148: Vaughn English – How to Build Out a Sales Team

Guest: Vaughn English

Guest Bio:

Vaughn English is a growth-focused sales leader with over 10 years of experience driving revenue across industries including digital marketing, 3D visualization, tourism, and insurance. He has a proven track record of building high-performing outreach strategies, leading cross-functional teams, and closing complex B2B deals. Vaughn specializes in leveraging CRM platforms, marketing automation, and creative campaigns to engage prospects and accelerate the sales cycle. From launching national tourism campaigns to scaling 3D content solutions for enterprise clients, he brings a consultative approach that aligns client goals with actionable solutions. Vaughn thrives at the intersection of strategy, creativity, and execution, consistently turning opportunities into lasting partnerships.

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Key Points:

Background and Path to Sales

Started in theater; transitioned to sales due to communication skills and confidence. First job: selling DirecTV inside Costco, a challenging experience that taught resilience. Gradually moved into more prestigious roles, now at Fracture.

Role at Fracture

Tasked with building the B2B infrastructure from scratch, including identifying the ideal customer profile (ICP), creating case studies, lookbooks, product menus, and developing marketing and outreach processes.

Finding the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Initially targeted hospitality, but realized sales cycles are very long. Exploring design firms and higher education as more promising ICPs. Higher ed (e.g., Boston College) often needs ongoing art installations, recognition plaques, etc., making them strong repeat buyers.

CRM and Sales Technology

Strong proponent of using CRMs despite challenges. Believes CRMs are essential for organizing contacts and outreach, launching automated email campaigns, and tracking sales activity.

Sales Outreach Strategy

Focuses heavily on cold email campaigns. Personalized and well-researched. Uses intent data (from sources like ZoomInfo, Bombora) to identify companies showing buying signals. Example: campaign to Ben & Jerry's using their "Flavor Graveyard" as a custom subject line. Warm leads via email before calling; cautious about cold calling personal cell phones (though interviewer disagrees).

Team Dynamics and Management Style

Small team (essentially 2 people); the other focuses on account management. Balances trust with light micromanagement, uses CRM visibility (e.g., BCCs, task tracking) to monitor activity, steps in when new leads aren't followed up quickly enough. Believes in hiring people he can trust to reduce the need for hovering.

Challenges and Learnings

Struggles with ensuring consistent follow-up on new leads while handling large ongoing projects. Building out processes and infrastructure in real-time while scaling the B2B arm. Emphasizes that real ICP identification comes through direct conversations and testing.

Guest Links:

vaughn.english@fractureme.com

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