Meet The Salesloft Staff: Nick Arko
Nick’s Bio: Nick Arko describes himself as passionate, ambitious, inquisitive, and as an Inbound Sales Development Rep at Salesloft since January 2015, he has proven to be all of those things and more. Whether he’s qualifying inbound leads and scheduling demos for Account Executives, or syncing prospects to Salesloft Cadence, Nick is constantly facilitating constructive dialogue and adding value to the daily lives of his prospects. This driven rep is a great representation of how hard work and dedication can grow you into the best SDR you can be.
What’s your ultimate sales development productivity hack?
Caffeine. When it’s time to grind, I like to get in the zone by downing a full cup of coffee or espresso double-shot just before a productive sprint to get things done.
As an Inbound SDR, how do you use Salesloft Cadence on a day-to-day basis?
Cadence is a key component to any SDR’s workflow. As an inbound rep who is reaching out to countless new leads on a daily basis, manually logging such tasks and setting reminders for followups would be a nightmare. That is why I virtually live inside of Cadence.
Cadence allows me to tailor my own unique outreach strategy, which I can depend on for a truly consistent and effective follow-up process.
How do you stay fired up to come into work every day and help motivate the team?
As a sales organization, Salesloft is structured so that each person plays a crucial role in our company’s overall sales process. Take me for example. As an inbound SDR, I am the life-blood of Salesloft. This means that I am often the first point of contact with prospects who have a demonstrated level of interest, and so it is up to me to qualify and “open” deals before handing them over to our Account Execs for a demo. So knowing that virtually every action I take as an individual has a much larger impact on the entire team is what gets me fired up to come into the office and commit myself to the bigger picture.
On your drive into work, what are you listening to that get’s you hyped for the day?
I actually live very close to work, so I find the best use of my time during the commute is to just think about what I have to do that day and plan accordingly. This time allows me to make a tentative outline for the rest of my day. I then arrive at work ready to put my thoughts to action!
That said, I do enjoy listening to audiobooks at night before I go to sleep. My all-time favorite is Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. This amazing read is not specifically related to building monetary wealth (although you could certainly use it that way), instead, Napoleon seeks to define several key principles he claims will help anyone get what they want out of business and life. I can still remember listening to the audio version as a senior in college and getting so pumped up for life that I couldn’t fall asleep!
Who is someone in the world of startups or sales development that you admire or find inspiring?
My list of most-inspiring tech visionaries is pretty extensive, but if I had to narrow it down, I’d actually choose two. Although they are no longer running ‘“scrappy” startups, I must call a tie between Travis Kalanick from Uber and Elon Musk from SpaceX and Tesla Motors.
Travis has built a truly unique and well-oiled machine where employee empowerment is at the core of the business model. Every single time I hop into an Uber, I make it a point to ask the driver their thoughts on the company. I am almost guaranteed to receive positive feedback each time.
As for Elon, I admire him not only because he has created one seriously impressive car, but also because I respect his audacious, “let’s build it no matter how crazy it sounds” mentality.
What quote do you live by, both personally and professionally?
Will Smith asks “Why be realistic?” According to Will,
“Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity”
These words are a major driving force for me, pushing me to constantly go beyond what I think is possible and forcing me to think “how,” not “if.” After all, who would have thought we could ever build metal contraptions that fly people across the planet — yet commercial flight allows us to do so virtually without thinking. We have created the ability to bring light to a dark room at the flick of a switch and currently have human beings orbiting the earth. And don’t even get me started on the internet…
If you could go anywhere in the world this weekend, where would you go?
It may seem a bit unconventional, but I’ve always said I’d love to take a trip to North Korea. I remember once having dinner in a North Korean-owned restaurant while studying in Beijing, China. The culture seemed so unique and unlike anything I’d experienced before that I decided to put in my bucket list of places to visit some day.