medhardwaredr

Director of Sales NA

Wednesday AMA!!! Hardware and Software!

What’s up savages! I have the unique & very much appreciated and valued opportunity to host the AMA for this week so pull up your socks and put your inquisitive hats on bc I’m a bit unique vs your standard SaaS contributor!

I do want to say how much I’ve appreciated being welcomed into this community and how much I’ve relied on all of your responses and help when searching for answers and guidance. I feel like this is truly a chance for me to repay what’s been done for me here in the War Room!

To set the stage let’s enter the prolog with me deciding in college between dentistry and Sales as a career path. I grew up with a father that was big time in the SaaS world working for companies like Computer Associates, BMC & many others and was privy to more than the normal child was allotted so I stuck with sales.

Hence my first big boy opportunity at a phenomenal company.

I started out in a “mail room” type of job which was entry level just to get in and worked my way up! Moved to a sales support role, that was super successful so the company mirrored it to five new roles and moved me up to start a new sales leg. Did that for just shy of two years and moved on to my first ever territory role where I doubled the all time best revenue year in 8 months. Second year I did 40% on top of that and finally crossed the ten million dollar mark per year within my first 3 years. After that it was clear this company valued me and I valued them so here we are today and I run all of North America sales for all but one of our divisions.

So here’s where the unique situation comes in that I hope I can help with any questions on you all may have in regards to a company that focuses first on hardware, software second and plays in five different verticals (ex: healthcare, enterprise, gov) as well as sells exclusively through channels and never direct. If you’ve used a computer or worked in an office there is a 100% chance you’ve dealt with at least one of my companies products.

Whew, that was a lot and Gasty said I have a 500 word limit so if I missed something you’re curious about come at me😎.

🗝 Sales Enablement

👑 Sales Strategy

13

40 comments

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Sunbunny31

Arsonist

7

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Thanks for doing this and sharing your story.
A couple of questions: What were you doing while in college that had you earning $60K?
And it sounds like you've been at the same company for your entire career - correct me if I'm wrong, of course. Is this the same company you started out in? And what would it take to entice you to leave and try something else?

medhardwaredr

Politicker

7

Director of Sales NA

Luv that you chimed in bunny, I really enjoy absorbing your input during the regular weekly posts! Pretty much don’t even have to give input if you respond or post before me. You’re spot on.
Ok to hit the first question I was selling things in a niche market at full commission. Think women, and something they are obsessed with, at 12%.
You would be correct in that I’ve been with the same company my entire career. This is because it at inception was a sales reps utopia. Several months off a year day 1. 401k samezies. The product is the best in the world and that is not debatable even if I worked for a competitor.
What would it take to leave? I’ve had offers upon offers and money does not buy my loyalty or even interest so I’ve not entertained much formally. The thing that is most challenging is the private equity/vc/change of ownership. Things have changed drastically and that would drive anyone to hear out options so that’s where I’m at.

Sunbunny31

Arsonist

6

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Thanks for your answer. Now I’m trying to figure out what women are obsessed with…in my book, it’s chocolate, coffee and books. Hmmm. ;)

And I am happy that you found a great place to be from the jump. That’s awesome, and provides a counterpoint to some of the horrible scenarios we’ve heard about.

However, are you saying that there have been changes at your employer? Hopefully things will work out, if so.

oldcloser

Arsonist

2

💀

Dude definitely sold Hershey bars at 12%.

medhardwaredr

Politicker

3

Director of Sales NA

lol non perishable

medhardwaredr

Politicker

1

Director of Sales NA

I’d tell ya but trying to stay anonymous

Sunbunny31

Arsonist

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Honestly I’m terrible at figuring these things out (ok not really).

I did get straight up found on LI by one absolute savage though. Amazing!

Filth

Tycoon

5

Live Filthy or Die Clean

Ok I'll start: how to you wrangle or keep visibility on all your channel partners and the deals that live in their hands?

medhardwaredr

Politicker

5

Director of Sales NA

Nice! Thank you for starting us off Filth! To answer your question, just as we are or were all AE’s selling b2b, when dealing with the channel you will have channel account managers & funded heads at those partners who sole job is to ensure all deals are touched by one of our reps.
Our channel partners cannot obtain any costs from us either without engaging. If it’s a deal in our space and competition is in there it’s up to both our channel and regional rep to convince the partner to bring us in so relationships are key

TennisandSales

Politicker

5

Head Of Sales

id love to know more about the Dentistry v sales. if i was smart enough to be a dentist my dad would never have told me to go into sales. 😂

medhardwaredr

Politicker

5

Director of Sales NA

Yea looking back either call would’ve been good!

