Here at the end of Women's History month, we are recognizing our Women Sales Pros – Sales Experts – a few at a time, in posts where they share their leadership tips and ideas, along with a little about their background and their contact information. Enjoy this series!
Alice Heiman, Reno, NV
Founder and Chief Sales Energizer, Alice Heiman, LLC
Women Sales Pros Member since 2009
Named 15 Top Sales Influencers to Follow by LinkedIn
Alice’s Leadership Tips:
- Drink your coffee while it’s hot. All the “stuff” will still be there when you’re done. In other words, do the hardest thing, take care of yourself so you can be your best self for others.
- Be kind. Why not. It’s always better than the alternative. Kind doesn’t mean you are not firm. Holding other accountable is one of the kindest things you can do.
- Focus on your customers. See it from their point of view. As a leader your first customers are your direct reports and are equally important as those you buy from you. Understand what a day in their life is like and do what you can to make it easier and more fun.
- Communicate clearly. Your part of the communication isn’t over until those being communicated to understand. That means you should expect to repeat yourself and feel good about it, not frustrated.
Alice advises the CEOs of companies who have tremendous growth potential. They are owner lead and sometimes investor backed. They have a business to business complex sale and they sell to companies 10 to 1000 times their size. She sets the growth strategy focusing on how the customer wants to buy and rebuilds a structure to support that. Alice makes changes that make it easier for customers to find them, buy from them and become loyal customers. She guides them to orchestrate sales, marketing and customer success to work with the rest of the organization to provide an exceptional customer experience.
As Chief Sales Energizer, Alice is internationally known for her expertise in elevating sales to increase valuation. Spending her time strategizing with CEOs and company leaders to build the strategies that find new business and grow existing accounts is her passion. Her clients love her spirit and the way she energizes their sales organization.
Alice is the host of the popular podcast, Sales Talk for CEOs and she dedicates time to local entrepreneurs by teaching at the University of Nevada in the entrepreneurship minor which she helped inspire. Alice also serves on the board of several growing companies to energize and elevate their sales. When she is not guiding CEOs to elevate their sales, she can be found hanging out with her family, walking, snow skiing, sailing in Lake Tahoe, volunteering in the community, or reading a book in her backyard.
Connect with Alice:
www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman
Zeenath Kuraisha, Singapore
Founder and Head of Sales Advisory and Enablement, APACSMA (Asia Pacific Sales & Marketing Academy & The E-University for Sales)
Women Sales Pro Member since 2016
Named Sales Hacker’s 50 Most Influential Women in Sales, Forbes Virtual Sales Member Leader and Selling Power 2023 Leading Sales Consultant
Zeena’s Sales Leadership Tips:
- Achieve revenue success through a winning sales eco-system – Sales and Selling does not begin and end with the salesperson! In addition to being best at winning a prospect or an account, a salesperson’s success is also dependable on how well the organization is aligned to growth and how well-oiled the sales eco-systems of supporting functions are. The entire customer buying experience and journey should include a competitively differentiated value offering, a solid customer experience and engagement strategy, and an integrated sales and marketing operations! Never let anyone tell you it’s just your responsibility alone!
- Simplify and Make Your Life Easy – There are plenty of tools, apps and technology to make your day-to-day life easy! Check them out, invest a couple of dollars if needed (and not rely on mgmt. always) and give back time to productive activities or valuable time to family.
- Growth Mindset – Don’t wait for your company to invest in your growth journey. Invest in yourself, identify, and enable 4- 5 skills you want to sharpen, become best at or something new you want to master. Get a mentor, coach or an accountability partner. Join a community of peers or seniors who can inspire you and support your growth.
- Earn the trust – Customers can easily identify a hungry salesperson! Give value and earn their trust first! Be a growth enabler for your customer before expecting to discuss deal closure.
- Sales is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Yes, BUT learnt to rest along the way. While a disciplined approach to sales is very important, nobody is saying you must do it at the expense of your well-being and mental health. A happy salesperson is more productive and gets more deals!
Zeena provides sales advisory and enablement services to growth organizations through their revenue operations, customer acquisition and revenue journey. She works with a customer first approach. Zeena is well known in the inside sales industry. She serves as the Chapter President for Global Inside Sales Association, Founding Fellow of Institute of Sales Professionals, Expert Member and Virtual Sales Leader for Forbes Business Development Council and a sponsor for various sales communities in Asia. Zeena is a Partner with Employment and Employability in Singapore where she is involved in skills enablement, upskilling and reskilling of sales professionals as part of the Singapore workforce masterplan.
Zeena is super passionate in simplifying selling and how people sell but also developing more customer focused sales talents for the industry. Outside this, she spends time with her family, travelling, thinking of the next business idea or how to improve her customer experience journey.
Connect with Zeena:
www.instagram.com/zeenath.kuraisha
Sandra Long, Greater Boston Area
President of Post Road Consulting, LLC
Woman Sales Pros Member since 2023
Author of the best-selling book LinkedIn for Personal Branding: The Ultimate Guide
Sandra’s Sales Leadership Tips:
- Leverage your network and insights. Your knowledge and relationships can elevate your team’s success. Most importantly, teach your team to do the same and optimize their own personal networks and insights. Use LinkedIn to assist in this process.
- Become a coach. Go beyond instructing or mandating. Delve into the one-on-one or pipeline review meetings to find out the true status of the prospect within the sales process. Provide relevant ideas and suggestions.
- Care deeply. Learn about your team and what matters to them. Listen to them. Doing so will increase mutual trust.
- Share the vision. Motivate and inspire your team by explaining the big picture and where they fit in. Refer to the vision at appropriate times and include customers.
- Make data and insights actionable. Create a realistic action plan for your team based on the newest and most relevant data. Encourage them to implement and improve it.
Sandra is a B2B Sales leader who now focuses on helping her customers leverage LinkedIn. With extensive experience in sales, including a past VP Sales role, Sandra is a leading expert in optimizing LinkedIn for branding and sales growth. As the author of the best-selling book, “LinkedIn for Personal Branding,” and a TEDx speaker, she shares her knowledge and insights with audiences and readers around the world.
Sandra is a member of the National Speakers Association and a Certified Virtual Presenter. She is a new member of Women Sales Pros. She enjoys collaborating and learning from industry peers and other speakers. Sandra also guest lectures at the University of Rhode Island every semester. In her spare time, she loves time with her family, boating, skiing, long walks, and aquafit classes.
Sandra
