Brian LaManna
@BrianLaManna_
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AE @ Gong and 5x President’s Club. Building playbooks for AEs & SDRs to source + close more deals.
Chicago, IL
Joined May 2024
My biggest, why the f**k did I not do this earlier, by years:. 2024 - TSA pre check.2023 - LASIK surgery .2022 - Buy a great water bottle.2021 - Standing desk.2020 - Amazing pillow.2019 - Tailored all my pants. What should be on my radar for 2025?.
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@KyleAdamsStocks bump it up. takes 10 min. good for 5 years. let’s you cut down time needed to spare at airport. way more predictable.
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Prospect: Joins sales call & tells you they’re moving forward. You: *Trying to play it cool***
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I got cold called this morning by an SDR. Here's how it unfolded: . (to the best of my memory). 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗺: "Hey is this Brian?". 𝗠𝗲: "Yes.". 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗺: "Hey Brian. It's ***** from *****. You don't know me but I follow you on LinkedIn and use your OPPS framework. I'm sure you're.
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One of the best cold emails I've ever received. Here's why Alex nailed it. 1. Got in front of the objection - called out that I'm probably not looking to move and referenced one of my lines. 2. Great formating - really easy to scan and realize Alex wrote this himself, not
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Mid-Market is the best segment (for most) to be an AE. And I've sold in SMB, MM, and ENT. Here's my case: . -Most levers to hit your target - mid-market will always have some more Enterprise deals and some SMB deals that still hit your segment. Territory lines aren't perfect.
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$1.1M of my 2023 closed won pipeline had a previous opportunity first. It’s the easiest new pipeline, but most reps butcher the approach. They'll say something like "Hey my name is Brian and to introduce myself, I'm the new Account Executive assigned to. ". No one cares.
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The more confident i’ve gotten in sales, the less “salesy” I sound. What used to be: “Hi prospect, our end of year fiscal is on January 31st. Under what circumstance could you sign off by that date? We’d be able to be more creative on commercials.”. To now: Our EOY is Jan 31st.
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Pure dopamine. 14 month cycle to Rip & Replace a big competitor. 140 seat deal. Closed Won 🦙
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$1.1M of my 2023 closed won pipeline had a previous opportunity first. Here’s my template for closed-lost opps:. Example:. Hi James, . I see that you were in conversations with (insert rep) and our team at the end of last year, but seem to have hit a bump in the road with.
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Holy moly my tweet went viral over night. 2M views.12K bookmarks.500+ reposts. Just a LinkedIn creator (65k+ followers) starting to build on X. Posting on all things sales, SaaS, tech. 5x President’s Club winner (age 27) sharing my day to day journey. Give me a follow 😊.
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Haha I cannot believe this post wasn't satire. All smiles from me - forever and always. Not apologizing for posting a puppy.
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Little hack we use at Gong, to prep internal people for a big call. Send a 2nd calendar invite at the meeting time, labelled “PREP inside.”. Put all your call notes inside that invite:.-Stakeholders.-Their LinkedIn.-Info on Company.-Strategic Priorities.-Goal of Call.-Internal.
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Monster day yesterday closing out December. Brought in 3 deals & surpassed $100K on the month. 1 deal left in the tank for December & a plethora for January end of fiscal. Sitting at ~120% YTD & in accelerator land 🥳.
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I need to close $252K this week to auto-qualify for my 6th President's Club. While it's my best fiscal year ever, GTM is on fire and there are 16 sellers over 150% of goal already. There's a real chance we can close 8 different deals this week. Some commits, others longer
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Leadership always gets shocked when I tell them I haven’t touched 70% of my accounts. Of my 300 - I identify my top 10-20%. I go absolutely all out at them. Hustle for warm intros, partners, gifting, on-sites, strategic narratives from speaking to AEs/SDRs first. No spray &.
