Tools of the Trade is a weekly feature in which people reveal the top secret contents of their messenger bags, apps they use everyday, and/or their workstations.
Jon Birdsong (@JonnyBird) is a University of Georgia grad with a charmingly slanted smile and an eye for style. No really! He’s written for Esquire about the fashion at the 2012 Masters.
His main moves at the moment are made as the CEO of Rivalry, a sales process management software company. Rivalry helps companies increase win rate, shorten sales cycles, and increase average sales prices by providing them the resources to easily specialize, measure, and track their sales organization while fostering an environment of competition within an organization.
We asked Jon to let us capture his central command center (aka workspace) and tell us what tools he needs everyday. Check out his three most used apps and take notes on what he surrounds himself with to steer the ship.
Three Most Used Apps:
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SalesLoft Prospector – I can do in 2 hours what would have taken me a day with SalesLoft’s prospector. It’s really helps with the top-of-the-funnel prospecting.
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ToutApp – See who’s clicking, reading, and viewing the emails I individually send. It has some pretty solid email analytics as well.
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Pardot – Drip campaigns, segmented lists, landing pages, and signup forms are necessary for any revenue generation machine. We love Pardot.
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Motivation posters – I love motivational quotes. We put inspirational quotes in our app. SalesLoft made this poster.
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Two Cups of Tea – One from Starbucks, one from the Atlanta Tech Village. I drink at least 2 cups of tea per day: English Breakfast or Earl Grey.
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Business Cards – I don’t carry business cards. This forces me to take initiative and be proactive in who I want to select. I collect business cards from people I’m hunting down.
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Stamps – Personal notes are written way too infrequently. I just purchased some Rivalry stationary. It’s awesome and really helps separate ourselves as we sell into C-Level executives.
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Torn Article from the New York Times Magazine – Prospects can be available any place, any time. I read an interesting article and wanted to follow up on one of the subjects.
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The Rivalry Ring – I got this ring at a launch party; it has a crown on it. So I just keep it around for the heck of it.
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Pens – Penning a note or checklist will never be replaced.
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Beats By Dre – I wear Spotify out.
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My old-ass iPhone – Up-grading soon.
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Notes from customers or people I’ve met – Thank you’s or correspondence of some sort.
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MacBook Air – With the Rivalry home page on it.
[Photo credit: Detrick/Hypepotamus]
