Gainsight Paid Him $10k+ To Figure Out Sales in 2013, What He Recommends Now
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
startup, right? Like I'm not trying to go public. I'm not trying to do those things. I've built a really nice, healthy business that's more than a lifestyle business. But, you know, I love the fact that I'm home for my kids every day and all those kinds of things.
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Hello, everyone. My guest today is Richard Harris. He is teaching reps how to earn the right to ask questions, which questions to ask and when to do it as the primary growth driver behind his NEAT, N-E-A-T, selling methodology. 20 plus years of experience. He's got clients that include Gainsight, Google Cloud, SalesLoft, and others. He brings a liberal arts degree in school of life to sales. He's been a full cycle account executive, SDR, sales manager, director of sales, you name it. He's done it. Richard, you ready to take us to the top?
Thank you. That was a long end. I hate my introductions.
I have to caveat this by saying I get consultants asking me all the time to come on the show because they sell to SaaS companies and I always say no. The reason I dug deeper on you is because I've interviewed a lot of the founders that you've worked with and I know some of their sales motions and they're sometimes unique or different. So if you're sort of the whisperer for this kind of thing, I said, you know what? We're going to have Richard on. So thanks for coming on.
I appreciate it, man. I know I'm not probably your normal... Yes. So thank you so much. I really am flattered to be here.
So when do you usually get involved with SaaS companies? I mean, can you talk maybe about Gainsight? Like how early do you get involved typically?
Gainsight is a really fun story. I'll give you the short version. I had one client in Austin. That was my first client. I was using a Yahoo email address. I'm flying back from Austin. My first week, I sit down on the plane next to this guy, literally in suede shoes and jeans and a blazer. And it's Nick Maeda from Gainsight. This is 11 years ago, 12 years, eight years ago, nine years ago. And they had 15 employees, right? He and I had this amazing conversation. We got shushed by the flight attendant twice. And we were sober. We weren't drinking at all. We were just having a good time. And, you know, The biggest mistake I made in that deal is I should have taken options. So that is an instance where I got in really early to build.
Say that again, Nathan? When did you start with Gainsight? 2011?
Yeah, I think so. Right around the time they were founded, right? So no, it's probably 2013 because I've been doing this nine years-ish. So it was right after I started doing this. Okay, great.
And what did it look like? I mean, how did Nick engage you? Was it a retainer? Were you actually a full-time employee? What it looked like?
No, it was, it was a retainer engagement for about 30 days, um, where I came in and really built out the process and trained the whole team. They, they really got the concept early of that.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–8:10
2
How did Richard Harris land Gainsight as an early client and what was his first engagement like?
8:10–14:12
3
How much did Gainsight pay in 2013 and what did that initial retainer cover?
14:12–15:04
4
How has Richard’s training model evolved since COVID and what does his five-week program include?
15:04–21:14
Speakers
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