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Building Effective Regional Sales Teams with Dr. Chad Briscoe
Episode 7627th July 2022 • Transformed Sales • Wesleyne
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Highlights

  • [00:47] - The journey to being a scientist who works in a business development and sales role.
  • [06:27] - Following his gut in moving from the technical side of the business to the sales leadership side.
  • [11:18] - How he worked on improving the performance of every business developer in his team.
  • [16:07] - The value of ensuring sales team members are constantly in communication with each other and collaborating.
  • [19:02] - Why sales leaders should embrace and encourage their team members being better in sales than they are.
  • [23:27] - His pride and joy: Seeing drugs he worked on hit the market and impact people’s lives.

In this episode of the Transformed Sales Podcast, I had a chat with Dr. Chad Briscoe, the Vice President of Business Development- Europe for BioAgilytix, a leading provider of contract bioanalytical testing services with specialization in large molecule bioanalysis. Dr. Briscoe is a seasoned scientific executive with nearly 25 years of experience leading operational and scientific innovation in the bioanalytical and biomarker segments of the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining BioAgilytix, Dr. Briscoe was executive director of global bioanalytical science for a large contract research organization, where he was responsible for global laboratory scientific strategy including team leadership and key client relationship oversight. 

Today he is a recognized global expert and thought leader in areas including regulated bioanalysis, analytical instrument qualification, and biomarker analysis with immunoassays, flow cytometry, and genomics techniques. Dr. Briscoe is also a sought-after speaker at industry events such as WRIB, the Global CRO Council, Land O’ Lakes, Global Bioanalysis Consortium, APA, APS, CPSA, and ASMS, and is often requested to participate in industry forums as a collaborator and mentor.

Dr. Briscoe has had a very interesting career. He went from a bench chemist, to overseeing a lab, to going to Europe to become a sales leader. He will share his years of experience and insights on what it takes to be an effective sales leader. Dr. Briscoe will also somehow debunk one of my many sales tips, so this is one episode you’ll definitely enjoy and learn tons from. Stay tuned for more!


Quotes

“In sales, you’ve gotta give people time” - Chad Briscoe


“If it’s fighting the battles for your team, or for the customers, or for the operations team that needs to deliver, you can’t hang them out to dry when things don’t go perfectly with the customers” - Chad Briscoe


“If somebody comes in that’s not a fit, I think you’re doing a favor for yourself and your organization when you make changes that need to happen so people can find the right fit for them” - Chad Briscoe


Learn More About Chad Briscoe in the Links Below:


Connect with Wesleyne Greer:

  • Wesleyne’s Website - https://transformedsales.com/
  • Wesleyne on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesleynegreer/
  • Wesleyne on Facebook - https://web.facebook.com/wesleynegreer
  • Wesleyne on Twitter - https://twitter.com/wesleynegreer
  • Email Her at wesleyne@transformedsales.com

Transcripts

Wesleyne Greer:

Hello and welcome to another episode of

Wesleyne Greer:

the transform sales podcast today. I am so excited to have

Wesleyne Greer:

Chad Briscoe with me here. How are you?

Chad Briscoe:

I am doing great. Thanks Wesleyne.

Wesleyne Greer:

Let me tell you guys a little bit about Chad,

Wesleyne Greer:

Dr. Briscoe. So I'm sorry, I should have introduced us Dr.

Wesleyne Greer:

Chad Resco. No worries. He's an innovative solutions focused bio

Wesleyne Greer:

analytical thought leader with over 25 years of experience

Wesleyne Greer:

working with pharma partners every single day to bring new

Wesleyne Greer:

drugs to the market faster. And bio Analytics is a bio

Wesleyne Greer:

analytical contract research testing organization. I'm so

Wesleyne Greer:

excited to hear how you got from starting your career deciding

Wesleyne Greer:

that you want to get a PhD to moving into this world today.

Wesleyne Greer:

Give us the rundown. You bet. I'm

Chad Briscoe:

glad to do that. And it's it's been an

Chad Briscoe:

interesting and crazy story as some of the elements of my of my

Chad Briscoe:

life. So I'm a career scientist. And I started in the industry in

Chad Briscoe:

the contract research industry back in 97, after I finished my

Chad Briscoe:

master's degree, I was at a contract research organization

Chad Briscoe:

in Lincoln, Nebraska. And about three years into that

Chad Briscoe:

experience. I was I was working at the bench scientist as saying

Chad Briscoe:

samples running instruments mass spectrometry is my area of

Chad Briscoe:

expertise. And I was looking at how to develop in my career, I

Chad Briscoe:

was in the pharmaceutical space. And so I was it was a career

Chad Briscoe:

development conversation with with my my boss at the time to

Chad Briscoe:

try and pursue my PhD. And the deal was they supported me. But

Chad Briscoe:

monetarily Thank you very much to the company, but not as much

Chad Briscoe:

in time a bit of flexibility. So I pursued my PhD simultaneously

Chad Briscoe:

while working in the laboratory. So the next 10 years of my life

Chad Briscoe:

were quite interesting. I went from working at the bench in the

Chad Briscoe:

lab to running the laboratory being laboratory director. And

Chad Briscoe:

at the same time I went from one kid and zero dogs to four kids

Chad Briscoe:

and four dogs. So it was quite a busy time in my life, thanks a

Chad Briscoe:

million times over to my wife who supported me through that

Chad Briscoe:

and was organizing the chaos for us. But so I had a fantastic

Chad Briscoe:

career that was a company called MDS loved it, the company is

Chad Briscoe:

kind of broken up and sold off the pieces and doesn't exist

Chad Briscoe:

anymore since about 2010. But when I left in 2010, I left for

Chad Briscoe:

a challenge with a new company, contract research organization,

Chad Briscoe:

again, in the bio analytical space. And the challenge, this

Chad Briscoe:

time around was to build new labs. So they wanted to

Chad Briscoe:

Greenfield a lab in the US they had a laboratory in Europe, and

Chad Briscoe:

they wanted to Greenfield a lab in the US. And so took my skill

Chad Briscoe:

set running an organization of about 140 people at the time and

Chad Briscoe:

started out back at one person but in kind of a comfortable

Chad Briscoe:

spot where I could be entrepreneurial, but have a

Chad Briscoe:

little bit of the safety net of a big company behind me, you

Chad Briscoe:

know, again, with a with a family of four, you're kind of

Chad Briscoe:

you know, it's a tough call to say I'm gonna go out on my own

Chad Briscoe:

and in startup something but give me a really nice

Chad Briscoe:

opportunity to be entrepreneurial. We built that

Chad Briscoe:

laboratory quite nicely over the next 10 years. This is in Kansas

Chad Briscoe:

City, and it grew well. And then you know, I kind of started

Chad Briscoe:

looking at what I want to do next. And partway through that

Chad Briscoe:

experience. I had moved from an operational leadership role to a

Chad Briscoe:

scientific leadership role where I was leading our you could call

Chad Briscoe:

it a Scientific Affairs or a scientific office for the

Chad Briscoe:

organization globally, where we would interface with customers

Chad Briscoe:

to help bring the solutions to reality right. So the solutions

Chad Briscoe:

that our business development team would sell, it was our job

Chad Briscoe:

to help make that interface between the customers and the in

Chad Briscoe:

the challenging science and make sure it was able to be

Chad Briscoe:

operationalized back into the operations make sure projects

Chad Briscoe:

would happen smoothly within the operations when they kicked off.

Chad Briscoe:

And that kind of just keep everything going that way. And

Chad Briscoe:

so when I decided to make a change to the current

Chad Briscoe:

organization, and with bioanalytics I joined the

Chad Briscoe:

company as chief scientific officer and was in that role for

Chad Briscoe:

a while I was originally given a specific challenge to help

Chad Briscoe:

support our Hamburg laboratory. I had been working in Europe off

Chad Briscoe:

and on over the years. And so I was in Hamburg for about three

Chad Briscoe:

four months and back and forth and then I don't know if you've

Chad Briscoe:

heard of this thing there's this COVID pandemic popped up and I

Chad Briscoe:

was sitting in Sweden and you know all of a sudden we started

Chad Briscoe:

hearing this panic announcements from our president that they

Chad Briscoe:

might be closed and air travel so I got on the next flight out

Chad Briscoe:

of Copenhagen to come back to the US and and then started

Chad Briscoe:

focusing still looking at Homburg How can I help support

Chad Briscoe:

them but also you know more of a taken more Have a global view

Chad Briscoe:

then. And yeah, so about eight months went by and our Chief

Chad Briscoe:

Commercial Officer at the time had been looking for ways to

Chad Briscoe:

expand our leadership team in Europe for the business

Chad Briscoe:

development role. He was really looking for a leader for the

Chad Briscoe:

business development role in Europe. And I got a call one day

Chad Briscoe:

in early January of 2020. And he said, Hey, Chad, you know, I

Chad Briscoe:

know you've always been a scientist, he's always said you

Chad Briscoe:

wouldn't join the sales and business development side of the

Chad Briscoe:

organization. But what do you say, give it a shot, you know,

Chad Briscoe:

take on Europe, I've had this need, that could be a good

Chad Briscoe:

challenge for you, it'd be a nice new direction for your

Chad Briscoe:

career, and just something to see if you're interested in it.

Chad Briscoe:

And I surprise myself, sometimes we surprise ourselves when just

Chad Briscoe:

Yes, comes out. Right? And it's like, yes. But the only

Chad Briscoe:

qualification is we got to figure out the details, right?

