This episode’s guest is Susan Zuzic, the dynamic President of Global Accounts at PeopleAI and the company’s top seller for six consecutive years. With nearly two decades of experience both in sales and sales leadership, Susan Zuzic shares her journey from her early days as a BDR at Eloqua to landing massive eight- and nine-figure deals in the enterprise space.
Tune in to hear Susan Zuzic’s insights on the power of storytelling, relentless persistence, and leveraging internal and external alignment to drive results. She opens up about building long-term success with her clients, the importance of knowing your product inside-out, and how she navigates complex organizations to turn “no” into “yes.”
Whether you’re just starting out or looking to break through plateaus in your sales career, this episode is packed with value—from practical strategies for stakeholder alignment and creative problem solving, to actionable advice you can apply right away. Prepare to be inspired by Susan Zuzic’s real talk on resilience, continuous learning, and driving transformational outcomes for her clients.
What We Covered:
[00:00:24] – Intro to Susan and setting immediate value
[00:01:08] – Developing customer centric stories and using imagination to shape buying outcomes
[00:04:06] – Persistence in sales just keep swimming and expect multiple no’s
[00:08:05] – Alignment in big deals internal and external coordination
[00:13:05] – Balancing external and internal work with most effort on customers
[00:17:54] – Why Susan moved from CRO to individual contributor focused on large deals
[00:22:03] – Tenure and consistency why real top reps are built over time
[00:27:27] – Why large enterprise deals are almost never the first win
[00:30:36] – Susan’s origin story and early growth at Eloqua
[00:33:28] – Adapting sales skills across different organizations
[00:36:38] – How to start a sales career today mentors prospecting and using AI
[00:41:45] – Favorite sales story rescuing a stuck multi million dollar deal through executive alignment
[00:51:02] – Knowing when to walk away and moving fast through dead deals
[00:56:00] – A realistic day in the life family focus prospecting and intentional travel
[01:09:27] – Sales philosophy challenger mindset strong qualification and consultative selling
[01:10:52] – What really drives high performers intrinsic motivation
[01:21:39] – Breaking through customer blockers and playing above the noise
[01:31:15] – Actionable challenge storytelling product mastery talking to decision makers and facing deal fears
Quotes:
“I’m not selling features and functions. I’m selling outcomes, and I’m telling them the story and taking them on the journey of how they’re going to get there.” [00:01:41]
“Persistence is key. It’s not easy, but it’s so necessary to get there…today’s not a good day? Tomorrow’s going to be better. Just keep pushing this boulder uphill.” [00:06:33]
“There’s no chance that I become number one without aligning with my resources internally and with the right people externally at my customers. Impossible.” [00:08:15]
“You cannot be at 500% of your number or 300%, 200% consistently year over year unless you’ve put in the time… You are building a business.” [00:22:12]
“At big companies, there are lots of people that can say no, but there’s not a lot of people that can say yes. And it’s my job to find those people that can say yes.” [00:05:17]
“If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” [00:46:06]
“If you’re going to lose, it’s fine. Just don’t lose that way again, and learn from it.” [00:55:34]
“The demo is the story. People don’t want to be sitting there getting explained all the details…They need to know that you can solve their problem, and that’s part of the story.” [01:20:09]
Resources Mentioned:
- PeopleAI – Susan Zuzic’s current company and also referenced as an AI tool enabling her workflow and insights
- Otter – AI note-taking tool
- ChatGPT & Claude – AI tools used for learning and content creation.
- All-In Podcast – General podcast on tech/leadership
- Challenger Sale – Sales philosophy mentioned as one Susan identifies with
- MEDPICC – Sales qualification framework her org uses
- you dot com – Mentioned as an AI training and resources platform
Sponsors:
Sales Success Summit