In this episode,  we dive into the inspiring journey of Steve Singer, a seasoned sales leader with a wealth of experience spanning iconic cloud hyperscalers. From his early days at Salesforce to his current role, Steve Singer shares invaluable insights into building a culture of empathy, communication, and collaboration. Episode Highlights: 06:44 The Power of Why 12:18 One-on-One Dynamics 15:31 Creating a Culture of Growth  19:14 Transparency and Alignment Across Functions 22:21...

Starting an entrepreneurial journey demands a blend of passion, perseverance, and strategic decision-making. In this episode, we dive into the enlightening conversation with Robert Coorey, an accomplished entrepreneur who has adeptly tackled the challenges of building and scaling businesses.  From his early days in corporate sales and marketing to founding a results-driven marketing agency and eventually co-founding Archistar, a thriving SaaS company, Robert delves into the pivotal moments...

In the dynamic world of sales, forecasting is both an art and a science. Achieving accuracy, consistency, and growth in forecasting requires a deep understanding of the process.  In a recent conversation with high-performance leader Mike Saxton, former Senior Vice President with SoftwareAG, Tibco and OpenText, we delved into the intricacies of forecasting.  In today’s episode, we'll explore key insights and practical tips shared by Mike, providing valuable lessons for sales leaders, account...

In this conversation, Paul Arthur, the VP of Outsystems Australia, provides insights into the dynamics of sales leadership and the foundational elements for nurturing a successful organisational culture.  The discussion also touches on aligning team members with shared goals, with Paul emphasising the crucial role of transparency in this process. By openly sharing performance metrics and expectations, a collaborative atmosphere is cultivated, as seen in Paul's approach to team forecasting....

In this episode of the High-Performance Sales Leader podcast, Rob Malkin, Senior Regional Director at Bentley Systems, shares his journey of career growth and personal development. Rob offers powerful insights and anecdotes from his experience of working with Autodesk, Commvault Mural, and Bentley Systems. He speaks about taking risks and stepping outside of one's comfort zone. Rob discusses the importance of building strong relationships in business, understanding different cultures,...

In this conversation, Riges Younan, a high-performance sales leader at Gloat, shares his experiences and strategies to handle stress and maintain balance as an executive. Starting as a recruiter, he worked his way up to a APAC leadership role, and discusses his approach to self-care and the importance of mental health in maintaining peak performance.  He emphasises that good nutrition, regular exercise, meditation, mindfulness, and adequate sleep are crucial for performance and resilience. ...

Jonathan Stern is a leadership coach who has worked with companies like Salesforce, Mulesoft, Informatica, and IBM in Vice President and Managing Director roles. At Mulesoft he has seen the teams scale from 10 to 100+ people before the acquisition by Salesforce. He was asked to coach leaders at Salesforce, where his employer became his first client. Now he focuses his time on helping others unlock their leadership potential and impact. Timestamps01:43 Transitioning from corporate leadership...

As the CEO of Linius, an ASX-listed company with fewer than 20 employees, James has garnered invaluable experience in the art of selling to diverse audiences. Linius Media Solutions enables their customers to unleash the value in their video archives with world-leading video search, highly efficient content curation, and personalized viewing experiences.  Prior to Linius, James led transformation and growth at global companies including Integrated Research, Kaltura, BlueJeans Network, and...

Success is often born from a delicate balance of diversity, motivation, discipline, and adaptability. To shed light on the path to success, I asked Terry Smagh to share his invaluable insights. Terry Smagh is the SVP and General Manager for Infor. He has been a pioneer in the APAC region, starting and scaling Qlik and then BlackLine over the last 10 years. Most importantly, he believes in building a culture of success from the ground up, and today we're going to learn all about it.  Most...

Want to win more deals and lose less? Then, master the practice of win-loss analysis! I was fortunate to talk with Cian McLoughlin, an expert in reviewing deal wins and losses. Cian is also the author of the Amazon #1 Bestseller, Rebirth of the Salesman. His blog was voted one of the Top 50 Sales Blogs in the world for the past 4 years and he was recently chosen as a LinkedIn Top Sales Voice. Here are 8 actionable insights to win more deals: Creating a culture of open communication 🗣️Set...

Not everyone can achieve club twice and the highest performing region globally, especially at the time when the world is overturned by COVID. This is why I just had to pick the brain of Andy Mellor.  Andy is a seasoned leader and double-digit club achiever through his career across, Peoplesoft, Oracle, Netsuite, Kofax, and Sumo Logic. Recently he turned around the Kofax ANZ business and achieved Club twice (during COVID) and achieved the Highest Performing region globally in 2021. Andrew,...

Did you know that one minute more is all you need to make lasting first impressions on people? Find out why in this episode!  I talked to Terrie Anderson, the author of “Legendary Selling”, “30 Days of Inspiration”, “The Little Red Success Book” and “One Minute More: The Human Connection”. Terrie is also a business leader and has worked with RSA Security, Symantec, Venafi and Microsoft working across Europe and the ANZ region. Terrie Anderson was motivated to write books due to her natural...

