Live from Sales HQ with Todd Brengel

Vince Beese: 00:08

We are live from SalesHQ. I'm Vince Beese, your host and the founder here at SalesHQ. And our guest today is Todd Bregle. You got it? Brengel.

Vince Beese: 00:19

Bregle. Before we get into your story, which we will, because as you know, sales live from SalesHQ is all about telling the story from the perspective of the sales leader or sales guest at the time, and everybody has a different story. So I'm really interested in getting to that. But first, let's talk about SalesHQ. We're actually doing a celebration next month, Todd.

Vince Beese: 00:40

It's gonna be 6 months of doors open. Wow. I know. It feels like it was, like, yesterday. So we're actually opening up to the entire sales community here in New Raleigh, Dora Mary.

Vince Beese: 00:49

So there is a event on saleshq.co. You go to the community, you go to events, and you can sign up for it. It's free. I expect we'll have probably somewhere between a 100 and a 150 people here celebrating our 6 months, but also celebrating the sales community. It used to be before the pandemic that in this area, we had lots of different organizations that were coming together to support sellers and salespeople and sales leadership, but a lot of those had dissipated.

Vince Beese: 01:16

So I wanna pick that back up and give back to the community a little bit and get us all together again to see if we're less socially awkward than we were. Right? So that's gonna be September 25th. Again, go to saleshq.co. Go to our events area.

Vince Beese: 01:30

You can sign up for free. Alright, Todd. Let's focus on what's more important. Let's talk about you. Let's talk, Vince.

Vince Beese: 01:36

Thanks for having me. So first, before we get into your city, talk to us a little bit what you're up to these days.

Todd Brengel: 01:41

Yeah. So I've been busy the last few years. I moved to Raleigh about 3 years ago. Recently, I've been serving as chief revenue officer at The Muse, which is an employment branding solution. It's a company based in New York.

Todd Brengel: 01:57

So I've been busy busy with that. Also been advising 2 early stage companies on go to market, helping them with their ICP, helping them figure out channels. So that's what I've been doing.

Vince Beese: 02:11

Yeah. That's busy enough. Right?

Todd Brengel: 02:12

Yeah. We've had that and 3 kids. I've got my

Vince Beese: 02:15

hands full. So Boys, girls? Yeah. Two girls and a boy. Alright.

Vince Beese: 02:19

So So we're ready for school

Todd Brengel: 02:21

to go back next week. Is that next week? Next week. Next Tuesday? Tuesday.

Todd Brengel: 02:25

Yeah.

Vince Beese: 02:26

That's right after Labor Day weekend. That's right. That's interesting. But where I grew up in the northeast, we went back was it I think it was a Tuesday after. I thought Tuesday after.

Vince Beese: 02:36

That's right. This is the Tuesday before Labor Day? Right. So they go back a little earlier, but that is a big thing because I could tell you in August here, attendance will be a lot lighter because you gotta figure out what you're gonna do with the kids

Todd Brengel: 02:47

Yeah.

Vince Beese: 02:48

Whether in a camp or not in camp and all that fun stuff. So I think parents across the, United States, let alone Raleigh area, are looking forward to that. Sure. Yeah. People are just holding on, hoping.

Vince Beese: 02:59

Get to next week.

Todd Brengel: 03:00

So

Vince Beese: 03:01

Get to next week. Great. So, everyone has a different story how they got into sales. You might have grew up wanting to be in sales. You knew at an early age, but I I bet you it wasn't.

Vince Beese: 03:12

So tell us how you first got your first sales job and what it was.

Todd Brengel: 03:14

Yeah. And it's funny, like, you talked to a lot of people and you talked to revenue leaders and you hear their story. I think there's many people, and I'm certainly one of them, that didn't you know, this wasn't like a a goal, something I set out to do early in my life. But my first taste of sales was in college. Sort of between my sophomore and junior year.

Todd Brengel: 03:37

I was looking at just ways to make money as a poor college student. I entertained doing book sales. And my parents told me that's not a real job. Go get an internship. So that was my first, like, oh, I I got close.

Todd Brengel: 03:52

And then, actually, when I graduated, I was pre med, so I considered going to medical school, got cold feet with that, and ended up taking a sales role with a company called Snagajob

Vince Beese: 04:05

Mhmm.

