Inside the Networks That Can’t Fail: Live Sports, Risk, and Reward with Seth Lane

Seth, VP of Network Infrastructure at Major League Soccer, lives at the intersection of sports, scale, and systems that absolutely cannot fail. When millions are watching a live match, every replay, stat, and stream depends on networks most fans never see — and Seth is the one making sure they hold.

In this conversation, we pull back the curtain on the invisible infrastructure behind the beautiful game. From stadium Wi-Fi and league data centers to IP-based broadcast pipelines, Seth breaks down how modern networks deliver reliability at global scale — and what it really takes to keep live sports online when there’s zero margin for error.

Seth’s career path is as dynamic as the environments he’s supported: hands-on engineering in New York finance, founding and selling a VAR, jumping to an OEM during a rocket-ship growth phase, and ultimately running networks for both MLB and Major League Soccer. Along the way, he embraced a three-to-five-year rhythm — arrive, assess, fix, move on — a mindset that fuels growth without burning out.

We get practical, too. Seth shares why LinkedIn recommendations are portable credibility, how technologists can pair deep expertise with clear storytelling in sales, and why mentoring becomes the most rewarding leadership skill on the “back nine” of your career.

The conversation also explores how broadcast is converging on IP and Ethernet, mirroring the shift from PBXs to VoIP. COVID accelerated remote production from “nice-to-have” to table stakes, reshaping how content is created and distributed. We debate what good outreach really looks like from the buyer’s seat and tie it back to a core StoryBrand truth: the customer is the hero — the brand is the guide.

 🎧 If you care about sports technology, network reliability, career reinvention, or building real relationships in a digital world, this episode delivers grounded insights and memorable stories.

Ready for more human-centered stories from the leaders shaping our digital world? Subscribe to Humans of Tech on your favorite platform and check out our merch store here: https://humansoftech.axomo.com

Transcript

Cold Open And Show Setup

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Ever wonder what tech leaders would say if they had no prep and no redoos? Welcome to Humans of Tech. I'm Caroline. And I'm Kelly. We're keeping humans at the center of technology through quick, authentic conversations with people shaping the industry.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

We've got three rules. No prep, no editing, and one live random question. Our guest never sees coming.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Alright. Um I'm gonna show how it's done before we get on. So I have cutting all the questions. They come from my little zip block bag in my desk. No, I don't have just the bowl at my at my desk waiting. Um but these are all the questions. You need an upgrade. I do have a bowl. I know. And it's funny because I feel like I keep saying, Oh, we picked a question randomly on a fishable. It's never been official, guys.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Like I said, um actually, can you well we only have a minute? Um I was gonna say I wanted to hear about the book you're reading that I saw you post about.

StoryBrand And Customer As Hero

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Yes, I have not put it down. It's called Building a Story Brand. And like pretty much what it does is it takes you through branding as if you're like telling a story. And in movies, they follow this whole format of seven frame, like this seven framework to um, you know, get people interested in it. And like the one one I'm just gonna I have like sticky notes everyone that I'm like I can't give people my books after I read them because I literally scribble all over them. But the one thing says like customers are attracted to us for the same reason. Heroes are pulled into stories, they want to solve a problem that has in big or small ways disrupted their peaceful life. Like, and so it's so interesting because I think like in branding, everything's in your face is like we're gonna solve your problem. Drink this poppy, and you know, you're you're gonna have a great day. It's like, no, you have to position the actual customer as the hero, not your brand.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

So anyway, that was um I'm curious to see once you end the book, because I feel like those books that talk about branding, most salespeople shy away from because they think it's the person's uh job, Seth. Oh my goodness.

Meet Seth: From VAR To Leagues

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Hello.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Hello.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Hi, Kelly. This is the last time I saw you in person, and I think it's been like five years, six years.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

I know I had to I had to look it up on LinkedIn. I mean, I think we actually meet in uh in what circumstance. But yeah, it's like 2019 and you were at another vendor. So uh yeah, it's been it's been a while.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

It's been a ride. And you're are you I know you've changed roles when Kelly realized where you're working, she was like geeking. I was excited.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

I was like wow.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

This is the best. Totally. I mean, people I I didn't realize this until much later in my life that like every major sport is headquartered in New York. Um, you know, U.S. sport. And so, you know, I was a baseball for five years, I was a soccer, I'm at soccer now. Um, and who knew I could work in sports? I mean, it's so cool if you're a sports fan.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Oh cool. And yeah, I mean, I'm a Phillies fan. I'm from Pennsylvania, so originally Phillies. I still stick with the PA teams. I am an Eagles fan through and through.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

But uh huge fan.

