Todd Caponi’s second book is “The Transparent Sales Leader”. Before this, he wrote “The Transparency Sale”, which won the American Book Award’s 2019 Sales Book of the Year. He is a speaker & workshop leader as Principal of Sales Melon LLC. Up until mid-2018, he had spent almost 4 years building the revenue capacity of Chicago’s PowerReviews from the ground up as their Chief Revenue Officer, turning it into Illinois’ fastest-growing tech company. Prior to that, he held sales leadership roles with 3 other tech companies, including ExactTarget, where he helped drive a successful IPO and a $2.7B exit through the acquisition by Salesforce. He is also a former American Business “Stevie” Award winner for VP of WW Sales of the Year. 

• Sales leadership does not have a defined framework in most organizations. When Todd was promoted, like many others, to a sales leadership role from that of a sales executive, he found himself drowning in activity without having a definite direction. This led him to analyze the role of the Sales Leader and target key focus areas that sales leaders need to concentrate upon. The book is a result of that endeavor. 

• Sales training and enablement are usually directed at the sales executive, not sales leaders. The general assumption is that if you have been promoted to sales leadership, you must already know what you’re doing, otherwise, you wouldn’t have been promoted into the role. Todd Caponi busts that myth and outlines a framework that can help sales leaders focus on key areas that will drive revenue through sales success. 
• Todd Caponi highlights the science of transparency and motivation to plan, strategize and communicate with the sales team, company bosses, and even the board. He dives deep into the five core responsibilities of the sales leader. He also goes to great length to explain the behavioral science that explains why sales teams act in the way they do, and what inspires them. 

These and more insights from the ground in this great episode of Bits About Books.

Run time – 45.09 mins.