Todd Brengel: 04:05

Which is in Richmond, Virginia. I know you're familiar with them. But they had just raised around. We're hiring a a ton of entry level a e's, and decided to give it a shot. It was something that kinda interested me but wasn't really sure.

Vince Beese: 04:22

It's kind of a stretch from pre med to sales though. No?

Todd Brengel: 04:24

Yeah. I mean, so I I always was like very interested in companies and technology. I studied business management as well as biology. So, sales wasn't something I sought out Yeah. But I was always curious, like, working for a tech company, sounds cool, you know, what's it gonna be like?

Todd Brengel: 04:42

But really went in without any expectation, had never sold anything in my life. And I think there was a lot of misconceptions I had going into it that I learned were not true Yeah. But ended up loving it, spent 8 years at Snagajob, and really never looked back. So two questions,

Vince Beese: 05:00

in regards to this. 1, what was the pivot to get it? What was your what was the thing that made you decide not to go to medical school or pursue a medical career? And 2 is what was it about it must have been something about Snagajob that kind of lured you in, maybe it's a culture or something.

Todd Brengel: 05:17

Yeah. So, you know, med school was a a big multiyear endeavor just to try and set myself up in a position to get in. So I had done, you know, research for a few years to pad my resume, obviously take the MCAT, go through all of that. When I got to the end of the process, it was like, alright, you're gonna do interviews. Mhmm.

Todd Brengel: 05:37

You've got everything ready to go. I really I got cold feet. And I talked to my cousin who's, you know, he we're very close. He's a little older than me. He's kind of a mentor.

Todd Brengel: 05:49

And he's like, look, you really gotta think about, you know, there there can be a difference between doing something and being very interested in it, like, as a topic versus, like, that's what you wanna go and get up every morning and go do. So I deferred. I was like, I'm gonna maybe hedge my bet, like, I'm not sure. I'm not gonna commit. I'll give it a little time and wait and come back.

Todd Brengel: 06:15

And I never looked back. But, yeah, it was it wasn't like a like an moment. Yeah. Yeah. But it was like, alright.

Todd Brengel: 06:20

I don't I'm not fully committed to this. So, yeah, I deferred. In terms of Snagajob, I got connected to the company. They're one of I mean, Richmond's not a, like, a big tech community, so there's a handful of companies that were at that stage, but went to an open house. It's funny you talking about, networking events and the 6 month anniversary.

Todd Brengel: 06:43

So I went to an open house that they they had after they had raised around and really just hit it off with some of the people there. So I felt good about what they were doing. The reps they had seemed to have good training. They were having fun. And so it really just it was culture.

Todd Brengel: 07:01

It was I felt like I could learn a lot. They had, you know, they had some very, you know, impressive people that were running the sales team at the time. So that was really it. It was a good feeling.

Vince Beese: 07:13

Yeah. That's what I figured. And they must have seen some characteristics in you of a cultural fit and or other characteristics for top sailors as well.

Todd Brengel: 07:22

Yeah. I think in me, they saw a shy kid coming out of college who was hungry and driven and, you know, I'm grateful to this day. They they took a chance on me. But it certainly wasn't like I didn't have a, you know, a resume of Yeah. Years of achievement or anything like that that all came out.

Vince Beese: 07:38

So what was the big challenges when you you got into your first sales role at Snagajob? What were some of the big challenges that you ran into early on? Do you remember? Well, it

Todd Brengel: 07:46

was I mean, one, it was super uncomfortable, like, for any seller or any, you know Were you

Vince Beese: 07:51

sitting on a sales floor?

Todd Brengel: 07:52

Sitting in a floor, actually, much like this. Yeah. We were we were in the basement of this office, and Put

Vince Beese: 08:00

you in the dungeon,

Todd Brengel: 08:01

Yeah. I mean, there was windows there were windows, but it was the basement. Yeah. And it it was just like this, but there was we were the first class of this department that they hired. I think they hired 12 of us.

Vince Beese: 08:11

Yeah.

Todd Brengel: 08:12

They hired another 12. They hired another 12. So 8 months in, there was a 100 people. Oh, wow. And so back to your question, I think the, like, just the kind of fear of making your first calls, you don't know what to say, you're getting hung up on, you're you're dealing with a lot of, you know, adversity, rejection.

