Episode 89: Jeremy Wood – A Passion For Mentoring

Ask, and you will grow. Jeremy Wood recommends benching your pride and learning from those around you — peers, mentors, managers, and clients. The relationships you nurture will always be your most significant resource.

Now the Senior Director of Delivery for memoryBlue, East, Jeremy reflects on his climb through the company ranks. As Jeremy’s career evolves, he’s paying it forward, helping others to elevate their own.

In this episode of Tech Sales is for Hustlers, Jeremy shares what matters most when recruiting and nurturing talent, the number one way to improve client relationship management, and why it never pays to take the easy route.

Key Insights

Guest-At-A-Glance

💡 Name: Jeremy Wood

💡 What he does: Jeremy is the Senior Director of Delivery at memoryBlue. 

💡 Company: memoryBlue

💡 Noteworthy: Although pretty competitive, Jeremy is a devoted team player. With a strong work ethic and lots of enthusiasm, he is on a mission to help others grow as professionals and become successful at sales. 

💡 Where to find Jeremy: LinkedIn

⚡You start growing as a professional when you start asking for help. Sports were a significant part of Jeremy’s upbringing. So he was always pretty competitive. However, one of the first things he learned once he got into sales was that looking at your co-workers as friends, asking questions, and asking for help leads to success. “That was my aha moment of like, ‘Okay, I should rely on my friends.’ And that was an eye-opening moment for me when I started asking for help and checking my pride at the door.”

⚡An interview is not the only thing determining whether you are a good fit for the next role within your organization. For example, Jeremy was an SDR and then a DM. But when he was interviewed for the position of DM, he asked his interviewers, “Are there any other questions you have for me?” The answer he got was that every day is an interview. “I say that to people all the time, and it’s so true. I can watch someone’s behavior and see what they do and get a good sense of, ‘Yeah. I could see why this person would be a good manager based on what they’re doing through their natural interest more than anything else.'”

⚡ A good fit is not just someone who has experience; it has to be a person who resonates with your company culture. Jeremy was known as an excellent SDR, then manager, and then coach and mentor. His superpower is a unique approach to interviewing candidates and finding the right people for particular roles. “I look for the right behaviors. I don’t care if someone has sales experience coming into the job. [Instead,] do they have the attitude and behavior of someone who can do this type of job?”

Episode Highlights

Jeremy’s Take on How to Be a Good SDR

“So much of what I learned — how I learned to be good — was from going to new higher huddles, listening to some of the vets and the senior SDRs, at the time, that were leading new hire training.

And it was just listening to that because I learned that I had to be humble enough to hear that — hear them say things that I wasn’t doing yet — and play over in my head how to do them. But it was all about learning and figuring out how to do it by seeing other people who’ve done it before.”

The Passion for Mentoring

“When Eva first came to me and said, ‘Hey, do you want to mentor one of my new SDRs, Stephanie?’ I was like, sure. Very quickly, I started loving helping her succeed. And then, later on, Jessie Matthews, Mario Bruno, and two others. 

So helping all four of them succeed and get by. I just found so much more passion after walking over to them and saying, ‘Hey Emma, how’d it go? How did your conversations go? Do you have any good ones? Hey, try this.'”

From SDR to DM

“I saw it as you’re managing a fantasy football team where you have your team, but at the same time, you have to be thinking, ‘Okay, what if this player gets injured or I have to build the roster up?’

I loved piecing together, ‘Okay, this person’s coming up in 15 months; I need to be interviewing and looking to grow the team.’ I love that part of it. I loved the culture side and how, if I made an effort to build a relationship with my SDRs, that was going to make them happier in the job — they’re going to want to come to work.

Not because they want to click the dial button, but because they want to come in and work for me; that was always my biggest push. If they’re going to be motivated to come in because I’m there, it’s going to make the idea of making a couple of extra phone calls that much better.

And that’s going to lead to them doing better in the role, which is going to lead to them making more money, which is going to lead to them being happier. So it’s a cycle.”

Hire the Right People First, and That’ll Make Managing and Client Engagement Easier

“If you hire the right SDRs, it’s going to make managing and coaching easier because you have a good relationship with them. And that, again, doesn’t mean just hiring stars that are ready to call from day one.

It’s hiring the SDRs that you can coach to be ready to call because coaching is going to be better, and then that’s going to make them do well on the phone, and it’s going to make client relationships easier. […]

Usually, within five minutes of an interview, I can tell, ‘Okay, this person has it, this person doesn’t have it.’ […]

Some of the biggest recruiting wins come from finding ways to connect with them. I’ve always been good at coming up with analogies or stories on the spot that can relate to someone.

If they have a swimming background, relating something to Michael Phelps. If they come from a bartending background, helping explain their role in a way that relates it to things that they would do as a bartender. I think those are things that I’ve been able to do that helped me connect with them and which allows them to open up more.”

What’s More Challenging — Leading SDRs or Leading Leaders of SDRs?

“For me, it was leading leaders. I developed a lot of what I was good at as a manager through natural mental reps in practice. It took me time to figure out the right way to pass that along because, as a managing director, I can’t be in every SDR one-on-one and run every interview or be on every client call.

It took me time to figure out the right way to develop those leaders to go out and run their teams and help empower them to not do it exactly like me. I don’t think anyone should because you can’t replicate someone. But empowering them to be confident in doing it their way. Because if they have confidence in how they’re doing it, that alone is going to help them be better at the role.”

Transcript: 

[00:00:00] Hire the SDRs that you can coach to be ready to call because coaching is going to be better and then that’s going to make them do well on the phone and it’s going to make client relationships easier. So, my philosophy has always been “Hire the right people first and that’ll make managing and client engagement easier.” Jeremy Wood is our guest today. The man, the myth, the legend, Christopher. 

[00:00:40] Chris Corcoran: Jeremy. So, from SDR to DM, SDR leader to becoming a Managing Director in opening up your own office, to Senior Director of Delivery for the East where you’re managing and leading MDs. 

[00:00:59] Jeremy Wood: Yes.

[00:00:59] Chris Corcoran: In, from right out of college, a six year run, six in change and all at the age of 28.

[00:01:12] Marc Gonyea: That’s crazy. 

[00:01:13] Chris Corcoran: Unbelievable. So, there’s a lot to hear, from your leadership, how you do an unbelievable job of building and fostering a culture to your John Calipari, like, recruiting palace. We’re going to want to let all the listeners hear about how they can, hopefully, follow in your footsteps and have such a great rise.

[00:01:36] Jeremy Wood: Looking forward to it.

[00:01:36] Chris Corcoran: This is going to be fun. 

[00:01:39] Marc Gonyea: Yeah. I would love to see Caliperi in window.

[00:01:42] Well, Wood is not as slick as Calipari is, but.

[00:01:45] Chris Corcoran: Doesn’t need to be. 

[00:01:46] Doesn’t need to be, right, the understated approach?

[00:01:49] Jeremy Wood: Yeah.

[00:01:51] Chris Corcoran: Jeremy, tell us a little bit about yourself. Grew up, growing up in those things. So, the listeners can get this, get kind of an understanding. 

[00:02:00] Jeremy Wood: Yeah. So, grew up Northern Virginia, lived in a neighborhood of probably six to ten other guys my age within a stone’s throw of my house.

[00:02:14] Five of them ended up being groomsmen in my wedding, five of them, so, yeah. 

[00:02:18] Chris Corcoran: The main streets of Oakton. 

[00:02:22] Jeremy Wood: So, it was, it was, you know, you come home from school, yet you run outside into the neighborhood and play with whatever sports ball or object you can find until the dinner bell rings. And then, after dinner, you go out and probably do it again for a few more hours, for until the Sun gets down.

[00:02:38] So, it was a very, very sports competitive growing up.

[00:02:42] Marc Gonyea: Did you have a favorite?

[00:02:43] Jeremy Wood: Oh man, we had a, we had a, we had a couple unique ones. We had a volleyball net in one of our friend’s backyard and one end was tied to a pole, in the ground, the other one was tied to a tree that covered about a third of the yard.

[00:02:59] Marc Gonyea: Yeah. 

[00:03:00] Jeremy Wood: So, it was tree volleyball. We were kids who wasn’t that, that creative. 

[00:03:04] Marc Gonyea: What about when you got more organized? Did you have sports?

[00:03:07] Chris Corcoran: Did your old man ever coach you?

[00:03:10] Jeremy Wood: Yeah. My dad coached youth basketball throughout middle school, high school. Played football in high school, did, like, track your, throwing senior year. 

[00:03:22] Chris Corcoran: Yeah. 

[00:03:23] Marc Gonyea: We’re going on the record, right, Corcoran? Wood’s a sneaky good athlete. 

[00:03:27] Jeremy Wood: It was called the little fundamental.

[00:03:33] Chris Corcoran: That’s a Josh Crippen’s refrence.

[00:03:37] Oh, Crippen, Crip.

[00:03:39] Marc Gonyea: Mr. Duke himself. 

[00:03:40] Chris Corcoran: I hope, I hope he’s listening down in Florida. 

[00:03:42] Marc Gonyea: There he is, he’s outside practicing just three, just step back, Jay. What, all right, hold on, seriously though, you’re a good athlete, right? So, you did discus, what’s all this stuff you do?

[00:03:53] Chris Corcoran: Yeah, so, Marc. Sneaky that’s, like, disrespectful. I just think he’s a good athlete. I don’t want.

[00:04:00] Marc Gonyea: I think sneaky is a compliment. 

[00:04:01] Chris Corcoran: No, that means, like, that if you saw him, you wouldn’t think he’d be a good athlete. See, when I see him, I’m like, “No, I think that’s probably a good athlete.” 

[00:04:07] Marc Gonyea: Yeah. I don’t know anybody who’s doing discus, that’s why. Like, people who do those things, like, lacrosse, discuss, football, like, you can attrac, like, you just got, just got distracted. 

[00:04:17] Yeah. Great. That’s what I mean.

