‘@ Work: Sean Phillips

October 1, 2018

Company: Yosemite Software Solutions
Title: VP of Business Development
Years on Job: 6 Years

I began work at Yosemite Software Solutions six years ago. I was originally hired with the key responsibility of marketing and sales. Since then, my role has evolved to include five primary responsibilities: marketing, sales, account management, software implementation and user training. I work from my home office in California and spend the first part of my morning handling any of the urgent issues that need to be addressed. Since a many of our customers are located east of us, it is important that I reach out to clients and prospective clients early in my day. As things quiet down later in the day, I work on some of the administrative tasks such as implementations, current projects, and planning and executing key marketing and sales initiatives. One of the things I love about this job is that the ownership of the company provides a great amount of freedom and autonomy for the employees to develop in the areas of their strengths.

Communication
Written and spoken communications are probably the most important skills to have in this position. Listening to prospects and accurately responding to their needs with the correct solutions is critical in the sales process. Written communication skills are an important requirement for the marketing and client management roles. Public speaking and teaching skills become important when training large groups of people in the use of our software. I work with a talented, committed and hardworking team of programmers and support staff. It is important that we communicate effectively as a team in order to efficiently meet the needs of our clientele.

Skills
Fortunately, sales has always been a part of my life, or you could even say it is in my blood. My grandfather was a real estate and insurance broker in Hollywood, CA and my father was an insurance broker. My sales experience started at age ten while I canvassed door to door selling subscriptions for the local newspaper, and then, advanced to being the youngest REALTOR in Santa Cruz County at age 22. Over the years, I have found that a relational consultative selling approach is the most effective. With this approach, the sale does not end when you receive a signed contract. Rather, you continually work with the client over the life of the relationship in order to make sure that the software is meeting their needs. There are four other primary skills that are important in my role: technology, organization, marketing, and communication.

Tools
I depend on a wide range of software tools that assist in organizing, planning, and managing the many facets of my role. Our flagship software, SRA, requires the use of Microsoft Excel and Word, and therefore, expert level ability with these tools is necessary. Organizationally, we use the Google Suite as our primary business suite. A majority of our communication comes via email so I use Google Inbox to a manage my email as a to-do list, which allows me to organize my email by importance and schedule a time to respond or follow up. I use Smartsheet for planning and project management. Mailchimp for bulk communication, and GoToMeeting for live webinars. Zendesk is the program that we use for managing our support queue, and I use WordPress to develop and manage our company website.

I feel very fortunate to work with a great group of people at Yosemite Software and for an industry with some truly awesome people. The people that we serve in the material handling industry are sincerely an outstanding group of dedicated individuals