Chad Briscoe:

It's like, I know, we will. But let's do it. It just something

Chad Briscoe:

caught me I like to tell everybody to I was I was

Chad Briscoe:

literally sitting on a chairlift at Copper Mountain skiing. And I

Chad Briscoe:

was like, I'll just take the call, see what he wants, you

Chad Briscoe:

know, and then. So that's how I actually formally got into

Chad Briscoe:

business development sales role. So I know a lot of the people in

Chad Briscoe:

at least in the CRO world don't like calling it sales, right?

Chad Briscoe:

They call it business development. So but yeah, that's

Chad Briscoe:

it. So that's how I got from, you know, master's degree at

Chad Briscoe:

University of Michigan all the way kind of the short version of

Chad Briscoe:

all the way through to where I sit now is VP of sales, VP of

Chad Briscoe:

Business Development for our European division.

Wesleyne Greer:

So wow, this is? Yeah, you went from being a

Wesleyne Greer:

bench chemist to overseeing a lab, working with a team in

Wesleyne Greer:

Europe, going to become a sales leader and managing a team in

Wesleyne Greer:

Europe. So first, I really want to dig into when you were asked

Wesleyne Greer:

to move from the technical side of the business to the

Wesleyne Greer:

commercial side of the business, what were some of the thoughts

Wesleyne Greer:

going through your head? And how did you make that decision?

Chad Briscoe:

Yeah, so I made that decision. I make a lot of

Chad Briscoe:

my best decisions. And it's just my gut. And that's always how

Chad Briscoe:

I've been, is, when I know something's right. I do it,

Chad Briscoe:

right. So there's certainly some times where it makes sense to

Chad Briscoe:

sit down and be analytical and look at the numbers and, and

Chad Briscoe:

make a plan. But there's other times when you know what the

Chad Briscoe:

right answer is, and somehow you don't even need to think about

Chad Briscoe:

it very long. And that was one of those decisions. Like I say,

Chad Briscoe:

I was sitting on a chairlift, right? So maybe maximum three

Chad Briscoe:

minutes, you know, to actually have this whole conversation

Chad Briscoe:

about changing the whole direction of my career. And,

Chad Briscoe:

yeah, that's about what it took. And I said, Yep, and then it was

Chad Briscoe:

kind of like, but I gotta go, because, you know, tips up, I

Chad Briscoe:

gotta get off this chairlift.

Wesleyne Greer:

So it seems like you it didn't take a lot for you

Wesleyne Greer:

to make that decision to say, Hey, I've done this for many

Wesleyne Greer:

decades in my career. But now it's time for change. Now, I am

Wesleyne Greer:

ready to make a move. So tell us how the transition was for you

Wesleyne Greer:

going from being very technical to stepping into that sales

Wesleyne Greer:

leadership role?

Chad Briscoe:

Yeah. So initially, we had a lot of work

Chad Briscoe:

to do, right. So as happens when you get a lot of new projects,

Chad Briscoe:

you're able to bury yourself in it so much, you're not even sure

Chad Briscoe:

what the challenges are, you don't have time to sort of take

Chad Briscoe:

in the emotions of what kind of a transition did I make? What's

Chad Briscoe:

this mean? For me longer term, you just say there's a problem

Chad Briscoe:

to solve here. There's some challenges the organization

Chad Briscoe:

needs you to address. And so you dive into it. So I'd say

Chad Briscoe:

initially, it was much more about lining up the what's the

Chad Briscoe:

strategy, right. So working with working with my boss, at that

Chad Briscoe:

time, it's still my boss, working with Marasca to outline

Chad Briscoe:

the strategy. And then let's just build out the tactics,

Chad Briscoe:

right. So you make this laundry list of things you need to do,

Chad Briscoe:

the first thing we needed to do is build the team, right? So

Chad Briscoe:

build a strong team get stability within the team, so

Chad Briscoe:

that we're not having the turnover, we are having the

Chad Briscoe:

turnover every three to six months with business developers.

Chad Briscoe:

And when you don't have any time to gain momentum, we know that

Chad Briscoe:

that's really challenging in the business development world. It

Chad Briscoe:

takes months and years, right and in my business to really

Chad Briscoe:

start seeing the success. So stability within the team. And

Chad Briscoe:

then what do we need for particular processes in Europe?