SPEAKER_02 3:20

Well, I I will point out I will point out last night the Yankees did finally beat the Phillies, so uh I'm happy about that.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

They did. Yes. My dad, my dad was texting me about it.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

Not one of the questions we're supposed to ask, but then did you do you follow the job because of the sport in particular, or do you love all sports?

SPEAKER_02 3:39

Uh I mean, I definitely a sports fan, you know, and um the fact that your product, your end product is a sport, um, and I think that's what attributes me the most. So um, yeah, I mean, I'm I wouldn't say I'm a huge soccer fan before I got here. Um, but now that I'm here, I get to see, you know, how the sausage is made, if you will. And uh that's I just got back from the All-Star. I'm flexing my little logo here.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Yeah, you are.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

And and uh and it's just so exciting to actually be at a live sport and know that your technology has something to do with it.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Yeah, Caroline, do you want to introduce our our guest?

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Um let him introduce himself first. Um a little background as to who you are.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

Yeah, sure. So uh thanks for having me. Uh uh I I am thrilled to be here. And uh I would I would lead off though, Caroline. It's like, you know, I I accepted this and and I did this because I just, you know, we you know we barely know each other. We met like you know a few times um in real life. Um, but every time I see you online, whatever, you you just have so much positivity. And I just I just love that about you. And this is humans of tech. So um, you know, kudos to that and Kelly. Obviously, we're just getting to know each other. So um uh appreciate that as well. Uh so yeah, so I I've been doing this a long time. I've always been doing networking. Uh came out of college before when networking was just started, um, like people, I mean, literally, like it was it was just a thing, um, and uh, you know, a new thing. Uh, and so I was a hands-on guy, uh, worked at the financials, um, as in my New York, as as one's prone to do, you go you go hit Wall Street for a little bit. Um, and so I did that. Uh, I then I got sort of got the uh entrepreneurial bug. And so I went out and I worked for a VAR for a bit. Um, so went from the client side to the VAR. Uh and then I started my own VAR and had that for about 10 years. Um, sort of a lead tech guy um uh uh at

Why Work In Sports Tech

SPEAKER_02 5:20

that VAR. Um wound up selling that uh and then going to the vendor, the OEM side, which you guys are familiar with.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

Um I work at a VAR technically too. So Caroline and I do that.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

All right. I didn't realize that. Oh, cool. Um and so yeah, so so uh went to the VAR to the OEM and I went to Arista for 10 years, I mean for five years or so. And it was uh, you know, that I was a proper salesperson. I was an accountant, an AE, you know, this is making the jump, you know, that's going to the dark side, you know, as people would say.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Don't you call it the dark side?

SPEAKER_02 5:52

No, as you'll see, I mean, I'm a huge fan of salespeople. Um, and I think they really get underrated outside of sales organizations who, you know, all love salespeople. Um, I really think it's an underrated um uh skill. Uh and you know, I'm now and anyway, so I'll just finish that. So it's that so I did a uh uh aristoc for a while. Um, and then uh I I knew somebody who reached out and said, Hey, do you know anybody who can run the network at Major League Baseball? Uh and eventually I was like, wait a sec, I think I can. And so uh I didn't know you could work at baseball. And so I jumped over there, uh, did that for about four or five years. Uh, and then the last three years um I've been at Major League Soccer also um as as VP of network infrastructure. So I run the network there. So that is um a long-winded explanation of of my past. But it's a long past.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

So I I I'm you know, you have to give me some hopefully you have a longer pass, a longer past to talk about in the future, right?

SPEAKER_02 6:42

Yes, yes, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

All right, should we pull the random question? We have one more after um because I just want to talk to you for a little after. I have a question myself.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Uh I could hear her this morning when we were chatting. She was like, Oh my gosh, we all guess we're talking to us tonight.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Okay. This is a great one. What's one risk you took in your career that completely paid

Career Arc And Sales Perspective

SPEAKER_01 7:09

off?

