"The Deal Desk" Newsletter
The Deal Director
"The Deal Desk" is all about selling B2B SaaS software. I send it on weekly basis and share cutting edge information on the industry, how to optimise your performance as a sales rep and insights on technology, with focus on Generative AI, Cybersecurity and Cloud Computing.
The Deal Desk Newsletter #41: Quota attainment at key GenAI tech players in 2024
May 19, 2024 The Deal Desk Newsletter #41: Quota attainment at key GenAI tech players in 2024 Sales anon, This week we look a bit deeper into the RepVue metrics in 2024 from several important players in GenAI and contrast that to some of their more recent announcements on the product side. The companies we will go over will be Databricks, Snowflake, MongoDB and Elastic. Spoiler alert, things are getting bullish. The Data Platform play for GenAI Let's start with the basics - why are these...
about 9 hours ago • 8 min read
The Deal Desk Newsletter #40: The GenAI acceleration Part 3 (AI Search)
May 12, 2024 The Deal Desk Newsletter #40: The GenAI acceleration Part 3 (AI Search) Sales anon, This week we will go trough the Google earnings call, with a focus on GenAI and cloud. While I would describe the last 3 months as "building up on their Enterprise lead" for Azure and "lacklustre but consistent" for AWS, then the recent pivot for Google is definitely setting up a more competitive dynamic than ever before. Key part of this will be the new category of AI Search which is going to...
7 days ago • 7 min read
The Deal Desk Newsletter #39: The GenAI acceleration Part 2
May 5, 2024 The Deal Desk Newsletter # 39: The GenAI acceleration Part 2 Sales anon, This week we continue our review of the latest cloud hyperscaler earning report from AWS. After the victory lap by Microsoft last week, AWS had to show progress, particularly after their recent GTM re-org. As part of this article, we will contrast the sales performance results as disclosed in the earnings reports, with the most recent quota attainment data from RepVue. $250.00 Consulting This is your...
15 days ago • 6 min read
The Deal Desk Newsletter #38: The GenAI acceleration
April 28, 2024 The Deal Desk Newsletter #38: The GenAI acceleration Sales anon, If you want to understand where the industry is going, one of the most important moments are the quarterly earning reports for the cloud hyperscalers. I've covered previously how critical the "Big 3" are to the industry and how IT budgets are increasingly becoming a "marketplace committed spend". There is not a single ISV (independent software vendor) whose performance captures so much of the market momentum as...
22 days ago • 7 min read
The Deal Desk Newsletter #37: How to quantify the pain and win commercial negotiations
April 21, 2024 The Deal Desk Newsletter #37: How to quantify the pain and win commercial negotiations Sales anon, This week we will discuss how to handle yourself during a commercial negotiation. In thesales.network I have a detailed breakdown on the tech sales process based on my experience in the industry from multiple companies. What ‘good’ looks like in a sales process is repeated strategies and behaviours that increase the odds of closing your deal. When it comes to commercial...
29 days ago • 5 min read
The Deal Desk Newsletter #36: The platform play in cybersecurity starts with startups
April 14, 2024 The Deal Desk Newsletter #36: The platform play in cybersecurity starts with startups Sales anon, This week we will take a broader look at the cybersecurity market from the perspective of early stage companies and the funding available to them. Last week I outlined a path for talented individuals who want to move towards a career in cybersecurity and specifically advised against working for startups. The reason for this is because this is an industry where "disruption from...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
The Deal Desk Newsletter #35: The cybersecurity tech sales job opportunity
April 7, 2024 The Deal Desk Newsletter #35: The cybersecurity tech sales job opportunity Sales anon, This week we continue my deep dive into cybersecurity for tech sales as a topic. The focus for this article is where does the opportunity lie and how to qualify the right company for it. The Deal Director @thedealdirector Spending into cybersecurity will keep increasing, yet you are wasting time applying for an EXCITING ROLE AS A COMMERCIAL ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE AT MULESOFT. 10:32 PM • Apr 1, 2024...
about 1 month ago • 6 min read
The Deal Desk Newsletter #34: The partner dilemma in tech sales
March 31, 2024 The Deal Desk Newsletter #34: The partner dilemma in tech sales Sales anon, This week we will focus on one of the most practical, yet poorly understood parts of tech sales - partnerships. While every company has a "partner strategy", for the most part you will find repetitive playbooks being poorly implemented. As SaaS has become the most important model of deploying software, middlemen have slowly been pushed out unless they offer additional value to the end customers. The...
about 2 months ago • 8 min read
The Deal Desk Newsletter #33: How not to get fired from your tech sales job in 2024
March 24, 2024 The Deal Desk Newsletter #33: How not to get fired from your tech sales job in 2024 Sales anon, It's been a bumpy recovery in tech sales to say the least. There are a lot of interesting opportunities in the job market and many companies are coming back to 40% YoY growth; there are also a lot of places that are falling apart, leading to sales reps getting underpaid or fired. It's a tough market to navigate and a lot of the responsibility ultimately ends up with you - there are...
about 2 months ago • 6 min read
The Deal Desk Newsletter #32: The mind of a CISO
March 17, 2024 The Deal Desk Newsletter #32: The mind of a CISO Sales anon, This week I'll be sharing part of my "Intro to Cybersecurity" course, focused on providing a deeper understanding of the priorities and challenges that CISOs face today. It's very difficult to sell cybersecurity if you don't actually understand what the day-to-day looks like and it's impossible to overperform without being able to provide a product or a service that makes a material difference. The full course "Intro...
2 months ago • 8 min read
"The Deal Desk" is all about selling B2B SaaS software. I send it on weekly basis and share cutting edge information on the industry, how to optimise your performance as a sales rep and insights on technology, with focus on Generative AI, Cybersecurity and Cloud Computing.