The Show Must Go On - Rosa Campagna (Summit Presentation)

Happy Show Day. This bonus episode is the full audio of Rosa Campagna's presentation from the 2026 Sales Success Summit, The Show Must Go On. Rosa sells into the Toronto enterprise market for OneStream, where she was Rookie of the Year in 2024, Global Rep of the Year in 2025 at 428% of quota, and is at 138% of target this year. She has also been dancing and performing for about 25 years, and this talk is about what happened when she stopped keeping those two lives apart.

She runs a deal the way a theater company runs a production: rehearsals that are real conversations about why you win and why you might lose, a backstage huddle fifteen minutes before show time, a pitch designed for the people in the room, and a postmortem with both the internal crew and the champion. Then a long audience Q&A on resistant teammates, stoic CFOs, and the buyer who will not give you a next step.

Show notes, the full transcript and a link to the video of Rosa's presentation are at top1.fm/rosa2026

00:00:00 --> 00:00:05 Today on the Sales Success Stories podcast, I've got the audio from one of the incredible

00:00:05 --> 00:00:07 talks from this year's Sales Success Summit.

00:00:08 --> 00:00:13 Speaking of the summit, I am actively looking for input on what the future of that event

00:00:13 --> 00:00:20 looks like. Everything is on the table, including location and timing, but I've gotta

00:00:20 --> 00:00:27 figure out a way to raise the bar again after 94% of this year's attendees said

00:00:27 --> 00:00:31 that this was the best sales event they've ever attended.

00:00:31 --> 00:00:36 And that is with a 93% response rate, which is beyond unheard of.

00:00:36 --> 00:00:42 So if you'll go to top1.fm for a link to the summit page where you can apply to attend and

00:00:42 --> 00:00:47 then open the door to sharing your thoughts, that would be hugely helpful to us.

00:00:48 --> 00:00:54 With that, let's get to Rosa, who put on one heck of a show in her talk titled The Show

00:00:54 --> 00:00:54 Must Go On.

00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 Today we're gonna talk about the philosophy of showmanship.

00:01:01 --> 00:01:07 I've been dancing and performing, um, for about 25 years, and when I started my sales

00:01:08 --> 00:01:12 career, I really compartmentalized my dancing, you know, skills.

00:01:12 --> 00:01:16 And I'm not talking tap dancing, I'm talking the ability to show up and perform.

00:01:16 --> 00:01:19 And I siloed that from who I was as a professional.

00:01:20 --> 00:01:24 And it really wasn't until I started blending the two that I kind of came up with, I'm

00:01:24 --> 00:01:25 gonna say my own version of jazz hands.

00:01:25 --> 00:01:27 And so today we're gonna talk about that.

00:01:27 --> 00:01:31 So, again, Scott gave me a little bit of an intro, but if you haven't met me, hey, I'm

00:01:31 --> 00:01:36 Rosa. I serve the Toronto enterprise market and I work for OneStream.

00:01:36 --> 00:01:40 I've been at OneStream for about 3 years where I sell financial accounting software.

00:01:41 --> 00:01:45 Before that, I was selling, you know, CRM implementations, and I've been in the game for

00:01:46 --> 00:01:51 just about 6 years. But back to OneStream, I started in 2024 where I did win Rookie of the

00:01:51 --> 00:01:55 Year and I got to 101% of my quota in just under 8 months.

00:01:56 --> 00:02:02 Fun fact, when they hired me, my SVP, VP of North America said, listen kid, on paper,

00:02:02 --> 00:02:06 you're not a good fit. I'm gonna give you 6 months to make something of yourself, and I

00:02:06 --> 00:02:10 need you to take Corporate Finance for Dummies because we need you to know something about

00:02:10 --> 00:02:13 math. I make this joke, and I've said this a few times.

00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 The only numbers a dancer knows is 5, 6, 7, and 8, and that's a fact.

00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 And they're still the only numbers that I know today.

00:02:21 --> 00:02:24 But what was great is when I accepted my award and got to shake Mr.

00:02:24 --> 00:02:27 Hart's hand, I said, hey, how about that 6 months?

00:02:27 --> 00:02:33 Right. The next year in 2025, I won Global Rep of the Year, and I, as Scott said, hit 428%

00:02:33 --> 00:02:38 to quota. And today I stand at 138% to target as a President Club winner.

00:02:39 --> 00:02:43 And so, you know, something that I noticed, as I said, is I started transitioning some of

00:02:43 --> 00:02:49 my skills as a dancer and a performer, and I started really blending that into my career

00:02:49 --> 00:02:52 at OneStream. And I think that's where this demonstrated success comes from.

00:02:52 --> 00:02:57 So today I'm gonna invite you behind the curtain and we're gonna talk about how you can be

00:02:57 --> 00:03:01 a performer. in your sales career, because this is the facts, friends, is you're not just

00:03:01 --> 00:03:05 scientists. And, you know, before when I was preparing for this conversation, I didn't

00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 really know what kind of salespeople I was gonna get.

00:03:08 --> 00:03:11 I didn't know if you were MEDDPICC people, Challenger salespeople.

00:03:11 --> 00:03:18 Um, I was happily, uh, surprised that I, so many of you have been talking about the

00:03:18 --> 00:03:23 humanity of it all. And really that's what we're focusing on today is the humanity of

00:03:23 --> 00:03:25 performing and how you can blend that in.

