9: Enabling the Thoroughly Modern Sales Professional with Outreach’s Mary Shea

Sales Tech Podcast

Enabling the Thoroughly Modern Sales Professional with Outreach’s Mary Shea

Episode Summary:

Welcome to Sales Tech, the show that talks about sales technology, what’s working, what’s not, and where the industry is going. In this episode, Mary Shea joins the show to share the origin story of how she got involved in sales technology, trends she’s noticed, and where she sees the industry going in the future. Mary is the Global Innovation Evangelist for Outreach, the leading B2B sales engagement platform. Mary is an idea generator who is constantly looking towards the future. She’s a market influencer, content creator, connection maker, author, researcher, and keynote speaker. Today. Thom and Mary discuss how organizations can use technology to deliver better experiences for both their salespeople and their customers. Mary provides a detailed description of what the ‘thoroughly modern’ sales professional should look like. She also expounds on the importance of collaboration, understanding data, and how our ever-growing digital world will impact sales and sales technology.

Clips:

What people really need to pay attention to in the world of sales tech

Mary Shea on Outreach Kaia

Utilizing Sales Technology

Characteristics a modern sales professional needs to have

Mary Shea on Collaboration

What We Covered:

00:40 – Thom introduces today’s guest, Mary Shea who joins the show to discuss her background as a professional oboist and academic and shares her sales tech origin story

03:47 – Mary speaks to the trends she’s noticed in sale technology and business initiatives she’s working towards at Outreach

07:25 – Mary talks about the work she’s doing to open sellers minds to the opportunities that new sales technology can provide to be more efficient and more effective

09:28 – Mary speaks to how sales professionals can better utilize sales tech

11:06 – Mary describes her vision for the thoroughly modern sales professional and what skills they must have

13:49 – Mary stresses the importance of collaboration

16:15 – Mary speculates on how sellers and buyers will have to work across all digital platforms in the future

18:05 – The critical role of understanding data

20:24 – Mary discusses the ongoing pursuit of the alignment between sales and marketing and the emergence of Revenue Operations

23:31 – What excites Mary the most about the future of sales technology

24:55 – Thom thanks Mary for joining the show today and let’s listeners know where to connect with her

Tweetables:

“Even though it seems not directly related, I find that the right brain and left brain aspects of being a musician serve me very well in the technology space.” (03:12)

“I’ve spent the last two to three years going out to talk to big sales organizations all over the world in Asia, Latin America, North America, Eastern and Western Europe to help expand the hearts and minds of sellers and open up their consciousness to the role that technology can play in enabling them to operate more efficiently and more effectively.” (07:54)

“I think salespeople are more than willing to embrace technology or a new initiative if they understand what’s in it for them and what’s in it for their customers.” (09:40)

“I think the thoroughly modern seller is someone who is comfortable and capable in delivering meaningful message and interaction across synchronous and asynchronous video. It’s someone who loves to collaborate both internally and externally.” (11:38)

“I think as we get more and more digital, the role of the seller changes and becomes more consultative and more collaborative. That’s how I see things playing out.” (16:04)

“We’re starting to see really big growth metrics from companies that are adopting Revenue Operations.” (22:56)

Links Mentioned:

Mary Shea on LinkedIn

Mary Shea on Twitter

Outreach

Outreach Kaia

‘Death of a (B2B) Salesman’