Miles Kane, Director of Enterprise Sales at Drift. 

I lead a great group of account execs and account managers who help Drift’s largest prospects and customers adopt our platform at scale.

How big is it?

‍Current group of 15 inclusive of management and sellers.‍

Where are your teammates located?‍

All over! Ever since Drift went digital first due to the pandemic we’ve been able to hire talented folks all across the country. ‍

What does your team do? What are you responsible for?‍

My team focuses on both new business acquisition as well as an expansion motion with Drift’s enterprise segment (employee size 1500+).

Trust, trust, trust. And leaning heavily on your company leadership principles. Gone are the days of seeing everyone inside an office every day. The best orgs are able to find talented ppl and free them up to do their best work.

Not that different from pre Covid. People want to work at a place that is exciting, that challenges them and that one day they can look back and feel like they did the best work of their career during that time. Spending time really getting to know your team and what motivates them both during and after work is crucial.

I’m a people person by default so not seeing my team each day was a tough transition! Over time I’ve gotten used to it though and now feel like the benefits far outweigh the cons of a remote first world.

Bit of a hot take but I think the team building activities via Zoom are still a giant swing and miss. I was over the virtual happy hours about a week into the first lockdown. The biggest benefit of a remote world is allowing folks to work hard during the day and freeing them up to maximize their time spent outside work doing what they actually want to do (with friends, family etc). 

Allowing your team to sign off on a Thursday or Friday early and not feel guilty about it has been the biggest benefit to our teams.

Simpler the better! Don’t be afraid to ask your team what they are most excited about for the weekend or how they are spending their extra time w/o a commute. I love hearing when folks are able to pick up a new hobby or just be more present in their personal lives outside of work. The more time your team has outside of work to pursue their interests the more motivated they will be during the time they commit to work.

John McMahon and Frank Slootman have both published books recently that are must reads for anyone in sales leadership.