In this episode of The Same Day Podcast, host Yoni Schmidt speaks with Michael Lerner, an Enterprise Account Executive at GitLab, about the strategies that have helped him succeed in sales. They discuss the value of mentorship, the impact of AI on sales processes, and how CRM systems help you improve client relationships. Michael also shares his approach to continuous learning and relationship-building with clients.
Exceeding Sales Targets and Building Client Trust With Michael Lerner
Michael Lerner is an Enterprise Account Executive at GitLab, a comprehensive DevSecOps (development, security, and operations) platform that streamlines the software development process to boost workflow and help teams collaborate. In his role, he consistently exceeds sales targets and mentors aspiring sales professionals. Michael has a proven track record in deal strategy, customer relationship management, and outbound sales.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- [2:34] Michael Lerner shares his background and journey to GitLab
- [6:16] GitLab’s unique position in the software development, security, and operations sector
- [11:56] The value of knowing enough about your product to be consultative and solve customer problems
- [14:27] Strategies to build and maintain strong customer relationships
- [17:21] The role and value of CRM tools in managing sales processes and maintaining customer relationships
- [20:59] Effective outbound sales techniques to reach potential clients
- [23:18] Overcoming daily challenges in sales and maintaining mental health while working remotely
- [28:02] Current trends in the software development, security, and operations field
In this episode…
What does it take to become a top-performing sales professional? Is it mastering key techniques, building client trust, or staying ahead of industry trends?
According to Michael Lerner, an expert in sales, mentorship plays a crucial role in building confidence and overcoming challenges like cold calling and value-based selling. He also emphasizes the importance of embracing AI to boost efficiency and improve customer engagement while utilizing CRM tools to maintain strong, organized client relationships. Continuous learning and personal engagement are also crucial to stay ahead in this competitive field.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Yoni Schmidt on LinkedIn
- Mat Zalk on LinkedIn
- Walter Bowser on LinkedIn
- Keyrenter Property Management
- Keyrenter Property Management in Tulsa | Oklahoma City | Arkansas
- Keyrenter Property Management email address: [email protected]
- Chris Lile State Farm
- Michael Lerner on LinkedIn
- GitLab
Special Mentions
Related Episodes
- “Exploring New Possibilities in Entrepreneurship” with Chip Gaberino on The Same Day Podcast
- “Revitalizing Communities Through Multi-Concept Restaurant Development” with Elliot Nelson on The Same Day Podcast
- “The Future of Financial Advising: Building Relationships Over Returns” with Morgan Martin on The Same Day Podcast
Quotable Moments
- “The only thing you really have as your asset is the tenacity and the grit to continue doing it.”
- “If you believe your product can add value, you have nothing to fear.”
- “Tool sprawl is a threat to innovation. It slows things down and creates more manual handoffs.”
- “Being organized in CRM actually leads to better conversations and a better customer experience later on.”
- “The knowledge of everybody is going to be greater than the knowledge of one.”
Action Steps
- Pursue a sales mentorship program to develop core skills and confidence for sales roles: Mentorship can offer personalized guidance and accelerate the learning curve for entering tech sales, addressing challenges like cold calling and value-based selling.
- Embrace AI technology to enhance efficiency and customer engagement in sales: AI is reshaping sales strategies, and understanding its application can provide sales professionals with innovative tools to meet customer demands.
- Utilize a CRM effectively for organizing and updating sales processes: Well-maintained CRM data contributes to seamless customer interactions, underlining professionalism and reliability.
- Commit to continuous learning to stay current with industry trends and solutions: Continuous education ensures sales professionals are informed and can adapt to changing market dynamics, ultimately enhancing sales potential.
- Incorporate face-to-face interactions and consistent communication in relationship-building: Personal touches like in-person meetings can forge stronger client connections, fostering trust and long-term business relationships.
Sponsor for this episode…
Chris Lile at State Farm Insurance:
This episode is brought to you by Chris Lile at State Farm Insurance.
Chris Lile at State Farm helps you protect your most precious assets and investments, including home and auto.
To learn more about how you can save double digits on all your insurance needs, visit diallile.com or call Chris’ office at 918-878-7771.
Keyrenter Property Management:
This episode is also brought to you by Keyrenter Property Management.
