The Sales Game Changers Podcast was recognized by YesWare as the top sales podcast. Read the announcement here.
Subscribe to the Sales Game Changers Podcast now on Apple Podcasts!
Read more about the Institute for Excellence in Sales Premier Women in Sales Employer (PWISE) designation and program here.
Purchase Fred Diamond’s best-sellers Love, Hope, Lyme: What Family Members, Partners, and Friends Who Love a Chronic Lyme Survivor Need to Know and Insights for Sales Game Changers now!
Today’s show featured an interview with Quinton Feltner, Regional Sales Vice President, Microsoft (Nuance).
Find Quinton on LinkedIn.
QUINTON’S TIP: “I put it in three buckets. Fix, avoid, and accomplish. Can you help somebody avoid something? Can you help somebody accomplish something? Can you help somebody fix something? When you really focus consistently and seeking to be that problem-solver, you’re going to set yourself apart.”
THE PODCAST BEGINS HERE
Fred Diamond: Quinton, I’m excited to talk to you. We’ve had a couple of guests on the Sales Game Changers Podcast in the past from Microsoft, but none that have taken the route you have. You are with Nuance, and that was acquired by Microsoft. We’re going to be talking about that a little bit today. Tell us a little bit about yourself and tell us what you sell for Microsoft today.
Quinton Feltner: Thanks for the invitation and for having me here. I love your platform. A little bit about me, almost 30 years in the sales profession, about 25 of those specifically in the healthcare provider facing arena. Hoosier at heart, so go Hoosiers, but loving life in the Valley of the Sun in Arizona. Got three kids and two grandkids. Love the aspect of getting to spoil the grandkids and then to turn them back over from that standpoint. A lot of fun here. A lot of excitement in sales. Being with Nuance and then being acquired, coming into Microsoft, it’s been an incredible transition. They always don’t work that way. This one, knock on wood, it has very complimentary cultures and I think good synergistic opportunities. We still got to execute on a daily basis, but a lot of excitement, a lot of good things going on here.
Fred Diamond: It all comes down to execution. We’re going to be talking about a couple of things that we don’t historically have spoken about on the Sales Game Changers Podcast. We’re going to be talking about the healthcare and life sciences markets, and I’m excited about that. But we’re doing today’s interview in the beginning of 2025, so let’s get right to it. How’s it going? How are things going for your sales organization today?
Quinton Feltner: Things are incredible. It’s a unique opportunity in the spirit of being a problem-solver and really having the opportunity to extend value from experiences that we can bring forth that resonate inner trust and credibility with our market. I think that’s the unique opportunity that I, with my team, are experiencing. We got to earn it every day. We have stiff competition. But again, it’s all about being that problem-solver, and you can only be that when you really understand the dynamics of your market that you’re seeking to serve. What are those challenges? What are those opportunities? What are those things that you want to help them avoid? That’s how we lace them up every day and we look at things.
Fred Diamond: Obviously, everybody listening today knows about Microsoft, and Microsoft is so vast and sells so many things. I’m just curious, you led teams at Nuance and then they were acquired by Microsoft. I want to know about some of the differences from the previous when you were leading sales teams at Nuance and now within Microsoft. But first, tell us exactly what you sell. What exactly, for people who don’t know, are the types of products that you’re selling? Then tell us about the difference about selling them at Nuance when you’re independent and now that you’re being part of Microsoft.
Quinton Feltner: My team hears it often that what we sell are the problems we solve for with what we can extend. Now, in our arena, we like to say we’re the clinical application layer. If you think about provider, clinician-facing, what are some of the challenges, you probably hear it around burnout. 50% of doctors are saying, “Hey, I’m ready to throw in the towel. I’m frustrated. I’m burnt out.” Why is that? The burden that’s on them around clinical documentation is one of the examples. Having the ability to bring an experience forth that creates time is invaluable because then as the clinician and the organization, you get to determine how you want to reinvest that time. I like to say it’s our way of bringing a little bit of joy back to the life of a being a doctor.
That’s what we’re head down, that’s what we’re up to, but it’s not just clinician-facing. There’s other caregivers that are facing it, such as nursing. We’re head down ideating in that space as well. Multiple use cases are presenting themselves now with the infusion of generative AI and what can that bring forward when we think about those repetitive tasks that traditionally have been led with human capital, and how can we infuse smart intelligence to help relieve some of that burden and drive efficiencies.
Fred Diamond: What is the difference, when you were selling for Nuance and now you’re selling with the Microsoft brand on top of everything? I read some of the LinkedIn posts that you had done this topic and I was intrigued by it. We have a lot of sales professionals listening to the Sales Game Changers Podcast who work for large companies. We have a lot who also work for medium-sized companies, and we have some who are independents. About a quarter of the audience are people who either work for themselves or small business owners, and they’re out there grinding on their own. Give us a little bit of a peak on what it was like to sell at a company like Nuance, and now you’re with one of the biggest companies in the history of tech, Microsoft.
