A Scottish Pakistani, Ghazal Asif is currently living in San Francisco. She has been on the UK version of The Apprentice and she has worked at startups, large and small, such as Meraki (now acquired by Cisco) and Hewlett-Packard.
Today, she talks about a concept called Channel Sales, which is what she currently focuses on as the VP for World Wide Channel Sales at AppDynamics, an Application Performance Management company.
About:
| Years in Tech | 10 |
| Lives In: | Bay Area, CA |
| Current Job | VP Channel Sales |
| Date Recorded | 9/19/2017 |
Show Notes:
[02:00] Learn what channel sales can do to your own sales operations. Ghazal breaks down the difference between direct and indirect selling and how her team is structured.
[05:10] What the channel can do to your sales operations, what a channel reseller is, what the onboarding process is like, the biggest risks associated with resellers, and mitigating them
[12:39] Prospecting Basics: Ghazal shares some prospecting strategies you can do to find your resellers strategically
[14:33] Ghazal cites the top qualities of their top performers: Followup is critical! Learn how you can do this right.
[18:10] What is a proven channel sales motion? (Hint: The channel model and the leading indicators are never truly defined.) Ghazal underlines the leading indicators they use.
[21:40] Let’s talk finances: Ghazal explains the financial splits in a channel model. You’d be surprised how the margins are super low!
[22:35] A look into Ghazal’s awesome Executive Dashboard: tracking, Titan program for their strategic partners, CRM, etc.
[25:20] Other stakeholders Ghazal works with in growing the business and the day-to-day structure of AppDynamics’ channel managers broken into four major buckets and their salary structure
[33:26] Ghazal talks about her family background growing up in Scotland and how she actually got into sales. She dishes out some tips when preparing for a sales job interview!
[39:10] The Apprentice Experience: Ghazal talks about how she got into the show and why she describes it as one of the toughest times in her life. (She actually negotiated for a promotion while resigning from her job at that time.)
[43:30] The Perceived Disadvantages: Using your lack of experience or young age as your opportunity to learn, taking advantage of your disadvantage
[45:10] Ghazal talks about taking a step back to make several steps forward: What to look for in early stage startups you’re interested in applying to and what your morning attitude should be!
[50:11] Other gems Ghazal has learned from her mentors at Meraki: Some tips to deal with conflicts and frustrations, getting into the right mindset, and her daily routine
[01:02:10] Ghazal reveals her secret sauce in achieving her sales success: Following up and closing the loop. And some tips to develop your leadership skills!
Contact Info:
Ghazal Asif
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ghazalasif
Articles & Mentioned Resources:
Learning Resources
