Kevin Walkup — Leverage Your Network
Don’t be afraid to ask for referrals!
Kevin Walkup has been the Account Executive of the Year for the last two years running at SalesLoft, a cloud-based sales engagement platform that helps to automate a lot of the menial follow-up tasks for salespeople. He is involved in selling to sales organizations all over the world, and the key to his success is leveraging his network and asking for referrals. Tune in to this episode to find out more about how Kevin cultivates his relationships by being authentic, as well as some of his strategies for maintaining a positive outlook!
Shareable Clips & Quotes:
Treat everybody like they have a 10 on their head
“Everybody should always be asking for referrals”
Creating win/win experiences
“The passion oozes out of me… I absolutely love sales”
Sales Networking Success Story: From 15 minutes to an hour
Preparing for for the next sales day
Smile a lot! Positivity is contagious
Ralph Barsi and David Cummings
aText text expander
Speedy Readie
The good and evil of sales engagement tools
“I’m a huge fan of Vidyard”
“They’re burning bridges because they’re not being authentic in the way that they’re engaging”
Better Sales Networks
Key Takeaways:
[:26] Scott introduces his guest for this episode — Kevin Walkup.
[:57] Tune in to the previous episode to find out more about the Sales Success Summit, and then head over to the website to register your position today!
[1:19] What are the top three things that have allowed Kevin to become the top seller at SalesLoft?
[2:25] When does Kevin ask for referrals?
[4:32] How does Kevin balance the conflict between hitting sales targets and still achieving a win-win experience for the person he’s doing business with?
[5:50] What is SalesLoft? Who does Kevin sell to and in which territory?
[7:11] Kevin deals with clients all around the world. How does he deal with having such a large territory, which can make it hard to focus?
[8:33] How did Kevin get into sales?
[11:00] What was the trigger for Kevin to join SalesLoft relatively soon after the company started?
[13:12] Scott gives a shout out to Vidyard GoVideo, the exclusive sponsor for this episode!
[13:44] Kevin shares his results and what it means to have been the top account executive of the year for the past two years.
[15:42] How long does Kevin stay with his accounts after they’ve been successful with SalesLoft?
[16:46] What percentage of Kevin’s deals come from referrals?
[17:41] Kevin shares a personal anecdote of one of his favorite deals.
[20:28] What has been the most challenging aspect Kevin’s sales career?
[21:56] What was Kevin’s experience in terms of sales training at his previous job at a larger organization? Could he have achieved the same level of success had he started out at SalesLoft?
[25:19] Kevin has to be a morning person and a night owl, because he does business all over the world! He does yoga to help focus on himself.
[27:08] What is the structure of Kevin’s day?
[29:06] What are some other core routines that are crucial to Kevin’s performance? Smile a lot!
[29:59] What drives Kevin’s positivity and motivation?
[30:49] What does Kevin’s information diet look like?
[32:24] What other apps does Kevin use?
[35:49] What sales philosophy does Kevin subscribe to?
[37:25] How does Kevin frame his consultative approach to sales from the very beginning?
[39:24] What’s the right way to be thinking about sales technologies as an account executive or a sales development representative?
[43:36] Scott shares his own insights into what marketing executives and C-level folks respond to — it’s all about being authentic in your communication.
[46:46] What is something that Kevin believes or does that the average sales rep would think is crazy?
[48:12] On the flipside, what is something the average rep believes that Kevin thinks is crazy?
[49:26] What advice does Kevin have for someone just getting started in sales to set up a really great foundation for themselves?
[52:19] What advice does Kevin have for someone looking to take their career to the next level?
[52:50] Kevin highlights some books that have been really impactful in his career.
[54:51] Kevin would like to know what type of internal relationships top AEs from other companies have, and how that plays into their success. He discusses his own internal relationships in SalesLoft.
[1:00:03] Who is the most successful salesperson Kevin knows personally?
[1:01:22] How has Kevin’s relationship with his managers and mentors contributed to his success?
[1:02:42] Kevin leaves us with some final words of wisdom.
[1:03:44] Kevin challenges you to get two referrals from people you’ve worked with in the past, or even a LinkedIn recommendation.
[1:04:45] Be sure to check out the Sales Success Summit podcast episode, and register your place today!
Mentioned in This Episode:
Top1.fm
Vidyard GoVideo
Influitive
Kevin Walkup on LinkedIn
Sales Success Stories Podcast Episode: “Sales Success Summit 2018”
Sales Success Summit — Register
SalesLoft
Ralph Barsi
Sales Success Stories Podcast “Episode 7: SalesLoft’s Top SDR – Angela Kirkland – Using Creativity and Resourcefulness to Get What You Want”
LinkedIn
David Cummings
aText
Keyboard Shortcuts for Gmail
Speedy Readie
Jacco van der Kooij on Twitter
“The Top Sales Trends of 2018,” by Aja Frost for Hubspot
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, by Charles Duhigg
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life,
by Mark Manson
Fanatical Prospecting, by Jeb Blount
Sales Success Stories Podcast “Episode 25: Trong Nguyen — Enterprise Sales Success at Microsoft & ‘Winning the Cloud’”
“Better Sales Networks,” by Tuba Üstüner and David Godes for Harvard Business Review
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