June 21, 2022 How Top Apollo AE Andrés Angulo Hit His Quota by 180% (for 3 Months Straight!) Written by Karli Stone Apollo is more than a powerful sales platform; Apollo is also the powerful, intelligent, and forward-thinking professionals that drive it forward. One of those professionals is Andrés Angulo, Apollo Account Executive (AE) and Account Manager (AM). With only 10 months under his belt here at Apollo, Andrés has proved himself to be an unstoppable sales force. “The first 3 months here at Apollo I wasn’t making my sales quotas but now, over the last 3 months, I’ve hit those quotas by over 180%”, says Andrés. How did he do it? Keep reading to find out! In this blog, we’ll uncover Andrés’ best practices and his go-to tools for becoming not only a high-performing AE, but also the best version of your professional self. Some context on Andrés As both an account executive and an account manager, Andrés has a unique perspective. Alongside the fast-paced, prospecting-heavy role of an AE, Andrés is also responsible for building invaluable relationships with existing clients. “I am a closer, but I am also like a farmer”, Andrés says, “With account management, your accounts are already using the product, however, they might not understand how to get the most out of it. So you have to put consistent time and energy into that account and help them understand what kind of value they can get.” Managing both short and long sales cycles, Andrés understands the importance of establishing an efficient sales process. Crush your quota with these sales best practices from Andrés #1: Provide value and make it easy for prospects to buy Andrés has an infectious customer-centric mentality. One of his core AE best practices is to make it as simple as possible for the prospect to see the value in your product and pull the trigger. “They are already stressed; they are changing tools, looking at different platforms. Your buyer has a problem, so make it quick and easy for them to see the value, not only during the discovery or demo stage but in every follow-up”, Andrés says. To provide value consider: Giving the prospect clear social proof Listening to their needs and responding to them Providing accessible, easy-to-understand materials and resources Always consider the customer’s perspective Personalize content #2: Create your own pipeline by building social communities The second best practice Andrés shared with us is the importance of generating your own pipeline through community-building, particularly on social media. He described how he considers his LinkedIn like a business diary. If something happens to him during his business day – a victory, a learning experience, or even a mistake – he posts it on his social media. “I think to myself ‘If this [work experience] was valuable to me, then maybe it will be to someone else’”, he says. Dedicating yourself to building a social community has a positive sales impact, as well. The more of a social presence you have, the more networking you do, the more you post relevant and valuable content, the more inbound leads you will have coming in. “I’ve noticed the more quality that my relationships on LinkedIn have become, the more inbound leads I have gotten”, Andrés tells us, “People asked me ‘Andrés how did you hit quota?’, and my answer is I don’t only rely on the pipeline that was provided… I created more opportunities for myself.” If you’re looking for some great sales-based posts to get you started, check out Andres’ LinkedIn profile here. #3: Always keep a growth mindset Lastly, successful AEs, AMs, and SDRs (and really any working professional) have an attitude of success and a mindset that is always open to growth. “Everything comes down to mindset…You [need to] want to be better every day, to be the better version of yourself every day”, says Andrés. He went on to describe that at one point, he watched and listened to footage for over 200 Gong calls to learn from the best from discovery to closing. He also sets a goal to listen to 3 of his own calls a week: a great one, a poor one, and an average one. The best part of staying driven in your role is – it makes selling more fun! When you are genuinely interested in the well-being of your prospects, your job becomes more than just a job. “Being open to helping people and trying new things helps you be better at discovery because you are there with a blank slate, trying to figure out where they are coming from,” he says, “If you have that type of mentality, everything else becomes fun”. Close more deals with these must-use Apollo features Andrés sells the Apollo software, yes – but he also uses it! He attributes so much of his sales success to a handful of Apollo tools that help him get more work done, effectively and efficiently. The Google Calendar Extension Without a moment’s hesitation, Andrés recommends all AEs use Apollo’s Google Calendar and Gmail Extension. Using our unparalleled Chrome Extension, you can create a streamlined pre-meeting workflow with instant access to millions of data points on verified contacts, all within your Google Calendar or Gmail tab. Andrés loves it because, in the minutes before his important meetings, he can see all his Salesforce records, notes on a prospect, and company information like employee headcount and funding rounds, all from his scheduling tab. “Before the extension, I would have to jump into the company’s website, the contact’s LinkedIn, CRMs [etc]. But with the Google Calendar Extension, my call prep dropped from 20 minutes to 5 minutes,” Andrés says, “Apollo’s Google Calendar Extension has all the contextual information you need to be successful”. Meeting prep shouldn’t be a chore. You can use the Extension to not only save time and complete more tasks, but show up to your meetings confident, prepared, and fully equipped with relevant information on your prospect. Job Change Alerts Did you know that Apollo can monitor the job status of all of your saved contacts and send you Job Change alerts with updates to their professional profiles? It’s one of the many Apollo features Andrés and many of our other top-performing salespeople just can’t live without! [Job Change alerts] give you easy visibility to low-hanging fruit,” says Andrés, “If you don’t understand where your opportunities are moving, where your champions are moving, if you don’t track that, then you are missing out”. Andrés understands that when prospects change jobs they are in the perfect position to buy new tools. Which is why knowing exactly when contacts start new positions is invaluable for B2B sales teams. Updating Apollo contacts to reflect job changes is easy! It’s as simple as navigating to Search, opening Table View, and clicking the “New Job Change alerts” button. Prospecting using Advanced Filters Any and every AE needs a killer prospecting tool. Andrés loves using Apollo for prospecting because of its ease of use and granular filtering. In fact, Apollo’s prospector is how he closed one of his biggest deals! “I sourced one of my biggest deals [using Apollo] to prospect companies that recently closed on Series A funding and where the decision makers’ made a job change [etc]”, says Andrés, “It helped me initiate that first conversation.” Apollo’s advanced filters help salespeople conduct granular searches that hone in on their ideal buyer. Our advanced filters include: Technologies Used # of Employees by Department Funding Year Founded Revenue Alexa Rank Job Postings And More! You can also save filtered searches in Apollo that perfectly align with your buyer personas and subscribe to get email updates when new contacts align! It’s never been so easy to stay on top of your prospecting efforts. To learn more about Personas and Search Subscriptions click here. In Closing Sales development and account management are anything but easy. But with the right sales tools and practices, you can simplify your workflow while exceeding your sales goals, quarter after quarter! Put your new sales knowledge to the test and sign up for a free Apollo.io account today. If you want to see the Google Calendar extension, Job Change alerts, the Apollo Searcher (and so much more!) in action, feel free to fill out the demo request form here. Karli Stone