Episode 131: Bianca Beres – The Importance of Mentorship

The SDR role isn’t just about selling, it’s about shadowing. As you rack up booked meetings, you’re not only meeting your quota, but increasing your opportunities to shadow your Account Executive and learn the ropes of a full-cycle sales role.  

In this episode of Tech Sales is for Hustlers, Bianca Beres, now a Senior Account Executive at Firework, breaks down her transition from SDR to AE, and emphasizes the importance of working closely with your AE as an SDR and being present in every sales call as you can gather tons of valuable information and prepare for a potential promotion.  

Guest-At-A-Glance

💡 Name: Bianca Beres

💡What she does: Senior Account Executive

💡Company: Firework

💡Noteworthy: Bianca transitioned from SDR to full-cycle sales. She firmly believes every sales call has learning potential, helping you grow professionally.

💡 Where to find Bianca: LinkedIn

Key Insights

The Importance of Being Present in Every Sales Call

Bianca points out the importance of being present in every possible sales call. She advises SDRs to ask their AEs about the questions that matter most to them. By attending these calls, SDRs can learn the ropes and understand the client’s priorities. This practice can benefit even SDRs, allowing them to gather valuable information for their AEs before the call.

Transitioning from SDR to Full-Cycle Sales

Bianca shares her transition experience from an SDR to a full-cycle sales role. She describes the process as challenging but rewarding. She advises SDRs to sit in on as many calls as possible and take note of the questions asked by both the AE and the client during these calls. These questions often highlight the client’s priorities and can help SDRs prepare to transition to full-cycle sales.

Working in a Large, Remote Company

Bianca discusses her experience working in a large, remote company. Despite the intimidating environment, she sees it as an opportunity for growth. She also shares her aspirations for her career in tech sales, expressing her desire to continue being an individual contributor while mentoring others. 

Episode Highlights

The Power of Active Listening in Sales Calls 

Bianca shares her strategy for learning from sales calls. She advises SDRs to attend every possible call, taking note of the questions asked by both the AE and the client. This practice allows SDRs to understand the client’s priorities and prepare for their transition to full-cycle sales.

“Sit in on every single possible call you can. Ask your AEs if you can sit in. Ask them: what kind of questions are most important to you. Even when you’re an SDR, ask your AEs like, “What questions do you want me to get for you prior to our call because you know that’s important.”‘

The Challenges and Rewards of Transitioning Roles 

Bianca discusses her experience transitioning from an SDR to a full-cycle sales role in a large, remote company. Despite the intimidating environment, she sees it as an opportunity for growth and learning from her successful colleagues.

“It was hard because it’s a new software, it’s a way larger company. We’re also all remote. These people are so successful. It’s intimidating, but I know that’s a chance for me to grow, and I saw clear career growth.”

The Importance of Mentorship in Tech Sales 

Bianca expresses her desire to continue being an individual contributor while mentoring others. She believes mentoring is crucial in tech sales and encourages listeners to reach out to her on LinkedIn for further discussions on professional development.

“I like being an individual contributor. And I could see myself continuing to do that forever, but still being able to mentor; it’s so important to me.”

Adapting to Remote Work 

Bianca shares her experience of adapting to remote work during the pandemic. She and her team made the best of the situation by using Zoom meetings to learn from each other and see one and another in action.

“Things that helped were like the Zoom blitzes where we would all blitz together on Zoom, and if someone had a CWIP, they would take themselves off mute, and we could all listen.”

Transcript:

[00:00:00] Bianca Beres: sit in on every single possible call you can ask your AEs. If you can sit in, ask them what kind of questions are most important to you, even when you’re an SDR, ask your AEs like, what questions do you want me to get for you prior to our call?

[00:00:19] Mm-hmm. Because you know, that’s important.

[00:00:21] ​

[00:00:42] Marc Gonyea: Bianca Beres in the house. 

[00:00:44] Chris Corcoran: Bb Yeah. Be squared. I like that. 

[00:00:49] Marc Gonyea: We’re recording this in, um, one Penn 

[00:00:52] Chris Corcoran: Station. Yes, New York.

[00:00:54] I’m excited to here. 

[00:00:56] Marc Gonyea: One Penn Plaza. How far away do you live from 

[00:00:58] Bianca Beres: here? Like 10 minutes. 10 

[00:01:00] Chris Corcoran: minutes? 

[00:01:01] Marc Gonyea: Yeah. By, by 

[00:01:02] Bianca Beres: sidewalk. Yes. By 

[00:01:03] Chris Corcoran: sidewalk. 10 minute walk. 10 

[00:01:05] Marc Gonyea: minute 

[00:01:05] Chris Corcoran: walk. You’re living the dream. Yeah, 

[00:01:07] Bianca Beres: it is the dream. Seriously. Want to 

[00:01:09] Marc Gonyea: get into it? Great. Before we get into it, let’s get to know you a little better.

[00:01:13] Cuz you know, memoryBlue is a big company. It is bigger. And when you worked with the company, Chris and I, maybe Chris, I get to work with you all that closely. So this is gonna be a time for Chris and I learn a little bit more about you and then the people listening. Great. Great. So tell us a little bit about yourself, like where you grew up, where you’re from, what you like as a kid.

[00:01:30] Bianca Beres: I grew up in the Northern Virginia area. Mm-hmm in Fairfax County and Centerville Uhhuh. Lived there my whole life. I moved once when I was five or maybe six. Yep. Just a mile away. so I went to Westfield High School, a larger school. Big school? 

[00:01:45] Chris Corcoran: Yes. Go Bulldogs. 

[00:01:46] Bianca Beres: Yes. Go Bulldogs. and I played sports growing up, swam competitively before school.

[00:01:53] What was your stroke? butterfly. Butterfly, 

[00:01:55] Marc Gonyea: yeah. Ooh. Power, athletic ability. Yes. That is a woman’s stroke. 

[00:02:01] Bianca Beres: It really is. It’s fly. Exhausting. 

[00:02:03] Marc Gonyea: It’s exhausting. Yeah. Wow. You don’t meet a lot of flyers. Okay. real quick, what, so you played sports. Yes. Swam. What were your personality? What were you like? describe the, the, I’m thinking shy, kind.

[00:02:15] Quiet, reserved. Reserved. 

[00:02:17] Bianca Beres: I would say I am a little shy and reserved at first, but I was definitely like the hyper kid. A little bit of a wild child in high school. you know, I preferred to hang out with friends and do schoolwork. So, but yes, I’m definitely more reserved at first. Okay. I need to like get comfortable.

[00:02:37] That. 

[00:02:37] Marc Gonyea: Yeah. What’d you think you were gonna be? You know, when you’re always say that when you’re a kid, this is what I wanna be when I grow up. What’d you think you wanted to be when you grew up? 

[00:02:45] Bianca Beres: My whole life. A teacher. A, a teacher? Yeah. I used to like lock my little brother in the basement and make him play school with me.

[00:02:53] Really? And I’m sure love that. And he was like a straight A student. I’m like, yes. That was me. You know, teaching him his whole life. yeah, I really, I really wanted to be a teacher always, even since I was like five years old. 

