58 - HubSpot's Top Account Executive - Nora Edmonds

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. Here's your host, Scott Ingram. Today on the Sales Success Stories podcast, I'm joined by Nora Edmonds, who is the top senior account executive in HubSpot's Small Business Division. Welcome to the show, Nora.

0:34 Nora Edmonds: Thanks for having me, Scott.

0:35 Scott Ingram: It's a pleasure. I'm really looking forward to our conversation. And this episode of the podcast is sponsored by the 2019 Sales Success Summit. And if you're listening to this before the end of 2018, I'd highly encourage you to go check out the current offer at top1summit.com because that particular offer goes away when the ball drops on New Year's Eve. More on that in a little bit. Nora, let's kick things off like we always do with some immediate value and talk about the top 3 things that you believe have contributed most to your success there at HubSpot?

1:08 Nora Edmonds: Great, so to kick things off, I will say my first piece that's contributed to my being successful is my belief in HubSpot's product. I actually, are you familiar with Lisa McLeod, her book about kind of believing in what you're selling as a salesperson? She actually spoke, we have an inbound conference every year, and she spoke and I was lucky enough to attend her session, and she was just talking about how sales folks, they did a, you know, research project and they found basically that the people that actually believed in the impact that what they were selling was having did the best. And it didn't really click with me until I saw her speak. But I definitely think that that has been, you know, integral to my success is that genuine and wholehearted belief. I've seen HubSpot make an impact on small businesses. So when I am selling it, it's not just, you know, slinging software. It's really, you know, knowing that it is going to have this long-term effect. I think that's definitely number one.

2:13 Scott Ingram: Yeah, great stuff. I'm not familiar with Lisa's book, so what we'll do is we will look that up and put a link to it in the show notes that everyone can find at top1.fm. So what's the second one?

2:23 Nora Edmonds: Yeah, the second one is my customer-centric approach. So I think I have an innate… this is kind of going into my third one too, but an innate curiosity. I really like connecting with people, and I've been in a couple of different roles. So I was in sales, I was in account management, more like customer success. And I always put the customer first and really want the customer to succeed. So rather than, you know, shove a certain product down someone's throat or, you know, align them with maybe services that don't quite align with what they're looking for, I care about the people that I'm working with. And I think that goes a long way and is something that really gets translated in the sales process, or at least something that I hope gets translated in the sales process. Yeah.

3:09 Scott Ingram: Awesome. And that, that translates pretty well or transitions pretty well into your third point, which is genuine curiosity.

3:16 Nora Edmonds: I think what makes a really good salesperson across the board, no matter what you're selling, is curiosity about the people to whom you're, you're selling, right? I love asking questions, learning about people around me. It's true for in my personal life as well as in my career. And I think just having that native curiosity, wanting to learn about people, wanting to learn how businesses are growing, what choices they're making, how that's impacting their bottom line. That's what really excites me. So getting on the phone every day and having the opportunity to talk to businesses from, you know, a small mom-and-pop shop down the street that's selling maybe, you know, IT equipment to, you know, a brand new startup in the San Diego area that's, you know, creating a new software platform. Being able to have these different variety of conversations and ask really interesting people how they got to be where they are today, what they care about, what motivates them. Just that is, is really what drives me. So having these conversations day in and day out is, is easy and fun.

4:22 Scott Ingram: Very fun. Well, I have a lot of fun with those conversations too. So looking forward to digging in a little bit more. And let's start to get into just a little bit of the context around that. So maybe just talk about your role and, and, or maybe your roles, because you've had a number there at HubSpot and how you got to be number one.

4:39 Nora Edmonds: Yeah, so I'll start with sort of the origin story. Coming out of college, I was an English and a French major, and I really thought I wanted to be a professor. Like, I really thought I wanted to get my PhD and go teach at a university and write papers and be in the library. I think ties back to my curiosity. I love research and reading, and I actually just on a whim put an application into a bunch of different companies, and one of which was HubSpot. And I remember the recruiter specifically telling me like, hey, you, you don't actually want to be a teacher. You, you want to be in sales. And I was like, I think you're right. And so I started as a BDR at HubSpot right after graduation, went into a customer selling role. So after kind of, you know, cold calling, bringing on new business, I was trying out a customer selling role. I really like building relationships. And then from there went on to be a CSM where I was managing our enterprise accounts Basically helping them with strategy, with maintaining, you know, their HubSpot instance, making sure that they were happy, much more of an account management role. And then back, I actually left HubSpot for about 2 weeks and came back into sales. And I think truly what has brought me to, you know, be number 1 so consistently in all of the different roles has been, you know, my unwavering belief in HubSpot as a as a product, you know, having that diversity of background, I've been able to see customers really excel. I've had, you know, customers write me and say like, you have no idea the tangible impact that HubSpot has had on our business. And having that, you know, gratitude for what I've been able to sell has been hugely impactful. The other piece too is just grit and day in and day out, you know, hard work, right? I think that's true for all top sales performers, but I think what really has been a differentiator in my experience and what really has led me to not feel kind of burnt out is really that, you know, belief. I love HubSpot, I love the company, and having that kind of sense of, you know, again, gratitude, I guess, for where I work, that just drives me.

6:55 Scott Ingram: Yeah, so I'm totally dying of curiosity to know what was this 2-week gap?