[00:04:19] Jeremy Wood: It was specifically field. I made sure, you know how you have those stickers on the back of the car, I asked my parents to not put Cougar track and field, I asked them to just put Cougar field so people wouldn’t think I ran.

[00:04:32] Marc Gonyea: I remember you told me tell me that. That’s what, I made it as a high, high, highest praise compliment, but we’ll keep going. All right. Yeah. Did you have a favorite or no? 

[00:04:41] Jeremy Wood: I, it was, it was, it was any, anything sports there, there was not a, we obviously had played football, so, I, you know, loved that, but we would play ultimate Frisbee.

[00:04:52] We created a, a little golf league in our neighborhood, the COGA, Cinnamon Oaks Golf Association. So, we put scores and analysis of the rounds. It was, it was pretty, it was pretty legit for a couple of high school kids. 

[00:05:07] Chris Corcoran: So great. 

[00:05:08] Marc Gonyea: All right, what did you think you wanted to be growing up? 

[00:05:12] Chris Corcoran: Probably a professional athlete.

[00:05:15] Marc Gonyea: Jeremy’s opposite of those guys who those guys do all those tricks, dude, dude, perfect dude, perfect. It sounds like you guys were like, you’re a little open version of dude perfect.

[00:05:23] Jeremy Wood: That’s, we, we probably, we probably would’ve tried that if there was, if we grew up in the age of that stuff. 

[00:05:27] Marc Gonyea: Right. I could see that 

[00:05:29] I can totally see that.

[00:05:30] Jeremy Wood: I would, I mean, it was probably if not a sports athlete of some kind, it was probably, like, sports marketing, sports agent. 

[00:05:39] Marc Gonyea: Okay. 

[00:05:40] Jeremy Wood: That’s why I first went to majored in, at JMU was sports management. So, I was like, I’ll do some sort of, you know, sporting related job that allows me to go to sporting events. 

[00:05:55] Chris Corcoran: Manage the salary cap for the commanders.

[00:05:58] Jeremy Wood: Yeah. I don’t think that one that’s the one that was. 

[00:06:03] Marc Gonyea: Nobody wants work for that guy. 

[00:06:05] Chris Corcoran: Yeah. 

[00:06:06] Marc Gonyea: So, all right, but you, I mean, took this sales thing. You’re a manager, you’re a leader of people now, right? And developer people, but we’re in the sales world. There was this sales ever, like, come up, at all, somehow, some way? 

[00:06:21] Jeremy Wood: Not, not sales.

[00:06:22] I mean, I did, my job during summer in college was working with the stone basin, you know, moving heavy rocks, mixing cement and wheelbarrow. 

[00:06:33] Marc Gonyea: Multiple years. Not just one summer. Some people do that,  you know, they mustn’t do one summer working back for more. 

[00:06:39] Jeremy Wood: Yeah, it was, it was me and my friend, Steven, who’s also in the wedding.

[00:06:43] We would wake up at 6:00 AM, meet our, our boss, Mike. Build a patio, out in the sun, hot summer. Get paid in cash. It was great. 

[00:06:57] Chris Corcoran: Love it. 

[00:06:58] Marc Gonyea: Yeah. Multiple songs. 

[00:07:00] Chris Corcoran: I want to move back to you being, obviously, sports was such a huge part of your upbringing. You played at a very competitive level at the Northern Virginia, big High School of Oakton.

[00:07:10] Jeremy Wood: Yep. 

[00:07:10] Did you ever consider playing in college? Like, you know, sometimes, a lot of times you just crossroads of, “Yeah. I can play the D3 school or…” 

[00:07:19] Jeremy Wood: I, that was, that was probably going to sophomore, junior of high school. The thought was, you know, I get into any sort of college level program I could, but I, I was, I was humble enough to realize that I didn’t have the, the right speed and size to, to do that.

[00:07:43] So, I, I started pivoting to, “Okay, what school has the best intermural programs and how can I start preparing for that?”

[00:07:51] Marc Gonyea: Take the little fundamental on the road.

[00:07:53] Jeremy Wood: Yeah. 

[00:07:53] Marc Gonyea: Right. It’s so funny. 

[00:07:56] Chris Corcoran: All right. So, you didn’t go to JMU, people from Jimmy love that place. 

[00:08:01] Jeremy Wood: Yeah. 

[00:08:02] Marc Gonyea: Why is that? Would you answer that for me, real quick? 

[00:08:04] Jeremy Wood: For me it was the food.

[00:08:05] Yeah. They had the unlimited package. So, you get breakfast, lunch and dinner or one of those dining cafes. Campus is great. And people are just happy there. I think it’s, part of it is, I know a lot of people that would go to other colleges, insurance related, I don’t think I ever knew anybody who went to JMU and transferred away from there.

[00:08:25] So I, I think it’s just all around good people enjoy being there for, for a lot of different reasons. And that culture built, you know, keeps people around. Yeah. 

[00:08:35] Marc Gonyea: And what’d you major in? 

[00:08:38] Started in sports management, for a year, realized that was too easy. I was kind of getting a little bit bored, so, I switched, again, sports in mind, to kinesiology.

[00:08:49] Marc Gonyea: Okay. 

[00:08:50] Jeremy Wood: For two weeks. And then, I went to sign up for classes and realized it was going to be ADM chemistry and, you know, that type of stuff. So, I immediately switched to marketing before I even stepped into classroom. Did marketing, ended up majoring in that moderate of business analytics. 

[00:09:06] Marc Gonyea: Okay. 

[00:09:06] Jeremy Wood: So, I did like the number side of stuff too, but marketing was much more loose than, than, like, accounting or finance, for me.

[00:09:15] Marc Gonyea: You definitely let the number side of this go into that. We haven’t talked about that yet because that is a reflection of what he does. 

[00:09:20] Chris Corcoran: CBRE metrics. 

[00:09:23] Jeremy Wood: That was, that was the, I don’t know, I don’t know the exact origin, but I think it was just, it could very well have been playing sports in the neighborhood.

[00:09:33] You keep track of score, yet, you know, I always wanted to see how well you’re doing compared to, to, to others. So, you, became a fun way to see who is, you know, better, even in a competitive stance from, you know, who had the better, better throw at me, who had more hits in the little league game that week. I mean, it was, so, I, I, I’m guessing that, that’s where it came from.

[00:09:54] I was always good at math growing up, in school too. So, it was the closest thing to math in the, in the business arena for me. So, it was a good, I liked the pairing of marketing with the analytics side.

[00:10:06] Marc Gonyea: It Jeremy’s due, since I can remember running incentives. 

[00:10:10] Jeremy Wood: Oh, yeah. 

[00:10:10] Marc Gonyea: You track all your numbers. Right? 

[00:10:13] We were doing alumni of the year voting.

[00:10:15] I know who I’m calling, right? Like, yeah. 

[00:10:18] Jeremy Wood: Yeah. I, I think when it comes to the incentives and stuff that goes back to growing up and being able to be in the neighborhood and say, “Hey, let’s make a game where whoever can, you know, run to that house, the fastest and hit a golf ball over the house and go and find it and bring it back, wins.” 

[00:10:39] Marc Gonyea: Yeah. 

[00:10:39] Jeremy Wood: It’s just that, that, you know, that mindset of “What do I have in front of me and how can we turn it into something fun.

[00:10:44] Marc Gonyea: Yeah. That’s the key, like you make it fun and that impacts the culture. Yeah. Right. And we, Chris and I did a podcast with one of your proteges and she talked about the Jeremy Wood philosophy.

[00:10:59] I forgot what she said. Just culture, fun and development or something like that. 

[00:11:04] Jeremy Wood: Culture, success and development 

[00:11:05] Marc Gonyea: Culture, success and development.

[00:11:06] Chris Corcoran: It’s like John Wood and his pyramid. Yeah. What has his, like three, like at school stool? 

[00:11:12] Marc Gonyea: You’ve been able to make intertwined numbers into the fun part, unlike anyone we’ve ever seen, in history of business.

[00:11:20] So, it’s amazing. All right. So, you’re coming out of school. What did you think you’re going to do? 

[00:11:26] Jeremy Wood: Oh man. I, I had no idea. I was interviewing at sales companies, inside sales, outside sales, a couple of recruiting, staffing type firms, a marketing coordinator type of thing, a business analytics and analytics position.

[00:11:46] So, it was, it was a wide variety of, “Let me just throw it out there and see what, see what sticks.” 

[00:11:55] Chris Corcoran: And then, talk a little bit about your recruiting process. Like, how did you ultimately, how did, how did we win the Jeremy what sweepstakes? 

[00:12:01] I interviewed first with Courtney White on, like, a phone, Courtney White phone interview.

[00:12:06] Chris Corcoran: Yep. Well, I like, I like, I like our chances with Courtney White. 

[00:12:10] Jeremy Wood: And what it was like, it was like a 45 minute chat. I remember my dad was in the other room and afterwards he knew I had a phone call that day. I walked into the kitchen and he was like, “You were chatting with that character for a long time, like, sound like you, you liked the job.”

[00:12:26] And that was the first time, like, I was aware that, like, it felt enjoyable in interview, every other interview I feel like I had was, you know, stressful and I didn’t really know what, what they were selling or what I can do or who I’d be working with. So, that, that kind of opened up the, the idea of, “Okay, this is, this is fun.”

[00:12:45] Like, if I find joy talking to these people, like, that’s probably a good, better guest than nothing. 

[00:12:54] Chris Corcoran: And so, so you have to, talk more about the process. So, you talking with Courtney and… 

[00:12:58] Jeremy Wood: I came in first, had the first interview in person with Ivor Tafro. 

[00:13:04] Marc Gonyea: Ivor, oh, yeah. 

[00:13:04] Jeremy Wood: And I’m pretty sure the only reason he hired me was because we went to the same high school and talked about Oakton football for the first, probably 20, 25 minutes of our interview.

[00:13:15] You know what cougars do? They stick together. 

[00:13:21] Jeremy Wood: It works. So, we, we, we jammed and, and ended up interview with him, Reagan, Callahan. And you know, they, they talked about culture. They talked about growth and, you know, training and they, they, they said, “You’re basically getting three years of sales training in a 15 month window.”

