Hannah Pencek on Sales Process, Leadership & the Real Role of AI in Sales #sales #ai #podcast

Hey, Hannah, good to see you. As a way of getting started, tell us a little bit more about your story and what you're doing now.

So I spent my whole career before OXBlue in telecom. I was with a telecom company for over a decade, 11 years, and I'm coming up on my 1-year anniversary at OXBlue, which is a construction tech company. And so it was a very big industry change for me, but it's been a breath of fresh air. It's an amazing company, great culture, booming business. It's a good place to be.

Awesome. That's a big change to, I guess, almost change industries to something new. Tell us a little bit more about OxBlue. Like, what exactly do you guys do? And then what, you know, what your team entails?

So OxBlue provides visibility through construction cameras. So we do documentation. on new construction projects, and we provide a wide range. So you can use it in the most simple form of just having that visibility into a project, and we have full-blown security solutions. So risk mitigation, insurance assurance through the security that we offer. So.

Nice. That's awesome. That makes a lot of sense. I used to work at Milwaukee Tool back in the day, so I understand some of those job sites, new, new construction, there's a lot of security and different things that you need. So really cool. And then, and then your team now, is it like traditional account managers, BDRs, or what, what, what all do you have on your team?

I have a combo. So my BDRs and account managers are focused on our enterprise and strategic accounts. So maintaining the relationship there, expansion, growth, and retention.

Okay, awesome. So good little mix. And then it's crazy, it's 2026, but it's been 5 or 6 years since COVID But I feel like so much has changed with sales, kind of just going a little bit deeper into sales the past 3 or 4 years specifically. What, what have you seen change, I guess, over the last 4 or 5 years in sales? Any, anything major stand out to you?

I think the biggest thing that stands out to me is just how crowded the market has gotten all across the board, how much, how many different softwares are available. And even relating it back to AuxBlue, since I've joined in the last year, we're seeing more and more competitors come into the market and the inbox in LinkedIn and my email, it's never been noisier. I almost feel for salespeople these days because they're competing against not only their peers at competitors, but AI and automated platforms. And so It's really hard to stand out right now as a salesperson. And I think that's really ramped up in the last few years.

I completely agree. I think people forget about the buyer's perspective or even people like yourself, sales leaders, how much stuff is hitting them on LinkedIn, on email, cold calls, potentially all this stuff. And for them, it's really hard to tell what's good, what's bad, what's indifferent. They just completely zone out or never even see it potentially depending on what it is. So. It makes it really, really hard for salespeople, especially if you're in more of a crowded space, as you mentioned, or maybe it's something that's more commoditized or cheaper versions coming out. It just gets really, really hard. I completely agree. On that note, you have to be different, I think, as a salesperson to really stand out and make things happen. What have you seen, I guess, on your current team or in the past? What, what do some of those best reps do that helps them stand out in that sea of sameness that you're talking about?

My favorite saying in sales is people buy from people they like and trust. And I know that's a really broad stroke statement, and it's probably hard to dial in how to be likable and someone that your buyers can trust. But When the margins are so small between product, price, features, at the end of the day, it really comes down to who is running the best sales process, who is building the most trust with their buyer. And I think top performers really stand out. They're usually the most curious, the most hungry, the most authentic. And that's hard, hard to be, I think, in this in this day and age.

Definitely. It's that, that know, like, and trust, which takes time, right? It's not going to happen right away. You have to be patient most likely and do this over definitely months, maybe even years, depending on what type of things you're selling. And I completely agree. It's, it's in the age of all this AI and all the stuff you're talking about, that's what's going to stand out. And if you have that, that human connection and, and truly are authentic, I think we all try to be authentic, but really caring what they care about. You, you can definitely tell the difference between salespeople. And you also mentioned the sales process side a little bit too. Tell us a little bit more about your current sales process. Sounds like you're doing growing white space or upselling bigger accounts, which still can be a really hard and complex sales process. But yeah, tell us more about that.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

So when I, when I joined my current company, there isn't a specific process or methodology that we follow. One of my fundamental philosophies as a sales leader is having a sales process. You know, I think there's some great methodologies out there and it's definitely repeatable and scalable to implement one in an organization. In the absence of one, I think it's really important to find your own process. So something that I'm really big on teaching with my reps is, hey, what worked for me, Might not work for you. Everyone is wired differently. Everyone, you know, runs, has their own strengths and weaknesses. So what worked for me in a process might not work for the next person. But again, just really encouraging them to figure out, you know, how do you individually stay organized? What are your go-to questions to make sure you're running a discovery that focuses on outcomes? and risk. Question-based selling and questioning and having strong discovery is huge for me and something that I really coach on. Being able to tie what you learn into a proper solution and demonstrating that, showing, you know, the proof in the pudding in a solution-forward demo. And then, yeah, just going from there, ensuring that you're putting the customer's needs first and Being responsive, following through on the little things, and, and letting it run from there.

