029: (Part 2 of 2) Why Technical Aptitude Sets You Apart in IT Sales, the Human Impact of Tech with Jasmine Morris
Listen to Episode 029 with Jasmine Morris here (YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts):
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About the episode:
Jasmine Morris is an Account Manager at CBTS, selling IT solutions to small and medium-sized businesses in Indiana. She’s also the Creative Director at Indy Black Millenials, and she’s getting her MBA in Information Technology and has worked on a handful of sales engineering certifications.
In Part 2 of 2, had blast in Part 2 talking about selling IT solutions to customers in 2020. Many sellers have been forced to execute from 100% inside with little to no face-to-face meetings. IT event marketers have moved activities 100% digital. Jasmine highlights how she doubled down on existing customers by helping them think about their future-state (which has been accelerated in 2020). We also touch on how getting technical certifications has helped Jasmine’s confidence and ability to be a holistic seller (Tech, Business, and Human).
Show highlights:
02m00s – Jasmine’s wired to get technical. She starts by telling us about her Chemical Engineering degree in college, which led her to pursue Sales Engineering certifications in Splunk and AppDynamics, and today she’s pursuing her MBA.
06m00s – How Jasmine learned how to talk about IT as a profit center, not a cost-center. When organizations adopt IT appropriately it actually helps them sell more and have a bigger brand impact on customers and employee morale.
07m30s – She gets into details about how her certification history has helped her build street cred with IT buyers. Sales Engineering Certifications in Splunk and AppDynamics. With Salesforce, Jasmine did everything except for taking the actual Salesforce Admin cert. She just got under the hood when her former org’s Salesforce Admin left and workflows got broken. Today she’s getting her MBA at Western Governor’s University.
10m00s – What is Jasmine’s favorite technology? Aaron’s is AppDynamics, and Jasmine agrees. Talks about how Cisco acquired AppDynamics. How Cisco has gotten into the software, services, and security game and what industry drivers are affecting that.
16m30s – Jasmine’s Territory: Small to Medium Sized Business in the State of Indiana. She’s been selling a lot of voice and Networking-as-a-Service with Cisco Meraki, which helps with connectivity reliability, network visibility, and security over standard internet, not legacy networking.
18m30s – IT modernization is challenging for small IT teams, monthly recurring basis to get on cloud infrastructure and they’re not shelling out major capital expenditure outlays to get present, especially during COVID. Sells a lot of voice, moving legacy voice customers to enable remote from the phone so they don’t have to use personal numbers.
25m00s – How Jasmine has come up the curve selling cloud-based voice solutions at CBTS. Her IT sales background comes from selling private cloud and enterprise monitoring.
29m00s – COVID’s impact on Selling, talking about customers’ future states. Do we need this office space? Do we need this many floors? Jasmine talks about prospecting new customers versus doubling down on existing during COVID. Also, she highlights how her CBTS team handled field marketing during the impact of COVID-19 Spring and Summer 2020.
34m00s – Event marketing or a field seller right now have to adjust. It’s been an easier transition for folks that have experience with Inside Sales, digital marketing, and executing SDR/ outbound type programs.
36m00s – Closing remarks.
Find Jasmine Morris online, plus the resources she mentioned on the show:
Personal
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasminemorris/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JasmineDMorris
Indy Black Millenials: https://www.indyblackmillennials.com/about-us/
CBTS
Allies: https://youtu.be/PmRU112Y8Rg
Perserverance: https://youtu.be/SDtVBxfAl8U
Implicit Bias: https://youtu.be/q3LSxlH2VGk
Inclusion: https://youtu.be/c_2n2kHG_Ks