[00:13:40] Which that, that line stuck out to me being a numbers guy that, you know, there’s, there’s ROI in the mind there. And went back and ended up getting an offer. I was actually in the parking lot of another interview when Courtney called me to, to make me the offer. And I think I was so nervous to tell her that I was in going, about to go to another interview.

[00:13:59] Jeremy Wood: She asked me like, “Are you, are you in?” I said, “I’m like 99% in.” 

[00:14:03] Marc Gonyea: “I got to do this interview first.”

[00:14:05] Jeremy Wood: So, it was easy interview. I once, you, ’cause I just, you know, in the back of my head, I was…

[00:14:08] Chris Corcoran: Playing with house money. 

[00:14:09] Jeremy Wood: Pretty, pretty relaxed. Talked to, to Emily, the, my now wife. 

[00:14:15] Marc Gonyea: Yep. 

[00:14:16] Jeremy Wood: And she was the one that was like, “Tell me you should take that job.”

[00:14:18] Really? So, that was, that was it? Yeah. Why did she say that? I’m, I’m curious. 

[00:14:22] Three, three years of sales training in a 15 month window sheet. She said, “Is someone else said that to you, Jeremy?” I said, “No.” 

[00:14:30] Marc Gonyea: So smart. All right. 

[00:14:33] Chris Corcoran: But that’s amazing. So, we were able to win, you know, from the initial call, your dad weighs in and then your girlfriend at the time, now wife was weighing in, too.

[00:14:41] So, that’s how we ended up putting, securing your services. 

[00:14:45] Jeremy Wood: That was the story. 

[00:14:47] Marc Gonyea: Well, talk about starting. What was, what do you remember from that? 

[00:14:52] I remember it being hard. I, I had a handful of clients early on. All of them I, none of them I didn’t like. But, it was such a wide variety, I mean, it certainly helped me in the positions I, I got to. But, it was, it was a lot of good lessons learned and a lot of opportunity that I had to learn early on.

[00:15:21] Jeremy Wood: You need to ask for help, to be in such a competitive guide, I, I, I say this all the time in interviews, when people ask me, “What was your lesson?” That kind of stuff. It was, I, I was so competitive growing up and in pain of the job, I sort of said to myself, like, “I’m going to be the guy that figures it out.”

[00:15:37] Yeah. People look at it and they’re like, you know, “Hey, you sneaky athletic. Hey, sneaky good doesn’t need to ask for, for help. He just, he figured out on his own, holy crap.” But, that obviously doesn’t work. So, it took me probably a few weeks of getting shut down to kind of suck up the courage to ask Brooke McVicker, who sit next to me,

[00:15:57] “Hey, I’m getting slammed with this same objection. Like, can you help me out?” She’s like, “Oh yeah, I get that all the time. Here’s what I say and it usually works.” So, that, that was like my aha moment of like, “Okay.” Like, “I should actually rely on my, my friends around me.” And that, that was, like, the eye opening moment for me was when I started asking for help and, and, you know, checking the pride at the door.

[00:16:23] Jeremy Wood: Okay. 

[00:16:23] Chris Corcoran: So, a couple of things there, one, so you said it was hard, but in college you change majors because your first major was too easy. So, it sounds to me like you are one of those types of people that will like smart things. 

[00:16:37] Jeremy Wood: Yes, I…

[00:16:38] Chris Corcoran: talk about that. 

[00:16:40] Jeremy Wood: Yeah. I mean, I, I switched in college because it was, I, there was a class where the, one of the final questions on the final exam was like, it was, “Who was the Richmond, uh, minor league baseball teams mascot?” Like, “What’s the name of the flying squirrels mascot?”

[00:16:57] And it was Nutzy. And I remember seeing that question. I was like, I, I’m like, “Dude, you can’t be doing this.” So, yeah, I, I mean, again, I think being competitive, I, I, I didn’t want it to be that easy in school and I, I certainly think having some tough clients and, and well, having clients that it took me a while to, to figure out, led to me say, “Okay, like, let me, I want to figure it out.

[00:17:25] I want to be the one that gets this client up and running.” So, yeah, it certainly wasn’t a, a, a reason to back away, but it was almost like a fun, competitive, “Let me figure it out.” 

[00:17:37] Chris Corcoran: It is a, as a quote that this just totally hits the nail on the head is, it’s “Don’t wish it was easier. Wish you were better.” And you, that’s you right there.

[00:17:47] Right? You like that it’s hard and “I’m just gonna get better and better. And once I’m really good, then that’s where the value is.” 

[00:17:54] Jeremy Wood: Yeah. 

[00:17:54] I, especially as a, as a DM, that was a, sort of took that competition and,and turn into, “Let me try and be the best at all, all the aspects of the role.” And I think that certainly has an SDR too, was “Let me be the best mentor.

[00:18:10] Let me be the best on client calls.” 

[00:18:13] Marc Gonyea: ‘Cause it was just fun to…

[00:18:15] Jeremy Wood: …get that satisfaction. 

[00:18:17] Marc Gonyea: I would figure it out, too. Do you go, he’s got his accolades on his LinkedIn profile, right? And he’s crushing it. Number three out of 70 plus SDRs, 213% of quota, reformed the company in June, highest quote attainment in Q2, there,

[00:18:39] I mean, we didn’t have all the Polish we had that we have today in this office, but we have strong, you know, you learn how to be a good SDR. 

[00:18:49] Jeremy Wood: Yeah. I, it goes back to so much of what I, what I learned to, how I learned to be good was from going to, to new higher huddles, listening to, you know, some of the vets at the time, like, Tommy, oh, killer. The senior SDRs at the time that were leading new hire trainings.

[00:19:10] And it was just listening to that because I, I was, I learned that I had to be humble enough to hear that, hear them say things that I wasn’t doing yet and, you know, played over in my head of how to do it. But it, it was all about learning and figuring out how to do it by seeing other people who’ve done it before.

[00:19:29] Marc Gonyea: And you brought on some mentors. 

[00:19:31] Jeremy Wood: Oh yeah. 

[00:19:32] Marc Gonyea: So, to, talk about that. So, like, you know, not everybody gets to be a mentor, a member of let’s be a little, want to be, some people aren’t asked to be and I hate it or love it. Well, why was that important to you too, or why is it? 

[00:19:49] Jeremy Wood: I, another part of my growing up was, was very much like volunteering, like, with, like, church grown-up mission trips, like, being like a site leader in, like, these, especially in, in, in college, like, being, like, a camp counselor, things like that, just helping kids build construction places.

[00:20:11] So, I knew, like, volunteering was, like, also something I was passionate about. And I think that led to even before I was a mentor, naturally helping out people around me. And so, that’s when, you know, Ivor first came to me and said, “Hey, do you want to mentor one of our, one of my new SDRs, Stephanie?” And I was like, “Sure.”

[00:20:29] Jeremy Wood: So, Stephanie Sasini. And I just, I very quickly started loving, helping her success. And then, later on Jessie Matthews, Mario Bruno, two others.

[00:20:43] Marc Gonyea: Wow. 

[00:20:44] Jeremy Wood: Yeah, she was an intern. So, I mean just helping all four of them succeed and get by. I just found so much more passion and after blitz, walking over to them and saying, “Hey Emma, how’d it go?

[00:20:55] How’d your conversations go? Did you have any good ones? Hey, here, hey, try this.” Jesse probably still remembers me walking over to his desk, grabbing his bouncy ball that he had and just bouncing up and down at, talking about all the CWPs he had. And it just, I get so much more enjoyment out of doing things like that.

[00:21:12] And, and helping them get that way and to hear them say, “Yeah, used that, that line you gave me. And it led to a book.” That, that, that competitiveness to be the best coach and mentor sort of took over because of that, that kind of volunteer side of me growing up, 

[00:21:27] Marc Gonyea: Love it. The guy helping captain America get where he needed to go.

[00:21:31] Right? 

[00:21:33] Chris Corcoran: That’s probably where you knew, like, how important it was to have the right people. 

[00:21:39] Marc Gonyea: I mean, I don’t, did we, you might interview? I definitely remember, like, I was like, this guy worked in it, I remember telling us, keep working a still, I mean, we were young, you know, Chris and I we’re old. We’re not that old to say what the stone place care on stones get to get a Jerry Rice about Jerry Rice is grown up and his father, I think his father was stuck in this, throwing him the bricks at this guy.

[00:22:01] And then, we talked about what you’ve done growing up in your youth, like, with church and, like, helping people move made as a gym with the Joel, whatever it was called, the Jeremiah project. Like, you know, 

[00:22:15] “This guy’s, like, a do-gooder, hard worker. Let’s see if he can handle the heat and the phone.”

[00:22:22] And you obviously did. And back then we didn’t move people up into delivery manager roles, all that quick. You probably broke the record. ‘Cause so, what, when did you, you know, as you, ’cause you’re in the role, did you know what the role is going to be like before you did it? 

[00:22:41] No, not.

[00:22:43] Marc Gonyea: Nobody does. 

[00:22:44] Jeremy Wood: Yeah.

[00:22:44] Marc Gonyea: Right?

[00:22:44] Jeremy Wood: I knew that, I knew the coaching side and the coaching side was, you know, I was already doing that basically, I, as a mentor, but the, the client interactions, the, you know, the more strategic planning side of things that, that was, that was very new. But, again, it was, it was fun to learn once I got smacked in the face a few times by the Chris Bakers of the world.

[00:23:06] Marc Gonyea: Oh yeah. Shout out, Mr. Baker. 

[00:23:12] So, what’d you think you wanted to do when you kind of tell you guide in there, like everyone else, else’s, there’s some, there’s some, actually, let’s talk about this first, let’s talk about the crew of SDR show role with you. We talked about some people that you mentored. Were there any vets that were around and somebody’s game you really monitored, you really, like, admired or somebody that this person is a killer?

