Episode 113: Plan to Succeed like Alexine Mudawar

Alexine Mudawar was the company’s high achiever at Displayr in her role as a Major Account Executive, and she did that as the newest member of the sales team! Displayr is an organization working to solve the biggest problem in data science. Their core business is a combination of advanced software engineering and data science, coupled with elegant design. Alexine is a dedicated and passionate sales professional who is always willing to go out of her way to help others. She is a big believer in the power of mentorship and paying it forward. Not only does she give so much of her time to coach and help others, she does everything she can to empower other women and help others break through the glass ceiling. Her extreme talent and no-nonsense attitude have earned her the respect of her peers, her managers, and her clients.

In this episode, Alexine talks about her sales origin story, obstacles, and challenges she’s overcome throughout her career, and her level of personal accountability. She details the three attributes that have contributed to her success. These include approaching her role as a full-cycle sales representative (half Sales Development Rep/half Account Executive), her formal sales business plan, and her belief in phone-based prospecting. If there’s one thing that drives Alexine crazy, it’s when other sales professionals say that cold-calling as a form of prospecting is dead. Alexine puts her mind to everything she does, regardless of the task, and utilizes her natural curiosity to constantly improve. She has a unique perspective on motivation which is to say she is motivated by success rather than money. It is Alexine’s belief that money is merely a side effect of being successful and would always choose success over any monetary compensation.

Alexine shares her own unique sales philosophy which is a mash-up of many different sales philosophies. Alexine is not a person who lives in absolutes and, as such, finds aspects of different sales styles to curate one that works best for her. Alexine takes the audience through a typical day in life, from waking up around eight o’clock every morning and working on her most difficult, monotonous tasks to the meetings she attends and the proof of concept calls and discovery conversations she embarks on. Alexine is religious about accomplishing the tasks she puts on her calendar and will oftentimes work well into the evenings to accomplish her goals. Finally, Alexine shares her cold-calling process and explains her ‘Triple Touch’ method of prospecting. She leaves the audience with a final actionable challenge to reflect on time spent over the past week to see how you can do more the following week and become the best version of yourself that you can be.

What We Covered:

00:01 – Scott thanks the sponsors of today’s episode, Outreach, Proposify, and Terryberry
00:38 – Scott welcomes today’s guest, Alexine Mudawar
01:06 – The top three attributes that Alexine attributes to her success
01:25 – Number 1: Being a full-cycle sales representative (She’s Half SDR/Half AE)
02:02 – Number 2: Her formal sales business plan
02:33 – Number 3: Her belief in phone-based prospecting
04:16 – How Alexine gets comfortable with prospecting
06:07 – Alexine shares an exclusive story she’s never told on any podcast
08:55 – Scott takes a moment to thank one of today’s sponsors, Outreach
09:34 – Alexine expounds on how she builds and utilizes her business plan
13:34 – How Alexine sets her sales goals and tools she utilizes to track her success metrics
20:14 – Alexine’s overarching goal for 2021
20:43 – The philosophy behind being a full-cycle sales rep
22:30 – Scott takes a moment to thank another sponsor, Proposify
23:29 – Alexine explains her role at Displayr
27:14 – How Alexine got involved in sales despite a background in retail buying
29:47 – Alexine describes how she researches sales positions when looking for a new opportunity
32:56 – What Alexine would do differently if given the chance
34:18 – Alexine recalls her favorite sales story
38:24 – Alexine’s proudest accomplishment
39:17 – Challenges and obstacles Alexine has had to overcome throughout her career
41:11 – Scott thanks the final sponsor of today’s episode, Terryberry
41:48 – Alexine opens up about overcoming Imposter Syndrome
45:34 – Alexine takes the audience through a typical day in the life
50:29 – How Alexine sets up her calendar and manages her time
59:57 – Why Alexine believes her accountability is a gift and a curse
1:01:20 – Alexine discusses how she manages her relationships with managers
1:04:40 – Other habits and routines that are central to Alexine’s success
1:07:08 – Why success is Alexine’s primary motivator
1:09:20 – Alexine’s discusses how her openness and honesty have sometimes been a detriment
1:10:36 – How Alexine obtains and consumes her information
1:15:17 – Other tools and apps that are critical to Alexine’s success
1:16:30 – Why Alexine does not subscribe to a specific sales philosophy
1:17:41 – What Alexine’s personally-curated philosophy entails
1:19:30 – The importance Alexine places on having an abundance and growth mindset and the work she’s been doing on LinkedIn
1:21:38 – The incredible work both Scott and Alexine are doing on LinkedIn
1:29:34 – One of Alexine’s beliefs that the average sales professional would think is crazy
1:33:50 – An average sales professional’s belief that Alexine thinks is crazy
1:37:07 – What Alexine’s cold-calling process looks like
1:41:18 – Advice Alexine would give to upstart sales professionals
1:46:44 – The importance of community and surrounding yourself with people with shared mindsets
1:47:48 – Alexine’s actionable challenge to the audience

Tweetables:

“What I’ve realized is a lot of times your tonality and just your energy are enough to get a meeting, which sounds crazy but it’s true.” (07:21)

“I think of myself as the CEO of my business and sales is just one component of that. There’s other areas I’m focusing on as well.” (17:18)

“If I’m around like-minded people, it’s a lot easier for me to get into the headspace and just religiously do these activities and really be pushing towards the goal.” (27:01)

“I love a deal where they really don’t like you initially. For some reason those end up being the coolest clients, the ones who right away say they don’t want to work with you.” (36:13)

“Money is not my number one motivator, success is. And then money comes with success. That’s just a side effect of me being successful.” (1:02:16)

“I actually really like that we have a lot of male attendees as well because the purpose was never to just have this isolated conversation with women in the community because we all kind of know what issues we all are facing. And it’s interesting to talk about them and discuss different strategies but it’s great to see so many male leaders also stepping up and being a part of the conversation.” (1:12:29)

“I’m not someone who lives in absolutes. I love pulling pieces of different methodologies. I believe in certain aspects of all these methodologies and then I kinda mush it all together and then create my Alexine philosophy from that.” (1:16:48)

“I think we hear certain things through LinkedIn, or through the grapevine, and then we think that that’s the Bible – that that’s truth – and it’s not.” (1:34:33)

Sponsors Mentioned:

Proposify
Outreach
Terryberry

Tools Mentioned:

SalesForce
LinkedIn
Clubhouse
Apple Podcasts
Instagram
Patreon
Etsy

What We Covered:

Tweetables:

Links Mentioned:

Sponsors Mentioned:

Tools Mentioned: