Categories: Podcasts
In February 2022, we published the first episode of Revenue Builders. Veteran sales leaders and friends John Kaplan and John McMahon are passionate about sharing their wealth of knowledge with current and future leaders, and along the years they've rubbed shoulders with some of the most influential and inspiring leaders of the sales world and beyond. The result: a podcast that explores leadership in all its forms, from leading an army to coaching a football team to accelerating industry-transforming growth. What we learned is that sometimes, they're not all that different.
As we gear up for a new year of going in the barrel with some of the best, we're looking back on some of our most memorable episodes. Listen to these, then follow the Revenue Builders podcast on your favorite podcast player, so you can easily download, listen and share.
Our Top 10 Episodes of 2022
1. Healthy Growth and Taking Risks with Hope Cochran
Our first Revenue Builders episode remains a valuable one. Guest Hope Cochran, 4-time CFO and current Managing Director of Madrona Venture Group, gives advice on driving and sustaining rapid revenue growth.
Hope on challenging yourself for growth: "Take a risk. When I think of the big movements in my career, they've been when I've jumped while taking a risk, when I've been nervous. I don't think I've ever taken a job that I felt like I was qualified for. Whenever it pushed me and made me uncomfortable, I knew that was the right job."
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2. You Learn More from Your Failures Than Your Wins with John Hanlon
This episode features a conversation with John Hanlon, CRO at Presidio and an experienced sales leader. Hanlon talks learning from mistakes, taking on a new leadership role, and being coachable.
Our top takeaways: Hanlon reminds us to humble ourselves as leaders, because one who leads with ego will never succeed. He encourages leaders to listen more, be more approachable, and welcome criticism.
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3. Hiring in the Post-COVID-19 Era with Hollie Castro
In this June episode, John and John talk to Yeti Chief Human Resources Officer & SVP, ESG, Hollie Castro about how workforce needs have changed post-COVID.
Our top takeaways: The increasing need to attract Millennial and Gen Z hires calls for a new approach to culture and expectations, and hiring managers must rise to the challenge in order to continue to hire and retain great talent from Millennial, Gen Z and diverse groups.
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4. Be Comfortable Being Uncomfortable with Jaimie Buss
In this episode from September, our hosts talk to Articulate’s Chief Revenue Officer Jaimie Buss. Jaimie shares incredible insight on taking risks, overcoming imposter syndrome and supporting future leaders.
Our top takeaways: Jaimie founded her 'Rising Star Program' to provide support for budding leaders, but it often provides valuable insight as a "test run" of leadership. Not all great individual contributors want to become leaders, nor should they. No great organization is made up of all leaders, so it's important to support your team where they excel.
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5. The Art of Selfless Leadership with Kelly Connery
In one of our most popular episodes, our hosts John and John talk to experienced CRO and president of OE Connection, Kelly Connery, about his journey from sales rep to sales leader.
Kelly on creating an operating rhythm: "All great teams have a recipe that they care enough about and have taken time enough to document it because then they can scale, and you can teach it to others. You can help people move to consciously competent and unconsciously competent. That's not micromanagement, that's truly caring about making your people successful."
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6. Finding Your Champion with Anne Gary
In this episode, our hosts talk to Force Management's own Anne Gary, an experienced sales leader with a background in engineering. Anne talks about the science of driving and sustaining rapid revenue growth, and how finding a great champion is crucial to closing multimillion-dollar deals.
Anne on getting sales transformation right: "So many people, they keep trying to change things up all the time instead of just staying the course for a while. Pick something that you know needs to be done, implement it, stay the course and see what happens. Because we know from engineering, you don't change 10 or 12 variables and try to figure out what's working because you won't know."
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7. The Blueprint for a Sales Dream Team with Mark Roberge
In this episode of the Revenue Builders podcast, John and John talk to founding SVP of Sales at HubSpot, Mark Roberge. He offers advice on leading a high-growth sales organization, including prioritization, hiring, addressing retention and reducing churn.
Our top takeaways: There is no such thing as a universal top sales hire profile. Clearly define what your organization needs, and compare that to who is successful 6 months down the line. Ultimately, coachability is the biggest factor in a great hire.
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8. Tactical Advice for Scaling Sales Organizations with Andy Byron
In this March episode, Kaplan and McMahon talk to Lacework President Andy Byron about the importance of defining and implementing an ideal customer profile to successfully scaling your sales org.
Our top takeaways: Don't try to change how customers want to buy your product, invest in discovering it. Once you've mastered that playbook, it changes, so be ready to constantly improve.
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9. All You Need to Know About Good Leadership with Jeremy Duggan
Duration: 58 min
In this episode, John and John talk with Jeremy Duggan, a veteran sales leader who helped build AppDynamics into a juggernaut before it was acquired by Cisco for $3.7 billion. Jeremy shares his proven formula for success -- caring about your people and using data effectively.
Jeremy's advice for being a great leader: "If you care about people, it overcomes a lot of things that you might do wrong. You might have a bad day, you might lose your temper with something, you might get something wrong. But if people know you fundamentally care about them, then they'll change it."
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10. Scaling and Growth with Chris Degnan
This October episode became one of our most popular of the year thanks to guest Chris Degnan's incredible story of scaling cloud computing startup, Snowflake, into an industry rising star. Chris shares with our hosts why he prefers to work in the startup space, and how he leveraged a customer experience focus to compete with giants like IBM and Amazon.
Our top takeaways: Whether you're in a startup environment or not, the hungry startup mindset is one we can all benefit from. Respect the competition and acknowledge their strengths, but figure out a way to exploit their weaknesses by getting closer to the customer.
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Take Your Sales Organization and Your Career to the Next Level
When it comes to accelerating sales growth and getting to the next level in your career as a leader, it helps to learn from those who’ve been there, done that and achieved results. Take insight from leaders who've played a key role in improving their company's growth trajectory.
Get this guide and empower your sales organization to achieve healthy, consistent revenue growth.
