#LevelUp Your Sales Career: Finding and Leveraging Your Sales Superpower
Like many people, Joy Dempsey fell into sales. After studying English at Oxford University and an early career as a police officer, Joy transitioned to sales development. Joy was motivated to become a police officer because she wanted to make a difference in her community. As a police officer, people sometimes saw the uniform and not Joy. Not the empathetic, kind, and driven woman that she is. However, Joy’s empathy, one of her sales superpowers, has been critical for her success in sales. “I had zero sales experience going in and I really didn’t know much about it as an industry. In my experience, people from sales don’t come to career fairs and say ‘come and get into sales.’ Sales sometimes slips under the radar. Making the leap feeling quite uninformed was difficult, but I’m so glad that I did it because I found a career that I absolutely adore.” Currently, Joy is a Manager of Sales Development at Dataminr. Joy attributes her success to believing in herself, having the support of good leaders, and acting with conviction, empathy, and confidence. I asked Joy, what skills do you need to level up in order to become a sales development manager? “You are absolutely good enough. More than that, you are better than good enough…” Be Yourself Maybe it’s silly, but I worried so much about my hair coming into a sales role. I’m just so conscious that my hair is so big. And then with the pandemic this past year, people have had two schools of thought about what working online has done for equality. In a video conference, everyone is just a face and you take up the same amount of space on the screen. As a result, I’ve started to believe myself that my hair is professional, ‘I’ve come to feel comfortable in the fact that natural Black hair is professional too’. This is my natural hair, washed and clean, and this is what it looks like. One of my pieces of advice is don’t change what you look like in order to fit in. ‘One of my pieces of advice is your work, (not your hair!), is the measure of whether or not you fit in – energy spent worrying about what people think of your hair can be better spent doing the job’ “I want to say: you are absolutely good enough. More than that, you are better than good enough. And if you work hard, you deserve to be in the room that you’re in. Even if you don’t look like anyone else, you deserve to be there.” I think what successful SDRs do well is show that they are enthusiastic. As a hiring manager, I don’t prioritize experience. I prioritize enthusiasm and an ability to communicate. And another thing is just honesty and integrity. Just being honest about who you are, because when you’re working in sales development, you’re trying to connect with other people. And you can’t do that successfully if you’re pretending to be something that you’re not. Just be authentic. Creativity I wanted to be a manager because I really love competition, hitting targets, and being successful. But I realized when I was an SDR, I needed that element of helping others to really feel fulfilled. So, I thought, this mentality around competition and achievement could really work well in a management position. I will say that being an SDR and managing a team of SDRs takes a lot of different skills: coaching people, supporting people, and letting them try out those things. And it’s hard because you shift from doing one role to doing a very different role at times. You don’t just want to be that manager that’s always right. Being an SDR is about being creative and standing out. And it’s not just about replicating exactly what your manager has done in the past. The pandemic has really taught us that a multi-tiered approach to prospecting is always the best way. SDRs may have relied heavily on mobile phone numbers to contact people before the pandemic. Now, they have to pivot to email or to LinkedIn. And so just having a presence across all the platforms is the best way to be successful in sales development. About Joy Joy is training for her first triathlon in July 2021 and her experience summarizes her keys to career success: “I have an incredible triathlon coach who she is all about getting women of color into swimming, because I didn’t realize until I got into a pool that being a black woman in a pool is something that people don’t see every day. I had to seek out a swimming cap that would fit my hair, just one of the barriers to entry. When a sport focuses on you as the usual person participating in that sport, you don’t have to worry about barriers to entry. It’s really nice to have a triathlon coach that understands.” Whether you are looking to level-up your skills, your career, or your network, Kelley has shown us a successful approach – believe in yourself and take a leap. You may find yourself in an exciting new industry or company. Watch the #LevelUp Your Sales Career panel discussion here to #levelup your sales career with help and insight from savvy, global sales thought leaders. – CherilynnChief Learning Officer, SIS Cherilynn Castleman, Global Sales Keynote Speaker/Trainer/Executive Coach, has been a sales executive for 20+ years. With her natural talent for teaching and a drive to sell, Cherilynn uses her skills to coach and train other executives and sales professionals. Author of What’s In the CARDS? 5 Post Pandemic Sales Strategies. Sistas in Sales, LLC (SIS) is a community for women of color sales professionals to network, advance their careers and most importantly, find sisterhood – offering events, thriving Slack community with companies hiring now, and career coaching services. Learn more about Sistas In Sales membership here, connect with us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Sponsored by Dataminr Learn more about Dataminr below! Sign up for job alerts
#LevelUp Your Sales Career: Consider Taking a Leap
Making the leap into sales from a different field can be daunting. Kelley Johnson, Customer Success Manager at Dataminr, knows that all too well. Kelley is a results-driven manager extracting value from publicly available information, but she didn’t start out that way. Originally working in finance, Kelley made the switch to tech and has never looked back. She has a creative and agile leadership style that cultivates a highly productive and engaging team dynamic. I asked Kelley, what skills do you need to level up, in order to break into and become successful in sales? 1. Be Confident I always say, “don’t second guess yourself.” That’s my biggest advice. As a young Black woman, I wasn’t confident and at times experienced imposter syndrome. To counter this, it was crucial for me to remember my successes, aim to build upon them, and replay them while seeking the next challenge. As with confidence, exuding positivity is just as important. I maintain a positive attitude when engaging with colleagues and customers, and hope that it inspires others. When I started at Dataminr, I was excited to be a part of an entrepreneurial environment where my voice was heard and I was able to make an impact. Although my background was in finance, I was able to apply my client service learnings to my role at Dataminr. 