7:00 Nora Edmonds: It was wild. So I was in that account management role, and I think all salespeople feel the same way, right? I mean, we're in a role where we have a quota, and for those of us that have been in a quota-carrying role for an extended period of time, it is a driving factor, right? It's what motivates us. We love hitting that number. We love exceeding that number. We'd be lying if we said that wasn't true. And I love being at the top of the leaderboard every single week and having my name up there, right? And in an account management role, it's much less glorious. So, you're working, I would say, harder because for me, the skills that I have are, it's much easier for me to sell than it is to deal with like angry customers and customer support issues. So it was a much more challenging role for me, and I didn't get the glory of you're hitting 100% of your number or, you know, far exceeding that. You're not getting your name called out. You're not getting President's Club. So for me, that was really challenging. And for a couple of different reasons, I can't go into them too in depth. I ended up taking a sales role outside of HubSpot at a different company, and I just walking in the door on day one. This was probably. I'm not afraid to admit the biggest mistake that I've made thus far, but I've learned so much from it. Taking that other sales role, you know, obviously there was a little bit of glory in that, right? Higher pay, this kind of dream, you know, job where leads are coming through the door and it was this great product. And just on day one of walking in there, I kind of knew something was off and it just wasn't the same kind of culture. I couldn't truly get behind the product in the way that I was HubSpot. And luckily I'd built really strong relationships at HubSpot up until that point, and someone had reached out to me just saying like, hey, how's it going? How are you? And he could just hear in my voice that it wasn't, you know, clicking. And so they… I reapplied and came back to HubSpot. And I actually, on that day, wrote down in my iPhone on a note for the days that I get frustrated, the top 3 things that I will never forget and continue to appreciate in HubSpot. So whenever the going gets tough, I look at those 3 things and constantly remind myself.

9:19 Scott Ingram: Well, you have to tell us what those 3 things are now.

9:21 Nora Edmonds: All right. In my phone, February 7th, 2018 was when I came back after a very short hiatus and I said, remember how grateful you are to be back at HubSpot? And these are the reasons why. One, the people. 2, the product. 3, the learning opportunities.

9:39 Scott Ingram: Nice. So I know there are a lot of lessons from that. Like, what would you do differently, maybe in your, in your due diligence, right? Like maybe in making that decision before you accepted the offer letter to not go down the wrong path, because we often get tempted by these things that they look better. The grass is always greener, right?

9:58 Nora Edmonds: Yes, exactly. Exactly. I think for, for sales, the culture is extremely important because sales is a grind, right? We're doing essentially the same thing day in and day out. And you really have to be surrounded by people that you think are going to better you, but that you also really enjoy being around, collaborating with, that are very open about best practices, open about strategies that they've tried. Having that kind of atmosphere of collaboration and also excitement, right? People that are around you that are also just as jazzed as you are to sell the product that you're selling. That goes a really long way and that helps. That's, it's such a contagious energy that despite my now being remote for HubSpot, they've done such a good job at cultivating that there that I still feel that way being detached from the physical office, right? So for salespeople that are looking for new roles or that maybe something comes up and it does seem like this perfect package, I would urge them to go in and shadow for a day or 2. Most sales folks, VPs, directors, managers even, they won't say no to that, but it's definitely worth it to be on the floor in the atmosphere to make sure it's a good fit. And I think the other thing too is like like product-market fit. So just doing a little bit more research, maybe, you know, going that, that extra mile, calling up maybe customers that you have good relationships with and just being like, hey, have you ever heard of this product? Like, how could you see yourself using it? Just doing a little bit more of that background and due diligence instead of just saying a quick yes. I'm very impulsive, so slowing down and just making sure you do the time to, to do that due diligence.

11:39 Scott Ingram: Yeah, great tips, great tips. So now let's put sort of the numbers in perspective. Can you sort of quantify your results and what it means or what it takes to be number 1 at HubSpot?

11:49 Nora Edmonds: Yeah, so this year I am at 150% of goal year to date. For like a President's Club, just as an example, in order to achieve that, you need to be at 125% of goal. My numbers this year are a little bit different because I was ramping for the first couple months, but I've closed about $50,000 in monthly recurring revenue. So just to give you kind of a grasp there, Again, for like a President's Club, which is, you know, again, the top 10% of the sales team at HubSpot, the minimum of the whole year is $48,000 in monthly recurring revenue.

12:31 Scott Ingram: Perfect. And then I've already kind of delved into some of the things in terms of career wrong turns and things you would have done differently. What about… is there a sales story, whether you won or lost, that is just your favorite or you can't let go? And what did you learn from that?

12:48 Nora Edmonds: Yeah, that's a good, that's a good question. There's so many that come to mind. Sales story. I, I think one of the ones that happened most recently, I was selling to a company. I had built a really good relationship with the main point of contact. I think this sale going back and forth in emails, I think there was 150 emails back and forth and maybe 20 phone calls. And I was, we have every quarter what's called a Grow with HubSpot event and we go to different cities and, you know, put on kind of an all day workshop where we talk about HubSpot, we talk about growing your business. We have a couple sales reps there, and I was just so dead set on going to the one in LA. I booked a ton of meetings around them and I specifically wanted to meet with this guy, right? This deal had been going well. Again, he'd asking really good questions, but it would get to the end of the month and I'd throw out maybe a little bit of a discount to help him move on it or ask him what his timeline was again, kind of reaffirm. And he just was getting a little squirrely. So I was, you know, like, I was like, You know what, meeting him in person is gonna take huge impacts. I just know it. It's not something we typically do, right? While we have these Grow with HubSpot events, in-person meetings are just not the norm, specifically for the small business segment where our businesses that we're working with are between, you know, 1 and 25 employees. So I made a business case, I went out there, I booked a ton of other meetings around it, and he and I only had an opportunity to meet for 10 minutes. We grabbed coffee, we talked, we barely even talked about HubSpot. But we had just built such a strong relationship up until this point over email, over the phone, over Zoom, that it was kind of like this culmination to actually meet in person and get to like shake his hand and say, hey, I'm a real human. 2 weeks later, he signed the contract. And I know the reason why I like this story is because so often we get lost in email and we get lost on the phone. And it's very rare now that people have outside sales reps, especially I think in software, especially when, you know, we're specializing in small business, but it truly does go a long way to have that human connection. So from that point forward, whenever I can, whether it's, you know, tailoring it on to like a HubSpot event, offering to speak at HubSpot events so I can meet people in person, going out of my way to maybe book a trip, whether it's paid for by HubSpot or not, really trying to make that effort. I think it can make a tremendous impact and really just enhance that human connection.