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Okay. Um, so let me give you a second there. Um, I mean, I guess I took a lot of risks, but you know, I as I mentioned, I I I I've definitely moved around. I'm I'm sort of a three to five year person, uh, and and I'm okay to say that out loud. Um uh I just I I get I love coming into a a place that's a bit of a mess or just has a lot of challenges, um, and then trying to assess it for a while, and then trying to fix it. Um, and then eventually I get bored. And so um, you know, I started working for a major bank. Um, I could have been there forever. Um, I could have um, you know, climbed the chain, whatever, and and done my, you know, um my career on that side. Uh, and so in that sense it was safe, right? Um, I was pretty much at every company I was at, I could have stayed there forever. And so I guess the risk um is really saying, you know what, like let's start over somewhere else because you gotta know who you are. Um, and I know I'm someone who just gets bored. Um, and so I just kept jumping around, you know, and and um, you know, my VAR, I was there for 10 years, maybe a little bit too long, um, honestly, but it took a while to sell it. Who knew? Um, so but we did. Um, and so that was cool. But you know, I did I left that. I mean, that was it sort of fell into a lifestyle business, you know, and and there's nothing wrong with lifestyle businesses, um, you know, and you can just basically do that for the rest of your life and you know, and have a really healthy work, you know, um life.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Sorry. What does lifestyle business mean?

SPEAKER_02 8:41

So it just means that you know, it it's you know, I'm not gonna say it's a nine to fiver, but it's a nine to fiver. You know, like you can just like work and then you make you know a good living, but you know, you're not off and you can go on with your night. Totally, totally. And and there's nothing wrong with that, you know, and and maybe within your life there's stages where you want to do that. Um, but you know, for me, I just knew that wasn't who I was, and I just wanted to keep getting challenged and more and more challenged. And so I really wanted to um, you know, uh take that risk, you know, and and and and um it's paid off. I mean, everywhere I've been um I've had success uh and and and and more like personal success, you know. Like I really enjoyed my time there. Um, you know, again, towards the end of each place, I kind of probably just got bored a little bit and uh before I

The Risk That Paid Off

SPEAKER_02 9:25

decided to move on. Um but yeah, so I think that's the risk. You know, don't be afraid of uh of making a jump. You know, I think a lot of people, certainly uh previous generations, say you've got to stay with the company for a long time. I think we've got we've gotten beyond that now. I think our generations are um well, we're probably not in the same generation, but you know, X, Y, Z, Gens, um, realize that you're not gonna be there probably be somewhere for your whole life. Um, but you don't have to be aware for 10 years either. You know, you can bounce around and it does uh you know I interview people all the time, I hire people all the time. Um, I don't look at anybody who's been somewhere for you know two years, two years, two years, is that and that's not a bad thing. You know, maybe every three months you're jumping around, you maybe some flags are are being raised, but you know, um, you know, take the risk. Uh and so I mean I have, and it's worked out for me.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

And then what's giving you kind of the confidence to jump from like your bank to be like, all right, I can be this person to jump into baseball. Like I'm gonna apply. Like, what did that look like for you?

SPEAKER_02 10:20

Yeah, so your confidence is a big part of it, you know. And I think because I started so early in networking, I really was uh like sort of the leading edge. I got I'm one of the earliest CCIEs, if I may flex there as well. Um, and uh 1674 for those keeping score. Uh and um and as a result, I I knew I knew most I knew more than most people in networking. And so once I knew that, then I was really confident in my technical ability. So that was a real luxury, especially when I got into sales and I became a technical person selling as opposed to a salesperson trying to learn some tech. Um, that also gave me a tremendous amount of confidence. Now, but it doesn't always work that way, you know. Like back to the sales thing, like you know, when I was a technical person, it it it sort of I was sometimes I was too technical, you know, and and and salespeople don't have to be technical at all. Um, it just depends on the role and and the client, honestly. And you guys know this, you know, if you go from a client, there there are technical clients who love talking tech, and then there are there are clients who just have no interest in talking to tech because you know they have tech people or whatever, and you have to play the more traditional sales role. Um, and so it really depends, you know, you got to know who you are.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

I'm sure the 53 recommendations you have on help to your confidence, we're baffled, like who how does one get that? You have to be incredible, right?