Chad Briscoe:

How are we going to interact with the operations team and so

Chad Briscoe:

started getting all those pieces in place and just moving a

Chad Briscoe:

million miles an hour. And then it's probably not until six

Chad Briscoe:

months to a year later that I started sitting down and talking

Chad Briscoe:

to Nick and thinking to myself about, you know, what does this

Chad Briscoe:

really mean for me? How is it being in a business development

Chad Briscoe:

role, right? I always was in a spot in operations where I could

Chad Briscoe:

solve the problems hands on and it is a business developer, you

Chad Briscoe:

can solve your own problems. You can help improve sales, you can

Chad Briscoe:

make the strategies and things like that, but you're not in

Chad Briscoe:

operations, fixing the challenges, you're able to

Chad Briscoe:

influence things but you can't hands on fix those things. And

Chad Briscoe:

that's been sort of the hallmark of my career outside of business

Chad Briscoe:

development is I had a lot of customers come Under BSA, Chad,

Chad Briscoe:

we like working with your company, because you always make

Chad Briscoe:

it happen. We don't you're not in every conversation, but when

Chad Briscoe:

we really need it to happen, we give you a call. And so that's

Chad Briscoe:

been a bit of a transition. How do you do that, as a business

Chad Briscoe:

development? VP, or you know, anywhere from within the

Chad Briscoe:

business development organization, it's a different

Chad Briscoe:

challenge. And I've had to get comfortable with that and

Chad Briscoe:

comfortable with this different role. And then you start looking

Chad Briscoe:

at, geez, you know, what's next? I'm not ready to jump out of

Chad Briscoe:

this job, right. But you are kind of thinking down the road,

Chad Briscoe:

like, I'm just turning 50 and just shy of 50? And what am I

Chad Briscoe:

going to be doing when I'm 60? You know, am I going to be in

Chad Briscoe:

this space? You know, what do I think it might gonna be? I don't

Chad Briscoe:

know, you know, so there's all these thoughts and emotions that

Chad Briscoe:

have been going through my head for the last four to six months

Chad Briscoe:

now that I've settled into the role. And we're still very

Chad Briscoe:

successful, we're still doing well, I love my team that I

Chad Briscoe:

built. So if they're listening, I don't want them to think I'm

Chad Briscoe:

going anywhere, right. But you did. It's just a different

Chad Briscoe:

position to be in. So it's a bit exciting still,

Wesleyne Greer:

ah, I can really understand and I can empathize

Wesleyne Greer:

with that high turnover in this technical sales field, one of

Wesleyne Greer:

the things that tends to happen is we hire either really smart

Wesleyne Greer:

people, or we hire people who we think will fit the role, but

Wesleyne Greer:

they're not quite equipped for a job in sales. Right. So how were

Wesleyne Greer:

you able to really stabilize your team? How were you able to

Wesleyne Greer:

get that team? You said it was like, every three months, you

Wesleyne Greer:

guys went over business developers, which is pretty

Wesleyne Greer:

quick. How did you stabilize it? Yeah. And

Chad Briscoe:

so some of the turnover was regrettable. And

Chad Briscoe:

some of it was not as regrettable, right? As we also

Chad Briscoe:

see, right? Somebody comes in, it's not a fit, I think you're

Chad Briscoe:

doing a favor for yourself in the organization when you make

Chad Briscoe:

changes that need to happen so people can find the right fit

Chad Briscoe:

for them. But yeah, it depends on the different individuals of

Chad Briscoe:

what the approach is, I'm very fortunate that I had one

Chad Briscoe:

individual that was a very seasoned, very seasoned business

Chad Briscoe:

developer, very committed to the organization. So partnering

Chad Briscoe:

closely with him. And then as we look to build the other pieces

Chad Briscoe:

of the team and fill the other roles, you know, we focused on

Chad Briscoe:

having good experienced, seasoned people who were more

Chad Briscoe:

likely, I think, to join an organization that looked like it

Chad Briscoe:

was moving in a direction of stability. I was the first

Chad Briscoe:

business development leader in Europe for our organization. So

Chad Briscoe:

part of this was our organization growing and saying,

Chad Briscoe:

Hey, we're gonna have a dedicated European sales team.

Chad Briscoe:

So people like when they're joining a team and being part of

Chad Briscoe:

something, and I think, especially in Europe, they were

Chad Briscoe:

joining the European team, but still sort of part of the US

Chad Briscoe:

team. And I think it was, maybe that was a little bit

Chad Briscoe:

challenging. It lost a little bit of focus. There's all sorts

Chad Briscoe:

of elements. I hired a woman that had worked with me in the

Chad Briscoe:

past. So I reached out to my network of people that would

Chad Briscoe:

connect with me and work well with me and I think be loyal. I

Chad Briscoe:

would say beyond just the company, I would hope be loyal

Chad Briscoe:

to me. I mean, I think it goes both ways, right? You need

Chad Briscoe:

people loyalty, you and the company. And I try to talk to

Chad Briscoe:

them all the time, right? Take care of the team, keep them

Chad Briscoe:

motivated, buy in on what's going on I'll last week, and

Chad Briscoe:

they want to unpack other aspects of this. But last week

Chad Briscoe:

was our global sales meeting in San Diego, and only one of the

Chad Briscoe:

team meetings got champagne, when we had our breakout

Chad Briscoe:

sessions. So yes, a little you know, little things like that,

Chad Briscoe:

like, hey, you know, it's four o'clock in the afternoon, we're

Chad Briscoe:

gonna have champagne and our meeting and celebrate successes,

Chad Briscoe:

right? Do some of these little things. And yeah, so that's, you

Chad Briscoe:

know, hope if my team would hear this, they'd agree with

Chad Briscoe:

everything I'm saying. But I, it'd be interesting in this

Chad Briscoe:

situation to get their feedback as well.

