Driving Sales Productivity with JP Bolen

JP Bolen is the VP of Global Sales at Rubrik. He has a wealth of experience in sales and sales leadership, having worked at various companies such as Wallace Computer, PTC, Primo, Blade Logic, BMC Software, Dynamic Ops, VMware, ClearSlide, MongoDB, and ThoughtSpot.

In this episode, JP emphasizes the importance of sales enablement and the three types of training: onboarding, ongoing, and field training. He shares his experience in implementing a comprehensive onboarding program at Rubrik, which includes interactive classes and real-life scenarios to help new hires become conversationally fluent in the problems Rubrik solves. JP also explains the concept of "winning the stage" in the sales process and how Rubrik measures conversion rates between different stages to identify areas for improvement. The conversation also touches on the significance of having a compelling point of view (POV) when engaging with customers and the role of continuous learning in sales success.

Tune in to this conversation with John McMahon and John Kaplan on the Revenue Builders podcast.

HERE ARE SOME KEY SECTIONS TO CHECK OUT

[00:08:43] JP's initial perception of enablement and his transition into the role
[00:09:50] Introduction to Rubrik's onboarding training challenges
[00:13:00] A deconstructed approach to onboarding was implemented for better learning.
[00:15:59] Onboarding is structured into three tracks for scalability and continuous learning.
[00:18:04] The first track focuses on value-based conversations and messaging.
[00:19:41] Importance of leaders following up and providing support
[00:25:12] Empathy, listening, questioning, and curiosity in discovery
[00:28:30] "Change the Game" initiative to drive mindset shift
[00:37:39] Stage 1: Identifying pain, stakeholders, quantifying pain, developing champions
[00:39:18] Stage 2: Creating a plan, technical validation, financial conversation
[00:40:23] Importance of stage 1 and finding the real champion
[00:43:12] Focus on understanding how deals got to their current stage
[00:44:08] Importance of quantifying pain and understanding why they have to buy
[00:45:17] Difficulty in conversion between stage 1 and 2
[00:46:15] Implementing friction and champion go/no-go in stage 1 and 2
[00:48:00] The importance of answering the 4 essential questions for success
[00:49:17] Example of adding information to the framework
[00:51:11] Initial challenges faced and the need for a common framework
[00:53:55] Training reps to go into accounts with a compelling point of view

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Learn more about JP Bolen:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpbolen/

Download our Sales Transformation Guide for Leaders: https://forc.mx/3sdtEZJ

HIGHLIGHT QUOTES

[00:05:11] “The single most important metric inside a company is sales productivity. You have quota, a product, and how well you perform against the quota. The variables and leverage points are obviously who you hire because that's going to dictate a lot. But once you get them in, it's how quickly they can actually understand the customer's problems, the things that customers are going through, the pains they have, and how well you differently address those problems and become productive with the skills and execution.”
[00:57:10] “I remember you and I spoke a lot before I took this role. I talked to Grant Wilson a lot. At one point, I was talking to Grant about the things that we were doing. I was explaining to save the data. I was explaining these different pieces. And he said, ‘You're not enabling, like you're not just enabling, you're transforming, you're doing sales transformation inside of the company.’”