00:03:25 --> 00:03:29 And so, for the first half of my career, I did the MEDDPICC thing, you know, the more

00:03:29 --> 00:03:33 dials, more pipeline, late night FM radio voice.

00:03:34 --> 00:03:37 But it really, it really didn't work right in the first half of my career.

00:03:37 --> 00:03:42 My numbers weren't that great. And again, it wasn't until I started performing and leaning

00:03:42 --> 00:03:46 into those soft skills, um, to really make that difference.

00:03:46 --> 00:03:49 And so today we're gonna talk about 3 main things.

00:03:49 --> 00:03:54 One, the rehearsal, the preparation. Every good show starts with a rehearsal.

00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 The second thing we're gonna talk about is show day.

00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 What actually happens when you're in your show day?

00:03:59 --> 00:04:04 Now, I'm gonna say show day. This means demo pitch day, whatever it is.

00:04:05 --> 00:04:08 And then we're gonna close with what happens when the curtain falls?

00:04:09 --> 00:04:12 What happens when everybody go, goes home and the applause stops?

00:04:12 --> 00:04:18 How do you then build resilience inside of your showmanship so that you can win the next,

00:04:18 --> 00:04:21 the next deal, the next show, um, and the like?

00:04:21 --> 00:04:23 So, can I see everybody gimme some jazz hands?

00:04:24 --> 00:04:28 Oh my God, I love it. Fantastic. You've all had coffee this morning.

00:04:28 --> 00:04:34 It's beautiful. So, we're gonna start with rehearsal because every good show, like I said,

00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 needs rehearsal. So, do me a favor, pull out your phones and I want you to take a look at

00:04:37 --> 00:04:38 your calendars.

00:04:41 --> 00:04:41 Do we have to?

00:04:42 --> 00:04:43 You have to.

00:04:44 --> 00:04:45 I left my phone at home.

00:04:45 --> 00:04:49 That's fine. You get, get the pass. So, okay, so take a look at your calendars.

00:04:49 --> 00:04:51 Try and stay away from your inbox. I know it's very tempting.

00:04:52 --> 00:04:58 I want you to see if you've had a something on your calendar that says dry run, um,

00:04:59 --> 00:05:03 quick sync before meeting? Can you give me a raise of hands if you have a dry run?

00:05:03 --> 00:05:06 Okay. How about a quick sync before meeting?

00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 Okay. Okay. Thank you for your participation.

00:05:11 --> 00:05:16 Number one, in rehearsals, they, and specifically when you're, you're putting on a show,

00:05:17 --> 00:05:23 they are sacred, right? They are moments where you get to press and test your ideas.

00:05:24 --> 00:05:29 They're moments where you start to actually build belief in What is the value of this

00:05:29 --> 00:05:33 performance? What's my character? Why am I in this weird costume?

00:05:33 --> 00:05:37 What does it mean? And so, I want you to think about, for those of you who put your hand

00:05:37 --> 00:05:42 up on dry run, I want you to think about really making rehearsals matter.

00:05:42 --> 00:05:47 And what I mean by that is stop using the word dry, because you go into a dry run and this

00:05:47 --> 00:05:50 is what happens. Everybody shows up, it's 30 minutes.

00:05:50 --> 00:05:55 Okay? Uh, here's my sales deck. Here's your demo script, SC or SME.

00:05:56 --> 00:06:00 Here's what we're gonna talk about. Everybody nods and smiles and they're texting or

00:06:00 --> 00:06:03 they're pinging somebody on Slack or Teams to get to the next dry run.

00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 I want you to think of this conversation as a rehearsal.

00:06:07 --> 00:06:11 So step 1 is don't call it a dry run. Call it something more exciting.

00:06:11 --> 00:06:18 Pep rally, rehearsal, practice. Set the tone for excitement, which leads me to the

00:06:18 --> 00:06:22 next point here. You're going to have people on this conversation, right?

00:06:22 --> 00:06:25 Whether it be your SMEs, your managers, your teams.

00:06:26 --> 00:06:30 I don't know how many of you go into sales demos alone, but there's usually an engine

00:06:30 --> 00:06:34 behind you, right? And so when you're preparing, I want you to think about how this

00:06:34 --> 00:06:38 conversation isn't just about, hey, this is the content that we're gonna walk through.

00:06:38 --> 00:06:42 I want you to think of it as, hey, do we believe we can win?

00:06:44 --> 00:06:47 Why should we win? If we were to lose, why would we lose?

00:06:48 --> 00:06:52 Right? And really start to think about setting the win themes with the people that you're

00:06:52 --> 00:06:56 designing this pitch with. When you're in show business and you get to rehearsal and

00:06:56 --> 00:07:00 you're designing your show, the first rehearsals are usually a conversation.

00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 There's no music playing. There's, there's no nothing.

00:07:03 --> 00:07:07 We all sit down in a semicircle and we say, this is what the show's about.

00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 This is what we believe in. This is how we're gonna bring the audience in.

00:07:12 --> 00:07:16 And usually the cast and crew gets the opportunity to buy in, ask questions.

00:07:16 --> 00:07:18 Hey, I'm not really sure about that part.

00:07:18 --> 00:07:20 I'm not really sure if that character would do that.

00:07:20 --> 00:07:24 I'm not really sure if that costume would fit, or I'm not really sure if that music's the

00:07:24 --> 00:07:29 right choice. You need to create that environment with your team to invite them into the

00:07:29 --> 00:07:33 creative process with you when you're designing the pitch versus Versus here's my pitch

00:07:33 --> 00:07:38 and let's go execute. And of course, when you're rehearsing, you're not just rehearsing

00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 for what could go right, you're also rehearsing for what could go wrong.