Well said. I, the most common sales process out there is winging it typically because people avoid it sometimes. And it just, but, but you're right. You need to, it doesn't really matter what it is. We all have different opinions on the types of sales processes, but something consistent that works for you that is relatively scalable that you can keep repeating.

Exactly.

You know, that, that can be tough, right? Because most salespeople, sometimes that part, they want to just rest on their experience or how quick they can be in the middle of a meeting. But usually at some point that gets harder, especially if you're selling something more enterprise. It's just a long period of time. There's so many things you can forget. There's all these little things that You know, after the fact, but are you really prepared before it? So I'm a big, big fan of that. Where do the deals typically get stuck or go off the rails? Is it, you know, after sending a proposal or, you know, people getting ghosted for whatever reason? I mean, where do deals get stuck from what you see?

I would absolutely say somewhere between solution delivery price And that final stage of decision.

Gotcha. Is it, you think it's just become more complex? Like there's more people involved, there's more committees or more stakeholders, or what? They see the price and then they have everything they need and they don't need anything else, or what do you think it is exactly?

You know, I think it's different from company to company. I think What I'm seeing in our market right now is competition undercutting on price. And so something that's become very important and it's a top priority for me and everything that I do as far as coaching and deal involvement is ensuring that we are running the right type of process from the start as it pertains to Questioning. Questioning and curiosity is the foundation and focusing again on the outcomes that the client is looking for and the potential risks that could prevent them from getting their desired outcomes. So having that as the focal point from the beginning and not jumping right to, we can do that. Well, okay, this competitor can do that too. Right? So instead of getting into the feature tennis battle, you start right from the beginning trying to understand what the buyer is trying to accomplish, focus on that specifically, tie everything back to that. And I think that that protects us from the ghost after the quote is sent.

That makes sense. I agree. It's sometimes you have to push back, right? The customer, the buyer, they're They want to go down the cost and price. It's just natural. They want to know what it costs, and that's just how we we think as people. You have to push back tactfully at times and guide them because they might find out how to make that decision internally. Maybe they've never bought this type of product before. You have to guide them through it and and show that justification and the ROI and the cost of doing nothing. All the stuff that you were mentioning, I think that's important, and there's a right time to. go over that official proposal and all the pricing. But if you do it earlier, sometimes it can backfire, especially if you're more of a premium product, which sounds like you guys are. So from a leadership standpoint, because we got a lot of sales leaders that might see this, what's the hardest part of being a sales leader in today's environment? Does anything stand out?

You know, today's environment and since the beginning for me is people management. And I think that's something that I don't wanna say you're not really warned about it before getting into sales leadership, but I, we all know that everyone is individual and everyone has their own lens of how they see the world. But sales leadership, it's not, it's not one size fits all. It's very far from it. And so for me, I really try to have my foundation of my values, my sales philosophies and all of that, but then ensuring that I'm managing each person to their own personal strengths and weaknesses. And every person is so very different. And that's, that's difficult. You know, I almost think sales leaders need to get some type of education in psychology and understanding the human, human mind and behaviors, because that's such a big aspect of it.

That's so true. I mean, I, I say sometimes that the inner game is more important than the outer game in sales, meaning like all the process stuff we talked about, that's obviously super important, but what's happening inside can be more important, especially if you're having a bad quarter or a bad month or some things go wrong. People can go in tailspins, myself included. And, you know, how do you, how do you navigate that as a, as an individual, but let alone as a leader trying to motivate people and uncover things, there is a lot that goes into it. There's no doubt about it. And psychology, it's almost like you're their therapist, probably. Yeah, a lot of times. So you have to—

Exactly.