15:24 Scott Ingram: I love that. That is the best setup ever, because I was planning to take a minute and talk about the Sales Success Summit that's coming back to Austin, Texas next October. Still quite a ways out, but if you're serious about your own success and development, I hope you'll make the investment in yourself and commit to coming out and joining us in person where you can talk with other humans like Nora's talking about here. This is the only event I'm aware of that's built 100% for active individual contributor by other active sellers. And everyone that you'll see on stage is somebody who has been on this podcast talking in more depth about what's worked for them in the real world. There will also be some incredible networking. I expect that roughly a quarter of the audience will be made up of those top 1% sellers like Nora who've been on the show, and that just leaves 150 other seats for everyone else. So this is all about an intimate experience where you can really connect with these top performers in a meaningful way.

16:25 Nora Edmonds: So don't wait.

16:28 Scott Ingram: Go to top1summit.com and take advantage of the current offer right now. That's top1summit.com, and I'll see you here in Austin next October. So, Nora, you have done a lot. You've, you've been at the top of a variety of different roles. Of those accomplishments, what are you most proud of?

16:48 Nora Edmonds: Wow. I would say honestly, this year has been my most proud year of my career thus far. And I think part of it is, you know, having left Encapture, come back. There were definitely people that were rooting against me that thought that, hey, she can't possibly overperform again. And I mentioned the customer selling team that I was on for, it was about a year and a half, and I blew my numbers out of the water. And a lot of people said, well, it's because it's an install base team. She's selling to customers. She's not selling new business. Like, you know, they kind of wrote me off, if you will. But then coming back, stepping back into this new business role this year, I had a bit of a chip on my shoulder and I, you know, said to myself, like, I'm going to prove everyone wrong. No one can have any more questions about whether I'm capable or not of selling new business. Like, I'm going to be successful at no matter what I put my, you know, foot forward in. And this year I have been extremely consistent, not only having, you know, one or two blowout months, but I actually knock on wood, haven't missed a month, uh, this year. So, uh, watch, now I've jinxed myself for December, but I'll be prospecting after this just to make sure that doesn't happen. But really, I'm, I'm proud of myself for kind of stepping up to the plate and proving those people that they maybe didn't believe in me wholeheartedly wrong.

18:14 Scott Ingram: Love that. There's something powerful about those chips on our shoulders, right?

18:17 Nora Edmonds: Yes, exactly. I think I've had that consistently in my life, but I, I truly believe it's what drives Yeah.

18:24 Scott Ingram: Now, what's the key to the consistency? I mean, to hit every month is its own accomplishment as well.

18:29 Nora Edmonds: Yeah, I think you always have to be thinking ahead, right? I think it's when we get stuck behind in one particular month and you're kind of racing to the end of the month and the last day of the month, you're just like, we have monthly quotas over here. So quarter or month, whatever it may be that you're on, when you get to that last day and you're scrambling, scrambling, trying to close those deals, you're not necessarily thinking ahead to, you know, the next month out or the month following. So, really being able to, you know, from go set yourself up in such a way that that last week of the month you're thinking about what deals can I close, you know, this next week. The second thing is, is just quality. So, part of the model at HubSpot is what we call Seed and Grow. So, I could sell you, Scott, you know, a Marketing Hub Starter, which is kind of our most basic package, but I see the potential in you and I'm going to continue to cultivate that relationship so that, you 3 months down the line, once you have that big deal in or whatever it may be, you're ready to spend a lot more money with me, or you're ready to sign that, that long-term contract with me. So it's really making sure that you're mixing it up, right? So you have, okay, here are my small transactional deals that are going to maybe get me a quarter of the way there, half the way there, but then here are my big target accounts that I've really been cultivating, and that can't be done in a week, right? That's really a long-term play. So you again have to think long-term. And really set yourself up for that from go.

19:59 Scott Ingram: And when are you doing… when and how are you doing sort of that strategy to figure out, okay, what is my mix? How am I going to get to a point that I'm overachieving my number every month?

20:09 Nora Edmonds: Yeah, I think part of it is intuition as far as the companies that you're talking to, and obviously volume, right? I actually was just listening to your most recent episode about, you know, just working like 30 hours a week. I am very much of that camp, right? I'm not going to… I don't work work 70 hours a week. I definitely work all the time, but as far as like the amount of hours that I'm putting in, it's quality over quantity. And just making sure that you are prioritizing the first 30 seconds of a call is when you're qualifying in your head what type of deal it is, right? Is this a transactional, like, I, there's not a ton of value here. I'm going to get, you know, really kind of small deals, churning them out in the next couple of days with this guy, or am I going to put him in my bucket for like longer-term strategy? And just being able to know, I think from past experience with customers, the questions that you're asking from that initial point of contact are huge to be able to kind of bucket them and then move forward from there.

21:12 Scott Ingram: Nice. Now, can we break down like a whole bunch of different numbers? I, so let me just kind of lay this out there and I'll let you tackle it how you want to tackle it. So I'm interested in kind of the endgame, right? So how many transactions are you closing in an average month? And then backing that all the way up to sort of the the mix of deals, but more importantly, sort of the activity inputs and what you're measuring on the front end to know that you're going to get there.

21:37 Nora Edmonds: Definitely. So as far as transactions per month, I would say on average it's maybe about 20 to 25. I remember there was an extremely frustrating month I had in the beginning of the year where I think I had over 35 transactions, which, you know, you got to get there somehow, but that's definitely not the way that I would love to, right? That means that my average deal size was much smaller. Mix of deals, I would say definitely half and half. If you are, you know, I try to have at least 2 to 3 deals in my pipeline that are over $1K. To give you a sense, we're looking at like around a $4,000 a month monthly recurring revenue target. And then I like to have, you know, the other ones that are our deal, average deal cycle, especially in small business is like 20 days. So I like to have some on the smaller end that I know I can transact in like a week or 2, those are the ones that I try to find in month, right? Just from prospecting. And when I talk about prospecting, when I think about activity, my major point that I track is opportunities and dollar amount of those opportunities. So every day I'm trying to create 3 opportunities with a total average amount of about $600 in monthly recurring revenue. I know So the months that I've really had to scrap, I don't have that output. And I don't typically track, you know, numbers of calls, numbers of emails, et cetera, because I try to be creative, right? I'm reaching out to people on LinkedIn, maybe I'm messaging them on Instagram, maybe I'm meeting with them in person at these Grow with HubSpot events. I think activity can be kind of a vain metric. I don't think it necessarily matters if you're sending out, you know, 150 emails a day, if half of them aren't really really a good fit, then it doesn't really matter. So I don't look at that fluff. I really just look at the, the number of opportunities and that dollar amount.