[00:23:29] Jeremy Wood: Some of the, some of the SDRs that we, that were there, me and Zach Price were, were close. Yes, he was, he and I were sports nuts. Yeah. Talking nuts every, everyday pretty much. Usually, usually not good, not good talk. 

[00:23:45] Chris Corcoran: How have those conversations quieted?

[00:23:47] Jeremy Wood: Uh, I don’t think, I, I don’t think I can turn on a, turn on a game this year, ever since 2019. Who else? I mean, I mentioned Brook, Andrew was, he was a good friend. I mean, those, those were like the, the folks that I probably interacted with the most on a, on a consistent basis, as a colleague.

[00:24:11] Chris Corcoran: So, you were on Ivor’s team?

[00:24:13] Jeremy Wood: Yep. 

[00:24:13] Chris Corcoran: Based on, it sounds like you were up based on the, on the fellow SDRs. Were you at the company when Marc and I kidnapped his seat? Okay. It was probably just a couple of weeks before you, but that, that, that’s, those are stories for a different day. 

[00:24:27] Jeremy Wood: Yeah. I’m going to write that down. 

[00:24:31] Marc Gonyea: So, what’d you think you wanted to do, so you get into the role, like everyone else is, a little tumultuous at first, you know?

[00:24:38] Jeremy Wood: Okay. 

[00:24:39] Marc Gonyea: Should we figure it out? We must have had, well, I can’t remember. How did that go down the transition to the DM role? 

[00:24:46] I remember the first time, I remember the first time that I, the idea of being a DM got brought up was actually my friend Taylor. FT3. 

[00:24:54] Jeremy Wood: Yep. He, he heard, overheard me coaching someone and turned around and was like, “Dude, like, you’re pretty good at that.

[00:25:01] Like, have you thought about being at DM?” And I, I don’t think I’ve ever been like a big, like, like, “Let me think forward, let me plan out like two years ahead.” So, it naturally, as soon as he said the words, it made sense like, “Oh, yeah. Like, being a DM full-time would be awesome.” But I didn’t really thought about it until that moment.

[00:25:23] And he’s, I was like, “Yeah.” So, we started shadowing interviews, him and, I would shadow interviews with him and Josh. And I think what made it such a simple transition was, and I say this to anyone who comes to me about asking me to be any type of role DM, AE, I was already basically being a DM months before I became a DM.

[00:25:45] Jeremy Wood: Like, I don’t think when it was brought up that I was the next manager, it was a surprise because people were pretty much coming to me for questions and help, regardless. And, and that was a huge thing I prided myself on is I, I told , I said I wanted to be the person in the office where if an SDR has a question, “Oh, yeah, go talk to Jeremy.

[00:26:04] He walked me through that, the other day. It helped.” So, I, I think it, as soon as the words from, from Frank got brought up, it, there was never a doubt that, you know, being a full-time mentor was what I wanted to do. And I think that transition into the role was a lot easier because I, you know, made sure that I was going to be in, I was going to be doing those things before I even got into the job.

[00:26:30] Marc Gonyea: How, so, let’s pause on the journey, that what you just said, how does that permeate into how you identify, comment or groom, develop people who want to do things for you, through the years, right? You’ve been DM, you’ve been MD and now you’ve got the next level, like, how do you take that experience and incorporate it into your kind of philosophy of development?

[00:26:55] Jeremy Wood: It might be relevant to other people.

[00:26:56] Marc Gonyea: Other people.

[00:26:57] It’s a lot about, you know, what, the things that they do when they’re not being, being asked, you know, you know, go, go so much further than, you know, if someone asks me, “Hey, what can I do to help?” And I say, “Be a mentor.” The person who is helping out people in the row and taking on those additional tasks, whether it be culture club or, you know, asking their AEs to, to shadow things,

[00:27:20] Jeremy Wood: like, those are things that if, if, if you want to get to that position, the people that I look forward to, people that are already doing those things because and I, you said this to me when we had that final conversation about being a DM, I asked you like, “Well, are there any other questions you have for me?

[00:27:37] Like, is there, like, another interview?” And you, you said too, “No, every day is an interview.” And I used, I say that to people all the time and it, it’s, it’s so true. I, I can watch someone’s behavior and see what they do and get a pretty good sense of, “Yeah. I could see why this person would be a good manager.” Or any basis based on what they’re doing through their own natural interest, more than anything else. 

[00:28:07] Marc Gonyea: There’s a lot to be said about that because you’re, you’re fostering an environment where there aren’t these restrictions. You don’t have to ask permission to mentor someone. 

[00:28:16] I mean, there’s an official.

[00:28:17] Chris Corcoran: You don’t need an outlook invite to be great today.

[00:28:21] Marc Gonyea: Yeah. But nobody’s holding you back from those things.

[00:28:23] Jeremy Wood: No. 

[00:28:24] Marc Gonyea: Which is, hopefully, meaning you’re, you’re creating a, an environment where people are, they want to do those things and it helps, it helps everyone. 

[00:28:34] So, let’s, let’s talk about the DM role. So, you, that was padded the records, you did that nine months in, what was that transition like from SDR to DM?

[00:28:45] Jeremy Wood: I loved, very early on the, the mindset that I learned I needed to have, which was, you know, you’re kind of like managing, I saw it as you, like, you’re managing a fantasy football team.

[00:29:01] Marc Gonyea: Yep. 

[00:29:02] Jeremy Wood: Where, like, you have, you have your team, but at the same time, you know, you have to be thinking, “Okay, well, you know, what if this player gets injured?” Or, or, you know, “I got to build the roster up.”

[00:29:10] So, you know, I, I very much loved early on piecing together, “Okay, this person’s coming up, coming on, coming up on 15 months, I need to be interviewing and looking to, to, to grow the team.” So, I, I love that part of it. I loved the culture side and how, like, if, if I made an effort to build a relationship with, with my SDRs, that was gonna make them happier in the job that they’re going to want to come to work

[00:29:38] not because they want to click the dial button, but, they want to come in and work for, for me. That, that was always, my biggest push was, you know, I, if, if they’re going to be motivated to come in because, because I’m there, it’s going to make the idea of making a couple extra phone calls that, that much better.

[00:29:57] And that’s going to lead to them doing better in the role, which is going to lead to them making more money, which is going to lead to them being happier. So, it just, it’s a cycle. 

[00:30:07] Marc Gonyea: Let’s, let’s, I want to, I want to get into the origin of Jeremy Wood talent identification, but when did you start? So, this is no disrespect to anyone else in the company, you know, myself included or, or, you know, I don’t want to disrespect myself, but I think you, one of your superpowers, by far and away, and we should all try and emulate this, is your recruiting ability. We were joking about it. Just, can we just start with, like, the foundation, like, when did that start? What are some of the core tenants of it? It had to start, I would imagine probably before you were even a DM, right? But, like, I want to bet as, where does this come from?

[00:30:53] Jeremy Wood: I think that I was very good at critiquing myself and it goes back to being an SRO. I was, I was never too proud to admit, “Okay, I’m not good at making phone calls right now. I need to, to learn.” So, I think I was very good at going through an interview and losing candidates. I wasn’t good at losing candidates.

[00:31:10] I was good at when I did lose a candidate saying, “Okay, what did I do wrong?” Like, it’d be easy for me to say, “Yeah, she, she really wanted to go into marketing. So, you know, whatever onto the next one. How could I compete with Dell onto the next one?” But, but I, I loved, you know, taking that interview and being like, “Okay, yeah, this person ended up going with Dell.

[00:31:32] Why? What, what could I do next time to pitch the next, you know, top-notch candidate that they should come here over Dell because of this?” Or “Why marketing wasn’t the right path for them yet? Or “Maybe, why, maybe it is the right path for them, but here’s how we’re going to help them get there.” I just love treating every interview and every candidate as an opportunity, to both the ones that I won, but also the ones that I’ve lost because it, it made me get better each and every time going into the next interview.

[00:32:02] And then, once they started here. “Okay. Was I right? Was I wrong?” I certainly missed out on a few, early on, just as much as I hit on a few early on. And it was, it was again, looking back at “Okay. Yep. Made a wrong path.” Could have been easy to say that, you know, “Oh, it was because of this experience I had that wasn’t my fault.” But I, I just loved putting on myself to say, “Okay, what could I have done this person’s first week or first month to avoid this reason they didn’t work out?”

[00:32:34] Chris Corcoran: And so, I think it’d be helpful, for managers, SDR managers to hear from you, what do you look for? 

[00:32:43] Jeremy Wood: I look for the right behaviors, you know, I, I don’t, I don’t care if someone has sales experience coming into the job, you know, do they have the attitudes and behavior of someone who can do this type of job?

[00:32:57] My, one of my most successful SDRs, certainly one of the ones that I’m most proud of, down in Virginia was, was Colonel Pettit. His background was completely different. Worked at, manage it at five guys for five plus years before he came to, to, to memoryBlue. And I won’t say their names, but I was the only manager.

[00:33:17] And I told him this before. So, he knows that. I was the only manager that said, “I want this guy.” He was, the other managers weren’t, weren’t as high on him. 

[00:33:24] Chris Corcoran: He’s like the Seth Curry, right? All the ACC schools passed on and he went to Davidson. 

[00:33:28] Jeremy Wood: That’s I, I was like, that was my like big, that was my, one of my proudest, you know, wins because of it,

[00:33:38] it was, I, you know, regardless of “Okay, how, how ready is this person for SDR role, right now?” I, I saw the attitudes and behaviors of someone who, you know, is willing to take on more work when it’s not always asked of them, you know, is willing to, you know, find the positives in a situation, is willing to ask for help.

[00:33:59] I’ll take someone who has, has those things they, they’re, they’re willing to ask for help. They’re willing to take on more work. They’re willing to see positives in, in a tough situation, over someone who has on the resume, “I, I, I was a top performer in my last sales role.” And I prefer the other person because when they come without, like, with that, you know, that green slate, I, I’m confident enough in my ability to coach someone that I can coach them the right way.

[00:34:26] Jeremy Wood: If they have the, those intangibles. 

