Sales Success Stories

In this episode of the Sales Success Stories podcast, host Scott Ingram engages in an insightful conversation with Athina Lampru, the number one account executive nationally at Palo Alto Networks. Athina shares the three pillars that have driven her consistent success in sales: trust, grit, and the power of networking. Learn more at Top1.FM

In this insightful episode of Sales Success Stories we are inteviewing Kelsie Neibel, the top-performing Strategic Account Director at SnapLogic. Kelsie, who operates out of Southern California, shares her unique journey from management consulting to achieving extraordinary success in sales. She emphasizes the importance of mindset, time management, and the intentional integration of work and life as she balances her role with her new responsibilities as a mother. Learn more at Top1.FM

Today we've got a special treat for you. We have a bonus episode featuring the insightful and strategic mind of Matt Du Pont, who dives into the concept of "long bets" in sales.   Learn more at top1.fm/MDP24

In this episode, Dylan Katcher uncovers what sets an A-player apart in the sales industry: it's not just about hitting revenue targets. We explore the power of recognizing opportunities within failures, and how that mindset can propel a company forward. We'll also share some personal strategies for bouncing back from lost deals, including the vital role of feedback loops with top sales reps and product teams. Learn more at top1.fm/185

To kick off 2025 we're going to share the audios from the top 3 presentations from last year's Sales Success Summit as bonus episodes between my interviews with #1 and top 1% performing individual contributors. The presentation that was ranked third by the audience and the one that was most impactful for me personally was Luke Floyd's talk on Building Success with a High Performance Operating System. And stay tuned at the end for a couple little nuggets. 

Welcome to another episode of Sales Success Stories! Today we're joined by a remarkable guest, Megan Labadie. Megan's journey in sales is nothing short of inspiring—navigating from leasing apartments to mastering complex ESG software sales. In this episode, Megan shares her unique communication style, task management strategies, and favorite sales tools, as well as her powerful insights into leadership and learning. Learn more at top1.fm/185

In this bonus episode of Sales Success Stories, host Scott Ingram interviews Jonathan Gardner, founder of the J. Gardner Group and seasoned procurement expert with experience at GM, Dell, Starbucks, and Albertsons. Jonathan provides a deep dive into procurement playbooks, revealing strategies and insights that top sales professionals can use to effectively counteract and leverage them. Learn more about Jonathan: https://top1.fm/jonathan-gardner

In this episode, Morgan shares her unique approach to categorizing deals and emphasizes the importance of a robust pipeline. She talks about her successful collaboration with her SDR, her disciplined sales strategy, and her innovative use of tools like Crossbeam and Gong. Morgan also highlights the critical roles of relationship building and trust, both within the sales team and with clients, stressing the importance of in-person interactions, even in our increasingly virtual world. Learn more at top1.fm/184

Today's episode features valuable insights from the 2024 Sales Success Summit presentation by Kaleigh Conners, where she reveals her blueprint for self-improvement, from harnessing a growth mindset, mastering fundamental skills. More info and video of the presentation here: https://top1.fm/KC24

In this episode, we'll delve into Carolina's daily routines and work habits, including her productive train commutes and the balance she strikes between administrative tasks and client projects. We'll explore her strategies for combating imposter syndrome, her focus on building genuine client relationships, and her culturally nuanced approach to sales. Learn more at top1.fm/183

Today's episode features valuable insights from the 2024 Sales Success Summit presentation by Alex Smith, a top Account Executive at Docebo, who shares his unique journey from overcoming job layoffs and personal hardships to finding unexpected professional opportunities. We'll explore themes of self-reflection, empathy, and the balance between personal and professional life. More info and video of the presentation here: https://top1.fm/AS24

Join us as Brian shares his journey from a fitness trainer to a leading recruiter, discussing the pivotal role of AI in sales and the importance of reaching the right person with authenticity and trust. He brings a unique perspective on leveraging small wins, learning from failures, and balancing competitiveness with personal growth.