Keyrenter Property Management is a full-service property management company that helps clients buy, renovate, and operate real estate assets.
The team helps clients build wealth while taking the headache out of property management.
That’s why, no matter what rental you have — single-family homes, condos, townhomes, or apartments — they can give you the management solutions you need.
To learn more about their services, go to https://keyrenterpmc.com/ or send them an email at [email protected].
Episode Transcript
Intro 0:05
Welcome to The Same Day Podcast where we discuss driving incremental business growth and other topics related to real estate, property management and entrepreneurship. Now to the show at hand.
Yoni Schmidt 0:20
Hello. Yoni Schmidt here hosting today’s episode of The Same Day Podcast where I connect with top business leaders, entrepreneurs and real estate investors. Past guests include Chip Gaberino, a local restauranteur entrepreneur, Elliot Nelson, CEO of the McNellie’s Group, and Morgan Martin, a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch. Today’s episode is brought to you by Chris Lile State Farm. Chris Lile State Farm helps you protect your most precious assets and investments, whether your home or auto investment rental properties or valuables, call Chris Lile State Farm for a quick and painless phone call on all of your insurance needs. Today’s episode is also brought to you by Keyrenter Property Management. At Keyrenter Property Management, we are a full service property management company helping clients buy, renovate and operate real estate assets. We help clients build wealth while taking out the headache of owning properties that are being, of course, used as real estate investments. That’s why, no matter the rental, you have single family, home, condos, townhouses or apartments. Have the management solutions you need. Go to keyrenterpmc.com or email us at [email protected]. Welcome to Our Podcast. Today, we have the pleasure of speaking to Michael Lerner, an Enterprise Account Executive at GitLab. With over three years of experience at GitLab, Michael has demonstrated exceptional skills and deal strategy, customer relationship management, negotiation, management, negotiation and outbound sales. He has consistently exceeded his sales targets and has played a crucial role in driving GitLab success in the software development lifecycle industry. Michael is also a mentor aspiring to aspiring sales professionals, and has a rich background in sales, including a tenure at Francis Energy, where he took on both individual contributor and mentorship roles. Today, Michael will share his insights into sales strategies, building strong customer relationships and adding value through sales. Join us for an enlightening conversation on how to excel in the world of sales and business development. Welcome to the show and thank you for being here.
Michael Lerner 2:20
Thanks. Thanks for having me.
Yoni Schmidt 2:23
Sure. Let’s dive right in. Michael. Tell us a little bit about how did you get to GitLab, and what makes it stand out in the software development lifecycle industry.
Michael Lerner 2:34
Yeah, so for getting to GitLab, I would say that starts even even before GitLab, I was at Francis Energy for two and a half years. Great experience there. I was doing sales in electric vehicle charging infrastructure. I liked it. It was a ton of traveling, a ton of on the road. You know, we had a lot of success there with just, you know, how that was run. And, you know, really just fell in love with, with doing sales. And, you know, doing the hunting, doing the outbound and just, you know, felt like I was, I was really good at it. I knew I wanted to get into software, though. Software was this, you know, it just seemed like such a bigger market in the beginning, you know, Francis Energy, Ev, charge network, it felt like it was going to, you know, grow really quickly and be really big. And I do believe that it will be. I think that company is going to do really well, but it just wasn’t moving quite fast enough for me. So I knew I wanted to get into the software side. So did a like a BDR or business development rep, like career accelerator program. And this was probably in the very beginning of 2021, it was right in the thick of covid called satellite, which was, which was a great program, and that was essentially, you know, like a two months, two ish months accelerator program where, you know, we deep.we, deep, dove into topics like, you know, outbound, cold calling, email strategies, things like that. And really got a lot of knowledge from that. And then from that program you’re paired with, like a mentor, my mentor, Leah, who was a teammate of mine for a long time at GitLab. It was her wife, was my mentor, Molly, and she hooked me up with with Leah, who was a referral for me at GitLab. At the time, didn’t know much about GitLab, knew I wanted to get into tech, knew I was eager, you know, hungry to learn. And then yeah, one thing led to another, and been at GitLab for, for over three years now, have worn couple of different hats. Watch the company, you know, IPO and beyond, and just continue to grow. So definitely, definitely been a little bit of a blessing. What was this? What was the second half of that question?