Quinton Feltner: Actually, it’s pretty much business as usual with an added dose of horsepower. From a Nuance perspective, many in healthcare recognize that branded name and the recognition that came with that, and likely 80% of the market in some form or fashion that we touch. It’s a lot of the same from that perspective, but recognizing the unique opportunity, when I say added horsepower, coming together with an organization like Microsoft and the depth and the power that that brings, the opportunities, that takes us to a whole nother level. I think in the spirit of Satya Nadella, the Microsoft CEO, is like, “Hey, be a learn-it-all,” we’re drinking from a fire hose of being a learn-it-all, not a know-it-all but it’s about being a student of the game and being a learn-it-all. I think that’s serving us well at this point.
Fred Diamond: Talk about the healthcare and the life sciences market. For people who are listening to today’s Sales Game Changers Podcast, how do you develop a focused sales strategy selling to those markets?
Quinton Feltner: Whether it’s health and life sciences, really any market, at least from my personal experience and perspective, it’s not about us. It’s about the market that you’re seeking to serve for, which means you got to tap into that. You got to really be that student, which means you got to get in the shed, you got to do your work. You need to be walking in the door virtually, physically, knowing a depth about your target audience. What are their key challenges? What are their key opportunities? Because that then helps you establish that level of credibility. Then you can separate yourself from the competition. That’s when you find yourself earning that trust and credibility and good things tend to happen. Again, all along as you focus on the client you’re seeking to serve, what’s important to them, not about you. Because if you do that, everything about you and the numbers game, that takes care of itself.
Fred Diamond: We talk about it all the time. The customers don’t need you. Matter of fact, you mentioned generative AI. A customer can go into any of the AI tools, ChatGPT, whatever, and type in, “Tell me everything I need to know about Microsoft’s technology for my industry.” Then ChatGPT will pop it all out. You as the sales professional, really need to bring value. I like what you just said before about how you need to be a learn-it-all about your customer. Quinton, give some advice right now to the junior sales professionals listening on what they should be doing to become a learn-it-all, to get to the point where they’re bringing information to their customer that their customer might not have thought about.
Quinton Feltner: You mentioned ChatGPT. Obviously, wearing the Microsoft badge, we have Copilot, which is infused within the suite of Microsoft 365. Internally, we utilize these applications ourselves, me personally, my team, to drive efficiencies and throughput. Personally, it puts a pep in my step because it removes some of my own burden, enables me to greater focus at a higher level of velocity. I’ll put it this way, to the younger audience, I’ll share this in context, that obviously we work with a lot of clinicians throughout organizations out in the United States, and you have doctors that will say, “Hey, this AI, is it going to replace me being a doctor?”
Our response is, the doctor that uses AI is going to replace the doctor that doesn’t. That translates to the sales executive that embraces and uses AI is going to replace the one that doesn’t. My message to the younger audience would be, whether you know it or not, you, we, Fred, you and I, we are all on our own AI journey right now. The question is, where are you at? Embrace it and continue to be a learn-it-all, because there’s so much that’s evolving so rapidly, you’re never going to be always up to the minute. But if you embrace that day in, day out, you’re going to grow, you’re going to have greater expansion, it’s going to separate you from your competition that’s going to enable you to engage at a deeper level with the market you’re seeking to serve. You’re going to be more insightful, you’re going to be smarter in their eyes. Those are all good things.
Fred Diamond: For the type of audiences that most of the guests that we bring on the Sales Game Changers Podcast serve, you’re talking intelligent audiences. You’re talking doctors, you’re talking healthcare administrators. Obviously, you’re also going to be dealing with IT and CIOs and chief technology officers, et cetera. Those are all smart people, and they don’t need you if you’re not going to be at their level or at least conversant on where they need to go.
I’m curious, I don’t really ask this question too often, but you’ve been a sales leader for a long time. Give me your top three leadership concepts. If I were to say to you on an elevator, “Hey, I see you’re a VP of sales at Microsoft. Quinton Feltner, what are your top three leadership concepts, or your top three leadership mantras or foci?”
Quinton Feltner: That’s an easy one. Right off the bat, it’s about servant leadership. I’m entrusted to lead a team. It’s not about me. It’s about my team. It’s about how I can help them be successful. You see the correlation there, right? If you focus on the market you’re seeking to serve, and you drive to have success for them, then success will in turn be there for you. That’s the same way I look at it with my team. Being a true servant leader. That comes from the heart. You can’t fake that. That’s got to truly come from within. It’s part of my DNA.