2. Be Curious It’s important to be curious about your customers and their business, but also about the company you work for and what it has to offer. Dataminr’s customers want us to listen to their needs, engage in dialogue, and understand the business challenges they face — but they want us to do so as an informed consultant able to bring our knowledge and assets to the table. Sales success often boils down to connecting customer needs with your company’s capabilities. This means not only being curious, but being a proactive learner and engaging with the right stakeholders. This is also applicable to the world outside the office. Stay on top of current business trends and world affairs, as these things could well be affecting your customer’s businesses, and your familiarity with them could give you an edge in the market. 3. Networking Having a strong network is key. I learned about Dataminr and was referred by one of my mother’s previous interns. Almost every job that I’ve had came through a referral. And sometimes even if your background doesn’t align with the job description, reach out to people on LinkedIn and try to network your way through. Combat the negative thoughts and reach out. Make sure that you have advocates and coaches in your network, both internally and externally, to help you throughout your career. I think that’s huge. I received that career advice from my grandmother. She’s an executive coach and she’s always told me, “if you have a strong network, you can get far.” 4. Relationship Management I think that having strong relationship management is essential because that’s something that you can translate into almost any role. The ability to foster strong relationships with your customers, with anyone that you’re working with on a day to day basis, is important because you want someone to vouch for you when you’re not in the room. And whether they’re vouching for the company, the product, or for you as a person, you want them to be able to say positive things when you’re not there. As a new people manager, I’ve learned that you have to focus on the success of the team rather than yourself. Ensure your team has the tools to reach their personal goals which, in turn, will help me reach my goals. A mission-driven organization is amazing because every day you go in and you know that you’re making an impact, whether it be direct or indirect.” – Kelley Johnson, Customer Success Manager at Dataminr 5. Mission-Driven Organization The COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging over the past year, especially the past two quarters. Believing in the product or platform makes a difference. The work we are doing here at Dataminr is significant. We help customers detect, understand and mitigate risks. We help them get ahead of potential threats to their business. About Kelley Kelley works hard and plays hard to maintain a healthy mind and body. She pursues an active and natural lifestyle, loves a good workout session, and enjoys spending time with her 3-year-old Shih-Poo and best friend, Leo (a cross between the Shih Tzu and Toy Poodle). Whether you are looking to level-up your skills, your career, or your network, Kelley has shown us a successful approach – believe in yourself and take a leap. You may find yourself in an exciting new industry or company. Join us on Wednesday April 28th from 2-3:30 PM to #levelup your sales career with help and insight from savvy, global sales thought-leaders. Register Here – CherilynnChief Learning Officer, SIS Cherilynn Castleman, Global Sales Keynote Speaker/Trainer/Executive Coach, has been a sales executive for 20+ years. With her natural talent for teaching and a drive to sell, Cherilynn uses her skills to coach and train other executives and sales professionals. Author of What’s In the CARDS? 5 Post Pandemic Sales Strategies. Sistas in Sales, LLC (SIS) is a community for women of color sales professionals to network, advance their careers and most importantly, find sisterhood – offering events, thriving Slack community with companies hiring now, and career coaching services. Learn more about Sistas In Sales membership here, connect with us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Sponsored by Dataminr Learn more about Dataminr below! Sign up for job alerts
#KeepGrowing: If Given a Choice, Choose Challenge
Happy International Women’s Day! Every year on March 8th, communities around the world take the time to stop and recognize women’s accomplishments and contributions to society. To mark the occasion this year, I invite you to #ChooseToChallenge. Choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements because from challenge comes change. Today, I’m celebrating the accomplishments of Kristin Moore, a US Air Force veteran and current SMB Sales Manager at KeepTruckin. With her positive energy and enthusiastic outlook on life, Kristin chooses to challenge herself and those around her to make change for the better. She focuses on her growth to advance her career, she challenges her team to improve every day, and through challenges, she believes she can help sales newbies build successful sales careers. If you’ve wondered if you have what it takes to have a successful career in sales, I invite you to read Kristin’s story and learn how she went from serving in the US Air Force to a sales leadership role. The SDR Route – Here’s One Idea to Move Into Sales.One way to start a career in sales is to become a Sales Development Rep (SDR). SDRs are responsible for researching and reaching out to prospective clients (leads) and introducing the leads to your company. Transitioning from the Air Force to Sales After graduating from college on an ROTC scholarship, Kristin served in the US Air Force. She was stationed at Travis Air Force base, about two hours outside of San Francisco. With her proximity to Silicon Valley, Kristin saw so much opportunity bubbling up in San Francisco that she started working at Jhana, an online education-based company, and began exploring other industries once she finished her Air Force tour. The trucking industry kept coming up on her radar, so she decided to learn more. After conversations with recruiters and the high-energy, friendly team at KeepTruckin, it was an easy decision. Emerging and Groundbreaking Opportunities in the 21st Century Trucking Industry Kristin spoke passionately about the trucking industry. I don’t know about you, but prior to our conversation, I didn’t realize the crucial role trucking plays in the modern economy. With the explosion of e-commerce, every time you go to your door and there is a package, thank the trucking industry and the tech solutions that keep everything moving! The trucking industry in the United States: Q: First Kristin, thank you for your service! What sparked your interest in tech after your time in the Air Force? A: Honestly, if I hadn’t been stationed near San Francisco, I might still be in the Air Force! Seeing all the opportunity in tech in the city made me curious about what opportunities might exist for me in the tech space. I took a leap and found a 25-person tech startup where I started as a Sales Development Rep (SDR), also known as a Business Development Rep (BDR). I didn’t necessarily know that sales was what I wanted to do at the time. Still, I figured that cold calling, emailing, and reaching out to companies would give me the tech experience that I needed to pivot later with some experience. I just ended up loving it. I’m very goal-oriented; in sales, you have monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals, and I love to hit those milestones. Q: Tell me more about your journey from SDR To Manager. How did you make that happen? A: I carved a path to a team lead role and wrote