Rob Morris is the top Large Enterprise Service Account Executive at Dell out of Nashville. Rob is a strategist at heart seeking to solve the new and evolving problems seen in the business world and beyond. His years as an intense competitor in soccer have given him an edge as a teammate, learner, and leader. He has a passion for working with people to achieve their goals along with mine.

Zach Goggins is the top performing Enterprise Account Executive at Encapture, the intelligent document processing platform that helps companies be more efficient and customer centric. Zach has a diverse work experience spanning multiple industries and roles. Throughout his career, Zach has achieved remarkable success, exceeded growth quotas, and has been selected for multiple leadership programs.

In today's bonus episode of the Sales Success Stories podcast, I've got an interview that I did with Chris Bussing for his podcast and YouTube channel where he focuses on starting and growing your tech sales career and unlocking your potential. If you want to watch the video version of this and subscribe to Chris' channel, we've got links for you at top1.fm/bussing. That's b-u-s-s-i-n-g. Check it out: Again, be sure to click over to top1.fm/bussing to subscribe to Chris' channel, and on that page, I also asked him to pick out his favorite interviews to date on his show. You'll find those all linked up at top1.fm/bussing. Thanks for listening, and hopefully I'll get to see you at the Sales Success Summit. Thanks for listening!

Andrew Barbuto has been the number one top sales performer at Basis Technologies for three full years and counting of over one hundred reps, and is the author of a soon-to-be-published ‘Top Sales Producer: How To Crush Your B2B Sales Quota.' Andrew's B2B sales book encapsulates the strategies that helped him generate $250MM in digital media revenue. He is a seasoned digital media sales professional with a proven track record of winning new business, driving revenue growth, consistently exceeding sales quotas, and cultivating long-term relationships with agencies and advertisers.

Samantha Price is the top Global Strategic Account Executive at Persefoni, the leading Climate Management & Accounting Platform (CMAP) for real-time management, analytics, & disclosure. In her capacity as AE, Samantha works primarily with Fortune 500 organizations to bring their disparate climate data into a centralized platform. She helps companies measure, manage, report, and decarbonize their carbon emissions. Samantha is also a hot yoga junkie who races in triathlons and wishes she could spend every weekend camping and exploring.

Christian Pallazola is the top Account Executive at NICE Actimize, the leading worldwide provider of financial crime, risk, and compliance solutions. Christian is a Boston-based sales professional with a background in multiple GTM functions. Over the last eight years, he's worked in a number of unique settings and sold a lot of different things. Having played all roles of a typical growth team, he's been able to learn how each can do a better job at supporting one another. His specialty resides in creating go-to-market strategies that help brands actually win business with their ideal customers without having to break the bank. Today, he sells the industry-leading financial crime management software and serves as a freelance growth advisor on the side.

Greg Crisci is the top Senior Enterprise Account Executive at Upwards, a technology-driven care solutions company with a mission to make care accessible to all families and empower the caregivers who provide it. Upwards matches families with caregivers equipped to meet their unique needs and connects families with the resources they need to afford care. Greg has always had an entrepreneurial spirit, from selling trading cards and candy as a youth to venturing into entrepreneurship early in his career. Greg is a highly driven, hard-working sales professional who utilizes his experience and skills to drive sales, teams, and performance. It is his mission to create internal champions for childcare support programs within enterprise organizations across the US.

Alex Smith is a top Senior Account Executive at Docebo, the world's most powerful learning platform, built for the business of learning. Docebo helps organizations around the world deliver scalable, personalized learning to customers, partners, and employees, driving productivity, engagement, revenue, and growth. Alex is also the host of the ‘Sell By Being Human' podcast, a show that helps listeners hone their human skills, understand subtle similarities between non-sales people and salespeople, and show how we all can learn from both groups the next time we need to create change and sell by being human.

Chris Beck is the top performing Sales Development Representative (SDR) at Modern Health, the comprehensive global mental health solution offering employees access to one-on-one, group, and self-serve digital resources for their emotional, professional, social, financial, and physical well-being needs - all within a single platform. Chris is passionate about improving the world and society through supporting and empowering others. He is currently on a mission to help make quality mental health care accessible to as many people as possible.

