#2: Emily Racioppi - Sales Account Executive compares sales in startups vs. corporate

Emily Racioppi is an artist at heart. After talking to her dad, she realized that in order to be a successful artist you need to be your own brand so she followed his footsteps to become an Account Representative in the Sales Department at Cisco WebEx. Prior to that she was a representative at an infrastructure startup called Instart Logic. On this episode she talks about the different roles in sales, the interview process, salaries, the importance of on target earnings, metrics, and more!

Key Points:
1. When you’re in sales, you’ve got to be confident and competitive. Startups are pickier in terms of hiring people so there is no room for slacking.

2. In sales, you have to be a team player. There are times when you close deals on your own but there may also be other times that you need to work with different people such as engineers to get those deals done.

3. If you’re considering breaking into a sales role at a startup, do enough research about the company, their product, and their competitors. Ask questions about your role and how quickly that role progresses within the company.

4. As an inside sales representative, you have to be a closer. Take all the knowledge you have with you as a sales development rep, learn how to manage your time, and be able to qualify your deals.

SHOW NOTES (FOCUS ON THE STEPPING STONES):

[1:05] Growing up in Santa Cruz, California, Emily knew she wanted to come in the Bay Area due to its proximity to her family. She also draws major inspiration from her dad.

[2:04] Being more artistic most of her life growing up and her dream of becoming a curator in The Louvre in France.

[2:51] The power of asking questions

[4:13] Emily shared her struggles of doing door-to-door sales and what she learned from them.

[6:19] Factors for choosing the jobs she applied for: Location + Opportunities

[6:48] How to handle interview questions

[7:48] Qualities of a good candidate

[9:04] Emily’s advice on how to break in

[9:42] Getting promoted from a sales development rep to an inside sales role

[11:37] What motivated Emily to switch over to a smaller company

[13:55] How Emily prepared for her interview process at the startup company

[15:37] How Emily dealt with frustrations and turning them into best practices

[17:34] Crafting your pitch

[19:36] Tonality is key

[22:45] How to handle the interview process at a startup

[24:25] Resources to help you get ready for these types of interviews

[25:01] Knowledge is Power

[26:28] How the salary/commission scheme works at a startup versus a corporate environment (On Target Earnings of $40-$60k for beginning sales role)

[30:47] Key questions to ask as you try to break into a sales role

[32:17] What metrics are you evaluated on

[33:37] The next steps as you get promoted from a sales development rep (SDR) to an inside sales rep: Knowledge application, time management, qualifying deals, asking for help

[35:10] Emily’s plans for the future

[39:14] The Lightning Round

1. Imagine if you had to start over again and you had a $100. You get dropped in a completely new city, what would you do and where would you start?

2. Was there any music or movies or blogs that you read or someone that you talked to that you inspired to get through that frustration?

3. What is the one advice that you would give our listeners?

4. What is one thing that you fundamentally believed in that you changed your mind on after this process?

5. But is there any books that you’d be like, this is the best sales book I’ve ever read?