Todd Brengel: 08:33

I think getting over that was tough. Yeah. I yeah. I had never sold anything, but I think once once I got through a few, I started to taste a little bit of success back to the, you know, I learned that, like, what actually makes someone successful in sales is not maybe what I thought. Yeah.

Todd Brengel: 08:52

Like asking good questions, doing discovery, learning the business that I was selling into. Like, that's where I really started to have fun. And then I've always been of a student of the game. So Yeah. Lots of great information both with my peers, but also online Yeah.

Todd Brengel: 09:09

Books. And I really just tried to take that 1st few years and just absorb as much as I possibly could.

Vince Beese: 09:15

And I think you're hitting upon something I'm I'm trying to get at which is, like, someone who's first getting into sales, never been in it before, I don't care what age you are, surrounding yourself with other people that are doing what you're supposed to do. You can't get that on Zoom. You can't get that off on one off trainings. Like, you have to live in that environment. It's kinda like being an athlete.

Vince Beese: 09:36

Yeah. Imagine training on your own as opposed to the team. Right? It's the same thing. You're gonna get better being around other athletes.

Vince Beese: 09:42

In sales, you're gonna be better being around other people. So I I feel for folks that are just getting into sales that don't have that environment. There's one of the catalysts as to SalesHQ. So I imagine you probably got to sit next to or you probably sought out some of the top sellers there and said, hey, Jim. What's your secret here?

Vince Beese: 09:59

I see you're closing more than others and and so on. You seem like an inquisitive person. Right?

Todd Brengel: 10:03

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, certainly, like, you know, you emulate the person who's having the most success. Like, that's a kind of an obvious thing. Like, what are they doing?

Vince Beese: 10:12

Look at Jimmy's driving a Ferrari.

Todd Brengel: 10:14

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You find the guy with the Corvette in the parking lot. You try and follow them.

Todd Brengel: 10:20

But, yeah. I mean, certainly, there's something to be said about being able to, you know, hear each other

Vince Beese: 10:25

on the

Todd Brengel: 10:25

phone and sit in on demos and, you know, the sales team is great, but even, like, being able to go ask an engineer or a product person, like, hey, person, can you break this down for me And Snagajob had a it was a really special amazing culture. Yep. They were highlighting success stories for both members and customers. So there's a lot that you got just from being kind of thrown into that environment. Yeah.

Vince Beese: 10:50

So I assume you're having success as an individual contributor. You moved up the ranks probably there. What was the catalyst for you to go from being a individual contributor to sales leadership?

Todd Brengel: 11:00

Yeah. Yeah. I I had a a number of different IC roles while I was there. The the last role I had, I was an enterprise AE, and we were getting to the point where we'd really stretched our territories pretty thin. And we were I remember it was a a year we really were kinda struggling to hit our numbers.

Todd Brengel: 11:23

And so at that time, the, the on demand market really was starting to take off. So, you know, Uber and Lyft, you know, these were when people were just starting to hear about these companies. So actually, I identified that as like an opportunity for the company of, like, hey, we we should really focus in this area. And I was fortunate to work for a head of sales and a CRO who was like, hey, like, just go for it. Like, go try it out.

Todd Brengel: 11:51

So to answer your question, it started with me kind of as a, you know, a sales team of 1 focusing on a new market. Mhmm. And it actually it did really well. We brought on some big logos. It became something that was a lot bigger than one person could manage, and I was given the opportunity to build a small team around me.

Todd Brengel: 12:14

So that's how I got started, and then that just expanded into managing account management, took on the agency business. And really in, you know, 2, 3 years, I went from being an IC to having a team of, you know, 12, 15 people.

Vince Beese: 12:31

So that's pretty cool the company lets you do that. Number 1, take your idea, run with it, but then once it started, let you continue to run with it because a lot of companies would have said, well, let's put some experienced sales leader to build the team out. So Yeah. I mean, to their kudos to them. Yeah.

Todd Brengel: 12:45

They were willing to take a risk and, you know, it worked out. I think, you know, we grew that we grew that business to, you know, close to $20,000,000 in a few years. So it became a pretty substantial line of business.

Vince Beese: 12:57

So if I recall your profile, you were there about 8 years ish, something like that?