SPEAKER_02 11:34

Yeah, you know, you know I use that. If you're gonna jump around a lot, you better have some uh good recommendations. And so uh, I mean, I'm sure you guys use LinkedIn a lot. I I'm blown away by LinkedIn, and you know, I was uh you know, I'm around a long time before it existed. Uh I don't know what we did before LinkedIn, especially as you as you as you look for jobs and you know, humans of tech, right? We are um at the end of the day, we're humans, and and I think almost all of my jobs is because I I knew somebody. Um, and and mostly, you know, you and you understand who you know through LinkedIn. And so, you know, every time I moved

Building Confidence And Credibility

SPEAKER_02 12:05

on, you know, it's kind of awkward to ask for a recommendation while you're at a job because people say, ooh, you're looking to move around. Um, but uh here's what I encourage everybody to do is to when you do leave, you know, as you're leaving, um, just reach out. It's very simple and just ask for a bunch of recommendations from um from people at that job. Um, I mean, you should always be doing it, but it's kind of hard when, again, when you're at a job because they think you're they think you're leaving. Um, and then your boss who you're LinkedIn with sees that you're getting recommendations and so on. So, you know, you don't want to do it while you're there. But uh, and that's all I did. So I just reached out to everybody I knew. Um, you know, I didn't reach out to people who disliked me. It's only you know, it's like an Instagram, right? Only people who like me, you know. Uh and and so I definitely I use that up on my resume, you know, when I look around for jobs, I say, you know, oh, and by the way, notice my 53 recommendations.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

No, that's incredible. And the one thing that stood out amongst all of them was like that the you're technically skilled, obviously, then you're in the job because of that, but your leadership and like how you're supportive leaders. So, like, how did you how do you how do you balance both of those things with the team? I mean, across the board, that's kind of what the theme I saw in those recommendations.

SPEAKER_02 13:10

Yeah, I you know, I don't know. I mean, I was I was an athlete when I was a kid, I was a runner, I was a captain. So I don't know how you get the leadership gene. My mom was a leader, maybe. I don't yeah, I really don't know, but um, I know my style is to listen. Um, and I listen as a leader, I listened as a salesperson, and uh despite the fact that we're doing a podcast and I'm talking, I really I much more enjoy listening, um, including all your podcasts, by the way. Um, and so uh I do enjoy listening. And so you'll you find out where your people are. I mean, I love mentoring people, especially as I get to we'll call it the back nine of my career. Um, you know, I I I love bringing in these kids, um, in quotes, kids again, you know, younger generation, uh, and and seeing where they're at and where they want to go, you know, and help guiding them there. I was never a big managing up person, you know. Obviously you have to make sure your boss is happy with what you do, but I love managing down um and and and really seeing, you know, trying to help these people, you know, get maybe get a break um or get to the next level, you know, because we all had those people who who helped us when we were younger. Uh, and so I want to be that person. I really enjoy doing that.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

I think a lot of uh so I I sense a theme. One is the the problem solving theme. You sort of take that into your work, right? What brings you joy is being able to find something messy and fix it, but also into kind of your personal life and how you're giving back in the world as well. Like how do we how do we help um fix people's perceived problems so that they can get ahead too, right? You can look at that from a network perspective or from a personal perspective. And the other one is just understanding. And I think it stems from understanding yourself, which is how you end up keeping yourself happy. You understand that you know you're gonna get bored every couple years, so you're gonna go need to find something else, and you're not afraid to own that and actually make the jump. And I see a lot of people who are so scared of understanding that component themselves so that they can make the jump and they end up stuck in in scenarios that they aren't happy with um out of fear.