Wesleyne Greer:

What were some of the challenges that you had

Wesleyne Greer:

and rebuilding your team?

Chad Briscoe:

Yeah. So I'd say the first challenge is, anytime

Chad Briscoe:

you bring in new business developers, they have to build

Chad Briscoe:

the relationships, they have to build the territory, the way

Chad Briscoe:

we're broken down in Europe is pretty straightforward. We have

Chad Briscoe:

a guy in the UK, we have a guy in southern Europe, one in sort

Chad Briscoe:

of northern Europe, Germany, Netherlands, and the woman I

Chad Briscoe:

mentioned for us and Scandinavia. So it's broken down

Chad Briscoe:

pretty cleanly in Europe. But in most of those regions, we were

Chad Briscoe:

really trying to build out the region. So you're hiring

Chad Briscoe:

somebody, you're saying, hey, you know, you need to take on

Chad Briscoe:

this region, it's a great opportunity, right? Because you

Chad Briscoe:

can build it up. But at the same time, you're not walking in, you

Chad Briscoe:

know, you're not walking into $10 million in sales off the

Chad Briscoe:

bat. So that's probably the first challenge is getting

Chad Briscoe:

everyone to have patience, then also getting the organization to

Chad Briscoe:

have patience with the delivery of the business developers. And

Chad Briscoe:

we ran a lot of statistics looking at the different

Chad Briscoe:

individuals who had been with the organization for different

Chad Briscoe:

amounts of time. And there was a clear correlation in the data.

Chad Briscoe:

Before I said, I'm gut feel I love data. Also, it's a matter

Chad Briscoe:

of when you use data versus when when you make that quick split

Chad Briscoe:

second decision, but we looked at a lot of data and it was

Chad Briscoe:

clear that you got to give people time, right, and we're

Chad Briscoe:

seeing that now if I look at the order in which I brought on

Chad Briscoe:

these four business developers As the performance is directly

Chad Briscoe:

proportional to how long they've been there, so the guy has been

Chad Briscoe:

there the longest has the has the best sales this year. And

Chad Briscoe:

number two is the guy who is the second longest, and then and

Chad Briscoe:

then three and four follow right behind. So there's no mystery

Chad Briscoe:

and in the challenge there, so yeah,

Wesleyne Greer:

yeah, I think that a lot of times within

Wesleyne Greer:

organizations, what, what people tend to do is they expect to

Wesleyne Greer:

hire someone, and they expect them to just ramp up by

Wesleyne Greer:

themselves, like someone's like, oh, yeah, you're a great person,

Wesleyne Greer:

you're just gonna get out there and sell our products, you may

Wesleyne Greer:

have been selling the competitors products, or maybe

Wesleyne Greer:

you just understand the science, but really allowing people to

Wesleyne Greer:

come into their own and give them the time to get up to speed

Wesleyne Greer:

and develop and then as a leader, having those

Wesleyne Greer:

expectations that are set, right. So really listening to

Wesleyne Greer:

you. It's like, okay, the person who has been here the longest, I

Wesleyne Greer:

expect them to have the most growth, I expect them to be the

Wesleyne Greer:

ones who's at the top of the leaderboard, and based on the

Wesleyne Greer:

metrics that I've seen this person give me the thing that

Wesleyne Greer:

this person has done. I expect other people to kind of come

Wesleyne Greer:

along.

Chad Briscoe:

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I think you said it better

Chad Briscoe:

than I did without a doubt. But one of the things that I've also

Chad Briscoe:

done is connected my people right, I think that's a common

Chad Briscoe:

certainly it's common, the other BD like to reach out to the

Chad Briscoe:

teammates, and I really encouraged him to do that to

Chad Briscoe:

make those connections so that they feel that true team

Chad Briscoe:

camaraderie, you know, have one on ones with each other. Just

Chad Briscoe:

don't don't just have the one on ones with me or, Hey, if you've

Chad Briscoe:

got a challenge, you know, maybe this guy is better to solve that

Chad Briscoe:

challenge than I am because hey, this team has all been in sales

Chad Briscoe:

for 10 to 25 years. I'm only a year and a half in I don't have

Chad Briscoe:

all the sales numbers. I don't you can tell I don't speak all

Chad Briscoe:

the jargon. I'm learning it I haven't read all the books. I'm

Chad Briscoe:

starting to listen to your podcast and learn a lot there.

