When we met Kevin O’Malley, he described his leadership style as a “mullet hairstyle” — business in the front and party in the back. Would this person, I wondered, be a good fit for our culture at Salesloft?
HECK YEAH.
As we continue in our mission to lead the world of sales development and to become an Atlanta unicorn, I am proud to announce the addition of Kevin O’Malley to the Salesloft team as Vice President of Demand Generation.
Kevin brings to the Salesloft family over 15 years of product management and marketing experience, together with an unmatched intuition and expertise in all things revenue from lead to customer renewal. As a leading professional, practitioner and thought leader in the B2B SaaS marketing space, he knows no boundaries for improving the speed and accuracy of creating predictable and scalable demand.
I am blown away by the embodiment of servant leadership that drives Kevin’s management approach. His selfless style sets our core values at the front and center of everything he does, and for that, we couldn’t ask for a stronger leader to join our marketing team.
The only limits we have are the ones we put on ourselves, and if I can help them realize that and give them the environment to do something special then we will succeed together.
As Salesloft has grown to over 1,500 clients and 30,000 users worldwide, the breadth and potential of this industry is out of this world. The insane amount of sales development and inbound marketing knowledge that Kevin brings to the table will be influential in driving best practices for engaging our audience, delivering value, and measuring results.
To get to know Kevin a little better, let’s start with these questions:
1. Why Salesloft?
An intersection of my passion for Sales Development and the opportunity to join a great group of people who are on a mission to become the platform for Sales Development professionals. You can spend your whole career looking for that intersection, mine only took 15 years!
2. What’s Your Marketing & Sales Development Background?
Funny you ask, in college I worked part-time at a high-end clothing store that was a small family-run business who in the early 90’s deployed an AS400 IBM Mainframe system to capture and analyze every single transaction that was made!
I quickly realized that data was powerful but more importantly it was the sales reps who leveraged it that turned it into money.
I was mesmerized by the possibilities of how data and a new breed of sales people would come together to create a more efficient way to market and sell. Shortly afterwards, I was offered an intern opportunity between a sales development role at Frito-Lay working in Martha’s Vineyard for the summer or as a marketing analyst at ACNielsen learning how to crunch data to increase sales. Don’t you know I took the position at ACNielsen.
That decision to go with ACNielsen ultimately led me down the data-driven marketing path where I have been fortunate to apply those skills throughout my career, starting with eight years at UPS. While at UPS, I started getting into sales development working with outside firms for prospect calling, and it was there where I had another “blow my hair back experience” of the possibilities of having a function that could be really good on finding qualified prospects while another function could be really good about closing.
After joining the startup community seven years ago, I have had an opportunity to spend more time on marketing and sales development. Most recently, I was given the chance to build a Sales Development department which has fueled my passion for the role and ultimately led me to SaleLoft.
3. What’s Your Leadership Style?
My leadership style is like a mullet hairstyle, I am all business up front, but having a party in the back.
The only limits we have are the ones we put on ourselves, and if I can help them realize that and give them the environment to do something special then we will succeed together. I do come with a desk on wheels and a bull horn so I like to have a good time, but if you don’t fill out those salesforce.com fields I might just wheel up on you.
4. What Inspired You To Start B2BCamp In Atlanta?
My inspiration for B2BCamp was actually Kyle Porter, Salesloft CEO. We met over coffee one morning and we quickly realized that we shared the same opinion that Atlanta did not offer a way for modern B2B marketing and sales professionals to get together to share, learn and network together. He simply said, “let’s go create our own…”
That was in 2011 and since then we have hosted four events and have built a community of over 1,000 like-minded individuals all trying to better themselves with modern marketing and sales techniques.
5. If you weren’t filling the sales funnel, what would you be doing?
I am one of the few guys on Pinterest (stick with me here), I usually finding some cool DIY projects that I can do with my kids, anywhere from making a volcano, turning a cardboard box into a robot or building troll house out of popsicle sticks. My proudest project was a lifesize gingerbread house for my boys during Christmas that was made out of a 10×10 tailgate tent, needless to say I got a little carried away.
6. If You Could Have Dinner With Any Famous Person, Dead Or Alive, Who Would It Be?
Henry Ford because I really want to ask him if he really said, “you can have any color you want as long as it’s black.”
7. What Are The Characteristics You Seek In Members Of Your Team?
Self-driven, curious, constructively dissatisfied, and optimistic.
I want to help them get better and I want them to help me get better.
8. Who Has Inspired You In Your Life & Why?
My grandfather who is turning 97 in a few weeks, he has always been an inspiration to me with his integrity, discipline and always positive attitude.
I have always looked up to him for his business achievements as CEO of a steel company, community achievements with leading several initiatives that have reshaped the city of Cleveland, and for just being a cool grandfather.
9. How Does The Future Of Sales Development Look?
Bright!
I believe the SDR function is going to be less of a stepping stone for people who want to be closers and become a desired place to master their craft of lead prospecting, capitalizing on time, and phone selling.
One great indicator that I like to follow is the benchmark from The Bridge Group where they show that an SDR expects to be in sales in 13 months while the reality is 22 months. I believe as companies continue to invest in the SDR function with the right tools and leadership, they will want to stay longer in the role because they will feel more valued, learning and if done right, making more money!