Suggestions
Tucker Kelly
Commercial Sales Manager at Smartsheet
Tucker Kelly is the Head of Sales and Business Development at Revv, a role in which he focuses on driving growth and monetization for the company. He is based in New York, New York, and has a strong background in sales and business development, having previously worked at Amazon Web Services (AWS) as an Advocacy Product Marketing Manager. In this position, he was responsible for engaging with developers and creating programs to enhance user experience and advocacy for AWS products.1
Tucker holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University, where he was also a founding board member of the Country Music Club. His career includes various roles in sales and marketing, demonstrating a commitment to building impactful programs and driving results.1
Highlights
There is so much convoluted and complicated sales advice out there. As you try to internalize it all, let me give you one of the most useful pieces of advice I've gotten (especially for SMB sales) - all you need to know is: just pick up the phone.
When I came to Revv, I put a lot of pressure on myself to close deals from Week 1. Everyone we hire on the sales team is an A-player who wants to do the same.
The one piece of advice that's borne out across my team and me is to just do it. Quit thinking about it, pick up the phone, and make the call.
There's so much hesitation around thinking you need to research every little detail before you can reach out to someone.
Yes, have a game plan. Know you product, know your ICP, know your pricing. But beyond that, don't worry about "should I email them first, then wait X days until I reach out again?"
Just get out of your own way and call. Because if you're going to make hundreds of calls, you really gotta start somewhere.
An example of how having 0 hesitation led to a win this week: one of our AEs put a customer in closed-lost recently. It seemed like he just wasn't interested in Revv anymore.
I'd met that customer last year at SEMA and, given my interactions with him and the personal relationship we'd built, it just didn't feel right that he was in closed-lost.
So I found his number, called the guy, and 10 minutes later we put him back on a demo this week.
A large part of this was really wanting to show my team that it's okay to rip the call and take another shot. If it goes badly, you didn't lose anything by trying. But if it goes well, you can gain a hell of a lot.
Not many people know this, but I played poker full time for 18 months.
Let me tell you - the retirement benefits are garbage, there's no healthcare, the hours are brutal, and it's really hard to budget when you don't know if you'll make money or lose money that month.
But I loved it. It might sound weird and totally 'gambler-core', but I really like being put in hard spots where you just have to make a decision and live with whatever the outcome is.
In those 18 months, whenever I won there would always be that one guy around the table who would say: 'ah, he just got lucky.'
I always responded with the same thing: Yeah I did. I'd rather be lucky than good anyway 🤷
When I'm good, I can do everything perfectly and still lose. But every time I'm lucky, I win.
It ties back to how I operate at Revv.
First - I like to gamble, and joining Revv was a BIG one. I moved into a new role, in a new industry, in a new city because I believed in the product, mission, and Adi Bathla as the CEO.
Second - I got lucky finding a CEO, product, and company I wanted to join; I got lucky with the timing of being able to move; and we got lucky as a company with legal tailwinds that are in our favor right now.
One of the best lessons I learned from poker is there's nothing wrong with being lucky instead of good. Really, really pay attention when you catch those moments of luck and make sure you ride that momentum.
When the momentum dips - like it inevitably will at some point - go back to being as good as you can and pushing forward until your next break.