[00:34:29] Marc Gonyea: I want to go back to something real quick. This is like the art of interviewing in a competitive market, but we’re never the highest base. Nope. We’re certainly not Dell.

[00:34:40] Taking lessons from the losses with the candidates you lose in rearchitecting, if I’m in an interview, even if I’m not super high on the candidate and “”Fine, let them go to Dell or wherever.” What can I learn about that interview process, that company, that opportunity that’s going to help me when I have the five-star recruit in front of me?

[00:35:00] I really want to close them down. I think that’s what is really important. And you’ve said it yourself and I’m sure you train people to interview that way. You know, the Bill Belichick, halftime adjustments, Jeremy. Right, right? Like, that, that’s so important. Yeah. Because then you can anticipate what you’re recruiting against.

[00:35:22] So, we hit that, but, but why is it so important to get these people on board? Like, I think that’s another thing that’s, everything is important here. Right? We’re a professional services company. We work with emerging and established technology companies and they need results. That’s why they hire us. But, I still think sometimes we don’t spend as much focus and energy on the recruiting process or because people I’m like, “Do people not realize?” So, from your mouth, like, why is it so important to get the right people on a bus? 

[00:35:55] A good SDR, great SDR will make any challenging campaign a success. As a manager

[00:36:03] Jeremy Wood: you, you can be the, the, the suavest manager on the phones with the client, you know, provide as much value as possible and, and, you know, have such a great relationship with the client. But if, if at the end of the day, your, your team isn’t, if your SDRs appreciate the campaign’s not going well. I mean, that’s, it only goes so far.

[00:36:23] So, my mindset has always been that the most important first step as a manager is, is higher and, you know, win the best people because if you hire the right SDRs, it’s going to make managing, coaching them easier because you have a good relationship with them. And that, that, again, that doesn’t mean just “Hire SDRs that are ready to, you know, call from day one.”

[00:36:47] It’s “Hire the SDRs that you can coach to be ready to, to call.” Because coaching is going to be better and then that’s going to make them do well on the phone and it’s going to make client relationships easier. So, my philosophy has always been “Hire the right people first and that’ll make managing and client engagement easier.”

[00:37:07] Chris Corcoran: So, I mean, obviously that’s the case, right? You could look at sports just get the best players. So, everyone knows that, but you have to do that and, and, and what, and what you do is you say you do that on potential work ethic and attitude. And how do you measure that? How do you assess that, in an interview process?

[00:37:32] Marc Gonyea: Caliber is listening right now. 

[00:37:35] Jeremy Wood: I think, I mean, it’s, it’s a lot of within, usually within five minutes of an interview I can, I can tell, “Okay, this, this person has it.” Not this way, this other person doesn’t have it, but this person is, has, has what it takes and it’s a lot of, okay, when I asked them, “Hey, tell me about yourself?”

[00:38:54] You know, if they are able to, you know, be, not necessarily concise, but if they can know how to sell themselves, if they can give an answer to a question and it give an example of why the, those are things that tell me, “Okay, this person isn’t just going to, you know, complete the assignment that the manager gave them.

[00:39:12] They’re going to complete the assignment and do more because that, that’s in their nature.” I think some of, some of the, the biggest recruiting wins come from finding ways to connect with them. I think I’ve always been good at, you know, coming up with, with analogies or stories on the spot that can relate to someone.

[00:39:33] If they have a swimming background, you know, relating something to Michael Phelps. If, you know, if they are, if they come from a bartender background finding, you know, helping explain their role in a way that, you know, relates it to things that they would do as, as a bartender. I think those are things that I’ve been able to do that helped me connect with that person.

[00:39:54] Which allows them to open up more. And that’s when, you know, I’m able to ask him, maybe go a little bit more negative and, you know, really, challenging to think, “Well, why go into this potential career path at this other role when you mentioned that this is your, you’re more interested in, you know, being able to hunt and bringing your own?”

[00:40:11] So, I think that, that’s helped me in the interview process to get candidates to, to open up and for me to connect with them more, which when they do join helps, helps them, helps me and that person have a better relationship from the start. 

[00:40:25] Chris Corcoran: So I think a really important thing to observe here is that there’s some hiring managers,

[00:40:35] they’re like, “Damn, I gotta go to another interview.” And they’re going just through the motions because they have to do that because they need to hire an SDR or a sales person versus this sounds like you, like it, “Sweet. It’s awesome. I go, we get to go on an interview.” And he show up to those interviews so optimistic.

[00:40:52] And I, that transmits a signal to the candidate, which allows you to connect with them, which also allows you to win a disproportionate number of these competitive situations. And when you do that, then you start building up a team. Yeah. And then they start gaining momentum and then you have a culture. Sure.

[00:41:11] Jeremy Wood: Yeah, I, it, yeah, it, it was, I like to refer to my team is, you know, generations and the generation, you know, one team would, wasn’t the certain, you know, why there was, there was a lot of great on that team, you know, it just got better each generation because I, I learned how to foster a better culture from, from the beginning and, and, you know, learn maybe what wasn’t the right type of incentive and right team, you know, culture type of events.

[00:41:40] And it certainly led to, as each generation went on a stronger and stronger union, I would say. 

[00:41:47] Marc Gonyea: So, you are DM for almost two and a half years. Always take a month off of it. 

[00:41:52] I want to come back to that recruiting thing because I could this tradition that rolling into the next gig. Yeah. So, how did all that happen, Boston? 

[00:42:02] Yep. I think the first time it got brought up, I said, “No.” I think it was through that.

[00:42:06] Jeremy Wood: I was born and raised in Northern Virginia, friends were down here, family was down here, your friends from home, friends from school. So, it was like, “Why the heck would I leave and go do my own thing? 

[00:42:20] Chris Corcoran: Who am I going to play tree volleyball with? 

[00:42:24] Marc Gonyea: What are the guys going to say?

[00:42:26] Jeremy Wood: And need the, need the COGA. Um, I remember we had a fireside chat one day that they, you did with Ben Carlson.

[00:42:36] Wow. His story was about how he was in here. And then, he ended up going out West to a few different, you know, big time roles. And he said something along the lines of, you know, “If you limit yourself to jobs only in the area that you’re currently in, you’re cutting yourself off to, like, 99% of opportunities out there.”

[00:42:54] So, th, that was what opened my eyes to, “Okay. Like, maybe I should suck it up and, and, you know, be open to, to moving away from my parents.” And then, I also, you know, having, you know, had a team of 10, 12 SDRs that were all really great, I mean, the last team that I had was proudly full of all stars, Caroline Sullivan, Joey Bones, Bones, James Manning, Eli Kaplan, Ean Onspot, Olivia in, in, on the expel team.

[00:43:28] Jeremy Wood: And, so, I mean, it was, it was like an awesome team. 

[00:43:33] Chris Corcoran: That was the whole team?

[00:43:36] Jeremy Wood: That was, uh, yeah..

[00:43:37] He got good at the job.

[00:43:38] Chris Corcoran: Ready to the playoffs.

[00:43:39] Marc Gonyea: Generation three. 

[00:43:40] Chris Corcoran: Yeah.

[00:43:40] He’s DM for two and a half years. 

[00:43:42] Chris Corcoran: Wow.

[00:43:43] Jeremy Wood: So, yeah and I can, you know, what, I can think back to ways that I was able to help develop them, that I, I, you know, failed with maybe previous SDRs that I learned, “Okay, this is what I’m going to do next time.”

[00:43:57] And, and it led to, you know, when I got that, that third chance, you know, crushing out of the gate and all Brenda, again, to, to Brenda

[00:44:09] Last SDR ever hired in Virginia. And so, a, what was the question? 

[00:44:15] Marc Gonyea: Well, how did the Boston cookbooks I needed to understand so wrote down? 

[00:44:18] Jeremy Wood: So, I had, I had that, that team and it was, it was awesome, but at the same time I realized, “Okay, I can’t grow a team to 20 SDRs if I want to make do, if I want to have a bigger impact and be able to have that same level of impact on those SDRs. If my team gets that big, I’m going to lose the ability to connect with them personally that, that made them as successful as they were.”

[00:44:43] So, that, that’s what I, that mixed with, you know, “Okay. Be a big kid, you know, leave, leave your hometown.” Those two things helped me realize, “Okay, opening up an office would allow me to make a bigger impact on more people.” And that’s what led me to say, yeah, like, I remember thinking we weren’t going to do it.

[00:45:02] I remember when I finally came in, I, the day after you all talked to me about it, I said to Chris, I feel like Chris was not happy with ,me with my response yesterday. He was like, yeah, he, he thought you weren’t gonna do it. So. 

[00:45:15] Marc Gonyea: Well got a good, you know, established down there.

[00:45:19] Chris Corcoran: But you can’t compete with tree volleyball.

[00:45:23] Jeremy Wood: So, I think that, that was, that was the moment and specifically Boston, I, I looked at, the first thing I looked at was college campuses. What, what colleges are up there? And… 

[00:45:35] Chris Corcoran: So, you’ve got it right. You got it right. Most people look at what technology companies are there for clients, but you’re like, “No, I need, I need the SDRs, where do I get the best SDRs.”

[00:45:47] Jeremy Wood: The first thing I looked up was, was college and sales programs in, in Massachusetts. I mean, Virginia there’s, there’s JMU, there’s Tech, those are, those are big programs. I, I mean, I couldn’t count how many pages of, on Google I found of sales programs. I mean, it was within, you know, a 50 mile radius.

[00:46:09] There’s 50 colleges here, all with reputable sales programs. And I knew that, “Okay, let me get a chance just to talk to some of the students and, and, and, you know, get them introduced to, to, to what, you know, we, we can help them do.” So, at that point I was, I was, I was making a list of colleges I wanted to talk to and programs to, to see and talking to Libby and saying, “Okay, what are we getting?

[00:46:34] How are we getting into these schools?” 

[00:46:36] Assessed to see, if it was a fertile recruiting route.

[00:46:40] Marc Gonyea: 7, 5, 7 years sales programs.

[00:46:43] Chris Corcoran: Right? 

