146: Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone & Achieving Astonishing Results & A Touch of Personalization with Semrush's Sean McLean

0:08 Scott Ingram: You're listening to the Sales Success Stories podcast, where we deconstruct world-class sales performers to provide insights and strategies to help you improve. To learn more, visit us at top1.fm.

0:21 Scott Ingram: Here's your host, Scott Ingram. Today on the Sales Success Stories podcast, my guest is Sean McLean. Sean broke records as the top SDR at Semrush and was promoted into his current AE role in less than half the time because of his performance. Welcome to the show, Sean.

0:38 Sean McLean: Thanks for having me on, Scott.

0:39 Scott Ingram: Yeah, man. Excited to have you on this side of things. I know you're a big fan of the podcast and we will definitely get into you essentially calling your shot about a year ago. But let's start like we always do with some immediate value. And I'll have you talk about the top 3 things that you think have impacted your success the most.

0:56 Sean McLean: Sure. So for me, it's 3 very general things. The number one would be work ethic. This is something I knew I would not have to work on, you know, entering into a sales role, but it's something that I knew I was going to hit the ground running and, you know, outwork everyone on the team. Number 2 would be my sales skills. This is something for me that I knew I would have to work on. I'm an introverted person, not your typical salesy guy. So that's something that brought me to podcasts like yours. Know, consuming as much knowledge as I could. And then the third would be product knowledge. Everyone needs to understand their product, you know, like a customer. So I really took that seriously, acted like a customer and tried to absorb it as much as I could in my training.

1:37 Scott Ingram: Awesome. Well, let's get into a little bit of the context then too, for folks that don't know Semrush. Let's talk about who Semrush is, kind of what your role is, because your title was SDR, but you were actually a full-cycle rep. So let's talk through those, some of those details.

1:51 Sean McLean: Yeah. So for context, a lot of SDRs typically are booking the meetings and then passing it off to an AE. For us, we're working the full sales cycle. So someone essentially creates a free account and that generates a lead for us. And it's our job to call them, find out why they came our way. And then from there, see if there's a fit for a paid plan. So it's not true cold calling and it's also a full sales cycle. We're closing them and maintaining them and trying to grow their business. So that's kind of unique in our role. And I really liked that because it allows me to get SDR experience as well as that AE closing experience.

2:25 Scott Ingram: And what's the difference between that initial role and your current AE role?

2:30 Sean McLean: So really it's just, you know, you're reaching for higher targets. My focus now is more on expansion. I've built enough of a book of clients that I'm connected with now that I'm trying to expand their accounts and make sure, you know, they're taking full advantage of our software.

2:45 Scott Ingram: Got it. Got it. So again, it's interesting. I'm starting to hear about this model coming up more and more where it's, you know, you're essentially building a book of business. The clients that you bring on stay your clients and you get all the opportunities going forward.

2:59 Sean McLean: Yeah, sure. And for some context for what Semrush is, it's like an all-in-one digital marketing software. So there's a pretty big fit across marketers, whether it's SEO or advertising. So our ideal client would be anywhere from a small business to a marketing department at a large company.

3:16 Scott Ingram: Got it. And then let's put your results in perspective a little bit, because obviously you got off to just a wild start and got that promotion really fast.

3:23 Sean McLean: Sure. Yeah. So I started out month 1 and 2, I was told I broke a couple records for, you know, MRR that I closed in the first month. We're supposed to be on a ramp, but I reached my full target. Month 2, I far exceeded it. And since then I've been Somewhere around 150% to my quota, you know, even in this new AE role.

3:42 Scott Ingram: That's fantastic. And then let's get into the origin story because this is actually your first sales role. So how did this come about? What led to this decision to make this kind of a move?

