Building a Sales Career Through Authentic Relationships with Rebekah Panepinto | Ep055

Manuel Martinez: Welcome everyone, my name is Manuel Martinez, and this is another episode of Career Downloads, where each episode I basically hit the refresh button, bring on a different guest to learn more about their background and their experiences, to help you uncover any actionable advice that you can use as you’re managing your own career. So I’m excited for today’s episode. I have with me Rebecca Panepinto, and she is she’s an account executive, and she does a lot of, she also has her own podcast, she’s a drummer, so there’s a lot of information there that I think, it’s not just focused just on her career, but a lot of the skill sets that she has developed outside. Talked about it in a couple other episodes, some of those transferable skills. So I think this is gonna be a really good one to kind of, for those people who are like, well, I don’t wanna be just career oriented, I think she gives us a good mix of kind of both realms. So with that, I’ll go ahead and introduce Rebekah.

Rebeka: Yes, thanks for having me.

Manuel Martinez: I’m glad you were able to kind of make it, being from New York, right?

Rebekah Panepinto: Yeah, it’s like, hey, I’m gonna be in Vegas, let’s do a show.

Manuel Martinez: That’s awesome.

Rebekah Panepinto: Excited, I’ll have you on the show here soon too, but it will be virtual, not in person, not as exciting. It’ll be fun. Yeah, we met through just LinkedIn. I saw what you were doing with your show, and I said, hey, I wanna know you, and understand how you’re doing this, the impact you’re making, and learn a little bit more. So here we are now.

Manuel Martinez: Yeah, I like it. And I’m glad you did reach out, because again, I saw that you had a podcast, and kind of what you were doing, so it wasn’t so much career focused, but more around digital transformation, and the different people that you have on. So I have watched a couple of those episodes, and I got some good insights from just, I like hearing how different people think, and then also, I think you do a really good job of kind of asking those good questions, right? And then you got a lot more episodes than I do, but that’s a skill that is helpful not only here, but just in general, just being able to ask better questions, you get better answers.

Rebekah Panepinto: Yeah, and just building relationships. There’s something about this that builds a relationship that’s truly authentic, and almost experiential, and like a moment that is shared together, versus just like bumping each other and networking event, you know? And like you quickly forget somebody’s name, or where they’re from. But the way you can build a relationship through podcasting is just a game changer, especially when you’re a salesperson. I’ve always tried to be a salesperson who is not seen as just somebody coming after the next sale, but instead more of a trusted advisor and somebody who wants to build relationships for the long haul, and have a repeat customer when the CIO goes to another company, et cetera. And so by having a conversation, even though typically mine are virtual, you’re able to open really cool doors and get people in a really good place where they feel comfortable to share their career, their advice, their principles, whatever it may be, to be able to be really vulnerable, so.

Manuel Martinez: So can you tell me a little bit more about kind of where you grew up, and then eventually what got your career started? You know, what kind of go from there?

Rebekah Panepinto: Oh, it’s been an adventure. So I was actually one of those weird homeschool kids, was born in Phoenix, and started college at 16. And so that had me finishing my undergrad at 19, which is a really weird stage in life to be basically like, what do you wanna do for the rest of your life? Because you don’t have a clue at 19. But that was the place I was in. I was like, well, I guess I’ll just get a business degree. And back in the back of my head, as you mentioned earlier, my drumming, is I wanted to be a big drum star. So Nashville was calling my name. So I took off halfway across the country, actually be a live in nanny to start. It got me to Nashville, and I was able to finish my undergrad online while working in the music business on the side, and actually providing for myself through being a nanny, because that’s a pretty good gig in the Nashville area, if you have the right family. And so big drum star was the dream at first. I spent two years, so age 19 to 21, going pretty hard after music. Until 21, I played a show for 10,000 people, and I got paid $150, and that was it. I was like, music business is not gonna happen for me. I love it, great opportunity. I remember I was signing autographs till 2 a.m. that night, just like this is it, and then had to go get in the car, drive through the night to wake up a nanny the next day to get paid more per day as a nanny than that gig even paid. And the craziest part, even that gig, the people I was playing with had paid for the spot, and it was just like, it was insane to see the reality of this is not gonna be financially feasible at all, especially as just the drummer. But hey, I got to feel like a rock star, I got to taste it, and it was fun. Artist I’d played for was Grammy nominated, and it opened some cool doors. It was really fun. I still have some YouTube videos out there somewhere. But I woke up that next day, here 21, just finished my undergrad. I was like, I gotta do something else. This is not it, and I’m not gonna be a nanny for the rest of my life. And so I kid you not, I Googled best jobs in Nashville, Tennessee, and it was healthcare IT. I was like, okay, I think that’s an answer. HCA, number one employer in Nashville, I was like, I guess I should go work for HCA, like the overconfident 21 year old I was. And I applied for a paid internship at HCA, and I got it, I was shocked. Well, here’s the funniest part of it all. The guy who hired me, his son was a drummer. He and his son had been doing drum covers in their little home studio they have similar to yours, and had offered through the interview process even, I wasn’t even hired yet, if I ever wanted to come record, like he had a studio, his son wasn’t really doing it much anymore, and he loved it, like helped me in that aspect. And I sat there laughing, because here I was choosing to go get a big girl job, and leave the music behind, because I need a career, I need to provide for myself. And my soon to be boss is like, come record drum covers at my place. And it all worked out, he was great. He got me my first job, I was a project manager for HCA, and then did my drum covers that actually did fairly well. I think I want a GoPro from one, and like they still live out there in the world that get me a gig from every time to time. But it was just super funny that here I’d been like, music business, not it, I’m gonna go get a real job, I’m gonna do healthcare IT, because it’s the right thing to do. And then in a really weird way, I was able to combine the two, and be able to still really be myself, while getting to work for this guy named Mike Adams. That’s pretty fun.

Manuel Martinez: And you talked about it at the very beginning, where just having conversations, and having a lot of these different interests. So do you think that that kind of helped land the role? Granted, it is an internship, right? But having that commonality of just being able to have a conversation with somebody like, hey, I’m a drummer, that kind of leads to a conversation that has nothing to do about the role. Because I’ve been in some of those interviews where just something comes up, and it derails, I won’t say it derails, but it kind of takes it off topic, and it’s led to some pretty good outcomes.

