Becc Holland was born to sell. While it can take most kids years to even get an inkling about what career they might have as a grown-up, Becc knew early on that sales was her true calling.
“The number-one thing I loved to do was fundraising for the sports programs I was involved in,” says Becc. “I’d sell poinsettias, oranges and fruit baskets door-to-door, and I absolutely loved it — even as much as the sports! I knew from the jump that I’d go into sales one day.”
To prepare for her sales career, Becc earned a marketing degree at Texas A&M University. “I wanted a background in marketing because I was really interested in the psychology of sales,” she says. And that decision keeps delivering many returns for Becc. Just check out some episodes of her popular “Flip the Script” webinar series — like this one about personalizing at scale — and you’ll quickly understand how she puts insight into action while helping other sales pros to improve their game.
A Passion For Improving The Sales Industry That Led To A Dream Opportunity #
Becc launched her professional sales career in Texas not long after graduating from college. Eventually, she made her way to California and moved to San Francisco. Her previous roles in sales include Senior Manager of Inside Sales at Gong.io, a revenue intelligence company, and Regional Vice President of Business Development – Enterprise West at G2, the world’s largest B2B tech marketplace for software and services.
In July 2019, Becc joined Chorus.ai as Head of Sales Development. Becc’s work on “Flip the Script,” which she started as a side project, led to her joining the Chorus.ai team. Roy Raanani, Chorus.ai’s Co-Founder and CEO, was a big fan of Becc’s content series. “He was an early and major believer in what I was trying to do,” says Becc, adding that she also admired Roy for the work he was doing to build a company like Chorus.ai.
“I think Chorus.ai is the first company I’ve encountered that genuinely understands that customers aren’t just buying your tech just for tech. They are buying your tech for an outcome,” Becc says. And when Chorus.ai’s Vice President of Sales Joe Caprio told her that what Chorus.ai is trying to do is just like ‘Flip the Script,’ Becc says she got goosebumps.
“The leadership team at Chorus.ai understands that nothing matters unless we can execute on what we are trying to do, and help our people turn into better closers,” says Becc. “And they have given me the leeway to be bold enough to dream about what sales development could be. They’ve also given me the resources, prioritization, focus and budget to execute that vision.”
Working To Turn A Vision Into A Reality #
Here’s a look at how Becc typically spends her days:
Morning: Becc admits she’s a “non-morning person,” but still commits to waking up by 7 a.m., at the latest. It’s only minutes after she awakes that her mind slips into work mode. “I don’t follow any of the meditation guides that tell you to stay away from technology when you first wake up,” Becc says. “I literally roll over to the end of the bed and get online to check all my social media and emails to figure out if I’ve missed anything.”
Becc says that this part of her morning routine started when she was a manager leading a remote team and answering to international managers who were hours ahead of her. “I’d wake up every morning and see about 25 emails with action items I had to jump on right away,” Becc says.
Once she’s up to speed with her communications, Becc hits the road — to run. “I usually run about five miles on most days,” she says. “And while I’m running, I think about everything I have to do for the day!” After her run, Becc has breakfast, which almost always consists of a “Venti iced Americano with a touch of soymilk and two and a half Sweet’N Low sweeteners.”
Then, Becc leaves her Nob Hill apartment for a 15- to 20-minute walk to the Chorus.ai office in downtown San Francisco, arriving at work around 9 a.m. “And sometimes, my commute is a six-hour plane ride and a 20-minute Uber ride, depending on where I’m staying,” says Becc, whose responsibilities often require her to work at Chorus.ai’s Boston office.
No matter which office she’s working in, Becc spends a large part of her day focused on either developing content or partnerships — what she calls the “two big pillars of my job.” She explains, “It depends on the day, but I could be meeting with several different partners, or filming videos with Shawn Parrotte, our Marketing Manager for Demand Generation.”
Afternoon: By lunchtime, Becc is ready for some fuel to see her through the rest of the workday. Her typical meal includes a low-carb diet energy drink, some pretzels and hummus, and occasionally, a Clif Bar. “I’m usually grabbing lunch between meetings,” she says.
“I don’t have time for a big lunch. Plus, I don’t want one — I view food as a resting activity, and I want to get stuff done!”
After lunch, Becc is still splitting her time between the two big pillars, as well as the other two core areas of her job: growing her team and helping them become as productive as possible. “I’ve been focused a lot on hiring recently,” says Becc. “And as for developing my team, I spend about 30% of my time on strategic work, like setting the KPI structure or sequence building, and devote the other 70% to coaching.”
Becc relies heavily on the Chorus.ai platform to inform her one-on-one sessions with reps. “I spend a lot of time in Chorus.ai, listening to my team’s calls,” she says. “I also review their emails. So, most of the one-on-one sessions are usually about putting out fires first, and then me working with the rep to help them improve their outreach.”
Evening: Becc says she usually leaves work by 7 p.m., and then, once at home, tries to unwind for a bit. “Mentally, I’m not burnt out by the day’s end, but my body is feeling a bit tired. I’ll usually stay up until about 10 p.m., and maybe watch an episode of The Big Bang Theory before I try to get some sleep.”
That said, there are many nights during a typical week when Becc works late at the office or stays up until 2 a.m. to work on correspondence. And often, she wakes up around 4 a.m. to work on content, including writing — something else that Becc is very passionate about.
When asked if she has any concerns about maintaining work-life balance, Becc thoughtfully replies, “You know, for me, I work the way I do partly because of drive and work ethic. But it’s also my competitive nature. If I don’t work 50, 60 or even 70 hours a week, someone else will.”
Becc adds, “Someone asked me the other day, ‘What is the favorite part of your job?’ I said, ‘It’s my job.’ And that’s the truth. My career in sales is a dream come true. I feel in many ways that what I do is a privilege. Chorus.ai gives me the support to work on my videos and writing — the kind of stuff that I hope can help change the industry. And yes, that’s also the stuff that wakes me up at 4 a.m. But it’s what drives me — and helps me realize my potential.
BONUS: Flip the Script Videos and Sales Tutorials #
We hope you enjoyed this “day in the life” spotlight featuring one of our amazing team members! Be on the lookout for more of these posts, which are meant to inspire you, help you build your knowledge, and learn about the many ways that people are using the Chorus.ai platform, every day, to gain insights and drive individual and team performance.
Written by Sophie Cheng, Director of Customer Marketing for Chorus.ai.
Sophie is an internationally experienced Marketing Professional. Having worked in a variety of markets and industries including Automotive, Oil and Gas, Financial Services, Healthcare and Tech, the one constant is her passion for creating customer value. When she's not at work her life revolves around good food and wine, traveling the world, and spending time with her family and friends.
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