The Standard Sales Trigger: Rick Johnstone’s SVP Hire
Rick Johnstone just landed as SVP of National Accounts at The Standard. Use this sales trigger to pitch Salesforce Sales Cloud, stack your pipeline, and crush quota.
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🚀 Battle Card: The Standard
Quick trigger:
👤 Decision Maker in the News
- Rick Johnstone, Senior Vice President of National Accounts Sales and Client Management · 🔗 LinkedIn
💡 Why It Matters
- This The Standard sales trigger underscores the push to scale enterprise benefits sales with a dedicated national accounts leader → Source
🎯 Core Pain Point
- Fragmented sales channels across newly acquired benefits lines
- Lack of unified national strategy for large employer accounts
💰 What to Pitch
- Primary: Salesforce Sales Cloud → Centralized account management for national enterprise deals
- Expansion: BenefitFocus Platform → Seamless integration of voluntary benefits into sales workflow
🗺️ Quick Context
- HQ: Portland, OR
- Employees: ≈ 5,232
- Rev: ≈ $3 B
- Website: standard.com
🤼 Competitive Intel
Which other vendors you’ll face to win this The Standard sales trigger and secure the national accounts rollout.
- Salesforce Sales Cloud — CRM / Sales Automation
- Unique edge: Market-leading customization and ecosystem
- Evaluated by SVP Sales for enterprise integration
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales — CRM
- Unique edge: Tight Office 365 integration
- Evaluated by IT for security and compliance
- HubSpot CRM — Sales Platform
- Unique edge: User-friendly interface and free tier
- Evaluated by Sales Ops for quick setup
- Oracle CX Sales — CRM
- Unique edge: Comprehensive CX suite
- Evaluated by Finance for ROI analysis
- SAP Sales Cloud — CRM
- Unique edge: End-to-end sales performance management
- Evaluated by COO for global scalability
✅ Do-Now Checklist
Connect with Rick Johnstone on LinkedIn (link above)
Generate email + DM with the Copy-My-Prompt block (Step 7) and send first touch
Schedule follow-ups in CRM (Day 3 & Day 10)
Leverage this The Standard sales trigger in your next proposal to stand out.
Next Step
🧠 Copy My Prompt for Personalized Cold Outreach
────────────────────────────
✏️ YOUR COMPANY
────────────────────────────
OUR_COMPANY = ❑<your company>❑
OFFER_BRIEF = ❑<1-line value>❑
PROOF_METRIC = ❑<metric>❑
CTA_STYLE = ❑quick_call | case_study❑
TONE = ❑friendly | punchy❑
────────────────────────────
📌 TARGET COMPANY
────────────────────────────
NAME = Rick
COMPANY = The Standard
DEPT = National Accounts Sales
SIZE = ≈ TBD
BOTTLENECK = Fragmented sales channels across newly acquired benefits lines
EVENT = Appointment of Rick Johnstone as SVP of National Accounts Sales
DETAIL = appointment announcement
PAIN = Lack of unified national strategy for large employer accounts
SRC = http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=ftfLlWd9aZbF2NXfwppam3Bd664=&newsLang=en&newsId=20251031254032&div=41152219
SIM_CO = ≈ TBD
WIN_METRIC = ≈ TBD
NEXT_SIZE = ≈ TBD
EMP_EST = 5,232
REV_EST = ≈ $3 B
────────────────────────
TASK FOR CHATGPT
────────────────────────
Role: “NewsletterForLeads SDR-Assist”.
Validate any ≈ guesses via SRC.
EMAIL (keep breaks):
Subject: <<SIZE>>-person <<DEPT>>
<<NAME>>—noticed your <<DEPT>> team is ≈ <<SIZE>>.
That’s when <<BOTTLENECK>> slows growth.
We helped <<SIM_CO>> fix this with <<OFFER_BRIEF>>.
Result: <<WIN_METRIC>>.
<<CTA_STYLE=="quick_call" ? "Quick call?" : "Want the 2-min recap?">>
PS—next bottleneck hits ≈ <<NEXT_SIZE>>.
DM ≤45 words, TONE:
Saw your post about <<DETAIL>> — <<PAIN>>.
<<OFFER_BRIEF>>. <<PROOF_METRIC>>.
<<CTA_STYLE=="quick_call" ? "Quick chat?" : "Send case study?" >>