the description for the job I wanted. It was terrifying when I proposed it to the internal leadership team, telling them my team could benefit from a team lead, and that team lead should be me. It was a big leap, but it paid off. I remember being scared in meetings. I would be so nervous about speaking that I could hardly speak up for myself. I didn’t know what I would be asked or what might be coming my way. Q: How did you get over your fear of speaking up in meetings to become the confident, poised, and articulate leader you are today? A: Practice! Planning and preparation will build your “Speaking Up Muscle.” Here what I do before a meeting: a) review the meeting agenda; b) identify 1 or 2 points where I feel my input could be beneficial or necessary; and c) research and make a note about what I want to say. Also, I make little goals for myself. Like, I’m going to go into this meeting, and I will speak three times at these specific points in the agenda. It might seem silly to count the number of times you speak in a meeting, but the more you do it, the more you build that muscle of speaking up, and the easier it becomes. Eventually, your confidence will make speaking up a habit. You will add value to meetings with cross-functional teams and company leadership. It’s all about building the muscle. Q: What does it take to be a successful SDR? A: Definitely adaptability and grit! SDRs are on the front lines of communication with prospects, other teams marketing and ETS, different sales teams. Enablement is always very curious about what we hear on the phones. As an SDR, you can get a lot of rejection in this role – a lot of people telling you they’re already in a contract, that don’t care about your services, and don’t want to hear from you. You have to realize that if you make that one additional call, that might be the one that gets you to quota or beyond. Q: What advice would you give someone applying to an SDR role? What’s one thing they could do to set themselves apart from other candidates? What makes somebody stand out as an SDR? A: Demonstrate two things: that you’re solution-oriented and self-driven. During the interview process, I always look for the applicant to demonstrate that they see challenges as a chance to move forward, regardless of what’s going on in their life. I’m not looking for
#KeepGrowing: From Retail to SaaS Sales: Growing Your Passion Through Sales
Growing through your sales career is just as important as advancing your career. For Ebony Wiggins, a Commercial Account Executiveat KeepTruckin, growth means challenge.From her first retail sales job at 16 years old to her current role in SaaS sales, Ebony is always looking for the next opportunity to grow and challenge herself. During our conversation, Ebony stressed that she likes to challenge herself, not just with her job, but beyond her career as well. She challenges herself to do less talking and more listening, to get to know people a little better, to have real conversations and not to shy awayfrom hard conversations. Q: You started your sales career at 16. You were so young! How did you end up in sales? A:I like the challenge of sales. Both then and now, I always feel like I’m growing in this industry. In sales, every day is different and as an extrovert I enjoy the social aspects of the job. I like talking to people, getting to know them, and with sales, I get to do that and make money. I also enjoy the fast pace and go-getter environment of commission-based sales. I startedmy sales career at 16 years old, in retail, here in Nashville in designer liquidation, selling high-end overstock apparel. Customers were spending their hard-earned money, and they want to walk out looking fabulous. It was important to me to be honest with them. I have always sold with integrity, honesty, and tact – it is who I am at my core. I think this foundation has helped me have a successful sales career. Later I worked in sales at Postmates, a food delivery service owned by Uber, for about two and a half years. I was promoted four times while working on enterprise accounts with national brands like Potbelly, Chick-Fil-A,Cold Stone Creamery, andSubway. It was great to achieve that level of success, butI wanted to take my career to the next level; I wanted to do more.I wanted to get to know my customers, build a relationship with them and help them achieve their goals over an extended period of time. One of my friends shared her positive experience at KeepTruckin, soI decided to learn more. I joined KeepTruckin in September 2020 and it’s been a great experience so far. Q: Tell me a little bit about your ramp-up. What was it like getting started at KeepTruckin? A:The ramp-up period was excellent! It definitely exceeded my expectations.KeepTruckin hastools in place for ongoing virtual collaboration and communication. I was able to connect with the sales engineers for the demos, and sales managers are always available to offer solutions, navigate the sales process or the client buying journey and provide leadership and insight.My coworkers and other team members are ready and willing subject matter experts, there to offer help and assistance or just there to cheer you on.Also, KeepTruckin provides an incredibly detailed training program that got me geared up, ready to sell, and hit my quota. Q: When you’re not selling or working, how do you like to spend your time? A:So when I’m not selling and not working, I’m a Planned Parenthood activist, human rights advocate, andtravel enthusiast.I do a lot of advocacy work. I was a national speaker for Planned Parenthood and did a lot of lobbying.I attended the extraordinary Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in which Christine Blasey Ford accused Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexual assault. I’ve spoken on behalf of Planned Parenthood, advocating for safe and legal access to reproductive healthcare. I’ve spoken at presidential forums, including the 2018 presidential forum, and had the opportunity to speak with Bernie Sanders. I also spoke at the first-ever presidential forum that focused on reproductive rights. All of the 2020 presidential candidates were in attendance, includingElizabeth Warren, Cory Booker,and now President Biden and Vice President Harris. During the pandemic, I have spent more time on phone banks and virtual coaching with storytellers to register people to vote and encourage people to vote. Q: That’s awesome! In terms of your career, what’s something you’re working on right now that inspires you, or something exciting within the industry that you’d like to share? A: Something that separates KeepTruckin from a lot of other SaaS solution providers is that our technology is developed in-house, and it’s designed to ensure it’s easy to navigate. It’s easyfor the drivers to use, and it’s easy for safety and fleet managers to view, monitor, track, manage and ensure compliance. The ELD (Electronic Logging Device) rule – congressionally mandated as a part of MAP-21 – is intended to help create a safer work environment for drivers and make it easier and faster to accurately track, manage, and share records of duty status (RODS data). We focus on providing a complete solution: trucking companies get everything they need with the dashcam, and it syncs with that vehicle gateway, the asset gateway and tracking devices onthe trailers. All three of the devices can sync together and be managed and operated from one place, so I think that sets us apart. Additionally, we are continually adding new features. We just launched the smart load dashboard, which allows drivers or companies looking for a load to pick up and dispatch. Drivers can go on to the smart load dashboard and find jobs for their drivers. Q:It sounds fascinating to work withthese new cutting-edge technologies! When you think about your career and where you are, what’s the best career advice you have been given? A: Make sure that whatever you’re doing, you do it with integrity. Also,put your best foot forward. Work with dignity, respect, and humility. It’s easy in sales to get a big head, but it’s critical to remember that you’re not any more important or any better than anyone else. Whether it’s a customer or a coworker, it doesn’t matter their position. Everybody deservesthe same level of respect, and everyone deserves to see the best parts of you. Ultimately, it always comes back to integrity which has been so critical and
