For salespeople, team culture can mean the difference between barely hitting their mark and sailing past their quota. Just ask Lexy Burton, a senior sales manager at social media management company Sprout Social.
“Team mantras like ‘always be growing’ and ‘better, better, never best’ reinforce a growth mindset across our distributed sales organization,” Burton said. This emphasis on continuous learning hasn’t just changed her mindset. It’s accelerated her development as a seller and a leader.
For Courtney Kunzelmann, managing director and head of rollover solutions at Inspira Financial, what helps her team thrive are a connection to the company mission and a healthy dose of autonomy.
“I’ve spent time leading sales, product and marketing teams and one thing I’ve learned is that people grow the most when they feel connected to the mission and are trusted to make an impact,” Kunzelmann said.
Over at lottery operator Allwyn, Neveda Witherspoon, a senior field training manager, said that transparency and communication are what keeps her team aligned.
“It’s important for team members to know what they’re doing well, but they also need to understand where they can improve and what steps they can take to continue growing,” Witherspoon said. “Keeping an open line of communication is a big part of the strong, collaborative team environment we’ve built.”
Looking for your next sales role? Built In spoke with all three sales professionals about what qualities help their sales teams grow and thrive.
Sprout Social is a global social media management and analytics software company.
How do you develop and grow sales talent?
At Sprout Social, my journey has been shaped by a culture of continuous learning. Beyond core sales methodologies like Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Paper Process, Identify Pain, Champion and Competition, the Challenger method and Sandler selling, we actively embrace ongoing call coaching and deal reviews. Team mantras like “always be growing” and “better, better, never best” reinforce a growth mindset across our distributed sales organization. In tandem with our operational coaching rhythms, we also host product enablement sessions and peer-led lunch-and-learns often to teach back winning strategies. Being both supported and challenged by this team has accelerated my development as a seller and a leader.
How do sales goals align with company mission and culture?
Social media and social intelligence are no longer “nice-to-haves;” they are essential to how businesses grow in an increasingly digital world. Social intelligence and strategy are now a necessity for brands and organizations. We help brands unlock their full potential, whether that is supporting our existing customer base and expanding their utilization of Sprout, like adopting our new AI-driven product capabilities, or supporting new customers to solve critical business goals, like launching a new influencer marketing campaign and strategy. Our ambitious sales goals incentivise our reps to leverage social selling, adapt to new AI-driven workflows and continuously refine their craft. That said, we always strive to be a joy to do business with and our top-performing reps act as trusted advisors who listen, educate and demonstrate clear ROI, ensuring customers experience value from day one.
What role does recognition play in your team’s success?
At Sprout Social, we embrace a culture of collaboration and recognition which plays a vital role in our team’s success. Sharing wins across our global sales team is critical so others can mirror that success and celebrate those accomplishments. We are always encouraged to share little and big wins, from celebrating a self-sourced outbound meeting to celebrating an individual promotion or major sale. We share these wins in the team Slack channel and showcase them during our broader all-hands meetings across all segments. We might go a little heavy on the Slack emojis when someone gets a promotion or hits their quota, but we have a blast doing it!
Allwyn is a full-service lottery operator, supplier and business partner to North American lotteries.
How do you develop and grow sales talent?
The lottery industry continues to evolve and change, which makes developing and growing sales talent more important than ever. As our products, tech, retailers and players change, our teams have to continue growing and adapting as well.
Developing talent starts with structured onboarding, ongoing coaching and understanding each person’s personality and learning style. Everyone learns and responds differently, so I believe it’s important to understand what motivates each individual and what works best for them from a training and development perspective.
Another important part of development is being willing to have difficult conversations and provide honest, constructive feedback. It’s important for team members to know what they’re doing well, but they also need to understand where they can improve and what steps they can take to continue growing.
Keeping an open line of communication is a big part of the strong, collaborative team environment we’ve built. At the end of the day my success is tied directly to my team’s success. I can’t be successful without a strong team around me. I take a lot of pride in my team, their performance and what we’ve been able to accomplish.
