Episode 194: Belief, Authenticity, and Closing the Biggest Deal in Company History – Verkada’s Sarah Thomas

[00:00:24] – Sarah Thomas’ role at Verkada and brief introduction
[00:00:47] – Sarah’s top 3 contributors to sales success: faith, belief in the product, growth mindset
[00:01:50] – Career journey: admissions, fundraising, SaaS, embracing “drinking the Kool Aid”
[00:03:19] – Growth mindset and learning from/supporting others
[00:05:30] – Discussion on imposter syndrome and how Sarah overcame it
[00:10:09] – Overview of Verkada’s sales structure and Sarah’s territory
[00:11:54] – Closing the largest deal in company history, details on channel partner involvement
[00:14:36] – Balancing time between partner, client, and internal teams on big enterprise deals
[00:16:44] – Results: 2709% attainment in QTR, 789% for year, plus new logos
[00:32:07] – Favorite early sales story: winning over a tough auto dealership client
[00:35:43] – Power/impact of in-person client meetings, post-pandemic reflections
[00:41:15] – Key struggles: organization, distraction, deep work
[00:46:05] – Tools: notebook (Remarkable), Slack, preference for simple/old-school tools
[00:52:21] – Routines and habits: “gamification”, travel, health, and fitness
[00:56:13] – Health routines: running, triathlons, group workouts, and how extraversion plays in
[01:01:02] – Self-discovery through personality tests: StrengthsFinder, Myers-Briggs, Enneagram, DiSC
[01:06:00] – “Lean into your strengths” and how to find what works for you
[01:07:07] – Sales philosophy: curiosity, customer-centricity, being genuinely interested in people
[01:18:07] – What motivates Sarah: fun, joy, freedom, taking care of family and future goals
[01:34:49] – Advice for new and tenured sales professionals: fail fast, find your people, think bigger

“I think having a belief in what I sell is really important to me and I’ve been able to have that at all three places.” (00:03:10)

“It’s a lot easier if you’re just you all the time.” (00:08:31)

“Being in-person I think is crucial. It’s something that at Verkada, we hit the road a lot… I personally would rather be in-person as much as I can.” (00:35:45)

“If you feel stuck, I think you should go do something crazy. If there’s that thing that you’re like, wouldn’t it be crazy if I just showed up and shadowed this and asked this prospect if I could… do something that you’ve never done before.” (01:36:00)

“It’s life: there’s going to be that mountain and that valley, and sometimes even at the same time.” (01:40:36)