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This was one of the best days of my life. Less than 30 days away from officially tying the knot. Then off to Paris + the south of France 🇫🇷 . Doesn't feel real!!! 💙
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I see AEs and SDRs innocently affected 😢. Perfect emails getting ruined by awful CTAs. 𝐀𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞:. ❌ Are you free at time x, y, or z?.❌ Can I set you up for a demo with my AE?.❌ Do you have 45 minutes next Wednesday or Thursday?. 𝐔𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞:. ✔️ Ever come.
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Pipeline really solves all problems. That’s it, that’s the tweet.
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I've posted 840 times on LinkedIn and spent about ~1,000 hours on LinkedIn writing up my very best sales strategies. My most viral ever post of all time is now. George Bush. Took me ~45 seconds to think of and post. Lmao is all I have to say.
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The best discovery calls I've listened to had 0 mentions of the product. Ironically, junior sellers struggle because they get so excited about the product, they want to plug it in at every chance. Examples. Them: "Oh we are struggling with our forecasting accuracy.". ❌ --.
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@hoosiercommish schedule didn't look bad coming into it - wash, michigan, nebraska, ohio state. no one thought we'd win any of those. Then we win by too much and people are mad.
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Too much job hopping in SaaS. Every time you join a new company, you start over at zero. 0 pipeline.0 product knowledge.0 internal connections. Ramping is tough & your earnings almost always take a hit the first 18 months. Grass isn’t always greener.
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The more AI junk gets blasted, the more these ‘old school’ sales practices are roaring back:. -Going onsite to a customer.-Private Dinner Events.-Warm introductions.-Personalized video.-Handwritten notes.-Conferences.-Gifting. If you haven’t gone on-site to a prospect/customer,.
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Just one of those sales days that really sucked. No matter how long you’ve been in SaaS. Bad news comes in bunches. New day tomorrow.
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First things I do when I close a deal:. 1) Surrender the credit - shoutout all the people that made it happen. SDR, sales leader, engineer, product, etc. 2) Make a 5-10 min video + notes for CS / Implementation. Extremely detailed notes & a video. Ensure they are fully.
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In 2021, I wrote Jeff a cold email that turned us into friends, still 2 years later. The real twist was that Jeff was actually leaving his current gig. Didn't matter. Jeff was blown away by the message. He asked for me to call his cell. He shared he was advising for another
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No matter how busy work gets, I never sacrifice gym time. Normal time is 5:15 so I can be online at 7 & still get a jump start on the day. If I’m that swamped that I have to cut it to a 30 min workout, so be it. You always have enough time for health. You just might not.
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9-14-2024. The absolute best day ever, getting married. 📍 Bloomfield Township, MI. ❤️❤️❤️
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14 month sales cycle & I just FINALLY sent out the DocuSign. Competitive versus Salesforce, Clari, Salesloft. One of those I thought I ‘won’ many times only to get hit with snags. RIP that April, May, June forecast call on it. (sorry, boss). Going to be hard to get anything.
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I majored in sales. At a top 10 business school & the #1 sales major in the US. My takeaway is this:. I learned nothing that helped me succeed in SaaS. You absolutely do not need to major in sales to be successful. Or even be a business major. It’s one of the few roles you.
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The people spoke. We brought Monty home today. Already in love with him 🐶
Puppy in under 2 weeks. Golden retriever. Help us settle the name!?.
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Hardest part about ramping at a new org is having 0 pipeline. You feel like an SDR the first 3-6 months. And don’t get enough real reps to keep improving. Absolute grind to get your pipeline coverage in a strong spot.
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A few things I go into every sales call knowing:. -POV on what problems they are facing.-1 slide built for an agenda + time check.-First 3-4 discovery questions scripted out.-Exact click path (or options) if I plan to demo.-Ideal outcome of the call, with 2 backup options.-Prep.
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Fun email to wake up to for a 12/20 deal from Procurement. Only one way to respond to an email like this. Push for a live call.
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Booked a meeting with a top 5 account today. 100 users on our biggest competitor. Renewal in 5 months. Keep working hard & things turnaround. 😤😤😤.
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Last year, I got called "annoying" by a VP last month when I asked for a next meeting. The irony. it was a VP. of SALES!. Here's how it went down:. Brian: That’s awesome you plan to present this next Wednesday. Let’s find 30 minutes to sync after to map out next steps, cool?.