23:39 Scott Ingram: Got it. So how do you measure or think about sort of your prospecting time, or how do you structure that?

23:45 Nora Edmonds: Yeah, so basically every single moment of the day that I have that I'm not on a call with a customer, I am prospecting. So I know some reps like to put, you know, okay, I'm gonna prospect from this time to this time, In my calendar, my calendar, my G Calendar is, is kind of like my center of gravity. I have, you know, every afternoon from, I'm on, on Mountain Time, so from 5 to 7 I have prospecting, but it's more as a reminder. Again, every single moment of my day that I'm not on the phone, I'm prospecting. I'm looking up new accounts. I'm looking at data and NICE reports. I'm looking in our CRM. I'm reaching out to old opportunities. I'm following up with leads. It's really constant for me. Uh, that's just kind of the way that I work best.

24:32 Scott Ingram: Yeah. And typically I would ask about core apps that you're using. I imagine HubSpot is the, is the center of that. But what, what else are you using to sort of support that activity, whether it's prospecting or any other part of, of your daily life?

24:45 Nora Edmonds: Yeah. So definitely Zoom. Zoom is huge. That's how we host all of our meetings. I am a huge proponent of sharing my video. It doesn't always go really well. I'm a very, I have a very active face. So there was a customer that was really rude to me one time on the phone and I dropped my jaw when I was on video. I was like, oh no. But I think it adds to that human connection. So always Zoom, always have my video on. And then obviously HubSpot. We didn't always use HubSpot, but moving to HubSpot as our own platform has not only legitimized my conversations that I've been having, but it also, you know, it's an awesome tool. It's super easy to use. Everything is done inside of there. And then Gmail. Those are like my top 3. If I'm really trying to get creative, do some of Target account outreach, then DataNize and LinkedIn are kind of those secondary that I'm using almost every day as well.

25:37 Scott Ingram: Awesome. Active face. I'm going to remember that one.

25:40 Nora Edmonds: Yeah. Very expressive, expressive face.

25:43 Scott Ingram: That's awesome. So let's, let's deconstruct sort of the, the daily routine a little bit more. So beyond sort of prospecting, fitting in every non-scheduled window, how does the day start? What time does that happen? When does the alarm go off? Kind of walk us through a typical day. If you can.

26:01 Nora Edmonds: Yeah, so I wake up around 6:30. I always work out in the morning. I am a really big runner and it just helps me to kind of like center myself, turn my mind off or on, think about the things that I have to do that day. Typically, honestly, the day prep starts the night before, right? I look at my calendar and I see how many calls do I have scheduled? What does the day look like? That can kind of mentally prepare myself. So I'll be, you know, at my desk working by 8:00 8:30 in the morning, and that's where I'm really just going through my emails. We are very fortunate at HubSpot to get a ton of inbound leads and notifications, you know, hot leads that are looking at things like pricing pages, et cetera. So I typically do a quick scan of those and just kind of prep for the day. If I have a demo coming up, making sure I have all the materials I need, making sure if I need to have a technical person on the call, I do. And then, you know, 9:30, I'm either fully prospecting again, just reaching out to those leads that I've identified, looking at my reports. And then I typically have about 3 to 5 calls a day, and those are either connect calls, like discovery calls, or demos.

27:17 Scott Ingram: Got it. And then what time does the day start to wrap up and that planning session happen?

27:23 Nora Edmonds: Typically around 5. I don't work too much later than that. What I'll do is, you know, wrap up my day around 5, make sure all my, you know, loose ends are tied up, look at the day the next day, go, you know, either walk my dog, do whatever I have to do, make some dinner, and then I'll answer any outstanding emails that maybe have come through later, do maybe a little bit more prospecting. But I've really kind of shut everything down by, I would say, 7 PM with a couple of hours in there that are, you know, I'm not working.

27:56 Scott Ingram: Nice. And then are there other habits or routines that are really core to your success?

28:02 Nora Edmonds: Running is huge. I started running after college. I played sports my whole life, and it's been the way that I de-stress, that I can just like recenter myself. You'll find the last week of the month is probably the only week where I don't run before in the morning. I usually wake up a little bit earlier and then I'll run in the middle of the day just because with the stress or anxiety or whatever it may be that's going on, it just helps me kind of recenter and refocus. And it's also been a really great way to have something that's kind of continuing to hold me accountable outside of work. Again, sales can be a grind, so having something that like you're proud of that you can continue to work on… I love numbers, so running is obviously very time-based. So racing, being able to, you know, run at faster paces, you know, beat my 400-meter time, right? Those are things that similarly kind of keep me focused but on a totally different thing. So it's refreshing for my mind.

29:02 Scott Ingram: Nice. So are you Strava or MapMyRun?

29:05 Nora Edmonds: I'm MapMyRun. I need to get a Strava account though because I love the competition, obviously. But I just ran my first marathon a couple weeks ago, and I, despite my boyfriend making me sign a contract that that would be my only one, I'm already plotting for my next marathon where I will hopefully beat my time for the last one.

29:24 Scott Ingram: A contract that says you're only allowed to run one marathon?

29:27 Nora Edmonds: Yeah, I have a problem where I put, you know, my whole heart and soul into everything I do, and I don't… I can't half-ass anything. So going into work, going into my marathon training, it was really full 120% dedication. So he definitely felt the brunt of that, I think.

