The Critical Role of Revenue Enablement in Sales with Juniper’s Hang Black

Welcome to Sales Tech Podcast, the show that talks about sales technology, what’s working, what’s not, and where the industry is going. In this episode, Thom sits down with Hang Black, Vice President of Global Revenue and Enablement at Juniper Networks.

In her role at Juniper, Hang supercharges the sales and service community within her company to help them sell more and close bigger deals. Hang has a unique Revenue Enablement origin story which she shares today with Thom. They touch on how Revenue Enablement works, what smaller companies need to know about it, and what Hang wishes every sales professional knew about the work she does.

Finally, Hang shares the inspiration behind her book, Embrace Your Edge, and provides advice to those looking to make a major career change.

What We Covered:

00:39 – Thom introduces today’s guest, Hang Black, VP of Global Revenue and Enablement at Juniper Networks, who shares her Revenue Operations origin story

02:02 – Skills Hang took from her Engineering background that have been integral in her sales career

03:51 – How Hang defines Revenue Enablement and how it’s been a critical component of closing bigger deals

05:17 – Hang shares her thoughts on the evolution of sales technology

06:16 – How to get sales professionals to embrace and utilize new sales tech stack

08:43 – Advice Hang would give to smaller companies on how to approach Revenue Enablement

10:58 – Hang speculates on the future of Revenue Enablement and sales technology

11:47 – One thing Hang wishes all salespeople knew about Revenue Enablement

12:28 – Hang talks about her book, Embrace Your Edge

13:37 – Advice Hang would give to those with diverse backgrounds looking to make a significant career change

16:00 – Thom thanks Hang for joining the show and let’s listeners know where to connect with her

Tweetable Quotes:

“I always say I started engineering because I like numbers and I like complex problems. I ended up in sales because I like numbers with dollar signs in front of them a lot better.” (01:49) (Hang)

“It took me a while to shed the skin of ‘I know better than the salespeople do.’ It’s not until you sit under the umbrella of sales that you actually understand that we are the ones who have the privilege to represent the voice of the customer and what they need.” (03:11) (Hang)

“The customer journey is no longer a linear model; it’s an infinity model. Customers can enter and exit at any moment or any point. Just because you close a deal doesn’t mean that you don’t have to continue to nurture them through their experience.” (04:49) (Hang)

“I’d rather have one or two tools that are very good at certain things than having a tool that says that it does everything and not well.” (08:35) (Hang)

“The future is continued consolidation, I believe. And I do think that the tool stacks will definitely start collapsing, the vendors will start collapsing, which will make jobs for people like me a lot easier. But just as they collapse, there will be more technology and more innovations around the corner.” (11:04) (Hang)

“I would hope the sellers know that we’ve got your best intentions. We’re not trying to feed you too much stuff, even though you will probably get too much stuff.” (11:55) (Hang)

Links Mentioned:

Hang Black on LinkedIn

Hang Black Website

Juniper Networks

Embrace Your Edge: Pave Your Own Path as an Immigrant Woman in the Workplace