Mentoring, Leadership, And Listening

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Um and that kind of also goes back to the network component, right? You gotta understand what's wrong with it in order to be able to fix it.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

So I have one more question because I just like when I think of you know MLS and MLB, I think of like the goals and the replays and like that tech side, like how that can happen. But really, what you're working with is the invisible tech behind the scenes that actually makes the replays happen and the game go on. So, like, what's something behind the scenes that like has to go right? I know there's a lot, but like, you know, in order to Yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_02 15:46

You know, in networking, as we know, um, you know, nobody outside of tech cares about networking except when it doesn't work. Um, you know, and they're not like, yeah, I want a great network. No, they just want a network that doesn't break. And so, you know, talk about invisible, you know, again, some tech people understand it, and and hopefully your tech management understands it. Um, but networking is one of those things that's not user-facing other than when it doesn't work. You know, Wi-Fi is always supposed to work, you know, wired is always supposed to work. Uh, and so uh I guess after every game, you know, or everything we do in sports, um, I mean, just back up a little bit. Like the sports are all sort of the same. They have 30 so teams, they all connect back to the league office, you know, and each team has their own network, which the league isn't really involved in, but there's a lot of interaction between the team and the league. Um, and so I'm with the league here. I was at the league with baseball. And so we connect all 30-ish uh teams back to um, you know, data centers. We're done in data centers and such, you know, typical networking stuff, um, so that the league can get all the data they can out of the venue. And now that tech has moved, especially um in TV tech has moved to an IP solution, uh, you know, where you're you're actually all your broadcasts and stuff can go over IP instead of this old school uh video. Um, there's more dependence on a more traditional IP Ethernet network. And so that that part is so exciting. And I guess as I'm talking, I'm thinking that's probably one of the invisible things. You know, if we remember, if you

The Invisible Network In Pro Sports

SPEAKER_02 17:10

guys are are old enough to remember, phones used to be completely different. They used to be PBXs, and you have to pick up a phone, it had nothing to do with networking, it was a completely separate network that eventually merged together, and now we have um no one even know everything's IP and Ethernet for phones, right? And so video now, TV video is actually doing that now, and it's it's really complex. There's a massive industry around video um that has nothing to do with IP and Ethernet. And so as they transition over to IP and Ethernet, um, there's a massive tech transition, but at the end of the day, the the the viewer doesn't know um how much uh how much flexibility that gives broadcasters. So now they can broadcast from everywhere. COVID was kind of the impetus to get people to finally jump over because they were they were very afraid um move over to tech, you know, because you can't have the broadcast fail, right? You know, if if your email goes down for 30 seconds, it's not the end of the world, but you know, you can't have the broadcast go down. So anyway, so so that transition is happening um and as happened across the across the broadcast industry.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

That um I in college um I had to do a presentation and we had to, it was like my last business course, and we had to create a pro a product that didn't exist and you know present the whole plan as to the go-to-market strategy and all that. And back then, um I you know I had the the luxury of being able to travel a lot in college, and so I I was very averse to Skype. I knew what Skype was because when I went abroad, I would log on to the internet and I'd call home via Skype. So my presentation in college was I I grabbed a phone and um I put the the Skype logo on there and I said how how amazing is if we could talk via video on but on our phones because that didn't exist.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

Totally.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

I didn't win that. I didn't win because I got second place because it was a great idea, but unrealistic was the unrealistic.

SPEAKER_02 19:03

That's hysterical. I mean, just one more tech like that. I I was just in Austin, uh, you know, for the All-Stars, I said, Um, and I was I got my first uh Waymo, a first autumn uh automated driver, whatever it's called. Um, I was blown away. And and I had a car with all the tech for a while. Um, and uh I I was in the car and it was driving me all around Austin on highways and and um or maybe not highways, but certainly.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

Were you alone or were you were you with someone?

SPEAKER_02 19:29

No, I was with somebody on my team, and uh uh it was so cool. I couldn't believe it. I'm just so fascinated by the tech that's involved there. I mean, you know, we've all heard about this tech, but it is there, it is live. It's I know in a few cities, you know, people are like, yeah, of course, Seth if you're in San Francisco to Austin, everybody knows this, but you know, it hasn't come to New York yet. Um, and but when it does, oh my goodness, that's crazy. But if someone presented that in college, they're like, Yeah, what are we, the Jetsons? I mean, this is not this is not gonna happen. Um, but it's it's happening. So cool.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

I was just at Zara yesterday shopping. I have an upcoming Greece trip, and I they were like, We don't have Anyone checking anyone out, just drop everything in the bin, swipe your card. And the took like I didn't have to scan all the things, I just dropped it in the tin. It almost looked like an undermount sink. It just swiped it all. I swiped my card and I got out. Like I was like, if only it could fold it for me and put it in the bag, but or ask you a question like, do you really need to buy this right now? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Pulse check. Are you okay?