How do sales goals align with company mission and culture?
Our sales goals align with the mission of “building thriving lotteries fueled by innovation and player protection” by balancing sales growth with responsible and forward thinking practices. Of course, we want to sell more tickets, but it’s also about keeping our retailers informed and engaged with new and improved products while continuing to support and prioritize our players. I like to remind my team about the impact their work has every day. The relationships they build with retailers, the support they provide and how well we execute in the field all have a direct impact on our overall sales performance and help us achieve our goals.
What role does recognition play in your team’s success?
Recognition plays an important role in driving team success. I like to recognize strong performance through public shoutouts, fun team outings, project incentives and contests and of course, a little friendly competition never hurts! I believe in pushing my team to be their best while also making sure they know their hard work is noticed and appreciated.
Keeping the team motivated and engaged is especially important when we’re working through challenging projects or major initiatives. Not every project is going to be fun or exciting. That’s why I believe in celebrating the wins, having some fun along the way and keeping the team focused on what we’re working toward together. A little recognition and friendly competition can go a long way in keeping everyone motivated and bringing out the best in the team.
Inspira Financial provides health, wealth, retirement and benefits solutions for over 7 million accountholders.
How do you develop and grow sales talent?
I’ve spent time leading sales, product and marketing teams and one thing I’ve learned is that people grow the most when they feel connected to the mission and are trusted to make an impact.
It starts with understanding who we’re serving. At Inspira Financial, our accountholders are at different stages of life. Some are just starting their careers and may have forgotten about a retirement account from their first job. Others are trying to bring together savings they’ve accumulated over decades. The more our teams understand those stories, the better they become at helping people.
I also believe in giving people ownership early. Whether it’s a client relationship, a partner initiative, a campaign, or a process that needs improvement, people learn by doing. My job is to provide guidance, ask questions, remove obstacles and help them grow through the experience.
I love that sales and marketing work closely together here. We spend time sharing what we’re hearing from clients, partners and accountholders, because that’s where the best learning happens. When people understand the bigger picture and feel ownership over the outcome, they’re capable of much more than they realize.
How do sales goals align with company mission and culture?
I’ll never forget a conversation we had years ago with a woman who had left an employer decades earlier. We reached out to let her know she still had retirement savings connected to that job. After a long pause, she said, “I thought when I left, the money left too.”
That conversation has stayed with me because it reminds me why this work matters.
Our mission at Inspira Financial is to reconnect people with their retirement savings and help them understand their options. It’s something our teams see happen every day.
We have growth goals, but at the center of those goals is a simple question: are we helping more people find and benefit from retirement savings they may have lost track of?
Our sales teams build relationships with employers, retirement plan providers, advisors and partners that help make that possible. Our marketing teams help educate and engage people once we’ve found them.
Everyone understands the impact of the work. We’re helping people reconnect with assets that can make a meaningful difference in their future.
And as a mom of three daughters who will one day change jobs and navigate these same decisions, that purpose feels personal to me.
What role does recognition play in your team’s success?
Recognition is incredibly important because it shows people that their work matters.
People don’t just want to know when they hit a number. They want to know that the effort, creativity and care they bring to their work is noticed.
At Inspira, we celebrate results, but we also celebrate the actions that create those results. Sometimes it’s a salesperson who takes extra time to help someone understand their options. Sometimes it’s a marketer whose insight changes the way we approach a campaign. Sometimes it’s someone who brings forward an idea from a client or partner conversation.
Those moments reinforce the behaviors we want more of.
One of the best forms of recognition is trust. When someone demonstrates good judgment and delivers results, give them something bigger to own. Give them more responsibility. Give them the chance to lead.
And recognition doesn’t have to be complicated. A quick note, a phone call, or acknowledging someone’s contribution in the moment often means more than anything else.
When people feel trusted, valued and connected to a purpose, they typically exceed expectations, whether you’re leading a sales team, a marketing team, or any team in between.
