Tom Stuart

Background

About Tom Stuart

Mark Leslie, retired CEO of Veritas and now Professor at the Stanford GSB wrote the "The Sales Learning Curve" about the type of approach and the type of people are required to succeed with new products in new markets. The term he uses is 'renaissance rep'. He describes the issue:"The types of skills needed during this phase differ from those needed to sell more mature products. They include a facility for communicating with many parts of the organization, a tolerance of ambiguity, a deep interest in the product technology, and a talent for bringing customers together with various functional teams within the company. Salespeople must be resourceful, able to develop their own sales models and collateral materials as needed. We think of this kind of person as the 'renaissance rep.'" I am the Business Development version of this person and these capabilities are important for small companies trying to figure out the product-market fit, or large companies desiring to enter new and dynamic markets. And it is not just direct sales. In most cases partner relationships are the key.