Todd Brengel: 13:02

Yeah. Just over 8 years. What was your

Vince Beese: 13:03

big takeaways from your experience there at at Snagajob? Because that's really where you kinda grew up and

Todd Brengel: 13:09

Yeah. I you know, one thing was, like, building a strong culture, both for a company and a sales team. Like, it's just I know it's so cliche, but, like, it is really the foundation of a company and you can hire great people and you can give them all the best tools, but, you know, creating like a good culture that's rooted in transparency and just making people successful, that was a big reason snagajob was successful. I mean, they were big on mission, vision, values, and everybody in the company knew that. I think, you know, I also got my first taste of HR tech.

Vince Beese: 13:52

Mhmm.

Todd Brengel: 13:52

And so I I really learned to love that market, like the sort of the business of helping other people find jobs. So I personally like that was pretty transformative for me. I went on to do a few more HR tech companies. But but yeah. I mean, snagajob was, it was great and certainly, like, you know, this was really before the days where, like, the SDR role existed.

Todd Brengel: 14:18

So for me, like, it was it was really amazing because I had an AE role and I got the clothes. Granted, they were small, like being able to cut my teeth Yeah. Setting my own meetings, but then also learning how to, you know, give a demo, get through proposals, negotiate, just like, you know, amazing experience. So I think one takeaway was like, if you're a, you know, a young AE or an SDR, like find a company that will give you opportunities and will let you grow and will let you make mistakes. I made a lot of mistakes.

Vince Beese: 14:52

Yeah.

Todd Brengel: 14:52

In my time at snagajob, but like, there was always a safety net there.

Vince Beese: 14:57

Yeah. One of the topics I wanna talk about is sales coaching because it seems like it's, part of your fundamental core, and responsibilities being a sales leader. I also see you've got some connection with Harvard in regards to that. Explain what that relationship is.

Todd Brengel: 15:13

Yeah. So, Mark Robert, is the he was the founding CRO of HubSpot.

Vince Beese: 15:19

Yep.

Todd Brengel: 15:20

And he joined HBS a number of years ago, and he teaches a course called entrepreneurial sales. Mhmm. So one of my old leaders at a prior company, he was in Boston and had had worked with Harvard and it's also a partnership with MIT. And so, the last 3 years I've been a sales coach at HBS. So basically what that means is

Vince Beese: 15:45

With HBS, you keep saying

Todd Brengel: 15:47

With Harvard Business School. Okay. So this is the MBA program at Harvard. And so it's actually the I think it's the most oversubscribed course at HBS. Really?

Todd Brengel: 15:57

So it's it's super popular, and as you can imagine, you know, there's a lot of popular courses Yeah. At a school like that. But basically they're teaching these 2nd year MBAs the foundations of, of sales. So how to do discovery, how to give a capabilities presentation, how to build a forecast, hiring salespeople. Most of them will not go on to be actual reps.

Todd Brengel: 16:23

They go into consulting.

Vince Beese: 16:24

So why do they take it just to get the basics of sales?

Todd Brengel: 16:26

Well, I think the, like the takeaway is like sales is a skill. It's not, I mean, it's more science than it is art. There's a lot of stuff that you can learn to do. It's not God given. And whether you're making a career in sales or you're in one of a handful of any other profession, these skills are super transferable.

Todd Brengel: 16:49

So, it's been a great experience for me, great learning.

Vince Beese: 16:53

I'm not sure how much time does it take you to get, like, once a quarter? What is it? You get a cohort or something?

Todd Brengel: 16:57

Yeah. So it's, you know, based around when they do the courses, But, basically, I get paired up with a handful of MBAs, and then I'll do a few sessions with them over the course of the semester. Mhmm. And, basically, they'll record a discovery call. I'll give them feedback on it, and we'll have a call where we basically share notes and help coach them.

Vince Beese: 17:17

How many people are in a cohort? Is it 101 or is

Todd Brengel: 17:19

it Yeah. So I'll do, like, between 24 students, each semester. And and it's just part time. It's like it's more of a passion project for me, something I do to give back. But yeah.

Todd Brengel: 17:33

I mean Give

Vince Beese: 17:33

it back to those dumb kids from Harvard.

Todd Brengel: 17:35

Yeah. Yeah. Those poor underprivileged

Vince Beese: 17:39

children in Boston. Way to go, Todd. Way to give back to those kids.