SPEAKER_00 20:26

I love that. Well, I think this is a good point to stop. Actually, I will stop share one more story. My first job, Seth, out of uh

Tech Shifts: Broadcast To IP

SPEAKER_00 20:35

college that I I didn't take the job, I had an internship, uh, was for the Orlando Magic. And so I did intern there for a semester in sales. And then I will say there is something uniquely different about working for a sports team. The energy and the excitement and the rah-rah is something that you don't get, you know, extra hop. Love you guys, but like different, different sort of excitement when you work in something like that. It's wild.

SPEAKER_02 21:04

It is, it is. You know, and the league on the league level, you know, you you get it for different reasons, you know, you get it for tech initiatives that you've achieved, but you can't be rah-rah. You know, we have to love all our children, as they say. Um, and so um, but we get to experience when people win, you know, and and through social media and internal notes, whatever, you see how much passion is when when they do win. And you have owners flying everybody to the big game, whatever that game may be. Uh, and you know, back office people, like people, you know, who would never think they'd be traveling somewhere if you get these owners who want to spend money. Um, it's so and they you know, the videos of them on the on the plane going to you know the Super Bowl or the World Series or whatever it may be. Uh, really cool. I totally agree with you.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

Well, we will stop the recording here, uh, but stay on because we're gonna just keep chatting.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

Do a post-mortem.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Oh, yeah, no, it always looks like this. It's like that was so good. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Seth.

SPEAKER_02 21:59

For sure, for sure. And and best of luck on this uh podcast journey. I mean, uh, it's so cool. I mean, and you gotta have uh, you know, some guts to do this. You put yourself out there, you know. And um, you know, I was watching one of yours re uh one of the videos recently when when you guys admitted you had just met um in person for the first time, which is just fascinating to me. I mean, it's just such it's again, it goes back to that tech that you know it's really changed the world. I mean, this never would have happened five years ago.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

I mean, you just never imagine the reason this all got started, uh there were a couple, right? One was we really wanted to work on our personal brands on LinkedIn. Um, I was searching, you know, internally for a just a more meaning in general workspace, and I love connecting with people, and I thought this could be a cool thing.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

Uh Kelly was just getting Yeah, I came, I wasn't for coming from the construction world, renovation design world to cybersecurity working for Blackwood, where I'm at now. And I was just like, I need to show that like I'm a human outside of like the sales repos quotas because I entered sales and I was like, whoa, I'm like salespeople are everywhere. This is really, really, but it's like that's why we kind of started this was to do something different for different industry.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

So it's been very personally rewarding, and then it's also been kind of um it's interesting because a lot of people start stop things, and we were told early on by someone else who has a podcast um in kind of the public sector space. He does a great job in the West Coast. He was like, just get to a hundred episodes, don't stop. It's gonna suck, but try and get to a hundred episodes,

Everyday Tech Wow Moments

SPEAKER_00 23:30

and we're like, you know what? And so now it's been two years, and we've gotten to meet so many incredible people, and you get so many, so many interesting nuggets from and it's it's awesome. It's awesome. Yeah, and I'm good as a so, but it's love it.

SPEAKER_02 23:44

No, exactly, and you don't have to know, right? You know, if you're enjoying it, and it is the toil that there's toil with toil with everything, you know, and you gotta get through that, right? As we know, you know. I mean, every you know, people, oh, I love my job. Well, you know, there's shit in every job, as we know, right? And you know, and you gotta do it. Um, but this seems really cool. But I would go back to the sales thing, uh, especially with Kelly if you're relatively new to that.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

Yeah, um I'm on the marketing side, I actually left because now I'm like, I need to lead the brand, and now I'm leading the marketing brand at at Blackwood where I'm at. But um, I made the jump from sales back to marketing because I was like, I need to be on with people, I just can't meet them on LinkedIn, get a meeting set after six months, and then just pass it off to the outside rep. Like a lot of people can do that, but that's not in my blood. And I was like, I have to do something different.