00:07:42 --> 00:07:45 And so, for example, what if that 2-hour block's 1 hour?

00:07:46 --> 00:07:51 What if, uh, what if all of a sudden my Microsoft stops working and I, and I have to

00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 project really loudly because I don't have a microphone anymore?

00:07:55 --> 00:08:00 What if things go wrong? And so, it's not just about how do we win the deal, it's not just

00:08:00 --> 00:08:04 about inviting folks into the conversation, but also making sure that you're planning for

00:08:04 --> 00:08:10 when the music stops, right? Okay, so you rehearsed, you have your costume on, you've

00:08:10 --> 00:08:13 practiced your jazz hands. What happens after rehearsal?

00:08:13 --> 00:08:20 Anybody? Showtime, baby! Lights, camera,

00:08:21 --> 00:08:26 action! I had the opportunity of having my own, uh, theater troupe and dance group, and

00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 when it was like 6:00 AM in the morning, everybody would show up.

00:08:30 --> 00:08:35 And you would hear, um, you know, trickling throughout the theater, happy show day, happy

00:08:35 --> 00:08:40 show day, happy show day. Um, and folks would really treat it like a celebration, right?

00:08:40 --> 00:08:45 And the excitement that we rehearsed in rehearsal, that ethos of people buying in and

00:08:45 --> 00:08:50 believing the pitch gets brought into the actual performance, or in our case, our demo or

00:08:50 --> 00:08:55 our pitch. And so, I, I want you to think about how are you continuously bringing the

00:08:55 --> 00:09:00 energy that you've designed inside of your practice or rehearsal inside of the, then the

00:09:00 --> 00:09:04 pitch. Mm-hmm. And so, one of the ways that I do that is I actually create a backstage.

00:09:05 --> 00:09:11 And so, what, what that looks like is 15 minutes before we go live, um, or 15 minutes

00:09:11 --> 00:09:15 before we enter the room, I'll get my team together and we have a backstage.

00:09:15 --> 00:09:22 And that looks like not a rerun of what we did in rehearsal, but it's like, hey, how we

00:09:22 --> 00:09:25 doing today? Are we excited? We worked really hard on this.

00:09:25 --> 00:09:30 How's everybody feeling? It's your job as the salesperson, as the quarterback of the deal,

00:09:30 --> 00:09:36 to Keep that energy up. Don't just assume that because you've practiced your content on

00:09:36 --> 00:09:39 Monday, that the team is still excited on Thursday.

00:09:39 --> 00:09:45 So create that backstage environment. Then I want you to think about designing the pitch

00:09:45 --> 00:09:50 for the people in the room. We talked, or I heard really a lot about personalization,

00:09:51 --> 00:09:54 creating human moments, um, which is fantastic.

00:09:54 --> 00:09:57 So this room intuitively is already doing that good work.

00:09:57 --> 00:10:03 One of the things that I like to do was, as I'm designing my pitches and my demos, is

00:10:03 --> 00:10:08 Because in my discovery calls, I will listen for the person, not just the business case or

00:10:08 --> 00:10:12 the use case. So, for example, I'm from Canada, as I said.

00:10:13 --> 00:10:16 As you can imagine, there's a lot of hockey fans inside.

00:10:16 --> 00:10:19 Thank you. Inside of, you know, my territory.

00:10:20 --> 00:10:25 And so, for example, let's say there is a, you know, insert financial situation on the

00:10:25 --> 00:10:28 screen. My SE does something fantastic.

00:10:28 --> 00:10:34 I'll pause and I'll say, okay, now what you saw, John, This is the puck in the net, right?

00:10:34 --> 00:10:40 And I'll just create those little moments of, hey, listen, I know you as a person, but I

00:10:40 --> 00:10:45 also know you as a business, and I'm able to be that consultant that can blend the two,

00:10:45 --> 00:10:49 right? So, you're not just designing your pitch to solve the pain that you heard in

00:10:49 --> 00:10:54 discovery. You're also designing the pitch to find the personal wins for the people in the

00:10:54 --> 00:10:58 room that should care about winning with you, right?

00:10:58 --> 00:11:05 And then finally, Your energy. When we put on shows, it

00:11:05 --> 00:11:08 doesn't matter whether it's a great show or a bad show.

00:11:08 --> 00:11:14 It matters how you show up to the venue, which is why I led with happy show day, right?

00:11:15 --> 00:11:21 When you begin a performance, if you go in feeling really nervous, or if you go in feeling

00:11:21 --> 00:11:27 really serious, really polished, really stuffy, you're gonna get that back from your

00:11:27 --> 00:11:30 audience. And so, Have some fun with it.

00:11:30 --> 00:11:34 It doesn't need to be so serious. Now, unless you're selling to the government or the

00:11:34 --> 00:11:39 military or the banking system where you're required to be buttoned up and polished all

00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 the time, don't be afraid to throw in a little laugh.

00:11:42 --> 00:11:47 Don't be afraid to be a little bit silly because more often than not, you're giving the

00:11:47 --> 00:11:52 people that are watching your pitch or watching your performance to lean in with you and

00:11:52 --> 00:11:57 have a little fun, right? So, have some fun, enjoy the backstage energy.

00:11:58 --> 00:12:01 And enjoy the show, right? So what happens after the show?

