This was a really fun episode! Ashley got promoted quickly from rep to manager, senior manager, then director. Learn from her how to do it as well. Hope you love it!
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Derek: [00:00:00] Ashley, can you, can you just kick us off by telling us your story? How did you end up? How did you end up where you are now?
[00:00:06] Ashley: Yeah, sure. So, kind of a random way of getting into tech, but I think that’s kind of like the norm these days. I started, after college I joined the NASCAR circuit, so actually worked for NASCAR for two years. On fact, I’ve, I’ve traveled to every racetrack twice. Something, not a lot of people can say. but, and after traveling, I mean their season is like 38 weekends long. So after traveling for two years and living a life of like Thursday to Sunday on the road, I realized I wanted to put down some roots.
[00:00:39] So I, moved back to the Bay area where I’m from originally and moved to San Francisco. I actually started, as a recruiter, and account manager at a staffing agency. So kind of a similar model as like an SDR, a, he was like the career growth there. and then, you know, had a bunch of friends that were in tech and that was the.
[00:00:56] Instill is the very cool thing to do. And so I decided I wanted to give it a shot. And, there was a company called Zenefits at the time that was hiring SDRs. And so, I started my career, I would say, started my tech career there as an SDR, kind of a interesting story. I actually cried the first day of becoming an SDR because I didn’t know what I was getting myself into.
[00:01:19] Like I had been in outside sales for a couple of years and was very successful with it. And I didn’t know enough about tech that I didn’t realize that I was going to be doing demos like in front of a screen. I thought like I was going to all these companies, I’m going to be pitching there. But anyways, like it ended up being great.
[00:01:37] I, rose the ranks there, like very quick. And, I attribute a lot of my success to my time as an SDR at Zenefits. And, yeah. So I think, from there, I just, I really fell in love with this side of the funnel and, building teams and, partnering cross-functionally with marketing and, supporting AE orgs.
[00:01:54] Figuring out better processes internally. And then, you know, I guess the rest is kind of history. I worked at a handful of different startups. over the years built SDR orgs from scratch. have also, you know, hired people, internationally built teams in different States. and now I’m at Brex where I’ve gotten to do both of those things, which has been really fun.
[00:02:14] Derek: Cool. And it looks like. I’m going to start at your LinkedIn here. You were an SDR at Zenefits for six months before you became a manager. Is that right?
[00:02:23] Derek: [00:02:23] Ooh.
[00:02:25] Ashley: [00:02:25] Yes. Well, if you know anything about benefits, it grew and moved very fast too. So in my time there, I was there for almost three years. I had eight different bosses and three different CEOs.
[00:02:36] So, six months was like basically a year and a half in any other company. but I did have, I’d already come from some, from a closing background and had been managing people before that. So I think that like got me moving in that direction. That much faster.
[00:02:50] Derek: [00:02:50] Okay. So that makes sense. Can you tell us about your first experience managing people and a mistake that you made?
[00:03:04] Ashley: I made a lot of mistakes. I, well, my first experience as a manager was interesting because to your point, I’d only been in the role for six months. And so I think for peers to see like, wait. I’m going to be managed by someone that was just doing the same job as me yesterday and Maddie, who’s on the call right now, too. She’s done something, she’s done that similarly at multiple companies too. so I think like that was my biggest learning quick on was. You’ve got to, not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk. And so, being able to actually prospect and set meetings and cold call and do the things that you’re expecting of your team, you have to be able to do it yourself.
[00:03:40] And so, I think I was lucky because I’d built good relationships with the people that I was working with. And I tried to always like, stand out as a leader already, I guess, and had made it like pretty well known that I wanted to be in management. Like I, my goal was to be a manager, not to go down the AE path.
[00:03:57] And I think people respected that because I just spoke up about it. and at the end of the day, you know, ultimately had their best interests at heart. but that all came from like the relationships built, that, wasn’t learned overnight by any means. I think, Gosh, if I had to think of like the first mistake that I made.
[00:04:13] So at the time, Zenefits was building out there, the team out in Arizona, and so everyone seasoned in San Francisco moved out to Arizona to build it. And so then I was managing the San Francisco team overnight. And, then we started hiring in San Francisco too. And I, there was a lot of pressure to get people, hired and onboarded, like fast.