29:46 Scott Ingram: That's awesome. Well, I was gonna ask what sort of typical run is. I'm sure on the buildup to the marathon, that was its own sort of structure and program. What's, what's typical, right? When you're not in marathon training mode, what's your regular sort of weekly run? Is that 5 days a week? How far are you going?

30:04 Nora Edmonds: Yeah, really only 3 days a week. I love cross-training, so I'm a big, you know, I'll do spin, I'll do yoga, run 3 times a week. I usually do a track workout, uh, just, you know, get all that energy out of me. And then the other couple of days of the week, I'll run like 6 to 7 miles. But I recently moved to Colorado, so the altitude has been pretty crazy to get used to. It's kind of messing me up a bit, but it's a new challenge that I'm, I'm willing to take on.

30:32 Scott Ingram: Yeah, it will. You'll, you'll love it after doing some training up there and then go race down, down lower.

30:37 Nora Edmonds: Exactly.

30:38 Scott Ingram: Pretty amazing deal.

30:39 Nora Edmonds: Yeah, awesome.

30:42 Scott Ingram: So is there a different way… I mean, is that pretty consistent structure every day, or are you, are you setting up different days different ways?

30:51 Nora Edmonds: I would say it's pretty consistent. The only days that really change are my Fridays. And again, sales is like very repetitive. I think it's easy to get bored, not bored, but burnt out, I think is the right word. And so something that helps me is just having that flexibility. And I'm again, so grateful for HubSpot to be able to be a company where I can have a flexible schedule. As long as you're hitting your numbers, no one's asking you to be in at a certain hour or online at a certain time of day. So Fridays are really my day to kind of get creative with my flexible. I'll look at again, like Thursday night, what does my day look like? And then if I have to go, you know, I don't know, do something different in the morning, go for a hike or whatever I have to do, maybe I'll start working a little bit later or I'll end the day a little bit earlier. And maybe I'll take like a longer lunch to do my, get my workout in or whatever it may be. But I feel like just having that flexibility and knowing that, hey, as long as I'm getting my work done, I think not having to respond to anyone else but myself is what holds me accountable. So changing it up every once in a while, it can be really helpful.

32:04 Scott Ingram: Awesome. Now in the day-to-day, well, I'll let you take this one of two ways, either in the day-to-day, what do you find to be the most challenging? Or if you want to kind of take us to a time when you felt the most challenged.

32:17 Nora Edmonds: So, the time that I felt the most challenged was certainly when I was a BDR. So, I started right out of college, and BDR is kind of the lowest person on the totem pole, if you will, right? You're setting up meetings for your rep, you're just doing a ton of prospecting. And the thing I like most about my job is talking to people and being able to build that relationship and really be able to promise them that, like, hey, I have your back. And where I'm not just a salesperson that's going to sell you something and walk away, but not having the authority to do that as a BDR, you have to hand it off to someone else and not really own that process, was extremely frustrating for me. And I got to the point where I was, you know, really successful in that BDR role. And I just got, grew so frustrated by not being able to own the entire process. And I think now still the most frustrating and challenging thing for me is prospecting. Again, I love talking to people. Get me on the phone with anyone, get me into a demo. You know, my, my technical expertise as far as HubSpot goes is really high. So that's the part that I love. But reaching out to people, making those cold calls, it's still, still the most challenging part.

33:30 Scott Ingram: Yeah. So how do you break through? How do you get yourself to do it?

33:33 Nora Edmonds: Well, I think a lot of that is motivation, right? It's how do you amp yourself up in the morning? For me, that's, you know, my run, my cup of coffee. And sometimes I look at my list that I wrote about why I love HubSpot so much, or even even just having like a story of, hey, this is a customer that I reached out to in the back of my mind, and I know the impact that I had on them. Like, I can make that impact on so many other people. And just thinking through that kind of jazzes me up and gets me on the phone versus, you know, just sitting there looking at a list and being like, okay, now I'm gonna call all these people, right? I would say that's, that's the way that I can kind of motivate myself to, to break through and make those, those cold calls.

34:12 Scott Ingram: Yeah. So how much of an impact did your time in that customer role and being able to develop those customer stories that you saw firsthand? How much of an impact did that have on, on the conversations and what you do today?

34:26 Nora Edmonds: It was hugely impactful. And actually, part of my crusade right now at HubSpot is every single salesperson should shadow customer success, because especially for us as salespeople, we have this, this group of skills that we've developed that we're really strong in. And customer success is something that goes totally against to that grain, things like, you know, customer support, right? As a salesperson, I think everyone can think back to a time where a customer they just sold reached out to them maybe a couple months later or even weeks later with like a frustrating, you know, something came up, they were super frustrated, they wanna cancel, right? And every salesperson looks at that and is like, oh no, what do I do? I wanna just ignore this, right? That's kind of our instinct. Customer success folks have developed the skill to be able to respond to that, create a positive outcome from that, think creatively about solutions, whether it's, you know, HubSpot solutions or who else can we leverage in the company, how can we, you know, address this issue head on, and the way that they think so creatively about how businesses can use HubSpot. It doesn't need to be this cookie cutter out of the box. It's every business is totally different and we have these tools that can fit your needs in different ways. So again, I can't even put into words how impactful that time was because I got to experience, you know, conversations with so many different businesses thinking through the ways that they were implementing HubSpot. So now every time I jump on the phone with someone, it's not really a matter of like, can I use HubSpot? It's how, right? And having that approach. So I'm a huge believer that every single salesperson should be shadowing customer success calls to learn about navigating the platform more effectively, to learn about this kind of creative approach to problem solving.

