Angela L. Martin · SLED Playbook

Stop managing lagging numbers.

Angela L. Martin. Public-sector sales leader, Alexandria, Virginia. This is how I run a state, local and education region with engineering as a partner.

Build a governed sales system where discovery uncovers real business pain and execution is repeatable.

Read the engineEmail Angela

Track record, by role

Sources: AT&T FirstNet 2018 to 2025, New Relic, Verizon Connect, Bridgevine.

Discovery Validation (POV) Commercial Adoption AE lane, commercial SE lane, technical Recon and pain EB interlock Proposal and vehicle Business review Architecture map Scope and run POV Technical viability First workloads live Stage 1 gate pain + validated EB Dual-key POV gate AE and SE sign Stage 5 vehicle + MAP stakeholder brief written success criteria scoped hours + end date viability read adoption signal SE owns SE owns
The engine runs in two lanes through discovery, validation, commercial and adoption, with three gates between them, and the systems engineer owns the validation and adoption lanes plus the second key on the proof-of-value gate.

This site is the method behind that sentence: how I segment a team, how I inspect a pipeline, how I protect engineering capacity, and how I plan a public sector territory around a 30 June fiscal close. The worked example throughout is Cisco's networking, security and Splunk portfolio, because that is the portfolio I have mapped most recently. The method itself is portable to any enterprise platform sold into state and local government.

The unit of execution is not the rep, it is the pod.

An account executive on the buyer and the paper, a systems engineer on the architecture and the proof of value, a data platform specialist, and a partner who holds the contract the customer already buys on. The engineer is in that pod from the first discovery call, not from the demo.

Customer no handoffs Account executive buyer and vehicle Systems engineer architecture owner Splunk specialist platform depth Partner holds the paper commercial architecture data platform paper and procurement
One pod surrounds each tiered account with four named owners, and the systems engineer owns the architecture line into the customer from discovery onward.

The playbook

Method

Five Principles of SLED Sales

What public sector selling actually rewards, and the sales engine I run on top of it.

 People

Turning Talent into Predictable Revenue

Team segmentation, the weekly rhythm, MEDDPICC stage gates, leading indicators, and how I hire.

 Process

Discovery and Post-Discovery Playbooks

Four phases to find real pain, three phases to convert it without burning technical resources.

 Partnership

How Sales and Systems Engineering Win Together

Mechanisms with named owners: the dual-key gate, the shadow forecast, the five-minute debrief. The last two are adapted from AE/SE partnership research.

 Platform

Splunk in the territory

Three plays, two motions, and the engineer who owns the architecture and the proof-of-value criteria.

 Territory

Territory Strategy: MD, DE, WV and Higher Ed

One table per segment, three growth levers, and the June 30 calendar that sets the rhythm.

 Procurement

State and Local Contract Vehicles

The national, state and education vehicle map I plan against, and how I use it.

 Background

About

Bio, leadership highlights, and how to reach me.

Background

I am a public sector sales leader based in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, with a career built on SLED and federal accounts: state IT agencies, higher education, K-12 districts, and federal civilian departments. I have carried a quota, built partner ecosystems, and led partner and account teams in a matrixed motion, most recently at New Relic; a direct team of 12 at Bridgevine. Before that I covered federal civilian accounts at AT&T FirstNet from 2018 to 2025.

Contact

If you are building or rebuilding a public-sector team, I would welcome a conversation. AngelaLMartin@gmail.com · 303-520-9787 · angelalmartin.com