures

●      What emotional resilience looks like

●      How to determine if the managerial role is for you (and if you’re ready for it)

Meet The Guest!

 Laura Bartkiewicz is a professional recruiter turned sales leader based out of the Boston Area. She currently works at Figma, a design-based organization in the UK.

Connect with Laura

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurabartkiewicz/

Connect with Alex

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexalleyne/

●      Website:  https://www.alexalleyne.com

●      Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elitelevelalex

●      Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

●      YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/elitelevelpodcast 

When Elliott was told a sales career suited his skills better than a technical role, he was shocked. For a person with a tech background and coming from a family of teachers, walking into the sales role was totally unanticipated. But however unexpected the start was, the journey proved to be immensely rewarding for him. And despite the unnerving first six months, Elliott became the top performer in his organization in the initial month itself. 

Today’s episode reveals how a desire to win in life got Elliott to become a powerful sales leader in the UK. He speaks with Alex about the professional journey, his infectious enthusiasm about sales, the things to do and the lessons to learn to carve an influential sales career. He shares everything from knocking on the customers’ doors or picking up the phone to the importance of preparation, goal-setting, planning and messaging in sales. High on energy phone calls, activity, and high-volume calling, backed by the preparation of the accounts he shares, are the fundamental keys to his success.

Elliott also talks about the irreplaceable importance of mentorship, upskilling, and relationship-building. To succeed in the profession, you have to work hard to learn the nuances of your trade from the people who’re already experts at it.

Listen to this episode to better prepare yourself for a successful career in sales.

 Key talking points:

●      The power of a winning mindset

●      The importance of hard work in achieving growth and success

●      The first six months in sales

●      Mastering discovery calls

Meet The Guest!

Elliott Boll is the Strategic Account Executive at Sales Impact Academy, UK.

Connect with Elliott

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliottboll

Connect with Alex

●      Website: www.elitelevelacademy.com | https://www.alexalleyne.com

●      Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elitelevelalex

●      Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

●      YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/elitelevelpodcast 

Just when Louis James Kwakye was eyeing an impressive career in athletics, his physical health faced an unimaginable low. The battle with a damaged Achilles tendon was a life-changing pivot that had Louis leave the sport forever. Little did he know then that the lessons learned from his time in it would impact the rest of his life. As a sales director at Reward Gateway now, Louis realizes the commendable strength, grit, and determination the sport taught him and how it has made him unwaveringly successful as a sales professional. 

Today’s episode features Louis’ story in his words. Joining Alex in this episode of Elite Level, he shares how he rose from plummeting mental health and had to trade in his monumental chances of victory as an athlete for an unforeseen career in sales. 

Throughout his life’s journey, Louis learned fairly well how hard work, grit, and honesty helped you find your North Star even when you’re blindly lost. When starting a career in sales, Louis put in the reps to know the trade well and worked ridiculously hard, never compromising the basics. Thanks to his efforts, Louis rose steadily into leadership roles and learned over time the importance of developing your team. Most importantly, he let his work speak for itself and never let the color of his skin or other differences come in the way of his success. Listen to the legendary Sales Leader as he narrates his story of triumph and gives away invaluable lessons that would help you become an elite-level sales leader!

 Key talking points:

●      The power of grit

●      Pivoting to a new career after a downfall

●      Creating a sales machine in your organization

●      Speaking with yourself to achieve clarity of mind

Meet The Guest!

Louis James is the Sales Director at Reward Gateway, an HR Tech SaaS company based in the UK.

Connect with Louis

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-james-kwakye-5ab63034

Connect with Alex

●      Website: www.elitelevelacademy.com | https://www.alexalleyne.com

 ●      Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elitelevelalex

●      Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

●      YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/elitelevelpodcast

Vinit’s entrepreneurial journey had interesting plots of its kind. Working a few different jobs post graduation, Vinit could save some money before venturing into founding a business - an experience that provided him with a safety blanket to dive into it completely. Elaborating on that, Vinit adds that having the opportunity to take the risk of not earning money and still surviving gave him room to break into his business venture completely. He explains that if you could have a job and work on your passion as a side hustle for some time before turning it into a full-time thing, it gives you a lot of cover-up.

 A major lesson he provides in this conversation is learning to get into your customer's shoes. He explains that as an entrepreneur, you must know how it feels to be "sold to". See the world from your customers' point of view rather than yours. 

 In his words, "If you're in a retail environment, get yourself behind the customer service desk, if you're in a tech sales environment, get yourself into the customer success team for a bit – see and feel those, those pain points and those stories, because you can then use that in your selling mode to convince and like credibly explain what they're going to get after the deal is closed."