#TAKETHELEAD: Three Tips to Advance Your Sales Career
Building your career during a period of economic recovery requires initiative and creativity. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Taneishia Fields, an Experian sales leader, about her career and the importance of taking the lead in building her success. She highlighted three key areas of focus that were critical to her career development: understanding critical business drivers, focusing on key leadership priorities and increasing her visibility. Taneishia Fields’ educational achievements and college internships laid the foundation for early career success. She was recruited by IBM to join their Atlanta team immediately after graduating from college to sell infrastructure services – optimizing servers, storage, and data centers. Over the course of ten years, Taneishiawas promoted, relocated to Chicago, and expanded the complexity of her solutions with cloud and networking services which enabled her to sell into larger accounts. While selling into these larger accounts, Taneishia discovered her sales superpowers – she realized she excelled at solving problems and connecting with clients. Smooth Transition to Financial Services While Taneishia was happy at IBM, she was eager to expand her experience, and joined Equifax to selldecision management solutions.She was intrigued by financial servicestech solutions that affected everyday life – solutions that connected data with customers’ unique financial needs through predictive analytics, machine learning, and explainable artificial intelligence (AI). She dove deep into understanding the industry, product knowledge, and client needs. Two years later, a friend who was a successful Experian sales professionalshared an open sales role with Taneishia and she submitted an application.During the interview process, Taneishia was enthralled with the Experian recruitment team. She found them to be kind,approachable, and willing to help, and sheadmired and connected with the company’s leadership team. Additionally, Experian’s commitment to a culture of innovation, and diversity & inclusioncaptivated her. Here’s what Taneishia shared about her career journey. Q: What advice would you give to someone looking to advance their sales career? A:No one is going to tap you on the shoulder. Don’t wait– you have to take the lead and take control of your career. I remember when I wanted to be promoted to a more seniorrole with greater responsibility. I asked questions, become more observant and perceptive, and I networked. I talked to peers and colleagues up and across my chain of leadership. When there were conferences, happy hours, or other events, I made sure to attend them.I sought out information and discovered three things: 1) critical business drivers – what was essential to the business that I need to learn about; 2) key leadership issues and areas of focus, and 3) visibility – the more leadership sees your faceand willingness to help, the better positionedyou are for a promotion. Finally, here is a tip to expand your knowledgeabout a business area or product: find the smartest person in the company, the SME in that field, and set up a 30-minute informational interview. Ask themwhat excites them about what they are working on? Where do they see their product or solution1-5 years in the future? Learn more about taking the lead. Join us – we are here to #TAKETHELEAD! Sistas In Sales & Experian are thrilled to invite you to a virtual experience for Black History Month. Join Sistas In Sales, the global leader for women of color in professional sales, and Experian, the world’s leading global information services company, on February 26th from 1:30PM – 3:00PM for a two-part experience – learning, networking, and recruiting. Register Here Q: In your experience, what does it take to be successful at Experian? A: A competitive spirit. Experian is a competitive company and competitiveness breeds high performers. Additionally, you have to be open-minded and committed to continually learning both through corporate training initiatives and self-directed learning. Take the initiative, identify your knowledge gaps, and formulate learning goals, resources, and strategies. Keep your commitment to helping build trust andleverage your critical thinking skillsto drive strategy and execute. The sky’s the limit. Be too good to be ignored. Q: How important is a tech background or a finance background to consider a sales position atExperian? A:I didn’t have a finance background at all. I have the technical experience, but I think that Experian looks at the value you bring. During the interview process, talk about your dynamic skillset, knowledge, and your superpowers. These may not align with the role you are applying for, butthis approach will get you noticed. Sell yourself and the value you bring. Another quick tip: Have a 30/60/90-dayramp-up planthat clearly details how you wouldapproach the position andclose your skills and product knowledge gap to jumpstart your performance. A ramp-up plan shows that you’re serious,thoughtful, and you’re ready and willing to hit the ground running. It sets you apart from other candidates. Author’s note: Check out the 30/60/90-day plan. The First 90 Days, by Michael Watkins, is a tremendous 90-daysurvival guide that offers strategies for quickly getting up to speed in your new Q: When you look back on your career so far, is there anything you would’ve done differently? Is there anything you wish somebody would have told you, early in your career? A: I would’ve asked more questions. I think that when you’re younger, you’re afraid of asking dumb questions. I realized too late that this was one of my biggest early career mistakes. When you’re new in your career, this is the time to reach out to as many people in leadership as possible and say, “hey, I want to learn.This is my goal. What does it take? What do I need to do? Who do I need to talk to?” You can’t play the newbie card when you have been in an industry for 15 years. Q: What’s your bestpiece of career advice? A: Always be prepared. Prepare for everything: your next role, meetings, or a conference. Have something to say, so when you are called on, you have something impactful to say – that’s how you get noticed. That’s how you move to the next level. Be bold, leverage your knowledge and your skill set. Have courage and
#TAKETHELEAD Strength in Numbers: Why Asking for Help is a Sign of Strength