00:12:01 --> 00:12:06 The curtains are done, we're done speaking, everybody's gone home.

00:12:07 --> 00:12:13 It's time for your postmortem. This is what happens after the curtain closes.

00:12:13 --> 00:12:17 There are 2 priority meetings that I want you to remember, and I would perhaps write this

00:12:17 --> 00:12:21 down. I always start with having a meeting with my cast and crew.

00:12:22 --> 00:12:27 These are the people that helped me put on the event, and inside of that meeting, the

00:12:27 --> 00:12:27 first thing I say is, hey, thanks for your time.

00:12:29 --> 00:12:30 Hey, thanks for showing up for me today.

00:12:31 --> 00:12:37 One thing that I've learned when putting on shows is there are people who show up because

00:12:37 --> 00:12:42 they have to, and they'll give me 80%. And then there's people that will show up because

00:12:42 --> 00:12:45 they know I care about them enough and they'll give me 150%.

00:12:46 --> 00:12:51 And if you want people to stand on stage with you and help you ask for the business, you

00:12:51 --> 00:12:54 need to care more than the other salespeople who are also asking for their time.

00:12:54 --> 00:12:57 So number one, have that second meeting and lead with gratitude.

00:12:58 --> 00:13:02 Then I'll do a sweet and salty. I'll say, okay, uh, thanks everybody for being here.

00:13:03 --> 00:13:05 Now I wanna go around the room and I wanna talk about what was something sweet that

00:13:05 --> 00:13:07 happened and what was something that was salty.

00:13:08 --> 00:13:12 And that feedback loop in the performance environment is mission critical.

00:13:12 --> 00:13:17 It's how we continuously get better at what we do, because in art, it's not math.

00:13:17 --> 00:13:20 There is no right answer. There's always an opportunity to fine-tune.

00:13:20 --> 00:13:23 So, make sure that you're asking your team, how did we do?

00:13:24 --> 00:13:28 And what was great and what was salty. And then finally, shared next steps.

00:13:29 --> 00:13:32 This is really important for salespeople who have happy ears.

00:13:33 --> 00:13:39 I like to rem— I like to ask, hey, I heard this, this, this, this, this is my next step.

00:13:39 --> 00:13:42 I heard this objection and this objection and this objection.

00:13:42 --> 00:13:49 Did you? Did you hear that? Uh, Rosa, I didn't hear that they wanted to have lunch with

00:13:49 --> 00:13:51 you. I think you're just a little excited.

00:13:52 --> 00:13:56 It's happened, right? And, and here's the truth, I am excited, right?

00:13:56 --> 00:14:01 Because I like what I do. And so, make sure that you're pressing those next steps in that

00:14:01 --> 00:14:05 feedback loop with your team. And then, of course, the second one is with your champion.

00:14:06 --> 00:14:11 If you have the opportunity to have a champion inside of your deals, um, I always make it

00:14:11 --> 00:14:16 mandatory for me to book that follow-up call After the demo.

00:14:16 --> 00:14:21 So, even before I book the demo date, I'll say, hey, listen, we're gonna have our demo on

00:14:21 --> 00:14:25 Thursday, but it's our policy and our process to make sure that we have time to get

00:14:25 --> 00:14:28 feedback from you. This is what makes us better at what we do.

00:14:29 --> 00:14:32 Can I make sure I have a 15-minute with you after this conversation?

00:14:32 --> 00:14:37 So, I set it as a precedent, as a non-negotiable, whether I'm in an RFP or not.

00:14:37 --> 00:14:43 And listen, if, if somebody says, mm, I don't wanna give you that time, what a great

00:14:43 --> 00:14:46 qualifier. Yeah. Is that a real deal? They're not gonna give me time.

00:14:47 --> 00:14:50 I, I just, I just prepped 3 weeks worth of work and you can't gimme 15 minutes?

00:14:51 --> 00:14:53 I don't work for free. Do you? Do people work for free?

00:14:54 --> 00:14:56 No. So, make sure that that's mandatory.

00:14:57 --> 00:14:58 This is something that I often find is missed.

00:14:59 --> 00:15:02 Make it a non-negotiable. When you're in that meeting, what do you do?

00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 Instead of just saying, hey, did you like me?

00:15:06 --> 00:15:09 Did you like what you saw? Be a little bit more strategic.

00:15:09 --> 00:15:16 Hey, when I showed you, um, this particular piece of the software, Were there other

00:15:16 --> 00:15:18 Excel spreadsheets that you think you could replace?

00:15:19 --> 00:15:21 Hmm. Yeah, actually, I didn't know you did cash flow reporting.

00:15:22 --> 00:15:23 That was learn— I learned something new.

00:15:24 --> 00:15:26 Great. Now I have another piece of my scope I can lean in with.

00:15:27 --> 00:15:34 Then I, those win themes that I designed with, uh, my crew inside a rehearsal, I'll

00:15:34 --> 00:15:40 temper them back and say, hey, here's why I think we should earn your business because of

00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 A, B, C, and D. Did you see that in the demo?

00:15:43 --> 00:15:47 Yeah. Yeah, I did, but I only saw A, but I didn't really get a lot of C.

00:15:47 --> 00:15:51 Can you tell me more about that? Now I, now I have that feedback loop on where was my

00:15:51 --> 00:15:56 pitch missing? What did I think that I said that I sort of didn't say?