Derek Feebrey is the CEO and co-founder of Trendspek along with Fiona Church and Mitch Deam. This rapidly growing company provides Precision Reality Twin technology that helps Property and Infrastructure companies manage their high-value assets.  Last November, Trendspek raised $6.3m in its Series A round, which was led by Taronga Ventures. Derek has shared some wonderful insights; but among them, my favourite is how culture and values are inherently transformational. Not only they do...

A leader can make a big difference. They can empower team members, raise the bar, and promote inclusivity in the workplace. That’s what I learned from Andrea Breen, a well-respected leader in the software industry. She is best known for building successful teams and coaching people to achieve their potential.  Andrea has had a terrific career across companies like Oracle, Pitney Bowes and is currently the VP of Sales and Customer Service at Objective Corporation.. Aside from her coaching...

Developing a three-lens view (S.I., Client and Vendor) is invaluable in becoming a trusted advisor to clients in the cybersecurity industry. It’s a journey anyone can choose to embark on while making careful choices about their next career move. There are more of those lessons in my conversation with Dave Reeves. He is a rare Cybersecurity Executive who has worked in the Army, and then founded and exited two successful businesses. He then worked on the client side consulting to major Banks...

“If you don’t feel bad about losing in sales, then you’re in the wrong game.” That first sentence sums up my conversation with Chris Wood, the APJ leader at Quest Software, and his stellar track record of growing software companies. Chris Wood is a technology leader who has played pivotal roles in the growing software companies. At Sourcefire, he was the first in the country and built the team and revenues to eight figures, at Imperva he turned the APAC region from the worst-performing to...

Some dive into new things, clueless about what lies ahead. And then there are those who can see success from miles away—people who are playing to win. One of them is Lesley French. Lesley is Insight’s Director of Professional Services. Knowing she has 30 years of Sales and Leadership experience in Australia and New Zealand, I was more than ecstatic to sit down and revel in her wisdom. Whether you’re a new or senior Sales Leader, you just can’t possibly miss out on these highlights from...

You don't have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to growing startups. You just need to do the basics very well.  More importantly, have the heart to help your customer solve their biggest problems and teach your teams to do the same—and run fast.  Do this and your startup’s growth will be guaranteed. I was delighted to have a chat with Simon Horrocks, a serial startup and scale-up leader who has worked with Harness, AppDynamics, and ScienceLogic, building revenue and teams from the...

Scaleups are sexy but also very high pressure that can lead to burnout and missing targets. That's one of the insightful things Jeremy shared in our conversation.  Jeremy Auerbach is a top-performing Scale-Up Revenue Driver and Sales Leader. He has helped scale industry giants like Salesforce, Mulesoft, and UIPath, where he achieved Podium Top Performers Club Twice. Currently, he’s an ANZ Sales & Service Leader at Korn Ferry. Here’s how to survive and succeed with Multi-Club achiever,...

If you’re a SaaS startup that's thinking of scaling in Asia, you must also prepare for crashes and crises.  I had a wonderful opportunity to talk with software industry veteran, Stu Garrow. Stu Garrow is a veteran of the software industry with over 25 years of experience in growing companies like Mulesoft, Talent and now Aiven in Asia.  He shared insights that only someone with over 25 years of experience can articulate. Hiring or replacing someone in the next 90 days? We partner with...

Are you having trouble attracting or retaining rockstars or A-players to your tech startup? Take a page from the book of Ankesh by listening to this episode.  Ankesh is a leader who has scaled revenues from zero to 35 million ARR and teams from zero to 100 for leading SaaS hypergrowth companies like Qlik, App Dynamics, Zscaler, and ClickUp.  He believes that if you can recruit really well, half of your problems are solved in business.  Whether you agree or not, you can’t deny that hiring...

Scaling your startup in an unfamiliar region such as Asia may pose unexpected challenges your way. For instance, where do you begin, and which markets hold the most growth potential?  To answer that question, I talked to Graham Sowden, a leader, and scaler of SaaS companies in APAC. He's best known for scaling Okta 10x to 100 million, Acquia 4x to 12 million, and Informatica 6x to 60 million. From our conversation, I learned that to successfully scale your startup in Asia, it's important to...

To grow your startup's revenue, you need to focus on what you love doing the most as a founder. That's just one of the best business insights Tony dropped in our conversation.  I'm elated to have sat down with Tony Simonsen, an experienced COO who has built revenue and teams across global companies and rapidly growing Australian software firms.  He led PayApps to 3x revenue growth and a place on the coveted Deloitte Fast 50 Growing Companies in the APAC region. In this episode, Tony...

As a sales leader, one of your most important tasks is building a high-performing sales team. However, this can be a daunting task, especially if you're starting from scratch or trying to take an already high-performing team to the next level. In this episode, Justin gave valuable insights about hiring, coaching, and onboarding your sales team. Justin Meyers is the Head of Commercial Sales at CreditorWatch. He leads a high-performance sales organisation, where 27/30 sales reps are ahead of...