 4 Prospecting tips from Vinit:

1. Keep it brief.
2. Gather relevant reference points.
3. Make it easy for the prospect to say 'no'.
4. If you find a compelling story, testimonial, or case study that fixes or helps with your customer's issue, push that in.

 Being elite in any profession requires a ton of self-improvement efforts. Vinit shares that the intrinsic motivation to do more, become better, receive and appreciate feedback, and live up to your expectations helped him grow a business that's respected internationally today. Tune in to this episode for more!

 Key talking points:

●      Developing the ability to constantly learn and improve

●      The importance of personalization

●      Why outbound prospecting is the hardest thing for businesses to do

●      Learning from the past but not dwelling on it

Connect with Vinit

●      LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/vinitrpatel

Connect with Alex

●      Website: www.elitelevelacademy.com | https://www.alexalleyne.com

●      Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elitelevelalex

●      Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

●      YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/elitelevelpodcast

Today's episode of the Elite Level Podcast features Alan Singhavara, Sales Leader at Patsnap, a leading connection innovation intelligence platform based in Singapore. In a career that saw him move from sales to Chinese medicine and then again back to sales, Alan learned valuable lessons on not just becoming an exceptional sales professional, but a true leader in life.

Born to immigrant parents and being raised by a single mother for a significant part of his life (who worked two jobs to care for her family), Alan knew the importance and power of hard work in transforming your life. True to this, he worked exceptionally hard to succeed in his career and kept himself occupied in the sales grind until, one day, he realized he needed balance and that he couldn't miss out on the other essential life aspects.

Alan spent the next phase of his life learning Chinese medicine, seeking healing and personal development lessons. As also a martial arts instructor, the period taught him emotional, physical, and psychological balance. He learned to be more self-aware.

Over 5 years down the line, Alan ventured into sales once again – this time more informed of what he wanted and how he could help people and companies with his skills. He knew he would have to start as a sales representative again, and he did. He worked relentlessly hard, updating himself on the most recent business developments, and focused on growing in value, so he could also add value to the others in his organization.

In this episode of the Elite Level podcast, you'll learn why sales and sales leadership is more than the numbers: leadership, especially, is about helping your team grow; it's about providing others with the resources and guidance necessary for success. And if you ever face rock bottom again, know that you could spring back: what matters is how much you're willing to do for it. 

Key talking points:

●      The power of self-awareness

●      Humility and hard work as the keys to success

●      The mindset of a leader

●      Not waiting for role assignment to start learning about it

Meet The Guest!

Alan Singhavara is the Head of Sales, EMEA at PatSnap, a leading connection innovation intelligence platform based in Singapore.

Connect with Alan

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alansinghavara/

Connect with Alex

●      Website: www.elitelevelacademy.com | https://www.alexalleyne.com

●      Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elitelevelalex

●      Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

●      YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/elitelevelpodcast

In today’s episode, Alex interviews the brilliant CRO of Braze, London, Daniel Head. With a Manufacturing Systems Engineering degree from the elite Coventry University, switching to a blazingly different career path wasn’t planned. Working at the helpdesk for an ERP system post graduation, Dan got interested in learning more about the systems and processes that ran businesses. Add his fascination for the sales profession, and he knew that sales was his calling.

 Daniel shares many valuable lessons from his decades-long career, including the common mistakes made and how to keep away from them. He shares that the greatest competitive threat salespeople face is the lack of time; that the best salespersons can manage their time effectively. 

Moving from an individual role to a leadership role taught Daniel the importance of management skills. He fundamentally disagrees that management is a destination people must try to get to early on in their careers because it takes tremendous patience, skills, and competitiveness to do justice to it. At the highest point in your career, there’s no place to go other than the bottom. Staying there takes fierce competitiveness and self-growth.

To part with, Daniel adds that elite-level salespersons take ownership of their actions; they curate their careers with intention.

Key talking points:

●      Time-management in sales

●      Why the management ladder isn’t an easy climb

●      Taking ownership of your career

●      Sales success is a product of intelligence and soft skills    
  

Meet The Guest!

Daniel Head is the Chief Revenue Officer at Braze, a comprehensive customer engagement platform based in the UK. He comes with over 25 years of experience in Enterprise IT and digital marketing tech sales leadership.


Connect with Alex

● Website: www.elitelevelacademy.com | https://www.alexalleyne.com

● Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elitelevelalex

● Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

● YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/elitelevelpodcast

 Today’s episode of The Elite Level podcast features a successful sales professional who built and sustained an incredible career in the industry out of sheer tenacity, courage, and defiance, venturing into it when she was just 18. Despite the industry’s abundant male-dominated nature, Carmen Osman climbed greater levels to grow, succeed, and lead inspiringly well.

