On Stage and Off, Kevin Nolan is a Legit ABM Rockstar

Demandbase Champion Kevin Nolan, Global Head of Healthcare Marketing at Sagility, began his career in sales for Halliburton, where he quickly became the top salesperson for his product line. While crushing his sales quota, he was simultaneously creating direct mailers and product catalogs. In an aha moment, he realized he belonged in marketing. So, he switched roles and never looked back.  We caught up with Kevin and discussed his passion for connecting a salesperson with the right information at just the right moment, the importance of a unified marketing and sales front, and the music he makes with Bessie, a 2020 Gibson Les Paul Classic guitar.

What fires you up about your current role?

I love it most when a salesperson tells me that something we’re working on together has helped them open a door or get in contact with a person or account that may have been unavailable to them before. My primary goal is to help the salespeople win the day. Starting out as a salesperson myself has given me an advantage as a marketer — I can easily get inside their heads to figure out what they need.

How do you maximize your success with ABM?

Before we launched a formal ABM program, I felt that matching the sales team with a ripe opportunity was just plain luck. And I wanted something to help us make our own luck. Bringing in Demandbase has helped us to market and sell smarter. Sagility now knows when key prospects are visiting our website and how they’re interacting with available content. One of our salespeople said he had an important upcoming meeting with a prospect. I was able to quickly look up what type of material the prospect was consuming online and pass that intel along. It gave the salesperson additional, and very relevant, information to discuss with the prospect.

A unified sales and marketing front is key for Sagility, especially since our average sales cycle is two years and deals are multiple years for multiple millions of dollars. When we started our ABM program, I helped the sales team set up account tiers and clearly noted who owns which relationships. With established accounts, even though Sagility might have multiple salespeople selling different solutions into the same account, it’s all tracked and managed in one place.

I also make sure our sales team takes advantage of account-related news alerts to help them to plan the next phase of interaction — whether it be sending the perfect piece of content or scheduling a meetup at an industry event that both are attending.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I’ve been in and out of rock bands for most of my life. Music is an effective stress reliever for me. Sometimes when I’m waiting for my computer to reboot, I’ll pick up one of my guitars and strum a few cords before getting back to work. Usually, I’ll select music from one of my favorite guitarists: Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix.

What are your superpowers?

When I was a salesperson early in my career, my boss told me I was successful because I was more hyper than other people. Over the years, when people make recommendations for my LinkedIn profile, they note that my strong work ethic is one of the things they most admire about me. Since I have a very small team at my current job, my diligence has helped me to get a lot done with few resources. And, if you asked my bandmates over the years, they’d tell you I am the workaholic of the band.

What advice do you have for ABM newcomers?

• Make certain that your sales leaders understand the benefits of ABM and support the program and they’re not just nodding their heads.
• Don’t be afraid to reach out to your Demandbase account team for support. They’ve been a huge help to me — they are engaged and have a wealth of information.

About Sagility

Sagility combines industry-leading technology and transformation-driven BPM services with decades of healthcare domain expertise to help clients draw closer to their members. The company optimizes the entire member/patient experience through service offerings for clinical operations, member engagement, provider solutions, payment integrity, claims cost containment, and analytics. Colorado-based Sagility has more than 25,000 employees across 5 countries and revenues of $460 million.

Visit www.Sagilityhealth.com to learn how Sagility can help make your business more competitive.