Yeah, you have to help them with that. What's like maybe a mistake you made earlier as a leader, looking back, something that might help others? Is there anything that maybe you didn't do best at first, but something you learn from and try to improve on as a leader?

Yeah, I think, I think as a, as an early sales leader, I lacked confidence, and that's something I wish I could go back in time and, and give myself a pep talk. My strong intuition is what got me where I'm at in my career. And I've realized you're going to work with a lot of different people and customers who might view the world differently or have a different set of values and straying from your own north star and not being able to kind of block out the naysayers and focus on that and have the confidence to just forge your own path, believe in yourself, trust your gut. My gut has rarely been wrong and I haven't listened to it before because of outside voices. And so I think that that's something that I've learned over, over the years and something that's going to carry me forward into the future.

Love that. That makes a ton of sense. The confidence, it's definitely really important in sales and definitely in leadership. Yeah. So I appreciate that. And shifting a little bit here, everybody's favorite topic is AI. I know we never hear about it. Nobody talks about AI. It never comes up on social media or anything. But I mean, there's no doubt it has really engulfed us as a society and then definitely in sales, probably the last couple of years. What's your take on it? Have you been using it? Do you see it helping with anything? What have you seen with AI recently?

Yeah, so I'm definitely using it. We are adopting it big time within our own company at OxBlue, and I'm a big fan. The concerns that a lot of people have out there about AI, I share those. I don't want to ignore those, but I also think that it is a technology that needs to be embraced when used the right way. I believe that the way we govern it individually, organizationally, and even at a broader scale within our government is going to be incredibly important. I think it's gonna really make or break our future, how we approach that. So the next few years are critical, but the upside to it is phenomenal. I mean, I'm a, I don't have a lot of spare time. I have 2 young kids, and the way I'm able to set up AI to take over some of those mundane tasks that used to take me a long time, it's invaluable for me. And I think, so for salespeople, I think the beauty in embracing AI is doing the same. So what it's not for me is it's not the fix for bad discovery. It's not the fix for bad emails. It's not the fix for poor salesmanship. It just accelerates mediocrity. If your foundation isn't strong. And so I think over the next few years, we're really gonna start seeing that gap. What I do think it is, is an amazing tool to again, take away some of those busywork tasks that you can automate to free yourself up to think and reflect and strategize. I think that is the biggest gap for salespeople. is they are too busy running from meeting to meeting, updating the CRM, updating the manager, organizing their notes. There's not enough time for them to invest in the strategy that's required to become a better salesperson, to become more effective for your clients and get them better outcomes. So using it that way. all for it. But again, I really think we're gonna start to see over the next few years the gap of people who are just putting a bandaid on mediocrity to those who are really using it, using it strategically to free up time.

That's, that's a great way to put it. And I, I agree, those mundane tasks, I think some of the, some people are trying to use it for the biggest challenges they have in their organization. I don't think AI's ready for that right now, especially in sales or some of the stuff that you mentioned. But the mundane stuff, the things that drive you crazy, the thing that's taking up 30% of your week that isn't a good use of your time, you know, whether that's meeting prep, research, some of the follow-up, the note-taking, that stuff. It feels good sometimes to be doing it, but it's not necessarily revenue generating. So if you can outsource that stuff, I kind of look at it as like an executive assistant or an admin.

Yeah.

That's way faster and way easier to ramp up. And I completely agree. I've, I've really embraced it the past year, year and a half. And it takes time. You have to get in the game. You have to make some mistakes. You have to, you know, you'll get frustrated a little bit, but it, it can really help you. And that frees you up to, to your point. It's, it's more about the energy and the focus and the, and the strategy. I mean, it gives you more time to be with your family. It gives you more time to maybe go take a walk and just decompress and come up with a good idea. It gives you time to actually, okay, hey, now I have all my notes for the meeting. Great. AI took care of that. Now I'm actually going to think, hey, what are those 2 or 3 questions I really need to ask? What is the goal and the next step? Like the stuff that really matters in my opinion. So I completely agree. Now I have seen a lot of varying levels of reps being open to it. It definitely varies based off the industry. What have you seen with salespeople? Are they— embracing it, or is it kind of all over the board with some people are fighting it still, some people are trying to get in the game? What, what do you see there?