[00:04:32] Like when I interviewed, I want to say. I mean, I got the offer when I interviewed and it was like a Wednesday or Thursday and they’re like, you got to start on Monday. And I was like, Oh my gosh, I’ve got to put my two weeks in. But being in a sales role yeah. Rarely ever actually end up working those two weeks.
[00:04:46] So I was like, okay. So I did. and that was kind of the same mentality when I was hiring people. And when you had to hire like that many people at once, like I remember at one point I had like 15 open roles and so. When you’re hiring that quickly, all of a sudden the, the quality can drop. And I think that was where I made the mistake.
[00:05:03] The first biggest mistake I made when I was at Zenefits, which was, I was just filling butts in seats versus like actually, caring, not necessarily, I mean, I cared about the quality don’t get me wrong, but I think the pressure to fill the seats like trumped, that, and I, I made some hires off of like 15 minute phone screens, which is really bad. Yeah.
[00:05:22] Derek: [00:05:22] And so 15 minute screen and like you’re giving them an offer.
[00:05:26] Ashley: Pretty much.
[00:05:27] Derek: Wow. Okay.
[00:05:29]Ashley: [00:05:29] that is one thing I’ve definitely learned from, rely on people around you and make sure that you’re actually putting people, not through the ringer, but make them go through a few steps, to make sure they’re the right people.
[00:05:40]and so when we. When I filled these roles and these people didn’t end up working out. I had no one to blame, but myself, like I didn’t vet them properly. And if you can imagine how quickly our interview process was, our onboarding process was, was the same way back in, back in the day. Definitely improved as time went on, but these people just weren’t set up for success long term. So I think I learned a lot about hiring and onboarding and. To this day. I think that’s, one of the things that I keep top of mind, when I evaluate myself as like a leader.
[00:06:12] Derek: Can you give us, like a war story and, and, and like a good story. So meaning of all those people that you hired from the, because they can fog a mirror. What was something crazy that happened. And then also was there somebody really amazing that came out of that then? Not that surprised you or just knocked your socks off.
[00:06:32] Ashley: Yeah, I’ll start with the, the good story, because that made me like smile instantly. And it’s actually really funny because she is back at Zenefits again. So, her name’s Kelly , she’s crazy wild. I love her to death. she was one of my SDRs. I’ll never forget interviewing her. So she actually came in, in person and did interview, but. It was a short interview and she just like blew me away.
[00:06:57] And I went off of my gut feeling of like, this girl is going to be a rock star. She had that, like, whatever it takes mentality, she was so gregarious or however you say that word, and like just like had that it factor. And so, I went with my gut and hired her and, I think it was just one other person that talked to her.
[00:07:16] Like she was probably only there for 30 or 40 minutes, which aside from like even hiring people like that just gives a really bad candidate experience and just makes that you look stupid, so don’t do it. but, she ended up being wildly successful. One of my top SDRs. she was promoted. I actually snagged her to a different company at one point.
[00:07:32]she ended up going back to benefits and she is still very, very successful to this day. And I’m always someone that I try to replicate when I’m, when I’m looking for candidates.
[00:07:40] Derek: Cool. I love those stories.
[00:07:42] Ashley: Yeah. when it comes to the war, like a bad story, I think like, not necessarily an individual, I think it like maybe a profile.
[00:07:51] So I think, I ended up hiring a handful of people from, from Yelp and I assumed because like they do a lot of cold calls and a lot of, like just a very transactional, business model, which was very similar at the time. I assumed that they would just like get into the groove of what we did.
[00:08:08] And I took for granted the fact that Yelp actually has a really good structure as far as their, their onboarding and their training is phenomenal. And then they also had a very set playbook of how they work accounts. And like you put, you know, I think at the time who knows what they do now, it was like you put 15 to 20 accounts in you take 15 to 20 accounts out day in and day out.
[00:08:27] And we didn’t have that structure or that rigor in place yet. And so it was like, I assumed because of where they came from, that they’d be successful if I just plugged them into our process and realized that, there was a lot missing there and it ended up not being good because a lot of those people ended up not being successful.
[00:08:43] Derek: Yeah. This happens a lot. you know, hiring people who are used to a company that’s at a different stage, right? Like the Oh the VP of sales from Salesforce, we got to get them in and it’s like, no, You want a person who is, who is stage appropriate and pace appropriate. It’s a painful lesson to learn.
