Lauren M. Senior Strategic Account Manager

I've gained a lot of skills since joining the company three years ago as it was my first full-time role out of university, so it's fair to say it's shaped the way I work today. I think I've really developed personally and professionally thanks to the development I've experienced here. I'll try and narrow it down to three skills though:

Firstly, I've gained confidence. I know this is quite a broad one, but when I first joined, I was worried that my opinions and suggestions wouldn't be taken seriously, as most of the people I worked with (both internally and externally) had a lot more experience than me, were older, more senior in the business and worked in very big organisations (in the case of our clients). I quickly learned that this wasn't the case, and as I became more confident in my knowledge of the product, in my own abilities and as I built relationships with people I work with, I have come to feel very confident in my role.

The second skill is how to deal with tricky situations and handle objections. For various reasons, sometimes clients may not be able to put in place the actions I suggest to help them make the most of the platform, so I have to try to come up with other solutions or find out where the roadblocks might be to get around these. Also, some conversations around renewals of contracts are less fun than the catch-ups and quarterly reviews that I have with clients throughout the rest of the year, but I have had to learn how best to navigate those.

Finally, public speaking is a big skill I've worked on, which I guess ties into the first point on confidence. If you'd have told me before I started the role that I'd be delivering training sessions to 60+ people sometimes, I never would have believed you. Now, I feel (relatively) unphased by that.

07 November, 2022 17:32