36:15 Scott Ingram: It can only make you better. Yeah, you know, it's interesting. One of the better books that I read this year, you were reminding me of earlier, but now, now you've really struck the chord, is a book called Selling Boldly. And like with all the books and everything else we talk about here, I'll put it in the show notes at top1.fm. And what's interesting about that book is he talks about sort of bringing positive psychology into sales and the way that he recommends sort of getting that dose of good, call it customer psychology, is talk to customers, right? And a lot of times, like, when you're just frontline sales, a lot of times you just hear negative. Like, you get bombarded by negative all the day. And being able to be reinforced by, hey, we actually do amazing things for our customers, but you don't hear that. Like, customers don't just reach out because they're loving you to death. They reach out when there's an issue or there's a problem, right? But instead, if you're reaching out proactively and sort of getting infused with, dang, like we do good meaningful stuff and being able to bring a lot of those stories into the other conversations you're having. That book certainly made an impact on me this year.

37:21 Nora Edmonds: Yeah, I totally agree with that. I would say like as much as you can get in front of your customers, whether you've sold them or not, you know, we have, I mentioned Grow with HubSpot. We also have what we call HubSpot User Groups. They're run by an amazing woman at HubSpot. Her name is Juliana, and I try to speak at them as much as I possibly can. They basically take HubSpot volunteers because not only do I get to travel to cool places, but also you're in front of HubSpot users and hearing their stories. You know, no one's gonna go there disgruntled, and if they are, they're typically still a HubSpot fan, right? And so you can get these stories and get these insights, and it only motivates you even more to make those cold calls, to build those connections, to, you know, keep building this HubSpot ecosystem.

38:07 Scott Ingram: Yeah, love it. Now, Nora, what does your information diet look like? What are you reading, listening to, and watching?

38:13 Nora Edmonds: That's a good question. I love Guy Raz's How I Built This podcast. I listen to it every time there's a new episode. I listen to old episodes. I recommend it to all of my friends. It's really what kind of jazzes me up, especially just hearing, you know, the humble beginnings of some of these really awesome brands that we, that we know and love today. I actually listened to, for a while, Y Combinator Startup Institute. I, again, just am curious about how businesses are built and made and the decisions that people make. I'm an avid reader. I love Ken Follett's books. That has nothing to do with sales, but I read them a ton. Pillars of the Earth is my absolute favorite book of all time. I highly recommend it. Again, more architecture-based than sales, but something that I really really love.

39:02 Scott Ingram: Beautiful, beautiful. So, Nora, let's switch gears just a little bit. Do you subscribe to a particular sales philosophy?

39:10 Nora Edmonds: Not particularly, and I know that might not be the norm. It's funny, I… when I joined HubSpot, a lot of the people in my training class were, you know, reading all these sales books. And I've read, you know, The Challenger Sale. I think that's probably one of the most popular ones. And, you know, I'm familiar with the Sandler Method, but I never really bought, bought into a lot of the specific methodologies. And I think it's because I really found my groove just talking to people and just asking questions about who they are. It just comes so naturally to me. I definitely would put myself as partially like a challenger when it comes to, you know, the negotiation, but I think a lot of it is like trial and error and definitely informing. I think I wish I did a better job of like reading more books about sales and reading up on the methodologies, et cetera. But I think, you know, trying things out, failing really fast, and then iterating on that. When I first started out, at the end of every day, I would take 10 minutes and just reflect on what worked really well today, what can I change for tomorrow? And I'd write it down and I'd have it on a sticky note on my computer so that when I came into the office the next day, I had that thing that I wanted to change. And that's a really great way to just continue to iterate, continue to get better. It's actually something at the end of this year I've started to incorporate into my day again, just because it just helps in terms of growing at a really fast, fast rate.

40:41 Scott Ingram: Yeah, what's an example of something that you've worked on through that process?

40:46 Nora Edmonds: Yeah, so like one of the things is, you know, it's so easy to have a really great call and then the time is up and you're just like, okay, bye, and we'll chat soon. So one of the things that, you know, I was noticing was like my opportunities weren't moving forward. So at the end of the day, I was like, okay, what went really well today? Okay, awesome, I was asking really good questions, I got really good information from all of my ops, I got things like timeline, but I didn't put a next step, right? So then just something simple as that, right? On your computer the next day, it's like next steps in a Post-it note on the top of that computer. So you're like, okay, every single call that I have today, I am going to concretely put down next steps on the calendar so that I have them, right? Instead of just walking away from a call and who knows when the next time you're going to talk is.

41:30 Scott Ingram: Yeah, great stuff. Great. I mean, super simple, right?

41:33 Nora Edmonds: Yeah.

41:33 Scott Ingram: Awesome. So we've touched upon this a couple of times, but let's, let's address it a little bit more explicitly. Explicitly, like what motivates you or how do you think about motivating yourself?

41:43 Nora Edmonds: Yeah, I would say I am driven by my number. I always, always have been. Like I can think back to being in school and not being satisfied with a 92. I would come home crying to my mom. I was that student. It was quite annoying now that I think back to it. Right. I had to get 100% and that has definitely motivated me in sales. And part of the reason why I had such a hard time as an account manager was I I couldn't put a tangible number on my impact to the business. So being able to point to, I am at 150% for the year, I have, you know, brought in this much money for the business, and I know exactly where I stand as far as, you know, the sales reps. That to me is a motivating factor. Every month, and it sounds silly, but every month we have, you know, a kind of recap meeting, and it's, you know, all the people that hit a certain percentage are up on the board. Maybe their face is up there, maybe it's just name, that's what motivates me. Like visualizing I am at the top of the board, I am getting these accolades, I am going to President's Club, right? Being able to say that, that I'm at the top, that really is what motivates me.

42:53 Scott Ingram: So is, is it that position more than the achievement of some higher percentage of the number, right? Like, is there a threshold where you're like, eh, 129% isn't good enough? Or, or again, is, is it more just the, look, I need to be at the front?

43:11 Nora Edmonds: It's, I would say it's mostly, I need to be at the front. I need to be absolutely number one. And I think what I've been finding, you know, towards the end of this year is the, the former is being, you know, okay, now I'm at 150%. I'm at the front. I've been at the front for, you know, X amount of months. Okay, now this isn't enough anymore. Now I need to be at, you know, 200%. Now I wanna break, you know, records right now. I want to be like renowned, but I think a lot of it, and to be completely candid, a lot of it is reputation for me. It's how do my… how does my company see me? How does my company value me? And how do the people that I respect and admire within this organization, how do they look at me and my impact that I'm having on the business? And if I can turn to anyone around me and them or you, you know, call someone and say, you know, how is Nora Edmonds as an employee? And they say she's the absolute best sales rep that HubSpot had had. Like, that's when I've done a good job.