As we continue to navigate our careers in the ever-shifting economy, it is important to keep in mind the value of asking for help. While some may associate asking for help with inexperience, remember: success leaves clues. By asking questions and seeking out the advice of successful performers in your industry, you will be able to leverage their insight to develop your own success and learn from their mistakes to avoid making the same ones yourself. Asking for help is a sign of a success-oriented mindset and one of the easiest ways to level-up your career by learning from others. Even what may feel like a stupid question can be an excellent opportunity to learn something new and take a step forward in your career. For more on the importance of asking for help, I would like to share a conversation I had recently with Shante Whitaker, a sales leader at Experian, who successfully navigated a career shift from human resources to financial industry sales. Shante began her career selling staffing solutions to financial institutions. After receiving her BS/BA from University of Delaware , she joined Delaware’s first Black woman-owned staffing agency – and quickly found sales to be a lucrative field. Shante also learned a lot about working with people and gained valuable management and leadership skills. As the Delaware economy took a downturn, major manufacturing plants closed and large financial institutions merged. As a result, Shante proactively shifted her focus and began selling technology staffing services to the federal government in Washington, D.C. Here’s what Shante shared about her tech sales journey. Q: Tell me more about your career shift from IT recruiter to IT project manager. What prompted you to make that shift? A: It’s all about identifying your transferrable skill set . In 2010, I decided it was time for a change. I thought, “if I can package up software candidates and sell them to companies, then I can package up code and get projects into production.” Transitioning into a new industry, it was important for me to have the skills and competencies I needed to be successful, so I obtained my Project Management Professional and Professional Scrum Master certifications to help establish credibility with my clients and colleagues. My first IT project management role was at a major financial services company, and I worked in that role for about four years, then moved into Credit Risk project management where I ultimately became a PM Team Lead. During my years of IT project management, I became known as the crisis PM, meaning, when a project was not going well, I was called on to navigate out of the choppy waters and return the project back to smooth sailing. In 2018, I was tapped on the shoulder and requested to support a large initiative to help Experian become further integrated within our credit decisioning processes I loved that Experian had been recognized for years as a great place to work, and the team was collaborative and transparent. I was drawn to their approach to solutions and their high energy, passion, and intelligence. I applied for a sales role, met with an interview panel, completed the hiring assessments, and joined Experian in 2019. Best career decision I’ve made in a long time. Q: That’s a big move – leaving your employer to go work for one of their clients. What advice would you give about making that kind of move? A: Don’t burn bridges. It’s very important to demonstrate value to both organizations, to show them how this will be a win-win. It’s really important to build and value strong relationships because you never know when you’re going to run into someone again, especially in the financial institution industry, or in sales generally. The industry may seem huge, but it’s smaller than you think. Q: What would you tell women about taking the lead and getting a seat at the table? What’s it like at Experian? A: One of the things that I think is important when you take the lead is to ask the stupid or obvious questions. I know it may make people a little uncomfortable, but it has been very helpful for me. It’s something I didn’t do earlier in my career because I didn’t want to look inexperienced, but I’ve learned that to show I have control over the situation means asking every possible question, and normally there are three other people who had that same question. Don’t be afraid to ask and ask with confidence. Taking the lead definitely means coming in with confidence and a vision. You don’t want to waver, and you want to be respectful of the people who have already been there. Don’t demean people—work with people. Taking the lead really just means showing up, being confident in your abilities, and staying laser focused on the path forward —and don’t be afraid to ask for help or to ask the obvious questions. Be positive in your interactions with others, connect with people, and work with people. Say, “Thank you for doing that.” “What are you working on now?” “What excites you about that?” Talk a little bit about the pandemic and how you are reimagining or reinventing something. Learn more about taking the lead. Join us – we are here to #TAKETHELEAD! Sistas In Sales & Experian are thrilled to invite you to a virtual experience for Black History Month. Join Sistas In Sales, the global leader for women of color in professional sales, and Experian, the world’s leading global information services company, on February 26th from 1:30PM – 3:00PM for a two-part experience – learning, networking, and recruiting. Register Here Q: What excites you in your current work? A: Ever since the pandemic began, we’ve had to shift our approach because a lot of our clients were used to us showing up on site. It took some time to rework my approach in order to have that same level of engagement through a camera lens, but now I have three key tactics I
#StrongerTogether: Leveraging Collaboration to Drive Sales
The key to success in today’s sales environment is the ability to empathetically connect with customers. By leveraging insights gained through collaboration with clients, teams are able to tailor solutions that fit clients’ changing and specific needs. With that in mind, I met with Principal Functional Consultant, Jolanda Porter, to learn about her success with post-sales implementations. Jolanda is part of Salesforce’s strategic services team that focuses on advisory and implementation projects. She has worked on Salesforce’s solutions that are designed for nonprofits and educational institutions and her job is to go to the customers first, do discovery, work with them to decide what the implementation will look like, and execute the build. Q: How do you establish a trusting client relationship? A: One of the first things I do is meet with the major stakeholders in a project to make sure we’re on the same page. I want to ensure that what was originally outlined in the sales process is accurate and aligns with what is being done. I ask the customer questions like “What does your organization need? Why do you need it? Who will be using it? What obstacles might you face and what can I do to help?” Establishing a connection is a huge part of having successful engagements. Before coming to Salesforce, I was in the nonprofit space for fifteen years and worked closely with consultants. I know what it’s like to have consultants come in and feel like they don’t understand what you’re looking for. And I know what it’s like when a topline manager makes a decision for end-users without getting the users’ input. My goal