Selling with Hubspot
Selling with HubSpot is a podcast hosted by Luis Silva-Ball, CEO & Co-Founder of Digifianz designed to help HubSpot sales reps optimize their sales processes for greater success.
Selling with Hubspot
Head of Solution Partnerships draws lessons from volleyball for sales success
Dive into a new episode where we explore the fascinating relationship between volleyball and sales success, guided by Stefano Gasbarrino, HubSpot's Head of Solution Partnerships for LatAm & Brazil.
Discover how a misdirected competitive mindset can impact not only your results but also those of your entire team.
Have you ever wondered why some sales representatives avoid asking for help?
Stefano shares key insights on how and where to start seeking support, the importance of learning from other markets to implement in your niche, and how to discard prospects in the right way.
Tune in to this full episode to unlock impactful strategies that will transform your sales approach!
#SalesPodcast #CompetitiveMindset #ContinuousLearning #ListenNow
🚀 WHAT IS SELLING WITH HUBSPOT?
Selling with HubSpot is a podcast hosted by Luis Silva-Ball, CEO & Co-Founder of Digifianz, designed to help HubSpot sales reps optimize their sales processes for greater success.
🔗 CONNECT WITH STEFANO
👤 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefanogasbarrino/
🔗 CONNECT WITH LUIS & DIGIFIANZ
👤 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/luissilvaball/
🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/LuisSilvaBall
💻 Digifianz Website - https://www.digifianz.com/
WHAT IS DIGIFIANZ?
Digifianz is an award winning HubSpot Diamond Partner. At Digifianz, we believe in the transformational power of humanizing business relationships. We believe driving honest, open conversations with prospects, and constantly providing them with value before they've ever bought anything, ultimately leads to better sales and a happier & loyal customer base. That's why we help companies grow with a people-first mentality & strategy.
Hey everyone, welcome to Selling with Hopspot. We're here with Stefanos. How do you say your name in English, stefanos, stefanos.
Speaker 2:I guess Stefano a lot.
Speaker 1:Stefano. Yeah, it's so confusing when you switch from Spanish to English. I always get Luis. So, yeah, there you go, it happens, so yeah. So, stefano, and I always forget exactly what your role is because, I mean, we've known each other for I don't know like eight years Long time, something like that. Yeah, I've been working with Hopspot for a long time, so, yeah, I think we met like, I mean, you were definitely not in your role, yep, and you've grown a lot. He tells a bit about what it is that you do today. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. I remember when I started, actually almost eight years ago, I was shadowing one of my colleagues, karina, and she was working with you guys, so it's great Full circle.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. We both grown a lot.
Speaker 2:Yes, so I work with our solution partners in LADAM as well as Brazil. So my role specifically, I focus on two roles. I focus on our channel account managers for our cams and also focus on our partner specialist. So I've been at Hopspot for eight years.
Speaker 2:I started at Hopspot when I was a BDR, so I started from the ground down all the way up. I'd had many roles but always focused on the partner ecosystem. So I was a cam, then it was a hybrid cam, then I was a partner specialist and then I became a manager, probably a year and a couple months ago. But yeah, that's what I do. And then our channel account managers so every partner of ours, they have a channel account manager. They're more focused on the selling, on the coaching, working with our partners to generate more opportunity for Hopspot and for themselves. And then partner also has someone called a channel consultant. So they focus more on that service, services delivery, operations as well as retention. And then we have a partner specialist. So she focuses on acquiring new partners that want to be involved in our partner ecosystem.
Speaker 1:Super. So for someone who's new to the Hopspot ecosystem you might not fully understand. A cam is something like the sales advisor for a partner. Correct, Is that correct? Correct, Super? So you're very involved in sales. You've had a lot of experience yourself in sales and you're in a lot of contact with people who are on the ground doing sales. Yep, so what would be like your number one recommendation to someone who's starting to sell starting to sell Hopspot? What would you say that they should really look into doing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean for me, every new rep just focus on product. I recommend the new reps. There's always gonna be ways in which new reps focus on selling sales processes. Obviously that's very, very important, but if you don't know what you're selling, how can you sell it? Absolutely. So I told the new reps try to focus so much and getting into the platform, understanding what our product is, what it is, what it is and what's the good, what's the bad, what's the ugly. We have five different modules at Hopspot, where we have the marketing hub, the sales hub, service hub, the CMS hub, operations hub, and we just launched another one called the commerce hub, and when I started we only had the marketing hub.
