More & Forever Interview Series — Episode 2
Jackie mayer
For episode 2, Trish is joined by Jackie Mayer, Senior Vice President of Sales at Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs. Trish and Jackie have a great conversation about creating more and forever relationships inside your own organization as well as with clients. Watch the episode below and scroll down for our key takeaways.
themes
Where you have been and what you have done before becoming a leader informs the kind of leader you will be and how your people react to you. Jackie really walked the walk before becoming a leader.
Creating more and forever relationships with your team is just as important as creating those relationships with clients; one helps facilitate the other.
“More is more value– we need to provide more value to the individual, and their organization, to earn forever.”
CPG Sales (consumer packaged goods) is more than transactional. Jackie works to help her team think about themselves as strategic consultants to be successful.
key moments
[2:57] Understanding and defining what sales really is versus the perception of sales; “It’s like being a General Manager of your own business.”
[6:00] Jackie’s transition from an individual contributor/seller to leading others. “I had mentors in that space that were unbelievable leaders and mentors to me.”
[7:01] “The best job I never wanted.” Jackie talks about the job that helped her be a leader
[9:00] The best advice Jackie got in her career and what accelerated her career
[11:31] Creating a more and forever relationship with your team
[13:16] What does creating a more and forever relationship look like in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) world compared to professional services?
[13:43] How do more and forever relationships with your internal team affect your client relationships?
[15:57] The salesperson as a strategic consultant
[18:01] Being a guide– providing our buyers with thoughtful and deliberate insights, actionable solutions, and celebrating shared successes
[18:39] How do you help your team embrace the idea that they need to be a guide?
[20:39] There are many individuals involved in the buying journey, which can be complex, but Jackie shares advice on how to stay focused and be effective, “mobilizing around that individual’s objectives.”
[23:20] How did you learn the way you treat and work with BOTH your internal team and clients?
[24:41] Managing yourself to be able to focus on the client and what they need
[25:31] Book recommendations
[27:38] What do Jackie’s kids, Louie and Julia, think she does for work? Hint: it requires A LOT of baking
[28:45] How did your first business trip go since working from home during the pandemic? Juggling family life and work, especially with travel
[31:07] How COVID-19 and virtual work has changed this industry: “Before you would fly across the country for a 30-minute meeting.”
[33:40] How Jackie found ways to create informal, spontaneous moments virtually, because it is necessary for building relationships (with teams and clients)
[34:27] How she was able to get her team to reengage virtually and be vulnerable again
[37:24] Trish coins this the “Jackie Check-In Call”– connecting, spontaneously, with your client or team member, with no agenda, just authentic curiosity and care. Being able to show empathy and understanding to our clients is what builds trust
[39:48] Where many sales people struggle with more and forever
books, LINKS, + RESOURCES
The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson