“How they perform is not about being a superstar athlete. But you look at school performance or academic performance, or if they’ve been in the sales world for several years, you can actually be really clear and deliberate on what their performance records and stack rankings have been. So, people that have been continuously successful, that tells you something about their ability to adapt to a situation and continue to rise to the top. – Michael Griego

“At the high level, at the global level, I’m looking for individuals that are likable and good teammates, folks that can both relate with their selling partners, can relate with me as a leader, and can relate with my customers… I like soft skills. So I need to know they have those soft skills, those teaming skills, and those likability skills. – David McCulley

“There’s nothing better than finding an SE that has what I call a sales orientation. They understand what their role is and what we’re trying to do. And as we’re trying to move a deal forward, we’re trying to get a deal done and get it done. So they have a tendency to want to lock up that sync with the salesperson as a team to advance the ball downfield, as opposed to an SE that may be very, very good and competent with excellent domain expertise, and technical skills, however, they can’t see past the technology. And therefore they might have something missing in the conversation with the customer. And they miss some communication cues or some dynamics in a conversation. And so that’s why I say it’s a sales orientation.” – Michael Griego

“I tell my SEs that have been in my organization, you need to know your business like a rep knows your business, you need to know what accounts are in your pipeline, what deals you’re working on, and how you’re making your money. You need to be a little bit financially driven, and you need to be one willing to compete.” – David McCulley

“It’s very much like a marriage. I think you got to get to know each other, get along and have a plan for moving things downfield in a way that works. So it’s a very collaborative effort.” – Michael Griego

“We like to help customers, but sometimes helping the customers is just shutting up and helping them make a decision versus solving all their problems today.” – Ramzi Marjaba

“As I started to kind of understand this that when Debbie says something, I have an answer right away. When a customer says something, as a rep I have something to say right away. What I learned is, I need to hold back. And I need to ask questions to probe into well, what’s behind that comment. And when you do that in sales, you end up with better discovery conversation, you do that in a marriage, you end up with a better relationship with a long term marriage, and better kids come out of it, too.” – Michael Griego