Episode 57: Hope O. Baker

Summary: 
In this episode, David chats with Hope O. Baker. Hope is an enterprise BDR (business development representative) from Apttus, a Silicon Valley-based global provider of the Intelligent Middle Office platform. Hope shares her journey from being a raw recruit to a rockstar BDR at Apttus. Listen as she lists down her tips and strategies that helped her grow in this career.

3 Key Points:

1. If you want to grow, you need to put in the work.
2. Don’t just sell products — be the person who wants to solve your customer’s problem.
3. If you’re not happy with what you do, leave.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 00:01 – DiscoverORG – The world’s leading prospect intelligence platform
• 00:17 – Subscribe to our show on YouTube and review us on iTunes
• 00:58 – David introduces Hope to the show
• 01:54 – Hope started with door-to-door sales in memoryBlue
• 03:09 – Hope says AISP events, meetups, and networking became her tools to success
• 04:06 – Hope shares her experience in memoryBlue
  • Doing emails and learning the basics of a BDR
• 05:09 – From raw recruit to rockstar — the process Hope went through as a BDR
• 07:19 – When you’re new, you have to be serious learning the groundwork
  • Hope trained people in California
  • Peer-led and company-wide trainings
• 08:58 – David thinks training is tough for managers to put together
  • Peer-led training helps managers with the load
• 10:14 – Hope talks about her transition from memoryBlue to Apttus
  • “At Apttus, we have a lot of resources here”
• 11:38 – “The main thing would be that I look at everything in a strategic, big picture mentality”
  • Hope takes a holistic approach
  • Putting the work in is what Hope takes pride of
• 12:38 – DiscoverORG – The world’s leading prospect intelligence platform
• 15:11 – “I’m not here to sell you my products…I’m here to solve a business problem for you”
• 16:27 – Hope’s research process
  • She uses Evernote to organize her accounts
  • She checks the social media pages of her accounts and engages with them
• 18:47 – Loving what she does is what sets Hope apart
  • “If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, leave”
• 20:38 – Training issues are not working anymore
  • If you’re not training and growing yourself, you’re out
• 23:51 – “We need to be talking more about the problems we’re solving”
• 25:18 – Hope’s tip to BDRs is to role-play
• 27:23 – She previously suggested other BDRs to sit-in her demos and calls
• 28:13 – She thinks a team book club would be great
• 29:08 – Hope wants to be an account executive soon
• 31:23 – Follow Hope on Twitter
• 32:12 – Subscribe to our show on YouTube and review us on iTunes
• 32:20 – Contact us to discuss your sales development needs

 
Resources Mentioned:

• Apttus – Where Hope currently works at
• memoryBlue – A company where Hope previously worked for