Speaker 1:So it's so easy, so much easier back then, so much easier back then. So there's a lot.
Speaker 2:Obviously, sometimes new reps kind of feel like they're drinking out of a fire hose. But if you can focus and really get in understanding what that product is, then you're able to sell it.
Speaker 1:And how would you recommend that they go about actually understanding what that product is? Because, I mean, it's super important to know about your customer, know what their needs are, but you also absolutely need to understand what you're selling, because otherwise you might come into that situation where they say you know I really need this and you don't know if that's something you can do for them. So how would they go about actually learning about Hopspot, learning about what Hopspot can do for their leads, for their potential customers? Because I mean, it can be like, yeah, drinking out of a fire hose, Yep.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I mean, there's a lot of content out there, right? And One of the recommendations is every new employee has their own portal, their own personal portal, right? So I would that was the first place. I would start going right into that portal, understanding all the products doing clicking in. However, you learn if you're clicking in, if you're using exactly testing. That's one that's, that's the main thing I would focus on. And then there's other things outside of that. So you have our full academy, right. We have certifications, we have courses, we have all these knowledge-based articles as well, so you can start using those within your own portal and then kind of look outside of that and understand who is good on your team, that does great demos, that understands the product.
Speaker 2:That's more of a technical person. There's a bunch of very, very smart people here at HubSpot. That's why I love HubSpot, that's why I've been in HubSpot for a very, very long time and learn something new every single day. So I would kind of look into your team, figure out who your team leader is, who your buddy is, and see how they go about demos. We also have we use something called Gong here in HubSpot, so there's basically recording of many, many calls from many, many different people, so you can go in there and just go into certain libraries and hear different calls from different people, because everyone has a different style and where they go about it. And then collaboration amongst other people, that kind of your surround sound of who they help you with right. So more of our technical counterparts, like our solution engineers, our solution architects, who they know the product inside and out, and if you can have those conversations with them, you'll be successful in the role.
Speaker 1:Because sometimes it's also important to have that humility and say you know, I actually don't have the answer for this. You've asked me a tough question. I don't know if we can do this. And you can bring in your experts, your technical experts, who are going to give you a hand and they're going to analyze the situation and this teamwork, this teamwork that we're talking about.
Speaker 1:I think I mean it probably resonates a lot with you because you love volleyball, I love volleyball. So I know very little about volleyball. I don't really know how it works. I know like you're throwing the ball. Yeah, that's pretty much the extent. I mean, I've played it on the beach, but that's it. Now, what kind of parallels can you draw between volleyball and selling? And I mean, can you give us like a quick rundown of how volleyball works?
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. So volleyball is a very collaborative sport. That's why I love very much. I play twice a week. It's a three hour session every week, so it's very extensive, and why I like that specific sport. For example, it's a very team sport. There's obviously individual sports out there, but what volleyball is is there's different rules and everyone has a strength. Everyone has a weakness. Right, you have your strikers, the people that are going to be spiking the ball. You have your setters, the people that are going to be setting up people to spike the ball. You have your Leveros, so those people are better at passing the ball, for example. So when it comes to volleyball, it goes a bump set and a spike.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would love to be the spike, but I don't think I'm too short for that and then you'll have people that what I play, I play a position called the middle, so we actually blocking and being more of a defense for our team. So, as you can see, there's multiple people doing multiple things, multiple roles, and I think there's a parallel between you as a sales rep. I think a lot of the time, either you don't like to ask for help, right, and you kind of are just focusing on yourself. You're in the number and if you're able to collaborate, if you're able to understand what someone's doing well, what's your weakness and how they can start complimenting, I think that's also really important, because collaboration and teamwork is how you're able to as a team grow better.