3:53 Sean McLean: Yeah, to be honest, Scott, I never knew what I wanted to be growing up. It's not like I wanted to be a sales rep from the start. I majored in Spanish in college. My first role was actually in IT support. And kind of a funny story in that role. I'm pretty competitively motivated. I know that. And I was always asking my boss, like, can we see these metrics on the tasks we get done compared to, you know, my coworkers? Like, I want to see if I'm at the top closing the most tickets and all that stuff. And they were pretty against it. So that might've been a good sign then to know that I could have been moving to sales and had that leaderboard and everything like that. But it didn't even start until my friend who worked at Semrush told me about how much he was making. I'm also motivated by money. So, you know, I thought I had a good job and I had a good salary. And when he told me that number, it was about 3 years after I'd been at Prudential. I think I want to say it was 3 times what I was making. And I was like, oh my gosh, sales might be the career for me. So, you know, that's kind of where I started. You know, I did have to take a pay cut to become an SDR. And that was a pretty scary risk for me and something that I really had to think about. You know, I have a house and a mortgage and stuff like that. And I knew, you know, quickly I could beat that and eclipse that number, but I have never sold anything before. So for me, that was going to be a big challenge.

5:10 Scott Ingram: And so what was all the prep that you did? Right? Because I think part of your story that fascinates me again is the fact that you were a fan, you reached out to me as I think even before you started and said, hey, I mean, you basically made a deal, said, you know, a year from now after I'm the number 1 SDR, I get to come on your show. Right. And so what's interesting to me is There are a number of folks who've come on this show who have done that. I mean, probably half a dozen. And I don't have a way that I track it. I mean, they usually come back. I leave it on them, right? It's not like I follow up with people like, okay, are you number 1 yet? I mean, that's on you. But I can't think of anybody who hasn't done it. It's so interesting, kind of this Babe Ruth move, right? I'm going to point over the fence like I'm going to be here and they make it. And I think that mentality and that mindset is a big part of it. But what else did you do to kind of prepare yourself to get off to such a great start?

6:01 Sean McLean: Yeah, that's funny. I didn't realize, I was kind of curious if anyone else had done that. But for me, you know, I knew I was going to be moving into this role, had already put in my 2 weeks at that point. I knew I was going to have to focus on my sales skills. So I started looking for podcasts. I found yours and really liked it. I kept listening. I think I listened to almost all the episodes that were on it at the time. Started reading sales books like The Challenger Sale, which You know, I think it's more relevant for someone further down the line in their career, but, you know, I was just consuming knowledge and I knew I was going to have to take this seriously. So that's where I started. Yeah. I reached out to you. I was like, you know, let's add some motivation to this. If I can be the top rep at my company in a year, will you have me on? And you actually responded. I wasn't expecting a response, but you said, yeah, sure.

6:46 Scott Ingram: Yeah. I mean, it happens less than you'd think, right? As popular as this show is. And it's just such a great thing. I mean, cause it's just one of those things that manifests. It's a real fricking deal. So I love it when it happens on the other end. I wonder, I mean, I usually ask this question kind of from a different context, right? Thinking about, you know, starting a sales career over again, but given this is your first role and all of this transpired maybe a year ago, would you have done your prep any differently? Right? Like realizing, hey, I'm going to make this giant leap. I'm going to go from the IT world to the sales world. And I want to prepare myself well. Is there anything you would've done differently in that preparation?

7:24 Sean McLean: Yeah, that's a really good question. I think I probably would've just started sooner had I realized, I mean, I did start preparing before the role even started, but had I known sales was going to be an interest of mine, I would've started consuming that information sooner. I follow a lot of LinkedIn personalities who provide great information. People like Josh Braun is great for SDRs, but there's a lot of noise on LinkedIn too. So I don't know if that's necessarily the best starting place. But for me, it's just starting sooner, realizing that this is going to be, you know, the career for me and stepping out of my comfort zone a little bit, reaching out to people like you, just connecting, building that network.

8:01 Scott Ingram: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. What's your favorite sales story at this point? Right. I mean, what's the deal that has been the most impactful for you?

8:09 Sean McLean: Yeah, this is pretty minor, I would say, in the grand scheme of things, but it's the one that I always think of. I was just making my calls and this guy picked up and I couldn't even get through my intro. And he said, you are the worst SDR ever, and just hung up. And for me, I mean, I'm sure a lot of people have had very similar stories. You have to be ready to face rejection, but that took a blow on me. I had to get up and take a walk. And I don't think I was making calls for another hour because I was like, oh my gosh, that was just brutal. But that's the job. That's the nature of the job. You have to be able to handle rejection and get back up and keep going.