Carmen joins Alex on the show today to give away the lessons from her 14-year+ long career in sales, which taught her not only the skills to thrive as a sales professional but to cultivate unbeatable resilience. They discuss building emotional resilience to face rejections, growth and leadership in sales, and the importance of being intentional, brave, and tenacious in sales.

Interestingly, Carmen switched from her role as a sales leader to an individual contributor over the years. Despite being a passionate leader. She did this to invest more time into growing herself first. This brings us to another essential takeaway from this conversation: continuous growth and learning. The secret to a successful career in sales, like in other careers, is investing in personal development. Carmen has a ton of valuable insight to offer on the same. Do not forget to tune in!

Key talking points:

●      How to build emotional resilience to face rejections

●      The importance of self-development

●      Making your way into + succeeding in a male-dominated industry

●      The importance of setting goals

 
Meet The Guest!

Carmen Osman has over 14 years of experience in B2B sales & management within the managed print sector. She also recently moved into the SaaS new business and corporate growth space.

Watch The Elite Level Podcast on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/c/EliteLevelPodcast

Visit Elite Level Academy:

https://www.elitelevelacademy.com/

From selling barbecue grills to help his father in the side business to opening a business selling insurance, Kevin realized how the very thought of assisting people in getting what they wanted – and making good amounts of money in the process – was where lay his vibe. Sailing along with this revelation and working exceptionally hard to make it to the other end, Kevin grew impressively: from tech sales to sales leadership, his growth curve was as rewarding as possible. Today, working as the Sales Manager at Lattice, he realizes the mammoth of a journey he’s taken, fighting insecurities, learning the ins and outs of the trade, and winning customer trust with his intrinsic traits of vulnerability, and understandability, leadership, grit, and courage.

Hearing Kevin speak, you’ll realize why you’re capable of much more than you think. The initial few months into sales were tough for him too, but deciding to stick along and show up, turned the tables around before he even knew it.

As we often talk about in the Elite Level Podcast, it’s harder to get from good to elite than reaching ‘good’. Along with relentless effort, elite-level salespersons require an unmatchable understanding of customer needs and expectations, which could benefit from vulnerability. The more you are yourself, the more you can connect with your customer, as Kevin shares realizing through his experiences.

Sit back as Alex and Kevin also talk about achieving unbounded sales growth and how to fasten that goal with a strong motivation that goes beyond money and an understanding of what you’re helping your customers get. 

Key talking points:

 ●      How to overcome your insecurities as a salesperson

●      Understanding your customer deeply

●      The responsibilities that come with being a leader

●      Career decision-making

Connect with Kevin

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-bowen-b1a00754/?originalSubdomain=uk

Connect with Alex

●      Website:  https://www.alexalleyne.com | www.elitelevelacademy.com

●      Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elitelevelalex

●      Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

●      YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/elitelevelpodcast

Working hard and hustling has its place and might reap many rewards in the short run. But to sustain in the long run, you need to know WHY you're in it. What about the chase excites you? What is it that you're chasing?

Self-awareness is an undeniably important factor for success.

Top sales professional turned workspace wellness entrepreneur Sophie joins us in this episode of the Elite Level Podcast to reveal everything that went behind her change of heart and mind from corporate culture to entrepreneurship, her secrets to sales success, and the importance of self-awareness in paving our way to success. 

Our first female guest on the show, Sophie, shares how she ventured into sales in her mid-20s, working for Thomson Local in the yellow pages directory sales. More exciting is how Sophie ranked in the top 10 salespeople of about 250 in the company! After a while, she moved on to telecom sales, an industry that was dominated by men, but still made her success count and established her authority in the space. What is behind this ever-increasing growth curve she's achieved?

Self-awareness and self-reflection. In today's conversation, Sophie gets underneath why self-awareness is critical to success in any space. Explaining the discoveries on the impact of work-related stress on employee health and productivity, especially in the fast-paced career of sales, Sophie teaches you to reflect on your personal life and health and realize its transformative power in your professional life. Your strategic thinking, problem-solving speed, and intuition are a few of the many things that are directly impacted when under stress, so minimizing it isn't a luxury but a necessity. 

You cannot prevent stress or trauma but can figure out a better way to cope with it. Listen up for more on the same in today's episode!

Key talking points:

●      How to make it to the top salespersons at your company

●      Why self-awareness is a primary step to success

●      Navigating burnout in sales

●      Know your energy distribution using a simple assessment!