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Our average sales cycle in mid-market is 3-6 months, and I’ve now closed 3 deals this year in under 24 hours. A buyer’s journey has a few core components: . -Acknowledgment of a problem (why now).-Deciding it’s a problem worth investment versus status quo (why change).-Choosing.
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Met a prospect for breakfast / coffee in Boston last week. Talked very little about Gong. Sports growing up.Career aspirations.Future of the Celtics.Family life.Best sandwich shops.TV shows. I’d consider it a huge success. I also just had so much fun, we both ran late & had no.
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Getting married in sub 3 days to the love of my life. Could not be more excited. Almost doesn’t feel real.
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A 3x sales leader taught me this one question, to ensure urgency in every deal. It's about getting their commitment to solving NOW. 𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆, 𝗮𝘀𝗸:. “This might be a silly last question but ____ seems like a really huge priority. Fast.
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14 hour work day today. Logged on at 6 am after a 30 min workout. Just getting around to follow ups now. No Q5.
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Prospect: “Unfortunately, we are on a budget freeze until October. Can you reach out then?”. Me: “Oh, wow. So sorry to hear. Is the company not buying any new tech until June?”. Prospect: "We actually already have a solution in place for that today so no thank you.”. Me: “Oh, I’m.
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Big fan of the Jan 31 fiscal. So much better than end of year - makes the time after Christmas so much more enjoyable. Every software company should be on it.
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I’m fortunate to never have been burned by layoffs, a reorg, acquisition, etc. But I do know no matter how great your numbers are, job security isn’t a given. Even if I’m a top performer at Gong. And our company is growing rapidly. We could get acquired. There could be a.
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It’s no secret what’s happening in sales tech. Gong, Clari, Outreach, & Salesloft all are competing to be the one platform for revenue. 2 companies have already emerged far ahead. 1 declining rapidly. 1 imploded. But ask any exec at Gong who they .are most worried about.
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Sellers don't like when I say they (sometimes) deserved to get no showed. Do your calendar invites look like these?. "Gong & Acme - Check In" . "Gong & Acme - Feedback Call" . These meetings could be emails. Nothing in it for them. Every seller should have a menu of.
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My favorite discovery tip I learned a few years ago from a VP of Sales at MongoDB. Prior to that, I used to show up asking about their top 2-3 priorities. What they needed to nail through EOY. I got stuck with short answers like "close deals" or "grow revenue.". 𝗗𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀.
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3 emails sent and 3 opportunities un-ghosted. Received that message from an AE last week. I've developed a go-to template to get deals unstuck. ". Hey ____. Just tried giving your 408 number a quick ring. When I don't hear back for a few weeks, typically it's a few.
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Surpassed my last 2 years of posting on LinkedIn, in my first month on X. Amazing platform & excited to keep building on here.
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Recent order of events, in a $250K deal. Oct-Dec: Prospecting it hard, nothing. Dec 15: Inbound demo request (lol), set for mid Jan. Dec 17: Singlethread each person on call.Dec 17: Singlethread a few reps.Dec: 20: Met with person A. Dec 23: Met with person B, schedule follow.
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Alright, I love this. Only got one life. Just go for it.
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One of the best perks of working at Gong. [From an SDR / AE / CS / AM pov]. I haven't once updated notes from a call into Salesforce. Or been forced to manually update a next step / meeting field. Or even created or attached a contact to an opportunity. It sucks, adds no.
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Flew out solo to Raleigh, NC this week. Spoke to a GTM team of 200+ over a few hours. Played a fun game of “Ask Anything.” . Made each rep pull up an account they just got to start 2025. And ask the AI to summarize account history. Mind blown to learn all the context. In
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Is it too corny that I want to celebrate when I close 100 logos at Gong?. By far the thing I’m most proud of is bringing 96 (so far) customers into our ecosystem. And ensuring every one of them has turned into a raving fan. Might throw a 1-person party for me 🥳.