[00:03:06] Marc Gonyea: So you’re in sales now? Yes. You wanna come back? We’re come back to going where you went.

[00:03:10] The school and why Was there any sort of sales thing going on in your house? Did you know anything about it? Because you’re doing, you’re not, you’re doing, you’re not teaching obviously. 

[00:03:17] Bianca Beres: no. Nothing. No. Okay. No 

[00:03:19] Marc Gonyea: sales. Is there anything you look back on growing up, you’re like, ah, maybe sales. Like did you do anything, any personality, sell anything No.

[00:03:29] You’re just being you? 

[00:03:30] Bianca Beres: yes. I think that kind of goes into like why I switched to sales. Yeah. Is. That I feel like you can have that, like those teachable moments, ah, in sales, but also you can teach yourself. And that’s like super rewarding. And I think that’s something I really liked about the idea of education and teaching is that I see watching people grow and you know you’re growing yourself from students.

[00:03:53] And I can do that here in sales. 

[00:03:55] Marc Gonyea: So you would, where’d you go to college actually? I know, but for the audience. 

[00:03:58] Bianca Beres: Yeah, I went to Radford University. Mm-hmm. my whole family is hokey Uhhuh and, I couldn’t get into Virginia Tech, so I went to Radford, which was super close to Virginia Tech, for those of you who don’t know.

[00:04:11] So I still got to go to all the football games and have that kind of atmosphere, but, Radford’s a smaller school. They’re known for their education program. Yeah, you should be. So I went there for that 

[00:04:21] Marc Gonyea: day. Right. It was an all women’s Yes. Just manufacturing teachers. Exactly. Educating teachers. Yes. And then you thought that’s what you went all through college you thought you were gonna teach 

[00:04:31] Bianca Beres: about like halfway through.

[00:04:33] Okay. what happened? Well, I was interning, or I guess not interning, I was working at the time, at a luggage store over like summer break, winter break in at Far Oaks Mall in Tyson’s Mall selling high-end luggage, 

[00:04:47] Marc Gonyea: Adam Luggage store. Tell us about that. How does one start selling high-end luggage? Yeah, at Far Oaks Mall in high 

[00:04:54] Bianca Beres: school.

[00:04:54] You know, to be honest, I can’t really remember how I found this job, but I ended up loving it, so I started there. I think maybe when I was still in high school or like my freshman year of college and stayed there even after I graduated. So, yeah, it was a small kind of like boutique family run luggage store.

[00:05:15] There were six locations all in like the D M V area and we sold high end luggage. I’m talking like $1,500 carryon sort of bag, Kristin, that, that kinda stuff. Yeah. Um, I love it. Yeah. Um, 

[00:05:28] Chris Corcoran: of 

[00:05:30] Marc Gonyea: on my phone. Yeah. 

[00:05:32] Bianca Beres: Dreams about. Yeah. that’s how I kind of really got into sales. Interesting. And then in college I took a lot of psychology classes for my education.

[00:05:41] Yeah. But then one of them was like a psychology class behind selling and why people purchase Interesting. And buy interest. So I was able to use that at my job. Mm-hmm. And then I was like, okay, I’m going to, you know, switch my major to half education. It was called interdisciplinary studies, half education, half psych.

[00:06:01] Kind of like choose your own major sort of thing. 

[00:06:04] Marc Gonyea: Okay. Did you get any sort of bonus selling luggage or 

[00:06:06] Bianca Beres: no? yes, we did. Like commission? 

[00:06:09] Marc Gonyea: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You got commission? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Commission. Tell us about that. What do you remember about your comp plan selling high in luggage? 

[00:06:15] Bianca Beres: Yeah. So it was all unique to the brands that we were selling.

[00:06:19] Okay. I would say that that didn’t make me like, choose to sell one piece. Sure. Over the other, because I had my personal favorites. but yes, we got. Commission on every single piece that we sold. Some of it was like 1%, sometimes it would be a set, like $20 per sale. Okay. Yep. Um, and then there was spiffs running, like throughout the holiday time.

[00:06:40] so you get like bonuses and I always wanted to be number one. I was gonna 

[00:06:43] Marc Gonyea: ask you that. Yeah. Did you finish number one? Yes. Yeah. You were. Okay. I was gonna make a dang joke, but we’ll save it for tomorrow. But you, you, you were, You took pleasure in that. Sorry. 

[00:06:52] Chris Corcoran: Dang. I totally did. 

[00:06:55] Marc Gonyea: Yeah. And wh where do you think that 

[00:06:57] Bianca Beres: came from?

[00:06:58] I think probably my drive Uhhuh. you know, I’ve always loved to work. That’s a weird hobby of mine. Most people don’t like work, but I do. Why I, know, maybe it’s partly the money, but I think also just like pushing myself every day and it is a challenge and. It’s like I want to become better. Yeah.

[00:07:19] So I think like if, you know, even at first I didn’t know anything about luggage bar. I didn’t even have my own carry on. Yeah. But learning about it and like learning the way that people purchase and trying to understand their needs and learning from the owner of the store was, great experience.

[00:07:34] And then watching myself become successful is rewarding. 

[00:07:39] Marc Gonyea: Absolutely. All right, so you’re at Radford for the first couple years you thought you were gonna be a teacher major in education or elementary education, I think. Yep. But you’re working at the luggage store? All through college. All through college.

[00:07:51] All through college. So you like to stick to things too? Sounds like I do. Yeah. Yeah. Why is 

[00:07:55] Bianca Beres: that? Where does that come from? so I think that comes from my parents, both of them. My dad just recently retired. He worked on Jones branch at Hilton for over, over 30 years. Yes. Oh, nice. Wow. Um,yeah, and my mom’s worked for the government since she was 22 and she’s still working, so they’ve had the same job their whole life.

[00:08:16] And I just growing up thought that’s what everyone did. Like they always had the same job their whole life. and I wanted to find a place like that or a career 

[00:08:25] Marc Gonyea: or a place or just a career. You like to work though? Yeah. That’s the, you said about the money. Like what, what is about the money that provides you, that you kind of like that too?

[00:08:35] It’s not bad too that, you know, it’s a, it’s a fair question. I think, 

[00:08:38] Bianca Beres: um, I like expensive things. Mm-hmm. My parents always, you know, got us what we needed and they got nice to haves for occasions. But if I went, to my mom and said, Hey, I want this nice designer purse. She would say, okay, go buy it.

[00:08:54] Like, you know, where’s your money? Sure. Have it if you want it. So, you know, I just always work to get myself those, like above and beyond sort 

[00:09:03] Marc Gonyea: of. Do you think it’s like a sense of independence that provided you or more? 

[00:09:06] Bianca Beres: Totally, yes. Yeah. And 

[00:09:08] Marc Gonyea: how does that equate into sales? 

[00:09:10] Bianca Beres: Well, I think part of sales that’s really great is you kind of choose your own path, for most sales roles, especially.

[00:09:20] You know, as an ae you can work hard to go above and beyond. We have SDRs, but you’re doing your own outreach to get more meetings and you can make more money, you can make more commission, the more sales you make. Same with being an SDR, right? You hit your quota, you book a more meetings, why not work a little bit harder to go get whatever that is that you have your eye 

[00:09:42] Marc Gonyea: on?