This bonus episode is brought to you by the 2024 Sales Success Summit that's happening here in Austin on October 7th & 8th. This is the only sales conference where you get to surround yourself with top B2B sales performers in an intimate experience, where the only presenters are the #1 and top 1% achieving sales professionals who have appeared here on this podcast. To learn more go to Top1Summit.com, That's T-O-P the number 1 Summit dot com. I know I've been teasing it for a while after sharing the #2 and #3 top-rated presentations from last year's Summit from Ian Koniak and Brian Hicks respectively. Today you get to hear the top presentation from Jamal Reimer who came all the way from Sweden to share some of his MegaDeal Secrets in this talk about How to 10X Your Deal Size, Even During the Economic Downturn. Jamal was originally here on the podcast back in episode 61 talking about how he closed 3 deals at Oracle, each worth over $50 Million, and he's since written the book: Mega Deal Secrets. Here he is:

Vance Exstrom is the top producer at Rent Dynamics, where he was number one last year out of over ninety sellers, and did 475% of his annual number. Vance consults multi-family property management companies and RE ownership groups on better serving their residents, creating a smoother operation, and increasing their bottom line with technology solutions consisting of credit/rental assistance, resident experience applications, rent collection optimization, and lead-to-lease applicators.

This bonus episode is sponsored by the 2024 Sales Success Summit that will be here in Austin on October 6th and 7th, where the best of the best sales practitioners come together to learn from each other. I'll say more in a bit, but for now, just click over to Top1Summit.com. That's T-O-P the Number 1 Summit dot com. Today I've got the audio from Ian Koniak's presentation at last year's Summit. Two weeks ago I shared the third rated presentation from Brian Hicks and in two more weeks I'll share the audio from Jamal Reimer's #1 rated presentation and today you get to hear Ian and his #2 rated talk. We've also got a resource put together for you with all of the links mentioned at top1.fm/msc MSC for Mindset of Sales Champions. Here's Ian:

Ryan Jaseph is the top commercial banking relationship manager at New Mexico Bank & Trust. Ryan is an experienced business banker with a demonstrated history of working in the banking industry. He has strong finance professional skills in Trading, Business Relationship Management, Business Development, Financial Services, and Financial Analysis.

Today on the Sales Success Stories Podcast I've got a real treat for you before our next new interview episode next week. I've got the audio for you from the third best-rated presentation from last year's Sales Success Summit and having just listened back to this myself, I can't believe that there were two presentations that we thought were even better than this. Let me just say before we get into this that Brian gets really raw here, there are some situations and language that are probably not appropriate if you've got some young ears around, so with that little disclaimer, here's Brian Hicks:

Today, Scott welcomes a recurring guest back to the show, Brad Harmon. Brad is a top performing industry Sales Executive at Oracle. Brad is a dedicated sales professional who takes a highly customer-centric approach to sales. He is a results-oriented leader who will do whatever it takes to help a customer succeed.

In today's bonus episode of the Sales Success Stories Podcast, I've got the complete audio from Kevin Piket's presentation at this year's Sales Success Summit on Building Revenue Through Referrals. Kevin does a nice job introducing himself here at the beginning, but if you want to go deeper, stay tuned at the end for a couple of additional ideas:  

Today, Scott welcomes top Producer and Executive Sales Leader at CMB Insurance Brokers, Michael Kroll, to the show to discuss best sales practices, the value of mentorship, and the role that leadership and culture can play in an organization. With over 20 years of experience in sales and business development, Michael is a passionate and results-oriented executive sales leader at CMB Insurance Brokers, a leading provider of insurance solutions for various industries and sectors. He has a proven track record of creating and executing effective sales strategies, building, and leading high-performance sales teams, as well as generating high net worth new business opportunities. As the executive sales leader, he oversees the overall growth of new clients, the continued development of the sales division, and the nurturing of next-generation sales professionals.