Chad Briscoe:

But but as far as really sales go, man, I I'm new to this gig.

Chad Briscoe:

I mean, I've been selling through influence and just

Chad Briscoe:

selling because a nice guy as a scientist for years, but I'm not

Chad Briscoe:

the guy that knows how, you know, I don't I'm not the expert

Chad Briscoe:

in the in the, you know, Miller Heiman techniques and all you

Chad Briscoe:

know, all these different, you know, all these different things

Chad Briscoe:

I'm learning all right, I'm excited to learn, but I need to

Chad Briscoe:

rely on other folks. Again, my current boss has been extremely

Chad Briscoe:

supportive. He's, uh, you know, I mean, he's a career exemplary

Chad Briscoe:

career sales professional, my counterpart in the US has been

Chad Briscoe:

tremendously helpful just to give, you know, make a call and

Chad Briscoe:

say, Hey, what, you know, what would you do in this situation?

Chad Briscoe:

How have you led in this way, and when you had these kinds of

Chad Briscoe:

challenges, and so I'm a big promoter in relying on your

Chad Briscoe:

colleagues talking to colleagues go into your external network,

Chad Briscoe:

I've called folks outside of my company to ask for advice

Chad Briscoe:

multiple times. Because I'm learned, which is, it's probably

Chad Briscoe:

the part I didn't really think I embrace as much, right? It's

Chad Briscoe:

like, Hey, I'm really trying to learn the craft. I'm a pretty

Chad Briscoe:

good scientist, and I'm really trying to learn the craft of

Chad Briscoe:

sales is is I've been really successful in the last year and

Chad Briscoe:

a half. So I'm looking forward to seeing how well can I do want

Chad Briscoe:

to actually feel like I know what I'm doing, if I ever get

Chad Briscoe:

there.

Wesleyne Greer:

So really, what I love that you said is, hey, I

Wesleyne Greer:

have people who understand sales better than I do, and I'm not

Wesleyne Greer:

threatened by them, which so many leaders tend to be

Wesleyne Greer:

threatened by, you know, sales people that may want to climb up

Wesleyne Greer:

above them, or, you know, say, Well, I want your job one day,

Wesleyne Greer:

or I may want to be your boss one day. And I think a sign of

Wesleyne Greer:

true leadership is really having that confidence in yourself

Wesleyne Greer:

that, hey, my people should be better than I am. And that is

Wesleyne Greer:

actually a check mark, that you are a good leader when you can

Wesleyne Greer:

develop people that exceed you that do more than you ever have

Wesleyne Greer:

come to do. And so you're saying, Well, I'm not the

Wesleyne Greer:

greatest in sales, but I'm a good leader. And I know this and

Wesleyne Greer:

I know that and they helped me with the sales and I helped lead

Wesleyne Greer:

them.

Chad Briscoe:

Yeah, I think I know what customers want. Right?

Chad Briscoe:

And that's that I think I know what customers want i i

Chad Briscoe:

understand people pretty well, you know, I love working with

Chad Briscoe:

people. I love to facilitate solutions. Just hang on. I've

Chad Briscoe:

been accused in a I don't want to say negative way, but maybe

Chad Briscoe:

in a coaching way of being too much of a pleaser sometimes. But

Chad Briscoe:

I think I think we take our you know, we got to take some of

Chad Briscoe:

these things and make them strikes, right? So if I'm too

Chad Briscoe:

much of a pleaser, then let's figure out how we can turn that

Chad Briscoe:

into a strength right? Let's use it to focus on customer

Chad Briscoe:

satisfaction. Let's use it to focus on employee satisfaction,

Chad Briscoe:

bringing the team together, motivating people that don't let

Chad Briscoe:

it get in the way of making hard decisions that need to be made

Chad Briscoe:

occasionally, that's that's when some of those challenges become

Chad Briscoe:

negatives, or I should say those those those Yeah, those

Chad Briscoe:

challenges become negatives. Yeah. So

Wesleyne Greer:

So you are going to be the first person on the

Wesleyne Greer:

podcast that He's gonna debunk Wesleyne Swag. How Wesleyne isms

Wesleyne Greer:

are Wesleyne wisdom? Oh, boy that in order to be a good sales

Wesleyne Greer:

leader, you must be good in sales. Tell me what do you think

Wesleyne Greer:

about that statement?