 
Connect with Sophie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiecoulthard/

Take a sneak peek into Alex’s life as he shares how the simple value combined with relentless determination, grit, and motivation led him to success: in a 10-question-quick Q&A episode! Revealing how he chased his dreams, temporarily pushing aside a scholarship study in corporate law, he explains the importance of building the courage to follow your passion unaffected by the opinions of those around you. You know your thing better than anyone else in the world. Staying true to himself helped Alex build the monumental success he has right now and still go back to complete the degree he was pursuing before.

Today, get to know your host personally – learn about his interests in food, sports, and cars; his inspiration, hobbies, personal stories, and more. Alex also encapsulates the secrets to his sales success for you to listen to and learn from.

 Alex underpins that his motivation currently isn’t money but the ability to make a difference in the world. He wants to help talented, driven individuals, particularly salespersons, achieve elite-level success. And one element of that is embodying the role you’re chasing. Want to become an Account Executive? Dive into the specifics of the role and learn what it takes to perform well in it through available and accessible resources like this podcast. 

(PS. If you are a Sales Development Representative who wants to transition into an Account Executive role, join Alex’s Elite Level Academy @https://www.elitelevelacademy.com. He would help you do that in 8 weeks or less!)

 Listen to this episode for more!

 Key talking points:

●      Being driven by the desire to impact the world

●      Why tenacity is an irreplaceable ingredient of sales success

●      The importance of embodying a role to grab it

●      Building muscle memory by continuing to practice something

Connect with Alex

●      Website:  www.elitelevelacademy.com | www.alexalleyne.com

●      Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mralexalleyne/

●      Twitter: https://twitter.com/elitelevelalex

●      YouTube: http://youtube.com/c/elitelevelpodcast

Today’s episode of Elite Level features Samuel Brooksworth, the CEO & Founder of Remoteli. Samuel narrates his path to sales and entrepreneurship, the experiences gained and the lessons learned.

 Challenging times taught Samuel to spring back despite any odds. From media sales to insurance sales, he worked with the sales wings of different departments, making door-to-door sales, convincing customers about products they would otherwise refuse to buy, and sometimes even tolerating their abuse and pushback. In what started as the journey to make money, Samuel found his passion. He fell in love with the idea of selling.

Remarkably, in Samuel’s first corporate job, when he was asked to sell  ₤ 25,000 in the first three months, he sold for ₤ 300,000 - an achievement that not only convinced his employers of his abilities but himself that he was capable of a lot more.

Over time, Samuel learned and gathered the courage to fight for what he’s worth. And when the need to be recognized for his work took over, he decided to pivot from a full-time job to a company. Hence birthing Remoteli, which is now en route to finding the right investors to help grow its vision even more.

Listen and watch today’s episode to hear Samuel narrate his story to Alex. And learn how you can succeed in any venture by striving (and working hard) for excellence.

Key talking points: 

●      3 keys to Samuel’s monumental success

●      How challenging times teach you the most lessons in life

●      Don’t be afraid of the no’s - they’re bringing you closer to your success

●      The importance of diversity and inclusion in your organization

Meet The Guest!

Samuel Brooksworth is the CEO & Founder of Remoteli, a tech-led outsourcing business supporting organizations globally.

From a wanna-be firefighter paramedic to an aspiring accountant, Chris had overseen multiple careers before pursuing the sales route. Starting his journey as a technical support trainer in the corporate world, he has now amassed considerable experience in the sales engineering industry, having worked with big corporates and start-ups alike.

The key to such an enthusiastic career, he believes, is the zest to continually learn and improve – and exploring spaces beyond his zone of genius. 

Chris joins us in this episode of the Elite Level Podcast to talk about all things sales engineering – what it is, what makes an exceptional sales engineer, how people make their way into the career, and the traits of extraordinary sales engineers. He also dives into the lessons + tips he wishes he knew when starting out, including the importance of keeping your ego aside, staying humble, and knowing when to speak and when not to speak.

Top-tier sales engineers, in his opinion, are people who drive business value in addition to being technically sound. They can communicate well with the stakeholders involved and lead a customer from dissatisfaction to satisfaction by charting out their needs exceptionally well.

To become an elite sales engineer, surround yourself with people better than you and choose discomfort. Explore spaces beyond your present comfort level, and you'll see your learning levels sky-rocket.

Take a step forward to your dream sales career with Alex and Chris in this episode of the Elite Level Podcast.

Key talking points:

●      Elite level sales engineers: Are they born or made?

●      Who is a sales engineer?

●      A sales engineer’s role in the sales cycle

●      Shattering your ego and opting for growth

Meet The Guest!

Connect with Chris

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-frost123/

Connect with Alex

●      Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mralexalleyne/

●      Website:  https://www.alexalleyne.com

●      Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mralexalleyne/

●      Twitter: https://twitter.com/mralexalleyne

●      YouTube: http://youtube.com/c/alexAlleyne 

 And this isn’t a mere saying. The guest for today’s episode of the Elite Level Podcast is living proof of this learning.

