For the past year, I have been working in a tech start-up exclusively focused on reselling leading cloud computing technologies in a new model. When I was hired, I was employee #8… and now there are 20 people in the corporate office and 50 outside sales representatives (yay!). This is definitely an experience that has been incalculable; I am grateful I had the opportunity and took the risk. This environment has given me the flexibility to try new things and be involved in projects outside my job scope, but has also allowed me to be seen by my employer transparently.
From the time I was hired until now, I have worked my way through 3 promotions, 4 departments, and am now the Senior Manager of Sales and Partner Alliances. This position was obtained through hard-work, dedication and a lot of blood, sweat and tears (actually, there were no tears). This start-up does not allow people to just make up great titles for themselves; my standing in the company is based on the effort I put forth.
My time, or journey you could say, began recruiting developers for the Developer Alliances department. When that area was tabled because of company priorities, I was quickly moved into the Portfolio Strategies department. This was a great place to start because I was forced to quickly learn about SaaS, cloud computing and all the ISV’s that have built cloud applications. I assisted the co-founder in researching, vetting, and requiring the ‘chosen’ companies to go through an extensive due diligence process. After we narrowed it down to a few companies, we would enter into negotiations with them and create the documentation around our partnership. Once the negotiation was settled, we would select one product and add them to our growing portfolio of products.
After a few months in Portfolio Strategies, I was transitioned into Partner Alliances. I have been dedicated to developing the partner program and building the partner alliances department from the ground up. This process has involved: researching, recruiting, supporting, training and keep our partners engaged. When you are a ‘no-name’ company that has one product in its' portfolio, this process is easier said then done. I waded through many challenges related to the fact that the company was just a start-up and had no case studies to demonstrate our model would be a success. Perseverance and confidence were key components in this process and as a result the company now has 30+ consulting partners and 11 products in its portfolio.
In addition to supporting our partners, I am also responsible for managing our outside sales representatives on the West coast – approximately 30 people with an average of 17 yrs of tech sales experience. Training our sales staff and keeping them updated on our ever-growing portfolio has proven to be the most challenging part of this responsibility (besides having them update the CRM, but that’s a given in any company). In tandem with the CEO, I created a 6-hours a day, two week intensive training that takes place once a month for our new sales hires and the existing reps that want to attend. It has proven to be thorough, comprehensive and effective in enabling our sales representatives to get out there and close deals! In addition, the sales portal, weekly pipeline calls, and one-on-one sessions aid in the support and growth of the sales team and their success.
Outside of my job description, I also have many items I am responsible in keeping up. For example I am the; unofficial social chair, breakfast pastry baker, birthday cake maker, happy hour planner, positive personality, morale booster, and the right hand to the CEO.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment