Bill Pai — Listening, Learning and Laughing
The three keys to fostering productive relationships.
Read the full transcript & show notes →
Bill Pai is the top director of strategic accounts at Cornerstone OnDemand. His role is to work with several of the largest strategic clients in his organization — typically organizations with hundreds of thousands of employees, based in multiple continents and operating in multiple languages. His responsibility is to maintain the client relationships and expand them as Cornerstone’s offerings and the clients’ needs evolve. Bill has been in all sales roles, and in today’s episode, he shares his insights into what it takes to get to and stay at the top of the account management role.
Tweetable Quotes:
“Part of keeping perspective is also having a sense of humor.” Tweet this!
“The more I learned, the more passionate I got.” Tweet this!
“[Listening] is more related to simply being considerate of others.” Tweet this!
“Motivation comes from within. It’s not something you can foist on to somebody.” Tweet this!
“When people find out that you don’t waste their time, they’re more likely to give you some of their time.” Tweet this!
Key Takeaways:
[:26] Scott introduces his guest for this episode — Bill Pai.
[1:02] What are the top three things that have allowed him to get to and stay at the top in his current role?
[1:49] Having a passion for the product or service you are selling is crucial.
[2:43] Listening carefully is more than just the act of hearing; it is also caring, responding and addressing.
[3:20] Keeping perspective and a sense of humor is just as important to getting to the top and staying there.
[5:09] Bill has a funny story that illustrates how important it is to have a sense of humor!
[8:32] Did Bill seek out Cornerstone because he was passionate about what they are doing, or is the passion in what he sells something he worked to develop?
[9:30] Are there ways in which Bill listens better than others, that impact his results?
[10:56] Scott gives a shout out to Nudge!
[11:17] What is Bill’s role? How did he get to be Number 1?
[12:04] Bill quantifies his results.
[12:35] Why has Bill decided to stay in account management?
[15:05] How did Bill get into sales in the beginning?
[17:06] What would Bill do differently, if he had a chance to start over again today?
[20:09] What is Bill most proud of in his career?
[21:55] What has been Bill’s biggest challenge in his career? How does he deal with it?
[24:06] The internet is a huge resource that you can tap into to stay updated!
[25:47] Bill shares his information diet.
[26:54] Bill is a night owl, but he wakes up really early each day to support clients all around the world! How does he structure his day? What are his core routines?
[29:12] How does Bill structure his week? His time when he’s travelling?
[33:02] Text top1 to 444999 to get an invite to the Sales Success Community, for access to some great resources!
[33:27] What are some tools Bill can’t live without?
[34:48] Bill talks about his sales philosophy and account management strategy.
[37:05] How would Bill describe his style?
[37:57] Where does Bill get his motivation?
[39:41] As someone who has consistently at the top, Bill doesn’t have a target ahead of him, he has a target on his back. How does he deal with that?
[40:48] What is something that Bill believes, that the average account executive would think is crazy? Or vice versa?
[42:39] What was the most important lesson Bill had to learn, to get to where he is today?
[44:33] Scott recommends an article about networking for salespeople!
[45:14] Fostering productive relationships within the organization is extremely important, and one of the ways of doing that is by not wasting their time.
[45:55] What would Bill write an article about? What other advice does he have for us?
[49:44] The skill set required to start a company is not necessarily the same as the skill set required to take that company to greater heights.
[50:19] What advice does Bill have for people considering new sales job opportunities?
[52:36] What would Bill like to know about top Account Executives in other organizations?
[54:14] Who is the most successful salesperson that Bill knows personally?
[55:00] Bill challenges you to structure your day by allocating time to primary activities, to see if your actions are in line with your expectations. Test your assumptions!
Mentioned in This Episode:
Top1.fm
Nudge
Cornerstone OnDemand
Bloomberg
Bersin by Deloitte
Salesforce
LinkedIn
Better Sales Networks, by Tuba Üstüner and David Godes on Harvard Business Review