Now that our new leaders have had the chance to settle into their role, we wanted to ask them about their experiences! Over the last few months, each of them has grown into their style of leading a team. We had previously written about their unique personalities, but wanted to give them an opportunity to share their thoughts on leadership directly.
Nick Viviano has been hard at work keeping his team at peak performance. He’s helped them increase their activity level every month since he stepped into his role, and as a result, his team members have been able to keep delivering better results for their clients! Not only that, but he’s been able to build strong bonds with his team members by finding common ground. Popular topics include their experiences on the golf course and recent football games!
Here’s what Nick had to say when we asked about his favorite part of leading a team at Bandalier:
I would say that my favorite part of being on the leadership team is helping my reps become better salespeople, through coaching and training. As well as helping the Client Delivery team manage the client relationship.
Zach Keck has driven his team to find new, creative ways to keep delivering great results. Zach works with a lot of part-time reps, so he’s learned how to keep a flexible calendar! Thanks to his guidance, his team has been able to quickly shift gears to meet their clients’ changing needs.
Since Zach had stepped into an informal leadership role shortly before his official promotion, we asked him what surprises the position had in store for him. He said:
I think the most surprising part of leadership was just how much behind the scenes coordination goes on. I always knew management did a lot of communicating and organization, but it was surprising how much time is spent outside of the day-to-day clients, such as helping coordinate staffing/strategize for other programs.
Lydia Stewart has been coaching her team on new and changing programs! With her guidance, her team has been able to adapt to their clients’ needs with ease and improve results by improving their skill base. Lydia prefers to keep the team’s Zoom meetings short, and often catches up with her team members by trading message over Slack! She’s always quick to reply when her team members need help.
We asked Lydia about her favorite experiences on the leadership team, and here’s what she had to say:
I like being challenged and learning new skills. And it’s exciting to see the results of my effort when things are going well!
Mia Horwath has continued to work hard behind the scenes to make sure that our inside sales reps have the resources that they need to keep reaching for new targets! Whether you have a question about your list of leads or just need help with a new bug that you found, Mia will always step in to help if she can – and if she can’t, she’ll tell you what you can do to fix it yourself.
We asked Mia what the most important thing she had learned since stepping into her role as our Sales Ops Team Lead, and here’s what she had to say:
I would say the most important thing I’ve learned is how to be flexible. Since I am a full time student and so are most of my team members, it gets a little tricky as we all work different hours and sometimes those hours change on short notice. Being able to be flexible with them, cover for them and communicate has been challenging but something very important I needed to learn as a team lead.
Desirée Deninis has been hard at work training her team for success! She loves to see the entire team succeed, and is always happy to give tips on how you can make it through a tough call – or a tough day. With her reputation for reaching decision-makers, she’s one of the best people to ask for tips on difficult programs, and she’s always happy to help her colleagues.
Desirée is one of the more experienced members of our team, so we asked her what she was surprised to learn in her new role. Here’s her response:
What has surprised me most is the misconception that management is easy. It’s perceived as a position that you can finally “rest” in. That is not the case at all if you want your team to be successful. There are tons of moving parts and you cannot just sit back and watch your team pull in results – it’s a lot of coaching, training, and constant work and attention that is put into the team. I never believed in the whole “your team’s success is your success,” as I was always more of a believer that the team’s success is a result of the talent and skill of each individual rep. But as a manager, I’m starting to realize that your team’s success is your success, as well as a reflection on you, and the work you put in.