Rebekah Panepinto: Yeah, well, and if I would have just done my normal LinkedIn research of him, I never would have known his son was a drummer. Like I would never even known to kind of pull on that string, you know? But it’s who I am, it’s a big part of me. I’ve had this whole alter ego called Becca the Drummer. So naturally, I was gonna say, this is what I like to do on the weekends. And it made me memorable, probably even if he didn’t have a son that had a drummer. I just kind of hit the lottery with that one. But in a lot of cases, even in my sales approach, and getting no people, networking, et cetera, it makes me memorable. And so it doesn’t hurt to say, hey, yeah, I play drums, because how many female drummers do people meet, let alone one that can look up on YouTube, they’re like, oh, she actually can play drums. Or hey, I have a band on Spotify, like here you go, like I’m not just blowing smoke. I’ve been playing drums for 23 years, you know? So it’s a memorable way to impact people, probably the best way to put it. But then with him, what I realized, because I wanted that job, is I turned on the sales skills. And I learned the sales skills by selling myself as a drummer, because I had to go get those gigs. And I didn’t realize I was even selling until later, I was like, oh, that was 100% sales. I had to go find the opportunity, I had to go close the opportunity, then I had to deliver on the opportunity, which thankfully is something I don’t have to always do in my career now. And that was actually the scariest part is, well, now, crap, I gotta learn the music, I gotta actually nail it, the bands gotta like me, I’ve gotta stay on click, you know, all these other things. So I learned naturally just how to sell by selling myself into drum gigs. And then when I turned it on up, was like, I want this gig, I want this internship. I didn’t care, I was like, I wanna work for HCA, I want it on my resume. And so my follow-up was pretty intense.

Manuel Martinez: Nice.

Rebekah Panepinto: And it all worked out in the end, you know?

Manuel Martinez: And you also said that you were homeschooled, and then you went and got your undergrad, and you know having done that a lot earlier than most people, sounds like you didn’t have that typical college experience or even high school. So I guess as part of the homeschooling, or is it because, again, I don’t know if part of the curriculum was to go out and talk to other people, but where did you kind of develop that ability to kind of sell yourself, right? Because again, it’s, you know, when you’re selling yourself to be a drummer, okay, you’re picking up that skill then, and I’m sure the very first one might have been awkward, might not have been, but I don’t know if you had other experiences prior to that.

Rebekah Panepinto: Well, that’s something I did start to realize as I got older, obviously, you know, hindsight’s 20-20, and like eventually you’re like, oh, I was always selling. So what homeschooled allowed was freedom of choice of how you spent your day. Because school could be done in a very, like if you got like focused, done in a very condensed time, three, four hours a day. Get school done in the morning and then go live your life. So I was a weird first born kid that decided to start my own nanny babysitting business with that free time. So starting at like the age of nine, I was babysitting every single kid in my neighborhood, because you got paid great, and I had the availability to do it. So I wake up, get my school done, I’d be done by nine or 10, and I’d go work, because I like to work, and that then bought me drums. So what it instilled in me was an entrepreneurial mindset to be able to say like, this is what needs to be accomplished, get it done, and then you have this freedom to craft the rest of your life and what you wanna do. So in that season of life, it was being a nanny and a babysitter, then around 15 along came drums. So then if I wasn’t nanny or babysitting, I was playing drums. And when I moved to Nashville, it was nannying as a full-time job, but then drums as much as I could on the side too. And it was just because that’s how I wanted to spend my day, it’s how I wanted to spend my time. And my parents were like, great, as long as you got your math homework done, go, live your life, they gave us complete freedom. Like, car keys, like, go. They were like, you are fully enabled to go make the life you want, and if you wanna go make money, great. My siblings all have gone in their own different paths, but also really excelled, one that’s a, she’s a ballerina and a nurse. She graduated with her nursing degree at 19, rocked it, like very specialized, working for Vanderbilt these days. My brother was a hardcore wrestler and now manages a discount tire, which is a great career for a young guy, like absolutely crushing it. And my other sister is a CPA and a killer volleyball, like full ride scholarship volleyball. So we all picked like very different paths, but my parents completely enabled us to be like, cool, it’s drums, go, cool, it’s volleyball, go. Like, if that’s how you wanna spend your time, just do it to the best of your ability and how can we enable that?

Manuel Martinez: And then also making sure that it sounds like you’re being taught time management skills and then that reward, right? It says, okay, being able to, and we have to do this a lot of times in work, in school and everything else, is okay, I wanna go do this fun thing or whatever it is that I wanna do, because it’s similar to you, I tell my kids, hey, my daughter loves dance, my son’s into wrestling and boxing, all these different things, cool, great, get this done or get your chores, whatever it is that has to be accomplished, finish that. And then after that, sure, I will go through and support you in whatever you want. But the other thing we taught them is you’re gonna finish it out. So like, if you’re gonna start wrestling, okay, you’re gonna do wrestling for that season, if after that you don’t care for it, that’s fine, but you’re not going to just quit and kind of make that quick change in the middle of the season.

Rebekah Panepinto: Before you gave it like a fair chance.

Manuel Martinez: Right.

Rebekah Panepinto: Yeah, my parents are always like, it’s all in, especially like with our education, it was do a subject or a grade level of a subject to mastery and then you get to move on. So it was like, okay, like even if I don’t wanna do this, I’ve got to grit and bear it and like, you know, crush sixth grade grammar. And then I finally get to move on with my life. So it was a great, like I tell a lot of people, like the reason I think I’m so entrepreneurial these days is because I was homeschooled growing up and it was like, what do you wanna learn? Like there’s obviously baseline things you have to accomplish and testing and things like that. And I had to do what I had to do to get a four year degree, obviously, but still there was a lot of freedom in that to find purpose in things I care about, study subjects I care about, take the electives that I wanted, things like that. So I’m super thankful.

Manuel Martinez: So then you get this internship, working in healthcare IT and is it what you thought it was gonna be?

Rebekah Panepinto: It wasn’t and here’s the crazy part. I still was side hustling as a musician and I was in a band with this guy. We played every once a night, we had a standing gig. He was the CEO of a tech startup called G Squared Wireless at the time. And he knew I was not like digging project management. He’s like, I don’t see that for you. Like, so he actually one time just asked me to coffee, like outside of our normal gigs, like let’s just get coffee and let’s chat. His sales leader was stepping down and he’s like, I just was sitting there and the first person that came to mind was you. He’s like, it was really like an interesting thing because I’m not a salesperson. At the time I was not a salesperson. I was like, you know, 22, like in my first job out of college. But he’s like, yeah, it was just so weird. I was sitting there. I was like, I was like, Rebekah, be great at this. He’s like, so like, He’s like, so like, He’s like, so like, I don’t know if you have interest but I can tell you the intangibles and I can teach you the rest if you wanna come run sales for me. I was like, okay. I knew him, I trusted him. We’d been in a band probably at the time for like three or four years. Knew his sister real well. So it felt really low risk to me. It was like, okay, I’ll go try sales. Like, why not? So I took the job and I think I hit my quota in like the first eight months where he’d capped me even financially. I was like, well, okay, did that. And pretty much every sales job since I’ve followed my network and my relationships it’s all been somebody I know, like trusted, like him and said, hey, I wanna work for you. I wanna sell what you sell cause I can believe in it and stand behind it. And kind of funny how that works. And yeah, that was the last of project management for me but there still is a lot of project management I do as a salesperson. But I definitely was like, when I took the job, I was like, PMP, like I’m, this is it. I’m gonna be a 20 year HCA person, climb the ladder. And then my band mates like, nah, you should come sell.

Manuel Martinez: You can do this.

Rebekah Panepinto: Okay. And it all worked out. It was really fun.