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I’m at the 2 yard line from winning the coolest logo, I’ve ever worked. [And likely coolest one I’ll ever work]. Deal got shut down by the CRO a few days ago. But we had an army of champions keep fighting for it. Pushing the success they’ve seen the past months in piloting &.
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The best sellers master -how- they ask questions. Each word in how you ask questions has a major impact. Will give you a few examples. 𝐏𝐮𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. ❌ Any Questions?.✔️ What has stood out the most so far? . 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. ❌ Does this.
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Spent my 1st year as an SDR going into the office most Saturday’s & Sunday’s. Anti-hustle culture will hate this Tweet. When you want something so bad (promo to AE), it’s okay to go all in. Still had time to workout at night & go out on weekends. Plenty of people work 50-60.
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Can’t get myself to do food delivery. The $14 meal suddenly turned $33 after fees, tax, tip, ubereats death charge, etc. is just infurirating. Would rather go hungry 😂.
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Most beautiful place I’ve travelled to is BANF. You know it’s unbelievable when even the photos are jaw dropping. Always 10x better in person.
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One man runs discovery like people could die. Chris Voss was the lead Crisis Negotiator for the FBI for 24 years. 2007: He retired after 150+ hostage cases.2016: Wrote 'Never Split the Difference' and detailed out all his techniques. The best part?. These techniques work just.
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Super scary moment earlier. Driving a rental car and it started getting rickety. Then a loud bang followed by losing control of steering. Drifted (somehow) into the tight shoulder with a death grip on the steering wheel. Was going 70 on the highway & avoided crashing.
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Liquid IV has to be one of the best selling, worst products ever. It’s literally a sugar packet with some salt. 60 calories in each packet of sugar. No real science that it prevents hangovers. Just great marketing. Respect to em.
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I loved the idea of working out but always struggled with consistency. Spurts of going then putting it off. So I hired a trainer in 2020. Once a week sessions. Paying for them so I couldn’t not go. He held me accountable to going 3x outside of working with him. We’d.
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Q3 is in the books and was a banner one - 212% to goal and $526K closed. Did a little dance when the commission email hit, won’t lie. While pumped about the deals, this little trophy means the most to me. It wasn’t just given to who finished #1 in segment. A few things
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Have had 2 brutal slumps in my sales career . 2 things that made me come out of it stronger: . 1) Make 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬: .→ Make a list of small things you want to improve on. → Make a list of people that are excellent in those areas .→ Reach out to them. Find time.
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I used to lose control of some demos. They ask, “Can we just jump into the demo?” or “Can you click on that tab there real quick?” . Before you know it, you’re bouncing around features, harbor touring, without tying anything back to their goals. A few ways I keep control….
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Taxes are wild. Your earnings are taxed at 30-40%. Invest that money & your profit then gets taxed 20-30%. Then you spend it at ABC company and get taxed another 10%. ABC Company then gets taxed as a corporation…. How the f**k is the government 100 Gajillion dollars in.
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Working a $150K deal that’s on the brink of moving forward with us OR doing a 3 month RFP. Pilot is on & the technology has been deployed across all their GTM. Their reps & leaders absolutely love it. But a few execs don’t seem to see the potential yet. Keep your fingers.
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ZoomInfo has an amazing product for contact data. Best in class & the market leader. But their customers just hate working with their sales reps. Time-based selling, aggressive tactics, up charging, poor support, multiple reps reaching out. Their words, not mine. When.
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I got promoted from SDR to AE in under 10 months. 9 months faster than the average at my company. And the fastest in my year of 50+ SDRs. The flip switched for me once I learned the key to objection handling. It's not to immediately 'handle' it. Immediate objections are.
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Short work week 🦃 . Great chance to create distance & get ahead OR unplug. Can’t go wrong either way.
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I booked 178 qualified meetings in under 10 months. The fastest in my class of 55 (killer) SDRs to get promoted to AE. Objection handling was my secret weapon. Other SDR's problem: They immediately tried to 'handle' the objection. Using the company script to counter.