is to ensure customers are delighted with the implementation process and that we’re working toward their goals. Q: What role do you play in the sales cycle? A: I am often solutioning. One of the things that happens when you focus on solutioning is that you establish trust with a customer. You can help customers understand that your objective is to make their job easier by taking their organization or business to the next level. When that conversation happens, other ideas emerge organically from that process. Frequently, when we’re doing an implementation, we’ll identify new requirements or a different perspective to a pain point that can be helpful for the customer. Many times, this can lead to the introduction of a new solution and product. When you’re actively listening to a customer during an implementation, you’re getting much more detail than you would otherwise. Also, it is as important to listen to what they’re not telling you as much as what they are. It is our job to see the problems and the missing pieces. It’s common that we’ll discover new solutions that will help further our clients’ goals throughout the process. Q: How did you make the shift from the nonprofit space to tech implementations? A: I was in the nonprofit space for quite a long time. Anybody who knows the nonprofit world knows that you wear a thousand hats and there are never enough people. When we were introduced to Salesforce in 2008, we needed someone to be the administrator, and I was already tech-savvy, so I volunteered. I am the kind of person who is going to learn a skill if nobody else in the office knows it. Through this initial introduction to Salesforce, my interest in the connections between leadership, technology, and data grew, and over time I became the Director of Evaluation. I quickly became a person that other nonprofits came to with questions about Salesforce and data because I didn’t just understand the product, but I also understood what it was like to be the organization using the product. Fast forward to 2016, I was a Deputy Director reaching the point in my nonprofit career where I’d probably become an executive director (ED), but I didn’t want to be an ED. I liked collaboration. I liked technology. I really liked Salesforce, and I really liked data, so I decided to go back to school to bridge the gap between my nonprofit background and the business world. After graduating from NYU’s Stern School of Business with my master’s in business analytics, I decided I was ready to make the switch to tech. Many of my classmates took jobs at Google, Facebook, and Twitter, but I had a nonprofit heart. I was looking for a tech company with a social impact vision. My peers discouraged this saying, “There’s no way you’re going to be doing socially good work and technology without going into the corporate space.” And then RoundCorner found me. RoundCorner was the first Salesforce.org Platinum App Partner for the nonprofit market in North America. It provided fundraising solutions and industry expertise to meet the needs of the largest global organizations in the social sector. My first projects were with the ACLU and National Geographic – I was getting to work with some of the world’s most influential nonprofits. Ironically, soon after I was hired, RoundCorner was acquired by Salesforce.org and I haven’t looked back. Today, I am thankful to work for a company that believes in and encourages mission-driven work while providing cutting-edge technology. Q: That’s a big career change! Tell me about what it took to successfully make this shift. A: It took drive and knowing my own talents, as well as learning how to be okay with being uncomfortable. When people think of technology, sometimes they are intimidated, especially when there’s no one who looks like you. You think, “What skill can I bring to the table?” Yes, there are going to be baseline technical skills, but that’s something you can gain. I wanted to be more experienced in data analytics, so I got a master’s degree, and I specifically put myself in a program where I was surrounded by computer scientists. I knew I had the talent to succeed, but I had to get comfortable being uncomfortable and learning what I did not know. Today I use Trailhead as my go-to resource for
Transforming Obstacles into Opportunities
The pandemic has changed the way we navigate everything in our daily lives, from working to parenting to connecting with our loved ones. In addition to requiring resilience and patience, 2020 has also given us opportunities to be creative. Sometimes when we least expect it, moments of significant change and upheaval can create occasions to try new things that lead to great success. With that in mind, I’d like to share Whitney Henry’s story with you. She is a Trailblazer who took a professional leap of faith that paid off. Whitney Henry is an Associate Solution Engineer at Salesforce, but tech sales is Whitney’s second career. Majoring in Recreation and Leisure Studies with a concentration in Sport Management at Howard University, Whitney began her career in professional sports sales. After graduation, Whitney’s work focused on creating ways to engage fans in large groups and drive ticket sales for professional sport teams. She was in the business of entertainment and she enjoyed the games, the competitive environment, and the opportunities the professional sports industry provided. However, after ten years her career and salary became stagnant. “I had gotten to a point where I wasn’t growing in my career, so I decided it was time for a change.” Whitney shifted her focus to the tech industry. After some research, she moved from Florida to Colorado because her research indicated that Denver was quickly developing a reputation as a city with an up-and-coming tech scene. Moving from Sports and Entertainment Group Sales to Tech Sales When Whitney arrived in Colorado, she began working as a Sales Development Representative (SDR) for a popular reservation management platform as a way to diversify her skillset. This new position was a hybrid mix of Sales Development and Business Development. While working in this role, Whitney learned that Salesforce was coming to Denver. “As an advocate of Salesforce’s CRM tools from my time in sports sales, I was intrigued [that Salesforce was opening an office in Denver] and when I saw that Salesforce was hiring, I knew I had to apply. I started by doing research into other sales careers, and I kept coming across tech. Salesforce seemed like it would be a great company to work for.” Q&A with Whitney: Making the Shift to Tech Sales After learning about her career trajectory, I asked Whitney to tell me more about her shift into SaaS sales and what advice she would have for other saleswomen looking to do the same. Cherilynn: Once you decided to make a career shift, how did you decide that tech was the right place for you? Whitney: I thought tech would be a new challenge for me. It’s a growing industry, but it’s also fruitful – with all the investment that comes into tech, I knew there would be more growth opportunities for me. In tech there’s a delineated career path that I didn’t have previously. When I was in sales in the sports industry, I had no idea what would be next for me. I didn’t know if I would ever get promoted. In tech you’re given your outline or your requirements, or you know what’s expected from you. You know if you meet your goals, then you’ll be rewarded. If it doesn’t work out the