Manuel Martinez: And curious, what were some of those intangibles that he saw? Was it really just kind of your personality being able to speak, you know, and understanding. Like you said, you you have this alter ego or this other personality? Because a lot of times, especially at that young age and I’ve met people later on who like, they’re almost a little timid to try. So it sounds like a lot of your upbringing, just kind of the way that you were brought up to kind of say, I’m gonna give it a try because what’s the worst that can happen is I’ll go do something else.

Rebekah Panepinto: Yeah, well, I think even just being a female drummer in a male dominated music industry slash my instrument of choice, made me realize like I can do anything a guy can do because tech and sales is a very male dominated situation. And so it was like, sure, like I can do this. Why would I not? Like that’s always been my reaction. A lot of cases like, why would I not be able to do this? Like let’s just try it. And he was opening a really good door for me. And I felt like in a safe and comfortable position, trusted his company, trusted his leadership. I was like, yeah, let’s see, we’ll go over here.

Manuel Martinez: And some of that trust in the leadership is that also from him kind of running the band and knowing that a lot of–

Rebekah Panepinto: History.

Manuel Martinez: It’s that history, right? It’s that relationship we’ve already built and saying, well, if he’s doing it on this, it’s kind of like a side project where, I mean, technically he could be a little bit more of a jerk if he wanted to, but he wasn’t, especially just based on your experiences prior. So I’m assuming that had a lot–

Rebekah Panepinto: Well, and that was still a gig. And so that still was a job. I still was getting paid. There still was a business element to it that he always delivered on. So I think that also like just had built trust over four years of like, I always got paid. I always knew where I needed to be. I know we always knew the set list. It was just like, he’s a good person that like has it together. And back to what you were saying about the Intangibles, I think one that he saw that I didn’t was the natural networking that I just naturally, no matter where I am on an airplane, a little less now in New York, like I’m not making friends on the subway, not that extreme, but always networking, always building relationships. Cause you never know like what those relationships could turn into. And that’s just my natural bent, my natural character and connecting people. And he just saw that I always did that. And was like, you know, like that’s a career for people. Brokering relationships, like they’re called brokers. That’s all they do. He’s like, oh, I never even thought of that. It was like a valuable skillset. Like I just figured everybody networks. He’s like, no, that’s yeah. That’s how you sell stuff. Like, oh, okay.

Manuel Martinez: Originally you thought, okay, PMP, and you’re gonna, it seems like everything you do, I’m gonna go all in. So PMP, you’re like, hey, I’m gonna be a project manager. I’m gonna go all in. But then you went over to the sales side and I’m guessing, did you enjoy the project management side a little bit? And then was it when you got into the sales side, you’re like, oh no, this is my wheelhouse. It doesn’t even feel like work because I mean, like you said, it’s just that natural ability to just talk to people.

Rebekah Panepinto: Yeah, I like now project management gets me to getting a deal done. So there’s an outcome that’s exciting and that can turn into opportunity financially, et cetera. Whereas just being a pure project manager is just like kind of turn and burn. There’s no real like celebration and upside in a lot of cases. I mean, in this scenario was a healthcare IT company, which is probably why that was to the extreme. But I feel like when I project managed really well to get a deal done now, I get the satisfaction of a deal done, of quota retirement, maybe a commission check. And so that makes it all more motivating to be even more detail oriented and have like a feeling of skin in the game. Everybody I feel like needs that to be truly motivated. I think companies that especially do project management well are people that can figure out how to build incentives to get people to be motivated financially to project management and things like that. That can be a conversation for another day because a lot of companies haven’t all solved that. But sales allows that skillset and that capability essentially to turn into like financial upside and actually like getting things accomplished.

Manuel Martinez: And it’s one of those roles where it’s really dependent on you, right? If you are a little bit less, yeah, that individual contributor, like sure you’re part of a team and maybe all that, but as an individual, I mean, your compensation and how well you do is really based on the work that you do. And that’s something in a little bit of time that I spent as a sales engineer. I didn’t realize how much work goes into it. I thought, oh, you just show up and you just talk to them about the product. Hey, answer your questions and you’re out, but there’s a lot of work that goes behind. And if you’re not doing that, I guess it’s quickly, I guess not quickly, but over time you’re able to see the people that are putting in the work versus the people who are just kind of coasting by.

Rebekah Panepinto: Yeah, or the fruits of your labor if you did it right. It’s same with running a podcast as you know, deal flow is guests, like basically lineup and making sure you’ve got your next guest in your next episode and things like that. Like you’ve got to constantly be, okay, who do I want to reach out to? Who do I want to have on the show? How do I want to structure it? You got to be thinking, you know, four or five, six weeks in advance, or else in four or five, six weeks, you don’t have anybody to record. It’s same in sales. It’s like pipeline. You got to be thinking of like, what am I gonna do in Q1? Who am I gonna talk to? Who’s gonna have opportunity? And it’s just a constant, like a little bit of always on feeling, but if you’re the right person, you enjoy that. And if that is missing, there’s a lot of like, what do I do with myself?

Manuel Martinez: Right.

Rebekah Panepinto: Because I’m always ready for the next thing.

Manuel Martinez: And you said it, and that drew a good parallel is like even on the podcasting is also the results, right? Because people will go through and they will research. They’ll start to ask and talk to other people. And that’s something that I didn’t anticipate. And I was like, oh, I’m just gonna start asking people about the podcast, but just the amount of work that I was doing ahead of time prepping, so that when I did reach out to a guest, they’re like, oh, I talked to XYZ, or I talked to this person. And they said, it was such a great experience. And like, not even just sharing, but just everything that I had done ahead of time to prep them once I released the episode, after the episode, and just when I see them now, a lot of guests like yourself, like I met through this. So I think that’s been the biggest benefit to me is you talked about, you’re just a natural relationship builder. I didn’t expect that. Kind of, I’m assuming in your sales role, the more you talk to people, like you said, you establish your relationships, but they’re also kind of, they’re doing reference checks on you, okay, hey, is she just selling me something or is she really trying to partner with me to get me what is right for me, so that when I am somewhere else, and she comes and talks to me, I remember what you did to me last time.

Rebekah Panepinto: Yeah, well, what I love too is like, in a lot of cases, I’m the first message when somebody loses a job or gets a new job. Like people at the CIO level, that’s pretty cool. They do not have to have me in their inner circle. I’m just their podcast friend, ya know. But I’ve had plenty of people be like, hey, I’m looking at this company thinking about going to do this as CIO, like what do you think? I’m like, it’s pretty cool. It’s again, trusted advisor level relationship that is developed and not just a transactional approach. So it’s just, yeah, it will never be me. Even though I think of it like that, I think of a pipeline, I think of like, I need more guests, I need this, I need four episodes in the queue, but it’s still not losing authenticity. And the fact that there’s just still a machine and a project management element that needs to happen just to get stuff done.

Manuel Martinez: Right. And there’s still a process that has to happen in the background. That doesn’t mean that the conversation that you have with them is any less authentic.

Rebekah Panepinto: Yeah, or the person, yeah, being a part of, them being part of the machine does not like at all devalue what it is that we’re building together. It’s just there has to be structure in order to get work done. That’s just kind of life.

Manuel Martinez: So then that first sales job, what are some of the skills that he taught you that you didn’t have or you didn’t think, or maybe you did have, but he just kind of helped refine over time?

Rebekah Panepinto: Learning the product was where we spent the most amount of time in any company. I think that’s where it’s really important to start, is really know your product inside and out. And like, what’s a good customer and what’s not? Because bad customers are miserable. And so it was like a really cool way that he took me about it even was how he had become the CEO of the company. Because he had started just as like a help desk agent for the company. And he had worked his way up over the years to become the CEO. And so he said, you need to go work every job in the company so you know what we do. So you know how the calls are answered by the help desk agents. So you know what customer success looks like, all these things. So that was like my whole first month. Like every other day I went and worked a different job in the company and like literally sat shoulder or shoulder with someone like, how do you do this? How do you do that? And just learned the product. And then I could start selling it. And then together we started to understand like what was a good customer, ideal customer profile, things like that based on their book business they had to date. But the most important thing was just understand product. Get that really down and make sure you know who’s gonna be the right fit for it so that there’s not heartburn on even both sides in some cases. Because there would be some customers that people would be like, can we fire them? Like it wasn’t worth it. These help desk agents were like losing their minds because this customer was so ridiculous. And you just don’t want that. Like a win-win is a successful customer really truly the good fit for what your product does. And then together it can be a long-term partnership.

Manuel Martinez: So then you pick up these skills, you’re starting to say, hey, you know what, sales seems to be for me. You’re hitting your quota, you’re maxing out. And then what makes you decide to then stay within the sales role, but then kind of say, all right, it’s time for me to move on. Like I’ve done everything I can here.

Rebekah Panepinto: Probably being capped if we’re honest, is why I was like, I’ll see what else is going on. I later learned that in a lot of cases you don’t get capped. I was like, oh, I didn’t know. It was my first sales job, I didn’t know. So when I saw there was higher earning potential, I was open to other people had to offer. And again, in the same case of having this great relationship with the CEO of that company, I had a great relationship with a president of a small dev shop that was looking for his first salesperson and he’s like, I think you’d be great. Want to come work for me? I was like, sure. I kind of again felt like nothing to lose. I mean, get better comp plan, selling software versus what I was doing with the help desk piece. I just got more broad. And so I could sell mobile apps and websites and enterprise software and just let me, like at the time I now know like not everyone is a prospect. But the time my sales brain was literally everyone’s a prospect. Like why would I not talk to everyone on every single flight and every single elevator? Because everyone could want a mobile app. So I was like, okay, let’s go do that. And that was really fun because I had an opportunity, though the company actually is no longer in business, but in that window of a good couple of years, I had the opportunity to be the face of that company in the market. Everybody thought of me synonymously with the time it was called Pilgrim Consulting. It was Rebekah Pilgrim Consulting, Rebekah mobile apps, Rebekah websites, because I just was everywhere. Now looking back, I don’t think I could even keep the schedule I had back then. Like I would wear myself out and probably was wearing myself out back then, but I just was like so motivated. You know, I started making the most money I’d ever made company car, company paid cruise. Like it started to get ridiculous for a 20 something year old. But I was like, I’m selling stuff like this is fun. I want to get up and sell more stuff. So that was really fun. And looking back now, I see how small of a pond, you know, I was really fishing in when I felt like it was like, this is a big thing. Like some of my big customers back then were companies that nobody even knows about or, or no longer even in business. But at the time it was just like, the world is my oyster. Everyone can buy from me. Like, let’s go. And that was really fun.

Manuel Martinez: And I’m sure later on, as you started to, cause you talked about it right now, is not everybody’s a prospect. Like when you first get into it, like, yes, this could help everybody. But that’s a skill that takes a little while. And I’m just curious how long it took you to develop is that filtering. While yes, there’s the potential, especially like in a software building websites, there’s a potential it could be for everybody. But then there are, I’m gonna say filters where, okay, yes, we could help you. But the amount of effort that it would take is just, it’s not worth it. Like you talked about some of those bad customers where it’s just, it’s more work than it’s worth. And then there’s other ones where, okay, maybe we’re selling them something, but they’re not using it, right? So you kind of have like the opposite ends and it’s really trying to understand that because that’s something that a lot of times people are like, well, this can help everybody. It can, but does it really? So how did you kind of develop that skill? Or is it just something experience over time that just made you realize, yeah, I need to do a better job of asking the right questions or how are you going about filtering them?

Rebekah Panepinto: It was definitely the next job that made me realize I had a smaller pool. So we can get to that in a second, but in the case specifically with what was going on in that situation, we did say yes to everything. And then there was a lot of fires and there was a lot of headaches and there was a lot of threatened lawsuits. And I probably would have eventually led to the company having to unfortunately close their doors. I was gone by then. So I don’t know exactly what all had gone on, but I’m sure bleeding money on bad customers could not have been good for the longevity of the company. But I went from there again was recruited away by who was the, I can’t remember what his title was now, but head of business development. Maybe we call them like SVP business development for a group called E-Mids, which is healthcare software consulting. And so that took me from just like this little pool of middle Tennessee that I can sell all software, all mobile apps, whatever, to now global, but only healthcare software. So now it was on planes. I went to India twice, London. That’s what started getting me to go to New York a lot back in the day, opening my eyes to like a much bigger world. I was like, whoa, I can do business. Like literally the whole world, but only healthcare software consulting. Like only EMRs, health tech companies are gonna do business with us. And so that’s when it started to get really narrow. Like, okay, it’s gotta be the right size of company who’s open to outsourcing, who needs XYZ solutions. There who’s gonna buy for me and they’re ready to spend my time and I need to hop on a plane to go see. So that started to make me realize like, cool, it’s a bigger world, but our customer pool is a lot tighter and the CIOs and CTOs are a lot harder even to get to than run into somebody on airplane. Like it just wasn’t that easy anymore.

Manuel Martinez: And then so you go into a bigger pool, right? But at the same time, it sounds like each one of these roles as they’re starting to get a little bit bigger, but maybe a little bit more specialized, you’re having to kind of go through it, put on that Rebekah charm and really get them to open up and in this big of a space, right? Like you said, hey, you’re going to London. People in London don’t know you from anybody else in healthcare. So how did you handle rejection? Because I’m guessing there’s a lot of no’s and for some people like that can be like, oh my gosh, like they take it very personal. You don’t strike me as the kind of person that does, but maybe you did and maybe that drove you a little bit more to like, no, I’m going to get that yes. There’s both aspects. Like some people take that no and they’re like, all right, well, I’ll go somewhere else. Or some people are like, oh, I’m going to get that yes. Or maybe it made you also realize that, okay, there’s a no for a reason. Like it’s really not that fit.

