Revenue Builders

What the Best Sales Leaders Do with Brian McCarthy

Episode Summary

Brian McCarthy is an accomplished executive and leader with progressive sales and leadership experience building and leading talented teams to achieve hyper-growth within the enterprise software and information services industry. Brian serves as Rubrik’s Chief Revenue Officer, where he leads the global go-to-market sales strategy. Previously he led the sales, services and support teams at ThoughtSpot, where he led the go-to-market function and the company’s SaaS transformation. Preceding his time at ThoughtSpot, Brian came from AppDynamics, which was acquired by Cisco, where he was responsible for leading the Americas organization as GVP and from QlikTech where he served as President of the Americas. He graduated from Franciscan University. Join us as Brian shares shares insights on managing and enabling sales teams. He emphasizes the importance of caring for and developing employees, and the need for leaders to have a secure mindset. McCarthy and John McMahon discuss tracking deals and stages in the sales process, forecasting, and improving the probability of closing deals. Tons of lessons from two top-tier sales leaders shared on this episode of Revenue Builders. HERE ARE SOME KEY SECTIONS TO CHECK OUT: [0:01:15] Brian's background and experience in sales and leadership roles [0:09:30] Brian's approach to managing and training people [0:17:23] The importance of listening skills in leadership [0:24:33] The unique approach to enablement at Rubric [0:42:04] The critical stage in the sales process for forecasting [0:56:50] The metrics Brian tracks during and after the quarter [1:02:03] The importance of focusing on productivity in a growth company [1:04:35] The impact of churn on productivity and the importance of recruiting and training [1:14:55] Leaders who consistently over forecast or wear rose-colored glasses HIGHLIGHT QUOTES [0:40:33] Leaders job as an ultimate success - John McMahon: “Your job is to get the best players and coaches on your team. And then if you do, you're going to look like a freaking hero, right? And you also hit on something that's really critical is that ‘when is a leader's job done?’. A leader's job's done is when they've been able to prove that they were able to recruit people, train and develop those people to take their spot.That's when it's ultimate success” [1:13:49] The importance of looking at new and existing deals in the forecast - Brian: “I have a much better idea of exactly where they're going to land, plus or minus. And I usually tell them too, as I'm going through, I'll go through and be like, okay, so here's where each of your people are. Here's the range: worst is this all right, I think you're going to be about two and a half million more than you're calling here, but okay, got it.” Learn more about Brian through this link: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bkmccarthy/ Check out John McMahon’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064

Episode Notes

Brian McCarthy is an accomplished executive and leader with progressive sales and leadership experience building and leading talented teams to achieve hyper-growth within the enterprise software and information services industry. Brian serves as Rubrik’s Chief Revenue Officer, where he leads the global go-to-market sales strategy. Previously he led the sales, services and support teams at ThoughtSpot, where he led the go-to-market function and the company’s SaaS transformation. Preceding his time at ThoughtSpot, Brian came from AppDynamics, which was acquired by Cisco, where he was responsible for leading the Americas organization as GVP and from QlikTech where he served as President of the Americas. He graduated from Franciscan University.

Join us as Brian shares shares insights on managing and enabling sales teams. He emphasizes the importance of caring for and developing employees, and the need for leaders to have a secure mindset. McCarthy and John McMahon discuss tracking deals and stages in the sales process, forecasting, and improving the probability of closing deals. Tons of lessons from two top-tier sales leaders shared on this episode of Revenue Builders.

HERE ARE SOME KEY SECTIONS TO CHECK OUT:

[0:01:15] Brian's background and experience in sales and leadership roles

[0:09:30] Brian's approach to managing and training people

[0:17:23] The importance of listening skills in leadership

[0:24:33] The unique approach to enablement at Rubrik

[0:42:04] The critical stage in the sales process for forecasting

[0:56:50] The metrics Brian tracks during and after the quarter

[1:02:03] The importance of focusing on productivity in a growth company

[1:04:35] The impact of churn on productivity and the importance of recruiting and training

[1:14:55] Leaders who consistently over forecast or wear rose-colored glasses

HIGHLIGHT QUOTES

[0:40:33] Leaders job as an ultimate success - John McMahon: “Your job is to get the best players and coaches on your team. And then if you do, you're going to look like a freaking hero, right? And you also hit on something that's really critical is that ‘when is a leader's job done?’. A leader's job's done is when they've been able to prove that they were able to recruit people, train and develop those people to take their spot.That's when it's ultimate success”

[1:13:49] The importance of looking at new and existing deals in the forecast - Brian: “I have a much better idea of exactly where they're going to land, plus or minus. And I usually tell them too, as I'm going through, I'll go through and be like, okay, so here's where each of your people are. Here's the range: worst is this all right, I think you're going to be about two and a half million more than you're calling here, but okay, got it.”

 

Learn more about Brian through this link:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bkmccarthy/

Check out John McMahon’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064