Kyle Rasmussen is the top sales development representative (SDR) at Talview, an organization that provides enterprise employers across the globe with an AI-led Insta-hiring platform in order to identify and hire top-level talent. Throughout Kyle’s career, he has embodied the epitome of what an ideal SDR looks like. He is a passionate sales professional and true relationship builder who listens intently to understand, not to form a response. He strives to be not only the hardest but a smarter worker in the room. He leverages his creative intelligence to navigate difficult situations. He truly has all the tools of a superb SDR and that skillset has led to a successful career in sales.
In this episode, Kyle takes the audience through his career journey thus far, from his time at Glassdoor where he worked as a Senior Account Executive to his current more strategic role at Talview. Kyle credits and boils down his success into three key factors. These include his work ethic, his genuine curiosity and time blocking, and being authentic and different from other SDRs. Differentiation is key for Kyle who understands the power of harnessing who you are as an individual and letting that lead the sales conversation. Kyle is also a savvy professional and he touches on this by showcasing his sales prospecting approach.
Kyle continues by breaking down a typical day in the life which tends to start around seven in the morning with some light reading and taking some personal time to himself and continues with his tried and true sales equation that lets him know how many cold emails and calls he needs to make to reach his own personal goal. It’s not all about hitting his quota or his number, as Kyle makes his best attempt at a balanced and fulfilled life, with his work, religion, and family. Finally, Kyle charges the audience with an actionable challenge. He suggests taking a step back, looking at the last few months of activity, and reverse engineering your approach in order to figure out what activity yielded positive and negative results. Once you complete that task, it really becomes a simple formula and equation that you can utilize to become even more successful.
What We Covered:
00:01 – Scott thanks the sponsors of today’s episode, Alyce, Vidyard, and Proposify
00:38 – Scott welcomes today’s guest, Kyle Rasmussen
01:19 – The top three attributes that Kyle attributes to his success
01:30 – Number 1: Hard work
02:04 – Number 2: Genuine curiosity & time blocking
02:16 – Number 3: Being authentic and different from other SDRs
03:24 – Kyle expounds on what it means to be way different from all other SDRs
05:16 – Kyle provides an example of what made him successful at Glassdoor
06:54 – Scott takes a moment to thank two of today’s sponsors, Alyce & Vidyard
08:20 – Kyle expounds on his role at Talview
09:03 – Kyle quantifies his sales results
10:50 – Kyle’s sales origin story
12:38 – Why Kyle wouldn’t change anything if he could go back in time
13:10 – Kyle’s favorite sales success story
15:05 – Kyle speaks to the importance of quality over quantity when it comes to prospecting
16:31 – Scott takes a moment to thank the newest sponsor, Proposify
17:33 – Kyle’s sales prospecting approach
23:00 – Kyle takes the audience through a typical day in the life
26:30 – The importance Kyle places on having the right mindset
32:03 – Scott and Kyle discuss the idea of professionalizing the SDR role
37:06 – Biggest challenges and obstacles from Kyle’s career
38:51 – How Kyle differentiates himself
42:23 – How Kyle spends his free time in the evenings
46:21 – The books, news, podcasts, and trade information that Kyle consumes
48:57 – Other tools and apps that are critical to Kyle’s success
50:55 – What motivates and drives Kyle
51:58 – How Kyle makes his sales career fun
53:12 – Kyle’s sales style
58:34 – Scott and Kyle continue to talk more about the value of the SDR role
1:07:10 – One of Kyle’s beliefs that the average sales professional would think is crazy
1:07:57 – An average sales professional’s belief that Kyle thinks is crazy
1:08:47 – How Kyle has overcome his self-described natural laziness
1:11:09 – Advice Kyle would give to an upstart SDR
1:11:50 – Advice Kyle would give to struggling SDRs
1:13:36 – What Kyle would want to know about other top performing SDRs
1:14:31 – Kyle shares his ‘special sauce’ and the nuances that make him different
1:16:35 – Kyle provides final words of wisdom to fellow SDRs
1:17:41 – Kyle’s actionable challenge to the audience
Tweetables:
“The biggest problem for companies today is that the best candidates in their pipeline are typically only available for ten days. Hiring for speed is everything and Talview enables companies to be able to hire those people.” (08:38)
“I like doing mindless stuff that helps me not think about work and just detach from work so that I can then come back the next day recharged.” (43:27)
“My motivation is that I have fun doing what I’m doing and I like doing things that are fun. So, that’s my motivation.” (51:31)
“There are seven billion people on this world, and not one of them is alike. So, if I write my own emails the way I would say them, they’re not gonna be like anyone else’s.” (54:11)
“Imagine if you had a team of twenty SDRs, and they all had three years of experience, what your pipeline would look like.” (1:03:53)
“Everyone knows that the recipe for success is working harder and smarter. But a lot of people just choose not to do that.” (1:08:29)
“Take a step back. Focus on becoming great at what you’re currently doing and stop fixating so much on the future. And if you become great at what you’re doing and focus on controlling what you can control, the results will take care of themselves.” (1:12:41)
“You have no control over your number. There are things you can control to get you to that number, but don’t put all your fulfillment in hitting or exceeding your quota. That’s a recipe for disaster.” (1:16:56)
Links Mentioned:
[email protected]
Sales Success Stories Podcast Website
2020 Sales Success Summit
Kyle Rasmussen on LinkedIn
Talview Website
Sponsors Mentioned:
Podcast Mentioned:
Jamie Ivey Podcast
Jennie Allen Podcast
Tools Mentioned:
LinkedIn
Ample Market
Link to John Barrows
Link to Kevin Dorsey
Link to Justin Michael
Link to Josh Braun
Link to Sam Nelson
Link to Pomodoro Timing Method