Chad Briscoe:

You know, I would say that I don't have a clue if

Chad Briscoe:

I'm any good at sales. Because I've never really sold, which I

Chad Briscoe:

think a lot of the I would guess a lot of the business developers

Chad Briscoe:

that I've worked with over the years would say, Chad, you're

Chad Briscoe:

fantastic. And sales, right? I think they would say, you know,

Chad Briscoe:

this position has been waiting for you. It's just been a matter

Chad Briscoe:

of when you would actually move into it. You've always been

Chad Briscoe:

selling, you're really good at sales. But the reality is, until

Chad Briscoe:

a year and a half ago, I never worked against an individual

Chad Briscoe:

sales target or had a territory or any of that. So am I good at

Chad Briscoe:

sales? I don't really know. I think I'm a pretty good sales

Chad Briscoe:

leader. The numbers say I'm a pretty good sales leader. So

Chad Briscoe:

sometimes nothing else matters. Right? So yeah, so did I debunk

Chad Briscoe:

it? Or did I agree with you? I'm not sure.

Wesleyne Greer:

You know, you're kind of showing the sense. I

Wesleyne Greer:

thought you were gonna say yes, firstly, I am good sales leader.

Wesleyne Greer:

And I've never sold anything ever. Yeah. And I beg to say

Wesleyne Greer:

that, really, in listening to your story and the way that

Wesleyne Greer:

you've gone through your career and your path. You never were,

Wesleyne Greer:

as you said, I've never been classically sales trainings,

Wesleyne Greer:

which most people haven't. They're just doing whatever they

Wesleyne Greer:

want to, but not having sold, but you're still able to lead a

Wesleyne Greer:

sales team. And I think what you've taught me and I am humble

Wesleyne Greer:

enough to say when I'm learning something new, is that it is

Wesleyne Greer:

more important to be a good leader. And the sales part of

Wesleyne Greer:

that is coming along the way, right? Like when you came into

Wesleyne Greer:

the position, you said, Okay, turnover is high, you don't need

Wesleyne Greer:

to have known anything about sales to understand how to fix

Wesleyne Greer:

turnover, how to fix company culture, how to stabilize how to

Wesleyne Greer:

rearrange territories, how to onboard. And so really, I think

Wesleyne Greer:

that one of the things that I am actually leaning into these days

Wesleyne Greer:

when I'm talking to people is they tend to promote the top

Wesleyne Greer:

salesperson. And that top salesperson is for sure. Not

Wesleyne Greer:

always a good leader. And so really switching the paradigm

Wesleyne Greer:

and thinking about, Okay, let's get a strong leader from outside

Wesleyne Greer:

of our industry, or strong leader who it may not

Wesleyne Greer:

necessarily have done classic sales, but his sales minded,

Wesleyne Greer:

like you said, I was customer facing, I was always having to

Wesleyne Greer:

focus on the customer. Right. So I think that yes, you did debunk

Wesleyne Greer:

the myth. All right. I

Chad Briscoe:

love fighting the battles, right. When as you're

Chad Briscoe:

talking, I'm thinking, you know, if it's fighting the battles for

Chad Briscoe:

my team, or if it's fighting battles for the customers, or

Chad Briscoe:

sometimes you're fighting the battles for the operations team

Chad Briscoe:

that needs to deliver, right, I mean, we don't want to leave

Chad Briscoe:

them, we don't want to hang them up to dry. And, you know, when

Chad Briscoe:

things don't go perfectly with the customer, it's not always on

Chad Briscoe:

them, right. And so they need us to fight the battles along with

Chad Briscoe:

them for the customer. So I just like getting in there and making

Chad Briscoe:

things happen. Again, whether it's sales or lead and

Chad Briscoe:

operations are in the scientific leadership roles. And I do think

Chad Briscoe:

that piece resonates with my team, as they know, I'm always

Chad Briscoe:

going to fight the battles for him. I hope they feel that way

Chad Briscoe:

anyways,

Wesleyne Greer:

yes, yes, I would definitely say that if you

Wesleyne Greer:

during this difficult two year period where we've been in this

Wesleyne Greer:

pandemic, you've been able to retain the year people joined

Wesleyne Greer:

you during this time. I would say that that is definitely

Wesleyne Greer:

definitely the sign of a strong leader. Yeah. So I'm curious,

Wesleyne Greer:

you've had a very diverse career, you've done a lot of

Wesleyne Greer:

amazing things. What is one thing that you would say you are

Wesleyne Greer:

most excited about having accomplished?

Chad Briscoe:

Yeah, I think the most exciting career opportunity

Chad Briscoe:

or not career opportunity, the probably the most exciting thing

Chad Briscoe:

that I accomplished was the first drug because I'm in the

Chad Briscoe:

pharmaceutical space, the first drug that I saw, from pretty

Chad Briscoe:

early in the process all the way through to approval, and I've

Chad Briscoe:

seen others since then. But the very first one, it was a, I

Chad Briscoe:

can't disclose the name of the company. But I was in this case,

Chad Briscoe:

I was literally working on the bench and developing the assays

Chad Briscoe:

and doing all the science for it. And then I progressed the

Chad Briscoe:

project management role. And then ultimately, when this drug

Chad Briscoe:

was approved, because it takes years and you know, it takes

Chad Briscoe:

years for the career develop and takes years for the drug to get

Chad Briscoe:

approved. But I watched this drug go all the way through my

Chad Briscoe:

lab, and through my organization to be on the market. And if you

Chad Briscoe:

work in the pharmaceutical development space, that is what

Chad Briscoe:

it's all about. Right? It's about seeing drugs go to market.

