This is an important episode for anyone who has ever been paid less than their peers doing the same role, or who was fired while pregnant (yep, it still happens in 2023) or who got downsized and didn't negotiate severance - my guest, Dan Goodman will cover it all.  Dan is Founder and CEO of TruCommish, an app that helps verify true commission - and Dan also has been shining a light on horrible compensation situations that companies have been doing quietly - to advocate on the part of the seller or sales leader.  We appreciate Dan as a supporter of women in sales and his work with dozens and dozens of women working to solve employment, PIP, and severance issues - in addition to offering advice to others at the same time.  Follow Dan Goodman on LinkedIn - he is an amazing resource and a treasure for us in a time of big layoffs and sometimes poor leadership choices. 

Conversations with Women in Sales

155: On Getting Fair Compensation, Dan Goodman, TruCommish

Niya Khatri is a long way from her home of Kathmandu, Nepal. She is a Millenial b2b seller who has lived in Pune, India, Colorado Springs, Toronto, and now the Bay Area, SF. She brings a wonderful and different perspective as a woman of color, as a woman "up and coming" in sales, and has openly helped her employers to improve revenues by looking through a different lens. We had a fun conversation. 

154: Life in the US in a Sales Career, Niyanta Khatri, Logitech

Katherine Andruha has been leading sales teams for 14 years at brands like Aruba Networks, Anaplan, Sugar CRM, Cloudflare, and now at Simpplr. Katherine's advice, "Focus on your job, and hit your numbers - you'll be OK" -  She also advises to speak up about your career goals and be intentional.  Katherine is now focused on strategy in her leadership roles. She encourages women to not just settle for a position - "life is too short to work for a crappy boss" - words to live by. 

153: Keep Your Personal Brand Positive, Katherine Andruha, Simpplr

Lori Harmon is a consummate tech sales leader. I've had the pleasure to know her over 8 or 9 years. In her recent role at Cloudflare, Lori is Global Head of Business Development.  Reflecting on her 20+ years of building, leading, and transforming inside sales organizations, and as author of "42 Rules for Building a High-Velocity Inside Sales Team: Actionable Guide to Creating Inside Sales Teams That Deliver Quantum Results," Lori has an immense passion for developing meaningful strategy, executing tactfully, and working to inspire people early in their careers to perform and advance, which she is working to impart to her teams at @Cloudflare. In this conversation, Lori shares some of her lessons learned and about her journey into sales leadership - a place not enough of us are at. 

152: Lessons from a Global Sales Leader, Lori Harmon, Cloudflare

Karen Keating is a Strategic Account Director at Salesforce. She's created a great life through professional selling - and always working at the Enterprise level of selling. She lives in Utah where her passion for the snow continues. We had a great conversation about how she got into sales in the first place and someone "saw" something in her to encourage her to consider selling. Once she got bit by the sales bug, she has spent her career selling.   

151: One Woman's Success in Enterprise Sales, Karen Keating, Salesforce

It doesn't seem fair that our society has developed boys and men who can be loud and agressive and everyone thinks that is fine. When a woman is not even agressive but assertive, and speaks up, she is often labeled one of an assortment of names - one is five letters and starts with a B. Women who thrive in sales leadership learn the "dance" between not being "too much" and being "enough".  There is no road map for this - that's why we talk to amazing leaders like Ang McManamon, who has been at Gilt Groupe, Amazon, Knotel (among others) and now VP Sales at Crunchbase. Ang talks about her climb into leadership and how she supports her people so that they feel like she has their back. 

150: The Approachable Sales Leader, Ang McManamon, Crunchbase

Stephanie Chung is a transformational expert and a commercial strategist with passion for people. Stephanie serves on many boards. She's led businesses through significant change in unprecedented times which has given her great appreciation and resolve to align organizational goals and amazing teams behind a shared vision and purpose to achieve the desired results.  As an accomplished, innovative leader, Stephanie has  20+ years of demonstrated success of steering companies from start-up into maturity, propelling record sales growth, and building highly engaged and loyal teams for global entities.  Deemed the first African-American to lead a major private aviation company, Stephanie was honored to earn accolades as a “Trailblazer” on the 2020 Ebony Magazine Power 100 list, "Top Visionary Changing The Luxury World Right Now" Robb Report 2021, "Top Executive" 2022 Savoy Magazine, and "Most Influential Female Executive" Women's Inc 2022 . We had a great conversation. I had no idea what her first job in aviation was at Logan Airport - amazing - and shows how one can climb the corporate ladder all the way to the C-Suite. 

149: An Amazing Leader in the Aviation Industry, Stephanie Chung, Global Brand Ambassador & Speaker

Tonni has been a sales leader in tech companies for over 14 years. I wondered how she started out in a leadership role so early in her career. We also talked about momhood / parenthood as she now has two kids so juggling family as well as work and a sales team is a lot. We talked about how great leaders who ARE parents can be in hitting goals and being productive. We also talked about how many women coming up in newer sales roles don't visualize that they could actually have a family some day and stay in sales or be in a sales leader role. Tonni's success dispels this myth. We'd love your feedback on this episode - consider posting on iTunes - and thank you in advance!

