Small Business Sales
Accountmanager Small Enterprise regio Tilburg
Small Business Sales
Works in Tilburg and from home
Lives in Nijmegen
At VodafoneZiggo since 2014
Senior Accountmanager Small- Medium Enterprise regio Zuid-Holland/Zeeland
Small Business Sales
Works in Utrecht and from home
Lives in Dordrecht
At VodafoneZiggo since 2020
Selling the latest digital and mobile services to small and medium-sized businesses - the competition in the market is intense, but Account Managers Samara Rodrigues Robles and Youri van Rij relish it. Their secret? High ambitions and a personal touch.
From housing corporations to hauliers and everything in between, Account Managers Youri and Samara help small and medium-sized businesses get ahead with the latest digital and mobile VodafoneZiggo services. Youri: "Businesses are digitising rapidly. Online communication is high on everybody's agenda, and all the more so after corona and the lockdowns." Samara nods in agreement: "The small and mid-size enterprise market is a great one to work in because you do business at the very top: the MD is often the owner and since it's their money, they often take all the decisions."
The challenge at business unit Sales is short, sweet and simple: Hit the Targets! All sales teams and account managers are given their own targets. "And they're evaluated each quarter," adds Youri. "I see hitting my targets as an ongoing personal challenge. Recently, I did a five-day sales course focusing on IT and how the brain works. You see, by continuously working on my personal and professional development, I can keep upping my performance. And the incentives are a great motivator, too, like financial bonuses and trips abroad. I won a holiday to Lapland last year and Samara is just back from Croatia. But it's not just the money and travel, bonuses are a form of recognition for our achievements and the mere satisfaction derived from that is important, too."
Making the difference amid intense competition. But how? Samara noticed long ago that the personal touch works wonders. "When I do business with clients, I'm totally myself. I don't pretend to be anybody I'm not and don't make promises I can't keep. I'd never try to cover up a problem and sooner pick up the phone to explain in person than shy away. Clients appreciate that. A good rapport with your customer is crucial in sales and a factor we always consider carefully as a team. Which of us is the best match for a particular customer? And we share our leads accordingly. We all have our own targets, but we're colleagues and help each other. Together we stand."
Youri and Samara are given every freedom to do their own thing. Youri: I was encouraged to develop my own individual style from Day 1. I was given the keys to my car, a laptop and phone, and off I went. I didn't even have a background in IT! I thrive on that kind of freedom and responsibility." Samara does, too, and takes her freedom and responsibility very seriously: "I approach my work as if I'm running my own company. That means being proactive and seizing opportunities. I think it's important to keep a close eye on broad market developments. Do our services still meet competitive market demands? Do they provide what customers need? What's going on in my customers' markets? How can I be of maximum value to a particular customer?"
The two Account Managers have noticed that a proactive attitude soon opens doors at VodafoneZiggo. "My ambitions are on the agenda of every meeting I have with my manager and this year, I was promoted to Senior Account Manager," says Youri. "I'm taking part in a pilot that aims to more firmly establish VodafoneZiggo among larger companies in the SME segment, 50 FTE and up. I'm responsible for the provinces South Holland and Zeeland. Until this year, B2B Direct Sales served mainly the smaller SME segment and corporates, but there's opportunity in the middle. We're working towards realistic targets and cooperation between higher management and our team is very smooth."
How do Youri and Samara see the future? Samara: "In time, I plan to start my own business and my job here at VodafoneZiggo is perfect preparation. It's very entrepreneurial work: you're free to be creative and the objective is to make an impact. There are more than plenty of means and possibilities to grow. Right now, for instance, I'm getting a grip on the streamlining of several work processes. Through my contact with customers, I had noticed that there are number of product-side issues that could be improved, and so that's what I'm currently doing. In addition, like Youri, I'm in the Talent Pool and as part of that we're doing a very interesting course called Leading without Power."
Youri has plans, too. "Corporates or management; it's going to be one of those two. The route to getting there is about more than targets alone. What you do outside your core activities is equally important. What effort are you putting into self-development, for instance, and what do you contribute to VodafoneZiggo on a more personal level? I try to seize every opportunity that will potentially propel me forward and to help me, I have an unlimited training budget."
Last but not least, Youri and Samara simply find VodafoneZiggo to be a delightful place to work. "Sales is always lots of fun and I feel really at home in this team," enthuses Samara. Youri adds, "Inclusion is an important topic here; from the work floor to the board room, it's always on everybody's mind. That was clear to be seen just recently with the allegations of inappropriate behaviour at TV show The Voice. Things like that happening in the world at large always trigger internal debate at VodafoneZiggo. That's great because it ensures that everybody is heard and happy in their working environment, whatever their personal or professional background."