medhardwaredr

Politicker

5

Director of Sales NA

Basically I didn’t want to spend 5 more years in college and take on the debt when I was already pulling in 60k or so in sales while going to school

RandyLahey

Politicker

5

Account Executive

That is more than understandable...as someone who struggled in University to get a Political Science degree, that time would have been far better spent in Sales.

detectivegibbles

Politicker

5

Sales Director

What’s life like outside of work? How do you recharge? What are you learning in your downtime?

medhardwaredr

Politicker

5

Director of Sales NA

Great question! This is one of the most important aspects to a sales career in my opinion. If you’re not rested and happy you aren’t at your best!
Golf, golf is the answer! I get out with friends at least twice a week to golf and spend time with those around me I care about. My family is within 5 miles so I make sure to spend time with them first and foremost. Definitely don’t want to be the guy that regrets not spending time before they move on.
Massages are key with a high stress position so those are weekly as well.
Sugar is evil so I try to dodge that and diet is far more helpful both physically and mentally as I grow older so I try and make an effort to do that. Cooking is therapeutic to me so that helps!
What do you do to recharge out there?

detectivegibbles

Politicker

1

Sales Director

Love it!

We're very similar. Golf is the selfish move for me but down time is usually me outside with my son, lots of walks and beach time (Were 10 min from beach).

Lot of involvement with our church. I volunteer with the k-5 kids and help lead a mens group.
Serving others in some capacity gives me a ton of energy and makes me feel like less of a shitty person :D

medhardwaredr

Politicker

2

Director of Sales NA

Very cool! Water is key and super cool on the volunteer work! Time with the kid is huuuge too

oldcloser

Arsonist

4

💀

I'd like to echo back the sentiment from the top of this. You're contributions have been most valuable around here. My question is about the immediate gratification inherent in sales. I suspect that yours comes in a much less immediate fashion. How do you best keep yourself motivated in between deals?

medhardwaredr

Politicker

5

Director of Sales NA

Appreciate the feedback @oldcloser and I really enjoy seeing your comments on here, better see a Rollie on that wrist at some point!
Touching on your question yes the immediate gratification is a bit delayed however that is supplemented in several ways. 1. We used to be paid on everything sold in our territories so whether I touched it or not I cashed in. 40-80% of monthly rev on average tends to be standards, run rate from an old deal or point and click orders on the hardware side. 2. Our products are in such high demand it’s insane. At home, in the office, in a hospital, at the bar, in retail you name it you’ve used or purchased us. This lends to over 10,000 units a day of all SKUs total sold so we are needed to function out there.
As far as keeping motivated to tie it all together it’s the relationships 100%! Name a state, city or province I’ve been there. Underneath Disney? Pssshhh several times. Fortune 500? I or my counterparts have presented there to director level or c suite. That’s the day to day that I love plus the people and the way the organization operates.

pirate

Big Shot

4

Account Executive

As you progressed in your career from mail room to running sales for North America, have you supported others in the same way? How do you give back?

medhardwaredr

Politicker

5

Director of Sales NA

Good question pirate! The answer is most definitely yes! On a daily basis I connect with my team not only on how they’re doing at work but I encourage them to make sure they take the time to take care of them selves first so they are at their best and they meet their growth and career path objectives. Two people on my team have already moved up into new roles!
If someone has career aspirations they all know to reach out so we can start the process. Heck it wasn’t too long ago I was in their shoes and I know what change and challenges are like which has helped the team develop tremendously

pirate

Big Shot

1

Account Executive

That's fantastic, glad to hear that. I love leaders who care

medhardwaredr

Politicker

1

Director of Sales NA

Have to give back! I wouldn’t be where I am if it wasn’t for the help and guidance of others! Can’t do it alone

RandyLahey

Politicker

4

Account Executive

This is a great story, and thank you for sharing. I'm curious to know, as someone who also had a star sales parent, what that impact was on you growing up and making the career choice that you did.

medhardwaredr

Politicker

5

Director of Sales NA

Was hoping this one came up so thank you for asking!
Dad not only did well he is incredibly intelligent so if I had a question in watching him he wouldn’t just give me the answer always, he would guide me to come up with a solution myself.
He did pretty well for the most part so seeing the freedom and money was motivating that’s for sure!
The growth in experience I feel was most important and impactful. For example even though I wasn’t formally Sandler gold certified at the time, I did the course with him and passed the tests on my own all by the age of 18 so things like that helped form my sales acumen, structure and understanding of the sales process and cycle far earlier on than I normally would’ve been allotted

RandyLahey

Politicker

1

Account Executive

Love this. What a head start! I distinctly remember my mother, who crushed over multiple decades in a largely male-dominated field, sit me down and consistently explain things, force to come up with my own explications after. Logic, and first-principles thinking.
Looking forward to enjoying more your already tremendous contributions to this forum.