The second key aspect I think is when you think about leadership, I translate that to teamsmanship. I seek to have each member of my team be that CEO of their franchise and that domain leader. I think to me, the best scenarios create when you don’t know who the leader is. Because everybody’s accelerating and executing at such a high level, that’s a beautiful scenario. If I can create that type of a dynamic within my team, then I’m going to be sitting in a good spot.
Then the last, and this is in the spirit of coming into Microsoft and embracing the culture of Microsoft, which I love, which is the mantra of model, coach, and care. As a leader, you got to model the way, you got to coach the way, and every step of the way you have to ensure that your audience and those team members know that you care about them.
Fred Diamond: Let’s talk about from the customer perspective. It’s kind of interesting because in the middle or beginning of your career, I’m not going to age you or anything, but customers needed the sales professionals to come in. I remember when I was at Apple and Compaq, we would spend two days going over product strategy with the customer. They don’t really need that at this particular time. They could find a lot of that information from other places. Give our audience a perspective on what do you think customers really need from sales professionals right now? We’re doing today’s interview in the beginning of 2025, what do they need, for the sales professionals listening to today’s Sales Game Changers Podcast?
Quinton Feltner: The market needs credible, knowledgeable sales representatives that are seeking to extend value. You can only get to that point when you’ve put in the work to really understand. If I’m a prospect and I’ve got somebody calling on me, if I know that they’ve really done their homework and they’ve really studied me and my organization, and that they’re at the pulse of our organization, that’s going to resonate more, versus somebody that shows up, “Hey, what are your top challenges you’re facing?” You should be walking in the door already knowing what those are.
Fred Diamond: I agree with you. Talk about relationships for a little bit. You’ve been in sales for a long time. You probably have some customers maybe that you’ve been dealing with for decades potentially. What kind of relationships should sales professionals be doing right now with customers? I’m curious on your thoughts from a social perspective. Should they be taking their customers to ball games? Do customers want that? Should you be developing friendships with customers? What does that look like today? Is that important for sales professionals to be thinking about? We’ve heard this mantra. We don’t talk about it a whole lot, that customers need to like you in order to buy from you. I don’t know if that’s true in some of the areas that we’re talking about. I’m curious, though, on your thoughts on that.
Quinton Feltner: I still do believe with all the technology, all the innovation going on, the transaction of sales is still relationship-driven. I don’t think that’s going anywhere. I think when you can arm yourself with those technologies, gain those insights, you can show up more intelligent, you can show up more credible, and then you have the opportunity because you’re seeking to serve, and that the client prospect feels that’s coming from the heart, you’re going to have a better chance to establish that relationship to be that difference-maker. I’ve always personally, back in the day when I was an individual contributor, and now for many years leading teams, you’ve got to establish those connections. How can you do that?
One, we’ve got social media platforms that give you a wealth of insights. If you’re not living and breathing, trying to be a student of the game there, you’re missing the mark. If you’re not showing up to industry events, just this week, two days ago, I was here locally at an industry event networking, seeking new connections, those are all aspects of sales. At the end of the day, you said it, but most people, they do business with people they like, and they don’t like doing business with people they don’t like, from that standpoint. I don’t think the relationship aspect is going anywhere, but we’ve got to show up more astute, and it’s always got to come from the heart. It can’t be pre-manufactured. In those occasions, where those years and years of connections, I personally have those that have turned into some of my strongest friendships today as we’ve moved on in our careers, and that’s a beautiful thing.
Fred Diamond: I’m just curious, from a prioritization perspective, what are the main things that you’re focused on? We covered a lot of things, AI, relationships, domain expertise. Just curious, what are your top priorities for you right now as a sales leader?
Quinton Feltner: For me as a sales leader, it’s all about being that shepherd for my team, helping to elevate their skillset, their ability to be successful. It gets back to that coach model care aspect of it. They know I’m a hard driver and it’s all for the right reasons, because we all want to be successful and you got to earn it daily. That’s top of mind because in this world where I live with my team, we’re out there hunting net new, and nothing happens until you show up with value that is recognized. That’s the lifeline of an organization. Building pipeline, closing business, you can only do that when you’ve done the work on the front end. Those are key fundamentals. It may be over simplistic, but those are the key simplistic fundamentals. Day in, day out, execute, stack your days, day over day, be consistent with the self-discipline. You bat 333, I’m a basketball guy, but here’s a baseball analogy, bat 333 of your career, you’re going to be up in the hall of fame.
Fred Diamond: I sometimes ask this question, I haven’t asked it in a while. If somebody were considering coming to work from Microsoft or a competitor, what would be your argument for them? Presuming you want them and they’re the good fit, they would fit in well, what would be your pitch about why someone would come work in sales at Microsoft?
