“A day achieved is a success in itself.”
Carson Heady is a top sales performer and cloud transformation specialist for Microsoft. In his role, Carson orchestrates segments of account teams for all of the opportunities that fall in his sales territory for any facet of Microsoft Cloud. Having held several roles within the organization prior to this one, Carson has encountered a multitude of challenges, setbacks, triumphs and changes. His philosophy of mastering the day by taking on each day’s challenges one at a time has led to a wide array of success both personally and professionally.
In this episode Scott and Carson talk all about prospecting, networking and building sales relationships. Carson chronicles his career in sales, from working at AT&T as a sales associate to his current role as a cloud specialist for Microsoft. He has truly touched on a myriad of sales facets across multiple Fortune 500 companies. Carson identifies perseverance, adaptability and networking as three of his key success factors. He discusses how past internal motivators for success, such as money and ambition for advancement, have yielded to motivators focused more on family, career stability and learning. Carson talks about the evolution of his roles at Microsoft, from business manager to cloud specialist. He reflects on his career and the things he would do differently, including learning to better navigate the political landscape of corporate America.
We also learn the methods by which Carson has achieved such great results as a top sales performer. He credits much of that success to best practices, gravitating towards and emulating top sales leaders, and being a student of the business. Carson breaks down how he maps out his vision for success on a day-to-day basis. This specific method allows him to prioritize the events and people that matter most. By mastering each day, Carson achieves a masterpiece in the overall big picture of success.
Carson is a big believer in communication and, sometimes, over communication. He believes that ineffective communication is the reason for a lot of organizational turmoil or issues. Carson shares his philosophy on prospecting and the importance of taking the emotion out of that process. He stresses the importance of networking and being consistent in maintaining those relationships. Finally, Carson challenges those looking to become successful in the field of sales to step outside their comfort zone and cast a wide net in order to create future opportunities and close more deals. He encourages soaking up knowledge, learning best practices, and gravitating towards the right people in order to develop meaningful and lasting relationships.
What We Covered:
00:24 – Scott Ingram welcomes to the podcast, Carson Heady
00:46 – The three things Carson attributes to his success
01:05 – Number 1: Endurance and Perseverance
01:29 – Number 2: Adaptability
02:11 – Number 3: Building a Network
03:50 – Carson elaborates on the evolution of his priorities and motivating drivers
06:30 – Carson talks about the roles he’s held at Microsoft
07:37 – What Carson does as a cloud specialist
08:06 – How Carson got his start in sales
09:38 – What Carson would do differently in his career if given the chance
12:05 – Scott promotes the Sales Success Stories book
12:59 – Carson discusses his results and what it’s taken to become a top performer
17:10 – The internal monetary metrics Carson uses to measure success
20:15 – Carson reflects on the times he did not meet his financial goals
22:32 – How Carson organizes his calendar to maximize success
25:18 – Mastering the day
27:35 – The importance of communication
28:58 – Carson describes a typical day in the life
34:43 – The industry trades, news, and information that Scott consumes
37:40 – The time and place for social media
39:05 – The process of prospecting
45:06 – Carson’s proudest accomplishments of his career
46:46 – Carson’s book series
51:04 – Finding unique ways to successful sales processes
52:14 – The biggest challenges Carson sees in today’s sales environment
55:00 – How Carson adapts to change
1:03:17 – Content-based networking
1:06:41 – People and Process: Carson’s sales philosophy
1:09:28 – Carson’s process as a seller
1:14:54 – What motivates Carson today
1:16:27 – One of Carson’s beliefs that the average salesperson thinks is crazy
1:20:08 – An average salesperson’s belief that Carson believes is crazy
1:22:33 – Advice Carson would give to upstart salespeople
1:24:47 – Advice Carson would give to middle-of-the-pack salespeople looking to be great
1:28:13 – Carson’s challenge to the Sales Success Stories Podcast audience
Tweetables:
• “I can’t believe sometimes that I had the audacity to start writing a sales book in my twenties.” (04:33)
• “The reason that we get into slumps a lot of times is because something in the process changes. And that’s why it’s so important to go back to those fundamentals so people and process gravitate toward the right people and focus on figuring out what the right process is for success.” (16:51)
• “That was my biggest learning, honestly, from that year. How to better prioritize. How to better look at each opportunity, and each call or meeting, each prospecting session, each day at a time, and just really master that day.” (24:09)
• “I’ve got this thing called the Holy Sales Trinity. It’s the customer, the company, and you.” (27:01)
• “Cast a wide net. That is probably one of the best examples of advice that I can give from a prospecting perspective is play the numbers.” (41:53)
• “I’m willing to reach out to a hundred people to have that one conversation because I know what I can do with that one conversation.” (44:14)
• “I think that the number of times we’re able to kind of reinvent ourselves, or pivot, or adapt, that’s going to be instrumental in the success we have today and moving forward.” (58:33)
• “A day achieved is a success in itself.” (1:05:41)
• “I’m motivated most by pride in my work. I don’t want any number to be next to my name that isn’t indicative of my best.” (1:16:09)
Links Mentioned:
Sales Success Summit
Carson on Linkedin
Sales Success Stories Book
Birth of a Salesman
The Jordan Rules