00:15:57 --> 00:16:01 Right? And when you're in a Broadway show or you're, you're, you know, performing, um,

00:16:02 --> 00:16:05 something that we strategically do in show business is we invite critics.

00:16:06 --> 00:16:10 We invite critics to the show because we need that feedback to get better.

00:16:10 --> 00:16:13 So this is your critic. Invite them into the conversation, right?

00:16:13 --> 00:16:19 So did my win themes hit? And then, hey, um, was there anything in the demo that maybe you

00:16:19 --> 00:16:22 thought I should change? Ask for constructive feedback.

00:16:22 --> 00:16:27 Don't be afraid to ask your buyer for that constructive feedback because you think you'll

00:16:27 --> 00:16:30 lose the deal. You'll actually earn more credibility.

00:16:31 --> 00:16:34 Uh, you know, hey, the demo was great, but I, I really think it could have only been an

00:16:34 --> 00:16:36 hour and a half. We didn't need 2 hours.

00:16:37 --> 00:16:38 I really would've liked a half hour back.

00:16:39 --> 00:16:44 Good to know. Now I know. Now I know in our next conversation, maybe I'll book an hour and

00:16:44 --> 00:16:46 see if we can tighten up even more, right?

00:16:46 --> 00:16:50 And so, listen, the fundamentals are great.

00:16:51 --> 00:16:54 The MEDDPICC of it all, all of what, all of what I've just explained.

00:16:54 --> 00:16:59 And here's the truth is most of you are probably already doing some form of rehearsal,

00:16:59 --> 00:17:02 some form of show, and some form of postmortem.

00:17:03 --> 00:17:09 I'm just encouraging you to think about it as one long piece of putting on the show

00:17:09 --> 00:17:13 instead of just things that you have to check off of your to-do list to report back to

00:17:13 --> 00:17:18 your managers on Salesforce. Invite creativity into the cycle.

00:17:18 --> 00:17:24 Invite the opportunity to have a little fun as you're doing it, because the show is fun

00:17:24 --> 00:17:30 and it always must go on. And so here's the thing is we don't always have great shows.

00:17:31 --> 00:17:38 Sometimes the music really does stop. Oftentimes I forget my choreography and I have to

00:17:38 --> 00:17:44 make [expletive] up on the spot. And the thing that I'm really co— you know, preaching,

00:17:44 --> 00:17:50 coaching is it doesn't matter if you have a great show, a bad show, a sorta sorta

00:17:50 --> 00:17:56 show. What we're talking about is building discipline and building healthy steps so that

00:17:56 --> 00:18:03 you can design resilience inside of your sales cycle and maybe have a little fun along the

00:18:03 --> 00:18:08 way. And so, if this resonated with you and you wanna chat more, Here's my info.

00:18:08 --> 00:18:12 I'd love to stay connected. Feel free to click like and subscribe.

00:18:13 --> 00:18:14 Um, and it was great to be with you today.

00:18:15 --> 00:18:15 Thank you.

00:18:21 --> 00:18:26 So where, where are my other performers at who, like, when you heard show day, were like,

00:18:26 --> 00:18:29 oh my God, I was, I was triggered. Yeah.

00:18:29 --> 00:18:31 In a, in a really good way, in a really good way.

00:18:31 --> 00:18:33 And then I went, oh my God, this is a show day for me.

00:18:34 --> 00:18:36 We are having a show day. Happy show day.

00:18:37 --> 00:18:38 Happy show day. Thank you for coming to our show.

00:18:40 --> 00:18:44 Um, any, any questions for, for Rosa? Because we've got gobs of time.

00:18:46 --> 00:18:47 Uh, yes.

00:18:47 --> 00:18:53 Uh, we have internal teammates that resist your process because it's probably very unique

00:18:53 --> 00:18:56 to you. Yeah. How do you get those people on board?

00:18:57 --> 00:18:59 Um, well, one, I get curious about the resistance.

00:19:00 --> 00:19:03 I'm like, hey, what, do you have a different way of doing things?

00:19:04 --> 00:19:09 And I'm like, oh, for example, let's say I have a technical SE who is like, listen, I

00:19:09 --> 00:19:12 don't really like, I don't really like to do the whole rehearsal thing.

00:19:13 --> 00:19:16 I really just, here's my script and I'm busy.

00:19:16 --> 00:19:20 I got stuff going on. I'll lean in with, hey, I'll lean in with a lot of empathy and say,

00:19:20 --> 00:19:26 hey man, I totally get it. Um, I do this to make sure that we're ready as a team and we

00:19:26 --> 00:19:28 don't just We don't just talk about demo scripts.

00:19:29 --> 00:19:31 Just come for one rehearsal. Just come for one.

00:19:32 --> 00:19:34 If it sucks, it sucks, and I'll never invite you again.

00:19:35 --> 00:19:40 But I'm counting on the fact that my warm, bubbly personality will hopefully bring them

00:19:40 --> 00:19:46 along, and that if they, if they are resisting, it's probably because they feel like

00:19:46 --> 00:19:50 they're being prescribed to show up. Obligation is something that I find happens a lot

00:19:50 --> 00:19:53 inside of these rehearsals. My SC will come because they have to.

00:19:53 --> 00:19:58 Yeah. Because it's their job and like, they don't want me to message their manager, but

00:19:58 --> 00:20:00 they're not showing up because they're excited to be there, right?

00:20:01 --> 00:20:04 So, what I tell them is, hey, listen, this might not be what you think it is.

