@Ian Gwynne is the Technology Enablement Architect at Mimecast and one of the winners of the #MyGongSecret campaign for his incredible Gong best practice for Sales Enablement. (Learn how Ian uses Gong’s saved searches, aligned trackers, scorecards, and filters to create a best-practice library for the Mimecast Sales team here!)

Read on to learn more about Ian and what makes him Gongfamous!

Q: What’s a fun fact about you? 

A: Professional fun fact: I was one of the first 50 people Globally to be Gong Program Manager Launch Certified. Random fun fact: I have shoe laces tattooed on my feet! I grew up running track junior nationally.

Q: What is your favorite feature in Gong? 

A: Either the ability to stack call filters on the Gong Calls page to specific call results or Gong Deal board warnings.

Q: How does Gong make your life easier? 

A: Using call filters helps me find effective calls. As an Enablement professional, it’s extremely helpful to be able to stack call filters from the Gong Calls page to test a hypothesis or find specific calls based on a number of Tracker, slide, CRM filters, and more! 

When a new hire joins, I can stack tracker filters like when “competitors are mentioned” and CRM filters such as “stage now closed Won” to share examples of when other sellers have overcome competitor objections and ended up winning the deal. 

This makes it a lot easier to give real-life examples which reps can review at their own leisure.

Q: What is your advice to Sales Enablement Managers who are just getting started in their career?

A: 

1. Network, network, network - Enablement is a tight knit community filled with a ton of professionals who are eager to help!

2. Ask questions, especially feedback, but at the same time, don't be afraid to fail. Remember “Fail” stands for First Attempt In Learning. All learning begins at the starting line!

3. Start as a “generalist” but work to find your niche. It’s great to be an Enablement “jack-of-all-trades” and learn from a number of roles, but speaking from experience, once you find what makes you tick, it will be much more fulfilling to focus on what you love to do day-to-day! Whether that be messaging enablement, technology, onboarding, or anything else, when you feel you’ve found your niche, double down on focusing on a role in that desired area.

Q: If you weren't doing what you do now as a career, what would you be doing instead?

A: Probably something random, like building bicycles, or something physical like working construction in the film industry. I love to work with my hands and I love bikes. I also come from a family who works in the film industry, so if I didn't study business in school, that's realistically where I’d be!

Q: Bonus question: Salty or sweet?

A: If sour was an option, I’d say that…but I’ll go salty. Ms. Vickie's Salt and Vinegar chips are my weakness!