Hunters + Unicorns: The 33 CxOs – Paul Cant #012

Available as podcasts on our Spotify and iTunes channel;

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/hunters-unicorns/id1535460339

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5DeTa0QE0WZ1OkX3KX82mh?si=foC9FDrbRMGVGjW4MCBocQ

Hunters and Unicorns shares the playbooks from leaders, founders, executives and investors from high growth technology companies.

In this special edition series The 33 CXOs we investigate the greatest success story in the history of software sales. Discover how thirty-three sales execs from one organisation, BladeLogic, became CXOs in the world’s 100 fastest growing technology companies. We uncover the stories and playbooks of the most prolific sales leaders in the industry.

Episode 12 features Paul Cant, Vice President EMEA at BMC Software. Paul has more than 20 years of experience in sales leadership, building and leading high-performance teams and designing and implementing world-class business plans and programmes to drive innovation and sustainable growth.

Paul started his software career in 1996 at PTC. He was seeking a solution that was disrupting the market and with a reputation for setting the bar high, PTC fit his criteria. Since then, Paul has transitioned through the ranks, holding senior sales and management roles at BladeLogic, Ascential Software and, after initially joining BMC as a sales manager in 2008, he has been on quite the journey to earn his current position in leadership.

“I’d had the PTC experience, Ascential experience, BladeLogic experience, so yes, I could have gone and looked for another one of those type of experiences, but I think that investing in my own leadership brand and in creating my own legacy was the opportunity that BMC gave me and has given me. Rather than jumping around, it was important for me to invest in BMC.”

Paul learnt and mastered the playbook at PTC and accredits his outstanding career progression to his beginnings at this iconic company. His thirst for knowledge and determination to succeed saw Paul transition from a Sales Rep to a VP as he witnessed first-hand the fundamental importance of sales methodology, innovation, recruitment and carrying weight as a team in a “hire and fire” environment. He developed an insight into this industry and created a set of career progression criteria for himself that he still depends on and uses to propel the careers of his people at BMC to this day.

“We spend a lot of time here talking about culture and we are committed to the development of great salespeople. If you’ve got the right makeup of intelligence, character, coachability, experience, then you can be very successful here and build a very, very good career. Around 85% of all of the leaders here come from ICs, so we certainly have a meritocracy and there is opportunity for people to progress their careers – we’re investing hundreds of millions of dollars into innovating our solutions which we’ve done over the past 40 years, but no more so than just recently. There are some really exciting developments.”

In this podcast you will discover:

– What raw materials you need to be recruited by an iconic software company like BMC

– The value of studying the playbooks

– A background in engagement models and how to use MEDDIC to measure and drive analytics

– How to keep progressing in your sales career

Paul is passionate and excited about the future of BMC and the self-development culture that has been established there. He is dedicated to ensuring that his employees can thrive within the company’s framework and is committed to finding and growing the future leaders of this innovative organisation.

Paul’s aim is to make an impact wherever he goes and his loyalty to BMC is a testament to how this company continues to transform and grow. Discussing his journey through the ranks of these world-class sales organisations, we listen to Paul’s view on the topic of what it takes for a company to reach unicorn status as he reveals what he has witnessed to be the key contributing factors to this phenomenon. This wide-ranging discussion is essential listening for those with an interest in sales strategy, as well as anyone with a passion for the technology space.