[00:09:43] That’s, oh, that’s great. Alright, so when did you decide, when you, when was that moment in college, I’m not gonna go into teaching. 

[00:09:49] Bianca Beres: I think it was my junior year. 

[00:09:51] Marc Gonyea: And what, what was it event, was it an experience, was it talking to someone like 

[00:09:58] Bianca Beres: It was mostly like the classes. I really loved these psych classes.

[00:10:02] Yeah. So I decided that I wanted to add this on as the interdisciplinary major major, which then a little bit kind of pushed me out of this education realm, but also I was still doing, like. We taught art at Radford Elementary School all throughout, all four of my years at school, at Radford. I taught art there because they didn’t have an art program.

[00:10:25] So I realized that, I can do something else and still get my education little fix mm-hmm. That I was looking for. Oh, nice. and I can do both. Nice. And I think, you know, teaching is always something someone can go back to. Yeah. But yeah, I think that’s what made me switch. 

[00:10:42] Marc Gonyea: So when you got outta school, did you teach or did you work or, no, I didn’t.

[00:10:46] Bianca Beres: Or what’d you do? so my last year of college, I interned, actually still was working at the luggage store, but also did an internship with the brands that we were selling. Some of them was merchandising, some of it with psychology behind sales. and so after school I thought, you know, I’m going to get my job right away.

[00:11:05] And then I was kind of stuck and set in my way. I moved back home right after school and continued to work at the luggage store, but after about like six and a half months, I think my parents also were ready to get me out of the house. Right? Yeah. Yeah. And I realized that it’s time for me to move on and find a place.

[00:11:25] Where I can like really start my career. So that’s when I found memoryBlue on, I think Indeed at the 

[00:11:33] Chris Corcoran: time. Indeed. Alright. Yes. Very good. So you found out about us, then what happened? So I applied, 

[00:11:41] Bianca Beres: I didn’t, I. Truly understand exactly what I was applying for. But yep. On the website it said a lot of things about like choosing your own career growth and Yep, where people are now that were memoryBlue alumni.

[00:11:54] And that was so exciting to me. So I went to my interview and I came back home and told my parents about it. And my mom started looking into it. She was like, oh yeah, this looks great. Like, started like explaining a little bit more of what this role would be to me. Yep. Because I think I was, I didn’t even know what an SDR was at the time.

[00:12:13] Right. and then my second interview I saw Jen Sado in the office 

[00:12:19] Chris Corcoran: and, and you, you 

[00:12:20] Bianca Beres: knew her. Yes. I’ve known her Westfield. From, middle school actually. Middle school? Yeah. Old school? Yes. middle school, high school. College. Y’all school 

[00:12:30] Chris Corcoran: together? We did. And high school and college? 

[00:12:32] Marc Gonyea: Yes. So you saw her in the office and you had no idea She worked there?

[00:12:35] No idea. 

[00:12:36] Bianca Beres: So I immediately like messaged her after I left and I said, tell me everything. Do you like it? She said, I love it. This is the place for you. You’re going to love it. I saw, I was interviewing with Stacy and she said, you’re gonna love Stacy. I’m on her team. So I was like, this is it for me. I hope I get this.

[00:12:55] You know, I was so excited. And you got it. 

[00:13:00] Marc Gonyea: Yes. And what was that like? Because, so you had the, had the luggage sales experience, right? But no, like B2B yet, like, 

[00:13:10] Bianca Beres: oh, yeah, yeah. No, no, no experience at all. I did a lot of research before my first day, came in with like a binder, you know, like a bag. my academy.

[00:13:22] Was unique. Chris, you were actually like running our after academy. It was just Tyler and me. Oh, that’s why you’re so good. And yeah, Jen Doe. Cause you’re on Stacy’s team. Yeah. And Stacy and everyone. Yes. Yes. Jen Doe ran our academy. Oh, Jen. Yes. And who else was Tyler? Yeah, just Tyler and me. 

[00:13:44] Chris Corcoran: Psycho T 

[00:13:46] Bianca Beres: He’s great.

[00:13:47] And I booked a meeting in the academy and that was like, of course you did. Oh, heck yeah. Are you serious? I did. Wow. so then I was like, okay, I think I can do this. Did you have any doubts? Yes. The first day, I mean, honestly, I was, I was lost and Tyler kind of got it and I just didn’t, I remember going to the bathroom and we were talking in the hall and I was like, I’m just not getting this like, Maybe I’m not, this is not right for me.

[00:14:16] This is during academy? Yes. During academy we have like a little break. Like 

[00:14:20] Marc Gonyea: your, when your first or second 

[00:14:21] Bianca Beres: day on the job. Yeah. I think first, first or second about yourself. I was, that’s 

[00:14:25] Marc Gonyea: good. but not the quitting part. But like, you were, like you were in the hallway, in the room, Lou. Yeah. 

[00:14:30] Bianca Beres: then I just, I don’t know.

[00:14:32] I kept listening to him and listening to other people and listening to what Jen was saying. And then I would go home and like practice by myself. Wow. And I got it and I picked up on it. But that was during academy. Then like my first few weeks, I still felt like everything was new to me and I’m still trying to learn it.

[00:14:50] On Stacy’s team? Yes, on Stacy’s team. Oh good. We were downstairs in the office, you know, with the fold out tables. Love that. 

[00:15:01] Chris Corcoran: Yeah. We, we were, we were growing really fast 

[00:15:04] Bianca Beres: back then. Growing so fast. Yeah. That we needed like an overflow 

[00:15:07] Chris Corcoran: space. Yeah. Yeah. So you were on Stacy’s team? On Stacy’s team? with Jen.

[00:15:11] With Jen, okay. And then who, who, who had game on that team? 

[00:15:15] Bianca Beres: Oh my gosh. Our team was great. Yeah. I loved everyone on our team. So, 

[00:15:20] Chris Corcoran: who was the best? 

[00:15:21] Marc Gonyea: Besides yourself? 

[00:15:22] Bianca Beres: Of course. Wow. That’s really hard to say. I feel like everyone had something that they were really good at. Mm-hmm. I was on the same campaign as Austin Redden at the time.

[00:15:34] Oh, 

[00:15:35] Chris Corcoran: he’s a smooth operator. Yeah, he’s good with the phone. 

[00:15:37] Bianca Beres: Oh, he’s so good. I would record him, um, my cell phone and then go home and listen to him and be like, okay, this is how he says it. This is how he talks to people. This is his voicemail. So at the time, you know, I think he was the best. Mm-hmm. Because we were, you know, on that same campaign along with Sydney.

[00:15:56] everyone on our team was great. Yeah. Yeah. That was, yeah. Our team was good. It was Nicky too. Jake, Tom, Connor. Yeah. Liz Dorn. 

[00:16:09] Marc Gonyea: Liz Dorn. Yeah. That’s an home squad. Squad. 

[00:16:12] Bianca Beres: Yeah. Oh my gosh. It was so fun. 