[00:09:03] Ashley: Totally. And I think, even in interview processes, I’ve found that it’s important to ask an SDR, what type of, or maybe not even asking them. Cause most of the time they don’t know. So educating them on like what, the difference between a series A and a series C company is. And a lot of the times, they don’t know that and then their expectations are one or the other.
[00:09:23] And so making it very clear, like. Is there an existing tech stack? Is there a playbook? Are you going to be getting formal training and things like that? Some people need that other people thrive in more of a chaotic environment and want to wear multiple hats and just figure stuff out. So I think just knowing that when you’re interviewing people is really important too.
[00:09:43] Derek: Yeah. That’s really excellent. A lesson to share. Can you talk about how and why you got promoted so quickly? Maybe what our listeners could could take from that who are on the same journey.
[00:09:57] Ashley: And you mean promoted from like an IC into manager?
[00:10:00] Derek: Yeah.
[00:10:00] Ashley: Yeah. I think the biggest thing can’t, comes down to not only work ethic, but also curiosity, and coachability.
[00:10:09] And so I think, at the end I wasn’t going to lose actually. I’m like, I’m starting to hire reps right now. And one of the questions I want to ask. is, do you hate to lose or do you love to?
[00:10:20] Derek: Yeah, that’s a good one
[00:10:21] Ashley: I don’t usually like that like the cliche yeah. Questions, but I’m starting to realize like there’s specific answers that my top performers would answer.
[00:10:27] And then I think of myself back when I was in SDR and like at the end of the, like, I wasn’t going to lose because of my own like effort. And so. It didn’t matter if I was working 12 hours a day, I’ll never, my first week. I’ll never forget. it was like Friday at like 9:00 PM and I was still in the office and back then we used to play like beer pong and flip cup and stuff.
[00:10:48] And I was like startups
[00:10:51] Derek: That’s a series A company there.
[00:10:51] Ashley: Right. And then like, you’re like grabbing meetings and whatever, and it was really fun, but, I would also go at four o’clock in the morning if I had to, because at the time I was on inbound and I was competing against someone and actually had a buddy him and I started on the same day.
[00:11:04] So we were very competitive. So it was like, Finding someone to compete against, and, and beat. And then also, self, like, why are you there to begin with, right. I was kind of a little embarrassed because I’d been at closing rep and taking a step back as an SDR back a step back, like it skyrocketed my career and I’m forever for it.
[00:11:23] But, I just like did not want to lose, I did not want to fail. And like, that was my mentality first and foremost. And then, curiosity figuring out like, what else. Like, what could I do differently than other people to separate myself from the pack too? So, whether that was ways of getting more meetings scheduled or, even separating myself to be a leader, and to get promoted.
[00:11:44] And I think I carried all of that over to when I was a manager and then was the first manager to be promoted to senior manager and then director. and I just, I continue to have that mentality today.
[00:11:55] Derek: What was something that you did to set yourself apart as an IC? And if you can think of something, what what’d you do to set yourself apart as a manager that you think influenced the senior manager promotion?
[00:12:06] Ashley: [00:12:06] Yeah, I think, being very data driven is one thing. and I think. In startups specifically there tends to not be a lot of clarity around data. Salesforce is still usually just getting set up. They’re like those teams are like truly building like the foundation and the, and the bones of it versus like, The bells and whistles of like dashboards and, conversion, like funnel metrics.
[00:12:30] And I learned from doing the role, what I needed to see to be successful and then carry that over as a manager. So, I think that’s one of my strengths is being very data driven and, like learning how to create my own reports and dashboards in Salesforce. Not like relying on other people. yeah, I think that would be probably the biggest one.
[00:12:49] Derek: How did you learn how to do that?
[00:12:51] Ashley: Trial and error. I just realized as long as I didn’t save anything or delete you think I can’t screw anything up and I would just look at it and I’d be like, is that right? Is that not right? I asked, I definitely asked questions and I would see, you know, be given a dashboard at some point and then I would edit it and clone it and figure stuff out.
[00:13:08] But now I am pretty bullish in that I don’t let anyone create my dashboards. I do them all myself and take that and put it into Google docs. And. Start slicing data in different ways and it makes it really fun.