Rebekah Panepinto: I think dealing with rejection is a constant growing opportunity for everybody. Like for me every year, I’m like, how do I get better at like being able to take it on the chin and move on? But in that case, for that specific role, I just got really good at tracking my activity. And I knew that if I put in certain inputs and did certain activities like LinkedIn outreach, networking events, conferences, a lot of that, I knew I’d eventually get the win that I was looking for. So I became known by my then he became my boss, sales engineer, like my whole team that we kind of built around what I was trying to do. And they all were like, well, Rebekah, we’ll get you in. It didn’t necessarily meant I always got the deal. It didn’t mean I would like get a win, but I knew with my activity and with wearing it out and with telling enough people like, hey, I’m coming to visit you in Chicago that I’d get in. Eventually somebody would take a meeting and I would get a door open and then we could do with it what we pleased once we were in. But I just knew like, you know, 30 InMail at the time, 30 InMails a month, telling people I’m coming to visit, offering coffees, like eventually somebody will say yes. It’ll be one CIO we haven’t talked to yet. And the team would celebrate that. They were like, she got us in because nobody else could get us in. So that was really good, especially when I would get tired of the like, every month you start over, I just knew to go back and check my activity and just like, if I stayed true to it on the other side, I would get, you know, the least activity wins I was looking for, which then eventually would lead to actual opportunities and deal flow as well.

Manuel Martinez: And it’s funny you mentioned that because I just finished reading a book. It’s The 12 Week Year.

Rebekah Panepinto: Oh yeah, I’ve heard of.

Manuel Martinez: Yes, and basically one of the concepts and it sounds like you implemented this is basically each week is a month, right? So you’re condensing a lot of your activities, but the key point of it is tracking what you’re doing looking back and reflecting here, you know, because the week is the month, right? It’s like, okay, what are the activities that you did that week? Okay, compared it to the previous week. Did you do more? Did you do less? And they don’t focus so much on, like you said, on the outcome. It’s like, hey, we got the deal done. It’s, okay, I got in. And it’s, you can only, you can only in, or affect what you’re doing, right? Like if you’re putting in the activities eventually, like you said, it will lead to a win. It may be later on, it may be sooner, but that’s all you can control. You can’t control the outcome. You can only control the inputs.

Rebekah Panepinto: Activity.

Manuel Martinez: And again, kind of going back, it sounds like that’s just, is that something again from kind of the homeschooling from the get-go? It’s just like, I know that if I do this, it frees me up to eventually do something else. Or does it also kind of just that persistence because it sounds like the homeschooling didn’t do it, but I’m gonna take drumming into account is the more you practice, the better you got, the more gigs you landed. So is that just something that over time, again, not that you consciously thought about it, but do you, the rewards, do you think that that’s what got into it? It’s like, okay, I’m not gonna get the reward now, but it might come a month, two months, whatever time in the future.

Rebekah Panepinto: Well, and I think I’m just a doer and like somebody that’s gotta have a busy schedule and I have a lot going on. And so, if I can be in situations where I lead myself to open it to opportunity, like why would I not walk through that door? And so I have every opportunity that has been presented to me through interesting ways. Like we were talking about, I just did the Macy’s parade last week and that came through a Spartan friend of mine. We were running Spartans together and he said, “Hey, what would you think of being a balloon handler in the parade every year I’m a pilot and can use some good handlers?” I was like, why not? Here four years later, I’m a balloon handler in the parade every year. Like who would have ever thought? But I was just like, why would I not open myself up to opportunity and I’ve built this friendship through a mutual hobby that we enjoy and now we have another one that we share. Just like, just walk myself into wild, crazy opportunities.

Manuel Martinez: And we talked about that before, right? Is kind of prior to filming is you do a number of things like Spartans, the balloon handlers, you travel and you do a number of different things. You’re not against trying new opportunities. I know you said like, why would I not? But also I guess the reversal of that, but like, well, why would you? Like what benefit do you get by being a balloon handler at the Macy’s parade other than being able to tell a cool story?

Rebekah Panepinto: Oh, the experience, man. It’s so fun. This is the best way to spend Thanksgiving because all these people are just like in awe at this balloon coming down, you know, Sixth Avenue, which is pretty fun. But the people you meet along the way, I’ve met other super interesting people who all have like, cause it’s a volunteer thing, all have real jobs that lead to other cool opportunities to people I spend friends giving with. And just like you kind of follow the trail of just like interesting people introduce you to interesting people and interesting hobbies. And next thing you know, it’s like, it could be something that benefits your career, which is crazy. And maybe it doesn’t always benefit your career, but like, we’re not robots. That’s not the only reason we’re here on earth to, you know, work. So there’s other areas like it brings fulfillment. And in that case, especially with the balloon handling, I’m pretty cool to my nieces and nephews when I’m on Shrek or Bluey, you know, they’re like, what? I’m like, okay, if she wins me aunt points there alone, it’s worth it. So it’s always a nice adventure. It’s fun.

Manuel Martinez: And is that something you always try to maintain? Cause it sounds like, I mean, you’re full-bore in anything that you do, but at the same time, you also kind of are open to doing stuff like outside of work. Like it’s not just work all the time. Like when it’s work, it’s work, but when it’s not, like.

Rebekah Panepinto: I think it makes you a more well-rounded person. I can’t even keep track of how many people I work with or have done business with that come run Spartan races with me, people that I’ve done podcasting collaborations with and worked with who want to go scuba diving together. Like people that share the same hobby. It was actually weird. I had like three or four episodes in a row where I talked to a CIO about scuba diving. I was like, who would have thought? Like I had this very similar hobby to these CIOs and again, it makes me memorable and it’s another way to connect. And I’m sure one of them all eventually end up on a dive with. So I think like it helps other people see you as a human and just helps you connect with people in other ways that then gives you a longevity to the relationship where again, it’s out of that transactional and it’s into like, no, I actually like you. Like one of my customers today, first thing, we needed to talk business. So we got there, but first thing he was like, how was the parade? And he’s like, we watched for you. I was like, that’s pretty cool. Like that’s fun. It just makes you different. Again, I love the word memorable. Like that comes back to even what we were talking about earlier with like in that first interview ever for HCA to be a project manager, like me being a drummer made me memorable. So it helps stick in people’s mind. And I have plenty of hours in the day to do everything that I wanna do. And then when I don’t find it fulfilling, then I can retire something. And part of it, let’s be completely honest too, comes down to personality. I’m a seven on the Enneagram and it’s just, it’s always what’s next.

Manuel Martinez: That’s awesome.

Rebekah Panepinto: It’s just how I lived my life.

Manuel Martinez: So then as you’re going through and continuing on within your career, what is it that led you into that next endeavor to say, okay, is it the fact that you get so well and you know everybody within like the healthcare space that the challenge is gone? So now you’re like, you need to move on to the next one because it sounds like you and I share that trait where you’re like, okay, I’m capped or like I either, I’m not earning more or I’m doing really well but there’s nothing to kind of challenge me. I need to go find something else.