Todd Brengel: 17:42

Yeah. But but no. I mean, sales coaching has been Yeah. Has been really great. Yeah.

Todd Brengel: 17:47

That's awesome. It's certainly a lot of that transfers to what I do.

Vince Beese: 17:50

So let yeah. Let's talk about the companies you work at, work at, worked at, and what is your methodology, philosophy, and sales coaching, and who does that in your organization? What line of of management is responsible? What is the what does that kind of process look like in sales coaching for you?

Todd Brengel: 18:07

Yeah. I mean, I think coaching is critical, and, certainly, you've gotta have people that wanna be coached. Like, it's it has to be a two way street. But in the last few orgs that I've worked in, it's really the like, that's a huge part of the first line leaders

Vince Beese: 18:25

Mhmm.

Todd Brengel: 18:25

Job is to make his or her team successful. So, you know, in addition to having, like, a 1 on 1 each week, there is there's time set aside for coaching. So, and certainly with all the sales tools we have now and things like Gong and others, it's made it pretty easy. You can listen to recordings and then huddle for a bit, and give them live feedback. But, yeah, I think it's it's critical.

Todd Brengel: 18:53

It's probably, like, one of the most important things that a first line leader can do is to mentor, coach, and develop their team.

Vince Beese: 19:00

Is there any, consistency with in your experience with mo what most sellers need coaching on?

Todd Brengel: 19:09

I mean, I think it it does vary person to person, but I think, you know, I try to be pretty data driven with it. So, like, you know, the easiest way to figure out like where to focus is like you inspect the metrics. So you look at the sales process, you look at how successful is each person at sort of advancing through the stages. Are they struggling to build pipeline? Are they getting to discovery and then, you know, their pipeline's falling off?

Vince Beese: 19:38

Yeah.

Todd Brengel: 19:39

Are they getting to the end of the process and they just don't know how to close? So I think I think a lot of reps I mean, if I had to pick a few, I think many reps still struggle to do effective discovery. Mhmm. Like they, you know, they ask a few questions, but they don't go deep. They're not really uncovering a problem statement.

Todd Brengel: 20:04

So that's a big area, but, I mean, you know, there's so many things.

Vince Beese: 20:07

If you had to ask your your sellers over time, what did they want coaching on? Is there any consistency with that, do you think?

Todd Brengel: 20:14

Well, I think back to the bidirectional thing, it's critical that reps actually bring some of the area. Like, it can't just be top down leader saying, hey, you know, you suck at closing. We're gonna spend this month focused on clothing. Like, the the best coaching, the most effective ones is where the rep is actually saying, like, hey, this is where I'm struggling.

Vince Beese: 20:34

Mhmm.

Todd Brengel: 20:34

Can you help me? Here's three examples of an area or, you know, here's a call. Can you listen to this? That's where it works. Yeah, I think you'll find that some reps are pretty self aware of where they need help and others are not.

Todd Brengel: 20:50

Everything's perfect. Yeah.

Vince Beese: 20:51

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No.

Vince Beese: 20:53

That that's an interesting point. When you're doing a review, I always like to hear the rep explain where they think they have challenges, where they think they're doing well, where they think they need improvement.

Todd Brengel: 21:05

Yeah.

Vince Beese: 21:06

I always found 2 things. 1, that reps were typically harder on themselves than their manager would be. Sure. And 2, 2 camps, either really self aware and get where they're strong and weak or or not at all. Like, there wasn't any kind of middling, it seems like.

Vince Beese: 21:23

And it was always interesting to the ones that weren't as self aware why that was. Well, they're just not being honest because they're afraid of maybe losing their job or whatever it might be, or they just weren't self aware. And I found that top performers tended to be self aware. At least they could explain to you what again, why they thought they were, doing well or not doing well.

Todd Brengel: 21:43

And I would say, like, the highest performing sales teams that I've either worked on or been exposed to have a culture where coaching is just, like, part of the fabric of the the team and the company. Has to be. I think it's something you, you know, even like, you need to think about, like, do you hire for people that wanna be coached and they want to be part of an organization where they're gonna get feedback and, like, it's not just like a pat on the back of, like, great. You did a good job. It's like they're constantly, you know, looking at things where they can get better.

