In Pursuit of Good Conversations – Spotlight on Shantae’

As an Account Executive at VC3, Shantae’ works in business development but she doesn’t consider herself a salesperson. She’s a relationship builder and if you followed her around on a typical day, you’d see exactly how her activities define her approach to business development.

She may begin her day with a networking meeting at 7 o’clock in the morning. Then she might meet with peers from her networking group for coffee before going to the office to make calls, follow up on inbound leads from marketing, and plan out her next activities. Then she’s out and about again in the afternoon. Her varied schedule makes life interesting but also gives her the flexibility she needs to be there for her kids.

“I’m a single mom with two kids and we literally have soccer every single night of the week,” said Shantae’. “I may have work events at night sometimes but I’m able to arrange help. At the same time, it’s great to know that I can do what I need to do in a day and still be there for my kids and provide for their needs.”

Investing in Relationships

Shantae’ invests in relationships because she understands that’s how the sales process works. What she is pursuing as she meets with people is good conversations.

The managed IT service sales process takes time and VC3 business development is all about creating partnerships, and not just traditional vendor relationships. Shantae’ stays in touch with potential clients and her referral network so when the time is right, she’s there. In fact, one day she met with a company and that very day their internal IT manager quit.

“You have to talk to a potential client many times before you close a deal,” she explained. “You get some initial pain points and talk to them again to learn a little bit more. Then you talk to them again and they usually bring in someone else. At that point you talk about money and details.”

Shantae’ says that the day you close a deal you feel like you won the world because it’s such a long process to get to the finish line. There are lots of congratulations when those days happen but there’s also affirmation during the time in between closed deals to recognize the progress that leads to new customers.

Sales Team Support and Collaboration Across the US and Canada

The VC3 sales team across the US and Canada use chat on Microsoft Teams to cheer and support each other in between scheduled meetings. Shantae’ has found that getting together one-on-one with her business development peers has been a great way to learn how other people practice their profession, and she’s been able to share her approach with them as well.

Shantae’ moved from Client Success Manager to Technical Advisor to Account Executive at Accent Computer Solutions before they became a part of VC3. She appreciates the fact that now that Accent is part of a larger organization, she has more options to offer potential clients than she had previously. More options and a bigger technical bench make it easier for her to fulfill her ultimate mission which she says is to find solutions that fit and make life better for clients.

 “One of my networking peers who fed me lots of referrals finally asked us to do his IT,” said Shantae’. Every time I see him, he praises the team and tells me how great they are and how he can’t believe how different it’s been since he switched to us. Having the best team makes it easy.”

Ride the Sales Process Wave and Manage Expectations

Shantae’ has confidence in the VC3 service team to deliver on what she promises, but that doesn’t mean she is without challenges. When you deal with people, you learn that sometimes they say ‘Yes, we’re going to do this’ when really, it’s ‘No, not right now.’ You have to ride the wave, keep doing the things that you need to do, and manage expectations.

“People hear the word ‘sales’ and they go ‘ugh’, but I think the way we do sales here is so different,” said Shantae’. “That’s not to say it’s an easy job. I work for every deal and that makes it so much better when it comes through. But this is a great company. They really care.”

Shantae’ has built her success as an Account Executive one conversation at a time by building authentic connections that lead to mutually beneficial relationships. So if you want to find Shantae’ on any given day, she’s probably on the phone, in a meeting or at an event which might even include a little ax throwing from time to time.

Interested in working with Shantae' on the VC3 business development team? Check out our current opportunities in business development.