8:43 Scott Ingram: It's so interesting to me that that's the story you picked. Why pick that?

8:46 Sean McLean: I don't know. I think your failures are more important than your successes. I have lots of successes and things that I'm super proud of, but, you know, I'm more proud of the ability to take rejection and keep going and be resilient.

8:57 Scott Ingram: Nice. Nice. I mean, that's one of the questions that I've actually done a poor job of incorporating into my list, but it came up on a previous thing and somebody was asking about their favorite failure story. Is it that, or is there something else given that that's kind of the way that you're learning?

9:12 Sean McLean: Yeah, I'm trying to think of anything else, to be honest, but that might be it. It's just, You know, you always have to be willing to try new things. And for me, sometimes things aren't working, a certain email or something, and just being flexible and being able to go with the flow, that's super important. And I would recommend that to anyone, not even in sales, just go with the flow and be able to be adaptable.

9:31 Scott Ingram: Yeah, I think you have to in this world today. We were just talking about that. What are you most proud of?

9:36 Sean McLean: Yeah, so I mean, I'm pretty proud of my achievement at Semrush. For me, I talked about taking that pay cut initially. And I knew that I was going to be trying to get there to where I was at least earning what I was earning before as fast as possible. Looking at it now, I'm on track to probably double my earnings from when I was at my previous role. So I'm really proud of that and being able to do it so quickly in under a year.

10:01 Scott Ingram: That's awesome. That's awesome. And I know one of the things that you kind of want to make a point about is, you know, this career is an amazing opportunity for folks that are driven in these ways and are willing to push themselves and get out of their comfort zone. I'm guessing that, you know, you would have gone back and even started this journey sooner if you knew. Is that fair?

10:21 Sean McLean: Yeah, probably. I do think working at another company and just in business in general gave me some experience that's been valuable. But absolutely, I think the sooner I could have started, you know, I could be earning more right now. I could be learning a lot more about my industry and everything. If I could give advice to anyone, it really would be, if you're thinking about taking that risk, just do it. There's never a good time to do that. There's always going to be reasons not to, otherwise it wouldn't be a risk. So looking back, just being more confident and being willing to, you know, make that jump and just trust myself.

10:53 Scott Ingram: Nice. It sounds like the decision to have kids. It's one of those things like, look, you're never ready. You just have to jump off that cliff. Like there's never a point that you're like, okay, cool. I've got everything organized. We're totally ready. Now we have kids. It doesn't work like that.

11:07 Sean McLean: Yeah, exactly. I'm not there yet, but that's something I'll take note of.

11:10 Scott Ingram: Well, you're familiar with how the decision gets made.

11:12 Sean McLean: Exactly. Yep.

11:14 Scott Ingram: So what's the flip side? We talked about your accomplishments a little bit. What do you struggle with the most? Yeah.

11:19 Sean McLean: So I'm actually relative to my coworkers, I'm pretty low on activity levels, activity metrics and stuff like that. I tend to not have an issue booking up my calendar with meetings. So I think for things I need to work on would be just making sure I can get down and schedule those calls. Something that works for me is actually blocking out a time block as if it were a demo on my calendar and just making sure, you know, I'm going to be making calls for that whole hour and just doing it that way.

11:48 Scott Ingram: So I want to talk about that though, because I'm guessing that your conversion rates are higher and that's why your activity metrics maybe aren't as high. Is that a fair assumption?

11:58 Sean McLean: Yeah, that's definitely fair. I think a lot of that comes back to, I really think I understand my product like a customer. One thing I did, so Semrush helps websites in general increase their traffic. So I actually created a website with my friend who's at the company as well, and it's a travel blog. We're not writers, but we know we can use our tool to rank better on Google and things like that. So I actually went through the whole process of what my customer would do and built that website. And for me, that allows me to ask the right questions. And I think that's everything. You have to be able to understand where your customer's coming from, what those pain points are. And give recommendations around that.

