Jackie Mayer, Senior Vice President of Sales at Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs

THEMES 

• Where you have been and what you have done before becoming a leader informs the kind of leader you will be and how your people react to you. Jackie really walked the walk before becoming a leader.
• Creating more and forever relationships with your team is just as important as creating those relationships with clients; one helps facilitate the other. 
• “More is more value– we need to provide more value to the individual, and their organization, to earn forever.”
• CPG Sales (consumer packaged goods) is more than transactional. Jackie works to help her team think about themselves as strategic consultants to be successful. 

KEY MOMENTS 

[2:57] Understanding and defining what sales really is versus the perception of sales; “It’s like being a General Manager of your own business.” 

[6:00] Jackie’s transition from an individual contributor/seller to leading others. “I had mentors in that space that were unbelievable leaders and mentors to me.” 

[7:01] “The best job I never wanted.” Jackie talks about the job that helped her be a leader

[9:00] The best advice Jackie got in her career and what accelerated her career

[11:31] Creating a more and forever relationship with your team 

[13:16] What does creating a more and forever relationship look like in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) world compared to professional services? 

[13:43] How do more and forever relationships with your internal team affect your client relationships? 

[15:57] The salesperson as a strategic consultant 

[18:01] Being a guide– providing our buyers with thoughtful and deliberate insights, actionable solutions, and celebrating shared successes 

[18:39] How do you help your team embrace the idea that they need to be a guide? 

[20:39] There are many individuals involved in the buying journey, which can be complex, but Jackie shares advice on how to stay focused and be effective, “mobilizing around that individual’s objectives.” 

[23:20] How did you learn the way you treat and work with BOTH your internal team and clients? 

[24:41] Managing yourself to be able to focus on the client and what they need 

[25:31] Book recommendations

[27:38] What do Jackie’s kids, Louie and Julia, think she does for work? Hint: it requires A LOT of baking 

[28:45] How did your first business trip go since working from home during the pandemic? Juggling family life and work, especially with travel 

[31:07] How COVID-19 and virtual work has changed this industry: “Before you would fly across the country for a 30-minute meeting.” 

[33:40] How Jackie found ways to create informal, spontaneous moments virtually, because it is necessary for building relationships (with teams and clients) 

[34:27] How she was able to get her team to reengage virtually and be vulnerable again 

[37:24] Trish coins this the “Jackie Check-In Call”– connecting, spontaneously, with your client or team member, with no agenda, just authentic curiosity and care. Being able to show empathy and understanding to our clients is what builds trust

[39:48] Where many sales people struggle with more and forever 

RESOURCES 

The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson