Talk us through an average day in your role
I am sure this is how everyone answers but no two days are the same, I spend time working closely with customers, partners and the in-house engineering team whether I’m out and about on location, working remotely or with the sales team at the office. It’s a big industry but a small world and the best thing about it is the people and the relationships you can build/I have built over the years.
How did you get started in the media industry?
I graduated from Hertfordshire University with a humanities degree in the midst of a recession so the only opportunities for entry-level jobs with a future were in sales. I am very much a people person and was interested in building up those relationships, so was very focused on account management and Boxer had the role I wanted. I am incredibly lucky that what was just a job has turned into a career within an industry I have fallen in love with and in a company I have been able to grow.
What training did you have before entering the industry?
I started at Boxer strictly selling T&M as a DekTec product manager. My small group of customers then were R&D and senior engineers and I am so grateful for the time they gave me. For a lot of them, I was around the age of their daughters and they taught me so much. In some cases explaining how this PCIe card I had sold them was part of a much bigger system and going through the full workflow of which my product was now a part. Along with customers of course, internally I was able to learn from some great salesmen and women, whether it was advice on how often to chase, the good bars in Soho or trade show etiquette etc.
Why do you enjoy working in the industry?
This industry is exactly what you think of when you think of the broadcast and film industry and also exactly the opposite. It can be incredibly glamourous with red carpets and exotic remote set locations but it can also leave you frozen to the bone with ringing in your ears from setting up kit in a server room all day. With the technology we deal with, we have to have very creative engineers trying to utilise tech from other industries to try and fit our needs or the need of a very logical and pragmatic creative because of deadlines and availability of kit. The technology is always changing, evolving and in some ways disrupting so no one ever knows everything. Everyone is always that little bit behind or on the back foot, which means you could be the newest person in the room and you can have a new feature, application or usage that could become the standard moving forward.
What piece of advice would you offer someone looking to explore a role similar to yours?
I think sales is a great role for anyone who is a people person, in no way is it easy but when it is fun in this industry it is so much fun. My one piece of advice could probably apply to everyone, not just in sales, and that is not to bullshit (if I’m allowed to say that!). There is nothing wrong with getting back to people with the correct information in time rather than a rash answer that may waste more time in the future to rectify. In all walks of life, we experience good sales people and bad sales people, typically the difference being if you trust what they are saying. I would not have been able to have the long-standing relationships with customers and suppliers that I do, without respecting them enough to give the correct information.
