Driving Sales Productivity with JP Bolen

JP Bolen is the VP of Global Sales at Rubrik. He has a wealth of
experience in sales and sales leadership, having worked at
various companies such as Wallace Computer, PTC, Primo, Blade
Logic, BMC Software, Dynamic Ops, VMware, ClearSlide, MongoDB,
and ThoughtSpot.


In this episode, JP emphasizes the importance of sales enablement
and the three types of training: onboarding, ongoing, and field
training. He shares his experience in implementing a
comprehensive onboarding program at Rubrik, which includes
interactive classes and real-life scenarios to help new hires
become conversationally fluent in the problems Rubrik solves. JP
also explains the concept of "winning the stage" in the sales
process and how Rubrik measures conversion rates between
different stages to identify areas for improvement. The
conversation also touches on the significance of having a
compelling point of view (POV) when engaging with customers and
the role of continuous learning in sales success.

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


HERE ARE SOME KEY SECTIONS TO CHECK OUT


[00:08:43] JP's initial perception of enablement and his
transition into the role
[00:09:50] Introduction to Rubrik's onboarding training
challenges
[00:13:00] A deconstructed approach to onboarding was implemented
for better learning.
[00:15:59] Onboarding is structured into three tracks for
scalability and continuous learning.
[00:18:04] The first track focuses on value-based conversations
and messaging.
[00:19:41] Importance of leaders following up and providing
support
[00:25:12] Empathy, listening, questioning, and curiosity in
discovery
[00:28:30] "Change the Game" initiative to drive mindset
shift
[00:37:39] Stage 1: Identifying pain, stakeholders, quantifying
pain, developing champions
[00:39:18] Stage 2: Creating a plan, technical validation,
financial conversation
[00:40:23] Importance of stage 1 and finding the real
champion
[00:43:12] Focus on understanding how deals got to their current
stage
[00:44:08] Importance of quantifying pain and understanding why
they have to buy
[00:45:17] Difficulty in conversion between stage 1 and 2
[00:46:15] Implementing friction and champion go/no-go in stage 1
and 2
[00:48:00] The importance of answering the 4 essential questions
for success
[00:49:17] Example of adding information to the framework
[00:51:11] Initial challenges faced and the need for a common
framework
[00:53:55] Training reps to go into accounts with a compelling
point of view


ADDITIONAL RESOURCES


Learn more about JP Bolen:


https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpbolen/


Download our Sales Transformation Guide for Leaders:
https://forc.mx/3sdtEZJ


HIGHLIGHT QUOTES


[00:05:11] “The single most important metric inside a company is
sales productivity. You have quota, a product, and how well you
perform against the quota. The variables and leverage points are
obviously who you hire because that's going to dictate a lot. But
once you get them in, it's how quickly they can actually
understand the customer's problems, the things that customers are
going through, the pains they have, and how well you differently
address those problems and become productive with the skills and
execution.”
[00:57:10] “I remember you and I spoke a lot before I took this
role. I talked to Grant Wilson a lot. At one point, I was talking
to Grant about the things that we were doing. I was explaining to
save the data. I was explaining these different pieces. And he
said, ‘You're not enabling, like you're not just enabling, you're
transforming, you're doing sales transformation inside of the
company.’”