From Inside to Outside Sales: The Growth and Progression

Joe Young currently holds the position of Vice President of
Worldwide Commercial Sales at Zscaler, where he oversees both the
inside and field Commercial sales organization consisting of 200
people, along with the sales development organization of 100
people. Before joining Zscaler, Joe accumulated over 9 years of
experience at EMC & Dell EMC, contributing to various inside
sales, field sales, and leadership roles across different
segments of the company. A native of the Boston area, Joe is a
Babson College graduate with a degree in Business Administration
and Finance. Additionally, he served as a two-year captain of the
Men's Varsity Golf Team.


In this episode, Joe Young shares insights into how Zscaler
organizes its commercial sales team, including inside sales,
SDRs, and field sales. He discusses the segmentation of the
commercial market into SMB (500 employees and below) and
commercial (500-2,500 employees) accounts. Joe also highlights
the importance of having field presence for commercial accounts
and the role of SDRs in building pipeline and demand generation.
He emphasizes the need for consistent enablement, common
language, and sales processes across geographies. Additionally,
Joe provides valuable advice on recruiting and developing talent,
the key qualities of successful SDRs and inside salespeople, and
the challenges of territory balancing.

Tune in to this conversation with John McMahon and John Kaplan on
the Revenue Builders podcast.


HERE ARE SOME KEY SECTIONS TO CHECK OUT
[00:01:13] Joe Young's background and experience at EMC
Dell
[00:07:40] Adjusting the line between SMB and commercial based on
productivity
[00:11:02] SDR organization's role in building pipeline and
future talent pipeline
[00:14:29] Distribution of commercial reps in local offices and
managed by local leaders
[00:17:26] Importance of enablement business partner and
consistent enablement
[00:20:15] Standardizing processes and language across stages to
facilitate promotion and transition
[00:22:15] Importance of establishing the three why's: why buy
anything, why buy now, and why buy from me
[00:26:20] Difficulty in finding multiple champions in SMB
accounts
[00:29:11] Deals stall due to lack of pain qualification or
champion
[00:33:04] Conversion rate decreased from 28% to 18% in the past
year
[00:36:45] Difficulty in holding onto inside sales reps and
providing career paths
[00:44:24] The average tenure for SDRs and inside sellers is 18
months
[00:57:19] Joe Young highlights the importance of overcoming
adversity and being a grinder in a sales role


ADDITIONAL RESOURCES


Learn more about Joe Young and about their
company.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-young-6959742b/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/zscaler/


HIGHLIGHT QUOTES


[00:54:26] "If I can't self-identify on how that makes me feel, I
call it the indignity of the close. If I'm not understanding what
that means, that the sale really begins with probably an
objection or a no or somewhere, and I'm not comfortable with
that, then I'm probably not gonna do so well in that sales
career."
[00:55:41] "I wanna understand someone's character more so than
anything. So I think those, As part of our structured interview
framework, we're trying to focus more in the early stages of that
process of identifying what are the aspects of someone's
character and capability that we're looking for."
[01:01:41] "I think if the sales reps need to remember where they
came from and help invest in that SDR 'cause it's gonna lead to
success for them if they make those investments."