12:35 Scott Ingram: You know, that's really interesting. I mean, a conversation that I have all too often inside the community is folks will reach out to me because they're being pressed on the activity metrics, even though, and this just blows my mind, they'll get pressed because they're below the bar on what the expectation is in terms of metrics. And yet in a few cases, this person is the number one performer and they're getting all this garbage because they're not there, because it's all about quality, right? They're doing a better job. They've done either the work like you have, which I think is amazing, to really understand your customer, be able to speak their language. It's a different conversation than when you're just trying to throw a bunch of stuff at the wall. Have you gotten any pushback on that? Like you hear about, oh, hey, you're not doing enough here, even though your results are what everybody would want?

13:27 Sean McLean: Yeah. So, I mean, I'm super grateful for my boss. He makes me aware that, you know, where my numbers are, but he's like, as long as you're performing, you know, I'm not going to have a problem with it. If you keep busting quota like that, like, I don't have any problem with it. He will tell me, you know, he's like, you're so good on the phone, make more calls. But he understands that, you know, the calendar fills up so you can only do so much.

13:48 Scott Ingram: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, to me, I think the heart of that issue is lazy leadership. Right, is, you know, I'm just trying to manage by this spreadsheet and I think that, you know, these inputs are equal across the board, but that's not true. Like if you've got better ingredients, I don't need to use as much. And it confounds me. You can probably hear it in my voice. I just don't understand how you can be upset when you're getting the end result that you want if you don't like the way that it's happening. I think it really comes down to, and this is what I hope comes across in this show, is top performers come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. There is no one way. I mean, it's not uncommon. I mean, although what's funny is what you shared in the very beginning about, look, I'm really introverted and I'm not the typical salesperson. I would think probably half the people I've interviewed on this show would describe themselves in that same way. So anyway, I'll step off my soapbox. The show's supposed to be about you, but that particular thing is driving me crazy right now.

14:53 Sean McLean: No, you're absolutely right. And honestly, if anyone's listening to this thinking that about their leadership, there's a lot of great opportunities out there. Find someone who's actually results-oriented. You're going to have an easier time. You're going to sell a lot more. And I think that's the way things are moving. At least that's what I hope. And I got pretty lucky in my role that I have that with my leadership.

15:11 Scott Ingram: Yeah, that's fantastic. And, you know, we did this bonus episode a couple of weeks ago about just doing your due diligence on a role and finding that manager, right? Finding somebody who's going to work with you and your style and isn't going to be like, manager by the numbers is such a better thing for everybody. I mean, you're going to develop, you're going to grow, you're going to have way more success and you're going to actually enjoy it. I mean, you know, if you're not a 100-dial-a-day kind of person, like being forced to do 100 dials a day ain't going to be any fun.

15:38 Sean McLean: Yeah, right. I mean, I know it works for a lot of people too. If you're not as knowledgeable on the product, if you're not as experienced, making those dials is going to be important. Getting the reps in, getting more comfortable. And I would say you can be a top performer by high activity metrics, but it's not everything. So that's something to take note of. Make sure you're personalizing your outreach. I think that's equally important. You can't just be spraying emails that are in a template. I mean, that's not going to be the results you want.

16:07 Scott Ingram: Yeah. Yeah. Love it. Love it. All right. So let's get into the routine stuff. This is always one of my favorite areas. So I know you know how this rolls. Walk us through your day. Alarm goes off. What time? I want the blow-by-blow.

16:19 Sean McLean: Yeah. So I kind of obsess over this and I wish I were more of a morning person. I'll try different routines all the time. I've tried working out in the mornings, nothing sticks. So for me, I just get up, make a cup of coffee, have breakfast, feed my dog, get my girlfriend out to work. And then that gives me some time, maybe an hour before work, I can be checking emails, ease into the day that way. And as long as it's consistent, you know, I'm happy with that. So it's nothing special, no fluff. I really just have a consistent day, start, eat a good meal, and that's it.

16:50 Scott Ingram: Nice. And then how are you structuring your workday?

16:52 Sean McLean: Yeah. So, I mean, I'll start, you know, somewhere around 8:30, just reading emails, going through, making sure I don't have anything pressing going on, taking care of that. And then from there, I'm pretty reactive as far as scheduling meetings. I'm comfortable booking at whatever time the client's ready to book. So it can vary from day to day, but Depending on if I have a lot of meetings or not, I'll block out an hour just for calls and try to get that done. Hopefully more than an hour. From there, it's really just calls, emails, doing some research on some of the bigger accounts I can be working and taking those demos.

