Rob Durant

I’m the son of a math teacher. My Dad has taught in public schools for over 50 years! Even in his retirement he still teaches at a local community college.

But when it came time for me to go to college he strongly discouraged me from going into teaching. He told me it was difficult to raise a family as a teacher. I saw his struggles and understood.

Instead I went into business. But in every role I found myself gravitating towards helping, mentoring, leading, training - Teaching.

I started my career with the Walt Disney Company, the company credited with inventing the field of customer service. There I learned the art & science of providing outstanding customer service. But when it came time for me to raise a family of my own it was important for us to be closer to our extended family and we moved back to Boston.

Eventually I landed with the phone company. After weeks of interviews and batteries of tests I still remember the call from the HR representative, “Rob, we’d like to offer you the role of customer service representative. But please know, there is a sales quota with this role.”

Ugh. I swallowed hard and took the job. But up to this point I had the same (mis)perception about sales that many I encounter in customer service today still have: Sales is EVIL! Sales is yucky. If Sales didn’t screw up somewhere we wouldn’t NEED customer service!

I have since come to learn I could not have been more wrong. Eventually I became a highly successful sales representative – bonuses, prizes, Presidents Club trips and all that.

But my true nature is helping, mentoring, guiding. While I could help one customer at a time as a sales rep, I saw my impact scale as I helped others do the same. Eventually I transitioned into sales leadership, sales training, sales operations, and what is now known as Sales Enablement - and more recently Revenue Enablement.

At one point in my career I had an opportunity to teach in public high schools - and I loved every minute of it. My Dad was right - it was difficult to raise a family as a teacher, but we got by somehow.

But when the start-up world reached out to me and said, “Rob, we want you to help our sales team get from point A to point Z. Not only do we not have the roads built, we haven’t drawn the map!” I jumped at the chance.

I LOVE working with start-ups! The fast pace, the green field to develop new things, the younger generation I get to mentor and help build their career foundations - this is EXCITING to me! I found my calling helping to build organizations by building the careers of those who join them.

Teaching.