Strategy Sessions w/ Aaron Ross – Vol 1
A few months ago I was introduced to Aaron Ross, of SalesForce.com fame. Since then I became an avid reader of his blog, and I’ve had the opportunity get to know him. This week we were fortunate to have Aaron spent a few days with us doing some sales strategy sessions. This is the first of several posts around how Leads360 is transforming our sales organization under Aaron’s tutelage.
Let me start by telling you a little bit about Aaron. Hopefully he enjoyed working with me as much as I did with him, and that as we become better friends he won’t hold this against me. First and foremost Aaron knows what he is talking about, and he’s got the experience to back it up. However, as someone who likes things wrapped up with little bows (that is, I’m super anal and like things super clear and organized), I often found Aaron’s message to be hard to understand.
As we powered through strategies and tactics, I was sometimes left more confused than before we started. Aaron would frequently say things like; you’ll have to let this sink in, and it will take some time for all this to resonate. Of course I didn’t want that; I want instant results and I kept hammering him on coming up with specific and clearly defined action items. At some points I was so agitated and uncomfortable I almost came out of my skin. I’m sure Aaron noticed it.
From time to time I would see little nuggets of clarity through the clouds. I would connect with one thing he said and try to expand that out into a tangible idea, but then Aaron would be on to the next thought. When our 2 days was over I was sure Aaron knew what he was talking about and that he could teach me a lot, but I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to actually learn from him.
Jump to 10 hours later. I’ve had some time to think. Things have started to set in and I realize that I did actually “get” a lot more than I thought. I’m starting to visualize a clear path that we can take to get the sales results and long term sustainability we want in this business.
The next post I’ll begin to describe that vision and articulate how useful it was to spend two days with Aaron, and how instrumental my working with him will be.
Aaron, thank man; I’m fired up!
I have to say, on Tuesday I was wondering why he was here. All I could think was "but we've already thought of that, I thought you were supposed to tell us something new?" By Wednesday afternoon I was braindead from an information overload. I think the sessions were very well worth it and I cannot wait to see the fruits of our labor take shape. The one nagging thought, though, is the thought of the complexity of the monumental job we have ahead of us. I am, however, looking forward to steering right toward it and plowing head on.
Posted by: Matty