17:28 Scott Ingram: And then how do you wrap things up? What time are you calling it a day and what's the rest of your evening look like?

17:33 Sean McLean: Oh man, it varies. I try to be done by 5 if I can. It doesn't happen all the time. Sometimes I'll take a late meeting for someone on the West Coast. But when I wrap up, I'm never really fully off. It's just the nature of this remote work environment we're in. I'm always checking my email, making sure I'm not missing out on anything too major, but I do think it's important to turn things off and unwind and get ready and do it again the next day.

17:58 Scott Ingram: Nice. And then any other kind of habits or routines? I mean, are you working out in the evenings? You said it didn't work in the morning for you. Do you have the time?

18:06 Sean McLean: Yeah. So I definitely benefit from exercise. So I try to get that in at night then if I didn't do it in the morning. So definitely doing that and just On the weekdays, it's pretty basic. I'm just trying to relax and enjoy my time, take care of whatever needs to get done. Yeah. And the other thing is just making sure I block out that time for activity and things that I know I need to do, but aren't necessarily my favorite parts of the job.

18:28 Scott Ingram: Gotcha. And then what does your information diet look like? I know you're listening to podcasts and stuff. What's kind of on your current menu and when are you doing that listening and reading and things like that?

18:37 Sean McLean: Yeah. So that's another thing I'll do in the morning before I start. Yeah. I'll try to listen to a podcast or I'll scroll through LinkedIn. I follow leaders in the sales industry and in the digital marketing SEO industry, just so I can learn from my clients, learn from the top voices. That's really the 2 things I do, podcasts and LinkedIn for that kind of stuff. There really is a lot of noise on LinkedIn, but if you follow the right people, you can kind of figure out who's actually a good authority to listen to. There's a lot of good information out there.

19:06 Scott Ingram: Nice. And then what other podcasts are you listening to besides this one?

19:10 Sean McLean: So this one and 30 Minutes to the President's Club are my 2 favorites for sales. Those guys are great and they get a lot of similar people to who you have on. I'm not sure, are you connected to them at all?

19:21 Scott Ingram: Yeah. So what's funny, I swear we should talk more. It's like a companion show. I mean, this show I know inspired them in a lot of ways and they went the opposite direction with the really tight… I've been on there. Nick Cegelski's been on this show. So it's been a fun kind of back and forth. They've done a really great job.

19:38 Sean McLean: Yeah, that's awesome. They do a really good job. They have a lot of good content on LinkedIn too, short-form stuff. So I like to consume that when I'm not Yeah, I don't have enough time to do the whole 30 minutes or whatever it is.

19:49 Scott Ingram: Yeah, absolutely. Good stuff. So what about the tools and apps? Like what are the things that you're using to be productive and get things done?

19:58 Sean McLean: So my number one thing is listening to calls. I'll listen to all my own calls, all of the top performers at the company. That's something that's really important to me, figuring out how to better improve what I'm doing and listening to the people that are already doing it well. Use Chorus. I know you use Gong here, whatever it is. If you can record your calls, if you're at a smaller company, that's so important. It allows me to listen to it before I meet again with my clients. Remember more than just a few notes that I jotted down. Listening to calls is probably the main reason I've been so successful. I think I listen to more than anyone else.

20:34 Scott Ingram: Nice. And then it's interesting. I was just, I think Jack Wilson shouted somebody out on LinkedIn this morning, was asking them to provide a tip because they were talking about the way that they were listening to calls, anything special that you're doing in kind of your approach or either the way that you're taking notes or anything around like your listening strategy when you're digging in that way?

20:52 Sean McLean: Yeah. So when I started, I started listening to top performers at the company and I had a notebook out and I would write down what I would have said to a customer question. I would write down what they said if it was something new that I learned, and I would actually like score them. I would say, you know, they could have done this better, or I really liked what they said here. And a lot of times I would take that a step further and reach out to them and say, hey, I love listening to your calls. I think you're a great rep. You mind if I bounce some questions off of you? That's a great way to network and get some ideas from the people that are already succeeding at the company.

