SalesTechStar Interview with Joe Kosco, Senior Vice President of Sales at SADA Systems

Gone are the days when sales managers could work one-on-one with every rep on each opportunity. There are just too many salespeople today, too many sales cycles, and too few hours to make that model feasible feels Joe Kosco, Senior Vice President of Sales at SADA Systems. But there’s a lot one can do to scale themselves and their efforts in order to drive better results. Catch more tips from this interview.

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Can you tell us a little about yourself Joe?

I am a father of two high school kids, a husband and a recreational basketball player. On weekends I work on our 100-year old house. During the week, my focus is having great conversations with customers, with the goal of helping them create and develop new ideas built around cloud-based technologies. To use a basketball analogy, I leave it all on the court, then get up the next day and do it again.

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We’d love to hear about your biggest highlights from your journey in tech sales / business development so far!

I’ve been with SADA for nine years now. When I began at the company, we were relatively small in size. Today, SADA has almost 250 employees and we sell a wide range of Google Cloud technologies to midsize and large companies, many of whom are in the Fortune 2000. It’s been incredibly rewarding for me personally and professionally to learn how to sell products that truly transform the way organizations operate and go to market. Whereas early in my career at SADA we were selling point solutions, today we’re engaging the “C suite” and focusing on digital transformation.

Tell us how you’d advice teams to handle their enterprise sales activities during this challenging time- what tips / strategies can they imbibe given the crisis because of the Covid-19 pandemic?

Since the pandemic began and most companies switched to a partial or complete work-from-home status, there has been greater demand for IT platforms and services that enable flexibility. As such, most of SADA’s core clients and verticals are expanding rapidly. Moreover, the need for remote collaboration tools to enhance the productivity of knowledge workers is at an inflection point. So the advice I give to my team is to streamline their processes so they can have more meaningful conversations with decision-makers and do more business even faster than before.

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When it comes to building and shaping global tech sales teams, also remote teams in sales: what are some of the biggest aspects leaders in tech sales should keep in mind according to you?

My focus is on how to scale my time to support my entire team in the field. Gone are the days when sales managers could work one-on-one with every rep on each opportunity. There are just too many salespeople today, too many sales cycles, and too few hours to make that model feasible. Scaling oneself can take many forms, but I’ll mention a couple here. First, I create bite size, scenario-specific training content so salespeople can access the knowledge they need in the heat of a client engagement, and so they can advance deals without my direct involvement. Second, I spend a lot of time making it easier for salespeople to follow standard processes that ultimately result in less time wasted. My job isn’t to criticize someone when they make a mistake; my job is to support them with intuitive tools, natural routines and easy-to-follow frameworks, so they more easily side-step similar issues down the road.

In your time in sales / marketing / business development, how have you seen the role of the tech sales person evolve?

The best salespeople are those who can modulate their communication styles and language at the drop of a hat. That way, they can relate to CIOs, technical managers and mid-level managers alike.  Today’s elite tech salesperson has to possess a greater range of knowledge and skills (social, technical, business, and financial) than ever before.

Also, how do you feel the role of sales will change over the next few months? What are some of the newer skills that will be in demand for tech sales?

I’m a bit old school in this regard. The core qualities that made salespeople great in the past will propel them in the future as well: creativity, entrepreneurship, hustle, relationship-building and desire. With these qualities, the younger generation of sales talent will surely hone the skills required for success in the future.

As a tech sales leader, in a challenging environment due to the Covid19 pandemic: what are some of the ways in which you are enabling a balanced remote work culture while maintaining motivation levels?!

SADA does an amazing job keeping all employees engaged and centered so they can perform their best over the long haul. SADA is a family founded and family oriented business; it’s part of our DNA to create outlets and pathways for employees to connect socially, reduce stress and feel part of something that is greater than just a job. That makes my job much easier. My team is extremely competitive and results-driven, so the lion’s share of their motivation comes from winning new logos and crushing sales targets, which the vast majority have accomplished with remarkable consistency!

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