[00:16:14] Marc Gonyea: Liz’s, take a pause real quick. Tell us about this. You mentioned already a couple times, listen to other people recording people on their cell phone.

[00:16:22] On your cell phone. Why? Why? Why did you do that? Why is that important? 

[00:16:26] Bianca Beres: I think this is something that everyone can take away, even if it’s like your first day in sales or you’ve been doing sales for 30 years is learning from others and listening back. So like the recording on my cell phone, I could go home and

[00:16:42] listen to it again, it’s one thing to listen to it in real time. You can obviously get that experience, but recording it, listening and then taking notes for yourself. Practicing. I also recorded myself all the time, and would just play it back, play it back until I sounded. You know, normal. Yeah. Like I was actually talking in a real conversation.

[00:17:02] Yeah. But I think there is a lot to learn from other people because everyone has their own style. So listening to call recordings, whether that’s like chorus, gong, whatever it might be. Yeah. You’re recording it on your cell phone or just walking around and listening to people. They all have their own unique.

[00:17:19] Style. And then it’s, that’s how you can figure out what works best for you, I think. 

[00:17:22] Marc Gonyea: Yes. Student of the game, Chris. So what 

[00:17:25] Chris Corcoran: was it like, when, you know, you saw Jen Sado and you knew her since middle school and then you came in and she had got a headstart and then you just blew past her. 

[00:17:36] Bianca Beres: I never blew costume, Jen.

[00:17:38] Gosh, I wish.

[00:17:42] Marc Gonyea: What, what were you good at? So you said everybody had something they were good at. What did you kind of. Say, this is my, I don’t have to call it superpower. What was your superpower? 

[00:17:50] Bianca Beres: I think being organized, and I think that’s, that’s something, hold on. 

[00:17:56] Marc Gonyea: Go into this. Be very deliberate. Yep. 

[00:17:59] Bianca Beres: Let’s talk about that.

[00:18:00] So this actually started on my first day, my email. I had so many emails. I was trying to figure out where everything would go. So I immediately started creating folders. and dragging and dropping emails, setting up automated, tasks, rules. So that rules email would go. Rules. Yeah. Rules. Yep. taking notes.

[00:18:20] I love to take notes and I bring that organization with me now to all of the rules. So organizing my notes, organizing my emails, color, coding my calendar. I’m not like this outside of work, but That’s okay. Yeah. Bringing all, everything in like a set pile and structure, so I knew where things were. If someone answered the phone and I was lost on a question, I could immediately pull up, this is where it is in my sheet music, or this is where they need to go in my calendar.

[00:18:50] You’re so, 

[00:18:50] Marc Gonyea: your superpower is being organized. Yes. Having a process for everything it sounds like. Right. 

[00:18:56] Bianca Beres: Where’d you learn that? A lot of it was at memoryBlue, really, to be totally honest. Yeah. I would just go around and ask people, how are you organizing your email? What does your calendar look like?

[00:19:08] Where do you keep your notes? 

[00:19:10] Marc Gonyea: Yeah. you just pick up on the best. Right. And then make it your own. Yes. So you, you’re really good at, seeing what other people were doing. I love that. 

[00:19:17] Bianca Beres: I think that is super key, is just watching people Yep. Throughout life, even outside of work. Yes. And seeing what works.

[00:19:25] How, how did they get to where they are today? Or maybe you don’t want to become like them. You can watch what they did and take notes from that as well. Right. 

[00:19:34] Chris Corcoran: Wow. So when did, when did you start? 2019. 

[00:19:36] Bianca Beres: 2019? Yep. December 

[00:19:38] Chris Corcoran: 1st. December 1st. So December 1st. So you’re in a small academy, small cohort, have success instantaneously during academy.

[00:19:45] You’re on Stacy’s team just surrounded by excellence. Yes. So that’s what a great start from December, January, February, March. March, 2020 hits. And so then you have to go and work from your house. Yeah. What was that like? Because you know, you, one day you go from being surrounded by all those amazing people where you can record Austin Redden, you can hear all the Liz Dorn on the phone, and then the next day you’re at your house.

[00:20:15] So what, what was that like? 

[00:20:17] Bianca Beres: So I think there’s two pieces to it. Actually. When I had success during academy, That was like a little teaser for me because I, my first three months I didn’t actually hit quota. Mm-hmm. So right when we transitioned to at home, I think the month before or that month was my first month hitting quota, but it was really when I was starting to get it.

[00:20:38] Okay. Like it clicked. Yep. But transitioning to at home was hard. Mm-hmm. I was on a travel campaign. You were on travel? Yes. 

[00:20:47] Chris Corcoran: Upside. 

[00:20:47] Bianca Beres: Business, travel upside. Business 

[00:20:49] Chris Corcoran: Travel in when? When Corona 

[00:20:51] Bianca Beres: hits. Yep. Peak of Covid. 

[00:20:53] Chris Corcoran: What was that like? 

[00:20:56] Bianca Beres: It was devastating, to be honest. My gosh. Yeah. Um, we loved them. Yeah.

[00:21:00] Our whole team did. They came to the office in Tysons, you know, we were. Potentially interviewing with them, doing mock interviews. When they came to Tyson’s, we went to their office in DC Cool office. loved them and I liked the campaign. It was, yeah, I got it. Especially coming from the luggage.

[00:21:20] Right. You know? That’s perfect. so from the luggage, . When Covid hit, i t was hard. No one was traveling. Yeah, we were still calling on for upside and Oh man. For I think a bunch and, but also I was working at home with, my parents we’re working from home. I also had a fold out table in their basement. We were all like competing for wifi.

[00:21:44] Marc Gonyea: You were in the overflow space at your house? Yes. That memoryBlue it at the house. 

[00:21:49] Chris Corcoran: Both places. Both places with your full top 

[00:21:51] Bianca Beres: table. well also, right before we got went home for Covid, we had moved upstairs, so I was so excited. Yeah. I think we were up there for a week and a half before I got sent home where we went remote.

[00:22:03] What day was that? 13th of 

[00:22:04] Marc Gonyea: March or something? Yeah, March 

[00:22:05] Chris Corcoran: 13th, 2020. It 

[00:22:06] Bianca Beres: was, so it was a challenge for sure. And then just not being around all of my friends and coworkers at this point. Like we were friends. Yeah. We were buddies. We had our little, crew and it was hard. We did a lot of, zoom blitzes.

[00:22:22] Yeah. Together and Yeah, a lot of Zoom. A lot of zoom FaceTime teams was going crazy. Yeah, I bet. Because we were still trying to like keep that connection right. It was definitely hard not to be able to listen to all of everyone, in office and get that experience. Things that helped were like the zoom blitzes where we would all blitz together on Zoom, and if someone had a cwp, they would take themselves off mute and we could all listen.

[00:22:50] That was really fun and I, I liked how Stacy encouraged that. That’s 

[00:22:54] Chris Corcoran: cool. Yeah. So you guys were kind of doing, making the best of the situation. She’s a great man. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, Stacy. She’s gonna have high standards for everybody, which is great. Yeah, totally. Which produces great 

[00:23:08] Marc Gonyea: SDRs.

