It’s hard to believe women only make up one-quarter of the sales profession when data shows they’re slightly better at selling than men. Women come out on top when you break down things like high performers in sales and win rates. Joni Booth is one of those high performers.
After spending eight years at a management consulting firm – the last two selling and leading workplace consulting solutions for large global organizations – she’s now a Senior Enterprise Account Executive at Culture Amp, a high-growth tech company offering an employee experience platform. Given the typical enterprise sales cycle, Joni needs a few key wins a quarter to hit her seven-figure stretch quota. But one, in particular, stood out as her best career win ever.
"It all started with a cold, three-sentence email straight to the CEO of an organization with more than 100,000 employees when I was seven months pregnant. As sellers, we send so many prospecting emails in a week that go unnoticed. I was stunned when I got a response five minutes later!"
And the response was positive. The exchange with this CEO scored Booth an invite to a half-day meeting with the company's top leaders. There was one slight (literal and figurative) hiccup – Joni gave birth to her second child around the time of this meeting. She had to collaborate from afar and help team members keep the deal progressing in her absence. But once she was back from maternity leave, she jumped right back into the deal conversations and took the lead on the scoping and purchasing process. It took over a year to get to this moment:
"When the contract finally came in to help advise some of the highest levels of leaders at this organization with critical, mission-oriented topics, I was in shock. I paused and took a moment to reflect on the long sales cycle, but more importantly on my confidence as a young woman to land a deal with one of the largest organizations in the U.S."
That win may have elevated her to an A-level dealmaker, but she’s excited about her future at Culture Amp and where the company is heading. Booth lists pipeline management, storytelling, and time management as her top three selling superpowers.
With her closest co-workers right at home (now ages 3 and 7 🙂), she’s especially adept at planning her day to maximize work time. “Being a working mom through a pandemic has provided tremendous challenges, but also the chance to bring more humanity to work.”
Indeed, Joni is kind, down-to-earth, and brings a potent mix of fearlessness, persistence, and hard work to her sales game. She reflected some more on that big deal she closed:
"I didn't let my imposter syndrome get the best of me when meeting with established executives. I reminded myself that if I listen to their needs and provide them with helpful information along the way, it didn't matter that I was young and a new mom. I worked hard to be at the table."
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