Dawson Wynne

Florida, USA

ValueSelling has been the cornerstone of Dawson’s sales success for over 20 years. She has a proven track record of generating leads, closing deals and retaining customers. An energizing coach, Dawson transforms sales teams into high performers that measurably improve business results.

Prior to joining ValueSelling Associates, Dawson was a founding member of Gartner’s inside sales team where she leveraged ValueSelling successfully:

• Earning the top spot in her division the first year
• Achieving a 91% client retention rate when the average was below 50%
• Sourcing and closing a $150K benchmarking deal solely over the phone
• Taking over the bottom-performing sales team, instilling ValueSelling skills, and leading them to #2 in the first year and #1 the next year
• Achieving Winners’ Circle 6 times, at least once in every sales role

Learning ValueSelling from its founder, Lloyd Sappington, Dawson credits his advice as central to her success: “You don’t know where the line is unless you cross it every once in a while.”

In 2010 she, along with two colleagues, created the first Gartner Sales Academy model, which rapidly became and remains the global standard for Gartner’s sales training. In its first year, Academy graduates wrote 2x more new business, had a 6% higher client retention rate, and achieved Winners’ Circle at a 10% higher rate than their predecessors. She was then tasked to create Gartner’s first Client Services New Hire Academy that spanned over 20 roles in seven business units. Due largely to the use of the ValueSelling Framework, new hire client retention rates rose by 32% compared to those who did not leverage ValueSelling. To date, she has certified over 1,500 people in the ValueSelling Framework.

In Her Words

What would we never guess about you? I was a SCUBA Instructor for 6 years… got to introduce over 300 people to a whole new world! 

Favorite activities? Paddle boarding, growing orchids, and adventure travel.  So far I’ve dived to to a Japanese Zero fighter at 100’ in the belly of a freighter, seen a tiger in the wild, caught a 175 lb bigeye tuna (well, to be honest, Dad had to finish landing it – I was wiped), pondered life’s purpose beneath the northern lights on a glacier in central Iceland, taken a riverboat to a treetop lodge on the Amazon, hand-fed sharks in the Baltimore aquarium (they fussed at me for that one), trekked up for a glimpse of Everest… can’t wait to see what happens next.  Suggestions welcome!

Proudest career moment? I had a new hire sales student who was so nervous during practice that her voice would shake.  As it turns out she’d been a bartender. I asked if she’d ever had to have the confidence to handle a drunk and she lit up – you bet!  Putting her bottle key in her pocked got her into that bartender mindset, so I asked her to bring it to work.  We never spoke of it again.  Weeks later she graduated with flying colors.  At the celebration beach day, she handed me a thank you card and I felt something slip into my pocket – it was that bottle key.  She said she’d had it in her pocket during finals.  It is now framed in my office.

Superpower you’d like to have?  A wicked high metabolism!  Food is one of life’s great joys:  the perfect smoked dry rubbed pork rib, Mom’s soft warm yeast rolls with cold butter, a French pear and almond tart, the perfect summer peach, fettuccine alfredo with cracked black pepper, egg salad on soft wheat bread, absolutely anything fried in bacon fat….