00:20:05 --> 00:20:08 Come for the first one. If it sucks, I'll never invite you again.

00:20:09 --> 00:20:11 Usually they come back. It's a good question.

00:20:12 --> 00:20:13 Anyone else?

00:20:14 --> 00:20:18 Yeah. Rosa, I love the thoroughness of— I'm gonna talk stupidly.

00:20:18 --> 00:20:19 I love the thoroughness of the process.

00:20:21 --> 00:20:25 He's going back here. Uh, Thom Wright, if I haven't met you guys, nice to meet you.

00:20:26 --> 00:20:28 Um, Rosa, this is a really thorough process.

00:20:28 --> 00:20:34 Where do you draw the line? Because I'm assuming all this work for maybe a smaller deal

00:20:34 --> 00:20:38 may not make sense for a bigger deal. When do you figure out when you run this process

00:20:39 --> 00:20:39 versus when you don't?

00:20:40 --> 00:20:46 Yeah, that's a really good question. Okay, so before I actually did my pod, um, I was in

00:20:46 --> 00:20:50 the middle of a really thick RFP and a really competitive one.

00:20:51 --> 00:20:54 Um, and the deal was about $3 million on the table.

00:20:54 --> 00:20:58 So, not a small, not a small amount, not $21 million, but hey.

00:20:59 --> 00:21:04 Um, and so, for something like that where there's a big revenue number on the line and

00:21:04 --> 00:21:07 we're in a competitive process, I will run the full gamut.

00:21:07 --> 00:21:11 So, I had multiple rehearsals, and the first rehearsal is usually just getting the team

00:21:11 --> 00:21:17 together for 15 minutes to say, hey, here's what's happening in our next rehearsal.

00:21:17 --> 00:21:23 We're gonna get together, I'm gonna workshop some win themes, and I need you to come

00:21:23 --> 00:21:29 prepared. Mm-hmm. To be contrarian, to give me your feedback, to tell me why this isn't

00:21:29 --> 00:21:33 going to work. Then I'll then I'll operate the next rehearsal, and I'll say, "Okay, let's

00:21:33 --> 00:21:40 add a couple people from legal, from finance, from like Joe Schmo in random part of

00:21:40 --> 00:21:45 the organization, and let's invite them to the pitch and see if they understand what we're

00:21:45 --> 00:21:50 talking about." So I'll run a larger gamut of rehearsals for a big for a bigger deal.

00:21:50 --> 00:21:55 If it's a smaller cycle, and maybe it's just me running it, I'll I'll do some of this

00:21:55 --> 00:22:01 virtual. For example, sometimes when I wanna create backstage environments, if I can't get

00:22:01 --> 00:22:06 the team together for 15 minutes, I'll send a, a Teams or a Slack and I'll say, hey, I'm

00:22:06 --> 00:22:08 really excited to see you at this meeting.

00:22:09 --> 00:22:13 How's it going? You doing okay today? You know, is your kid home sick?

00:22:13 --> 00:22:16 Or you still got that full 2 hours? You know what I mean?

00:22:16 --> 00:22:22 Um, so it really depends. Um, that's a good question, but I try and run, I try and run

00:22:22 --> 00:22:25 some version of this. Yeah. Throughout the process if I can.

00:22:25 --> 00:22:27 Any other Qs? I have so much time. Look at me.

00:22:28 --> 00:22:30 Yeah. Hi. Hi.

00:22:33 --> 00:22:36 Michael Piper with Backstory. Great presentation.

00:22:36 --> 00:22:43 I was just curious, um, because I, I'm guessing that OneStream, and especially the

00:22:43 --> 00:22:47 types of deals and size of deals that you're working on, you work with a lot of different

00:22:47 --> 00:22:53 team members. Have you ever had an instance where You've like kind of floated this

00:22:53 --> 00:22:59 process to somebody and come up against somebody that was really resistant to the process,

00:22:59 --> 00:23:03 but known like, okay, I'm gonna have to keep working with them for the rest of the year

00:23:03 --> 00:23:07 before my assignment changes. Just curious kind of how you cross that bridge.

00:23:09 --> 00:23:10 It's a good question. Let me broaden it.

00:23:11 --> 00:23:15 What do you do when you have a naysayer, somebody who doesn't wanna come to, to class,

00:23:15 --> 00:23:16 somebody who doesn't wanna come to rehearsal?

00:23:17 --> 00:23:20 2 things. One, get really curious about why.

00:23:20 --> 00:23:23 Remember that these people put their pants on one leg at a time, just like you do.

00:23:24 --> 00:23:28 And so, step one is, why are, why? What are you mad about?

00:23:29 --> 00:23:33 Is there something that happened with another rep that you're bringing into this

00:23:33 --> 00:23:38 conversation? Let's talk about it. I don't need the gossip, but like, tell me, tell me why

00:23:38 --> 00:23:41 you're feeling this way. So, step one is get curious.

00:23:41 --> 00:23:47 Step 2 is It's amazing what gratitude will do to somebody who

00:23:47 --> 00:23:54 doesn't want to show up, because usually people who don't wanna show up are feeling that

00:23:54 --> 00:23:57 way because they're like, these people blow up my calendar.

00:23:57 --> 00:23:59 They feel like they can take advantage of my time.

00:24:00 --> 00:24:04 Nobody says thank you. You know this, or maybe they're just having a bad day in their

00:24:04 --> 00:24:06 personal life and you're catching it, right?