[00:46:45] Marc Gonyea: So, you eventually came to the conclusion you’re going to do it. Right? And when did that happen? You remember? 

[00:46:55] Jeremy Wood: I don’t remember the specific day, but Emily and I were talking and, you know, her family’s from up in the area.

[00:47:02] And we were both like, “When, where else would I get a chance to be 25 years old at the time and open up an office?” That was the stage of events that led to me sending you all an email. I think it was like New Year’s Eve. I was…

[00:47:19] Chris Corcoran: Making resolutions. 

[00:47:23] Jeremy Wood: In the morning. So, it wasn’t, uh, saying, “Hey, I’m in.”

[00:47:26] And from there, it was, it was going, I mean, once I knew I was in , again, the competitive person to me, there was no hesitation, it was “Okay. I’m doing it. We got to recruit, we got to hire, we got to, you know, envision how we’re going to open up the office, what we’re going to do, how we’re going to build the team so that the gears started turning.”

[00:47:44] Marc Gonyea: Who did you bring? Who did you bring up? Did you bring anybody with you? Like, how did you? 

[00:47:48] Jeremy Wood: I brought up no current SDRs. And I, not that I wanted that, necessarily, but I loved that when we did get to open up the office, it was, it was my ecosystem. You know, I was able to, the habits that they developed were mine.

[00:48:07] You know? I got to preach and coach the way I wanted to, without any sort of other, you know, factors, that, that, that was what I loved about it. I did have a few SDRs. Y I had, one SDR, Ellie Miller, she was supposed to start in my team in Virginia, the upcoming summer. And so, I, she was actually over in Europe, studying abroad, at the time I called her and I said, “Hey, I have some news, I’m moving to Boston.”

[00:48:36] And she was as, you know, stoic as she could be young for, “I’m happy for you. Great. Congrats.” And I remember being like, “Damn, she’s going to be a rockstar.”

[00:48:46] Marc Gonyea: Yeah. 

[00:48:47] Chris Corcoran: She’s at the top of her big board. And she, yeah. Yeah. I was sales program. 

[00:48:51] Marc Gonyea: Absolutely. 

[00:48:52] Jeremy Wood: And 10 minutes after I got off the phone with her, Libby comes running over and shows me a, a text message from Ellie that she said to Libby saying, “Hey, I’m so happy for Jeremy, but dot, dot, dot can I move to Boston?” And Libby

[00:49:07] and I just, like, jumped up and down. We were like, we were bringing her up. So, she was the first Boston, uh, commit. And then, we’ve got a couple others, Katie Lowry, same boat. She was supposed to be in Virginia, talked to her, got her up here to, to Boston. And then, at the recruiting trail started. 

[00:49:25] Chris Corcoran: Wow.

[00:49:26] Marc Gonyea: This is what I want to go back to.

[00:49:28] So, we talked Jeremy about people and he talked about, “Yeah, you can be there. You can do the DM weekly tap dance better than anybody around and, and do the value and, like, be an amazing DM. But you got to have the people too, do for the issues, excuse me the campaign.” And you mentioned it, but I want to focus on, ’cause I know this is another one of your superpowers or realization of the outcome of being such a good recruiter, hiring manager,

[00:49:52] the leader is when you get these people in the office, all working together, everyone’s game, right, rises, right?

[00:50:00] Jeremy Wood: Yeah. 

[00:50:01] Marc Gonyea: And, and that helps the people. ‘Cause interviewing too, it’s still kind of hit or miss sometimes. Right? So, you get someone who’s like, “Okay, this person is going to need some more development coaching.”

[00:50:12] Well, is it going to be better and easier for you as the DM? And then, as SDRs, if they’re in the office with a bunch of all-stars or are they going to be playing at the level of the people?

[00:50:21] Jeremy Wood: Okay. 

[00:50:21] Marc Gonyea: Talk about that, especially with starting an office. 

[00:50:25] Jeremy Wood: Yeah. I mean, it was, it was imperative from, from day one up here to, you know, have the office be as tight of a unit as possible.

[00:50:37] And, you know, that, that was my biggest thing in interviews was I wanted to hire people that I knew were going to be, you know, team players. It, I would, I would have rather finished year one, is, in the office with only eight SDRs total if it meant having the rite aid than saying, “Oh, I have 30 SDRs in the office, but it’s not the right people.” For that exact reason

[00:51:02] Jeremy Wood: I got, I wanted the people that new SDRs came in and interacted with to, to be ones that I, you know, trusted to, to be a mentor, to it, to be a, you know, a, a leader to those people when I wasn’t there because being the only manager up here, I was busy sometimes, so I needed to make sure that when I wasn’t there, that I knew that the people that were out there were nothing but, you know, amazing influences for the new folks.

[00:51:27] Marc Gonyea: That has nothing to do with booking our current meetings.

[00:51:29] Chris Corcoran: No, that’s establishing and fostering a culture. 

[00:51:34] Marc Gonyea: I don’t know if people even look for that as much as they should in every process because you’re so hell bent on “Of course we got to book meetings to make sure they occur and get plenty of them that are good.” But that’s another thing, like, “How is this person going to play out within the confines of working with everyone?”

[00:51:47] Because it is a team, but the teams consisted of people working on, consist of people working on other clients. 

[00:51:53] Jeremy Wood: Yeah. 

[00:51:53] Marc Gonyea: So, they all, and they all give their own kind of quota. But then, so, that, so, you already had this good recruiting philosophy and the skills you built up being a DM in Virginia enhanced. I think the culture that you got going up here from day one.

[00:52:10] Jeremy Wood: Yeah. I think it was a lot about and this goes back to somebody that, maybe answer one of the questions from earlier that I probably botched was dealing with diversity. I think in interviews that’s usually one of the biggest things that I, that I look for is “Okay. When this person faces adversity, what do they do today?

[00:52:31] Do they leave? Do they back down? Do they complain?” Right? You know, if they have a bad manager, is it just, “Oh, my manager stinks.” Or is it “Okay, well, when did you talk with them? How did you, you know, talk about a time you had to, you know, confront or how to conduct difficult conversation with that person?”

[00:52:47] Because cold calling, you know, you face adversity in so many different areas. It could be your first day on the phones getting smacked. It could be eight months into the job after hitting quota eight months and then you, you miss it for the first time. And that, someone’s response to that adversity is probably gonna tell me so much more about who they are than,

[00:53:10] you know, anything they did prior to it, to that point. 

[00:53:13] Marc Gonyea: Yeah. And this is just a casual reminder. It’s not about hiring people who are going to be all sorts of work out. Somehow it works. It’s all those other traits. Yeah. But that, so, so, so you’ve got up here and you built a squad and you’ve been up here for three years.

[00:53:30] Jeremy Wood: Yeah. Three years in May.

[00:53:32] Marc Gonyea: Chris and I would definitely, we’re definitely not going to move up there in the middle of winter.

[00:53:36] Chris Corcoran: Yeah, we, yeah, we, we, we specifically and it’s part of your recruitment rule, we’re like, “We got to send him up there kind of during summer. We got to get up, we got to get him moved up there before winter owes.”

[00:53:49] It was kind of at the tail end of the, tail end of the winter. Right? So, you had a nice little stretch of summer before you had the long, cold, dark winter. 

[00:53:58] Jeremy Wood: I think having Emily be able to say, “Hey, it’s cold, but it, but it’s going to be okay.” She talked me through a little bit. 

[00:54:05] Marc Gonyea: I want to give her, let’s talk about Emily for a few minutes.

[00:54:08] ‘Cause she’s basically part of the company. What, what, what has, how has that support been? Because I I know working here is crazy. Right? It’s, it’s, any job’s crazy, but what can remember is kinda crazy? Like, how has that impacted things from, obviously, from the first interview? Sorry. 

[00:54:26] Jeremy Wood: Yeah, I was even the first interview before she even knew. But, like, she was always as an SDR, “Hey, did you get leads today?” 

[00:54:33] Marc Gonyea: Yeah. 

[00:54:34] Jeremy Wood: And it was, it was always like, like it was ever the right verbiage. So,

[00:54:40] “Did you get leads today?” So, like, getting one lead is a good is good. 

[00:54:45] Chris Corcoran: So would you say lead to them? 

[00:54:46] Jeremy Wood: Like, it’s not easy to get two leads.  So, she was always curious about that. I mean, we, we developed a system over time where if after, like, you know, I had to explain, you know, sometimes as a manager, like, the day doesn’t start ’till five o’clock when, when, when things come up.

[00:55:06] So, I would send her a text, some, we sort of had, you know, a text system where if it was going to be, like, a seven o’clock night because something came up, I would send the texts like, “Hey, going to be work, got some work to do.” If it was like, you know, short, like, hey, you know, maybe 30, 30 minutes and be like, “Hey, leaving on time.”

[00:55:25] So that, that became kind of the, the code to, to know, okay. It’s gonna be one of those days where it’s some, some things coming up I gotta deal with or, you know, normal day and then, when I would leave at five, she was like “Everything okay?” Yeah. 

[00:55:41] Marc Gonyea: I mean, this important part of the process that partner who can kind of support you along the way. Right? 

[00:55:46] Jeremy Wood: Absolutely. Yeah. 

[00:55:47] Marc Gonyea: Right. So, shout out to Emily for all those things. Bummed I missed the wedding. 

[00:55:52] Jeremy Wood: She still talks about that. 

[00:55:53] Marc Gonyea: No, I doubt it. All right. So, w, w, what has been built in the office? What’s that been like? ‘Cause now you’ve handed the reigns over, so, built the office. What’s that been like? 

[00:56:06] Jeremy Wood: So, from that, I think the biggest, like, moment in the office was back when we had about seven SDRs and we had six or eight people lined up to start over the next few weeks, too.

[00:56:23] Marc Gonyea: Wanna get some water?

[00:56:25] Jeremy Wood: No, I’m good. 

[00:56:25] Marc Gonyea: How many are in the office now? 

[00:56:28] Jeremy Wood: We got probably 64 with another 10 lineup to start in the next, we have 25 people start in the next five weeks. 

