James Barton is a seasoned Sales Development leader with over 13 years of managing SDR teams big and small. Currently he is the Head of Sales Development at Venafi, a world-class cyber-security company dedicated to protecting and managing machine identities.

In this episode, we talk about what it’s like leading Sales Development at very large enterprise size companies, leading through an acquisition, why SDR leaders have to master the tech their team uses, the importance of partnering with RevOps, AI in Sales Development and much more.

James is truly a legend in the game so I hope you’re ready to take notes because he drops all sorts of gems in this interview.

#salesconsultantpodcast #salesdevelopment #revenueoperations #revops #salestechnology #ai 

Time Stamps:

[:30] We start out talking about how James’ first child is due the day after we recorded this episode. Then we got into how his mother influenced him and his career

[9:30] Leading Sales Development during a down turned economy and while being acquired by SAP during his time at SuccessFactors. 

[14:00] How working with a large company like SAP left a thumbprint on his management style and helped him influence change with the smaller companies he would eventually join.

[17:03] A quick story about being kicked off of Salesforce’s platform because they (SAP/SuccessFactors CRM) kept stealing talent from them.

[17:58] Why SDR leaders must master the tech that their team uses.

[19:11] The crossover between Sales Development and Revenue Operations and why James prefers when his SDR team rolls up under RevOps.

[21:19] James gives us his viewpoint on AI in Sales Development. He believes it is a great feature but won’t replace people. I disagreed with him and made my point on why.

[32:45] James shares an amazing story of how he took the worst territory in the company during his time at SAP/SuccessFactors as an SDR and became the top rep in the entire company.

[36:19] The relationship between AE and SDR and how the partnership can be maximized.

[40:15] We unpack James’ philosophies on establishing a strong team culture, specifically his belief that “Culture can not be created by leaders.”

[46:10] I ask James to explain what he thinks reps want to and like to work with him.

Connect with James:

James’ LinkedIn Profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbbarton/

Connect with Derrick:

These interviews are also available on Derrick’s YouTube page - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFfMnGtGWVrzO3BorCimojw

Derrick’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/derrickis3linksales/

Derrick’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/derrickis3linksales/

Derrick’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/derrickis3link

Connect with The Show:

The Sales Consultant Podcast Home Page - https://3linksales.com/the-sales-consultant-podcast/

The Sales Consultant LinkedIn Page - https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-sales-consultant-podcast