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Answered a LinkedIn DM in under a minute to jump on a 20 minute call. This rep helped me get my largest deal closed last year. He was laid off last month & wanted some advice through the interview process. Always willing to help people that have helped me. Reciprocity is.
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Today, I turn 28 years old!. It's also my 3 year anniversary at Gong. Hard to forget when those two dates are tied together. I left my previous job and joined Gong as an SMB AE. Felt like a huge risk at that time. Best career decision I made.
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I was set to become Sales Manager of a team of 4 AEs. July 2021 was my 3rd and final month in training. And then I jumped ship. I accepted a role as Commercial AE at Gong 🎉🎉. 1/ Colleagues called me crazy.↳ Not crazy. 2/ Family asked if I knew what I was doing.↳ Wasn’t
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Ran a demo with an SVP Sales, SVP Rev Ops, & 2 other leaders. Our last 7 opps all were closed-lost on price. I led the call proclaiming “Price will not be an obstacle with us.”. Attack the risk head on. Obstacle is the way.
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A top Gong Enterprise rep and 2023 Club Winner spoke to our Mid-Market org at Gong last week. She shared something that stuck with me. The larger the deal, often times, the smaller role you will have. And her biggest advice:. "My goal is to be an absolute pleasure to work.
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I just crossed 100% and my annual target with $1M closed. One thing on my mind, with 3 months left in the year. “Job's not finished” . To auto-quality for club, I need to reach 150%. I’m pacing behind that target and need to close ~460K this Q. Fortunately, I have $1.4M in.
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Truly believe if everyone took the 3 min to write a real @repvue review on their current role, SaaS would be 10x better. Starts with transparency to make sure leadership is held accountable. And people don’t end up joining the wrong company on false promises. When others have.
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Just passed 3 years with Gong. Wonder how long it is that I end up staying. Zero intention to leave in the next 12 months. Hard to ever say beyond that. Will likely be a ‘too good of a situation to pass up’ when I do make the move. Not due to me disliking it. I joined when.
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Had a former colleague that used to call me "Little Things LaManna.". Andy coined me that as I'd always preach out a series of little things compounded and can completely differentiate yourself as a seller. Things that require zero talent, yet have an immense impact:. ↳.
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I get more dressed up to go out on the weekends than I do for work. Advantages of working in tech sales. Or maybe I’m too comfortable at work 😂. Anyone else?.
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One of my favorite books I’ve ever read is ‘The subtle art of not giving a fuck.’. Changed my perspective on life. Stopped taking everything so seriously. Made me realize we are all out here just doing our best. Nobody fully knows what they are doing. And that’s the beauty of.
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Goal is 10 onsites in 2025. Nothing has a bigger impact on my win rate, deal size, deal velocity in 2024. Fun way to build deeper relationships and see cities too. Glad my company is 100% supportive.
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Show up 5 minutes early to any group presentation. It’s completely changed the course of some of my meetings. Group presentations are notoriously difficult. Some folks on the call opt to stay silent and often multitask. Keeping engagement across any group is challenging. But.
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Went from a seller who only sold on Zoom. To one that looks to go onsite in every opportunity. [For at least 50K+]. Something just works when you meet IRL. Shake someone's hand face-to-face. Have a real human conversation. And cut out all the sales BS. Win rate when going
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Closed by 2nd largest deal ever last month ($350K+ TCV). They upgraded to us, despite paying ~50% less with their last platform. 4 really important lessons learned: . 1. Power of on-sites. Plural. We did 1 early stage and a 2nd later stage. It sped up the evaluation and built.
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Coming back from a recent onsite in Philly. A few things I did to stand out:. -Printed one pager business case for each person.-Handwritten note for each person.-Catered lunch from an office favorite .-Showed up 45 early to set up, build rapport.-Brought a gift, related to a.
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Might be the only person with no games on their phone. X is where I go when I kill time. Reading up on my feed. Drafting up Tweets. More fun to me.
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I’ll be the first to leak the news. I got invited back to be on 30 Minutes to President’s Club. Was on it last year and still get weekly messages from sellers who listened to it. This time, I put forward my three absolute best actionable tips to sellers. All focused around.
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