Definitely all over the board. So we, a little story to kind of paint a picture about this. We, we're investing, or we have invested in Claude across our organization. And so this is recent in the last few weeks to the, to the whole organization. So I got my team together to go through some best practices. And the way I started off the meeting was I went around the room and I asked everyone where they stood on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being I hate AI, I'm scared, want nothing to do with it, 10 being let's go, give me the bots, I'm gonna automate everything. And it was a really interesting exercise and I think it set the tone because I, again, Speaking about having an individual approach for everyone, I could really understand where everyone stood and kind of what it's going to take and to, to get people up to speed or meet them where they're at. So the answers were all over the board. And so I don't wanna force it on people who, who are hesitant. I think it's gonna be a slow burn. I just slowly wanna show them ways that it can improve their workflow and improve their outcomes.

That's a great idea. I, I love that. I might steal that from you with the 1 to 10 because it probably is all over the board.

Yeah.

That's, that's what people don't— the, the behavior change and the implementation side of AI. That's what people are underestimating. They're just because AI is great. It's not, not, it's not the technology's fault. It's more about what you just mentioned. It's all over the place with what people are open to doing, what they have been doing. You have some people that barely log into Teams calls, let alone, you know, maybe are never using ChatGPT at home. So you have all these different things. Going on. And yeah, it's small wins. I think starting with something very small and basic that might save a little bit of time for that rep and they can see like, oh wow, that's pretty cool. Then you start building from there. If you try to go too big too fast, it's probably going to scare people away and they're going to get overwhelmed. And we all get, I think, overwhelmed with AI. I mean, I love Claude, but it's, you know, every day there's something new and something, some update on this and it can be Overwhelming. So sure, that's great. And so that's the way you guys roll it out. So with anything new or change, that's one last thing I wanted to ask you is how do you try to get adoption? Is it by starting small like what you said? And then how do you try to get— because there's a lot of conflicting opinions about the government. I think you said governance earlier. And how do you try to get adoption of something new with your team?

I think keeping the communication stream open and frequent. So I'm getting my team in a cadence of meeting every few weeks so we can knowledge share. And so the folks who are on closer to the 10 in adoption can share some of the things that they're doing with the people who are closer to the 1. And so getting into a cadence there. making it a part of our interactions day today. So I've got some of my reps, I'm really encouraging them to share best practices in our message channels. And so really, long story short, is just staying close with everyone. I do believe in starting small and finding quick wins for folks, and I'm just keeping my eyes out for things that I usually ask for or that we talk about. That can tie into AI and help them better prepare, if that makes sense. So prior to a one-on-one, if there's something that we typically talk about that we need to pull from the CRM, automate that through Claude and kind of give them, give them some suggestions for those quick wins that just makes those tasks easier.

Yeah, that's great. The good thing about Claude, it's very intuitive and it's Super easy, for the most part, pretty easy. It can work behind the scenes. I think you're doing it the right way. And especially if it's something that can work behind the scenes where people don't have to trust too many buttons, that can definitely help with adoption. And that's great.

Well, cool.

Well, as a way of wrapping up here, we talked about a lot of different things. If you could go back and give yourself some advice, you know, back maybe before you started your career, What would that advice be? It doesn't have to be sales related. It could be anything that comes to mind. But if you could go back to your younger self, any advice you'd give yourself?

I would tie it back to what I said earlier and just trusting myself, trusting my intuition, and having confidence in what I know and confidence in myself. And that's the advice I would give myself.

Love it, love it. And then anything you're really excited about this year? Could be work or it could be personal. Anything going on the rest of the year that you're really excited about?

Yeah, you know, I am excited about work. I have landed at a great company. The foundation and the culture is so strong, and we're growing. And our biggest challenge right now is that we can't keep up with the growth, but we're quickly putting in processes and working together to scale more smoothly. And that's just a really exciting place to be. And I look forward to going to work every day, and that's such a blessing, and I'm so grateful for it. And so just excited for what the future brings.

That's amazing. That's a good problem to have when you— yeah, we're trying to keep up with demand and then to be excited about work. There's something to be said about that. We've all been there where That's not the case. And that, that's really awesome that, that you're able to do that. And then, all right, as we, uh, closing out, like if people wanna get ahold of you or learn more about OxBlue, what's, what's the best way to get ahold of you?

I'm pretty active on LinkedIn. So Hannah Pensick, um, you can find my profile, message me. I'm on there daily and we can, we can chat. I would love to hear from you.