[00:23:09] So were you splitting your day at this point with, with Colorado and Virginia? When did that start happening? 

[00:23:15] Bianca Beres: That started happening right after I stopped working on Upside. Okay. Well, actually for a few weeks I was doing three campaigns, upside, Samsung Whisk. Mm-hmm. And mm-hmm. Axio Recovery. Yep. So, yes, I was splitting my time with Stacy’s team, east Coast Hours.

[00:23:34] Joey Plush’s, team Mountain Time doing four huddles a day. just did two blitzes, but yeah, four huddles a day. Yeah. And that was great too, because then I got to meet all the people from the Denver office. Yeah. And have Joey as a manager. Yeah. 

[00:23:51] Chris Corcoran: He’s great. Jp. Yeah. Yeah. Joey Plush, you get exposure to all What, how, what?

[00:23:56] They had different styles as managers. Right. Totally different. And so what was that like? 

[00:24:01] Bianca Beres: I thought it was awesome. Yeah. To be able to see both. Yep. And, Joey’s definitely more relaxed. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I think I had like the best of both worlds. And they’re, both of them want nothing but the best for you.

[00:24:16] Yeah. And they’re teaching you in a way that will make you successful and whatever path you want, they’re there to support you and help you get there. So I loved being on both teams. Joey did a ton of fun things too for us, especially because he was also remote. And then here I was in Northern Virginia.

[00:24:37] So we played game night once a week and I would bring other people to game night. Okay. And it was great. It was really fun. And 

[00:24:45] Chris Corcoran: you’re still living at home at this point? I had, no, I had moved out. Oh, you moved, you moved out during 

[00:24:49] Bianca Beres: Covid? Yes. Month before we went, remote. Okay. Actually, no, no, sorry.

[00:24:55] Because I was remote at my parents’ house. Yeah. I guess a month into 

[00:24:58] Chris Corcoran: covid, a month into Covid. You decided to move 

[00:25:00] Bianca Beres: out? Yes. I could not do the remote fighting for wifi anymore. With your parents. Yeah. 

[00:25:05] Marc Gonyea: That’s gotta be tough. Totally. When did you make the transition to PPM? 

[00:26:05] Bianca Beres: That was at like my, it was in the summer.

[00:26:08] Yeah, I think it’s around eight months in at the time. And I wasn’t really sure, you know what I wanted to do? I was talking about the AE team and Yep. Talking about the PPM team and you know, Stacy would ask me, what do you want to do? Have you thought about going manager direction? Yep. I was just unsure.

[00:26:30] But I had the experience of working on these four different campaigns at the time, and I liked that exposure. So I thought the pp m route would give me time, a little bit more time to kind of decide what I wanted to do. Smart, while also getting exposure to more campaigns, more industries, more working styles, and to work with killers like straight hustlers was exciting.

[00:26:54] It’s great 

[00:26:54] Marc Gonyea: hustlers. There’s no, no other way to describe it. The A team. Right. Yeah. The 18th. It was awesome. The team, you never say anything like that again. I doubt it. I doubt it. You can call me up and tell me about it. I’ll So tell, tell us about that team. 

[00:27:10] Bianca Beres: It was so exciting, because you know, there was Dang, Jake for Nathan came Buddy, Nathan that was my little squad. Oh man. Gosh. Um, of course there were other people on the team, but. Then it was Max here, ready to just support us. And he, he knew at the time that we also knew what worked for us. So he just threw some campaigns at us and said, get started. And so we did. And you know, every campaign was different.

[00:27:42] Some of them, a lot of cold calling was great. Other ones, like Anvil email, I found an email that worked, super. Successful email campaign that I didn’t do as much cold calling for that specific campaign. Mm-hmm. Worked on a lot of cybersecurity during, um, the PPM team, which I learned just wasn’t for me.

[00:28:05] Mm-hmm. So I really liked that, that time on the pp m team to figure out what works for me, like what industry I like, what kind of management style, because now at this point I’ve had Max, Stacy and Joey and, Yeah, it was a great team. Overall, what was the 

[00:28:21] Chris Corcoran: biggest difference? Because the team that you were on, on Stacy’s team, they’re strong people on that team, and then the PPM team, I mean, there’s some killers.

[00:28:32] Yeah. What was the biggest difference between the, the two teams approaches, cultures, philosophies. 

[00:28:41] Bianca Beres: That’s a great question. Stacy’s our team. Yes, we, it was also an amazing team. The biggest difference was that we were all really, really supporting each other on that team and, you know, maybe someone would take a step back.

[00:28:56] And help someone else. Right? Where’re on the PPM team. We are all supporting each other. We’re all friends and we all want each other to succeed, but it’s a lot more competitive. We’re not taking time to, you know, go help someone send an email when we could be booking a meeting at that time. so it was more of like a doggy dog 

[00:29:16] Chris Corcoran: world.

[00:29:16] There it is. Which one did you like better?

[00:29:19] Bianca Beres: I can’t decide that one. I liked them 

[00:29:22] Chris Corcoran: both. Both for different reasons? Yes. Okay, good. Well, it’s good. It was good to get exposure to both. 

[00:29:27] Marc Gonyea: Definitely. Bianca, you have like a really good sense of, being in the moment. I feel like, like you’re, like you can describe vividly these experiences working for Plush, working with these clients.

[00:29:42] Where does that, why is that? Is this your personality? Do you like working, like is. Like, tell me about that. 

[00:29:49] Bianca Beres: that’s really funny that you say that because I think the opposite. I think I have the worst memory. Yes, I can live in the moment, but a week later, I don’t remember. but I think part of that comes from just my memory.

[00:30:01] Blue experience is unforgettable for me. I will never forget that. And I take all of the things that I’ve learned with me every single day in and out of work. So that, Time in my life was just so impactful that I think that is like instilled in my memory. That’s so good to hear. Yeah. Well, I appreciate you guys.

[00:30:26] Marc Gonyea: We didn’t do it. I mean, you did it with your crew and your managers. We gotta help do some of it, but like from afar, 

[00:30:33] Chris Corcoran: so, but there’s a very, uh, unique story in terms of, being on the PPM team. You’re very, one of the rare individuals. Who were, you were able to showcase your capabilities so much so that the client wanted to hire you, which that does not happen very often.

[00:30:50] So talk a little bit about that. 

[00:30:52] Bianca Beres: That was amazing. So I really loved that client. Anvil, they took me in with open arms. I was in texting relationships with my AEs, you know, joining some of their team calls. At the time I had 

[00:31:07] Chris Corcoran: that texting relationship thing. That only works if it’s a two-way street.

[00:31:11] Right? Totally. So like we have some people, they don’t want that level of relationship, but if it’s really important to have that level of relationship because good things happen when you, when you have it. So keep going. 

[00:31:22] Bianca Beres: Yeah. And I think that that’s something that I loved is that they were encouraging it, right?

[00:31:26] Yeah. There. Yeah. because I’m learning from them. Yeah. I was asking them to put me on calls that even I didn’t book. Because if you can listen to an AE pitch, you’re a cold call pitch. Is going to be amazing. and they encouraged it. Yeah, of course. So I love 

[00:31:42] Chris Corcoran: that. So what manager told you to do that? No manager told me.

