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  • Ana Fernández 4:00 pm on July 18, 2012 Permalink | Reply
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    Zyncro seeks a German Presales Representative 

    Estimated reading time: 4 minutes (maybe more if you’re interested ;-) )

    Zyncro continues to grow… and in a technology company like ours, our sales team is expanding and needs new people.

    If you want to work in an energetic, flexible, leading, international and multicultural company with a young and modern, dynamic but also intense atmosphere, in Barcelona (Zyncro’s headquarters), then you’re the person we’ve been looking for.

    Who are we?

    Zyncro Tech is one of the main start-ups on today’s international technology panorama. We started in Barcelona a little over two years ago and now we have offices in Argentina, Mexico, France, DACH, Benelux, Brazil, Japan, China, the United States, and soon we’ll open in Italy and Scandinavia.

    Working at Zyncro Tech, you’ll be part of:

    • An attractive project in which you can learn, grow both professionally and personally, develop your expertise as an expert in the technology sector and experience the passionate world of business software and the social web.
    • A fun, multicultural and motivated team looking to take on the world and which is 100% dedicated to the project.
    • An innovative environment where you learn something new every day, discover what inspires you and where the path is built on new ideas.
    • A truly international venture, meaning that you’ll discover performance at a global level, learn and participate in the different ways of doing things across different cultures.

    What are we looking for?

    We’re looking for a Presales Representative with these main characteristics:

    • Sales driven attitude and aptitude, innate or learned, but demonstratable with defined achievements within your professional CV from your experience at other companies whether gained from your work history or from voluntary activities, paid or unpaid but must prove you have abilities only a natural would possess.
    • Suitable level of training for performing your job, with knowledge of business software and business consulting
    • High level of professionalism
    • Dynamic attitude, with lots of initiative
    • Be used to working intensely under pressure
    • Be results-oriented
    • Minimum experience of 2 years in similar positions in constantly changing environments under major growth.
    • Native level of German and excellent level of English; knowledge of other languages will be highly valued.

    What do we offer?

    • International career: Zyncro’s nine (soon to be eleven) offices will let you discover the commercial reality of multiple countries and experience the thrill of multiculturalism from day one.
    • Training: At Zyncro, we hate monotony. Our leitmotif is to learn new things every day, incorporating the best technology in our daily tasks and always being keyed in on the latest happenings around us.
    • Fun: From day one, you’ll discover the touch of madness of our team members… that essential touch needed to make everything run like clockwork!
    • Remuneration in line with the responsibilities and demands of the job.

    If you want to apply for this job offer, register in Zyncro following this link and we will contact you:

    http://www.zyncro.com/en/try-zyncro-free?oid=BL0001072012EN

    If you’re unsure whether you’re a good consultant and trainer, if you’re not creative, if you’re not a geek, if you can’t speak perfect German and you have a good level of English, if you haven’t travelled, if you feel unable to commit yourself 100% to the project, please don’t take part in this process.

     

     

  • Ana Fernández 10:45 am on November 25, 2011 Permalink | Reply
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    Salesperson 2.0 How to work 

    Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

    When I started working some years ago, the evolution of companies or departments was never categorized. The 2.0 concept applied to the business environment arose out of the need for new values when faced with the difficult situations brought about with the recession. Society as a whole demanded a business change and so the Social Networks were born. Some registered and started to try them out to soon realize their major potential.

    As human beings, we have always participated in social networks or groups, to a greater or lesser extent. Villages are an example of a large social network. Everyone always knew what the other was doing and everyone talked about their next-door neighbour.

    I was quick to realize this because my parents are Galician and I would always spend my summers in Galicia, in the village of Quiroga. Quiroga had an unwritten rule in social networking. Everyone would comment on what so-and-so was up to and vice-versa, but by the traditional face-to-face conversation. Over time, this has also transformed. The village gossip has now moved to Facebook, where I can hear all the latest goings on in the village in Barcelona without having to be there. Nowadays, that’s what RRSS are for. Knowledge is transfered, people in different places start to share, collaborate and inform others, and logically, transferring it to the business world, companies are transformed.

    How should a salesperson 2.0 work?

    Faced with this environment, there’s three basic premises that at Zyncro I’ve learned to follow in any social sales 2.0 environment:

    1. A good social salesperson needs to create their own social structure, share knowledge with that network, make potential customers loyal and connect with them. There’s no longer any geographical or time barriers: technology 2.0 enables us all to be connected.
    2. When a salesperson meets a potential customer or starts to work on an account, they not only need to add it to their CRM, they need to generate new contacts in LinkedIn and follow them on Twitter, find them in Google+ and communicate, where appropriate, any advances with that customer or account within the company’s private nework.
    3. The Marketing or Social Media department needs to do the same from the company’s corporate profiles and keep an eye out for news from new contacts.

    It’s a radical change in sales management methodology, as I mentioned in the post Salesperson 2.0: The culture of effort and the Black Swan, we need to be open and willing to accept change, as change is an essential part of our lives… Everything changes.

    Business communication is become more social, and technologies too, CRMs, ERPs and all other business systems. For this reason, from a sales perspective, those systems need to be inter-connected to beat the competition and continue selling. Nowadays, customers don’t come asking for quotations, you need to detect who has a need and convince them that you’re the right solution, so it’s essential that you’re part of the social network of your possible customers and respond to that need. Passive companies will die and active ones will survive. Companies that take advantage of recession to transform emerge reinforced and those that don’t end up going out of business. We have tools to survive recession but we have to want to, or at least accept going through a constant change. We can use LinkedIn, Twitter, Salesforce… but we have to want change. It will make us better. Change is part of our lives and we must accept it, and even, taking it a step further, we must use it to make us better professionals. Those who know how to adapt quickly will come out on top. Darwin’s Law. Darwin applied to the business world.

     

     

  • Ana Fernández 10:00 am on October 4, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: change, ,   

    Salesperson 2.0: The culture of effort and the Black Swan 

    Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

    This article is a reflection that arose last Sunday while I was watching some films, as I do every Sunday – films are one of my greatest passions.  Lately, because I have a three-year-old son, I’m even enjoying children’s films, although I personally never liked series such as Heidi or David the Gnome.

    The series in my day (I’m not sure whether I’m part of Generation X or what exactly), aimed towards us having a happy childhood, problem-free and with a happy ending. I honestly believe that we missed out on being taught about the culture of effort. In order to get what you want, you need to stumble and get up again various times on a daily basis and sometimes even various times a day.  We’re currently experiencing a global recession as well as in our own countries.  Everyday I hear “salespeople” say that they are not closing sales due to the recession.  I find this hard to believe, that the “Crisis”  or recession is to blame for everything; it’s not.  In fact, before the crisis, when somebody couldn’t close a sale, I would hear excuses such as, “such and such happened to me today…“

    The word came to us from the Latin word crisis and this in turn came from the Greek krisis. The Greek term was derived from the verb krinein (to separate, judge, decide).  The Chinese symbol illustrates this concept and is composed of two figures: danger and opportunity.

    A “crisis” is a time for change. We can transform this change into something positive, if we are prepared to make that change.  We must all be prepared to change and to get ready for what this implies. Accepting that change requires effort. We worry about change on the whole. We don’t like it mainly due to the effort it requires.  I, on the other hand, like something to change every day.  Change is good, as reacting and making a change at the right moment is essential.  All we need to do is look back in order to get a boost.  I remember when my parents retired from the company they had spent over 20 years working in; this will not happen to us and we must be aware of this.  We must learn to manage it and ensure it does not cause us problems as does happen on many occasions, or let it be an excuse to hold us back.  Change has already been programmed into our DNA although we were not taught how to manage it.

