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Michael Buscemi

Michael Buscemi

Sr. Director of Sales at Zip

Content

How do you retain good talent, especially when sales roles are in such high demand across the industry?

Michael Buscemi
Michael Buscemi

Zip Sr. Director of Sales • 9mo

Great question. This is becoming increasingly hard in tech. The “next best thing” is always around the corner! I think there are a few fundamental things that retain top talent. First, is your quota actual attainable? Top talent won’t stay around if they can’t make their OTE. Make sure to create a plan people can hit. Second, are you helping them progress in their careers? Are you teaching them? Do they have a path to promotion? That’s critical to ensuring talent stays for years to come. Top tal ...Read More

1,421 Views

What's your framework to prioritizing needs/deliverables when you're the first sales leader at a company establishing the function?

Michael Buscemi
Michael Buscemi

Zip Sr. Director of Sales • 9mo

This is a good one! Many ways to answer this one. You have to ask yourself:

  • How important is this to the business, my team or myself?

  • Who will benefit the most - business or team?

  • What’s the impact to the business or team?

I would always default to the impact the business. Remember, you were hired to make a business impact and quick. The quicker you impact the business the better

1,234 Views

Question about org structures - what does your sales team org structure look like?

Michael Buscemi
Michael Buscemi

Zip Sr. Director of Sales • 9mo

Great question and I believe this depends on the maturity of your business. If you’ve already established and perfected pre and post sales you have a single owner over pre to post sales. If you’ve already have not perfected these motions you need specialization on the motion. I’ve led both motions and maturity is key. Double down on specialization early to define and perfect the motion.

1,106 Views

What are the biggest surprises when going from a company where sales was established to one where you have to establish sales?

Michael Buscemi
Michael Buscemi

Zip Sr. Director of Sales • 9mo

It’s not necessarily a surprise but it’s always eye opening how much there is to build when you get into the weeds. You tend to think there is more built than actually exists. To me, it boils down to sales process. Is it established, is it Wild West? What coaching do you need to do? What rigor needs to be put in place? I always aim to be on 30 calls in 30 days to learn this. I always get a good sense of what needs to happen and why. This is critical to 1. Getting up to speed and 2. Making an imp ...Read More

1,070 Views

What is your advice for creating and/or improving the sales process when joining a small but growing team? Particularly for a small company with no or little structure?

Michael Buscemi
Michael Buscemi

Zip Sr. Director of Sales • 9mo

Join as many calls as possible in as little time as possible. Learn and map to whatever process you subscribe to. In my experience, it’s best to co-build this process with your best reps. They will intuitively know the steps to push a deal forward. This is the way to building out a more sustainable process.

545 Views

What is the best way to create and roll out a repeatable and scalable renewal process when joining as a revenue leader?

Michael Buscemi
Michael Buscemi

Zip Sr. Director of Sales • 9mo

LOVE this question. Map the customer journey. I’ll say it again. Map the customer journey. When do they go live, when do they see value & how, when can they upsell, etc…. What’s the typical sales cycle? Use that to get in front of churn since you know it take X months to pick a vendor.

Then, coach to it. Build reports. Build tracking. Drive accountability.

493 Views