21:26 Scott Ingram: Brilliant. Brilliant. Yeah. So that was really similar. I think, you know, there's… you're actively listening to the calls, right? It's one thing to just passively like, yeah, I'm sitting there. I'm halfway absorbing this call and probably doing something else in the background versus, okay, I'm listening. This question got posed. Let me hit pause. Let me think about what my answer would be versus their answer. That is so much more dynamic and so much more powerful. And then I didn't even think about it. I'm so glad I asked the question about turning that into an opportunity to network and build a relationship.

21:54 Sean McLean: Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, when I started, I didn't build my sales process from scratch. It came from these top performers at our company. You really just want to learn what they're doing. You know, you don't have to fix what isn't broken. And a lot of times it's just by starting that conversation with them. They have great Almost everyone is happy to help you if you reach out. And I think a lot of people in sales think it's like an individual job. You're an individual contributor. A lot of people get competitive, but if your company has a good culture, they're always going to be happy to help and try to help you grow too.

22:23 Scott Ingram: Yeah, absolutely. And again, it's so few people actually do it. I think the assumption is, oh, well, everybody must be reaching out to them. Yeah, not true.

22:31 Sean McLean: No, not at all. I mean, and it's flattering if someone reaches out to you, you're like, oh yeah, that's great. Like I must be doing something right. I'm happy to help them. So I hope that, you know, if anyone's listening to this, reach out that top performer, I'm sure they're going to answer and at least give you something that's helpful.

22:45 Scott Ingram: Yeah. Well, here's what happens next, because we've trained the listeners of this podcast pretty well. They're going to reach out to you. So you actually will hear from a good number of people. It's one of my favorite parts. It's, I always get such great feedback from the guests who are like, oh my gosh, like I'm getting blown up because of my appearance on the show and just the number of amazing people who are reaching out. So again, it's building that network of top performers. So it's an exciting thing. Sean, have you subscribed or adopted a particular sales philosophy or approach at this stage?

23:15 Sean McLean: I wouldn't say I follow anything too specific. We learned about BANT and, you know, budget, authority, need, and timeline. I always try to mix that into, you know, my prospecting and discovery questions. But for me, I really go for a consultative strategy. I'm not going to be pushing you on anything and just, you know, jamming activity down your throat. I'm going to be helping you figure out if this is actually a fit for you. And just being that trusted person, when you do make a sale and you're ready to come back to them with another product that you think is a fit for them, they're going to take your call because they know that, you know, you're actually someone that's trying to help them. I also tell all my clients, you know, I talk to more digital marketers than anyone. That's all I do all day. So I definitely have some good advice and good tips. And if you're willing to listen, I'm going to try to help you succeed.

24:01 Scott Ingram: Nice. And do you have an approach to sort of acquiring those tips, right? So in those conversations, sort of gleaning nuggets that you can take to the next conversation.

24:10 Sean McLean: Yeah. I mean, I'm totally willing to take things off track a little bit and ask people about what they do and what they find to be successful. The more you can make your demo or your prospecting call or whatever it is conversational, I think the more successful you'll be. I think the same thing for interviews and stuff like that. The more you can take things off script, you can learn a lot and bring that to your next conversation.

24:30 Scott Ingram: Yeah, absolutely. And then I think the curiosity just sort of plays in, right? Is like, okay, let me just ask this other question because I just want to know.

24:38 Sean McLean: Yeah, I think any good sales rep is curious. They're a little skeptical. They're willing to dive in and ask follow-up questions. You know, that's super important. I'm glad you brought that up.

24:47 Scott Ingram: Yeah. So Sean, how would you describe your style?

24:50 Sean McLean: I'm definitely more of a hyper-personalized person. You know, my outreach is very personalized. That's where I, you know, get a little lower on my activity and then I'm pretty laid back. I'll let someone talk and finish their monologue. I'm very comfortable with silence. You know, I just want to be the trusted person for them. And that's not typical of sales reps. So if you can stand out and break through the noise, I think that's going to help you.

25:13 Scott Ingram: Yeah. So when you say personalized, like personalized in what way? What does that look like?