148: Rising in Sales Leadership Alongside Motherhood, Tonni Bennett, VP Sales, Daily

If nothing else, connect with Nirvanna to follow her LinkedIn posts and shares - she is so great at putting things "out there" on topics like leadership, stress, inspiration, and dealing with change. I met Nirvanna in Boston a number of years ago. She's always been focused on her professional development, and committed to being in a leadership role. Learn how she rose from individual contributor to a leader - she would not settle for another individual role. I am inspired by her "can-do" attitude and how she is sharing what she is learning through her posts on Medium here as well as on LinkedIn. 

147: Women who Rise in Sales Roles: Nirvanna Lildharrie, Column

Nancy Calabrese is Founder and CEO of One of a Kind Sales - a lead generation and appointment setting firm working primarily with B2B companies, helping them grow revenue. Her team loves cold calling, lead development, and top of the funnel services. Most people don't, so this has given Nancy a robust business for many years. In our conversation she'll share her story, how she grew to love sales so much, and some tips and ideas for success in getting meetings and in speaking with future buyers.  Nancy sees calling as one of the marketing channels and assuming you are professional and use the multi-channel approach to reach prospective customers, between all of the channels, you'll be successful. You need to be open to where your buyer is and where what you say or do resonates with them. 

146: For Best Prospecting Results, Know Your Value Prop and Pain Points, Nancy Calabrese, One of a Kind Sales

This is a quick teaser about what is ahead for 2023 on the podcast, Conversations with Women in Sales, as well as with the "women in sales" community. Lori is solo on this one to share some information and perhaps a little inspiration at the end. 

145: What's New for Women in Sales in 2023, Quick overview, Lori Richardson, Women Sales Pros

We had so many wonderful episodes this past year. Lori Richardson, podcast host, will share the top  listened to episodes and some of her favorite topics and guests. Plus she puts out a call at the end for everyone to do a hard look at their past year and review, then set some stretch goals and find an accountability partner or team. Lori mentions free tools to download for helping you evaluate 2022 and to kickstart 2023. You can reach out to her if you don't know how to reach the ones she's referring to. lori AT womensalespros DOT com.  IF YOU LIKE THE PODCAST, we ask that you go to iTunes, log in, download an episode or two and then give us a FIVE STAR rating - and then give us a review. It will go a long way and it matters if you have 100 reviews or if you have 20. Thank you in advance. 

144: Brief Wrap Up of the Year in Review on Conversations with Women in Sales 2022, Lori Richardson, Women Sales Pros

Laura Colón focused on public relations in college at the suggestion of a counselor. She learned, however, that PR does not pay well right out of college. She went a different direction and ended up in sales, but is grateful for the learning she got about communication and PR which has helped her first as an individual contributor in sales, then as a sales leader. Laura has worked on both coasts, and is currently Regional VP, Mid-Market West for Vonage. She is also a Mentor at #GirlsClub and recently spoke on the main stage at the #GirlsClub "RISE UP" conference, where I met her and realized her energy would be a great addition to the podcast. 

143: Sales Leader in a Telecom Company, Laura Colón, Vonage

Porchia Jenkins is currently Manager of Mid-Market Sales Development at a company called TripActions. But Porchia didn't start out in college thinking about going into sales... nope, she was focused on kineseology and exercise science. Got her Bachelors degree, and then her Masters in it. She was ready for her career in physical fitness - first working with adults, and then with kids. Somehow she ended up at a holiday party or two with folks in software sales. That got her thinking about a change - the rest is history. Porchia and I shared stories about formerly being a teacher then getting into sales. We laughed at how it "used" to be that hiring managers in sales didn't see a correlation sometimes for "grit" and "perserverance" as we toiled away with kids in classrooms. Really?  Porchia also talked about being a Black woman in a while male world - sales. How she's used being an "only" often to her advantage and who is really clear about who she is and the huge value she offers. I think this episode will inspire a woman - maybe a Black or Brown woman - to consider sales - or consider staying in sales (don't leave...) or moving into sales leadership as Porchia has done. I think the sky is the limit for Porchia and I can't wait to see what is ahead for her.  This time of year, we could use a "gift" of a 5 star review on iTunes if you are so moved! Please write a comment too, on iTunes as it makes a difference. Thanks!

142: From Teaching and Physical Fitness to Sales Career, Porchia Jenkins, TripActions

Helen Fanucci has written a much-needed book in "Love Your Team"  and it is different from so many other sales management guides because it helps managers, whether new or experienced to understand what to say, when to say it, and actual wording suggestions.  Helen has brought her years of sales leadership currently as a senior leader at Microsoft and previously at Sun Microsystems.  There are sections of the book on these conversations - on connection, performance, strategy, customer engagement, and internal alignment, Helen emphasises that "words matter" in sales - internally and with our customers - and I could not agree more. Check out our conversation and download a copy of her book to help your sales team - whether you are a sales manager, leader, or individual contributor - you will receive some great, practical ideas. 

141: Love Your Team: A Survival Guide for Sales Managers in a Hybrid World, Helen Fanucci, Microsoft

Conversations with Women in Sales is a top podcast hosted by Lori Richardson. Every episode features a woman in sales who is doing incredible work, or an interview with a male ally, or conversation on a related topic. For the past 100+ episodes, guests share practical advice for advancing one's sales career. The podcast is dedicated to the memory of Barbara Giamanco, who founded CWWIS in 2018. Each episode features topics like: leadership, career management, dealing with imposter syndrome, overcoming adversity, sales and marketing alignment, B2B sales, strategic partnerships, building confidence, content creation and promotion, social media, building inclusive sales teams, and more.

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Conversations with Women in Sales

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