A profession in sales can provide much more than a steady income. When paired with the right employer, a talented salesperson can find the right culture fit, learn new technology and grow their career to new heights. At least that’s been the case for the following four sales professionals, who attribute much of their growth to their respective companies.
“The best people thrive in an environment of positive reinforcement, with strong mentorship and continual growth,” Jill Cooper, VP of sales at FloQast, said. “FloQast fosters this belief.”
For Versus Systems’ Senior Sales Manager Alicia Winding, the camaraderie present at her company is what fuels her career.
“Everyone has been so wonderful to work with and is always willing to help, even with the physical distance of everyone working from home,” she said.
Built In LA caught up with Cooper, Winding and two additional sales professionals to discuss the valuable lessons they’ve learned by working for great employers. The best part? All four companies are hiring.
What they do: Miro is an online collaborative whiteboard platform that enables distributed teams to effectively work together, from brainstorming sessions to workshops, project planning, design meetings and ceremonies.
Playing as a team: “What we’re building here at Miro is quite unique in regard to our go-to-market motion,” Carr said. “Few companies have successfully taken product-led growth and combined it with enterprise sales excellence. We have complete alignment around building a generational company that combines the best of both.”
“The other piece of the puzzle is our culture of doing business in a way that genuinely aligns with our core values. As a global company, we have a lot of different perspectives. I love that our entire team takes their unique perspective to learn, understand and better support our customers.”
Hiring the right people: “The most valuable lesson I’ve learned is the importance of hiring the right people. When you hire truly great talent, everything else will come together. And building a world-class team requires a diverse set of skills and perspectives. At Miro, we encourage active participation in the hiring process at all stages, which helps us ensure that we are bringing on new people who have the same positive attitude and set of values as the rest of our team.”
“I’ve also learned the importance of investing in the development of the team, which is why we incorporated sales methodology Force Management, which is fully customized to ensure it resonates with customers in our market and our team. It’s important to have a common language to communicate our value to our customers. We want people to come to Miro to build their careers and stay with us for many years. We know that while they’re here, they’ll learn sales development skills that will help them excel in any scenario.”
What they do: Developed for accountants by accountants, FloQast provides corporate accounting departments with close management software.
A unique culture: “FloQast has a particularly unique sales culture, and it’s all predicated on teamwork,” Cooper said. “We have a model where we pair together two account executives in a territory. They share a team quota and are paid equally on everything that is generated. This helps create an environment where team members can have a seasoned mentor and can ramp up quickly, while also strengthening the sense of team across territories. On top of that, each team is supported by two business development representatives who fill the pipeline with qualified opportunities.”
“We typically hire our BDR team straight from the accounting, audit or CPA world. The goal is to train them and help them graduate to the account executive level over time, and the experience they gain working in the BDR function with seasoned account executives is critical to that journey. We pride ourselves on offering an excellent place for someone who has recognized they don’t want to continue in a traditional accounting role, but want to leverage the time and skills they have gained as auditors or accountants.”
Authenticity is key: “In my 30+ years in sales, there is always one thing that continues to shine through in the best salespeople: the ability to perform in the clutch. You can’t be anyone else. You can learn all kinds of tricks of the trade from others around you, but if you aren’t authentic, you won’t be as successful as you can be.”
“Consistently successful sales teams are built around a core of individuals who can inherently make a difference. The best people thrive in an environment of positive reinforcement, with strong mentorship and continual growth. FloQast fosters this belief. We will continue to hire the best and the brightest to keep the culture we have built alive and well, as we race toward an IPO.”
What they do: Versus Systems is an in-app advertising tool that aims to make the relationship between brands and consumers more fun. The white-label platform allows retailers to embed real-life prizes into popular games, creating a more engaging and rewarding experience for all.
Camaraderie and contribution: “One of the great things about being a part of the Versus Systems sales org is the team’s camaraderie,” Winding said. “Everyone has been so wonderful to work with and is always willing to help, even with the physical distance of everyone working from home. Another thing is the ability to contribute to conversations, have my voice heard, and ultimately see my contributions take flight into action.”
The ability to pivot: “The most valuable lesson I have learned since joining Versus Systems is the value of being nimble and able to pivot. We are at a very innovative point in the company timeline and things often change pretty quickly. The ability to hop on board with new and enhanced direction has been very useful.”
What they do: First Resonance’s hardware manufacturing platform, titled ion, is designed to enable engineers and technicians to improve speed, collaboration and visibility. Their software can be used to manage and optimize production workflows, improve design with real-time data, build a robust supply chain and more for air travel, autonomous vehicles, sustainable agriculture and clean energy.
All-in atmosphere: “Our sales team is small as is, however, every part of the company and every individual cares and empowers us to be better,” Mendoza said. “First Resonance is a data-first organization. We are able to use data and analytics from our platform to provide insights into our customer’s usage and needs surrounding ion. We partner with solution engineers to use this data and improve our sales process and communication with our potential customers.”
“We also work closely with our product and engineering teams to provide customer feedback that helps ensure we are focusing on the right areas of ion. We are a nimble and agile group. Everyone is wearing multiple hats to ensure we are successful. At First resonance, everyone is all-in.”
Putting customers first: “Our product is a unicorn. It’s valuable to companies with five employees or 5,000. It’s truly providing a fit where one has long been needed. It still evolves every day, and we continue to put our customers first to provide feedback. All of our potential customers can be at various stages and have a multitude of different use cases for our platform. What we need to do is constantly put our customers first, understand when and where ion can benefit, and provide continuous value throughout our sales process.”