Rebekah Panepinto: Yeah, so two things that happened when working for this group called Emids was that my eyes were open to how big a world was out there and how niche being in just one industry can really be. When you were used to being like everybody’s a prospect and now you’re really niche, it’s like, ooh. So I was aching for bigger city, bigger territory, bigger opportunity and widening my kind of reach again. And so then came the opportunity of even the world I still live in today of the channel. So good old AWS, Amazon. That first job outside of Emids was the first opportunity to go sell on the channel. It was with a multi-cloud group but my boss there actually is still my boss today. We followed each other through a few different companies which has been fun and it opened up my eyes to wow, like I can serve a ton of industries. We’re just staying within the Amazon stack and it also relocated me to New York which opened a whole nother world of possibilities without having to be on a plane literally every week. And so I jumped to the opportunity. It was again through my network, through relationships. Somebody said I had this opportunity when I come along. Story of my life and it was like, yeah, this sounds like a really cool chance to grow and learn the channel and get on the cloud train which is obviously still serving us both very well today.

Manuel Martinez: And you mentioned you have these relationships and you’re going through and you’re kind of delivering. So what is it about not only you but the skills that you’re developing to kind of continue to develop these relationships? So it’s one thing like, hey, we have these commonality but when it comes to business, right, there are specific business outcomes that you’re helping deliver. Now I just saw somebody post something and this is what kind of made me think about it is you can say, hey, we’re gonna do this, I’m gonna do this but if you don’t deliver over time, that starts to erode. Now, how do you go through and make sure that you’re delivering? I know that you’re doing your part by closing the deal but there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes. So is that where that project management part comes in to make sure it says, I promised this, I’m gonna make sure that we at least deliver this. If we can do more, great but at a minimum, I have to continue to make sure that I deliver on what I promised.

Rebekah Panepinto: Well, it’s not always worked out, like to be completely honest but that’s where having a personal brand and being able to, to an extent, separate myself from the company when things like that happen has actually served me well and how I’ve gotten CIOs who, it did maybe go bad somewhere, willing to do business with me again somewhere else because they knew like I did all I could within the resource situation I was in with the company. They could tell typically where things fell down, maybe even not immediately but like a couple of years down the road, it was like, it really wasn’t a Rebekah issue. That was a XYZ company failure. So there’s been a good way of building my own brand and building a relationship with my customer. That’s not just being part of the machine of the company that I work for so that they trust me and they know like they can give me a chance somewhere else and like, we’ll get it right, we’ll do the right things because in the end, like everybody’s human and things happen and obviously if I moved on to another company, they can kind of put two and two together. There probably was a reason and you know, give me a chance to earn their business back again. But as much as I can, when I am involved in being able to make sure a project is done to the best of our abilities, I’m all over it. Like I can be slightly obnoxious and I’m with my SAs. I don’t know everything that’s going on. With my customer and Slack every day, I’m usually as all over it as I can be. There’s just sometimes mistakes happen and we all learn and life goes on.

Rebekah Panepinto: You mentioned Slack and kind of talking and communicating. What do you think is one of the biggest benefits of being able to communicate properly? So, and I would say, you know, Slack and I guess within your communication, like how do you balance, you know, that, hey, this is Rebekah and you know, hey, I do the Macy’s parade, but also this is Rebekah and I’m professional and I know how to communicate properly and be able to delineate that because I’ve seen people that are good at that, that can, hey, I know what that right level of each of those is and I’ve seen somewhere like that personal gets mixed in too much on the professional. So how do you balance that?

Rebekah Panepinto: Well, and I’ve been friend zoned sometimes from that too. And then it’s like, this person is just not in business with me, like it’s okay, we can just be friends and we move on, but it’s just knowing your buyer and your customer. Like there’s other people within the same company that I was talking about the parade with this individual who would have zero interest. And so I would not even volunteer. Like I know they don’t care how I spent my Thanksgiving. So just don’t even go there. But this person wanted to have that conversation, which was really fun. And I was like, sure, I’ve got pictures and whatnot. So it really comes down to like a person to person just situation. And then I like to always hit people through different channels too. So like if it is email or a phone call or on a Zoom call, like usually we’re just getting stuff done. But if I’m just saying, hey, on LinkedIn or interacting with my podcast, like it is a little more like we’re just getting to know each other for lack of a better term. Like this may or may not turn into something down the road. But at least like they’re seeing me, they’re thinking of me. They know I ran a Spartan. Like it’s just another touch point so that I’m top of mind for somebody. When I do reach out and it is the right time to like, okay, now let’s talk about a deal. So it’s totally a case by case basis. I don’t know if there’s like a right or wrong answer. I’ve probably missed it many times. But I would always choose a quality relationship with someone over like getting too in the weeds transactional. Like I don’t want anybody to be like dreading my outreach because they know I’m only calling for the check. I want somebody to still think of me as like, somebody they want to hear from.

Manuel Martinez: It goes back to being memorable, right? I want to be remembered as somebody that can do both. Like, okay, when it’s business, it’s business. But when it’s not like this is just a person that I enjoy talking to.

Rebekah Panepinto: Yeah. And you never know, again where that relationship could lead. People change jobs. I change jobs. Like, you never know.

Rebekah Panepinto: And are you a big reader? Like, as you’re developing these skills, like do you, I guess, how do you continue to develop the skill set? Like, do you read? Do you, is it just, are you one of those people like, I’m just going to learn on the job and, you know, from every mistake or from every win, like there’s something to take away? Like, how do you continue to get better?

Rebekah Panepinto: Podcast addict. So yes, I read, but through audio form. So I love Audible and then like, I mean, an hour podcast at least almost every morning will I get a workout in. I love podcasts of all kinds of topics though too. Because even if I’m listening to somebody else’s podcast that’s on finance, I’m hearing how they run a finance podcast and learning like how they do their newsletter. And like, a Ramit Sethi, I’m a huge fan of like, watching how he’s built his, it’s called Money for Couples now, it used to be called I Teach You to Be Rich, how he’s built that little empire of his own. It’s super cool. And then along the way, I’m learning about more financial literacy and like, it’s opening my eyes to really cool ways to build wealth and things like that. So every morning it’s about an hour on a podcast. It’s not always, you know, sales or business oriented, but it’s typically along those lines. I’m not usually going too far off the path. And I learned little things, little nuggets, Tom Billew Impact Theory is another one I love. He has great takes on the world and has built a multi-billion dollar business and sold it to Atkins Quest nutrition, he sold to Atkins and done very well for himself. His podcast also, I think it’s like top three in the world. So I like to just take in that content as I start my day, every day, and then little blurbs around, you know, throughout the day, can give you a little insights and ways to look at things.

Manuel Martinez: So it’s just that continuous, like you said, you like to kind of be well-rounded. So, you know, hey, finance, but sure, there’s things that apply to business. You’re not going way off on like a, maybe occasionally you’re like a mystery crime thriller or something like that.

Rebekah Panepinto: Those haven’t hit my Spotify, what is it, Spotify wrapped? They’ve all been pretty much, yeah, still a business flavor. Cody Sanchez, love her. Yeah, all my audio books are like Grant Cardone’s of the world, Alex Hormozis. They still kind of all keep that same theme.

Manuel Martinez: But just picking up something different from each conversation that they have.

Rebekah Panepinto: Just like, yeah, who’s interesting, who’s got a good perspective on something. Yeah, where do I feel stuck? Like I’ve gone through times where like dealing with rejection is like a big thing and I’ll go read books. On like, how to get stronger and like deal with rejection. I can’t remember the title of one book that’s really good and that Tom Billie loves, but I’ve gone to read it before. Antifragile, just came to me.

Manuel Martinez: Antifragile.

Rebekah Panepinto: Antifragile. That’s big on like making sure like, you know who you are, you have purpose so that you can be antifragile in this crazy world. So I’ve gone down paths of like, this is really where I need to get some support right now. It’s probably a little bit of a homeschool thing. It was just a constant hunger to learn. My parents taught me how to learn and how to enjoy learning and how it’s a lifelong journey. It’s not just like cram for your test, get a B and move on with life. Like, no, I actually want to learn and master something and add it to my repertoire. So I’m like that in other areas of my life too. Like when it’s right now scuba diving, it’s like, I want to go get my advanced cert I want to go all in. I want to go dive the great blue hole. Like it’s just like, it’s all in and then, you know, might not dive as much after all that. Who knows? I’d be surprised because I am enjoying that hobby, but it has some flows. Definitely not racing obstacle course racing to the level I have in the past, because I’ve done most of the major courses. So you pivot to find something else to go and check more off my list.

Manuel Martinez: So then, sounds like you’ve gotten pretty much, and I don’t know if I’m correct, but with the person that you’re working for now, it’s a different role, but I mean, it’s the same person and you’re pretty much at where you’re at now.

Rebekah Panepinto: Yep, Artisan Studios, yep.

Manuel Martinez: So normally I do this at the beginning of the conversation, kept going. So what is it that you currently do? So a lot of times I ask the guests is, you know, like who’s Rebekah and what does she do, right? We got into where you were at and then just kind of conversation flowed. So what is it that you currently do?

Rebekah Panepinto: Yeah, so day to day, we are an AWS professional services partner. So 145 ish strong doing all of the fun, agentic, generative, professional service oriented work to side by side with Amazon reps help their customers succeed. So within the AWS ecosystem, obviously it’s big on compute and a lot of folks are working on EDPs and PPAs and just managing, you know, how they’re gonna contract the actual business with Amazon. But in a lot of cases, like if somebody wants to build something, they need a partner to help bring things to life. So that’s where we get introduced to help customers. We call it dream a little dream. We do something called a challenge 24, where my CEO will come and whiteboard with a customer for literally 24 hours. So three eight hour periods over three days, just locking folks in a room and said, hey, if you can have anything you wanted, no resource constraints, no money constraints, like let’s dream together. And then from that, we can find tangible things that we can actually build a product around. So Chick-fil-A is one of our big anchor clients. We’ve been doing business there for over eight years, completely rebuilt their supply chain on AWS. Then a ton of other retail CPG folks. Now we’re servicing through professional services, but also out of the Chick-fil-A relationship, we’ve productized different company solutions. Edge, for example, we’ve got a generative AI solution, Agentic AI solution, that they’re kind of pre-packaged as an accelerator to help our customers to be able to build faster and go to market with a solution versus having to build completely from scratch because once you’ve solved Edge or agentic in certain ways, it’s just pivoting for the use case for the next business that needs it solved.

Manuel Martinez: And what I was gonna kind of ask this earlier, I don’t know at what point you decided to kind of start the podcast and what is it that, I know it’s focused around digital transformation, but what is it that really called and said, “Hey, I wanna talk to more of these people and learn more about what they’re doing.” Is it similar to that like, “Hey, dream a dream,” and it’s, you know, are you still just collecting information? Is it, you know, “Hey, I like talking to cool people,” like combination of everything?

Rebekah Panepinto: Yeah, well, I’m definitely trying to figure out where it goes next. So an interesting place of like, how do I kind of take this next level? But the origination was out of COVID and how am I gonna sell stuff? Like I’m locked in my 900 square foot apartment in New York and people aren’t meeting, like, how am I gonna do this? I gotta go virtual. I gotta build relationships virtually. And there was a person, I was working for Rackspace at the time, who was like the chief product content guy and kind of showed me the ways of how to, you know, get the camera, interview people, and just like, “This isn’t that hard.” Like you just kind of gotta do the work and just be focused. And so I started it in the like height of COVID. Rackspace was super supportive, which was super cool. And now my current company also is very supportive. So in every iteration, it’s been almost four and a half years now. I’ve had support, it’s opened doors, I’ve met interesting people, and I’ve started to build a following enough that I’m like, “I should keep doing this. Like, why would I not?” Because it also really solves for my creative outlet. Since I don’t play drums to the extent that I used to, like I mean, I used to do three or four gigs a week, it’s a really good creative outlet for me to still get to play with, you know, all the gadgets and just have interesting, yeah, relationship building conversations. So I’m figuring out what it looks like next, now that I have a baseline of a really neat audience that’s pretty engaged. How do I really harness that and continue to serve them better and better? Whereas historically, I’ve used it more to build relationships to sell. But I think there’s more to it that I can do with the show and I’m actually working with the coach and things like that to figure out what it looks like next. But I don’t see any plan to stop anytime soon.

Manuel Martinez: That’s awesome.

Rebekah Panepinto: Just like, “Where do we go from here?” Like, it’s a fun outlet.

Manuel Martinez: Well, and that’s cool. I mean, it’s interesting that it came out of necessity, but then eventually it transformed into something that like you enjoy and you’re like, “Oh, I wanna do more with this.” And I know that we spent a lot of time, you told us about all your hobbies, your career progression. As you’re kind of going through, and I guess the one question I had is, as you’re getting poached away or recruited, we won’t say poached. So as you’re getting recruited away, what would you recommend to somebody that would go through and let’s say they’re in a similar situation where people or recruiters reach out all the time. How do you go through, I’m sure, just like with your clients, there’s also a filter mechanism that you’re determining, “Hey, is this a good fit?” Or not, “No.” Yes, you’re open and just like, “Well, why would I not?” And go, but my guess is that over time, there’s also like that you develop a better filtering of what’s a good opportunity and what’s not. So I’m just curious what your take is.

Rebekah Panepinto: Well, for me, it’s been more who I’m gonna work for and the person and the people. And my current role specifically, even my CEO, I like him. That speaks wonders to like the people you work with and respect them and want to see them be successful. Totally a game changer is not just picking what widget I’m gonna sell today. It’s like, “No, I believe in this mission and I want the whole company to rise together on the back of what I do day to day.” So it’s a lot of very relationship oriented because enterprise sales is relationship, especially professional services. So I’ve got to like the people I work with. I got to feel listened to and heard, supported, support my show. And those people then I’ll work a lot for you. I’ll work hard because I think you believe in me and so therefore I believe in you. So it’s been very relationally driven. Most my whole career. I made one decision once based on brand with a very, very big brand. And I just did not find that role fulfilling. I was like, “No, this isn’t it.” I just picked it because the logo and it wasn’t all that I thought I was gonna be. So, live and learn.