25:17 Sean McLean: Yeah. So for me, our tool is pretty unique in that it's also a competitive research tool. So when I'm prospecting, I can plug in the website of the person I'm reaching out to into our platform and I can see where they have gaps in their strategy, what they're doing well. And I do that before every call and I'm ready with information. So I have information to talk about with their business and being able to do that and not just go off of script or something like that, that's really going to set you apart. So that's not for everyone listening to this, but if you can do your research, look at their LinkedIn, figure out what their role is at the very least, it really goes a long way.

25:55 Scott Ingram: Absolutely. And we talked about this, a couple of pieces a little bit earlier, but I want to be a little bit more explicit about it. When What is it that motivates you and drives you? And how do you think about that stuff?

26:05 Sean McLean: Yeah. I mean, there's a few things. I'm definitely competitively motivated. Like I said, I want to be at the top of the leaderboard. That's something that works for me. It's not going to work for everyone. Another thing that brought me to sales, I'm motivated by money. You know, I know if I work harder, I'm going to get paid more and that's not typical in most jobs. So those 2 things are definitely important for me. And then also I just enjoy, you know, talking to people and learning about their businesses. Learning about what works for them. So if you can find something that motivates you, I think you can be successful in sales.

26:34 Scott Ingram: Yeah, absolutely. I'm really curious about this, especially given how many calls that you've listened to across your colleagues. Is there something you believe that the average or typical rep would think is crazy?

26:48 Sean McLean: Honestly, something that I believe that might be crazy would be there's not one way to do this. A lot of people do really just believe in you know, calling and making the most calls. For me, I think being a little bit more strategic goes a long way. And I think a lot of people don't realize that. And listening to those calls, like you said, a lot of reps really want to be presenting and demoing the platform and showing the tools and everything. I think the less you talk, the better. The more you let the client be comfortable and talk, you really learn a lot about their pain and what their problems are. And you can quickly show how to fix that. So definitely just being a little bit more laid back and letting the client drive a bit and, you know, leading them to where you want to lead them eventually.

27:30 Scott Ingram: Nice. That's really interesting. And I don't know if it's something about your style, but I've talked more in this interview than I've talked in a long time. Like usually I'm pretty good about just asking the questions and let people go, but there must be something about your personality that gets people to open up and want to go a little further.

27:47 Sean McLean: Yeah. And maybe I don't like to hear my voice. I don't know, but I'm happy to learn from whoever I'm talking to. And I know you're interviewing me on this podcast. I'm kind of stepping outside of my comfort zone coming on here, but I think that kind of stuff is important. And even if you only have a few things to say, just getting them out and then letting someone else respond, making it a conversation, doing that in everything that you do, I think is helpful.

28:07 Scott Ingram: Let's talk about the comfort zone thing, because I know that that's another thing that you've been pretty intentional about. You want to talk about that?

28:14 Sean McLean: Yeah. So like I said, I'm pretty introverted. Joining a sales job, I knew I was going to have to be stepping out of my comfort zone every day, getting on the phone, calling random people. The second I realized that I'm getting comfortable, I try to do something else that's pushing me a little bit. Getting on this podcast, I think that's where you're going to really succeed is you're always going to grow when you build that comfort level and keep doing things that make you a little uncomfortable. I think that's great advice for anyone.

28:39 Scott Ingram: Yeah, absolutely. Sean, what have been some of the most either important decisions you've made or lessons you had to learn that had a really big impact for you?

28:49 Sean McLean: Yeah, for me, it's just, you know, making those decisions about your career are big ones. Deciding to even take this role, being a risk-taker, that's something that was difficult for me. I had a big fear around taking a step back and it was like, you know, I've been working so hard in this one industry and trying to do this one thing for so long. You know, making that decision to go another direction, go back to entry level, that's something that was really hard for me. So I would say, you know, making those hard decisions, thinking about it, and just taking that risk is important.

29:20 Scott Ingram: Yeah, for sure. So you have listened to, it sounds like maybe almost all of these episodes. Is there something that we haven't touched on that you were hoping that we might be able to get to in our conversation today that you'd be able to share or talk about?