HVACexpert

Politicker

3

sales engineer

Thanks Med for hosting, you always provide good information. What was the biggest transition/challenge in going from hardware to software sales? Also, is there a little nugget of knowledge that you learned while climbing the corporate ladder in such a unique way, that you can share with us ?

medhardwaredr

Politicker

2

Director of Sales NA

Glad you commented! Honestly hvac is a place I’d like to explore if I’m ever canned in my current role! It’s funny too the first company that bought us was big into hvac.
The biggest challenge from hardware to software (we do both) was the starting from net new. Our name, products and partnerships were always top notch. Software? Nope. Even our best channel partners thought we were crazy. It’s still new but we are making headway it’s a slow process though. We will be a software focused org soon. At least if I have anything to say about it!
For the little nugget on climbing the ladder it was and is definitely the thirst of knowledge and treating people how you want to be treated. Golden rule is legit.
Always be respectful for the most part, genuinely be inquisitive into peoples actions, roles and try and help. Take work off their plate in exchange for knowledge. People LUV sharing and talking about themselves so learn from it. I still to this day make a point to touch base monthly, quarterly or yearly with people that have moved on from my company. They do remember that.

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

3

Director, Revenue Enablement

There was a post recently asking about job hoppers vs tenured reps. You've been with your company forever, so I'm sure you've seen your fair share of those who bounce around, and those that stay on.
What advice would you have to this younger generation of sellers around sticking with a company versus constantly looking for the next best thing?

medhardwaredr

Politicker

2

Director of Sales NA

Rambo=bullseye! Really want to pass on knowledge so this question is money. Staying with a company especially when young or new to a market is extremely important IF AND ONLY IF they have a culture of development AND recognize personal time and family time. If your company has these stick it out through the tough stuff because the knowledge and experience you will gain (whether you recognize it or not at the time) will guide you the rest of your career. Once you have reached a point where you either A. Stop learning or B. Outgrow your companies focus and path then go for the next level elsewhere.
When you leave DO NOT like random sayings or quotes on LinkedIn. DO NOT gossip and for gods sake don’t do anything on the way out your mother would be disappointed in! You never know where you will end up or whom you will run into.
As far as the bouncing around goes, it was never my style however I do have close friends and ex coworkers that do and most realize the grass is not greener even if the money is. Bouncing around is 100% the best way to stack cash quickly so if that’s your only motivation go for it and do your best to be happy while bouncing!

oldcloser

Arsonist

2

💀

I’ve got a second question that came up after reading your replies. What is more gratifying to you, cultivating and growing a big piece of business, or doing the same with an employee?

medhardwaredr

Politicker

2

Director of Sales NA

I want to say this one is easy, and it is… but it’s not.
Easy truthful answer is cultivating the employee. However, closing a f*+!ing deal is life😎.
Here’s my motto and I firmly stick by it. Growing a big piece of business is great and fulfilling and monetarily solid. Growing people to do the same is gold. You’re growing business ok cool you’re the second hand, you’re growing employees… you’re the minute hand. Be the minute hand and the seconds fly bye

jefe

Arsonist

2

🍁

Very VERY late to the party (as in it's over and the house has been cleaned) but thanks for stepping up and sharing!

oldcloser

Arsonist

1

💀

Holy shit. Is this yours? Never heard it articulated that way. If this is yours, it’s now ours. Sorry, gotta steal this one. I see it the same way. Gem of the day right there.

medhardwaredr

Politicker

2

Director of Sales NA

It’s mine 100%. You can probably google it and not find it if you want proof:). Came up with it during my interview for my current role. Pretty much sealed the job. My VP just nodded and said I’ll have my decision tomorrow. Got the verbal promo an hr later

oldcloser

Arsonist

1

💀

Not only one of the best articulations of the grandeur of the philanthropic part of managing people, but an attached use case. Blown away.

medhardwaredr

Politicker

2

Director of Sales NA

And steal away! I’ve used yours and so many on here hence my appreciation for this community and its people! Luv this place

oldcloser

Arsonist

1

💀

That moment when you get ge yine gratification through a comment something like this- “You know what, boss? I tried that thing you suggested and look at the size of this deal with this ideal client. Thank you.” Ain’t much that feels better than that.

I think that leaders who have seen that moment are the exception to the rule.

vet

Valued Contributor

1

Senior SDR

Supermicro is that you?

medhardwaredr

Politicker

0

Director of Sales NA

Nope

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