Today I've got another bonus episode for you, because frankly I'm just a little bit behind on interviews coming out of the Summit, but the interview pipeline is getting stronger and we'll be back to our regular schedule where you'll find a new interview every other week starting next week. In the meantime, I had an opportunity to sit down with Ian Koniak at his Unleash Your Sales Potential Mastermind Retreat right before the Summit. I thought you might enjoy listening to the first half of that conversation. Here it is:

In today's bonus episode of the Sales Success Stories podcast, I've got the first audio of one of the sessions from this year's Sales Success Summit last month in October, and it's actually my own. I wanted to share this sooner rather than later because I sincerely hope it helps someone with the holidays on the horizon and the recent daylight savings change in the US which for many compounds the depressive effect of shorter days and more darkness, this can be a tough time of year. I thought it would be good to get this out there right away. Maybe it's for you, maybe it's something you want to share with another friend in sales. Fair warning, this is pretty raw and the language is perhaps a bit spicier than what you've perhaps gotten used to on this show, so if you've got young ears around, please be aware of that and also know that you can get your hands on this and the other presentations from this year's Summit for free thanks to our sponsors. Just click over to top1.fm/defunkify where I'm going to include this audio, links to the full video clips that you'll hear in this presentation and the link to the form where you can request your code to get access to ALL of the videos, plus a couple of other goodies if you're interested. With that, let's get into this:

Today, Scott welcomes top seller at Ansrsource, Suchi Mandal, to the show to discuss her sales journey. Suchi is a passionate VP who is leading global learning innovation. She has over a decade of dedication to transforming education and driving strategic growth. In her current role at Ansrsource, she is driven by a purpose to fulfill their mission to revolutionize education fuels my deep-seated passion.

In today's bonus episode of the Sales Success Stories Podcast, Jeff Bajorek is back with Scott Ingram to debrief the 2023 Sales Success Summit.

In today's bonus episode, I wanted to spend a little bit of time talking about my thoughts on the future of Sales Success, and in this case that has a bit of a dual meaning. As we release this episode we'll be about halfway through this year's Sales Success Summit and part of what I'll be talking to them about is a pretty significant pivot from the more ad-hoc Sales Success Community offering we've had in the past to a higher value, invitation-only offering exclusively for top performers and top strivers called the Sales Success Society.

Today on the Sales Success Stories podcast I've got one final Summit Hallway Series conversation for you, between Jeff Bajorek and Ian Koniak. I also have some news. Since we released the last episode, this year's Sales Success Summit has sold out, so unless a spot or two opens up, it's highly unlikely that you'll be able to join us this year if you don't already have a ticket, but there's a lot of stuff going on and we've tried to put everything together in a single place, so if you'll go to top1.fm/stuff you'll find a super simple form where you can let us know what you might be interested in whether that's joining the waitlist, purchasing a ticket for next year's Summit at the best possible price, getting your hands on the second volume of the Sales Success Stories book that we'll be releasing at this year's event, the videos and recordings, or maybe you're interested in getting involved in the evolved version of the Sales Success Community that we'll be rolling out in just a couple of weeks. We've tried to make it as easy as possible, so just click over to top1.fm/stuff for all of that, and now over to Ian and Jeff and their conversation following last year's event, just ignore the fact that I'm sharing the first one last and know that Ian has been the top-rated Summit speaker the last 2 years running. He'll be opening this year's event once again and trying for the threepeat. Here they are:

Today, Scott welcomes top Account Executive Shannon Hall to the show to discuss her sales journey. Shanon works with clients to understand their business, form key partnerships, and use strategic communication to deliver value that aligns with their critical business objectives and needs for continued business growth. Over the last 15 years, she's worked with a wide range of clients in 28 countries across the globe, from rapid-growth startups to established Fortune 500 businesses seeking opportunities for broader transformation in the marketplace.

This episode is brought to you by the 2023 Sales Success Summit that is now less than a month away here in Austin on October 16th & 17th along with Women In Revenue who is sponsoring our BBQ Dinner Experience to learn more about the Summit go to Top1Summit.com That's T-O-P The Number 1, Summit dot com!

