About the Host
Paul has had an amazingly diverse career across the Asia-Pacific region, from Australia to South East Asia, Japan and more. His passion for starting and building successful organisations is evident his track record of two successful software companies - VMware and Tivoli Systems, taking both from startups to major industry players in the region.
Summary
On managing a Direct sales team
- Encourage a culture of vigorous questioning and pushing boundaries
- Have a list of questions for interviewing sales people that help you size up their potential, strengths and weaknesses.Consider a written assignment or presentation that will show you how they perform in the act.
- Always make your sales reps hopeful by being experimental, celebrating a win (chiming a bell, toasting a drink) and ambitious forecasting.ResellersResellers are common in SEA where markets differ by language and culture.Main challenge with resellers is to play an active role in the partnership to maintain transparency and access to the customer.Map the procurement process step by step in detail, as most deals don’t end up closing when small things are not done right. (e.g. underestimating how long the client’s legal team takes to approve a small change).
On managing Resellers
- Resellers are common in SEA where markets differ by language and culture.
- Main challenge with resellers is to play an active role in the partnership to maintain transparency and access to the customer.
- Map the procurement process step by step in detail, as most deals don’t end up closing when small things are not done right. (e.g. underestimating how long the client’s legal team takes to approve a small change).