[00:31:50] See, so that’s the whole thing is like you were like, Hey, I need to get good. I need to hear other people. I wanna be on these AE calls. This is gonna be the best use of my time. Even though you were in a PPM format, you knew that that would be the most valuable use of your time, was to go and hear an AE pitch and run a call so that when you were on the phone you’d be better.

[00:32:08] Right? Right. That was all your ambition in all your organization. 

[00:32:11] Marc Gonyea: One of our core philosophies is like learning from other people. Yeah. So it’s kind of funny. You wanna be a teacher. Yeah. But you’re teaching other people, but you’re a big student of other people’s. Process or ways or habits or whatever the hell they’re doing.

[00:32:24] So you’re very open-minded to learn. Learn from everyone, which that’s how you do it. You gotta be curious. You’re curious. Curious. Yeah. You haven’t said the word yet, but you’re curious, Hey, what? What’s making them successful? What can I do and make my own? But then it’s easy to be curable. Curiosity’s kind of easy.

[00:32:40] All this other shit you do, recording yourself, playing it back. Play, listening to other people that’s harder than just being, simply being curious. So you kind of, she’s got both sides of it practicing. Yeah. 

[00:32:52] Chris Corcoran: So you’re texting, you’re on texting, relationship with him, you’re showing up for these AE calls.

[00:32:56] Learning from those, what else were you able to do to kind of showcase your capabilities and impress them so much? They’re like, listen, come join the team. 

[00:33:05] Bianca Beres: I showed them my email, open rate and reply rate. I think that really impressed them. That was something that impressed me also. Cause I trust myself.

[00:33:17] Yeah. you know, I, I had other successful email drips that I was creating or campaigns, but nothing like this. And it took time. I was creating emails, ab testing them, sending them to like family members, friends, other people at memoryBlue. What would you do if you got this? Mm-hmm. and it worked. So I think that really.

[00:33:39] Impressed them. And then they had talked to me about joining the team. Well, max talked to me first. Okay. And then they talked to me. They said, you know, but you’re gonna have to move to New York. I was like, oh, I’m so in. That sold me. 

[00:33:54] Chris Corcoran: Was this still during the pandemic or where were we in that whole time timeframe?

[00:33:58] so 

[00:33:58] Bianca Beres: this was end of November time of 2020, so yes. Okay. I was almost at my year mark. Yeah. Here at memoryBlue. And this was the, oh, the weird time in the pandemic when people thought everything was about to start opening back up, you know, we’re back in the office. so they said, we’re going to the office full-time in New York.

[00:34:18] You need to move to New York if you’re gonna come here full-time. I said, that’s great. I’ve always wanted to live in New York. I’m in. I just want to know that there is still career growth for me, because that will be something that I’m leaving. Here, and I don’t want to risk that. Yep. Because I knew that memoryBlue had career growth for me.

[00:34:39] Yep, absolutely. And they encouraged that. And then I also said, can I please still keep my mentees? 

[00:34:46] Chris Corcoran: And they 

[00:34:47] Marc Gonyea: said yes. Yeah. I don’t wanna make serious. Yes. You’re kidding me. No, no. Listen, let’s keep, keep going. Tell, tell us, tell me about this. 

[00:34:53] Bianca Beres: Oh gosh. I loved mentoring. I had a lot of mentees. My first one was on Stacy, mentor me’s team mentor.

[00:35:00] Keep going. Gosh, I I don’t think I can do that. Not there yet. Sorry. Keep going. Sorry. I had one on Stacy’s team and then I asked for some more. Then, at the time, Jen created her own, or maybe this was at the PPM team, but Jen had her own team at this time, so I started mentoring some of her team members and one of them.

[00:35:22] Was Aaron Perth he actually wasn’t on Jen’s team. I can’t remember whose team he was on, but I kept mentoring him and a few other people. Hunter? Hunter? Yes. Yes. 

[00:35:36] Chris Corcoran: Boy, Jason. 

[00:35:38] Bianca Beres: He came, he was actually Aaron’s. mentee. but I came to the office one day to pick something up for tops, and I was talking with Aaron and he said, oh, this is my mentee, Jake.

[00:35:51] It was Jake’s first week. Aaron was like, yeah, you should meet with Bianca. She’ll help you. so I met with him and then he got his own team. So I, I felt like I had great, great grandkids. so then I got some of Jake’s team members as mentees. Really? 

[00:36:04] Chris Corcoran: Yes. You’re kidding. I can’t 

[00:36:06] Marc Gonyea: believe Hunter, maybe let Bianca leave the 

[00:36:08] Chris Corcoran: business.

[00:36:08] Miguel? Miguel. Miguel. Yep. Yep. Miguel and Jake’s team. 

[00:36:14] Bianca Beres: So I kept, doing that while I was at Anvil and they fully supported it. 

[00:36:18] Chris Corcoran: How frequently do you talk to these mentees? I like 

[00:36:21] Bianca Beres: to do it at least once a week. Once a week? Yes. Sometimes twice. She knew she works 

[00:36:27] Marc Gonyea: for. She works. 

[00:36:27] Bianca Beres: Wow. Yeah. it depends like how early they were at memoryBlue.

[00:36:32] You sure. And then when I felt like they kind of grew out of me, then I would ask streak for another one 

[00:36:37] Chris Corcoran: or ask someone else. Okay. Really? That’s amazing. 

[00:36:41] Bianca Beres: That’s where I got my teaching fixed. 

[00:36:42] Chris Corcoran: Yeah. Right, right, right. It’s through mentoring. Yeah. Mentoring these new, these new pups. Right. 

[00:36:48] Bianca Beres: It’s awesome to like watch them grow.

[00:36:50] And when I watched Jake get his own team, I literally cried. it was the coolest moment. So it was really exciting. And I liked, you know, again, anvil supported me throughout all of this and helped me grow. And they, they kept their promise, right? Yep. Of career growth. 

[00:37:07] Chris Corcoran: Wow. So let’s talk about that. So you leave Northern Virginia, move up to New York.

[00:37:12] Start working for Anvil. And are you an SDR with them or, or talk, catch us up with what you did for them. 

[00:37:18] Bianca Beres: Yep. I was an SDR. Only SDR at the time. Only SDR. Okay. Yes. They had an SDR before, but he was an ae. Okay. At the, you know, when I joined and he was an AE for all the time I knew him. Okay. And he was my manager.

[00:37:33] But really I kind of just did everything on my own. Yep. and then they started to grow out the SDR team at Anvil. And I, this is, I didn’t do much cold calling at Anvil. It was almost all through email, but I was, you know, sitting in, again, on these AE calls we had Chorus, so I was spending hours a day listening to Chorus.

[00:37:57] I would just play it in my background when I was prospecting, still using my same prospecting like techniques that I learned from memoryBlue. Some of the softwares that I had at memoryBlue that Anvil did not have. I took them to Anvil and I said, here are the reasons why we need this. This is what I used at memoryBlue.

[00:38:16] I promise you, you will see an roi. Please. Can we just do a trial? So they ended up purchasing those softwares like Seamless and Zoom info. Seamless. 