 Graduating with a financial degree in 2008, Corey never thought his career would take off to such unfathomable heights. But it did. 

 As the Regional Director @ Snowflake, Corey Cummins now has over a decade’s worth of experience in sales and marketing, precisely equity research sales, sales to portfolio managers, hedge funds, medical research sales, tech sales – and has worked in both the US and the UK. He also had Founded and sold his own big data analytics software (SaaS) company called REalyse, which was named a top 10 PropTech company to watch by UKPA. 

Corey attributes a large part of his success to the realization that he had to think beyond money – finding work that fit his skill and taste was key to his inspiring career.

In this episode, Corey sits with Alex to cover everything he’s learned from his time so far in sales – from finding interest in the industry to ideating, scaling, building his skillset and founding his own company. He digs into fundraising challenges, hiring and training advice for employees, and why you must explore options outside of your zone of genius to be truly successful in life.

Some noteworthy things Corey shares in the conversation include:

>>  Money alone might not drive you forward in your career.

>> Fundraising is a full-time job in itself. A lot of pointers should be kept in mind when fundraising, including telling people how you built your business, sharing your story, giving them reasons to buy your product – just proving to them you’re worthy of their investment. 

>> When interviewing people, you need to be open to different kinds of personalities – you don’t want all your employees to be the same. There might be some who’re happy being on the more technical side, and there might be some who wish to get into the more managerial roles, but whatever the case, you have to be open to differences.

>> Sales is tough. There’s a lot of competition, and being a result-driven industry, people often only assess their employees for the figures they made. 

 
Key talking points:

●      Why being money-driven alone doesn’t guarantee happiness (works for some, but not all)

●      How the US and UK markets have different sales approaches

●      Exploring opportunities spanning outside your skillset

●      How to strike a balance between results and humanness in leadership

Meet The Guest!

Corey Cummins is the Regional Director at Snowflake. He was the Former CRO & Co-founder at REalyse, an enterprise property management platform, that improved the experience for landlords and tenants.

Connect with Corey Cummins

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreycummins

Connect with Alex

●      Facebook: 

Hursh had sound technical knowledge before advancing into sales with a background as a software engineer working in Big Data and Analytics. An undying interest in problem-solving coupled with a customer-first mindset set him on his sales journey, leading him to become the Regional Director at Data Robot, an organization that powers companies through AI-driven platforms.

Having worked in the pre-sales departments for long enough, Hursh explains the transition to sales was indeed difficult - the first year was tough since the change was clearly seen and felt. Also, ever since becoming a leader, Hursh's workflow and priorities have shifted too, which is now majorly focused on guiding an entire team towards the business goal.

Modern sales is data-centric; knowing the technicalities of data analysis and usage empowers you to make decisions based on customer interests. To succeed, salespersons need to have three essential qualities: accountability, intelligence, and experience. Hursh explains how he assesses candidates in the three areas and why the three are the most necessary skills required in sales. 

In addition, today's episode digs into the benefits of a sales and marketing playbook, Hursh's 3 'Why' framework for making a sales decision (jump to 21:01 of the audio), and the need to align yourself with providing value to people as a modern salesperson. Hursh also talks about his Information Management degree, experience working as a consultant, his interest in traveling, and experience working for companies from different countries.

Key talking points:

●      The importance of a data-driven sales approach

●      Why you must have a customer-first attitude in sales

●      Hursh’s 3 ‘Why’ framework

●      Managers vs. leaders

 Meet The Guest!

Hursh Rughani is the Regional Director at Data Robot, an organization that powers companies through AI-driven platforms. Previously, he has worked as a strategic account executive, consultant, and software engineer, a background that has helped him tremendously in his sales career.

Connect with Hursh

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hurshrughani/?originalSubdomain=uk

Connect with Alex

●      Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mralexalleyne/

●      Website:  https://www.alexalleyne.com

●      Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mralexalleyne/

●      Twitter: https://twitter.com/mralexalleyne

●      YouTube: http://youtube.com/c/alexAlleyne

The fact is, there are two types of career: an extraordinary one and an average one. In a sea of mediocrity, it can be pretty hard to stand out as someone remarkable when the others are constantly trying to pull you to their level of average. 

 As a 2x LinkedIn Top Voice, Alex has raked extraordinary success in his life so far. An early-life entrepreneur, Alex realized why a career in law (which his family suggested he take) wasn't for him. In eight months, he quit his law degree to join as a BDR in a company selling printers and copiers. The rest is history. Alex furthered in his career, making millions in sales for software companies (the highest being $8.5 million!) and building his personal voice and brand.

