Hunters + Unicorns: The 33 CxOs - Keith Butler #014

Available as podcasts on our Spotify and iTunes channel;

iTunes:

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/hunters-unicorns/id1535460339

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/5DeTa0QE0WZ1OkX3KX82mh?si=foC9FDrbRMGVGjW4MCBocQ

“I love doing this. I love building sales teams. What do I want? I want to build a big company so that we can have great customer success and we can go win together, that's what it's about.” - Keith Butler

Hunters and Unicorns shares the playbooks from leaders, founders, executives and investors from high growth technology companies.

In this special edition series The 33 CXOs we investigate the greatest success story in the history of software sales. Discover how thirty-three sales execs from one organisation, BladeLogic, became CXOs in the world’s 100 fastest growing technology companies. We uncover the stories and playbooks of the most prolific sales leaders in the industry.

Episode 14 features Keith Butler, Chief Revenue Officer at Observe, Inc. Keith unintentionally embarked on a career in the sales arena in 1995 when he graduated from college and was offered a job selling copiers at Xerox. This unplanned trajectory soon led him into roles that were well suited to his highly competitive nature and love of winning. After honing his skills in this aggressive sales environment, Keith was recruited by PTC and from there, his career soared. He now has over 20 years of experience building and leading highly effective teams in the SaaS industry and has worked for some of the most iconic companies in the business including BladeLogic and BMC. Prior to his current role at Observe, Keith served as CRO at Perfecto and was also instrumental in the growth of RSA Aveksa as VP Americas Sales.

“You've got to be open to learn new things all the time even though you think you're pretty good. I thought I was good coming into Xerox, and then I thought I was good at PTC, and then I thought I was good at BladeLogic, and every time, I'm learning more, it continues to happen to me now. You've got to dig in, get into details and all of a sudden you'll get a skillset that you can use to help and teach others.”

Surrounded by great leaders, Keith thrived in an environment where he could learn. He had the discipline and desire required to master the playbook and soon came to realize the significance of “the bowels of the details” in terms of sales methodology and processes. He gained vital knowledge and developed essential skills in the early days of his career that would enable him to make a smooth transition to the next level, evolve the playbook in accordance with his own philosophies and make an impact as a leader himself.

I realized that when I led people, I could make sales teams do things they couldn't do before. I didn't really know why; I just knew that that was something I was good at and I got a lot of energy from it.

In this podcast you will discover:

• The fundamental importance of understanding the MEDDIC framework

• The value in being open to learning and developing new skills

• The parallels between sports and sales and the impact of a great leadership

• The key ingredients required to build a winning sales team

 

Motivated and excited by building, leading and working with highly effective sales teams, Keith Butler continues to set standards and make an impact in this challenging and dynamic industry. We discuss his love for leadership, winning and watching people grow as he talks us through his experiences and tells us what he thinks it takes for a business to reach unicorn status and why Sutter Hill is a great company to work for. This wide-ranging discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space