[00:13:21] Derek: I love it. I’m also a self-taught Salesforce user sounds like they did the same thing. Cloned the dashboard didn’t get in and like almost reverse engineer it. Like, why does it say this? Oh. And then you’re like, I shouldn’t have done that. Can I undo it?
[00:13:37]Ashley: [00:13:37] Yeah, that’s exactly how I learned. So it’s, it’s been fun. It’s one of my favorite parts about being a manager and I still get made fun of by my team that they’re like dashboards, dashboards, that I’m always refreshing. I get that little error all the time. It’s like you can’t refresh more than in one minute.
[00:13:55]Derek: I completely relate. alright. What is something that you wish you had known earlier as a leader?
[00:14:03] Ashley: A lot. I, I would say I had a feeling, you’d probably ask this. So I was like thinking about some stuff earlier. okay. I think being okay with, with, not knowing an answer, I think was like the biggest thing for me.
[00:14:16] I. I don’t like to be wrong. and I’ve realized that like, I am, I quite like can be, and it’s okay to be. I think, I just learned over the years that like being a good manager means being honest and that you don’t have to have all the answers all the time. And so, I think what makes great managers are the ones that are able to acknowledge that and then they can, you know, go figure out the answer.
[00:14:37] So like, I’m not a, like I’m at Brex right now and it’s, we’re a FinTech company and I, I’m not a finance expert. I don’t know a lot about underwriting and all the nitty gritty. So when my reps have a question, I’m like, I don’t know, let’s go figure it out though. And I’ll, you know, point them in the right direction of either who to go after, I’ll find the answer, we’ll share it with the team. But, so I think I try and set the tone with my team that I’m not perfect either and you don’t have to have all the answers. and that was something that took me a very long time. To actually feel confident, being able to say, I don’t know. I think the other piece with that is, accepting that like it’s okay to fail in front of your people.
[00:15:13] I think having an element of being human and, showing them a vulnerable side, it makes you, it makes you a better manager as well. It’s all about, it’s all about how you handle it when you’re wrong or mess something up is like take accountability, own it and then fix it.
[00:15:27] Derek: Okay. I love that. And okay. I want to come back to something you said earlier, which was you got promoted the first time you got promoted to manager and you know, all these people were peers. We also got promoted really fast. Were there also people that were reporting to you that had been there longer than you?
[00:15:48] Ashley: Oh, absolutely. Yeah.
[00:15:50] Derek: How did you, how did you smooth that over and get people to start following you? Who, maybe they thought they should have been the one in the seat?
[00:15:59] Ashley: Yeah. I mean, there was definitely people on the team that, so, well, I’ll take a step back.
[00:16:03] I think what made it a little bit easier is that I said from day one, I want us to be in a manager role and not into an account executive role. So even the people that were still as SDRs were still pushing for that AE promotion, they were actually easier to win over because I wasn’t a threat to them and they knew I’d done the job and they knew I had their best interests at heart.
[00:16:22] And I would advocate for them to get into the role and figure out what needed to be done to get them there. but for there was other people that wanted to be managers for sure, that had been even in like the team lead role. and it was strenuous on friendships. but I, I think like at the end of the day, I had to put myself interest first also, like I wanted to be a manager.
[00:16:45] I wasn’t going to not, do what I wanted in my career out of fear of hurting someone’s feelings. And I think, especially as a woman, there’s a lot of women that don’t do that, that would, maybe take a step back or not be as assertive when it comes to going after your goals. And so I think ways that I did that though, was again, just being very upfront and honest with, with what I wanted and saying, this is my long term goal.
[00:17:07] Like. You’re a peer of mine. I know it’s something similar to yours. Like that doesn’t mean I, I am successful and you are not like, how can we also like do this together? And when you’re at a fast growing startup, there’s always opportunity for promotion and growth and into leadership. And, you can partner up with people.
[00:17:24] You can, advocate for each other and, ultimately push one another to be better as well. So I think it’s, again, always about like the approach and the relationships that you have built too. And then like the honesty factor.
[00:17:36] Derek: Okay. And, so it sounds like both problems of, they were just my friends and these people might want to be where I am, solved by the same thing as being really open and help from people.