Today, Scott welcomes Carter Davey to the show to discuss messaging, consistency, and the importance of storytelling. Carter is the top seller at Dingus & Zazzy, a full-service marketing organization that brings creativity, passion and experience to every client. In short, Carter helps businesses and agencies to scale, support, or accelerate their marketing abilities. Carter is a seasoned sales professional who values building relationships and finding common ground with those he works with. It is just one of the many reasons he's achieved such incredible results at Dingus & Zazzy.

Today's bonus episode is brought to you thanks to the generous support of The Sales Collective. To learn more about them, just click over to top1.fm/tsc for The Sales Collective. In today's bonus episode of the Sales Success Stories podcast, we continue our series of hallway conversations from last year's Sales Success Summit that we started last month with a gigantic shoutout to Jeff Bajorek for hosting these year after year. For a little bit of extra context on this one, you can go back to March 7th, 2022 in your feed to hear the Audio from Briana's presentation on Maintaining Your Momentum and Staying Motivated. Enough from me. Here they are:

Today, Scott welcomes sales professional and friend, Jack Wilson, back to the show after nearly five years to discuss a recent career pivot Jack made. After years as an individual contributor, Jack has taken a recent opportunity to branch out into Sales coaching. He discusses that and so much more on today's episode. Jack is the epitome of leadership, execution, and motivation. After recently having two children, Jack has made it a point to focus on balance. Jack and Scott talk about the importance of striking that balance, the value of not giving blind loyalty to a company or organization, and what it means to take calculated risks in your career.

Today's bonus episode is brought to you thanks to the generous support of The Sales Collective. To learn more about them, just click over to top1.fm/tsc for The Sales Collective. In today's bonus episode of the Sales Success Stories podcast, I've got the first in a series of hallway conversations from last year's Sales Success Summit. Truth be told, I totally forgot I had these. Jeff Bajorek has been kind enough to host this series of interviews during every Summit and until last year we released them in near real-time. With this set, I had a different plan and apparently completely forgot about said plan. The result is maybe even better because this year's Summit is just 2 months away on October 16th and 17th and these conversations are such a great reminder of just how powerful and impactful the Summit really is. Yes, the content and presentations are amazing because they exclusively feature the top performers that you've heard here on this podcast, but it's more about the experience and the opportunity to build real relationships and have real conversations with some of the best in the business. So, for the next couple of months leading up to this year's Summit, I'll be sharing some of these conversations. This one features Jeff talking with Sarah Brazier and Luke Floyd, and for added context, you can scroll back in your feed to March 21, 2023, to hear the audio from Luke's presentation. Here they are with a pretty cool little intro of their own:

Blair Hamer is the top Client Champion for Intricate, the leading energy services provider of regulatory consulting and reporting, field services, and software to the Oil & Gas Industry. Blair has attended Harvard Sales Programs and is an Authenticated Client Champion, a role that places a large emphasis on treating clients more like family and friends than business acquaintances. Blair is an incredibly thoughtful and knowledgeable sales professional who is always seeking out win-win scenarios so he can provide value to both his clients and his organization. It is Blair's belief that in providing an authentic experience, a long-term relationship grows, built on trust, hard work, and intelligence.

Brian Hicks is the top seller and team leader as VP of Sales at Belkins, but that's just scratching the surface of what Brian is all about. As a sales professional, Brian has been ultra-successful throughout his career. However, it was surviving a tragedy that completely altered Brian's mindset, outlook, and approach to Sales. Brian is passionate about helping others in whatever way he can. That passion has provided him with a meaningful and winding road of professional experiences. With over fifteen years of experience in relationship-based sales and management, Brian has successfully recruited, trained, enabled, managed, and integrated solutions and teams in startups, Fortune 100, 500, and 1000 companies across industries such as IT, Finance, Retail, and Food & Beverage.

Carl Sajous, until very recently, was the Lead Account Executive at Fringe. And, with the departure of our friend DeJuan Brown to an incredible opportunity, Carl is now leading the Sales team at Fringe. Preferring to care for others and help them in practical and tangible ways, Carl uses his quiet personal warmth to communicate this feeling to everyone he meets. Carl is a strategic and thoughtful sales professional who is both methodical and relaxed in his approach.