44:08 Scott Ingram: Nice. Well, that's how we got connected. So you must be doing something right. So, Nora, which… I think I already know the answer to this, but I want to dig in a little bit. So, if you had to choose and you can only choose one, cash or recognition?

44:23 Nora Edmonds: Recognition.

44:25 Scott Ingram: And what part of recognition? Like, what does HubSpot do the best that most fulfills sort of the recognition need?

44:34 Nora Edmonds: Yeah, I think it's in a sales environment, it's so easy to feel like you're just another number, and then it's so easy to feel like, okay, I have this output, I'm, you know, earning this much money, and this is kind of where I fall. And I do think it actually comes down to the manager because that's who is seeing, you know, the input that you're having day in and day out. And beyond your number too, right? It's the relationships that you're building. Maybe you're doing things like speaking engagements for the company, but my manager has gone above and beyond to make me feel not like I'm just a cog in the machine, but that whatever I'm doing is making a huge impact to the business, right? So whether it's callouts in team meetings or President's Club HubSpot has where they send their top reps to Barcelona or, you know, was Portugal a couple of years ago, right? They have this great elaborate trip, but it's just so human, right? It's just calling these people out. And, and I have to, you know, be honest, like for some reps, it's not about the recognition. It's not about, it's more about the money. So it's having a manager that understands who their employee are and being able to manage and recognize those people accordingly. My manager and I happen to have a really great relationship. He knows that I care a lot about recognition, so he stands up for me in meetings with, you know, our VP and says, and Nora did X, Y, and Z beyond just her number, and she also, you know, crushed her number. So he's an advocate for me internally. So being able to have VPs pull me aside and say, hey, you did a really awesome job, and just like on that human level, that goes a really long way.

46:08 Scott Ingram: Yeah, love that. Awesome, awesome. So, this is one of my favorite sections because it tends to breed some interesting stuff. So, is there something you believe that the average sales professional would think is crazy?

46:20 Nora Edmonds: Hmm, that's interesting. There's something I believe that the average sales professional would think is crazy. I don't necessarily believe that the more activity you put in, the better the outcome is. I don't know how crazy that is today. I definitely believe in that. If you looked at any organization, the people that truly believe in the impact their product is having are going to be the top salespeople. So if you looked at any organization, like maybe some salespeople would say, you know, it's the people with the most output, it's the people that create the most opportunities, maybe it's the people that, you know, are working the most amount of hours. I would disagree with all of the above, and I genuinely believe that it's the people that have that belief in the product and the impact that it can have that, that are at the top of the leaderboard consistently, day in and day out.

47:18 Scott Ingram: Nice. What about the flip side? Is there something that the average sales professional believes that you think is crazy?

47:24 Nora Edmonds: Definitely the activity metric. Like, I don't believe that making, you know, X amount of calls a day is going to positively impact your your performance. If anything, I think it can have a negative effect, right? Because I think it's all about quality. I do think, you know, making cold calls is important. Connecting with people in creative ways is important. But do I think that sitting there and hammering the phone for X amount of hours, X amount of dials, when people start putting those restrictions on me, I like rebel against them. I don't think that has a, a positive output.

47:58 Scott Ingram: Nice. Good, good stuff. So, now you get to get on sort of your career soapbox and give advice to someone who is just getting started in their sales career today. Maybe you get to talk to yourself as you're entering the BDR role at HubSpot. What would you tell young Nora?

48:16 Nora Edmonds: Oh, so many things. I would say talk with customers early and often to start to build up those success stories. We're so fortunate to have so many great events at HubSpot, like in Inbound was my, I think 6 months into my role was my first Inbound, which is a huge conference in Boston where a ton of our customers come. Getting out there, introducing yourselves, networking with those people, because that is what is going to make or break your sales career is how closely connected am I to our customer base? How well can I understand the problems that my product is solving for them? So, being able to do some like on-the-ground research besides just what probably your company is teaching you or, you know, what you're learning from reps. Around you will go a really huge way. People know when you're just like telling a story from a case study you memorized versus telling an authentic story from an experience you've had, or at least heard about secondhand from someone that you've met. So I would say that's, you know, huge. The other one, what else would I tell myself? Say don't get discouraged. I think sales can be a really discouraging career. And it's probably the most challenging to pick yourself up after a bad month or after a bad call. My cousin actually works for SoulCycle, and she, so she teaches spin, and they can have really bad classes. I guess that just, you know, they don't go well. And she said a mentor of hers told her to only think about it for one shower. And after that shower, you can't think about it anymore. And I took that into my day-to-day, and I wish I had sooner. Right? You have a bad call, you have a bad month, you have a bad week. You know, one shower is the amount of time that you can dwell on that and then move on to the next, because otherwise you can just get so in your head. It's such a mental game. You got to just pick yourself back up and get right back in the game.

50:16 Scott Ingram: Nice. So you wash off the sales grind, but you only get one shower to do it.

50:20 Nora Edmonds: Only one shower to do it.

50:23 Scott Ingram: Scrub thoroughly.

50:24 Nora Edmonds: Exactly. Exactly.

50:26 Scott Ingram: That's awesome. What about what What would you suggest to somebody that is a little bit further into their career and they're doing okay, right? Like maybe they're, they're at plan, but they're not making President's Club or they're not the top of the leaderboard. What do you tell them?

