Matt Du Pont is the top enterprise account executive at LaunchDarkly out of San Francisco, a feature management platform that serves over 100 billion feature flags daily to help software teams build better software. Feature flagging is an industry best practice of wrapping a new or risky section of code or infrastructure change with a flag. Their vision is to eliminate the risk for developers and operations teams from the software development cycle. In his role as an account executive, Matt works to onboard clients and convince them to make the switch to LaunchDarkly’s feature flagging products. Through a combination of unrivaled discipline and time management, Matt has become not only one of the top sellers in his company but in his industry.
In this episode, Matt speaks in great detail about his sales origin story and journey, from working as a product manager and software development for several years to eventually making the switch full-time to sales. Matt is a proponent of having the structure as evidenced by the mantra he recites to himself every day before he starts his workday. Matt’s goal is to provide for his family and achieve autonomy, flexibility, and self-worth by treating every day as part of a long-term journey to master his craft. Matt goes on to identify three keys that he attributes to his success, which include relentlessly maximizing and tracking his sales time, only taking sales jobs where he has major ‘unfair advantages,’ and having long-term focus. Perhaps the greatest of these three is his ability to manage and track his time.
Matt is a big believer in accountability, especially when it comes to selling. That is why he has dedicated himself to relentlessly tracking how he spends his time. Matt knows that in order to have success in the competitive field of sales, he must be honest with himself. Thus, he has devised a rigid system of checks and balances in order to maximize efficiency in his day-to-day operations. He highlights many of the key strategies that he employs in order to achieve this goal, including his weekly tactical checklist for his own personal and professional development. However, Matt also knows that success in sales also comes from being human and understanding the need to connect with clients on a personal level. That is why he prioritizes direct live client interactions.
Matt also takes the audience through his typical day, from his set of morning rituals to his late-night preparation process for the day ahead. As you might imagine, Matt has a rigorous schedule that is timed perfectly to meet his needs as a salesperson. He starts his day off by checking his obligations and arranging his calendar and he continues it with a spreadsheet that reminds him to focus on a new area of improvement each day. Whether it’s working on his curiosity or learning how to leverage a new data tool, Matt is always looking for new ways to improve. Finally, Matt provides a two-week actionable challenge to the listeners. He urges them to track how they are spending their time throughout the next two weeks and to focus on if that helped to work more efficiently. He also hopes that this exercise will allow people to be honest with themselves and realize the bad habits that hinder great sales performances in order for everyone to grow and develop into the best version of themselves.
What We Covered:
00:24 – Scott takes a moment to thank today’s sponsor, the 2020 Sales Success Summit
00:34 – Scott Ingram welcomes today’s guest, Matt Dupont
01:48 – The top three things Matt attributes to his sales success
02:24 – Number 1: Relentlessly maximizing and tracking his sales time
04:53 – Numbers 2: Only taking sales jobs where he has major ‘unfair advantages’
09:57 – Numbers 3: Long-term focus
13:43 – Matt’s role at LaunchDarkly
15:43 – Scott takes a moment to promote the 2020 Sales Success Summit
16:52 – Matt quantifies his sales results in both percentage terms and his commissionable rate per hour
20:39 – Why Matt only tracks his professional time
21:56 – Matt’s sales origin story
25:57 – What Matt would do differently if given the opportunity
28:24 – Matt’s favorite sales story
35:00 – What Matt is most proud of in his career
36:46 – The importance of having a flexible work schedule
39:10 – Challenges Matt faces in his role
42:41 – Matt describes a typical day in the life
46:50 – Scott takes a moment to invite Matt back in about a year to see how he balances his technique as a new father
52:39 – Scott invites listeners to join the weekly mailing and lets listeners know where to find the resources Matt mentions in this episode
55:04 – Matt continues to go through his typical day
57:10 – How Matt approaches prospecting with a sales-averse client base
1:02:10 – Matt’s pre-call checklist process
1:07:15 – Matt’s post-call follow-up checklist
1:10:33 – Matt walks listeners through the last portion of his day
1:12:11 – Matt speaks to his personal CRM
1:14:17 – Other habits and routines that are critical to Matt’s success
1:15:54 – The biggest takeaways from Matt’s time tracking process
1:22:54 – How long Matt spends on optimizing his time tracking
1:26:05 – Matt’s approach to his relationship with his bosses
1:28:57 – The books, news, podcasts, and trade information that Matt consumes
1:32:53 – Tools and apps that Matt uses on a daily basis
1:39:44 – Scott solicits audience feedback on this episode and reiterates his hope that Matt joins the show again for a future conversation
1:43:02 – Matt’s actionable challenge to the audience
Tweetables:
- “I only want to be in roles that seem ridiculously easy for someone like me to succeed in.” (05:02)
- “I will provide for my family and achieve autonomy, flexibility, and self-worth by reaching 0.1 percent of salespeople who sell technical products to smart people. I will achieve this goal by treating every workday as part of a ten-plus year journey to master my craft.” (10:15)
- “Part of why I got into sales in the first place is that it’s so clean. There’s one number and, if you can follow the rules and the number’s high enough, then you’re doing a good job.” (21:20)
- “What I’ll be really proud of is when I can support a family in the Bay Area and I don’t need to work five days a week.” (36:28)
- “A lot of what I try to focus on is really showing myself as a peer, and as someone that has been in their shoes before in whatever way I can.” (59:14)
- “I don’t think I’m a great salesperson, but I think I’m pretty good at building systems. And, I think the best systems will take into account that you’re human.” (1:09:57)
- “I think one of the core things is just really being able to look back and see what your day was.” (1:20:14)
- “To me, it’s like trading a little bit of time every day to avoid really big potholes down the line.” (1:24:15)
- “One of the things I’m working on most in my life right now is building some cornerstone habits.” (1:38:14)
Links Mentioned:
[email protected]
Sales Success Stories Podcast
2019 Sales Success Summit Videos
2020 Sales Success Summit
Matt Du Pont on LinkedIn
Tools Mentioned:
Timeular
Hacker News
LinkedIn
SalesForce
Google Drive
Monica HQ
AirTable
Excel
Chorus
Gong
Text Expander
Freedom
Brain.fm
Podcast Mentioned:
Sales Success Stories Podcast
Daily Sales Tips Podcast
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