Using Sales Tactics and RepVue to Land a Role at a Fast-Growing Startup

Researching with RepVue and strategic, targeted outreach helped Melissa Gaglione land her dream sales job.

“This is the happiest I’ve ever been,” said Melissa Gaglione during our conversation about how she found her current sales role. “The happiest I’ve ever been at any company in any role in any career that I’ve done. And I’ve been a teacher and a news reporter. I’ve had these different careers in my life.”

So, how’d she get here? With a smart approach to her job search and some help from RepVue.

Previous Sales Experience

Prior to landing her dream job, Gaglione had a few sales roles where she had a lot of success. 

“The first [company I worked for] was a conversational AI platform where I sold messaging and automation,” she said. “I started as an SDR, and then was promoted to account executive and started working some pretty large accounts early on in my sales career.”

Eventually, she decided she wanted to explore her options and sell in a different space. She wanted to sell to other salespeople. She was able to land a role at a new company, but it wasn’t a good fit.

“And when I made that first jump, I did not use RepVue. And I wasn’t there for long. I chose to look elsewhere for some other roles.”

Taking a Different Approach

For her next job search, Gaglione decided to take a different approach.

“I said, ‘Let me write down my values and what I really care about in my next place,’ because I don’t want to jump anymore,” she shared. “I want to be there for a long time. So, I have to be smart. I have to make the right decisions.”

Around this time, Gaglione was introduced to RepVue through a mentor. And she used RepVue to research companies based on the aspects she valued most: how sellers rated the company for product-market fit and leadership.

“My number-one criteria was product-market fit,” she said. “How do I set myself up to maximize my potential of exceeding quota? So, that’s originally how I filtered everything. Which products were actually flying off the shelf?”

“And then I was looking at leadership. Just reading through what the reviews were, then looking on LinkedIn to see who these leaders were and seeing what they were posting about,” she said. “Just trying to identify, Is this a place that I belong?” 

RepVue was an invaluable resource to help Gaglione identify her ideal sales organization.

“[I used] RepVue as my initial flags to take a look at this company, take a look at this company, take a look at this company. Then I was able to break it down into a more specific group of companies that I would actually consider applying to.”

Strategic, Targeted & Personalized: Using A Sales Approach to Get the Interview

With her ideal companies narrowed down, Gaglione then used applied the same approach that made her successful in sales to have success when applying for her next role.

“I did it the same way that I prospect into accounts,” she said. “I’m not a spray-and-prayer. I’m not the person that sends out 2000 emails. I’m the salesperson that would send out a few emails a week and exceed quota. So just quick-applying on LinkedIn was just not effective, just as it’s not effective if you’re just blasting people with your emails.”

Check out Melissa Gaglione’s 45-Minute Video Prospecting Course

She ultimately narrowed it down to two companies: one that ranked highly for product-market fit and one selling to her desired target audience of other salespeople. 

From there she reached out to current employees at each of those companies. And the way she approached her outreach is a great example for other reps looking for their next role.

“I didn’t ask them for 15 minutes of their time, or anything like that. I said, ‘I’m looking at this position. Are you happy where you are? Would you suggest someone applying?’ Yes or no sort of questions,” she said. “And instead of asking someone who’s the hiring manager, give them yes or no questions like, ‘Is this the hiring manager? Do you suggest reaching out? Yes. Okay, great.’” 

Once she confirmed who the hiring managers were, she recorded and sent two hyper-personalized videos with SendSpark. Both scheduled interviews with her for the next day.

Landing the Job

The process moved quickly from there, and after interviewing, Gaglione knew she’d be happy in either role. But it was her connection with the leadership at Deel that ultimately swayed her.

“I really, really, really connected with my future boss,” she said. “And you know, I wouldn’t have ever even applied if I didn’t see that they ranked high on RepVue.”

She started in January 2023, and she has no doubt that she made the right decision.

“[RepVue] led me to find this amazing workplace. And I found an amazing, amazing boss,” she says. “And I feel as though this year has really helped me grow tremendously and in so many ways, but I’m really thankful that I was able to find the position that I’m in today because it’s been a really good year.”

Looking for your next sales role? Find it on RepVue.