[00:56:37] Marc Gonyea: Wow. 

[00:56:38] Jeremy Wood: So, early on it was, we had eight people I have to start to get going from seven to fifteen. And I remember saying to Christie and I was like, you know, “We’re not, I’m not going to be able to manage one through 10 the same way I would be able to 10 through 20.” ‘Cause it’s just, it’s too big. So, I developed what I called project red team, blue team. And it’s… 

[00:57:05] Marc Gonyea: No, it’s, it’s awesome. It’s great.

[00:57:07] Jeremy Wood: And it was basically, I talked to that, to Rob Gonzales, anymore, Tiffany Tung and then Faith Emory, the first four SDRs in the office. I said, “Look.” We basically said the same thing.

[00:57:23] “I want you all to get the, I want the next 15 SDRs get the same individual coaching that you all got. But I can’t do that on my own. So, I need your help.” And these were at the time, you know, SDRs only two months into the job, they still had a quarter, they were still learning the job he had. So, I said, “We’re gonna have a team.

[00:57:39] We’re gonna call this a team lead program. So, basically you Robyn, Emmy and you, Tiffany and Faith. You’re going to be Jackie Moon player coaches. You’re going to have a group of six SDRs each and you’re going to do two on one, two that every week, just breaking down calls, whatever they need to do. I’m still going to meet with them too. This is going to allow them to get extra coaching that I may not be able to, to, to provide.

[00:58:03] And, you know, we’re going to report back into it as an opportunity for them to get leadership experience.” And obviously all four of them ended up either getting promoted internally or hired out by a client. Excuse me. And what I think that, that was, so, that, that was a huge help for the office to grow.

[00:58:19] Jeremy Wood: But, what I think it really did was it created an environment where when, when SDRs joined the team, it wasn’t just, you know, me, the boss saying, “Hey, you’re going to come in at 8:30, you’re gonna blitz, you’re going to blitz at this time, you’re gonna be having to work.” They now had SDRs who were basically the same tenure as them almost saying, “Hey, you’re going to come in.

[00:58:38] You’re going to blitz at this time, you’re going to get a hundred thousand. You’re going to get your list bills. You’re going to do your call breakdowns.” So, they had their own peers holding them accountable. And I think that, in addition to just giving them the support they needed, it helped build that culture of, like, “Hey,

[00:58:53] we’re the Boston office. We’re not just team Rob, team Emmy, it’s “Hey, you know, we’re, we’re one unit.” And I think that developed into the, the pride that the office had, you know, even as we started to grow and develop into different teams, it was always, you know, Boston’s on top, Boston, you know.

[00:59:11] Marc Gonyea: It’s going to be easy to say, like, would you need any more?

[00:59:13] Jeremy Wood: Yeah. Like, that, that was, that was a culture that, that I wanted to build. I think that was what helped us do that. 

[00:59:22] Chris Corcoran: Yeah. Yeah. It’s amazing. And I think it’s important to share that we had an incentive recently. This is maybe the, you know, kind of the crown jewel of the Boston office in my personal opinion.

[00:59:33] It was, we had an incentive across all six of our offices. 50 teams of SDRs had a kind of a March madness.

[00:59:40] Marc Gonyea: This is your program, your program, maybe the crews kicked it off, but like more time to do it. 

[00:59:47] Chris Corcoran: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so, we had these 50 teams in a March madness type format and of the final four, three of the teams were at a Boston.

[00:59:58] Jeremy Wood: Yes, they were.

[00:59:59] Chris Corcoran: And the winning team was that,  Boston was the championship, all Boston.

[01:00:05] Marc Gonyea: Boston championship we had that week. 

[01:00:06] Chris Corcoran: Wow.

[01:00:07] So, it was was intense, there were literal tears of joy and, and, and two occurred meetings the entire, the difference between the week to.

[01:00:19] Marc Gonyea: This is over a long period of time talking about lots of meetings.

[01:00:22] Yeah. What’d you say yesterday? Jeremy was what? 

[01:00:25] Chris Corcoran: Well, I was just saying, I could imagine this as it was all unfolding during championship, we can all Boston final, you just, all the mayhem, you just sitting out there and sipping on a cup of coffee with a grin on your face. 

[01:00:36] Marc Gonyea: It’s like Clooney or Brad Pitt in those heist movies when it’s all going down.

[01:00:41] I think it’s Jeremy. Yeah. Jeremy sat in his office. 

[01:00:44] Jeremy Wood: Yeah, that’s all come together. 

[01:00:46] Chris Corcoran: So, talk about that. I think that, that, what a great culture you have, but there’s also a culture of winning, of performance and how that feeds upon itself. And that’s just kind of what we do in Boston, right? Yeah.

[01:01:00] Talk about how important that is and how you make that kind of it, kind of embedded into the team and the office. 

[01:01:08] Jeremy Wood: I, I mean, I think when, you know, to, to go back to what you had mentioned earlier, though, this sort of, you know, three things that I focus on is, you know, culture, success and development. And, you know, my, my mindset was “Okay, get, get them succeeding as, as fast as possible.”

[01:01:28] Well, the, the, the, the key is that successes is different for so many different people. So, for some people was, you know, they, their expectation is, you know, they want to be in there, they want to be hitting quota from day one. For some people it’s, they want to find ways to develop their skills because, you know, they don’t really know what that’s gonna look like.

[01:01:50] So, it was always my goal to, to learn what success looked like for that person, as early as possible. Usually tiny, tying it into what their career goals are because if I know what success, what their goals look like, I can help them see that no matter what, what they did their first or second week on the job, whether they booked five meetings or they, or they got shut down by 50 prospects, whatever their goal was, that was first two weeks was successful in getting there.

[01:02:21] If it was 50 shutdowns, “You know what? You got 50 chances to, to learn from that. And I’m going to sit down and break those calls down with you and help you learning and get better because that’s going to help you get closer to that goal.” So, I think. when, you know, SDRs see that what they’re doing, whether regardless of what that looks like on the DHR, if they see that what they’re doing is successful, given where they’re at, it does build confidence because if you’re own your successes only hit quota

[01:02:51] like everyone else on your team, everyone gets developed differently. So, I don’t, I don’t care if someone hits. Some of my best SDRs, Pat Skillman is a great example. He, he’s crushing it now. And, you know, he hit quota, I think, you know, a couple of times I know he hit quota a couple of times at the job here, but certainly it wasn’t, you know, every month, but he got so successful in so many other areas that he’s doing phenomenal now.

[01:03:21] So, I think if, if SDRs understand that, you know, success looks different depending on where they’re at, that’s going to build confidence regardless of, of, of quota. So, I think that was always at the first step, was you got to make sure that they understand that, you know, if you look at the person next to you, who’s 14 months in the job and hitting 130% of quota and say yourself, “Damn why, why aren’t I there yet?”

[01:03:44] Jeremy Wood: That’s my fault for not educating them. That, that shouldn’t be what their measuring sticks should look like right now. 

[01:03:50] Marc Gonyea: I just want to talk to them on the dip about that. ‘Cause it goes back to, we got some clients, early stage technology companies. There may make some markets are bigger than others. Some products are different than others.

[01:04:02] They need to focus on their own development. And if they’re developing and putting it, giving us the effort, we’re going to take care of them.

[01:04:09] Jeremy Wood: Yeah. 

[01:04:09] Marc Gonyea: We can go to the client and say, client, Scott, Pat Stillman, or whomever it may be, it’d be having a rough month, like, “Look at all, look, all these things that are happening. If there’s a better way to execute this.

[01:04:20] I don’t know what it is. It doesn’t mean I don’t think it exists or…” And that gets people to where they want to go, but it takes a lot of focus and interest to keep them on the path. 

[01:04:31] Jeremy Wood: Yeah. So, it’s, it’s a lot of education and perspective that, that I didn’t have, you know, you’re one, as a, as a manager I had to fail a few times by having some people, you know, not work out for, for various reasons and realize, “Okay, it’s probably I, what could I have done to help them see that that was a mistake or help avoid them even thinking that that was the right way to do it?” 

[01:04:55] Chris Corcoran: So, in your opinion, what’s the more challenging role, leading SDRs or leading leaders of SDRs?

[01:05:15] Jeremy Wood: The more challenging.

[01:05:20] I, for, for me, it was leading leaders. And I think it was because I, I had a lot of, you know, I developed a lot of what I was good at as a manager through just natural, you know, mental reps in practice. So, it, it took me time to figure out what was the right way to pass that, that along because as, as a managing director, I, I can’t be in every SDR one-on-one and run every interview, be on every client call.

[01:05:53] So, for, for me it was, it, it, it took me time to figure out the right way to develop those leaders of SDRs to go out and run their offense and help empower them to, you know, not do exactly like me, that wouldn’t, I don’t think anyone should because you can’t replicate someone exactly. But empowering them to be confident in doing it their way.

[01:06:18] Jeremy Wood: Because if they’re confident, if they have confidence in how they’re doing it, that alone is going to help them be better in the role. So, that, that to me was more challenging because it’s a lot more, you know, I’m not, I’m no longer running the business. I’m managing, I’m consulting business owners is how I would describe it.

[01:06:38] Marc Gonyea: Very good.

[01:06:39] Chris Corcoran: Good answer. 

[01:06:39] Marc Gonyea: Very good. So, what are you doing now? So, you moved up here, you opened the office, a little less than three years in, turn the keys over to someone. 

[01:06:48] Jeremy Wood: Yeah. 

[01:06:49] Marc Gonyea: One of your first hires?

[01:06:50] Jeremy Wood: So, the first, the first SDR to officially sign an offer for Boston, specifically. 

[01:07:00] Chris Corcoran: So, talk about hitting a home run. Your number one first recruit is now running the joint. 

[01:07:08] Jeremy Wood: It, she is, Emmy. She was probably someone looking back, we may not, shouldn’t have even hired solely because of her commute. 

[01:07:18] Marc Gonyea: Yup. 

[01:07:20] Jeremy Wood: No way because of her, her abilities, but because she lived out 60 miles away from the office and had to commute, was going to have to drive one way an hour and 45 minutes.

