When you find and experience rewarding work, you see the impact of your role and leave feeling fulfilled by the connections you made and problems you solved. Within sales you have the opportunity to build those connections with your customers and help them solve those hard problems they are facing in their own role. Hear from three Highspot employees on how they find fulfilment in their Sales careers outside of closing the deal.
What is it about working in Sales that you find the most fulfilling?
Lara: For me, it’s relationship building and being considerate of what the experience is for our customers and what they walk away with after they purchase a software. I think that the beauty of selling is creating those relationships with the customers. I have walked away from many deals that have closed, and it’s been bittersweet, knowing that I won’t be seeing these people every single week. Secondly, I like that sales is results driven, and that creates a reward within it. You’re seeing a customer follow through because of the work that you’ve put in from the beginning and building that relationship, making sure that someone trusts us as a business to create a partnership, and that for me is very rewarding.
Why should someone consider going into Sales?
Jess: If you are a hustler, have a strong work ethic & love being the master of your own domain, then sales could be for you. Being a seller is all about ferocious qualification, understanding pain and value articulation. All of these skills can be learned, meaning you don’t have to come from a sales background. I actually started my career as a lawyer in a construction litigation firm, but I found being a lawyer to be really mundane. My partner at the time was in a pre-sales role for a technology company and he was practicing his pitch in our living room. I thought to myself…I can do that! I joined Highspot as a sales rep, was then promoted to sales leadership and now currently have the pleasure of opening our Highspot office for ANZ.
Tell us about your career progression in Sales and how you continued to earn the next challenge.
Lara: I’m gonna be honest, sales wasn’t always my passion. My background was hotel management and business. That’s what I studied and that is what moved me to London. My first job offer out of university was for the corporate offices of a large hotel corporation, but the only role that was open was sales. So I thought I’ll just try it out for a year and see where it takes me and I ended up loving it. At the time I had a family friend, who was working as an Account Executive and I kept hearing about how good of a career he had, and all the rest. So I went for a coffee with him and he said they were hiring. I gave it a shot and went through loads of interviews, and then started as an Account Development Representative which was my first tech sales role. I didn’t know what cold calling was nor aware of what I was getting myself into.
After a while Highspot reached out to me when they opened their offices in EMEA. It was the best six months that I’ve ever had. It was Luke and I who were the first starters to manage the ADR team, and it was an amazing experience opening a region. I felt like we were having an impact from the very early days. Then I earned the next challenge and became a Sr. ADR role where we sold to very large organisations. Coming from a background of such little experience in selling, it’s been the best time here at Highspot, I feel like everyone is here to support me.
Why did you decide to bring your career to Highspot?
Luke: For me it was experiencing the exact problems that Highspot solves while at my previous company. Where I was working their products were so detail oriented with so many things to learn about it, and trying to find that information in their giant intranet was really tough. I just had pages and pages and pages. I was frustrated all the time at work. Then I was reached out by a Recruiter at Highspot and I got the solution immediately. I totally see the value in this right away, and it was an easy choice. It just seemed like a no-brainer in terms of I totally get this problem and why it needs to be solved, and it would help me so much here. So, I took the opportunity to go talk to them and shortly after I got the role.