Todd Brengel: 22:21

And I think, you know, all the best reps generally wanna be part of those types of works.

Vince Beese: 22:27

I think all the best reps also wanna be pushed Yeah. In a healthy way. Right? They wanna be challenged. They wanna be pushed.

Vince Beese: 22:32

I look at that like the the Bill Parcells wave coaching. He coached to the person, and he knew what buttons to press on different players to get them to maximize their skills, maximize their, you know, their their performance on the field. And I say I think that as a leader, it's the same thing. You can't coach everybody the same way. And sometimes you're proactive, I think, in the coaching topics because you're listening to the calls and you're seeing things.

Vince Beese: 22:56

And I think sometimes it's like, I don't know, Jim. What do you wanna talk about today? Right?

Todd Brengel: 23:01

Yeah. And those are always harder where you have to kind of pull it out of people a

Vince Beese: 23:04

bit more. Someone's at a 140% of goal and, like, you know, that you're listening to your calls and you're perfect. It's like you're looking for things to help improve because everyone can always improve. Of course. That's a good problem to have on both sides.

Vince Beese: 23:16

Right?

Todd Brengel: 23:17

It is. And it's rare.

Vince Beese: 23:18

So another topic was about a lot of folks out there are in the job market either kind of picking their head up, looking around, or actively pursuing next role. And it's not the best, I call it sales economy right now to be looking for a job. But let's talk a little bit about for folks out there that are looking for their next role in sales, What are some advice you can provide in regards to that?

Todd Brengel: 23:45

Yeah. I mean, I think we're all on a career journey, and certainly, you know, if you're in sales, I think the days of people working for 1 company for 40 years are basically gone. So I think it's, I mean this both, like, for the current company that you might work for or the next one. It's really important to have, like, a mindset of being open to new adventures and really thinking about, like, what what role can you take or can you look for that will help set you up for you wanna be where you wanna be. 1, 2, 3 roles ahead.

Todd Brengel: 24:23

Really thinking about that long game and, you know, what experience you need. Is it you need to work for a certain size company? Or if you're early in your career, maybe you just wanna be on a team that has, like, amazing training and you're gonna learn a lot. Maybe you won't earn as much. So, yeah, I would just encourage people to really get clear with yourself.

Todd Brengel: 24:46

I'm like, what are your priorities? What are you trying to attain with the next role? But you can't you can't be afraid of taking chances. Yeah. I mean, certainly I've, you know, I was afforded some opportunities that were really transformative for my career, you know, but I've probably taken some roles that didn't work out great as well.

Todd Brengel: 25:06

And it's, you just have to know that that's part of the game. Now, of course, you wanna make as good decisions as possible.

Vince Beese: 25:15

Do your research.

Todd Brengel: 25:16

Yeah. It's not fun when you, you know, if you join a company that runs out of money Yep. A week later. But, yeah, I think just doing your research and building your network and really thinking, being thoughtful about what you can get out of the next role Yep. And how it fits into your career narrative is super important.

Vince Beese: 25:36

So let's say, you're reviewing candidates for roles or your teams reviewing candidates roles and you get these resumes or profiles, they come in, and you're seeing some profiles with some misses. Right? Short stints here and there. But you just said, like, don't be afraid to take risk. If you're in startup land, you're taking risk every startup you join.

Vince Beese: 25:57

Yeah. Product may be ready for market or may not be. The founder is gonna tell you it's the best product ever invented since the history of mankind, but it's it's hit or miss. So do you overlook some of those things on the resume to give the candidate a chance if you see certain things, or do you just strike it x? I bring this up and it's a long winded question because I think a lot of sellers are getting punished right now over the last 3 years of 12 months, 9 months, 12 months type of of and, you know, I feel bad for them because it doesn't mean they're not good at sales.

Vince Beese: 26:30

Of course. It may not a good benefit or timing wasn't right. Right?

Todd Brengel: 26:34

Yeah. I mean, it it is tough, and I always appreciate people that own, you know, those sort of things and maybe they proactively call them out and explain them versus just trying to bury them. Yeah. I but I think, you know, in a certain level, you have to be, like, especially now where it's the golden age of information, like, you do have to be smart about doing your diligence on these companies before you agree Yep. To put your livelihood, you know, at stake, in joining them.