Quinton Feltner: At the end of the day, I think in the world of sales, we want to be valued in the eyes of those that we’re serving. It’s a unique opportunity here to do that day in, day out. We’re blessed, there’s a lot of folks that would like to wear this jersey from that standpoint. It doesn’t matter the name of the company, but extending that experience through the value you bring, earning that trust and credibility, that becomes sticky. That in the world of sales, you’re going to have a long-term successful sales career. I’ve been fortunate that I’m living that.
Fred Diamond: We have a lot of junior sales professionals listening to the Sales Game Changers Podcast or reading the transcript. You’ve given some of great advice about having to learn and servant leadership, which I always love talking about. If you had to give one bit of advice to a junior sales professional, someone who’s maybe two, three years out of school, they’ve figured out after a couple years doing the phones or whatever, as an SDR or BDR, that sales is right for them, they’re ready to move up, what would be your one bit of salient advice for them?
Quinton Feltner: This is an easy one. For the young ones out there, find those that are successful and have been successful. Follow them, study them, learn their habits, and then internalize those and make them your own and execute on those habits. Then replicate the success. I gave you a baseball analogy, but I’m a hoops guy from Indiana, so I’m going to leave you with this. I would say for those youngsters, go to YouTube, pull up the 2009 Hall of Fame speech of Michael Jordan and write down every nugget that he communicates in his 30-minute Hall of Fame speech. He’s the goat. Everything that he talks about through his career, his challenges, what drove his success, are all applicable and transferrable in any profession. That is one that I give all of my new teammates coming in, or those that I would potentially be interviewing, is to go check that out and then seek to apply those.
Fred Diamond: One of the greatest books, just more briefly, that I ever read, believe it or not, was Bill Simmons book on basketball. Have you read that?
Quinton Feltner: That’s one I haven’t read, but I’m going to write it down here. I’ll have to check it out.
Fred Diamond: It’s about 10 years old now, so it’s gotten a little bit dated. I love to read business books and all those kinds of things, but I literally savored that book and I cherish this book. Last question. Are you a college hoops guy or a pro hoops guy?
Quinton Feltner: I’m a hoops guy through and through. Now, obviously, all things Hoosier, but I’ve jumped on the WNBA. This past year got to go to two Indiana Fever games, loved Caitlin Clark and what she’s done for the women’s game. Incredible. Was in Indie at a sellout arena, here in Phoenix at a sellout arena. It’s incredible. Hoops, hoops, and hoops.
Fred Diamond: Sometimes when I get a basketball or baseball guy on, I could talk for hours. I’ve had some baseball pitchers on the show where we’ve gotten into the nuance of where to put your feet on the mound, et cetera. Who’s your favorite player of all time?
Quinton Feltner: That’s an easy one. Larry Bird. Indiana State. I knew exactly where I was at the night watching that game against Michigan State. Unfortunately, they lost. Long time Boston Celtics fan and just diehard Larry Bird fan. Loved the way that he approached the game. Not the most athletic, but his hard work and his mind, that was the separation. He liked talking some smack, which I like talking some smack too, so he’s my all-time favorite.
Fred Diamond: I don’t know if this is maybe an apocryphal story or not, and they use a similar analogy with Wayne Gretzky in Hockey, was that they said that Larry Bird knew every inch of the court and where there might be like a lower indentation or something where the ball might not bounce as high on other places because it’s imperfect. They also said that he not only knew everything that was going on on the court, he knew everything that was going on in the arena. They used to use the same analogy for Wayne Gretzky from hockey, that presence of mind.
Quinton Feltner, this was great. I could talk to you for five more hours about basketball and sports analogies, I’m sure. But give us one final action step. You’ve given us a lot of great ideas that people can put into play, but give us one thing specific that people who are listening to the show should put into play right now to take their sales career to the next level.
Quinton Feltner: It goes back to being a student of the game. You got to identify the market you’re seeking to serve. You got to go play in those sandboxes. You got to make those connections. You got to study, study, study, learn. I put it in three buckets. It’s the old Sandler selling methodology back in the day, but it still sticks today, fix, avoid, and accomplish. Can you help somebody avoid something? Can you help somebody accomplish something? Can you help somebody fix something? When you really focus consistently and seeking to be that problem-solver, you’re going to set yourself apart. That takes hard work and you got to have some thick skin because you get a lot of nos. But those that see it through and through, the repetition, you can end up having a very, very successful career in sales, no matter what industry you’re in.
Fred Diamond: Congratulations on your success. It reminds me of one of our statements at the Institute for Excellence in Sales is, if you’re a professional, be a professional, and a professional does all the things that you just talked about.
Once again, I want to thank Quinton Feltner for being a guest on today’s Sales Game Changers Podcast. My name is Fred Diamond.
Transcribed by Mariana Badillo