Lonely SaaS Sales Rep Pours Heart Out On Customer Discovery Call
HubSpot's Enterprise Sales representative John Keane baffled team members when a customer discovery call turned into a long conversation about personal life regrets
BOSTON – HubSpot's Enterprise Sales representative John Keane baffled team members when a customer discovery call turned into a long conversation about personal life regrets, concerned coworkers confirmed.
"We wanted to learn about the Marketing Hub Starter plan, and Keane described how HubSpot's all-in-one solution will keep our marketing effort organized and in harmony, unlike his alcoholic father who couldn't even keep his family together." says exasperated lead and startup marketing manager, Kieran Lance. "Things got weirder when I asked about the conversational bot feature, and he started to talk about how he visited HubSpot's website to chat and talk about his childhood. God, I just want to know how much HubSpot will cost us."
Newly hired account manager Sierra Dylan has been shadowing Keane's sales calls, and made her feeling known to Serious Tech News.
"Whenever a discovery call is ending, Keane always tried to milk it. One time a supposedly 30 minutes discovery call turned into a 50 minutes mellow talk about how he doesn't feel loved by his cousins," says Dylan. "I understand SaaS sales is a demanding job, but I also didn't sign up to see a 35-year old man cries like a little bitch during sales calls."
Keane, who was understandably happy to speak to us, clarified he was only trying to build genuine rapport with leads by showing his true self.
"I think about discovery call as a window to make a real connection with clients, and—as with all relationship—it's a two-way street. If they want to know how much our software really costs, there's no harm listening to my journey, isn't it? Again, with HubSpot, we're all about relationships." says Keane, who has not been invited for a night out since college sophomore year. "I'm all about vulnerability. It's a superpower. If I learn anything from the book Influence by Roberto Cialdini, it's that people want to reciprocate. I'm sure these leads will turn into a paying client, and ultimately my real-life friends to play.
As we wrapped the interview, Keane asked us if we can keep in touch or "maybe have a Zoom trivia night" sometimes.