Yoni Schmidt 4:37
Again, yeah, what makes GitLab stand out in the software development lifecycle industry, I mean. But I also wanted to touch on another piece of your answer, the satellite program. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Were you doing that while you’re working at Francis?
Michael Lerner 4:54
So, yeah, it was, it was, it was after Francis, or, I guess it was at the the tail end of Francis. And. Um, it was a, it was a, it was a company, startup, that basically aimed to, you know, ideally, add value to companies by, you know, giving BDRs training. A lot of BDRs that come in, they’re all they don’t, you know, they might not have the confidence, they might not have, you know, the background, to just step into a BDR role and, you know, be successful off the bat. So, I think the idea there was, you know, you go, you you mentor people equal access, right? So I think a big part of their mission was to, you know, democratize who has access to getting into, you know, a tech sales role. So little bit of the idea behind it. But, you know, I joined it. I think I was in the second ever cohort there, and, yeah, just really learned a lot from it. I thought it was a thought I thought it was a thought, a great program.
Yoni Schmidt 5:44
Yeah, love that. Is it still around? And would you recommend it to aspiring BDRs?
Michael Lerner 5:50
It’s, it’s actually, I do not, I don’t think it’s still around.
Yoni Schmidt 5:54
Got it. Okay. Well, maybe someone should come up with something similar to help aspiring this development and business development representatives and managers tell us, I guess, a little bit about GitLab. What makes it, you know, a leading company that stands out in the software development lifecycle industry.
Michael Lerner 6:15
Yeah, great question. So what GitLab is? It’s a devsecops platform delivered as a single application. There’s also AI infused throughout the entire software development process. Really the only company who is, you know, having the end to end, SDLC, you know, on a single platform. So whether you’re issue tracking, CICD, security scanning, and then, you know, AI, beyond just code generation, you can do really all of it within, within GitLab, which is, you know, really unique. You know, not having the context switching, you know, having it as a single application is a huge value add for, you know, a lot of our customers.
Yoni Schmidt 6:50
Yeah, would you? Would you break that down in layman terms for those of us that aren’t necessarily in the tech world and don’t necessarily understand much about this, this, this industry, right?
Michael Lerner 7:03
So you are in the industry of helping, helping clients and helping companies develop their software, correct, right? And so the idea is, you know, there’s a, there’s a lot that goes into, you know, developing, there’s developing software. You know, you have to plan your work, you have to write your code, you have to do a build, just, essentially, you know, taking all the software and kind of putting it together so it all, it all fits together. Then you’re deploying it, you know, you’re scanning it for security, you’re continuously monitoring it. All of these stages of the SDLC on their own are, you know, there’s there, you know, there’s a ton of companies, and there’s a ton of products that, you know, service each of these lab aims to do is, you know, be a single platform for all of it, and then you add an AI. So obviously, you know, the super popular one is, you know, just helping developers write code faster. We take that a step further, where not only do we want to help your developers write code faster, but we also want to infuse AI and help, you know, the security professionals. We want to help the product managers. We want to be able to explain you want to be able to explain the vulnerabilities.
Yoni Schmidt 8:04
And beyond nice, super interesting, we can get into a lot of that, I guess, offline, talking a little bit about your role evolution. What was your role? How has your role, I guess, evolved from a BDR, to, you know, an Enterprise Account Executive at GitLab.
Michael Lerner 8:25
Yeah. So, you know, came into GitLab as a, as a BDR, for those you know, watching and are thinking about tech sales, or don’t know much about it, or, you know, want to understand a little bit more how it works, a BDR is going to be that, that landing spot, if you’re, just getting into, you know, sales at, you know, technology company or startup, the majority of the time. So this looks like, you know, more of the outbound cold calling. If there is, you know, an inbound, you know, contact request, you’ll be the first line of contact for that customer. So it’s really about, you know, understanding messaging, having good communication, you know, being creative in your outreach. You know, not wanting to, you know, not wanting to pester people, but you know, really add value, is the idea behind it. But that’s, that’s what that role is. That’s the first role that I had here. You know, after a year long, successful stint in that role, went to the inside sales role, or, you know, account management role. So that was, you know, enterprise accounts where you’re, you know, still supporting AES, which was, that’s, that’s how the BDR role works. You’re supporting, you know, maybe one or two or three, depending on how your organization is set up, you know, and helping them, you know, outbound and prospect into their accounts. Inside Sales world was more so, you know, doing things like renewals, you know, handling smaller opportunities that you know, the AES, you know, might be focused on the bigger ones, and doing that role. And then also in about a, you know, for a year stint in that role, I had, you know, a lot of already connection with the current accounts and the patch that I’m currently in. So, you know, it made a lot of sense at the time I showed, you know. A lot of, just a lot of grit. I showed that I, you know, understood the product, understood the, you know, territory that I was in, and I was able to get an enterprise 80 role. And this role, you know, you’re essentially the CEO of your own territory, right? So it’s, you know, you’re not asked to do everything yourself. You don’t need to be the most tactical person in the room, but you need to be, you know, well, communicated. You’re the face of the account. So if anything, if anything goes wrong, if anything goes right, you know, that’s on the account executive. The way I like to look at it is, you know, you’re the quarterback, in a way. You don’t have to do everything, but, you know, a customer wants to, you know, view one part of a project, you know, you bring it. You could bring in a certain product manager, you know, I work closely with, you know, an aligned Solution Architect. And there’s, you know, a little bit of a team there helping, you know, a customer success manager, and there’s a little bit of a team there helping us, you know, all you know, go towards the same goals.
Yoni Schmidt 10:50
Yeah, yeah, because one customer might need something a little bit different and nuanced, and you have to know that, you know, you can actually deliver and the company can, I guess, write, write that check that needs to be cached. Ultimately, you mentioned something about what’s that? Yeah, you mentioned something about knowing the product, right? And, you know, I always say to, you know, all of our business development managers at keyrenter, for example, it’s, it’s so important to know our service, know our systems, understand our, you know, standard operating procedures, or in our general philosophy on how we manage assets, so that we can clearly communicate that to our prospective clients. I’m guessing the same, of course, is applies here in this situation, right? How? How you know, important is it to know the product so well in and out to where you can communicate it to whoever’s buying it? It’s important.
Michael Lerner 11:56
I think you need to know enough you know, with a product like GitLab, it spans so many, so many so many different pieces. It touches so many different personas. You know, it’s unrealistic to think that you can, you know, totally know, in depth how everything works, you know, especially behind the scenes. So, you know, the good thing about a company like GitLab and you know, probably most other similar, you know, technology companies is, you know, they’re set up in a way that you have the resources at your disposal that you need, you know, to show growth in terms of knowing your product, you need to product, you need to know just enough about what a customer’s pain, pain points are going to be right at the end of the day, sales. What I do, it’s just helping people. People have people have problems. People want to get faster. People want to get more efficient. My goal isn’t to sell them something that they don’t want. My goal is to, you know, present an opportunity for them to get more efficient, to get faster, to get better, to solve their problems, right? So when it comes to knowing the product, you need to know enough to say, oh, you know, we’ve encountered, you know, or some other customers have encountered a problem similar to yours, you know, tell me how x, y and z is working for you. You know, knowing the right buttons to ask, knowing how to be consultative enough to, you know, get to the root cause of, you know, what might be causing, you know, some of the some of the challenges that they’re have, if that makes sense. So I think it is important. It’s important to know, you know what space you’re in. It’s important to know, you know what competing products and experiences that they might be having with them, while at the same time, you know you definitely don’t need to be the most technical person in the room to do a role like this. Yeah? Love that. Also important to know what you don’t know, right? And very important, yeah, I definitely don’t want to go down the path of, you know, try, you know, we’re on the work. You know, everyone who we talk to is going to be a lot smarter than we are. And, or I should say, they go a lot deeper into the technology, at least that I do. But you know, on every call, you know, I’ll have a, you know, a Solution Architect with me who, you know, can speak the, you know, the technical language, and you know, who can troubleshoot even deeper, and then, you know, a level beyond that. If there is a need to bring in, you know, somebody from product or engineering, you know, that’s, you know, the company is set up that we’re able to do that too.
Yoni Schmidt 13:59
That’s awesome. Yeah? Definitely give me the tools, resources and just, you know, the weapons to go out and and, you know, hunt for the business and help clients add value exactly, because that’s what it’s not about. Yeah, let’s talk a little bit about sales strategies. Can you share some of the successful sales strategies that you’ve implemented at GitLab, and you know that have helped you consistently see these quotas?
Michael Lerner 14:27
Yeah, I mean, so there’s two ways of looking at that. There’s, you know, the sales strategies that we deploy, you know, right now and working with our current customers. And then there’s also, you know, things that I still, you know, utilize on a daily basis, that’s, you know, a little bit more of, like the outbound motion, right? So, if we’re talking about outbound perspective, it’s, you know, how do you do an effective cold call? How do you do an effective, you know, email campaign, you know, how do you how do you be creative, and, you know, create, you know, content, or whatever that is, to get in front of, you know, the people from an outbound perspective, if. You know, the truth is, I think it’s all about just being fearless and not being able, you know, not being afraid to go out and reach directly out, not being afraid to pick up the phone and make the call that you’re afraid of, not, not being afraid to send that, you know, LinkedIn message. That’s where I’ve had, you know, a lot of you know, the success is just, you know, showing that fearlessness. And you know, not not being afraid. You know, if you believe that your product can actually add value. You have nothing to be you have nothing to be afraid of. That’s a big part of it. We on the, you know, sales side, on the, you know, AE side, you know, we use medic, which are from motors, just a sales framework. It’s almost like a checklist of things, you know, you need to understand, the metrics need to understand, you know, the paper process, economic buyer, things like that. Command the message is one that we learn specifically at GitLab. Two, which is, which is just a really good way of framing the conversation, and one that I definitely implore, if you’re, you know, looking at this and interested in sales, definitely go, you know, check that out. That could be a whole, you know, five hour long, you know, session as well on how that works.
Yoni Schmidt 15:59
Yeah. Love that. Let’s talk about customer relationships a little. What are the key principles for building and maintaining strong customer relationships in the world of sales?
Michael Lerner 16:11
Yeah. I mean, I think it takes time, definitely, right? I mean, you’re talking to a person, so I think it’s, you know, there’s, there’s always a personal touch involved. They need to, you know, they need to, you know, trust you as you know, having their best interest in mind. But for me, it’s just, you know, keeping that consistent, keeping the consistent contact, for me, you know, in person, and trying to get out in the field and, you know, taking customers out, you know, face to face, especially, you know, coming out of the coming out of covid, I think, is more important than ever. And something that, you know, I’m definitely, personally putting more of an emphasis on as we get into, you know, the second half of our fiscal year, have a number of, you know, on site engagements ready, but it’s really all those things. It’s, you know, being, you know, there’s a sense that the customer could have if they know, if you’re being, you know, helpful and genuine. And I just try to be, you know, honestly all the time, you know, keep their best interest in mind and and then definitely, definitely getting out in person and seeing customers.
Yoni Schmidt 17:03
Yeah, super important. Love that. Let’s talk about CRM utilization. How do you effectively utilize your customer relationship management tools to manage and enhance those relationships and sales processes?
Michael Lerner 17:21
You know, there’s a, there’s a tech stack right at polygon company, you know, we use, we use a CRM, you know, mainly for tracking, staying organized. I think, you know, I see the value of it, you know, a lot of it is for and which is also just as important for, you know, leadership, to get that, you know, bird’s eye view across, what’s happening across, you know, the entire country, across the entire territory, and then, you know, beyond. So I definitely see the value of it. I think that is one of the bigger value of it, you know, just updating, you know, next steps, and, you know, keeping everyone aware on your forecasting, to make sure that you know the leadership has what they need to go out and make you know their forecasts. I definitely see it. And then just from on the rep side of you, you know, the more organized you could stay. I mean, I’m still, I’m still OG I still write a lot of my stuff down in a book when I have, you know, to do lists and whatnot, a lot of it does go in the, you know, into our CRM, but, you know, it’s all it’s all important.
Yoni Schmidt 18:14
Yeah. So just expanding on that a little bit, how do you balance, you know, going after high value tasks and high value conversations, and being a CRM desk, as a sales, you know, representative or or an accountant, executive, right? Because you could get buried in the CRM and, you know, there’s a lot of intricacies and nuances, and you know, information in there, right? And I always tell my my team, right? Go, go out. Have those high value conversations, take notes, send them to, you know, one of our remote team members, and have them, you know, put them in the system and organize everything for you. And you know, there’s a saying and our team is, if it messes up your happiness, Don’t do it. Train someone, train a remote team member to do it so that you can be more efficient with your time, right? But how do you, Michael at GitLab, balance that CRM desk Docu versus those high value conversations and high value tasks?
Michael Lerner 19:19
Yeah, I think, I think, in my perspective, I actually, I’ll actually go against the grain here and saying that, you know, updating the CRM being, staying organized, just, you know, making notes, you know, getting everything that’s happening in my brain and, you know, my my to do list that is just constantly floating around that I’m sure everyone has, just like, you know, I’m on this call, and I’m just, like, thinking in the back of my head, oh, I need to do X, Y and Z. I need to reach out to this person. I need to, you know, go chase this. I can’t, I can’t forget to do X, Y and Z. I just think it’s a little bit of a, you know, it’s one of those things where, actually, I think the more I invest in the, you know, taking notes, being as organized as I can be, you know, updating my next steps, understanding what I have out there, understanding what could come in, and what I’m still. Waiting on, I think actually, the more effective I am at doing all of the other stuff. So I think, if anything, for me, it’s like, you know, I need to, I need to, you know, kick myself into not being lazy in the, you know, updating the CRM and being as prescriptive as I can be in that. Because, if anything, I think it leads to just better conversations and just a better customer experience later on. So, you know, yeah, but I don’t, you know, nothing falls through the cracks.
Yoni Schmidt 20:22
Definitely, yeah. I mean, even if it’s that little personal tidbit about, you know, the customer says they’re moving or, you know, they’re celebrating something, you know, something exciting is happening in their life, putting that in the CRM so that you can float it up later definitely builds rapport and helps establish better relationships. You mentioned this earlier, just a little bit. Can you talk to me about outbound sales? What are some of the most effective outbound sales techniques that you’ve used to reach potential clients? You mentioned being fearless, being creative. How do those come into play?
Michael Lerner 20:59
Yeah, the truth is, I think, when it comes to outbounding, and it’s something that I’m sure every rep, especially in an economic climate that we’re in, you know, right now, is dealing with just how to fill the pipeline and how to, you know, keep the next deal coming, is something that everyone’s thinking about. The truth of the matter is, especially as it pertains to company to company. But even, you know, within you know, company like GitLab, I don’t think there’s a magic bullet, right? The company that you’re talking the customer that you’re prospecting to is going to be totally different than, you know, another one. So you know, with that, there’s not a magic bullet. I think it’s I think the truth is, the only thing that you really have as your asset is just the tenacity and the grit to continue to do it. Can you make, can you make your messaging better? Can you, can you play with your cold call scripts. And can you play with your, you know, email scripts and, you know, create, you know, a new creative way to, you know, try to, you know, attack, you know, get somebody’s eyeballs and try to, you know, get an executive to hear you out. Of course, there’s always a new, you know, spin you can put on on a message. But the truth is, like I said, there’s not a magic bullet. It’s just about being fearless, being consistent. And there’s also, you know, the more you know, the I think, the more you bang on the door, the more good luck you have, too. So I think it’s a little bit of, a little bit of both, in the in the outbound sales game question with, like, what are the exact strategies?
Yoni Schmidt 22:18
I mean, there are, you know, there are some, but if any, biggest one is just doing it right. The biggest one is just like, get out and do it. The worst thing that can happen is you get a no. And a no isn’t a no. A no is just like, not right.
Michael Lerner 22:35
Now, it’s another way that won’t work right. And if you, if you do it professionally, right? I mean, there’s a lot of companies that are, you know, in my territory, that you know I know who the main stakeholders are. They know who I am. The timing isn’t right. You know, every six months, I might send them a little note like, hey, here are some updates. Here’s what we’re up to. You know, it’s being available. It’s being ready, right in sales, I think you succeed. You know, you need the talent, you need to know your stuff, you need to be ready to play ball, but you also need the timing, and you also need the territory to do it. So it’s really just about putting yourself in a position to succeed is the most important thing that you can do when it comes to outbounding.
Yoni Schmidt 23:08
Yeah, love that. Let’s talk about the biggest day to day challenges that you face in the world of sales, and how do you overcome them?
Michael Lerner 23:18
Day to day challenges? I mean, there’s, there’s a new fire every day laughing, has a world class support team that I did, you know, that really does a great job in helping those but you know, you know customers, you know they have issues. You know, challenges pertaining to, you know, just building pipeline are always, you know, present. There’s, you know, there’s always, you know. There’s always competitors. It’s a very competitive field. There’s, you know, you know, since I got to get lab three years ago, you know, the only constant that there has been is change. It’s the only thing you can expect. You know, new products, new you know, new things. AI has taken, you know, the industry by storm, and it’s, you know, all people can talk about, I’m sure everyone sees that, you know, the news and whatnot. So it’s really just, you know, there are challenges that you can face. And from a mental level, it’s, you know, just staying informed, you know, staying up on on high spot and reading and, you know, knowing what our most recent offerings are, I think, you know, at lunch, going on a run, and just taking time in between meetings to, you know, get outside and go on a quick walk. Just mental health wise, has been very important, you know, continuing to treat my body right and just having the right mind, in my opinion, is just as important, you know, and yeah, less as much investing into your, you know, into your targets, and you know, as you can be.
Yoni Schmidt 24:35
Yeah, I remember, I remember seeing you running around downtown all the time around lunchtime, and I’d send you a text that I spotted you. Um, let’s talk a little bit about, you know, those challenges. How do you adapt to, you know, working remote, and you know, how has that influenced your sales approach and strategies? Uh, correct me, if I’m wrong, GitLab is entirely remote. Or are there? Yeah, gilab is a 100% remote company. Yeah, nice. So what are the challenges with that, and how do you overcome them? Or how do you adapt to working remotely?
Michael Lerner 25:15
I mean, yeah, at a, you know, at a remote company, I think it’s easy to feel siloed at some point. But luckily, you know, there’s an amazing team. The way get lab views, it is, you know, there’s an open door policy. So, you know, people definitely take advantage of, you know, putting, you know, 20 minutes, 25 minutes on somebody’s calendar for a coffee chat. I do donuts, which are like, they randomly pair you with people who are not in your organization just to meet. There’s, you know, I try to see customers as much as I can, to which, you know, keeps me, you know, getting out, but the truth and but from a working remote perspective, it’s just, you know, getting out, hopping around, you know, if I, you know, don’t have a really heavy meeting day in an afternoon, you know, I’ll go, you know, work from a Starbucks or a coffee shop, but I haven’t done the co working space in a couple months now. But was, had been thinking about, you know, renewing that, renewing that membership, and just, you know, being around people and, you know, taking calls from there and really bouncing around. But the truth is, it’s, you know, really just about the people internally, right? You just because you’re remote doesn’t mean you can’t, you know, build relationships and learn from your team members. Honestly, I think a lot of the success that I’ve had at lab is just because, it’s just due to, you know, just wanting to be a sponge, wanting to learn what other people are, you know, doing well and what I can learn from them. You know, not being afraid to ask for, you know, formal worship, right? Like my manager, great relationship. He’s, you know, always wanted to give me the time, you know, explain how things you know, always wanted to strategize on, you know, how should respond to X, Y and Z. Same thing with, you know, a number of different teammates, old managers, just old mentors. You know, always just building, you know, that support system and just continuing to learn more.
Yoni Schmidt 26:54
Yeah, nice, despite it being remote. So open door policy is probably an important, an important aspect of running a remote team.
Michael Lerner 27:03
And I think, I think there’s, you know, mentorship and, you know, building relationships internally, both from a career perspective, just from, you know, furthering your career, something that I advocate for, but also just from a knowledge standpoint, you know, there’s, there’s, you know, the knowledge of of of everybody is going to be greater than the knowledge of one. So, you know, keeping up those relationships with, you know, you know, Matt Petrovic, Matt Malcolm. BG, you know, a couple of the people you know internally, to name a few you know, just continue to learn from them. My knowledge has skyrocketed just from, you know, wanting to, you know, be inquisitive, you know, wanting to get better, wanting to, you know.
Yoni Schmidt 27:40
Yeah, love it. Let’s talk about some industry trends that you’re noticing. What are some of the current trends in the software development life cycle industry that sales professionals should be aware of, without giving away any trade secrets to your competitors, what are we looking at?
Michael Lerner 28:02
It’s a dense question. And one that, and one that I’ll probably, at a high level, lead to, the lead to the more technical folks, but, you know, things that I see, just generally speaking, you know, AI, I think pretty much every report, I don’t want to, I don’t want to make up a fake number, a fake percentage, but it feels like the vast majority of companies are either have already adopted, you know, AI for help, or are going to continue, or plan to do so, you know, within the next, you know, call it year or two. So that’s definitely gonna be one that’s gonna, you know, add a lot of efficiency to it. I think, just generally speaking, consolidation, you know, I mentioned a little bit earlier that, you know, all those pieces of the software development lifecycle, you know, could be its own, you know, application. It could be its own tool. But, you know, I believe that, you know, tool sprawl is a threat to, you know, innovation. It slows things down, you know, creates more manual handoffs that are a lot harder to work through. So I think what you’re going to see is the industry continuing to consolidate, you know, large companies wanting to have less vendors, not more, you know, you know, while adding efficiency and saving money, right, cost saving is definitely a huge, you know, a huge initiative for a lot of companies. So things like that. I also saw, just like randomly, you know, companies going back to the private cloud from public cloud. I don’t know how true that is, but is one that I’m, you know, keeping an eye on too.
Yoni Schmidt 29:24
So interesting. So they’re internalizing all their all their servers and their storage, and keeping everything, I guess, storing everything themselves aside, instead of going to public clouds.
Michael Lerner 29:38
That’s what, that’s what a recent article that appears at me from from Dell said, but Dell, once that’s happened.
Yoni Schmidt 29:46
Yeah, that’s that’s something to keep an eye on, for sure. Let’s talk a bit about future goals, and potentially also, you know what you would recommend for anyone who wants to get into the. The world of sales, whether it’s in just, you know, sales of whatever it could be, tech could be, you know, it could real estate, it could be cars, it could be whatever, right. What are your current future goals for GitLab or at GitLab, and how do you plan to achieve them? And what would you recommend to someone who wants to break into the industry?
Michael Lerner 30:24
Yeah, in terms of my future goals, I think just continue to, you know, do what I’m doing, add value for, you know, the company. You know, be a good you know, be a good teammate. You know, continuing to spread knowledge as it comes, continuing to better myself. Your lab has a learning and development budget that I just recently talked to my manager last week on wanting to wanting to, you know, take, I took a course last year on cloud and DevOps, but, you know, wanting to, you know, do that and invest more in my own, you know, just knowledge and continuing to get better, while also, you know, just continue to focus on my customers, making sure that they’re having as good of an experience as they can. You know, continuing to support them and continuing to just grow out the territory more than it already is. So that’s really my main goal, just, you know, bunker down, add value and and get.
Yoni Schmidt 31:08
Yeah, yeah, just for every employee I GitLab has this that has this fund that they can tap into to for continuing education.
Michael Lerner 31:15
Yeah, they have access to an L and D budget. I think it refreshes every year. Another cool thing about GitLab, if you are just generally curious, we have a, you know, totally open handbook, where this is all public information, you know, not giving away any trade secrets here, where, you know, you can get a lot of just knowledge. Everything that we do is open source. So, you know, truly a company that, you know, lives its values, which is, which is really cool to see, terms of breaking into tech sales. It’s, you know, just, just be fearless their sales jobs. Companies always are going to need salespeople. The end of the day, salespeople are the ones bringing the money. So it’s, you know, not being afraid to go and they’re not being afraid to be confident, not being afraid to pick up the phone. That goes for, you know, potential future employers. That goes for, you know, prospects. That goes for someone who might be selling their house or needing property management service. You know, there’s a million reasons, but get really knowledgeable, know your product, know your industry, and then don’t be afraid, be fearless.
Yoni Schmidt 32:11
Yeah, love that. Michael, thank you so much for joining me today, sharing your insights and talking about your experience at GitLab. At GitLab, this was absolutely invaluable.
Michael Lerner 32:22
Awesome. My pleasure. Can I do one more thing?
Yoni Schmidt 32:26
Sure.
Michael Lerner 32:27
Dial Lyle. Boom.
Yoni Schmidt 32:29
Dial Lyle, yeah, that’s for Chris Lile.
Michael Lerner 32:33
Absolutely. Hope you’re doing well, man.
Outro 32:39
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