From the Court to the C-Suite: A Sales Career Built on Relationships and Learning featuring Michael Jones

🎙️ Episode Title: “From the Court to the C-Suite: A Sales Career Built on Relationships and Learning”

🔹 Host:

• Howard Wolpoff, Sales Momentum Host

🔹 Guest:

• Michael Jones, VP of Sales & Marketing at Synoptix Software
• Background in large tech companies, consulting, executive leadership, entrepreneurship
• Currently focused on serving higher education and manufacturing sectors with FP&A software

🔑 Key Topics Covered:

💼 Sales Journey and Career Growth:

• Started at Oracle—a chance opportunity through a basketball game (accidentally broke Larry Ellison’s nose!)
• Learned the value of structured training and technical understanding early in his career
• Grew from individual contributor to sales leader, EVP, CEO, and business owner
• Attributes growth to seizing opportunity, mentorship, and constant learning

🧠 First Sales Role & Learning Curve:

• Entered tech sales with little product knowledge ("couldn’t spell 'relational' at the time")
• Underwent intense training at Oracle and was drawn to the analytical and problem-solving aspects of sales
• Learned the importance of adaptability and continuous development

🏀 Sales & Sports – Parallels in Competitiveness:

• Shared stories illustrating how sports competitiveness translates into sales drive
• Oracle valued his competitive nature—added to his job offer as the guy who "broke the CEO’s nose"

📈 Leadership & Sales Management:

🧩 Transitioning to Management:

• Described moving from individual contributor to manager as a shift from “math to calculus”
• Management = combining strengths of the team rather than relying solely on personal performance
• Compared leadership levels to coaching roles in sports—some are best suited to be position coaches, others head coaches

📚 Developing Sales Teams:

• Emphasized mentorship, reading, ongoing training, and A/B testing
• Encouraged failing fast and learning quickly from mistakes
• Believes everyone in sales, from the rep to the CEO, should be responsible for training and growth
• Today’s “university” is online (YouTube, LinkedIn, etc.)—learning resources are everywhere

🧭 Sales Philosophy:

🗣️ Customer-Centric Selling:

• If the salesperson is talking more than 20% of the time, they’re doing it wrong
• Focus on deep client research before the meeting—understand the business, role, market, and personal background
• Build value through targeted questions and solution alignment

🧠 Sales Preparation:

• Today’s tools (e.g., LinkedIn, Apollo, ZoomInfo) offer a huge advantage—but everyone has access to them
• The real differentiator: who prepares better and uses the tools more effectively

💡 Takeaways:

1. Sales careers can begin in unexpected ways—always be ready to pivot and learn
2. Training matters—intense learning early in a career builds a solid foundation
3. Managing is not just doing—it’s coordinating, developing, and evolving a team
4. Mentorship and constant education are crucial to long-term success
5. Sales success lies in preparation and listening—not in flashy talk or outdated tactics

Howard Wolpoff - https://www.linkedin.com/in/howardwolpoff/

Michael Jones - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mzj11/