Rachel Shi is currently the Senior Manager of Partnerships at Vidyard, after leaving her previous company as their number one Account Executive. Vidyard is the video platform for Marketing and Sales Video hosting, enablement, and analytics that help their clients connect with more buyers, close more deals, and optimize their content for real results. Rachel is a driven, curious and quick on her feet sales and partnerships professional with a heart for creativity and a mind for business. Her experience driving business impact for startups to Fortune 500 companies is underscored by over ten years in design thinking. Currently, Rachel is building and scaling strategic partnerships for Vidyard’s ecosystem while growing her own sales consultancy business.
In this episode, Rachel talks about her nontraditional sales origin journey. She expounds on her intense interest in human nature and, specifically, human psychology. Rachel is a lifelong learner who believes in bettering herself each and every day. She breaks down her current role and speaks to the three pillars that encapsulate her role: Enterprise Sales, Partner Management and Marketing.
Rachel lists the three aspects that she attributes to her success. These include taking one hundred percent ownership over everything she does, having a keen understanding of human nature, and her persistence and drive. Rachel goes on to take the audience through a typical day in the life, which usually starts around 7:30 am with a morning routine that includes lots of coffee, reading, and walking her dog. From there, she spends her mornings on client-facing work – whether it be emails or meetings – when she has the most energy and is at her best. She takes a needed break from work around lunchtime, listens to podcasts and reads some more, and then is back at her desk around 1 pm where she spends her afternoons on strategic big-picture planning. To wrap up her day, she checks in with her direct report, goes for a run with her dog, and spends time with her partner. Rachel is also a night owl, so sometimes she’ll do her best deep work in the evenings.
Finally, Rachel issues an actionable challenge to the audience. She challenges them to become better at understanding people through better listening skills. Start every call with a beginner’s mindset, take the time to understand what the person on the other line is saying, and try to get to the real challenge of why they are reaching out to you. Scott even gets in on the action and issues his own challenge: send a recap video through Vidyard to Rachel and Scott calling out the one part of this episode that made the biggest impact on you. Scott promises to reply with his own Vidyard video in kind!
What We Covered:
00:01 – Scott thanks the sponsors of today’s episode, the 2021 Sales Success Summit
00:41 – Scott welcomes today’s guest, Rachel Shi
01:04 – The top three attributes that Rachel attributes to her success
01:16 – Number 1: 100% ownership
02:33 – Number 2: Understanding of human nature
05:28 – Number 3: Persistence and drive
06:26 – Scott takes a moment to promote the upcoming 2021 Sales Success Summit
06:55 – Rachel expounds on her role at Vidyard
08:00 – How Rachel is measured in her role and the three pillars of partnerships
09:27 – Rachel speaks to her marketing background
11:33 – Rachel’s sales origin story
15:29 – Rachel talks about the value of sales training
17:12 – What Rachel would do differently in her career if given the chance
18:50 – Rachel discusses the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people
20:42 – Rachel shares her favorite sales story
25:34 – Challenges and obstacles that Rachel has had to overcome
27:21 – The books, news, podcasts, and trade information that Rachel consumes
31:49 – Rachel takes the audience through a typical day in the life
35:36 – Other habits and routines that are critical to Rachel’s success
36:56 – Rachel’s goal-setting process and the long-term vision she has for herself
40:10 – Rachel’s tech stack
41:31 – Rachel’s sales philosophy and style
43:38 – What motivates and drives Rachel
46:56 – One of Rachel’s beliefs that the average sales professional would think is crazy
48:10 – Scott takes a moment to invite listeners to leave a quick review for a chance to receive a free gift!
48:49 – An average sales professional’s belief that Rachel thinks is crazy
50:11 – Rachel and Scott speak to the dangers of having a short-sighted mentality in sales and why we’ve lost the true meaning of relationships
56:45 – The most important decisions Rachel has made throughout her career and life
1:00:37 – Advice Rachel would give to an upstart sales professional
1:02:40 – Advice Rachel would give to a struggling, middle-of-the-pack sales professional
1:05:38 – Rachel speaks to what she would like to learn from top sales professionals in other industries
1:06:04 – Scott makes one final moment to speak about the value of the 2021 Sales Success Summit
1:07:28 – Final thoughts from Rachel
1:09:51 – Rachel’s actionable challenge to the audience
Tweetables:
“I’ve always been deeply fascinated by psychology, by the human mind, why people do what they do.” (04:13)
“My attitude is basically if you’re gonna do something, do it extremely well and to your very best, or don’t do it at all.” (05:46)
“I think that power of visualization is just really key for anyone who wants to achieve great things.” (36:48)
“Freedom, to me, is honestly being able to contribute in a meaningful way that is on my terms.” (39:14)
“My philosophy to sales is that it starts with an excellent understanding of human nature.” (41:44)
“You alone are the owner of your life. All the decisions that you have made up until now is the reason why you are the way you are today.” (56:59)
Links Mentioned:
[email protected]
Rachel Shi on LinkedIn
Vidyard Website
Sponsors Mentioned:
Books Mentioned:
The Millionaire Fastlane
The Five Invitations
Atomic Habits