In today's episode, he answers your most persistent questions on building a career in sales, including the essential parts of a sales process, the secrets to his highest sales, and how much you can earn in the industry. He also shares his journey, beliefs, and success keys, explaining how to choose a company that uses your best skills, encourages growth, and drives meaningful change.

"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." Alex believes devotedly that there's no substitute for hard work. Elite salespersons marry their passion and enthusiasm with a thirst for learning and build a success system around it. They chart out their mornings and nights in a way that allows them the time to learn and grow in their craft continually - How and when do you wake up? Do you optimize your sleep? Do you have a good morning routine? If not, it's time to think it over: be intentional and do not let your time slide past you.

Push yourself to do more, invite a little bit of discomfort, and work hard to become successful in sales. For more, tune in to the episode now!

Key talking points:

●      The importance of a paint point and ‘champions’ in sales

●      How to choose a company to work for

●      The secret to an $8.5 million software sales in two years

●      There’s no substitute for hard work

Connect with Alex 

●      Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mralexalleyne/

●      Website:  https://www.alexalleyne.com

●      Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mralexalleyne/

●      Twitter: https://twitter.com/mralexalleyne

●      YouTube: http://youtube.com/c/alexAlleyne

That's what our guest for today's episode did. As an experienced recruiting professional and a passionate entrepreneur, Steve founded Imnet, a specialised recruitment services company for the technology industry when just 28. He ran it for over 2 decades before selling it and pivoting to a day job as the Sales Director at Bullhorn. 

Now, we've all heard stories of people quitting their full-time job for the business, but Steve's case is rather unique. He left his small business to work on a full-time job. But why?

Because the former ceased to challenge him or help him grow. In his words, "You might be good at something, but it doesn't make that something, the whole something." To reach greater heights in life, you have to explore other spaces and expand your skill set.

Today's conversation gets deeper into the traits sales candidates must possess and avoid to be accepted by the recruitment team. The biggest no-no is blame-gaming. An interviewer might instantly lose interest in your profile if you pull down other people or companies. Additionally, CVs and LinkedIn profiles matter - they're great for pitching for a job and getting your recruiter's interest.

Steve also talks about how a recruiter's role is assessed – they're evaluated for their relationships with their candidates, stakeholders, the hiring managers, and business partners. Moreover, a recruiter must learn to ask the right question at the right time. This, in turn, requires practice. Build your expertise, so you don't ever hire an incorrect fit for your team.

Steve and Alex explain the importance of hard work, discipline, honesty, awareness, and focus for success in any field. Today's work culture asks us to slow things down. Sure, your brain needs time to relax and realign, but it's essential to know there's no success without hard work. Stay ahead in the sales game by continually growing yourself.

Listen to the episode for more! 

Key talking points:

●      Leaving your small business to chase growth

●      The state of the recruitment industry today

●      What recruiters and candidates must know before the recruitment process begins

●      The importance of LinkedIn and CVs 

Meet The Guest!

Steve Harris is the Senior Director of Talent Acquisition at 8x8. He is a career and lifetime recruiter within the tech industry.

Resources Mentioned

●      Book: Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

Connect with Steve

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/uksteveharris?originalSubdomain=uk

In today's episode of the Elite Level Podcast, Alex interviews Freddie Chetwood, Account Executive at Creative X, a company that helps brands improve their creative efficiency, consistency, and effectiveness across all their creative contents. The duo chats about their journey into sales, sharing their experience leveling up and succeeding in the industry. They talk especially about mentorship and coaching, growth and transformation, and balance and execution.

Alex shares that curiosity and a zest to learn are key attributes to success in sales. Elite level people do not wait for an opportunity to come to them but instead discover and fit themselves into places they're comfortable in. If you're a freshly joined SDR, know that it's okay to fail or make mistakes. Every failure would teach you something new. 

Further in the discussion, Freddie shares that Curiosity, Hunger, and Self-Awareness are three invaluable skills that can hardly be taught. The only way to progress in your career is to activate them in your system, move ahead with knowledge, and perfect them.

Atop everything lies effective planning – your career rests on it. But planning alone doesn’t do what is necessary. It goes hand-in-hand with execution. Implement your action plans to know if the information you consumed is translating well. The catch here is that the planning mainly works out only in the early stages of your career, where you have the time and opportunity to create and dive into it headfirst. 

Growth begins with you. Whether you're an experienced, successful salesperson, or a freshly joined appointee in a company, make sure to constantly upskill yourself to succeed in life.

Check out today's conversation now!

Key talking points:

●      How to discover the inherent desire to be different

●      Perfectionism is a myth

●      The importance of curiosity and self-awareness in sales

●      Moving forward with a desire to get better

●      The mindset changes in a developing salesperson

 Meet The Guest!

 Freddie Chetwood is the Account Executive at CreativeX, a company that uses technology to help brands improve their creative efficiency, consistency, and effectiveness across all their creative contents.

Connect with Freddie

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/freddie-chetwood-a86b5a186

Connect with Alex

●      Website:  https://www.alexalleyne.com

●      Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elitelevelalex

●      YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMSziXthLl2MqxpaGAlQ2Hw

 Today’s episode of the Elite Level Podcast covers the importance of visualization, planning and execution in sales. On the show, we’re joined by Ashraf Mohamed, pro sales leader and the Vice President (Northern EMEA) at Lacework with over a decade and a half’s worth of experience in sales. 

Having trained and closely worked with several sales professionals to date, Ashraf has gathered why success comes to only those who put in the reps to continually grow… and not only grow, but grow enough to stay ahead in their game. This, he explains, is a lot like sports. While your knowledge is respected and incredibly valuable, it doesn’t help unless you apply it wherever and whenever necessary. As much as you should continuously learn and rope in new skills, you should also prove your mettle in sales. Practice what you’ve learned, apply it, and seek feedback. 

Any practice also requires planning. It’s what distinguishes the elite from the great in sales. Elite level professionals have a higher standard of the game plan and are always invested in improving it. They overdeliver, outperform, and go overboard to achieve (and outnumber) their targets. 

Another essential attribute of an elite performer is slowing down when conversing with the buyer. Figure out if your buyers already have a solution in mind and would love to execute it, or if their minds are fresh and they seek new strategies. When you slow down, you allow yourself the time to process the customer’s pain, needs, and challenges and can quantify both the negative and positive outcomes.

Sales is undoubtedly a numbers game. As a professional, your aim should be to consistently crush the existing benchmarks and set yours. 

 Whether you’re a fresh salesperson or a sales leader, the opportunities to grow are endless. As a sales leader, training and growing members of your team could mean you’re already giving yourself the chance to revisit, brush up, and improve your existing knowledge base. 

Want to learn more about how Ashraf is leveling up in the industry? Tune in to the conversation right away!

Key talking points:

●      Intensity, pace, and growth in sales

●      The importance of being coachable and learning from experts in sales

●      What it means to “slow down to speed up” in your sales journey

●      The importance of planning and execution in sales

 Meet The Guest!

Ashraf Mohamed is the Vice President (Northern EMEA) at Lacework, a cloud security solutions company. He has over a decade and a half’s worth of experience in sales, which he uses to grow organizations to unimaginable heights.

Connect with Ashraf 

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashraf-mohamed-7a66a0a/?originalSubdomain=uk

In conversation today, we have Chris Hatfield, Founder and Coach at Sales Psyche, to discuss what it took for him to get into the mindset of a thriving salesperson. Chris dives deep into different mindset hacks to help you develop the sales muscle, combat anxiety, and boost conversion. 

Any success only begins when you work on your mindset. There are two pointers: a healthy mindset or positive self-talk and self-learning. You might have tens of people tell you what to learn and what not to learn, but unless you get your mind into it, achieving success is impossible. This links to your brain's natural phenomenon called cognitive restructuring, used in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that primarily explores the underlying thought patterns of your brain. 

Elite level people are masters of self-reflection. They know what they're good at and what they're not. You might have noticed how the most successful people are also their biggest fans. But like anything else in life, reaching that level takes phenomenal effort. You face times of excessive burnout, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and things like that, and recentering yourself in those moments takes careful thought. You need to ask yourself, why is that happening? What's the root cause of the problem? There are so many variables in our lives every day that could affect our performance. You need to dig deeper and discover those things that affected your progress or profit on any given day.

The best bet? You might even realize that a little bit of anxiety is indeed good. It pushes you to observe better the things you should be improving on and help you build a workaround over them.

But to begin with, separate the controllable from the uncontrollable to effectively manage anxiety. By this, we mean identify those things you can control and those that you cannot control. Your brain doesn't know the difference between the past, the present, and the future. You need to do a brain dump occasionally to get your brain aligned with what you want and see the lessons in negative thoughts.

Today's conversation is packed with gems you cannot miss! Do not forget to tune in right away!

 Key Talking Points:

●      The importance of self-reflection

●      Why all anxiety isn’t bad anxiety

●      How to achieve financial stability in your life

●      The importance of working proactively and preventatively

 Meet The Guest!

Chris Hatfield is the Founder and Coach at Sales Psyche, the confidential 1:1 coaching & online blended training solution that works with sales teams, manager's and other commercial teams to support and develop their mental wellbeing, mindset & personal development.