[00:17:52] Ashley: Yeah, I think so. I mean, it came down to like having the conversations at lunch sometimes over drinks at happy hour sometimes, you know, asking like, Hey, where are you want to be in, in the next. Six months, because that was the reality. It wasn’t the what’s five years down the road. It’s like in six months, like, like things could change drastically.
[00:18:09] Like where would, like, what does success look like for you? Is it an AE? Is it a manager role? Is it a team lead role? Is it, and then I think like for us, like specifically, I was fortunate enough that we had both an inbound and outbound team and so people could promote into managing one or the other. So that was, that was nice as well.
[00:18:28] Derek: Which one were you running at first?
[00:18:30] Ashley: [00:18:30] at first when I first got promoted was outbound. And then I, took over inbound and moved them from the marketing org into the sales org and ran both of those for San Francisco. And then I had a closing team as well, so I had three, three different teams in San Francisco.
[00:18:44] Derek: [00:18:44] three teams that rolled up to you was that as a director?
[00:18:47] Ashley: [00:18:47] Yeah.
[00:18:48] Derek: [00:18:48] Okay,
[00:18:49] cool. What would you say your super power is?
[00:18:53] Ashley: [00:18:53] Woo. I can drink a lot of wine. I think my super power is that I, I built good. I think I build good and genuine relationships with people. I think my, my people trust that when I’m giving them feedback it’s it’s based on like, what I truly think is best for them. not for myself or for the business. I mean, I think as a leader, you kind of always get caught in that, in between of like having to do the right stuff for the business and then also make hard calls with people.
[00:19:22]but I think if you have the right foundation of that person, it. It just, it kind of, it works. It clicks. I’m still super close with like reps that I had at Zenefits reps that I had at Lever. I mean, Maddie, I keep talking about her that she’s on the call. Like she came, she came to Brex after leaving Lever and we had worked together there. And so I think like, And I hope, hope to probably get to work together again one day. And I think like having that network of people and that like circle of trust, that I think that is like the most important thing. And I think, I like to think I’ve done a good job of that over the years. It’s something that I definitely pride myself on is my reputation with people and, wanting to do good by them too.
[00:20:05]Derek: I want to ask you, how do you, or what advice could you give to somebody who wants to get better at building those relationships? I have a feeling it has to do with the authenticity and so like it’s kind of weird to ask that question because it does feel like you’re telling someone to be inauthentic, but I hope you can address that.
[00:20:24] Ashley: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it’s your point. Yeah. I think it’s easy to be like, be authentic, be yourself, but like what if, who you are, isn’t connecting with someone else, right?
[00:20:32] Like then what do you do? And that’s happened multiple times for me. and I think what I always try to revert back to is, starting at basics and understanding like why, why are they in the role? Why are they at the company? What do they want out of their career? I’ve got actually have a rep right now.
[00:20:48] She just moved over to my team, less than two months ago. And we were working together and I, I remembered when I had interviewed her before, that she played basketball. And so when she was struggling a bit, I like just got like really I’m thought of basketball players and what I was like trying to do terms of like jump ball and stuff.
[00:21:06] It was clearly me not being authentic. So like, I think that part, like it made like it translated well, and I told her I’m like, like, what would you do if you were on the court right now? Like if you were down and like, what, how would you tap into those emotions? Like, okay, now how do we carry that over into the sales role?
[00:21:22] So just figuring out a way to connect with people, even if it’s not something that you’re able to connect with. and I think that’s okay. I think people actually appreciate that being honest. and, and yeah, and then I think, Another piece I liked to focus on is like the accountability aspect of it and getting their permission to hold them accountable. And so it’s like, Hey, you told me you want to get promoted by X amount of months. You told me you want to hit this number this month because you have some big purchase that you want to make. and so we talked about the ways to get there. You’re not doing that.
[00:21:51] So like what’s going on? And I think like it’s, so that is, those are two ways. Yeah. I’ve built relationships with people to be able to like push them and hold them accountable.
[00:22:02] Derek: All right. And one of the cool things about this being a podcast is the audience can ask questions. Does anyone in the audience want to ask Ashley anything?
[00:22:15]Audience: I guess a question for you is for me specifically, I am a manager and my third role now. but I do feel like a first time manager because it’s the first time I was not promoted internally or growing a process out myself. so my credibility is not really there yet. I’m joining an existing team. How are you staying connected to your reps in this kind of remote world? And, do you have any advice for a new manager joining a new to existing team that kind of already has their process in place and how you can kind of build trust and culture with the team?
