Eva Danieli is the senior director of global business development (BD) for Norstella, the parent company of MMIT, Evaluate, Panalgo and The Dedham Group. She leads a team of 20 business development representatives (BDRs) at MMIT, Evaluate and Panalgo. The BDR team, based in Boston, London, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, uses sales enablement technology to create awareness around Norstella’s brands and products.
How did you join the company?
I’d always been in software. Throughout my career, I’ve always been the first BDR to join organizations that are starting BD or inside sales development teams. A colleague I’d worked with in the past joined MMIT and he brought me in seven and a half years ago as one of the first BDRs to build out that function. When I started, we didn’t have Salesforce, we didn’t have a website, so we really built out sales and marketing from the ground floor up. It was a great opportunity.
What does your day-to-day usually look like?
I partner with the commercial operations and technology teams to make sure the systems my team uses are functioning. We’re always trying to improve BD applications so workflows and metrics are more efficient. I partner with the commercial leadership teams to help guide strategic initiatives where my team can add value. And then I also meet with our 20 BDRs when they need coaching or guidance to provide them with the support they need to meet their goals.
What are some of the larger projects you’re working on?
The biggest goal is always to drive revenue for the company. The more that we can connect sales with the right prospects, the more revenue we can contribute to the sales pipeline. The major goal for the BDR team right now is standardization and integration, making sure that all BDRs have the same processes and are speaking the same language. This year, we really want to work at building out career paths for BDRs to help them move up within the organization.
What are some of the common challenges of your role?
I can’t be everywhere at once. Sometimes it’s just managing my own day-to-day, because my team grew from eight to 20 people in just a couple of months. But we’re alleviating that by hiring Hugo Hernandez as Senior BDR Manager to take some of that off my plate. The growth has been tremendous for the commercial team and specifically for BD. Last year, the BDRs booked almost 1,600 meetings for all of 2021. This year, at the end of the first quarter, we’re already at over 1,000 meetings globally! Thankfully, across all of our organizations, our systems and processes are very scalable, so our metrics aren’t unmanageable.
What’s been your biggest win so far?
Growing the team from two BDRs to eight at MMIT. Just being able to watch the percentage increase of our output over the past year, the scale has been amazing and I feel really good about it.
What would you say sets Norstella apart?
Norstella companies are connected to our overall mission which is smoothing patient access to life saving therapies. In my career, I’ve not worked for a company where I felt so connected to the mission. By focusing solely on our core competencies and our core values, we’ve been able to surpass the competition in our space.
Which company principle resonates most with you?
Boldness and passion. The BD team is typically the face of MMIT. We’re the first interaction that someone has with the organization. So our BDRs have to be enthusiastic and passionate about what they do in order to get that engagement. They’re all very passionate about what they do, and that’s not something you can coach. They come to the table very motivated and driven with an enormous desire to succeed. I always say I have the best job at the company because I don’t have that much work to do with this team, because from the day they start they have this inherent drive I’ve never seen before in my career.
Where do you see the company in the next year?
Our Norstella goal is to reach $1 billion in revenue. The business development team fuels a lot of that because we’re the top of that funnel, so I see us growing in size and scale to get there. It’s a very exciting time to be on the BDR team because there’s a ton of growth potential.
What’s your favorite part of your job?
The day that someone on my team gets promoted. It’s my proudest moment when a BDR gets the tap on the shoulder to go up to the next level in their career. We’ve had BDRs move into client success, health care sales, RJ Health and pharma sales and we anticipate more opportunities than ever before with the trajectory of Norstella companies.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I just graduated from Rutgers with an MBA. In October, I went to Oklahoma with my tennis team to compete in the national championship at my level. I live at the Jersey Shore and have two very needy dogs that you’ll hear on every single Zoom call, never fails!