Todd Brengel: 27:04

So I think we're all most people, I think most reps will have at least 1 or 2 kind of misses or maybe a short stop on their resume.

Vince Beese: 27:16

Yeah.

Todd Brengel: 27:16

But you certainly don't wanna build too much of a brand around that of I have 5, you

Vince Beese: 27:22

know I don't think anybody wants that.

Todd Brengel: 27:24

Yeah. No one wants it. But, you know, I think

Vince Beese: 27:28

I think explaining the transition from role to role, why you chose the company in your transition to the next role is very important. It has to seem, to me anyway, authentic. Like, I don't wanna read b s into this. Give me it straight, you know. So I find out you're not being straight about it,

Todd Brengel: 27:44

then Yeah. You can't have any spin around it. No. And even if it wasn't like a home run, like, what did you what did you learn, gentlemen? Like, what did you take away even if it was a hard situation?

Todd Brengel: 27:56

Yep. I think that's critical.

Vince Beese: 27:59

So I assume, along your career, you've you have promoted folks internally from a a an IC role to management? Yeah. So so talk about that a little bit because I'm sure a lot of folks out there are looking to get into sales leadership for one reason or another. What do you kinda look for, when you're promoting internally? Yeah.

Vince Beese: 28:19

It's a good question.

Todd Brengel: 28:22

And certainly, you know, there's some people that aspire to get into management and others that just want to stay carrying a number, carrying a bag for their career. There's no right or wrong. For me, I look for people that can, they can do the job, so you need to be able to lead from the front. Certainly, there's very few sales managers that maybe they're not, like, world class at being a seller, but, like, they can do the role. So I think that's table stakes.

Todd Brengel: 28:51

They've done the role. They've been successful in it. But beyond that, I think it's like, can they be really thoughtful about how they support and build a team?

Vince Beese: 29:02

Yeah.

Todd Brengel: 29:03

Do they do they like, you know, coaching people? Yeah. Do they enjoy giving feedback? You know, are they solution oriented? Certainly there's many people that are great reps that struggle in management.

Vince Beese: 29:17

I assume as an experienced sales leader, you can kinda see in the team which which ones are more supportive in general, meaning that they give more Yeah. Than others because let's be honest, some ICs are very about me, me, me.

Todd Brengel: 29:30

It's

Vince Beese: 29:30

not about me, it's about me. And this in leadership, it's never about you anymore. It's always about the team. Right? And it's hard sometimes to really see if that person's really gonna be about the team or is it about them.

Vince Beese: 29:43

Right? It's tough to identify, especially if

Todd Brengel: 29:45

it's not someone, you know, you're hiring someone from the outside. But, yeah, I think you really gotta dig deep in the interview process of understanding why are they is it, you know, is it money, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Yep. But, like, why do they wanna get in It's

Vince Beese: 29:59

about money. It should stay in the IC role. Yeah. That is very true. They'll make more money.

Vince Beese: 30:05

I've got a couple of questions up, but I wanna see if anyone in the audience might wanna have a question or not. It's okay if you don't. Do you, ma'am? Okay. Go this.

Vince Beese: 30:18

Go around that one because I'm afraid of the camera. Got a a live question coming up for you, Ty. You better be ready. Let's go. This is gonna hit you hard.

Vince Beese: 30:29

Hey, Linda.

Linda Gutin: 30:33

I'm gonna read your LinkedIn belatedly after this. But for those who wanna know now, what is snagajob and HR tech in general? And then I wanted to point out something that you just brought up about holes in people's resumes, that I had a client I do resumes. And I had a client who, thought that because he had lost several jobs in a row that he had to find a way to hide it. And I found out that he had been re he had been sought out by previous managers three times because the companies got purchased or whatever, but I thought that was

Vince Beese: 31:16

got rehired, lost it, got rehired, except for that?

Linda Gutin: 31:19

It wasn't the same company that rehired him. It was the same, like, 3 people, but they had all seen his capabilities and his results. He had not he didn't know how to take credit for that, which I thought was the most amazing thing. And then also he was looking to get out of sales, and I was like, are you crazy? Just find a good place.

Linda Gutin: 31:43

But, anyway, what is, HR tech and snag it out?