29:35 Sean McLean: You know, I think I really wanted to say my piece on, you know, there's not one way to do this. You can be successful in sales without being a sales rep. You know, take those risks and do what you can to move forward in your career. And it can be not linear, but if I had any advice to give someone looking to switch jobs or something like that, I would say, you know, treat it like a sales job, you know, prospect those employers and reach out to them. I've never gotten a job. I think I've gotten one job by just applying online and it was an unpaid internship. You know, build your network and reach out to people, reach out to current reps at whatever company you're looking at and learn from them. Everyone's going to be happy to take your call. At least a lot of people are. So for me, if I wanted to cover one more thing, it would really be, you know, treat your life like that and don't be afraid to network. And a lot of good opportunities come from that. Yeah.

30:25 Scott Ingram: Fantastic. And is that what led to Semrush? I think you mentioned that you had a friend who was already there, who was already making good money in sales. Was it that? What led to kind of you landing here?

30:36 Sean McLean: Yeah, I was fortunate to have him. He's like one of my best friends from childhood and he was kind of talking about it. He was saying, you would be good at this. Like, I think this might be a good jump for you. So having that in my corner, not everyone has that, but you can manufacture that network. And if you really want something, reach out and build those connections. He would be another great person to talk to, honestly. He's one of the top reps at the company right now, a lot more experienced than I am, but yeah, maybe we can connect you after this.

31:00 Scott Ingram: Absolutely. Obviously, probably not going to have another person from the same company on the podcast in short order like that. But I mean, you keep talking about kind of this network and the people that you surround yourself with. And I am probably one of the biggest believers out there about how important that is, just in terms of the impact of your career, right? It's having those people, they end up being mentors, right? They're people that you can bounce questions off of. They're people who can certainly in so many ways impact the trajectory of your career, right? They can help you find those new opportunities. They can help you get in the door inside of those new opportunities. And that's in so many ways what the Sales Success Summit is really about, right? Sure, there's lots of content. Lots of the folks that have been on this podcast will be on stage and sharing even deeper knowledge and wisdom that they have. But I'm all about creating a ton of white space in that event, right? It's not one of those, hey, sit down, shut up, and listen to people talk for hours on end. There are tons of breaks, lots of barbecue, lots of, lots of other things kind of going on in that because really at the end of the day, all I'm trying to do is get the best people in sales I can find together in one space so that we can develop those relationships and develop that opportunity to learn from each other. And it's certainly not a single point in time kind of a thing, right? I mean, so many events are that, right? It is an event. This happens these 2 days and that's it. I think to me, this is much more about the community, right? The event is just really the gathering and the physical connection point, but it's really something that goes on throughout the year in so many of these conversations. So very high likelihood that Sean will be there joining us and he's going to go talk to his friend and maybe we'll have a couple of folks from Semrush come join us. And I almost never talk about the summit until very late in these episodes like this, because I really want the committed folks who are invested in themselves and are really deep involved in that event. So you can learn more about it, top1summit.com. The sooner you sign up, the better. The price goes up every month, but we've got some nice little payment options and things on there. And there's a reason it's a premium, right? I'm trying to kind of keep this just for the folks who really truly, truly are committed to themselves and committed to the craft. And, you know, you get what you pay for in that way. So Sean, really excited to have you out in Austin this October. And we'll wrap this up like we always do with something actionable. I mean, what would you challenge our listener to do to improve themselves and improve their results here in the next week or 2?

33:40 Sean McLean: Yeah, if I were to challenge someone, if you're trying to make a change, make a small one. It doesn't have to be a big drastic change. If you're trying to improve, just take one step to do that. Commit to it for 2 weeks. I think that can be applied in sales. It can be implied in life and working out. You know, if you're gonna get… try to start working out again, take a walk every day for a week. It could be a 10-minute walk and then build upon that. You know, success isn't built overnight. And for me, it's those tiny little habits that you build over time and it makes you into a great person.

34:09 Scott Ingram: Well put. Well put. Sean, thanks for your time, man. I appreciate it.

34:12 Sean McLean: Yep. Thank you, Scott. Thanks for listening to the Sales Success Stories podcast. To be sure you never miss an episode, and for an invitation to our Sales Success Community powered by Influitive, subscribe to our newsletter at top1.fm.