50:39 Nora Edmonds: Yeah, I would say again, get in front of customers, start to learn their stories. The other thing too that I should have mentioned to my younger self as well is network internally. Get in front of as many internal folks as you can as well, because when you believe in your company, it makes it that much easier to sell that product, right? And, and a company is the people. So, putting yourself out there, whether your company has happy hours, whether you make it a, a point to reach out to someone in a different department, it can only go farther, you know, help your career in the long term. And it also humanizes this product that you're selling, the people that are behind it. It makes you really genuinely care about this place that you're working. I have a really strong sense of loyalty, and I think that's, you know, helps me to stay motivated. So if you're feeling like, you know, kind of in a rut, you know, talk to someone in another department. Ask them about what they do day to day. How do they interact with customers? How is that different than how you interact with customers? Learning that, plus again, getting jazzed by these customer stories. Go to an event, go to an onsite, really ask questions about the impact that your company has had, that your product has had on a group of people, and I think it can really turn things around.

51:59 Scott Ingram: Awesome. Now, do you have a particular strategy or approach to the way that you're doing some of that internal networking?

52:06 Nora Edmonds: So, I'm lucky in that a lot of it has happened organically. Again, I am just a really curious person, super outgoing. I am not afraid of things. So, I have said yes to everything, right? If someone asks you, if this podcast, for example, right? Someone in my company reached out and said, hey, would you be interested? Absolutely. Someone asked me if I wanted to be on the customer, you know, selling team when I was 4 months into being a BDR, they were like, here's a closing role, it's a brand new, uh, position at HubSpot. I said yes. I met so many new people… marketers, product marketers, sales engineers, right? Saying yes to opportunities is a massive way to build your network. For example, too, you know, these HUG events that I talked about… the first one I did, someone was sick for the Boston one. Someone reached out to me and said, hey, do you want to do it? I was like, sure, I've never done this before, right? So saying yes, meeting these people, and then just doing a kick-ass job at whatever it is that you're doing, right? Putting your best foot forward, you know, being your authentic self, then it'll happen organically.

53:09 Scott Ingram: Love that. And I'm so far behind on this. I should have done this, I don't know, 45 minutes ago, but giant shout out to Sam Balter, who was that person at HubSpot that connected Nora and I. Thank you, Sam.

53:20 Nora Edmonds: Beautiful.

53:22 Scott Ingram: So Nora, I know you've listened to a couple of episodes, and, and in an effort to work on your addiction even further, I want to know what you would want to learn from other top sellers in other organizations.

53:34 Nora Edmonds: Yeah, that's a, that's a good question. I think their like method to their madness, something that I know as we kind of discussed today, I struggle with is my organization of my day. I think it can really differ from people that are super fluid to very flexible. I know a guy that I really admire at HubSpot. His name is John Greenberg. Quick shout out. He's an excellent seller. He's a consistent top performer as well, and he has a really, really structured way to his day, a structured way to his prospecting. So hearing more, you know, insight into that would be really cool, as well as just like what motivates other people. I'm constantly curious about, you know, why people do what they do and why we choose to be in this crazy career of sales when it's really, it is a grind. Learning more about that would be awesome.

54:21 Scott Ingram: Yeah. Now, what is that for you? I mean, what is, what is your why really boil down to?

54:25 Nora Edmonds: Yeah, my why is because I, I want more businesses to be able to grow. I want to help small businesses grow. That's truly what it comes down to. I know it can sound a little bit like fluffy, but I genuinely, again, I've seen the impact that HubSpot can have. You know, I have friends that are starting their own businesses and I'm like, you have to get on HubSpot, right? This is the best way to help navigate your your marketing and sales efforts, especially for small to medium-sized businesses. And I know that I do a good job at it. And so I'm motivated to come in every day and make that impact for different businesses.

55:04 Scott Ingram: Love it. Nora, this has been so much fun. I've learned a lot. And the thing we try and do to summarize and bring every episode to a close, I mean, we've talked about a lot of ideas, but if you could boil something down into a specific actionable challenge that the person listening to this can do over the course of whether it's a week or 2 weeks, What would you challenge them to do?

55:27 Nora Edmonds: I would challenge everyone to shadow at least 2 different customer calls. So if you're at a company that has like an account management team or maybe even a support team, or if you have more of like a client-facing role that you could shadow for the day, I challenge you to do that twice, 2 different instances, maybe 2 different people. A, a great way to build your internal network, and B, a really great way to get more insight into how your products are making an impact on customers, and that can only help you grow.

56:02 Scott Ingram: I love that. That is, that is such a great, unique idea, and I will, I'm going to put a different spin on it too. I'm going to say, in addition to those 2, invite other people to your sales calls. I love that. Reach out to somebody that's in marketing and ask them to join one of your calls. Reach out to somebody in product or customer success or anything else to hear what the front end of this conversation sounds like and what real customers are talking or real prospects, which is a whole different animal. You know, what do those conversations sound like? And again, just as a way to further some of those internal relationships, I think that'll go a really long ways.

56:37 Nora Edmonds: Definitely.

56:38 Scott Ingram: Nora, again, thank you for your time and your energy. This has been a blast. Again, we will have all of the details to the books and the different things that we talked about in the show notes at top1summit.com. And actually, let me do a quick call out here. I'll do it at the, at the very end. So everything else has been evergreen. I will probably release a short, more detailed kind of heads-up episode, but this is going to be the last one for the year. As I look at the calendar, I always release these very first thing Tuesday morning. Well, the next 2 Tuesdays are Christmas and New Year's Day. So I'm guessing you're not going to listen those days and you're going to be probably pretty checked out in the immediate aftermath. So I am going to work on, I'm already working on a lot of the, the next set of interviews. Hopefully I'm building a bit of a backlog and a little bit of breathing room for the next couple of months with some of these interviews, which has been a lot of fun. And I hope you'll come in and check back in with us right as we get going in the new year. Don't worry, the show's not gone away. Everything's all good. If you do need a recommendation for an episode to listen to based on your role or your situation, I love those types of questions. So feel free to shoot me a note, scott@top1.fm. And if you haven't already done it, pick up the book, pick up Sales Success Stories, 60 Stories from 20 Top 1% Sales Professionals. You will love it. top1.fm/book to get those details. And I will talk to you next year. 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.