Hey there, thank you for listening to and subscribing to this podcast. I really appreciate it. I just have two quick updates for you in this off-schedule episode. The first one is personal, and what I'm actually going to do is include my Daily Sales Tip from May 31st here in a couple of minutes so you don't have to go hunt that down if you haven't yet heard it. It's a little bit of an uncomfortable share for me, but explains the inconsistency with new interviews here on Sales Success. A situation I'm working on rectifying over the next few weeks. So I guess stay tuned for that update. In the meantime, I want you to get yourself registered for the webinar series that we're presenting with the support of Vidyard, The Sales Collective, Sales Hacker, Outreach, and the Sales Feed. It's happening on Friday, June 9th. Hopefully, you're able to join us live, but if you register we'll be sure to get you the recordings afterwards. Do us both a favor and hit pause, click over to Top1.fm/WS for Webinar Series, and register. You can see the full lineup there as well, but being that you're listening to a podcast, you might be a bit more audio inclined, so let me share with you what's in store:

Today I've got a quick update on our upcoming Basecamp event. This was originally scheduled for May 9th and was meant to be kind of a Sales Success Summit light. A single-day event with a whole series of really actionable, shorter presentations from the top sellers that you've heard here on this show. I won't go into the gory details, but some things happened that caused me to rethink that approach and I'm super excited about how we've pivoted. We'll be taking that originally planned content and will be doing a day-long webinar series in collaboration with Sales Hacker on June 9th. We don't quite have the landing page up for that, but if you go to top1.fm and join the listener list you'll be one of the first to have the opportunity to sign-up.

This episode is brought to you thanks to the generous support of Vidyard. To join the waitlist to get access to their coming AI Script Generator just click over to top1.fm/vai for Vidyard AI. Top1.fm/vai. In today's bonus episode of the Sales Success Stories podcast, I've got the complete audio from another of the top-rated presentations from the 2022 Sales Success Summit. This is Melissa Gaglione, who was the star of episode 133 on this podcast delivering her presentation on Developing Your Sales Superpower. Here she is:

Paul DiVinceno has been a senior business advisor and team leader to Fortune 500 Companies such as Gartner, Dell, and Cintas along with Startup Clients like Humu & Indeed.com utilizing a Business Outcome Focused skill set covering all aspects go to market utilizing best-inbred approaches to leverage: people, process, technology, and culture. Paul is an industry-leading, frequently consulted leader with over two decades of diverse industry experience in fast-paced business-to-business industries, including technology, SaaS, financial services, healthcare, government, aerospace, general manufacturing, life sciences, food processing, and retail.

In today's bonus episode of the Sales Success Stories podcast, I've got the complete audio from another of the top-rated presentations from the 2022 Sales Success Summit. This is Evan Kelsay, who was the star of episodes 56 and 74 on this podcast delivering his presentation on Megadeal Hack: The Internal Sale, and I think I'm pretty safe in saying that this was the funniest presentation at the Summit which is pretty massively enhanced by Evan's slides, so I'd highly recommend you check out the video version. You'll find a link to that at top1.fm/evan2022. Here he is:

Jacquelyn Nicholson has decades of experience building and supporting the best brands in the world and growing businesses in new markets from scratch. She is passionate about being the woman her husband would marry again, the mom her kids are proud of, and the person her boss or customer would work with again. Jacquelyn is a curious, outspoken, and smart sales professional who joins the show today as a recurring guest to discuss gaining radical perspective and leaving a lasting legacy.

In today's bonus episode of the Sales Success Stories podcast, I've got the complete audio from another of the top-rated presentations from the 2022 Sales Success Summit. This is Luke Floyd, who was the star of episode 140 on this podcast delivering his presentation on Unlimiting Beliefs and Owning Your Success. Don't tell anybody, but this was my personal favorite presentation from this last Summit. So much of it really resonated with me and once again there's some killer Q&A at the end. For the video version where you can see Luke's slides for a little additional context, click over to top1.fm/luke2022 for that link. Here it is: