The Gift of The Pandemic and Being Forced to Let Go - Elay Cohen, CEO of SalesHood

Take Your Shoes Off First w/ Julia Freeland

In this episode, Elay Cohen, CEO of SalesHood, opens up about how becoming aware of his actions and learning to question his beliefs were pivotal for the growth of his company. He shares how the story in "Take Your Shoes Off First" reminded him of his own journey to dislodge dogma associated with an ancient tradition – the art of selling – and replace it with a new understanding – one that includes Sales Enablement.

For those unfamiliar with the idea, Sales Enablement is a functional area that has only been around since the early 2000’s. Like many new job field’s that have been created to deal with the challenges resulting from technical advances, it is quickly becoming a critical component of most sales functions.

Sales Enablement is the result of a shift in the type of selling that is needed to sell:

1. To a much more educated and empowered customer (thank you internet)
2. Products and services that are far more complex than the analog widgets of yesterday (hello SaaS, big data, AI, etc.)
3. In a world where customers have grown to expect custom messaging and products.

As the former Senior Vice President of Sales Productivity at Salesforce, my guest, Elay Cohen, was in a great position to understand and anticipate the needs of this new field. After being recognized by Marc Benioff as the “2011 Top Executive,” Elay decided to make the leap to head up his own company in pursuit of building a digital learning and collaboration platform to support this growing functional area.

Today, Elay has been at the helm of SalesHood for eight years and is the author of two books, his most recent, “Enablement Mastery: Grow Your Business Faster by Aligning Your People, Processes, and Priorities” was released in 2019.

Within this episode, you will hear us discuss:

1. The challenges associated with breaking through status quo to help people see the value of new idea / role and what it takes to overcome them.
2. Why relationships of all kinds are better when you work to take your shoes off first.
3. How the pandemic has been a good thing.
4. How being forced to let go is often the best gift we can receive.
5. What it means to have a “customer first story telling culture,” and why it works.

Are you a founder growing your business? A sale professional wanting to stay current? A people curious learner? Tune in to this episode where we will explore the metaphorical “shoes” of Elay Cohen by diving into the world of sales enablement and what it takes to grow a company in disruptive times.

Want to learn more about SalesHood and how they help enable teams of all kinds?

Want to learn more about the origins of Sales Enablement and the journey to get people to accept and adopt it? Check out Episode 2 of the Inside: Sales Enablement podcast.
Interested in learning more about Elay Cohen? Check out his Linkedin here.