Chad Briscoe:

And since then, every time I see a drug that I touch that's on

Chad Briscoe:

the market, or in one case, just recently, there was a drug that

Chad Briscoe:

I knew that I had worked on, that was a fairly unusual drug

Chad Briscoe:

that my wife was prescribed. And she's like, what, you know, it's

Chad Briscoe:

for, you know, it's not something you see all the time.

Chad Briscoe:

She's like, What is this? You know, what is this drug and I

Chad Briscoe:

looked at the label and went, Hey, I worked on that back in

Chad Briscoe:

2006 when it was like, you know, really early in development, and

Chad Briscoe:

then you know, and so you see that direct impact on people

Chad Briscoe:

that are close. was to use and that is by far and away the

Chad Briscoe:

biggest hit in my career, right? It's kind of not, I love what

Chad Briscoe:

I've done, I love all the different things I've done. But

Chad Briscoe:

when you can actually have an impact on so many other people

Chad Briscoe:

that's by far and away at the top of the list. Hmm,

Wesleyne Greer:

I love that. And that chat is why you are a good

Wesleyne Greer:

leader. It's not about you know, well, I made all this money or I

Wesleyne Greer:

did this or I did that it's I made this drug and knowing how

Wesleyne Greer:

this drug is impacting not just one person or 10 people, but

Wesleyne Greer:

1000s, and maybe even millions of people, right, and saying

Wesleyne Greer:

like, that is what I hang my hat on that very first drug and even

Wesleyne Greer:

to see today, something that you worked on a whole decade ago, to

Wesleyne Greer:

almost two decades. Oh, is impacting lives today.

Chad Briscoe:

Yeah, cuz I think that I think that program

Chad Briscoe:

started in maybe 99. And then it was probably approved in

Chad Briscoe:

2006 2007, something like that. So yes, I really that first

Chad Briscoe:

company I was with, I really saw the progression through my

Chad Briscoe:

career. And yeah, and you know, drugs sell on the market today.

Chad Briscoe:

And it's still helping people. So very exciting. Yeah,

Wesleyne Greer:

that is awesome. Dr. Chad Briscoe, you have given

Wesleyne Greer:

us a lot of amazing gems. And really, as I said, and it's very

Wesleyne Greer:

hard to change my very strong opinions. You're tilting me on

Wesleyne Greer:

that side, you are tilting me on that side? If people are

Wesleyne Greer:

interested in getting in contact with you? What is the one best

Wesleyne Greer:

way?

Chad Briscoe:

Yeah, probably the best way is to look me up on

Chad Briscoe:

LinkedIn and send me a LinkedIn message. I can put my email out

Chad Briscoe:

there, which would be fine or whatever. But you can find me on

Chad Briscoe:

LinkedIn really easily. I'm always chatting with people on

Chad Briscoe:

LinkedIn messenger. And so look me up on LinkedIn, I'd love to

Chad Briscoe:

talk about anything, right? I mean, anywhere from sales

Chad Briscoe:

strategy, how I did it, too. If you want to be a customer, we'd

Chad Briscoe:

love to talk to you about that as well, of course, so and

Chad Briscoe:

anywhere in between connecting with old friends, right? I mean,

Chad Briscoe:

I all sorts of things we do through LinkedIn nowadays. So it

Chad Briscoe:

is

Wesleyne Greer:

an amazing plan. Be sure to connect with Chad on

Wesleyne Greer:

LinkedIn. And thank you so much for sharing your time, your

Wesleyne Greer:

talent and your expertise with us today.

Chad Briscoe:

Thank you for the opportunity. I really I really

Chad Briscoe:

enjoyed it a great conversation, and I'm enjoying your podcast.

Chad Briscoe:

So hope to hear many more from you. It's on my list probably

Chad Briscoe:

top five rotation right now. So yeah, so

Wesleyne Greer:

happy to hear that because you know, everyone

Wesleyne Greer:

knows that isn't podcast host that it is a labor of love. And

Wesleyne Greer:

so the more lives that I can impact the better that makes me

Wesleyne Greer:

feel You bet. Thanks so much. And that was another episode of

Wesleyne Greer:

the transform sales podcast. Remember in everything that you

Wesleyne Greer:

do, and all that you are each and every day transform your

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