SPEAKER_02 24:25

Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, I I would actually ask you guys like so I I was sales, I mean, you know, I got as I said, a full full-time salesperson at Arista. Um, but this is pre-COVID. Um, and Arista was this rocket ship, and you know, getting meetings was just so easy. Um everybody went to talk to us, and it was fantastic and absolutely loved it. My territory, if you guys know New York, I know Caroline you do. Um, I had south of 42nd Street. That was my territory, like ridiculous. I mean, it's like you know, it's like 50 zip codes or whatever, 12, you know, 20 zip codes, and usually you get one zip code. I had south of 42nd, which is includes Wall Street. Anyway, it was it was early days. Um, and so it was it was so fun. But but how did COVID change the sales experience? Um, like I can't imagine having every interaction on Zoom. I know we're coming back now, but like, are they all Zoom based?

SPEAKER_00 25:10

Everything was Zoom based. We're starting to come back, and this is where I find LinkedIn to have been the the key. Because if you're using it properly, if you're actually using it to build relationships versus just like spamming people, um, it's been I've

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SPEAKER_00 25:25

I've been able to get meetings with people that even pre-COVID wouldn't have given me the time of day just because they see what I'm doing, I interact with with what they're doing, and it creates a very different funnel for conversation and and depth if used properly.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

Yeah, but I would like, I mean, before people just kind of like LinkedIn email you, or you can see people like, you know, 3,000 likes on, you know, a practitioner, I would say, is like post. And it's like, go a little further, like put your thoughts into the comments and like interact with them because they did that post for a reason. And that show, like that whole mindset for me was like key. And I was like, I just show up as if I'm Kelly, like I'm not selling you anything. Yes, you're a var, so you can kind of sell multiple different solutions, but it's just if you approach it the right way. I mean, I think it's it's a rocket ship.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

No, totally, you know, as a vendor uh who as a who's a buyer, I should call, you know, I'm a buyer now, you know, I get inundated by a lot of those people. Um and I'm totally I'm I'm I'm I'm echoing what you just said. Like I will not respond to to these first of all, I don't accept like everybody. If I don't know why you're you're trying to connect to me, I don't accept. And part of it is maybe I don't know. I and maybe I don't I should I accept everybody who's in networking? I mean, is there a reason to do that? I suppose, but I still don't do that because I because they're always I mean, inevitably there's salespeople who want to sell me something. Um but if they if they craft something interesting and and make you know it's just anything, you know, that's not a form, and obviously we have AI, you can talk about that forever, like and they can just generate some stuff, then just I'm just not doing it, you know. And but and and and meetings, you know, in-person meetings, I I do I normally take one um if they want to do it, you know, you're if they're in New York or whatever. Um,

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SPEAKER_02 27:06

but I don't do anything after that. Like I don't want to go out and I mean I I go I like to go out, but I don't like to go out with vendors. Um, you know, but you do wind up picking people that you have a relationship with that you fur, you know, that you actually like at the end of the day. Um, you know, the old cliche in sales is people buy from people they like. Um, and and you know, they're they're the sales people who can sell ice to Eskimos. I was kind of alluding to that earlier. Like, I'm not one of those people, like I cannot sell to everybody, but I do love working with people I like, and I'm okay. If we don't get along, I just accept it. You know, all right, well, listen, you know, our personalities don't gel. I'm not a you know, I'm not meek. I I I have opinions and and and you know, I'm a New Yorker. Uh and so I'm not gonna get along with everybody, you know, and um, but I love so continuing what you guys are doing like online, especially like uh again, I I took this meeting because I like your your presence online and and and Caroline, I'm I liked our interactions early on. I remembered you, even though I don't think we did business. I think it was Silver Peak, yeah. We I think when we met. Uh I I didn't want to say that online to piss the extra hop people off. Um uh but you did have a career prior to the extra hop. Uh so uh but I do remember those interactions. They were cool. You just had enthusiasm. And who the hell wants to, you know, hey, can you buy something? You'd be you'd be blown away how bad salespeople are. Um what are you why are you in this industry? Like, what are you doing? Like you're not good.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

Yeah. My goodness.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

Anyway, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

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