4/1/1: 4 Random Thoughts from me, 1 tools to help Sales Engineers, 1 quote for motivation

4/1/1 The Value of Doing Transcends Borders, Space, and Time

February 18, 2021

By Binayak Kanungo

4/1/1 Wednesday

4 Random Thoughts, 1 Tool, and 1 Quote

Hey everyone,

I know we mentioned it a couple of weeks ago, but February is truly the month of love. Whether it be due to Valentine’s day for all you couples, the days of chocolate sales that follow for the rest of us, or even to celebrate a lovely new bundle of joy in Ramzi’s newborn, there’s just so much to love about this February. Speaking of love, last week’s guest, Matt Elsom, COO at EMMa3D, has had an accomplished career at big companies and start-ups alike, the latter of which are often a true labour of love.

Listen to our show with Matt here.

There was a bunch that we chatted about during the show, whether it be Matt’s experience at various companies to how sales teams can work optimally together, and as a result, this week’s 4/1/1 takes from a lot of the discussed topics.

4 Random Thoughts From Me:

1- How things differ in American vs. British companies. It’s kind of cool to think that despite us all speaking the same language (kind of) and have a lot of similarities in how we are, the difference between American, British, and even Canadian companies (and cultures), are still very distinct.

2- How mindsets on how to do business have changed over time. Matt talked about how companies tended to be more short-term greedy vs. long-term greedy with how to treat employees to get the most out of them – and it’s very true! There has been a very well-documented shift from a more authoritarian style of management to a participative style (look up theory X vs. Y management styles). A lot can change in over 20 years (despite it not feeling like it’s been that long).

3- You learn best by just doing it. Matt talked about how he learned how to become a CEO by being one. There’s a lot of transferable skills that Matt had that helped him in the role, but even still, you really learn best at anything by just doing it and figuring it out.

4- SEs are knowledge centers of their organizations. Even if you’re new to a company, you’ll eventually get there. As Matt mentioned, SEs need to understand their offering from the perspective of Sales, CS, Product, and the prospect. Being able to understand a product from so many different angles to be able to have intelligent conversations about it with whoever you’re talking to is pretty cool!

1 Tool:

Hofstede’s Country Comparison Tool

If you’re at all interested in some of the nuanced differences between countries and cultures that you thought may have been the same, check out Hofstede’s cultural insights. My whole degree back in school was centered around this, but it is fascinating to consider how cultures differ in order to know how to best appeal to those who live in different places from you.

1 Quote:

“The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.”
– Charles Kettering