00:24:06 --> 00:24:10 So lead with curiosity. Hey, why are you feeling that way?

00:24:10 --> 00:24:13 And can you tell me more about why you don't like this idea?

00:24:13 --> 00:24:17 I'm open to receive. Yeah. And then number 2 is, hey, give me a shot.

00:24:18 --> 00:24:20 And by the way, thank you so much for your time.

00:24:20 --> 00:24:24 I know, I know you have to do this, but you don't have to give me your best, and I really

00:24:24 --> 00:24:27 appreciate you being here. And just see how that tempers.

00:24:28 --> 00:24:32 Now listen, there's gonna be people that you work with that aren't gonna like you.

00:24:32 --> 00:24:35 They're not gonna be your best friend, and they're not gonna wanna show up to rehearsal.

00:24:35 --> 00:24:40 It's your job to create that excitement inside of your first rehearsal.

00:24:41 --> 00:24:43 Right? Hey guys, I'm really excited to win with you.

00:24:43 --> 00:24:45 Hey, I'm so excited we get to do this today.

00:24:46 --> 00:24:48 And you need to be authentic about it, right?

00:24:48 --> 00:24:53 If you're just performing or you're just, oh, I'm so excited to be here, like your

00:24:53 --> 00:24:59 audience will feel that, right? So lean in and say, you know, hey, I know you're really

00:24:59 --> 00:25:04 busy. I know you have a lot going on. Genuinely, thank you for showing up for me and my

00:25:04 --> 00:25:06 business because here's what I know to be true.

00:25:07 --> 00:25:12 I lose deals alone. I win deals with the team, right?

00:25:13 --> 00:25:14 Any other questions?

00:25:15 --> 00:25:21 Hi. Um, I'm curious, you were hired a bit as a dark horse and you were given 6 months and

00:25:21 --> 00:25:25 you said at the 6-month mark it was good, but I would love, just say more about what that

00:25:25 --> 00:25:27 conversation was. I would love to hear how that went.

00:25:28 --> 00:25:33 The conversation went like this. It was like, listen, kid, you, you got a great

00:25:33 --> 00:25:37 personality. You got a lot of grit. I see your potential.

00:25:38 --> 00:25:45 You don't know anything about finance, which concerns me, rightfully so, right?

00:25:45 --> 00:25:50 They're also handing me an enterprise territory, which means there are a lot of serious

00:25:50 --> 00:25:55 CFOs and COOs who are expecting a certain level of decorum to come out of OneStream.

00:25:56 --> 00:26:00 And so in show business, you have to audition.

00:26:01 --> 00:26:02 Right? That's what the interview process is.

00:26:02 --> 00:26:08 It's an audition. And so when he said to me, you have 6 months, I could have gotten

00:26:08 --> 00:26:14 smaller, but I've been in auditions before where they've said, we'll put you as second

00:26:14 --> 00:26:18 cast and maybe we'll put you on stage, maybe if you're lucky.

00:26:18 --> 00:26:25 And so I've, I'm used to that environment where I was able to not, not shrink, but say,

00:26:25 --> 00:26:29 okay. Listen, if I got 6 months, at the very least, I'll learn something.

00:26:30 --> 00:26:32 At the very least, I'll get to the other side and see what I'm made of.

00:26:33 --> 00:26:35 And a lot of that came from coaching, right?

00:26:36 --> 00:26:41 I found the best people that were inside of OneStream and I said, hi, my name's Rosa.

00:26:41 --> 00:26:44 I'm new here and I don't know anything about finance.

00:26:44 --> 00:26:47 Here's my vulnerability. I don't know what I'm doing.

00:26:48 --> 00:26:51 Can you help me? And thank you so much for your time.

00:26:52 --> 00:26:54 And that was really how I got to the other side.

00:26:54 --> 00:26:54 There was one more question.

00:26:56 --> 00:27:00 You are so super inspiring. Um, as someone myself who's like, I think I can only sell to

00:27:00 --> 00:27:04 one kind of person, I'm like, maybe not, because Rosa's inspiring me.

00:27:04 --> 00:27:11 Also, um, I came and saw Cabaret before I came here in London, and you are like, like

00:27:11 --> 00:27:14 amazing. Yeah, you're like bringing me back to the West End.

00:27:15 --> 00:27:22 But, um, my question was like, you do it, um, Taking, like, having time with customers

00:27:22 --> 00:27:23 afterwards to debrief can be kind of hard.

00:27:24 --> 00:27:26 Like, next steps are so hard to schedule in general.

00:27:27 --> 00:27:32 How do you combat, or do you have a story of, like, a customer not really wanting to give

00:27:32 --> 00:27:34 you next steps to, like, talk about a deal?

00:27:35 --> 00:27:40 And what's in it for them to talk about a deal that's important for you, but not really,

00:27:41 --> 00:27:43 you know, their time might not be as valuable as it is to you?

00:27:43 --> 00:27:49 It's a great question. Um, I like to say that I eat nos for breakfast.

00:27:49 --> 00:27:52 And so, here's the truth is I don't always get that meeting.

00:27:53 --> 00:27:59 I don't, right? Um, and so, what I'll do is inside of my discoveries, I've hunted for

00:28:00 --> 00:28:06 the personal. So, that deal that I was talking about, that big RFP, $3 million, they did

00:28:06 --> 00:28:10 not give me a next step meeting. And I said, Okay, fine.

00:28:10 --> 00:28:12 So, now I have to go find one on my own.

