AMA: HubSpot Senior Director of Sales | Midmarket, Brian Bresee on Developing Your Sales Career

The best sales leaders have a few things in common:-They have a deep mastery of how to sell effectively -They are incredible coaches and development focused with their team -They care a LOT about their people Why these three things? First, I've often heard the refrain that "you don't want to hire the number 1 sales rep to be a manager." That said, no one wants to follow a sales leader who isn't incredible at sales. Imagine if you had a new manager promoted over you, and their average attainment ...Read More

If I were a sales rep trying to justify a raise, I would ensure I know:-Performance against quota -Percent to goal -MRR / ARR sold -If at a very early stage company, your contribution to the company's growth might be material, what % growth on the top line did you drive? -If larger, I'd be thinking about the KPI impact of strategic projects. I.e. if you developed a sales play that increased close rates of your peers from 20 to 30% - can you quantify that impact in revenue. It's a lot easier to a ...Read More

I love to ask a rep to walk me through a deal they closed. Then I ask for a second deal. Then I ask for a third. And I really spend time having a deep conversation on the third. I'm a huge fan of behavioral interview questions (and most hiring analytics suggest they are the only types of interview questions that correlate at all to future job success, which is why you see them so often.) But it also requires skill from the interviewer. The goal of the interviewer is not to sit back and listen to ...Read More

Burnout is a huge challenge for many sales professionals. Many folks in sales burn the candle at both ends - stacking meetings back to back with no break, working 12 hour+ days, and never truly taking a break or signing off. Over time this adds up, and you can get into a pretty demotivated state of burnout as a result. Healthy habits are the solution. There's a company called PeopleFuel that runs a seminar called The Energy Project, that I found incredibly helpful. The thesis is this - you only ...Read More

There are two primary paths for sales professionals who want to continue to level up in sales. The individual contributor path and the management path. Individual contributors might start as an Sales Development Rep or Business Development Rep. These are entry level sales roles that involve appointment setting for a more senior Account Executive who then takes a meeting and works to close business. At most tech companies, the most junior Account Executives work in the small business division, an ...Read More

I've been at HubSpot for 14 years. Every year I ask myself the same questions: -Do I enjoy the people I work with? -Am I continuously progressing my career and growing my earnings potential? -Are there new and difficult challenges that stretch me and push me to develop new skills? -Am I fulfilled by the work I do? If all the above are yes, I stay in the role. So far, I've been very fortunate to have a great career at HubSpot. When evaluating new companies, I would recommend a few things for folk ...Read More

I think context, speed, and quality of sales conversation will be essential. Prospects have less patience than ever, they expect you to know them, their industry, and have deep knowledge of everything in your business that might solve their problems. People expect lightning fast response rates - if I have to wait on hold for 5 minutes I'm hanging up the phone. Sales reps who have a unique perspective that educates and helps the prospect, who respond incredibly fast, and prove that they can liste ...Read More