[00:22:52]Ashley: I can share with you what I think and what I would do, but I totally feel for you because I have never felt so like a fish out of water, except during like this remote time, I was telling, Derek, when we were jumping on, I said, this is actually today.
[00:23:07] And this week is the first week that I’m like, I hate. Quarantine. I hate this. I can’t like my other super is my energy and being in front of people and like when you’re over remote, like that’s so hard. And even when you’re taking on a new team that you physically have not met in person has to be really, really tough.
[00:23:24]and I think like the first thing I would do is like, Aside from one on ones, like just have time with your people getting to know them, figure out what they like. Is it, you know, doing maybe a remote yoga class? Is it sharing an IPA? Is it like, what is it you build with someone? and then, and then talk about the business stuff later, because I think especially for, either new managers or managing a new team, like there is that ramp up time, right?
[00:23:51] Like you’re not expected to come in. And within the first 30 days, like make an impact. I think like the first 30 days should be all about relationship building, investigating, shadowing them. So like seeing what they’re currently doing, you’ve obviously been successful as an SDR and SDR manager, like.
[00:24:06] You know, what, what a good process looks like. So shadowing and seeing what’s happening. and then identifying like a few key things. Cause I’m sure I get super overwhelmed and I I’ve actually been doing this as I’m shadowing my reps quite a bit. because I realized as I got more into a senior director role.
[00:24:22] I wasn’t in the weeds understanding what was happening and now that I’m managing my team directly again, I assumed things were happening that weren’t. And so, or that things were clicking that, that didn’t end. So shadowing and really starting to figure out what that, that stuff was, was really helpful for me.
[00:24:37] It also, I think it also built trust with the team because they realized that I actually gave a shit about what was going on and it wasn’t me just being like, why aren’t you hitting your numbers? but I think, I’m kind of losing my train of thought of what I was saying, but, I think that is one really big opportunity.
[00:24:53] And then I think, the other thing that I would recommend would be, maybe, maybe doing the role a little bit yourself, maybe like making a couple calls, sending a few emails I’ve been doing, like when they do get an objection, have them Slack it over to me and like what they would say, and then I’ll give them feedback or maybe I’ll just write it for them and then say like, Hey, this is how I think about it.
[00:25:13] I’m just like, I guess more of like a tighter partnership is like the only way that I’ve been seeing success. Oh, another thing which kind of sucks, but it’s been working for me is just getting very, detailed with daily KPIs. I’ve never been a micromanager, but I’m realizing that like it’s a little necessary during times like this, because we have so many distractions going on in the world, in our lives.
[00:25:37] It’s, you know, did you actually make all the calls you were supposed to do today? Did you send all the emails? Were they the right card on tax and starting to look at, a sales equation of like what they’re doing week over week and where the improvements are so that when I give them KPIs, it’s actually data-driven and it’s based off of their own data, not just like the assumptions across the board, because truly every rep is a little bit different and, I think that’s really helped with the credibility aspect. You love that. Thank you. Yeah. Great question.
[00:26:05] Derek: Yeah, it was great answer too. I’ve noticed that one of the things, that comes with working from home, everybody working from home is that it’s much harder to look busy and not be.
[00:26:19] Ashley: [00:26:19] Yeah. I wonder that I wonder that quite a bit. Like, it’s my team. Like, why don’t you just like everyone log on to zoom in the morning. And everyone’s just like work as if you’re next to each other. Like, I don’t want to do that as I take my medicine. like, there is some validity to that. but I also think like, I don’t know, like I said, this week has been really tough for me today, especially, and.
[00:26:40] I don’t want to be breathing down people’s necks. Like I want to be able to trust them. but I, it also comes with like, they have to earn that type of, trust too. And so if I give them the tools and then KPIs and the stuff to do, and then they’re not doing it, it’s a totally different conversation.
[00:26:54] And if I haven’t empowered them to begin with, so I think you have to take a look in the mirror before you can do those other things. Yeah.
[00:27:03] Derek: [00:27:03] Any other advice that you would give to our listeners who are either aspiring want to get that first promotion leadership soon, or just landed it in the seat?
[00:27:14] Ashley: [00:27:14] Yeah, I mean, I think one lesson I learned, very, very early on is you have to do the role that you want before you get the promotion.