00:28:13 --> 00:28:17 So, inside of our, our demo in the first 10 minutes, this is early spring.

00:28:18 --> 00:28:20 Us Canadians love to talk about the weather.

00:28:20 --> 00:28:26 It's ever-changing. And so, I said, oh gosh, it's so nice to see the grass again.

00:28:26 --> 00:28:30 I can't wait for planting season. And this VP of finance talked to me about grass for 10

00:28:31 --> 00:28:35 minutes. I was like, brother, I have content to get to, like chop chop.

00:28:36 --> 00:28:38 And so, he didn't give me that meeting.

00:28:38 --> 00:28:41 It's a closed RFP. I can't really dig in further.

00:28:42 --> 00:28:45 So, I sent him an email and I said, is the grass always greener on the other side?

00:28:46 --> 00:28:50 You got 10 minutes? You know? And so, you just have to ask, right?

00:28:50 --> 00:28:55 And it took me a while for him to warm up to— we actually had like a secret meeting.

00:28:55 --> 00:28:56 It was really funny. It felt like incognito.

00:28:57 --> 00:28:58 I was like, Beep beep, I'm in the building.

00:28:59 --> 00:29:05 I'm here. Um, and here, and And just for full transparency, I lost that deal.

00:29:05 --> 00:29:12 I lost that deal, but I know that I can call Matt from, from this massive mine at any time

00:29:12 --> 00:29:18 to, to have that conversation because I didn't just become somebody that was asking for

00:29:18 --> 00:29:21 the business. I asked if the grass was always greener on the other side too.

00:29:21 --> 00:29:27 First, you're awesome. Second, I think what I take from your presentation is we are not

00:29:27 --> 00:29:27 all

00:29:28 --> 00:29:34 performers, but we all are the sum of our lived experiences, which when you can bring that

00:29:34 --> 00:29:39 authentic self in your way, it translates into something really human.

00:29:40 --> 00:29:46 And I think that's where we, we as salespeople differentiate is when we can really connect

00:29:46 --> 00:29:50 on a human level and you've cracked the code leveraging kind of your experience.

00:29:50 --> 00:29:52 So, I just want to say I'm proud of you.

00:29:53 --> 00:29:58 Can we, can we hug? Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.

00:29:59 --> 00:30:03 So, so your personality's also very like strong, right?

00:30:04 --> 00:30:09 So I'm, I'm guessing, so you meet with a lot of CFOs and, you know, like finance people

00:30:09 --> 00:30:13 that maybe are more stoic, right? So how do you kind of mirror that?

00:30:13 --> 00:30:15 Like, I'm curious how you go about that.

00:30:15 --> 00:30:19 I don't, I don't mirror it. I don't mirror it.

00:30:19 --> 00:30:25 I invite them to mirror me. Because I don't mirror it, because that's what the B— if you

00:30:25 --> 00:30:27 think about it, all of my competitors are doing that.

00:30:27 --> 00:30:29 They show up. Don't let the suit confuse you guys.

00:30:29 --> 00:30:34 I'm very silly. Okay? So, I don't, I don't match their energy.

00:30:34 --> 00:30:37 I invite them to match mine, and then I temper as, as needed.

00:30:38 --> 00:30:45 If the CFO is requiring me to take that step back, I will, of course, as you do,

00:30:45 --> 00:30:51 because professional decorum is really important, but I encourage you to be a little bit

00:30:51 --> 00:30:54 more silly, have a little bit more fun.

00:30:54 --> 00:31:01 And here's the thing, is that CFO has a hobby, has a friend, has a laugh when you're

00:31:01 --> 00:31:06 not in the room. Try and be the person that they're doing that thing with as well, right?

00:31:07 --> 00:31:10 Okay. Brief question. Love the presentation.

00:31:11 --> 00:31:16 Um, so you said you set as a precedent The, the follow-up.

00:31:16 --> 00:31:16 Do

00:31:16 --> 00:31:21 you set that precedent in the disco? When are, when are you saying that?

00:31:24 --> 00:31:27 I will set the precedent on the day they ask me for a demo.

00:31:28 --> 00:31:34 So before we even get to discovery, I will say, hey, I'm really excited that you are

00:31:34 --> 00:31:38 interested in learning more about us. Just so you know, here's how this works.

00:31:39 --> 00:31:45 We do A, B, C, and D. Are you in? No. Maybe.

00:31:45 --> 00:31:47 I'm in for like A and B, but I'm not really sure on C.

00:31:48 --> 00:31:50 Great. That's a good qualifier for me. Now I know how serious you are.

00:31:52 --> 00:31:58 Can I finish with jazz hands? Woo! Thank you so much and happy show day.

00:31:59 --> 00:31:59 You're amazing.

00:31:59 --> 00:32:05 I don't know about you, but felt like a couple of mic drop moments there at the end.

00:32:05 --> 00:32:09 If you'd like to see Rosa's slides And see a video of her presentation.

00:32:10 --> 00:32:13 I've got a little secret for you since you're still here and listening.

00:32:14 --> 00:32:19 All of the summit presentations are now available in our answer engine, and they're all

00:32:20 --> 00:32:24 free. You just have to go to ai.top1.fm.

00:32:25 --> 00:32:29 Check those out, and then do me that favor and find the Sales Success Summit link and

00:32:29 --> 00:32:32 share your thoughts if you're thinking about joining us next year.

00:32:32 --> 00:32:32 Thanks.