Sales Culture at Hevo: Relentless Forward Progress

Long before Billy Durant founded General Motors, he was a successful cigar and insurance salesperson for a short period of time. The thought clarity he had towards a problem statement made him successful not just with cigar and insurance but also with General Motors. He was not a born mechanical engineer or a tobacco farmer. He went by just one governing principle-

“Let your customer talk and you listen and they will do the selling for you”.

The idea seems simple, but is far from easy to implement, as there are multiple aspects rolled under that one-line framework. Customers are not dying for anyone’s product, but they are dying to be understood. This is why we treat this one-line framework and all the aspects rolled underneath as our core ethos.

A report from Salesforce says that over 84% of business buyers are more likely to buy from sales reps who take the time to understand their thought processes and their goals. While buyers want sales professionals to be aware of their specific interests, developing that kind of deeper understanding is never straightforward. This is why we at Hevo call our sales folks ‘solution consultants’. At the surface, we are a SaaS-based ETL tool provider, but at the root level, we are problem solvers. Now how do we get there? Welcome to Hevo’s sales culture.

Staying curious:

Curiosity is the single most powerful attribute that makes our sales team tick. We believe that staying curious is the only way to help our customers uncover the solution that they are hoping for. We believe in a deeper discovery that is far beyond what is at the surface level. A deeper discovery not only exposes us to the real challenges faced by our customers, it even helps our customers dig down to the root cause of the challenges they are facing. We encourage and train our team to stay curious at all levels. We encourage them to question everything even if it’s working well so they can understand our customer’s environment better; which in return helps them coin the right solution.

Being a consultant:

Our sales team approaches every prospect as an associate, as a partner, and never as a prospect. We believe in the idea of co-creation and that is exactly what we offer our customers- to step into their world and to offer them a third-eye perspective on things that matters to their data needs. We call ourselves consultants because we believe that is the only way to stay close to the problem statements. The closer we stay to the problem statement, the closer we are to providing our customers with the right solution.

Staying Unassuming:

It is imperative for our sales team to stay unassuming at all times. We are building a team that has the following statement encrypted at the very core — The lesser we assume, the closer we are to the truth; and when we know the truth, the truth will set things free. We train our team to question every thought and challenge them to have solid reasoning behind every one of them. This means our team will have a better ability and a broader perspective on each problem statement, and with that, we help provide the thought clarity that our customers seek about their own problem statements.

Developing Ownership:

This is Hevo’s DNA and not just our sales organization's DNA. We believe in the vision to own our work, which exhibits a deeper commitment to our customers to provide them with optimal solutions. Each and every sales manager owns their account end to end to ensure we provide our customers with an amazing buying experience. A customer who is happy to buy the product is not just a customer, but a stakeholder of our vision- and that is how we measure success.

Intent over words:

Our sales team is trained with the thought process that words are momentary but the intent is momentous. We are governed by our intent and we ensure our intent is always to be honest with our customers even if that means telling them Hevo may not be the right solution for them. Our sales team put our customer problems ahead of their own sales targets.

Staying coachable:

Being coachable is the single most important attribute for any salesperson to thrive. We pick the best of the minds of sales to help us with what we want to achieve, and the best minds always stay humble and understand there is something to learn from everyone. Coachability is the first criteria we look into before we bring a sales professional on board. The ability to self-assess and take feedback directly reflects their appetite for self-improvement.

At Hevo, we are building a sales culture that challenges traditional thought processes associated with sales, and laying a strong foundation that will keep our sales force inquisitive and customer-centric. We are building a sales team that does not settle for anything less than excellence. Excellence in trying hard to understand customers’ pain areas, excellence in trying to align the solution that will exceed customers' expectations, and excellence in being relentless to deliver incredible customer experiences. At the end of the day, a customer can forget an effective sales pitch but will never forget their buying journey experience.