[00:27:24] Like just because you’re a top performer, just because there’s an open spot. Doesn’t mean you’re entitled to the promotion. I even see this a lot with SDRs. They’re like, I’ve been in the role for a year. I’m, you know, it’s my time to be an AE. That’s like. That mentality is not going to get you far in life of where you like ultimately wants to be.
[00:27:43] Like, it might get you to the next step, but I highly doubt it will get you to the second, third or fourth step from there. so I, I always say like, you know, figure out other, Other responsibilities that you can take on whether that is, helping coach, peers, performers, onboard new people help within the interview process.
[00:28:00] StarAE role, right? Like get demo certified shadow of full deal that you’ve prospected and follow it all the way down. like literally have the, like having an AE mentor and have them blind copy you on every single email that they send to a prospect, every call that they have. So you can see truly what goes into play.
[00:28:19] I think, you know, SDRs. And no fault of their own. I think as leaders, we probably myself, I probably failed them is like, they think because they’re good, their job, they’re going to be good at the next job. And they have to learn what that next job is. and what if they don’t like that next job? What if they decide they don’t want to be an a, and they want to be in some other like department or different role?
[00:28:36]you don’t know that until you start like. Really prying. And so I usually recommend like around month six and the role of people have been consistently hitting quota, but that’s when they should start looking into different options. and then come up with a game plan with their manager as far as where they want to get promoted. And then again, it’s always based off of me to the business, if there’s an open role. but that’s typically how I think about it.
[00:28:56] Derek: So you get on the bench, right?
[00:28:58] Ashley: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:28:59] Derek: [00:28:59] What would you say are the, the parallel responsibilities, if you, if somebody wants that promotion to director. What are the things that person should start doing to get ready and show that they’re ready?
[00:29:11] Ashley: [00:29:11] Yeah. I think it’s the difference between, seeing the business, operationally and at a high level, compared to being in the weeds with an IC, like they are very different roles. and some people are good at one. Some are. Good at the others. I think that the really good leaders can do both. and I’ll give a couple of examples of, of both those things.
[00:29:31] So, being able to sit at the exact table or sit with your VP and come in and completely know your business. So I actually had a, July performance review yesterday with. And we do ours at a leadership level. We do it in front of like 10 other leaders. So like, it’s not just a one on one with you and your boss where you’re getting that your number is called out in front of everyone.
[00:29:50] So like, can you have thick skin in it in a, a situation like that? Can, you know your business inside and out and know exactly why your metrics look like that by rep. By segment by vertical, throughout the funnel where like the second ad account is being worked to what sequences are being used, how many calls, voicemails, like where the efficiency is throughout where the gaps are taking those gaps and then putting a process in place to improve them.
[00:30:15] So, one thing I identified from like July versus something that we’re working on this month is our, our reply rate had dropped significantly and, Not because we’re using different sequences, but because we’ve kind of lack of a better word, right, exhausted our TAM, right. Things have been hit up. Yeah. A certain amount of times.
[00:30:31]so we have to get more strategic with different touch points. And so we’ve implemented a new, 40% dial to email ratio. So for every email that’s sent, brought that week, they need to have. The number of dials that are 40% of that. And, by doing that and sending more one offs, we’ve been able to increase the reply rates.
[00:30:48] Now we’re actually seeing meeting scheduled week over week, starts to trend in the right direction. And so that’s like an example of seeing something at the business level and then implementing it at the individual level. And I think, in order to get to a director level, like that’s something you have to be able to, to do.
[00:31:03] Derek: Wow. Alright. That’s a really fun example too. I probably wouldn’t have thought about that. I thought of that solution. yeah. I, well, mostly sold the doctor, so it’s like an inverted thing. Nobody looks at email, so we would do 80, a hundred dials a day and like 20 emails. So it’s yeah. Yeah.
[00:31:21] Ashley: Well, they’ll, there’ll be great sales reps because I think the best sales reps are the ones that do the calls. Cause he can’t close deals over email.
[00:31:27] Derek: [00:31:27] That’s true. Right? well, Hey, that’s that’s time for us. So I just want to thank you again for jumping on. Thanks for our audience. for joining us live a lot of really good stuff dropped out in here. I appreciate you coming!