way you planned, there’s another way for you. One of the things I value is that at Salesforce there is a clear career path to reaching the next step in your career. Cherilynn: What would you say to someone who’s thinking about making a career shift into tech sales? Whitney: I would recommend that anybody interested in getting into tech should make a serious effort to do so. If you want to do it, then you should be here. I have done the work and deserve to be at Salesforce. Don’t give up. Some of my former sports sales colleagues really want to get out of what they’re doing, but they’re scared, or they feel like they don’t have the skills. I tell them to just go for it. I had to start over, but it was worth it. I know that there’s a lot more for me to [accomplish before] there’s finally light at the end of the tunnel. Just keep going. Starting over is difficult, but it can bring large rewards. I think being a salesperson, although challenging at times, is rewarding, not just professionally, but personally. I feel like I can talk to anybody, at any time, about anything. Working in sales has developed my confidence, improved my communication skills, and taught me how to negotiate. Because sales can be a challenging career path, it’s important to work for a company that provides growth opportunities. Salesforce has not only prepared me to succeed in my current role but has also prepared me to take on future opportunities as well. Cherilynn: What’s the best career advice you’ve received? Whitney: Trust the process. When I heard that in the past, I never really understood it, but when I started at Salesforce as an SDR there was definitely a learning curve. It was challenging at first, but I trusted the process. I took things step by step, started improving, and I saw the fruits of the process. Trusting the process is just staying patient, doing what you’re supposed to do, and waiting to see the results. As an experienced SDR, Whitney was strategic in her approach to her career development and took advantage of one of the many Salesforce career paths. Through networking and leveraging her product knowledge and strong sales foundation, Whitney was able to pivot to a new sales role. By taking advantage of the career development opportunities available to her at Salesforce and putting her previous experience to good use, Whitney was able to take the next step in her professional career by starting a new role as an Associate Solution Engineer in the Essentials Small Business Unit in October 2020. Cherilynn: What’s it like to be part of Salesforce’s new Denver team? Whitney: One of the driving forces
#StrongerTogether: Never Stop Innovating – Creativity and Empathy
As we continue to navigate our new normal, it’s important to find success in the little wins. I recently had the opportunity to chat with another Salesforce Trailblazer, Monique Zill, and learn about her career journey. Monique, a general commercial account executive, shared how she recently achieved a successful client outcome. She leveraged her empathy and insights to help a manufacturing client pivot to support its first remote sales team. To better understand Monique’s success, I wanted to learn about her career path and how her past experiences have enabled her to be successful, even during COVID-19. Early Career A lifelong style enthusiast, Monique started her career as an assistant in fashion advertising sales for a major U.S.-based magazine. Her manager’s departure resulted in an opening, so Monique approached the publisher and applied for the position. Clients vouched for her knowledge and value, and as a result she was offered her first sales role as a fashion and beauty manager. From her first sales role, Monique transitioned into a new position at a different magazine but found that she didn’t have the tools she needed to reach her full potential. “My success in my first sales role was the result of mastering our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system,” Monique said. “When I left my second role, it was really important that I worked for a company that had a CRM system in place because it made my job—especially a transition from a new role— much easier. My new position didn’t include a CRM tool, so over the course of my year there, it was challenging to manage client relationships, tasks, and notes with simple spreadsheets.” Early in her career, Monique realized the importance of innovating and creating systems to maximize efficiency. End User to Sales Professional After her role was impacted by layoffs at the magazine’s parent company, Monique began to consider sales roles outside of the fashion industry. “It never occurred to me to work for a technology company, but the layoff created an opportunity I wasn’t expecting,” Monique said. “At the time, I was always rooted heavily in marketing and advertising, especially in the fashion and beauty realm, and I was nervous to leave my comfort zone.” Although a career shift into Software as a Service (SaaS) sales wasn’t originally in her plan, Monique realized she could leverage her experience as an end user and use her story to inspire clients. I found being an end user was really useful through my storytelling, so that’s how I landed at Salesforce.” Interested in exploring a role in SaaS sales? Learn more about sales careers at Salesforce. COVID-19 Client Success Even in these challenging times, Monique has found ways to help her clients be successful. One of her clients manufactures golf cart batteries and, like so many other companies during this pandemic, they experienced a drop in demand. Monique’s client was so accustomed to having its sales team in the office that the idea of a remote workforce came as a brand-new concept. “Especially now when you’re in a sales role,” Monique shared, “it’s about listening to our clients more than ever and being empathetic in how you respond to them.” By leveraging her empathic listening, she learned three things: (1) that her client had to rethink their approach to prospecting to keep the sales team moving; (2) that it was necessary to reevaluate the spend, and that reevaluation determined that supporting the sales team was a critical spend for fiscal year 2020; and (3) that forecast transparency and management were critical to success. As a result, Monique was able to help her client pivot. She found a solution to invest in technology to help prepare for future global expansion by using historical data to predict future sales. As a part of her approach, Monique suggested bringing the chief information officer (CIO) to the table because Salesforce’s Manufacturing Cloud resonated with his focus on global transformations. The Salesforce Manufacturing cloud keeps account and operation teams on the same page for manufacturers and speaks to the kind of forecasting and needs of clients who live and breathe the manufacturing space. Q&A with Monique: Making the Shift to Tech Sales After learning about her career trajectory and success selling in the current climate, I asked Monique to tell me more about her shift into SaaS sales. Cherilynn:What advice would you give to other women looking to make the shift into tech sales? Monique: It sounds cliché, but you definitely need to believe you can do it, and nine times out of ten, you absolutely can. In those moments when you feel like you can’t, reach out to your network. Lean on others who are your mentors, your cheerleaders, because we all need a little pep talk