Reva Pellerin is a Mid-Market Account Executive at Vidyard, and is someone who is constantly focused on growing sales and accessing new accounts. She told us why she thinks sales is moving away from automation and towards a greater emphasis on building strong relationships.

Menaka: As an Account Exec at Vidyard, what’s the most challenging part of your job?

Reva: At Vidyard, I close net-new deals with prospects, and I also close deals with recurring customers that are purchasing more. Our account executive team is responsible for sourcing pipeline (along with sales development and marketing). The most challenging parts of my job are personally generating more pipeline and trying to find the best way to get into an account.

Menaka: From a sales perspective, why do you like Nudge?

Reva: Well, over the last 15 years there’s been an explosion of marketing tech – but because everything has become so automated, and so robotic, people’s trust in the B2B experience of buying something has completely diminished.

Now there’s this focus on enabling sales reps to automate a variety of activities, but this results in inauthentic interactions with potential buyers.

I almost feel like we have to go back to our roots – how did we sell before these technologies even came out? That’s what people want to feel, that trust with someone – not that greasy feeling that comes with sending something out to 200 people at once. That feels automated, and so sales reps are looking for ways to make more personal connections with people.

So I think that Nudge is going to help us get back to that old way of doing business. It lets you focus on trust. It lets you see the people you can vouch for and the people you really know.

Menaka: Why is it important for you to stay in touch with people as your career progresses?

Reva: Since people are moving to new opportunities more often now than in the past, the colleagues you create relationships with will likely move to peer companies over time. This means you’re going to be crossing paths with people you used to work with all the time, whether it’s with deals, or opportunities to work together.

It’s helpful to nurture these connections when there are no “asks” in a genuine way. You never know when you’re going to have an opportunity to help someone in your network or when you’re going to be in a position where you need their help. Asking for help always feels easier when you’ve nurtured a relationship first.

Menaka: For you, what does having a high-value network look like?

Reva: I’d like to be at the point where the people I’m connected with are the people I would feel comfortable reaching out to. I’d like people to immediately know when we worked together or how we know each other, rather than having a lot of really weak connections.

There’s real value in the ability to reach out to someone and have them know exactly who you are. And that only happens when you’ve put time into your relationship.

Menaka: Has Nudge changed the way you think about your network?

Reva: I definitely think it has. Everyone is connected to everyone now, but that doesn’t really mean anything. I started to really feel that problem in the last year or so. A typical scenario for me is when I find I have about 20 common connections with a VP of Marketing. I’ll go through the process of figuring out who is the best person to provide an introduction, but more often than not, they say they don’t really know them well enough to provide an intro - sometimes they don’t even know why they are connected in the first place.

This is something that Nudge definitely makes me think about. Having visibility into your network helps you manage your relationships and takes the guesswork out of the best way to grow your network.