OT: Companies with good sales orgs/people

Outside of my rennlist life, I do actually work (hard) for a living (one of the many conditions of the trust ) to feed the p-car addiction. So in all seriousness, for whatever it's worth, I am an account manager at a large company currently and want to continue down this path and curious to know who else here on the 996 rennlist forum are account execs as I've come to learn that we *sales ****** have a subset of shared traits. -I enjoy being in the front lines engaging the customer and owning/nurturing/managing the relationship -I like earning people's trust -I'm a very straightforward, candid, let's get to the marrow of the matter kinda individual Curious to know who the sales guys are in this forum, what you enjoy about your role most, and your customer engagement lessons learned. Best, Ben

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Ben, Not a Account man but work with a large team of them. +1 on owning, nuturing/managing the realtionship. Love my AE's when they have this attitude. Knowing more about your clients business than they do is a sure money maker and a long term win for both parties. Ad business myself.

Ben, I'm not a AM but a SE (Sales Engineer) as well as a PM (Project Manager) for Cisco VoIP solutions for a Cisco Partner. So I work inline with AM's in many Pre-Sales opportunities and then if the solution is sold I become the PM for it as well. So from the early beginnings of the sale process to the end of the project, I have a great time getting to know the customer, there business, creating friendships with the people I and my engineers work with, seeing the end result occur exactly how it was sold to the customer, and then seeing the smile on the customers face. It is that customer satisfaction result that drives us all to do better than anyone else has done for them in the past.

Ben, since I was not born into wealth and retirement....... I am also a Sales ***** for a very large Application Delivery Company....Been doing IT sales for 15+ years....man how technology has evolved...but this is a different story... I enjoy getting out infront of customers - as a AM I own the relationships in my 15-20 F200 -F500 accts...From the CEO down to Network Admins...I am the quarterback...and my team must be at it's best for us all to be successful My availability to my customers needs is a 7 X 24hr job - I have to be attentive to every customers needs and issues I am the relationship builder not the System Engineer...Thank God I like to drive....the porsche as well as the entire sales cycle - prospect to close I like to make money, pure and simple ...yep I am as blunt as I can be. This is the reward for all of me and my teams efforts....yes my System Engineer, IS and all the other parts to the wheel...always take care of these folks...SEs are the one that sell the credibility of your products and services. I like to see my SE make big money....this motivates he or she also I enjoy the process of building a pipeline and closing as much of this as possible.... I luv to take business from my competition I hate to lose period......nuf said! I luv companies that have year end $$$ that must get spent I get very excited receiving purchase orders....tis the season for this right now I try to make sure every customer is a reference for me and my company I never burn bridges.....in IT it is one big circle now I gotta go sell something..... happy holidays all David

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Great words

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that's fantastic to hear and i think all the points you listed above hit at the core of an "eagle's" heart. i definitely get thrills off of being in front of the client and earning their trust whether it be from one moment of truth or a series of them or many years of just knocking on their doors and checking in. but yes, the horses on the team are the SEs or what i call my technology specialists. great folks and absolutely critical you have a good team of them else you're SOL. it's kinda like you'r ethe QB and they're the o-line. if you have a great year, they have a great year, and you buy each of them breitlings.

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Got any openings?

Looks like we have something in common, Ben. I'm an outside account manager. I'd much rather deal with the customers than a bunch of cow-orkers. I work everywhere...car, home office, "real" office, customer's office and really enjoy not living in cubicle-land all day.

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Even being an SE/PM, I too work out of my home office (most of the time), on the road or at customer sites. I rarely go into the corporate office where I would be in a cubicle and get bugged by everyone about this that and the other

I am also remote....I guess we miss all the "Company Koolaid" at the office....

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Ben, As the CIO for a large corp I end up on the other end a lot. The best advice I have was given to me years ago when I was consulting. "Never take a job you can't do, never take a dollar you didn't earn." I'd add to that "don't ever ever lie to me" and "don't ever let your customers see your avatar!" (Actually I have them turned off so you might have changed it by now. ) Good luck, Jim

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Oh, man, it's amazing how much more productive I am when working at home, even with the TV and unfiltered Internet available. I truly can't believe that more companies haven't embraced letting their professional staff work like this. People ask me where I work; I usually tell them "Anywhere I can get an EVDO signal."

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Jim, he hasn't, and you're right!

My 2c My AMs live or die on the ability of the SEs to deliver to the customer. So the AMs better not commit to anything that engineering doesn't back 100% Equally, SEs work better when they understand how their efforts are intrinsic to the customer signing-off and the invoices getting paid - no point keeping them out of the loop - in fact, keeping them in the loop is essential. My SEs get bonuses on sales/installs that they work on - they work crappy hours and weekends, and don't have the glamor piece that the AMs enjoy. Pre-sales SEs can be your best sales tool - they are advisors rather than 'sales people' in the eyes of the customer. No point going to an office - other than for equipment staging in the lab - technology allows my team to be completely virtual. We just have everyone, sales, engineering and PM on a call every day at 8AM - and that's sale's opportunity to ask for help, engineering to offer help, and PM to tell people what they should be doing! AMs should build relationships and trust, but should also understand when an SE has that role, earned through the late night hours on some huge cut where they saved the customer's butt. If I find an AM with an us and them attitude towards engineering, he/she is history.

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This is awesome, I am forwarding this on to VP of Sales etc. at my company because it is all true, except I am not getting any bonuses but I am trying to change that as I do work my **** of 7 days a week. I cannot remember the last time I put in a 40 hour week, meaning that I do a lot more than 40 hours a week.

Everyone is in sales... one way or another, in this day of age you have to be!

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i think most of us realize that, but i wanted to get a more formal "count" here.

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+1 Jimbo. Being in Sales Management, I can say that most sales people are so eager to make the sale that they miss building the business relationship. I would gladly pass up a possible sale if it meant providing a better opportunity for my customer to strengthen their business. In the end, that customer will come back to me, and their "word of mouth" will build a network that will earn me exponentially what I would have earned pushing forward on that one sale. If your customer doesn't thrive from doing business with you, then you are merely a con-artist. My 2 cents.

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thx jim for the advice

Well all I got to say today is there is 3.5 more days for me to get it all in for 2007. Any "Blue Birds" out there? Yes I know this drives some of you upper Sales MGMT types crazy! I do not know about all of you but this has been a good year for me business/revenue commission wise. I hope that 2008 will be even better......and wish all of you a Great Holiday Season and a Happy New Year. And to all of my accounts out there that have C - levels driving Porsches that may frequent this board, thanks for the business and opportunity to service you and your companies in 2007 and I look forward to serving you all in 2008 as well as the new budgets moving forward.