[00:38:25] Marc Gonyea: Yes. People use it. Zoom, I love Seamless. Yeah, I know. People gotta use it. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a game changer. It is a game changer if you use 

[00:38:33] Bianca Beres: it well, everyone should use it.

[00:38:35] It’s so efficient. I know, I know. And so I, yes, I was an SDR, from December until I started transitioning around like the April time where I was doing the first intro call myself. Okay. Yeah. And then AEs would sit in and take over from there because it was a longer cell cycle. Okay. And then I became a full-time AE 

[00:38:59] Chris Corcoran: July or June.

[00:39:00] In July. And what was that like transitioning from SDR to. Run the discovery call to full cycle. 

[00:39:07] Bianca Beres: Oh. So ready? I was so excited,to like really get in there because I think when you’re sitting and listening to these calls, it’s so easy to critique Yeah. And say, why didn’t they ask this? Yeah. Right. But then when I started doing it myself, gave, I had so much grace for them.

[00:39:24] Like Yeah. And I realized it’s so hard in the moment. Yeah. 

[00:39:27] Chris Corcoran: So like, One of the things that I do is if I listen to a call, why didn’t you ask this? Then when I listen to my own calls, dude, why didn’t you ask this? Right? It’s the same thing. You’re like, but it’s hard. It’s so hard. There’s a lot of stuff going on.

[00:39:38] Yeah. 

[00:39:39] Bianca Beres: Sales call. Yeah. I liked being able to really run my entire sales cycle and own everything, and I was still learning. You know, from myself, from these other AEs, from team members learning from my mentees. So it was exciting getting that transition and having that career growth. How many 

[00:40:00] Chris Corcoran: AEs were at, at the company at that time?

[00:40:02] Four. Four. So you had others that you were learning from? Yes. Well, I was the fourth. You were the fourth. You, uh, three others that you could learn from. Mm-hmm. 

[00:40:09] Marc Gonyea: What’s it, were you going into an office? 

[00:40:12] Bianca Beres: No. So when I moved to New York, um, moved here in March and or February, actually, it was full on Covid here.

[00:40:21] I mean, you would not step out of your house without a mask if you, everywhere you wore a mask. There was no indoor dining. There was no outdoor dining at the time. Wow. and I knew no one, I moved here completely by myself, having zero friends and we were a remote. So it was hard. It was hard in the beginning for sure.

[00:40:42] I remember like when I moved in, I just broke down and started crying, like, why did I do this? and I was having a panic attack, but you know, I met friends through work or through other things that we would meet up outside of work. Yeah. And now it’s the dream. 

[00:40:57] Marc Gonyea: Now you’re killing it. do you miss not going to an office or how are you learning?

[00:41:02] Bianca Beres: I don’t, of course. Yeah. Call recordings. like I spend a lot of time on Zoom, like Zoom calls or FaceTime. Yep. Pretty much throughout the day. I’m either on Zoom or FaceTime with a colleague if I’m not talking to a prospect or a potential client. and we work together and just share ideas back and forth.

[00:41:24] I’m a chatter box. 

[00:41:26] Marc Gonyea: 

[00:41:26] Chris Corcoran: Well, this, so what, what advice would you give someone?

[00:41:28] Who is an SDR mm-hmm. And they want to move into full cycle sales. Typically, that’s a harder transition than most SDRs think it’s gonna be. What advice would you give to that person? 

[00:41:42] Bianca Beres: It is a hard transition. sit in on every single possible call you can ask your AEs. If you can sit in, ask them what kind of questions are most important to you, even when you’re an SDR, ask your AEs like, what questions do you want me to get for you prior to our call?

[00:42:03] Mm-hmm. Because you know, that’s important. And when I was sitting in on those calls, I have a notebook like this big by transitioned to my iPad, I would write down every single question that the AE asked the prospect. Outside of them just pitching the product. Yep. What discovery questions are they asking, but also the questions that the client is asking the ae.

[00:42:25] Mm-hmm. Because those questions are clearly important to these prospects. Right. And if they come up time and time again, then I know that’s something I probably need to address in my pitch. Right. Or learn how to answer that. I think that’s the biggest piece of advice is ask to sit in on every single thing you can.

[00:42:46] Ask them for help and don’t be scared. You know, don’t, don’t think you’re going to annoy them. It, they’re going to like, it sounds 

[00:42:54] Chris Corcoran: like you study these sales calls both from the salesperson perspective and the prospects perspective. 

[00:43:00] Marc Gonyea: Yes. Playing them in the background. Yeah. She’s hot on, sports best.com or something stupid like you’re actually working on your game.

[00:43:08] Can you describe for me, I, I remember my question. It wasn’t this question, but I’m gonna ask this question then ask my big one. Okay. Describe for me your process. So you used to type, used to handwrite everything, and what do you do 

[00:43:18] Bianca Beres: now? Yeah, so I used to hand write everything. I still have all of my memoryBlue notes.

[00:43:23] Yeah. You know, this giant bin underneath my bed, somewhere on my desk under lock and key. but it was just so many notebooks that I was going through, and then I would have to flip back and I was dating them. But I, you know, I’m trying to flip back and keep everything organized. It wasn’t working. And then I have to transfer that to Salesforce.

[00:43:43] It’s just an extra step in my process that I decided to look into, like iPad note taking, where you can still handwrite. Cause I like doing that. It’s kind of messy. And then you can highlight it. And it’ll transfer to text and you can immediately put it into Salesforce, like right after the call.

[00:44:02] Really? And then you can search for your notes. So that’s really 

[00:44:06] Marc Gonyea: cool. Yes. Oh, if you take notes on the iPad like this Yeah. And your penmanship is, is legible enough that the technology can understand it? Sometimes. 

[00:44:14] Bianca Beres: Sometimes. Right. So like here and you know, you can just circle this and it will turn it all into text and copy and paste directly into Salesforce from the iPad.

[00:44:23] Right? Wow. Wow. This is the only thing I use my iPad for. I don’t use it for sales 

[00:44:27] Chris Corcoran: reps who, who are not doing this. You have to compete with sales reps who are, you want 

[00:44:32] Marc Gonyea: it Seamless, which I love. Seamless. They probably got it. And I remember the PPM team using it. Remember now they were using the Seamless.

[00:44:40] Everybody’s got an iPad. They’re probably not using it this way. They’re probably watching succession on their iPad at lunch, right? Champions League, well, you can do that. That’s not as, that’s more important. But anyways, here’s my question. Women in sales. Yes. I get that question a lot from prospects.

[00:45:00] Mm-hmm. And sometimes from current clients. Depends why. And then Mark, why aren’t there more women at memoryBlue? Why aren’t there more women in sales? They usually lead with the first one. Right? And I say, I don’t know. My wife’s in sales. You can ask her. She had a similar background to you actually.

[00:45:17] She worked in a shoe store. Really? Commission on shoes. Yeah, in high school. A little bit in the college. But why do you think, well, why aren’t there more women in 

[00:45:26] Chris Corcoran: sales? 

