Whether you run an inside sales team, field sales team, SDR, BDR, or MDR sales team that was an awesome sales conference! Honestly with all the excitement leading up to, during, and even after Sales Hacker’s SalesStack15 I simply have not had a chance to reflect. Tonight when I ordered my head free headshot, courtesy of Sales Hacker (thanks Max!). I was able to finally get some perspective on the event as a whole. To say epic is simply not enough. Before we speak about the conference itself, let’s take a quick moment to see how we even got here.
Early in 2015 Max Altschuler declared it The Year of the SDR and from what I can tell he nailed it! The amount of energy and focus on the SDR, top of the funnel, activities has really helped everyone who’s a part of an organization with an inside sales SDR, BDR, or field sales team. Just like a sales funnel, starting at the top helps increase the volume and velocity through the funnel. The year kicked off with Rainmaker by SalesLoft in the ATL and ended with one of the best sales conferences I’ve attended in a long time, SalesHacker SalesStack15.
I’ve been to a lot of sales conferences and for me this really felt like “one of the good ones” others are awesome too, but for me this one had a little extra power. There was nothing specific per se, it just had a different feeling to me. Here are the things in no particular order that really stuck with me.
- The Cookies! – Yeah, that smell of chocolate chip cookies was an outstanding touch. And they tasted even better.
- Attendees – Everyone there really, really wanted to be there. As sales people it’s always a challenge to balance being away from the office and the fact that over 1,000 people attended.
- Attitude – It felt like egos were checked at the door. Which we all know in sales can be hard to do. Everyone was super friendly, outgoing, interested talking and actually listening to each other and the speakers. Yeah, listening, I said it.
- Sponsors / Vendors – Loved seeing everything all in one place. While yes, you can probably find all of these folks at something like Dreamforce the intimacy of the affair made it so much more manageable. For me it felt something like walking down the cereal aisle and choose the cereal with the best toys inside!
- Speakers – Back to back and fully stacked! Holy cow and wow! It was like a sales version of Coachella or Bonnaroo! All the rock-stars sharing the stage for the love of the music, err…. Sales! A real who’s who in the sales arena. Tons of people I know, I have worked with, and admired from afar all in one place. If you did not take advantage to meet these people 1:1 you really missed a great opportunity. Without playing favorites I do want to list all the speakers by name just so we can be sure to give them some SEO love: Max Altschuler, John Barrows, Ralph Barsi, Bill Binch, Lesley Young, Kyle Porter, Aaron Ross, Brian Walton, Andrea Austin, Armando Mann, Kristina Shen, Shep Maher, Saad Shazad, Emmanuelle Skala, Mandy Cole, Carolyn Betts, Ryan Williams, Steve McKenzie, Marc Maloy, Kristen Moore, Sally Duby, Josh Evans, Chad Burmeister, Rob Jeppsen, Nancy Nardin, Mukund Mohan, Richard Harris, Keenan, Craig Rosenberg, Valerie Williamson, Lacey Bell, David Priemer, Becky Brown, Jason Lemkin, Jason Green, Tomasz Tunguz, Stacey Bishop, Jamie Shanks, Ken Krogue, Koka Sexton, Jill Rowley.
- Topics / Panels – Uber powerful and massively meaningful. I cannot remember a conference where I was happy sitting and listening for 6-8 hours straight. If you missed any of them, you can click here to watch the vidoes.
- The Amenities – Seriously free headshots? Genius!! Shoe shines? Brilliant! Happy Hour BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE! Oh and did I mention the cookies?!! All of these little things really helped make a “good conference” great!
So as the Year of the SDR winds down to an end and The Year of the Sales Stack gets underway I am super pumped about the future of sales. A lot of people “look down” on sales and sales people. I for one could not be more proud to say that I am a sales person and the other sales people I work with are fantastically amazing! From all of us at The Harris Consulting Group to all of you, finish the year strong, hit your goals, and I look forward to seeing you again and meeting more of you in 2016.
To Max and the whole Sales Hacker Team, thank you for not only an amazing event but also for continually adding value, supporting the community, and helping us all hone our craft.