Todd Brengel: 31:46

Yeah. So HR tech is the whole ecosystem of tech companies that support, like, human resources as a function. So that's everything from, you know, businesses that help with recruiting, helping you find talent, whether that's, you know, job boards or sourcing tools. There's a whole kind of slew of different solutions.

Vince Beese: 32:10

I assume Workday is, like, the biggest in that industry. Right?

Todd Brengel: 32:13

Yeah. In terms of, like, the human capital management, like, the full employee life cycle, Workday, certainly, Indeed, you know, Oracle. But then there's all the payroll companies

Linda Gutin: 32:23

Okay.

Todd Brengel: 32:24

P, Paycor, many of them. So there's literally hundreds of companies. And if you think about, like, what are what are functions in any business that must exist, People operations or HR is one of them. So HR tech is a is a big a big and growing ecosystem.

Linda Gutin: 32:46

How how many different, roughly, applicant tracking systems are out there? And how does somebody even know what their resume is gonna look like on the other side if they're all different?

Todd Brengel: 32:59

It's a great question. I don't know how many there are, but there's probably too many. At least A lot. Yeah. I think it's tough for candidates.

Todd Brengel: 33:10

You know? Obviously, as the volume of applications has grown for a lot of companies, they look for ways to be more efficient. And so the ATS is like a tool they use to kinda manage all the inbound that they're getting and look at which sources are producing, you know, the best quality. So I don't know that I have a great answer for you in terms of how they know what it's gonna look like Mhmm. On the other side.

Todd Brengel: 33:35

But, you know, definitely I mean, hopefully, their application looks the way that they submitted it, but there's more and more use of AI and different tools to help say, like, okay. You got 400 applications. Here are the 20 that you should start with. Yeah.

Linda Gutin: 33:51

Okay. Thank you.

Todd Brengel: 33:52

Yeah. Okay, man.

Vince Beese: 33:53

Great questions, Lisa. I've got one last question for you. It's a really hard one, so you're gonna have to think about this now. You ready? I'm like If you listen to the podcast, you know it's coming.

Todd Brengel: 34:02

So Okay.

Vince Beese: 34:03

Oh, he's like, oh, shit. What do you got? Tell us one thing about Todd that most people don't know that you find very interesting about yourself or others would find interesting about Todd. Oh, boy. Something Most people don't know.

Vince Beese: 34:16

Your wife could know, your kids could know, but most people in general wouldn't know about you. Oh, okay. I didn't prepare for this, Vince.

Todd Brengel: 34:24

That's what

Vince Beese: 34:24

I'm saying. That's why

Todd Brengel: 34:25

So yeah. That's what I'm saying. Got to the end of the the ones I listened to.

Vince Beese: 34:30

You could've stole theirs. Yeah.

Todd Brengel: 34:36

Well, maybe not the most interesting thing, but, you know, if I if I didn't make a career in sales, yes, and, you know, maybe if money was no object either, I would spend my I would probably be like a vagabond of sorts. So I really enjoy travel. I love kind of experiencing different cultures, seeing different countries, other parts of the world. So if, if it was in sales, maybe I'd be a a tour guide or a travel agent

Vince Beese: 35:09

I like that.

Todd Brengel: 35:10

Or something involving lots of world travel.

Vince Beese: 35:14

And last question. What's your what so far in your journeys, what's been your favorite destination?

Todd Brengel: 35:21

My favorite destination. Well, I'm a mountain person. So, in the Alps are pretty special.

Vince Beese: 35:28

That's pretty cool.

Todd Brengel: 35:29

Yeah. I got to go to a little mountain in Switzerland. Skiing or or hiking? Well, I love both. Yeah.

Todd Brengel: 35:36

But I am a skier. Yeah. So if you ever get a chance to go to Zermatt in Switzerland is it's incredible. So but, yeah, I mean, travel's special. We have a a very amazing planet we live on.

Todd Brengel: 35:48

Yeah.

Vince Beese: 35:48

We do.

Todd Brengel: 35:49

There's probably thousands of places I've never lived.

Vince Beese: 35:51

That's a good one, Todd. I wanna thank you for being a guest on Live From Sales HQ, and hope you'll come back again in the future. Happy to do it. Thanks for having me, Vince. Hey.

Vince Beese: 36:00

Till next time, mate, Sales HQ. Alright.