Why 2Win Teamed Up With 2nd Connections: Helping People Grow Their Careers Is What Keeps Us Going

Ask anyone at 2Win what the best part of the job is, and you’ll hear some version of the same answer. It’s watching the people we train go on to do great things. Someone lands the role they wanted, earns a promotion, or ends up leading a team of their own, and they take what they learned with them.

That’s why our new partnership with 2nd Connections was an easy call. As of today, Demo2Win! certification is officially part of the 2nd Connections career coaching program for sales engineers, presales pros, and account executives. Mattie Stremic built 2nd Connections to help sellers grow their careers, and that’s the same thing that has kept 2Win going for years.

Job seekers with 2nd Connections now get coached by 2Win-certified coaches who have hired for these roles, and hiring leaders get proof they already trust that a new seller can ramp fast.

Career Growth Has Always Been Part of How 2Win Works

2Win has spent decades helping sellers get better at the moments that decide deals. We’ve trained more than 100,000 GTM pros at companies like Microsoft, Salesforce, and Workday, and those skills don’t stay put when people change jobs. They go with them.

We see it all the time. An SE takes Demo2Win early in their career, moves up, and a few years later brings it to the presales team they now run. Certification is a starting line, and the habits behind it keep paying off in every role that follows.

“Helping people reach their career goals is what has kept 2Win going for years. When we saw what 2nd Connections does for sellers in a job search, partnering with them was a no-brainer.” Chad Wilson, COO, 2Win! Global

2nd Connections Was Built on the Same Belief

Mattie Stremic started 2nd Connections to help sellers move their careers forward through people, not job boards. Over the past six years, she and a team of Solutions and Sales leaders have helped hundreds of GTM pros land roles, earn promotions, and change careers.

“I founded 2nd Connections because I’ve seen how much careers grow through people. Information is everywhere, but having people in your corner who can share their experience, give honest feedback, and help you get better is different. That’s what excites me about partnering with 2Win: it adds another layer of validation to the skills our clients bring to the table and helps us connect trained talent with the leaders looking to hire them.” Mattie Stremic, Founder of 2nd Connections

When two companies care about the same thing, working together is the natural next step. 2nd Connections helps people get in front of the right hiring leaders, and Demo2Win certification gives those leaders a reason to say yes.

Hiring Leaders Want Proof a New Seller Can Ramp Fast

Every sales hire is a bet on the months after the offer. The Bridge Group puts the average AE ramp at close to five months, and SEs can take longer because they have to learn the product, the buyer, and the team’s way of selling all at once. A résumé and a good interview can’t tell a hiring leader how someone will handle a tough buyer in month two.

That’s where certification helps. Many presales leaders already train their own teams on Demo2Win, so when a candidate holds the same certification, the manager knows what they learned. Onboarding can focus on the product and the accounts instead of the basics of a good demo, and the new hire already speaks the team’s language.

A certification the hiring leader already trusts is the one part of a candidate’s story they don’t have to take on faith.

For job seekers, that turns “I’m great in front of buyers” into something a hiring panel can confirm.

Many People Around 2nd Connections Already Know and Teach Demo2Win!

This partnership works because the two groups already overlap. Many of the presales leaders and advisors around 2nd Connections have taken Demo2Win or bought it for their teams. Alex Stanton, for example, rolled Demo2Win out to his team at RealPage.

You’ll see that overlap in three places in the program:

• Presales leaders in the 2nd Connections network know the certification firsthand, so they know what a certified candidate brings.
• 2Win is certifying select Demo2Win alumni to coach it inside 2nd Connections, so you learn it from people who have used it in real deals.
• You’ll work with 2Win-certified coaches who have hired for these roles and know what a panel looks for in your demo.

A candidate trained the way your team works, and coached by people who have hired for the role, is an easy yes.

Each of those groups gives a hiring leader one more reason to trust the person in front of them. Put together, they take real risk out of the hire.

What the Partnership Means for Job Seekers and Hiring Leaders

Job seekers walk into the final round with a credential the panel knows and with coaching from people who have sat on that panel. The skill they build for the interview is the same one the job asks for, so it carries right into their first customer demo.

Hiring leaders get candidates trained the way their own team may already work, so onboarding can start with the product and the accounts on day one. 2Win doesn’t place candidates, and every hiring decision stays with the hiring team.

For us, this is one more way to do the part of the job we love most. Some of the people who go through this program will land the role they want, and a few years from now, they’ll be the ones hiring.

If you’re in a job search, or about to start one, you can apply for coaching at 2ndconnections.com/coaching/apply.