Manuel Martinez: So you’ve spent a lot of time answering all my questions and it’s been great conversation. Is there anything that I haven’t asked you that you think, “Man, this would be a good topic to cover,” or just maybe something that you want to discuss? I want to give you the opportunity to kind of talk about it.

Rebekah Panepinto: I mean, I’m a pretty big advocate for remote work. I think that is the future. And what I’ve really loved, especially about the boss I work for in every company I worked for him at, has been complete freedom to live my digital, nomad best life. And as long as you get your work done on Eastern Time Zone, like, don’t care. So there’s been a lot of freedom in that. And I’ve seen our company as a whole be really successful by being remote. My CEO came from New York, hardcore New Yorker, NYU, but wanted to have a different life in Nashville and go fully remote. And so we don’t even have a concrete office. And I think that’s great. I think that’s awesome. There’s so much freedom in that. I mean, I’m kind of ruined for remote work and a big advocate for that. And every year get better and better at being like a true digital nomad and be able to be as productive and do my podcasts and things like that, like on the road. It takes a lot of work and a lot of prep, but I’m a huge advocate for like building the life that you love and letting work be a part of all of that, but being able to go do it from Belize and Dubai and yeah, wherever. Cause you can still be just as productive. It’s just a matter of like back to when I was in my youth, like get up and get your work done. And then you get to go live your life.

Manuel Martinez: Right. And as part of that, so like with the remote work, how are you still able to, you know, cause I know one of the arguments around that is like, well, you know, you’re not building that culture, that team, but it sounds like you guys are still able to do that. So I’m just curious, is it just when you are meeting, you’re not meeting just to meet, is there a reason behind it? Like, is it the way that you guys meet? And I’m just curious, like, what, apart from you individually doing your work, what makes it a good place, you know, to work? And like you said, you like the people that you work with.

Rebekah Panepinto: Yeah. Well, and I’m in an interesting position within the company cause I’m an individual contributor. So who I need to be talking to more often day to day are my customers anyway. Granted, building a great relationship with my leadership team and with my sales engineer, super important, but more often than not, I’m chasing going to meet with my customer and trying to get in front of them where I can. But then naturally by getting in front of them and traveling on site, you then get like two, three, four days, just me, my sales engineer, maybe a couple of other people, to build a really good relationship. So we’re getting more of a consolidated, like, literally in hotel rooms, you know, a floor away from each other, like sharing three meals for three days while we’re on site doing a challenge 24. And then we build a really intense, great relationship that like you don’t need an office for. So it’s a little bit of a different way that I just have to make sure I still get those touch points and make sure I’ve got enough, like, times to get out there with my sales engineer and go be in the field.

re: Invent is great to just like spend a whole week, all of our team catching up, doing what we need to do. And then we’re good for a good month till we see each other again. And we’ll be fine. It’ll be like we didn’t skip a beat. We still have our weekly check-ins, things like that, but we get a really consolidated amount where we’re sharing every meal together and we’re on site like in the trenches. And that just accelerates things. I don’t need to go into an office eight hours a day, every day to build that. Like, I actually need to be on customer site once a month and kind of get the relationship and the working relationship cadence I need to be successful with my team.

Manuel Martinez: You’re able to do better quality relationship in a condensed amount of time instead of spreading it out. Like you said, I see this person all day, every day, but we’re not really, at that point, it’s more transactional, right? Like you’re just, you’re in that same building. You’re just like, “Hey, how’s it going? Great, cool, see you later, man.”

Rebekah Panepinto: How was your weekend? How was the weather? Like, you know, we’re then talking about things that aren’t important. Whereas like when we do see each other now, it’s like, how was your wedding? Like, let’s catch up. Like, what’s going on with life? And you have just more time, you know, nothing like airport lounge hangs and, you know, I think that goes further than a water cooler any day. Take a flight, you know, east coast, west coast with a coworker, like, yeah, you’re golden, so.

Manuel Martinez: One last question here before we kind of wrap up. So one of the big things that through this conversation I’ve gotten is just really being memorable. And, you know, personal brand aside, you know, company brand, all that, it’s really what makes you stand out, right? And what makes people remember you and, you know, like you said, at some point they’re like, your very first sales role is like, they thought of you, right? There was something memorable that said, “Hey, I think you would be really good for this.” How do you think that someone can go about kind of building that type of, you know, I don’t want to say persona, but, you know, what can I do? So forget everybody else. Give me the advice. Manny, you should do these types of activities or you should speak in this way to be more memorable for somebody.

Rebekah Panepinto: I think first off, just having a personal brand in today’s day and age is completely necessary. So you on LinkedIn being the career guy, huge. Like, wear that out. Tell them and tell them again and tell them again, you’re known for something. So when people think, “Hey, career advice, Manny, he runs a podcast about that.” But having it, and you can even be to an obnoxious level where you’re posting like, you know, six, seven times a day. That’s not me, that’s a Gary V. But being a point where like, if it’s something you’re passionate about, continue to share and be vocal and be saying, “Hey, I’m here, you know, hey, I’m at re:Invent. Hey, I’m here, like I’m available and I want to network and help people and make connections.” Just reminding people you’re there, like, I mean, selfishly, I should post more and I don’t, like, I forget. And it’s just like, I should, like, it’s not obnoxious. People don’t see it. People don’t see my episodes every week. I need to have a newsletter. Like, there’s things I need to grow in that respect to like, make sure my personal brand is really sticking. But you gotta have one in this day and age or else like, definitely can get washed away and easily forgotten in the mess. So like, I can’t believe some people don’t even have a LinkedIn or a LinkedIn profile picture. It’s just like crazy. This is the day and age we live in. You have to be like, visible.

Manuel Martinez: Right. Well, and I think that’s a real important part is even just being visible makes you memorable.

Rebekah Panepinto: Yep, 100%.

Manuel Martinez: The fact that you have a picture, that you have those touches, that might be all it takes. And, you know, I don’t know that I ever sought to be the career guy, but through the podcast, like, it’s just, it’s happened. It’s something that I enjoy and people remember me for that. You’re right.

Rebekah Panepinto: It’s your personal brand.

Manuel Martinez: It’s not something that I was like, “Oh, I want to be remembered as this.” It’s just, it’s naturally happened.

Rebekah Panepinto: Yeah, because you’re passionate and you’re sharing your passion with the world, which is great. It’s fulfilling.

Manuel Martinez: It is. Well, I appreciate you taking some time. You know, coming, you know, you’re

here for re: Invent, but being able to kind of hang out. And, you know, like you said, we had our conversations remotely, but being in person, it’s completely different. And you do, you establish that relationship. So I know that this will not be the last conversation we have.

Rebekah Panepinto: Yeah, we’ll have you on the show here soon.

Manuel Martinez: Oh, that’d be exciting.

Rebekah Panepinto: Cool.

Manuel Martinez: And with that, thank you everybody for continuing to watch and listen and continue to plug in and download the knowledge. And until next time, thank you.