Connect with Chris

●      LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/chrishatfieldsalespsyche

●      Website: https://www.salespsyche.co.uk/

Connect with Alex

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexalleyne/

●      Instagram: @elitelevelalex

But despite the demand, not many people decide to pursue the field. The reason? Severe lack of information or misinformation. The industry has undergone rapid transformation in the past few decades, and it would only be fair to look at it before deciding on anything.

If you're seeking a dose of inspiration and information about the relevance, potential, and demand of sales professionals, this episode is a definite treat. Today, on the Elite Level Podcast, Alex interviews Alanzo Blackstock, a pro sales leader passionate about delivering impeccable customer experiences and serving people using the power of modern sales. He discusses his tryst with sales in IT, getting started (and succeeding) in the industry, technology's ability to transform business sales, and the irreplaceable need to build authentic customer relationships.

 It's a popular misconception that sales are for extroverts alone. Even if it were fact decades ago (it certainly wasn't), it is not true now. As an introvert, Alanzo Blackstock has raked more profits than most others in the industry and continues to do so by leveraging his unique natural abilities. By studying the details of the industry and tapping your true skills, anybody can be a successful salesperson!

Modern sales is no longer about informing the customer about your product and convincing them to buy it as it used to be previously. Salespeople today need to know that their buyers would've already learned about the product, its features, and benefits and need only be convinced or guaranteed that it is the best for them. It takes a lot more than basic communication skills to get to this level, making sales refreshing and challenging both simultaneously. Hence, now more than ever, managers and sales leaders must engage in and encourage individual growth and development. The more informed you are about the industry, the higher you climb the sales ladder.

Listen to this episode as Alanzo Blackstock shares some impeccable advice to grow yourself from professional to the elite in sales.

Key Talking Points:

●      Working in a team vs working individually

●      The downsides of being a goal-oriented professional

●      The importance of self-awareness and an abundance mindset in sales

●      The need to build strong professional relationships as a salesperson

Meet The Guest!

Alonzo Blackstock's career extends over 30 years in the IT industry in various Sales and Channel Sales management roles. He joined the industry as a repair engineer, repairing modems and computers, and was a product engineer and project manager before becoming a sales leader.

Connect with Alonzo

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanzoblackstock/?originalSubdomain=uk

 Connect with Alex

●      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexalleyne/

●      Instagram + TikTok: @elitelevelalex

How much of the entrepreneurial lifestyle constitutes glamor?

Entrepreneurship sounds fancy on the outside. The thrill of being your own boss, hiring people for your team, and progressing in steps is unbeatable. But it only holds relevance until you get out in the field and realize the immense patience, hard work, passion, and energy it takes to build a business that shines.

On the pilot episode of the Elite Level Podcast, Alex is joined by Gautam Rishi, CEO+ Founder of the highly-personalized prospecting product business, OneShot AI. Gautam has nearly two decades worth of experience in sales, growing up a sales representative to sales director and founding and leading a highly innovative team.

Contrary to popular belief, entrepreneurship didn't happen to Gautam on the get-go. Years of his experience working with and leading teams brought him closer to an incredibly scalable business idea and building a company with employees having the potential to take it further.

As Gautam shares, the stress as a salesperson or an entrepreneur is inevitable. It often takes years of patience, positive self-criticism, and learning to get closer to success and see your business gather momentum. Team-building is even tougher. A thoughtless decision could mean you hired someone unfit for the role you're looking to get occupied. It's also essential to hire employees who want to grow themselves in their journey with you. Stand your company on the principles of individual and organizational growth.

It's easy to get swayed by failures, especially when you're only getting into leadership roles. Unsurprisingly, the results might take time to surface, but who has ever said hard work doesn't pay off? 

If you wonder why you cannot climb up in the organizational hierarchy and get into leadership roles despite the efforts, maybe you want to communicate effectively with your managers. Be clear on how you can get to where you want to be.

Learn more about the entrepreneurial journey and leadership with Gautam Rishi -- check out the episode now!

Key talking points:

●      3 critical values that help you grow into an elite leader or entrepreneur

●      Why intrinsic employee motivation is necessary and why you need to search for that quality in them as a leader

●      Transitioning from an individual contributor to a leader

●      Transitioning from a sales leader to a business leader

Meet The Guest!

Gautam Rishi is the Co-Founder & CEO at OneShot.ai; an AI product-based company that leverages LinkedIn messaging to land better business prospects. Gautam has extensive experience as a sales leader and draws from his knowledge to continually grow his business.

Connect with Gautam

●      Website: https://www.oneshot.ai/

●      LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/grishi

 KW: business leader (also, business leadership)