[00:45:28] Bianca Beres: I wish, I wish there were. I think it is a little bit intimidating to come into a field or industry where it is dominated by men. I don’t know the true answer because there’s a lot of studies that show women are more successful in sales.

[00:45:45] Absolutely. 

[00:45:46] Marc Gonyea: I tell that to women all the time. In dudes. 

[00:45:49] Bianca Beres: Yeah. On Stacy’s team, there was a point where Jake was the only male on our team. Really? Yes. Wow. So that was cool. It was just women crushing it. Go back 

[00:46:00] to, 

[00:46:00] Marc Gonyea: to answer my 

[00:46:01] Bianca Beres: question, I don’t, I don’t, I don’t know. I wish I knew the answer. The answer. I think that.

[00:46:07] Maybe people aren’t as educated about, like what sales is. I had no idea before I came into like the tech, sales world. Yeah. I think that might be it. Or maybe in they’re intimidated. Yep. Or there’s a lot of other careers out there that are dominated by women like teaching or education. nursing.

[00:46:31] Nursing, yes. So they might just be going another route. I do think that it’s starting to pick up like women in tech sales, but I think also we need to be super supportive of each other as women. Yep. Because it is a very competitive field and women are already competitive. Right. 

[00:46:53] Marc Gonyea: So we can get, you mean with one another?

[00:46:55] Bianca Beres: Yes. Yeah. So I think that could be hard. Yeah. But building each other up. Yeah. I think that’s, that might be the thing, the 

[00:47:02] Marc Gonyea: education. Maybe letting people, more people know. I mean, a lot of these schools have sales programs. They don’t have a Radford, do they? 

[00:47:07] Bianca Beres: They they have a business 

[00:47:08] Marc Gonyea: program. Yeah, the sales program.

[00:47:10] I’m not sure if they’re not sure. Yeah. So part of it is now, like Chris and I were in school sales was, was never really talked about. Certainly was it a minor or a class? Yeah. And you can stumble into it. I think psychology, how is it kind of how you did? So maybe it’s that may, that might be part of it.

[00:47:25] That might be part of it, because it’d be nice to have more. And maybe part of it might be misperception of what, what it, 

[00:47:32] Bianca Beres: what it’s like. I think it, that’s a big piece of it. Yeah. Misperception and, yeah. And just not knowing, like, I, I had no idea this was even the field out there. Yeah. Totally. Brand new to me.

[00:47:45] I hope more women come to tech sales. It’s the best. So 

[00:47:49] Marc Gonyea: you moved off Manville, your new company now is on LinkedIn and your closing work. Yes. Right. And then what, just, what’s the transition to learning a new tech? You talk about the tech specifically, but like what’s the process to, so Anvil, you were working on that at memoryBlue.

[00:48:02] Mm-hmm. Where you work now, you had to learn the technology kind of from scratch. Right. Same process, listening to reps calls.

[00:48:13] Bianca Beres: Yes. Um, it was definitely a challenge. I think if you don’t wanna talk 

[00:48:17] Marc Gonyea: about it, we don’t have to. By the way, she can edit all this stuff out. No, 

[00:48:19] Bianca Beres: it’s okay. Okay, cool. All right. Good. it was hard, yeah. Coming to a new place, a much larger company than what I was used to. there were 17 national sales AEs.

[00:48:30] Okay. So it’s competition all over. And these people have great backgrounds. They’re coming from. You know, massive companies, uber successful. But I thought that is great because this gives me a chance to learn from all of these people. That’s right. And new product. But it was interesting because I still got to reach out to like the brands that I know today.

[00:48:54] personal care brands, beauty brands, clothing companies, things that I can relate to. So I got, you know, that experience. And then there’s so many aspects of our software that I, I recently just transitioned to another team. Okay. I’m learning a whole new side of tech sales. That is great. So I feel like.

[00:49:18] Here. It was hard because I, you know, it’s a new software, it’s way larger company. We’re also all remote. These people have, are so successful. It’s intimidating, but I know that that’s a chance for me to grow and I saw clear career growth and I saw that this could be my place where I could be there for 30 years.

[00:49:38] Okay. Like that’s what I was looking for. Yeah. and yeah, I’m loving it. Also not a ton of women, however, definitely more, I would say about like 50%. Oh, wow. Which is great. Yeah. You know, that going in had no idea. No. Really kind of worked out that way. Yeah. Yeah, it definitely 

[00:49:55] Marc Gonyea: did. So as we kind of moved the wrapping up, where do you want to go with this?

[00:50:02] Bianca Beres: With 

[00:50:02] Marc Gonyea: tech sales? Yeah. Because you, you have this, I’m curious of your answer. Because you have this bent towards like mentoring and teaching, but just sounds like you really enjoyed the sales cycle. So 

[00:50:14] Bianca Beres: I think I like being an individual contributor. Mm-hmm. And I could see myself continuing to do that for forever, but still being able to mentor, it’s so, so important to me.

[00:50:26] one of the SDRs at my current company, she listens to this podcast. This one? Yes. Every day. She’s now like, almost caught up. I You just gotta 

[00:50:37] Chris Corcoran: give her a shout out. She’s almost caught up. Yes, she is. There’s 120 

[00:50:40] Bianca Beres: of ’em. She is crushing it. Um, give her a shout out. Shout out to Fiona. 

[00:50:44] Marc Gonyea: Fiona, student 

[00:50:46] Chris Corcoran: of the game Junior.

[00:50:47] Fiona, thanks for listening. 

[00:50:49] Bianca Beres: Yes. so she is, I feel like I can get my, you know, mentoring, teaching, fix no matter where I am in my career. Yeah. Role and like, No matter what role you’re doing, you can always help other people learn and grow and get better while you’re learning yourself. Because no one’s perfect.

[00:51:08] There’s always areas to improve. So you like 

[00:51:10] Marc Gonyea: being in ic? Yes. Which I can see, but you also, you don’t want to lose sight of the fact that you can help people develop and grow. Cause you sounds, you get a rush from that. Totally personal satisfaction, not a rush. 

[00:51:20] Bianca Beres: Yes. Yeah, I would say both. 

[00:51:22] Marc Gonyea: Both. Good. Good, good, good, good.

[00:51:24] I don’t like to contribute, I don’t like to compare it to it narcotics specifically, but like, yeah. Yeah. That’s, that’s great. Yeah, man. Well, Bianca, thanks for joining us. 

[00:51:35] Chris Corcoran: This 

[00:51:35] Bianca Beres: has been great. Yes. Thank you guys. Um, seriously, everyone, I think my biggest piece of advice is just keep pushing. It’s hard, but you’ll get there.

[00:51:46] Profound. Who even 

[00:51:47] Chris Corcoran: yourself, profound, 

[00:51:49] Marc Gonyea: phenomenal. And if you don’t wanna, if you’re curious to learn more or if you’ve got some doubts, my guess is Bianca will answer your LinkedIn message If you sender one, I sure will. The sender one. Most people aren’t going to somebody. We’ll see if they’re serious about development, man.

[00:52:06] Chris Corcoran: Very good. Bianca, thanks 

[00:52:07] Bianca Beres: for joining us. Yeah, thanks for having me.

[00:52:10] ​