[01:07:31] And so, at the time we were like, “How is she gonna be able to do it?” Thank God it did, we, she could, she convinced us to, to give her a shot. But that’s been unbelievable to see her go from, you know, the first SDR in the office to occur a meeting, the first one to get quota. Yeah, also the last one to get promoted and not through skill, just her figuring out what she wanted to do.

[01:07:55] By far, been the coolest growth that I’ve seen, I think, in my career from, you know, that first zoom interview to, to now she’s literally sitting in my well, my old desk. 

[01:08:08] Marc Gonyea: Yeah. There, there further, those there’s in Jeremy’s old office. There’s a big desk and a little desk in Jeremy’s been sitting at the little desk for, I don’t know how long, but it is.

[01:08:18] Chris Corcoran: It’s her office now, it’s her office. 

[01:08:20] Marc Gonyea: Right. It’s a little, little desk. Let’s go back to like, you know, stuff has never done by oneself, individually. I’ve always admired how you and Wisdorf worked together. Yeah. Right. So, she talked about how you guys work together and how that’s been important to you making this thing a success.

[01:08:38] Jeremy Wood: Yeah. I, I learned very early on working with, with Kristin that the sooner I started coming to her with, with a plan, whether it was, with a plan or with, “Hey, here’s what happened. Here’s what I learned.” She would trust me. There, there were some people that were, you know, sometimes rightfully so kind of say, “Okay, well let me go talk to Kristen about what I should do.”

[01:09:02] And there were times for that, but I learned very early on if, if I went to her and said, “Hey, this is the situation, this, this is my plan. This is what I’m going to do.” Whether it was right or wrong, she appreciated the, the proactiveness because she knew that it wasn’t just, it was me making effort to, to learn to get better.

[01:09:20] Jeremy Wood: It wasn’t just me saying, “Okay, let me, you know…” Not to say being lazy, but, you know, it, it would, it’d be easy for me to just go to her and ask for, for her to tell me what to do, but that was never going to allow me to, you know, develop. So, that’s what I learned early on. And I, I messed up and I got, you know, I got, you know, a couple of situations where I had to learn the hard way. But, again,

[01:09:44] I think because of my mindset of, like, ” Check the pride at the door and, and, you know, you lost the candidate. Think about what we could do better. You messed up with an SDR, what could I do better?” When, when she would give me feedback, it was never me saying, like, “She thinks I’m terrible.”

[01:09:59] Marc Gonyea: Right.

[01:09:59] Jeremy Wood: It was, “She’s hard on me because she knows I, I, I want to learn and that if she works, if she does just give me a pat on the back, like I’m not gonna learn from what I, what I did and get better from it, too.”

[01:10:14] So, I, I think that’s, what’s helped our relationship is, you know, when, when she’s straight forward with me, regardless of if it’s, you know, harsh or, or not, I’d rather that than, you know, “Hey, it’s, it’s, it’s okay. It’s, it’s fine.” ‘Cause I, I’m not going to get better as a leader by, by just hearing that.

[01:10:33] Marc Gonyea: Yeah. 

[01:10:34] Chris Corcoran: So, it sounds like you like hard things, hard challenges and you also like hard, tough leadership coaching. 

[01:10:43] Coach me hard.

[01:10:44] Marc Gonyea: Tell me what I’m messing up. 

[01:10:46] Chris Corcoran: Is that right?

[01:10:47] Jeremy Wood: I, I think, yeah, like, I, like, I like honest feedback.

[01:10:51] Marc Gonyea: Yeah. 

[01:10:51] Jeremy Wood: I, I tell SDRs when, you know, when I was managing them directly, we would go out to lunch on our first day. And I would say to them, I mean, Rob will tell you, I’d say to them, “I want you to tell me when you hate it.” They obviously, that was an exaggeration on purpose just to emphasize, like, if, if I’m doing something that’s driving you crazy, what good does it do to just bottle up until your, your peers,

[01:11:16] “I can’t believe Jeremy is doing that.” 

[01:11:17] Chris Corcoran: Oh, yeah. 

[01:11:18] Jeremy Wood: I’m, you know, willing to hear that I didn’t do something right. For the sake of doing it better the, the next time. So, I think that goes with, with Kristin, I think it goes with Emily. I’m not like, I’m fine being told, “Hey, you, you messed up.” because, “Okay, I did. Sure

[01:11:41] I messed up, but I’m going to be that situation again. So, I’d rather know what messing up looks like so I can learn from it for the next time.” 

[01:11:50] Marc Gonyea: Yep. All true. So, what, so, this is where I just supposed to say I’m sorry. I wanted to hit all these points. Little less than three years, turned the keys over to Emmy. She’s got the big desk at her office and you’re, kind of got the side cars at the, what was that called?

[01:12:06] A sidecar? What are you doing now? 

[01:12:09] Jeremy Wood: So, now I’m overseeing delivery on the East coast. So, Virginia, you know, Andrew Palmer, Ross, Barton, and the fed team, or my Ron, along with, you know, hopefully, the future offices that we’re going to start opening up and, and, you know, be able to bring the my experience from Virginia.

[01:12:35] Now, opening up this Boston office to future offices as, as well. 

[01:12:41] Chris Corcoran: So, all total, how, how, how many focal people are you leading, leading? Is like 200 ? 

[01:12:47] Jeremy Wood: Yeah, we got about 215 SDRs across all four MDs, with about probably 25, 26 delivery managers, among the four MDs. 

[01:12:57] Chris Corcoran: Wow. So, that’s a long way from three.

[01:13:02] Jeremy Wood: Yeah, a long way.

[01:13:03] Marc Gonyea: So, out from carried, carried around stones, the stone masons assistant three summers.

[01:13:10] Chris Corcoran: Yeah

[01:13:11] Jeremy Wood: There will be a part two, I guess, but before…

[01:13:15] Marc Gonyea: it wrapped it up, actually. So, how, how are you, how are you approaching this next challenge, let’s talk about that and how you frame, how are you framing that up? ‘Cause now you’re not, I mean, it’s totally different job, right?

[01:13:26] Jeremy Wood: Yeah, totally. 

[01:13:27] Marc Gonyea: How are you approaching that? 

[01:13:30] Jeremy Wood: Right now it’s for me about getting in the weeds, especially with the office, offices in Virginia.

[01:13:38] Not having been down there for three years full time. 

[01:13:42] Marc Gonyea: Yeah. 

[01:13:42] Jeremy Wood: I, it would be fortunate me to, to pop onto a team huddle and just start barking orders or running it the way that we run it up here. Right now, I’m trying to learn it and see how things operate. ‘Cause I, I think that the mindset I try to have as, as an MD, but especially on this role, as you know, I’m trying to consult,

[01:14:04] you know, the, the MDs on how to run a healthy office. So, I am doing a lot of observing, a lot of note taking, a lot of debrief and ask them questions, “Hey, I noticed this, is this typical?” Or, “Hey, this, this was great, you know, where did this come from?” And then, able to, you know, go to a, to any up in Boston and say, “Hey, Palmer just did this great exercise with his team.

[01:14:28] What are your thoughts on how we can implement that up here?” But, but, again, it’s not, “Hey, Palmer did this, do it the exact same way.” It’s, you know, “This was the, this was the outcome. This was a goal that he did. How could we apply this to it, to your team?” So, I think that’s the, the, the initial mindset I’m trying to have to figure out the right way to go about it.

[01:14:46] But, it starts with that, you know, just observing and seeing how it, how it works. 

[01:14:52] Marc Gonyea: All right. Well, I’m going to be excited to be along for that ride. 

[01:14:55] Chris Corcoran: Yeah, sure.

[01:14:56] Marc Gonyea: Smaller, small, super small third desk from his side shared desk. What’s going on with? 

[01:15:03] Chris Corcoran: Very good, Jeremy. Well, there’s tons of wisdom here. It’s been a incredible ride from right out of college, in a very short period of time.

[01:15:12] So, only 28. Sky’s the limit. 

[01:15:15] Marc Gonyea: It is. I, I remember when he was on sky bits as an SDR home over there, ‘cause they my business because we knew someone there and I was like, “This guy, what, this guy’s going to figure it out.” I think it was, it was, you were working hard. 

[01:15:28] Jeremy Wood: It was, it was a lot, a lot of new, new techniques and, you know, failing and learning from it.

[01:15:35] And I think I learned so much more from that type of, you know, client than the ones that were just, you know, easier in the sense of, like, “Okay. Here’s, you know, here’s a person, here’s who you call.” When I, when I had to, like, get scrappy and, you know, use yellow book dot, yellowpages.com to fulfil like, 

[01:15:58] Chris Corcoran: That’s you.

[01:15:59] Marc Gonyea: You stress your brain on.

[01:16:01] Jeremy Wood: “Okay, this is tough. What can I do differently?” So, that was a very defining experience for me that helped me move up and coach other SDRs who go through the same type of thing, have the perspective that if you have the right mindset facing that adversity, that I care so much more about that than, you know, did you book the meeting that day.

[01:16:23] Marc Gonyea: I remember that now. So, I guess it’s just a great analogy to what you’re doing now with people. That I remember I knew it was a fresh SDR driving, I remember coming up to me like this young woman is driving an hour and a half home, two hours home, every night. And she’s a raw SDR, there from doing a session with her yesterday.

[01:16:43] And, like, it’s just a completely different person. So, that, now on to the next challenge.

[01:16:49] Jeremy Wood: Part of the next challenge. 

[01:16:50] Chris Corcoran: All right, Wood.

[01:16:51] Marc Gonyea: Onward and upward. 

[01:16:52] Thanks a lot for doing this, Jeremy. 

[01:16:53] Jeremy Wood: Thank you for having me. 

[01:16:54] Marc Gonyea: We know you’re busy. 

[01:16:56] Chris Corcoran: Thanks for the wisdom. 

[01:16:57] Jeremy Wood: Thank you, guys. Excited. 

[01:16:59] Chris Corcoran: Likewise.