Happy National Work From Home Day! I'm not sure who made this an official holiday, but if I had to guess…. it would be a company that begins with ZO and ends with OM. 🤔 

In today’s Follow Up:

• The sales playbook that grew Salesforce from $25M → $5 billion 🎤 

• Sales in the news 🗞️

• Sales tools 🛠️

• Sales jobs for closers 💰

Sales Fact of The Day

The Guy Behind Sales at Salesforce

The greatest partnerships all started somewhere:

• Lewis met Clark in 1803

• Ground beef patties met buns in 1885

• Buda met Pest in 1873

It’s time to add another one to the list.

Yesterday, we found out Norwest Ventures is bringing on David Rudnitsky to be Glen Gary Ross for their portfolio companies.

David is joining Norwest as their new Chief Revenue Officer.

Why do we care?

Norwest Ventures is one of the biggest venture capital firms in the world with $12.5 billion under management and over 270 enterprise tech companies in their portfolio.

David Rudnitsky wrote the go-to-market enterprise sales playbook for Salesforce and helped take the tech giant from $25 million in revenue to more than $5 billion.

If that doesn’t sell you on him, listen to Marc Benioff, the founder of Salesforce:

Benioff even featured Rudnitsky’s Sales Playbook in his personal book.

David’s rules started as a guide for his sales and were then adopted by the entire company.

Here are the 11 rules from the playbook:

1. Think BIG, Have Attitude:

Think big (dollars and scope), not just the immediate opportunity in front of you.

Drop smaller deals to focus on the big ones.

2. No deal is won or lost alone: 

Work with the entire team to close deals. Even though sales can seem like an individual game at times, work with your sales engineer and other sales team members to make sure you’re doing the right thing.

3. Connect the dots:

Always call with a plan.

Don’t cold call to chat or use a templated pitch.

Be creative. Use information that’s not easily available.

4. Focus on 'why not’:

Instead of thinking about why a deal will close, focus on why it might not.

That’s usually where the pain point is.

5. Always take the deal off the table:

Make sure every deal is closed if it's ready to close.

6. Get your face in the place:

Meet your customers in person.

7. Fun facts build instant credibility:

Try to learn everything about your customer.

8. Be proactive on all paperwork:

Make sure all paperwork is in place. Losing a deal on paperwork is embarrassing.

9. Always get quid pro quo in negotiations:

Don't be afraid to ask for more and say no when needed.

10. Share best practices:

Share them with your team and learn from them. Your teammates will be more willing to help you back.

11. Go after game changers:

Look for deals that can take the company to the next level.

🚀 🚀 🚀 

David’s a certified sales legend and the perfect guy to help b2b tech companies weather the economic uncertainty.

But let’s be honest, 2023 has been a shakier economic year than my hand pouring water on a first date:

• 200k+ layoffs in tech this year alone

• Venture funding down 53% in Q1 2023

• IMF expects a global growth slowdown between 1.3-2.7%

Will David, be the secret ingredient companies need to raise another round or reach hyper-growth?

I don’t know. But Norwest isn’t the only venture capital firm bringing in salespeople.

According to VC Platform, venture capital firms with at least one full-time employee dedicated to sales or GTM has grown from 2.4% in 2000 → 9.6% in 2022.

Larger funds like Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins are building entire teams dedicated to business development and go-to-market.

And it makes sense… because at the end of the day, there’s only one thing that can truly save a company in a bad economy.

More sales.

Chalk one up for salespeople everywhere.

Sales Tip of The Day

A word from our LinkedIn Influencers:

👨‍💼 Great sales rep ≠ Great Product 💻️ 

Sales Meme of the Day

And that’s a wrap!

Reply to this email and let us know what you think of today’s topics.