The Path to Sales Leadership: Lessons Learned at Each Management Level with Carl Cross

Carl Cross has an established career transforming and leading
superior teams resulting in high performance and vibrant revenue
growth. Carl has advanced through multiple leadership roles and
has consistently been asked to lead key projects that drive
corporate strategy. Currently, Carl is the Chief Revenue Officer
of Alkami, a SaaS based digital banking platform. He started his
career at Peoplesoft where he climbed into the sales leadership
ranks before moving to SAP. After SAP he moved to BMC where he
was responsible for the company's global outsourcing business and
after a two year stint with HP, Carl headed up worldwide sales at
AppSense and helped lead the company through its acquisition by
ThomaBravo. He then held the position of Executive Vice President
of Worldwide Sales at Workfront and remained in that role leading
the go to market integration after the acquisition by Adobe.


In this episode of the Revenue Builders Podcast, Carl Cross, the
Chief Revenue Officer at Alkami, shares his insights on sales
leadership and scaling a sales organization. He emphasizes the
importance of effective leadership, creating a strong sales
culture, and aligning sales and marketing efforts. Carl also
highlights the significance of understanding the buyer's journey
and conducting thorough discovery in the sales process. When it
comes to scaling a sales force, Carl discusses the need for a
sales capacity plan and the importance of staying ahead in
recruiting to avoid falling behind in sales goals.

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


HERE ARE SOME KEY SECTIONS TO CHECK OUT


[00:05:20] Lesson learned as a first line manager: it's not about
you
[00:09:59] Challenges of transitioning to a second line
manager
[00:12:24] Transition from tactical to strategic thinking
[00:17:16] Importance of skills and pipeline in sales
[00:19:27] Accountability for recruitment and development of
reps
[00:23:11] Importance of understanding and motivating individual
team members
[00:27:08] Living by the culture and taking responsibility for it
as a leader
[00:32:08] Challenges of being a CRO and the need for
alignment
[00:41:27] Motivation and individual differences in sales
[00:51:14] Lessons on scaling a sales force


ADDITIONAL RESOURCES


Learn more about Carl Cross and about their
company:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/crosscarl/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/alkamitech/


Download our Sales Transformation Guide for Leaders:


https://forc.mx/3sdtEZJ


HIGHLIGHT QUOTES


[00:52:48] "But for me, scaling is really it's, you know, do you
have a sales capacity plan? Right? And I'm not talking about like
we're getting ready to come into a new year. We already know the
sales capacity plan. We know what we're hiring to, but the most
effective CROs, most every SAS company is going to have a 3, 4, 5
year plan, right?"
[00:53:28] "But have the plan higher to it, hold the leadership
accountable to it and that's how I think about scaling it.
There's a lot of things in it, but your sales capacity plan and
your average productivity per head is probably the biggest driver
in that well."