now and again. Especially now during these times, you don’t need to do it alone, and no one expects you to be doing it alone. For example, my manager Seanté Baker, RVP Commercial Sales and Manufacturing at Salesforce, is one of my biggest career advocates. She frequently asks, “What do you need from me? How can I help you? How can I coach you? What’s the best way for us to work together moving forward?” Recently I responded, “I think I need to get out of my Salesforce bubble,” meaning I need to network with other women and other companies. I need to be a part of a larger conversation. Seanté connected me with Sistas In Sales. If you’re looking to change industries, just believe in yourself and definitely ask for help because it’s there, and people really want to help you because they’ve all been there too. Cherilynn:In your experience, what does it take to succeed in this space? Monique: Salesforce has a learning environment. It doesn’t encourage you to fail. But if you do fail, do it quickly. You’re always going to learn something from it. Be persistent. It’s grit that gets you through day to day.” Cherilynn:Any final advice or words of wisdom? Monique: Be your own advocate but don’t do it
#StrongerTogether: Using Your Skills to Put Customers First
As our nation reckons with the legacy of systemic racism in the U.S., Sistas In Sales remains dedicated to supporting and amplifying the voices of Black women. We are proud to continue advocating for change and cultivating safe spaces for Black women to advance their careers and grow in community with each other. Even in the most challenging times, our sisterhood is a powerful resource to support one another and learn from each other as we continue developing our careers as professional saleswomen. With that in mind, I’d like to share the story of Frednise Shields. As a former Account Executive, Frednise knows how to build relationships and puts her customers first in order to succeed in the world of sales. Meet Frednise Shields, Associate Solution Engineer – Healthcare Life Sciences at Salesforce Frednise, a Salesforce trailblazer, took time out of her busy day as a new mom to share her career journey. Immediately after graduating from Georgia State University in 2012, Frednise started in a leadership program at AT&T in Atlanta. She then relocated to New York City, where she earned several promotions over the course of four years with AT&T and managed progressively larger teams. Frednise shared, “I learned so much about leadership, managing a company, and business acumen.” Ever curious about technology and innovation, Frednise began broadening her technical skills by utilizing Trailhead, Salesforce’s training platform, to become a certified Salesforce Administrator. She reported being “really, really fascinated with Salesforce,” and its innovative solutions to give customers a competitive advantage. Understanding the power of networking, Frednise attended a Salesforce World Tour, where she connected with several Salesforce professionals including Stephanie Glenn, who told her to stay in touch. Stephanie was one of the many people who served as a resource for Frednise throughout the Salesforce account executive interview, offer, hire, and onboarding process, providing insight and support along the way. “Stephanie helped me find clarity on my career pursuits and encouraged me to seek opportunities that would be most beneficial to my career long-term,” Frednise shared. Today, as an Associate Solution Engineer in the Healthcare Life Sciences (HLS) vertical at Salesforce, Frednise combines her technical sales expertise with her interest in STEM. “I’ve always been fascinated by science and technology,” she shared. “I completed the pre-medical track in college along with my business degree and it was during that period that I realized the important role technology plays in the healthcare industry. I’m happy that in my current role I’m able to help healthcare professionals come up with solutions by leveraging Salesforce’s technology.” Frednise believes Salesforce is an excellent fit for her for three reasons: Sense of Belonging: When Frednise arrived at Salesforce, she soon learned about BOLDforce, the Black Organization for Leadership and Development. BOLDforce is one of 12 Employee Resource Groups, or Equality Groups as the company calls them. Employee-led and employee-organized, the groups build community, educate allies, and drive equality. Through BOLDforce, Frednise has made lasting and meaningful connections with leaders and peers across different business units. “The connections helped me open doors to new opportunities.” Inclusive Benefits: As Frednise’s career advanced, she wanted to join a company where she could bring her true self to work. “I felt that [Salesforce] integrated with my life.” As a new mom, Frednise raved about Salesforce’s generous parental leave policy. “It helped me perform at a higher level at my job because at the end of the six months I knew I’d be ready to go back to work and give it my all.” Frednise was impressed with the thoughtful benefits available to new parents. “Salesforce offers guides and support for things like sleep training that helped ease my transition back to work and connected me with other new moms every single step of the way. It’s incredible that we have these options.” Volunteering in the Community: At Salesforce, all employees receive 56 paid volunteer hours per year, which Frednise uses to give back to her community and create positive social change. “I enjoy volunteering with America Needs You (ANY), an organization that provides intensive career development and mentorship to low-income high school students who are the first in their families to pursue college,” Frednise shared. “I was the first in my immediate family to attend college in the U.S. because my parents immigrated from Haiti when they were in their 30s. Consequently, I was able to relate to my former ANY mentees on a personal level.” This is part of the company’s 1-1-1 Philanthropic Model: Salesforce donates 1 percent of its time, 1 percent of its product, and 1 percent of its financial resources to the community. Best Career Advice Ever Received “The best advice I received, and also realized early on, is that sometimes in your career, you’re not going to be going up a ladder. There are so many different turns that your career can take, but that doesn’t mean that you’re failing or not succeeding. I think any step that you’re taking in your career, whether a step back from a title perspective or pay, is a success if it’s helping you get to the end goal that you have for yourself. Even if you’re taking a step back right now, it enables you to take multiple steps forward in your future.” Initially, Frednise made a lateral move to join Salesforce, but she looks back now and sees that it was the best decision she could have made Learning From Frednise’s Success What can you learn from Frednise’s story? No matter what’s going on in the world, there are valuable lessons you can apply to your own sales career right now. 1.Focus on Customer Success and Your Own Success Will Follow “A lot of my success as an AE was listening to the client, building a relationship with them, and showing them that I have their best interests in mind. The solutions I can provide address the real challenges they’re facing,” Frednise said. 2.Build Relationships “One thing I’ve done to connect with clients is getting to know them personally.