Speaker 1:I love it. I love it. And now so somebody's having the sales. You know they're having a sales process, they're going through it and they're able to recognize that they need a hand. How do they go about finding the right person to give them a hand? How do you get to know, like your whole team, what each person's strengths and weaknesses are and when's a good time to draw them into this sale?
Speaker 2:Communication right. I think that's also a big thing about volleyball. You need to communicate Mine right. If you, if maybe there's a ball right between me and this other person, are we calling that? Are we calling that ball? So, for me, communication's really important.
Speaker 2:You'll have many different people that want to help you, want to help you to be successful, want to give you the tools to be successful. So you have your team lead, you have your buddy system, you have your manager and you have your surround sound team right that will help you get to your quota. So you have your contracts team, our renewals team. You have the marketing team that we're going to help you bring your leads in demand. You have, as well as our technical team, so, our solution engineers, our solution architects, and you have partners right. You have partners and ecosystem that are so willing to help when things are maybe a little more technical or a little bit more customizable or more advanced, so you can use all these different types of resources and really understand how can you start progressing your deals and get to your quota faster.
Speaker 1:Love it, love it. And now it can be a bit overwhelming because there's also a lot of people that you can draw help from. So if you're new to this and you don't know where to go like you don't know who to ask for help how would you go about that? Like, what would you recommend would be the first person to ask for help?
Speaker 2:Manager, manager, your manager, for sure, your manager will help understand who. Maybe that person, maybe that manager can help you in that moment. Hopefully not. We have a baby crying in the background. We're going to continue with the show.
Speaker 1:I mean we're in the middle of inbound. In the middle of inbound, it's like things are about to happen Exactly.
Speaker 2:So I'll speak to the manager and then the manager usually is the person that can help you delegate who the best person would be. Because if the manager understands and talks to a bunch of other reps on your team, and hey, this person is great when it comes to selling operations, so this person is great when it comes to selling the sales hub or whatever, so that manager will be your best point of contact. To then understand who the best point of contact would be after that, love it, love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's absolutely true. So I think I mean knowing that you have someone that you can rely on for that extra help. Yeah, that's super important. Now, stefano, one last question, like any common mistakes that you see, Sorry, it's the baby, never forget, that's not cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah it happens, yeah, any common mistakes that you see, or a common problem, something to draw on. I know we were talking about qualifying, so, like qualifying can be something that you sometimes forget to do or you get too enthused with the prospect and you're like no man, I don't wanna let go. How can you determine if, like this is the right fit?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so in HubSpot we focus on two things If there's a concept of elite and if there's a considered buying process. But I think a lot of new sales reps they you're gonna get a lot of people that are gonna wanna talk to you. Right, that's good and that's bad, and over the years our brand, the baby's got into me now this kid too.
Speaker 2:Over the years, HubSpot's brand has gotten more and more popular. So you're gonna get a lot of people that are gonna wanna talk to you and I think one thing that you reps have to understand is disqualifying is okay, right, and I know it's weird, and I know it's strange because you're a sales rep and you wanna sell and you wanna get to your corner and you wanna get to your number. But I also see a lot of newer reps focusing on the most process that are never going to buy. So disqualifying is good, should be done quickly, within the process. What you don't want is to have four conversations four hours and then understand that the person's never gonna buy.
Speaker 2:And I've been in HubSpot for eight years and I can tell you I've disqualified and it took me a while to kind of understand what that motion looks like, but I was able to disqualify. And then I've had people come back to me after a couple years and been like, hey, I did a certification, I did this, I did that, it worked, I wanna buy now. So disqualifying for me is probably the biggest thing I would have. New reps, do understand when and do quickly.
Speaker 1:Because it's super important, because I mean, if you don't do it, you're basically you're wasting time, like I mean, all of your time. It has an opportunity cost. If you're spending time with a client that's never gonna buy, you're not calling those clients that might buy. So, absolutely, I love that insight. So, yeah, awesome, thanks for that, fenn, of course, all right, well, thank you guys for listening and thank you, steph, for being with us. All right.