    Ernie never moved away from Sesame Street and he always had Bert to help him out.  During our childhood or adolescence, the biggest change we went through was being able to watch the TV in colour, have an Amstrad and from then on, move towards Windows 3.1.

    Now change is ever-present in our lives and we need pass this on and teach our children.

    For this to happen, it is vital there be a power of influence within organizations in order to get through to people to make them fight and to always look ahead. It’s important to always be consistent in your work and be aware of all that is going on around you in order to be able to make sales.  To reap, you need sow.  Orders do not fall from the sky like meatballs do in “Cloudy with a chance of meatballs”, meaning we have to go out and look for them.  An entrepreneurial spirit is vital for businesses and the complacent attitude must be eliminated from teams.  Nothing is ever enough and all it takes is a little effort to keep it going.  We should take a look at the children’s film “Ice Age”: we need to be a bit more like the squirrel going after the acorn.

    Following on from the last post, today I watched Black Swan again.  The film is about “the delirium of a young woman facing the biggest challenge of her life,  determined to survive within a hostile environment full of jealousy and bitterness where she discovers that she has no greater enemy than herself” (quote from blogdecine.com in Spanish).  By referring to this film, I don’t mean that everybody is about to go mad but that we should all fight the battles and overcome them.  The competition is out there, but if we are capable of being the best, they will not be able to beat us.  Working and facing the battle should be our motto these days.

    A salesperson or any worker in the 2.0 world needs to participate in a culture of consistency, effort, overcoming obstacles day by day and constantly innovating.  These characteristics may have been deemed as fundamental for a salesperson since the beginning of time, but it rings truer than ever. We need to focus body, soul and tweets onto getting our customers to buy not only products and services from us, but also the brand and the company.  They must trust us and see that we work for them and that we are available to them in a consistent team effort and in order to obtain the best results.

    That is what we are like at Zyncro and this is how we would like all companies that bring our solution on board to be.  We support communication, collaboration, productivity and a job well done so that the crisis is not seen as bleak time, but in fact, as an opportunity for all.

    I hope this article helps you start your week well!  Happy Tuesday and happy crisis!!

     

     

  • Ana Fernández 9:52 am on September 20, 2011 Permalink | Reply
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    Hunter or farmer? The dilemma applied to a salesperson 2.0 

    Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

    Whenever I have been to seminars, business schools, companies…I have been told the distinct difference between being a Hunter or a Farmer.  For those of you who may not be familiar with the terms, I will begin with a brief description of their meaning:

    • Hunter: The type of salesperson focused on getting new customers and business development
    • Farmer: A salesperson whose main task is to retain or increase business with known clients (also Key Accounts)

    I have always believed that a salesperson in the age of 2.0 has to be both.  At the moment, businesses cannot afford to have both profiles.  I have worked in companies that had both teams differentiated from one another and they were duplicating costs.  Salespeople need to have been well-trained and accustomed to learning from their colleagues everyday and not feel like different species among themselves.  A salesperson and “2.0 expert” should be even more accustomed.  Using the tools we have around us as well as the new communication strategies that allow us to maintain a direct relationship with our clients, people within the sales department should be just as concerned about getting new customers as they are to maintain the existing ones.

    I firmly believe that now is the time to educate future sales people on the two skill sets:

    Those who combine the two aspects will be successful,
    whereas those who do not will fail.

    In a competitive market in a crisis and at a time like this, only the best and those who work hardest will survive.  Lluís Font always tells me that “you need to work harder at a time of crisis, those who work the hardest will triumph.” For this reason, we need combine the two competencies and improve them.  In order to do this, we must use all of the available tools starting with technology: technology should be our most powerful weapon in order to beat competition. Social networks are a strategy, not just a means to obtain results.

    The goal of a salesperson is to achieve results for their company, as well as to give an excellent customer service, because this is the only way to survive.  Therefore, when looking for salespeople, businesses, constantly looking at just the profile, should in fact base their search on people, people with competencies, attitudes, qualities and knowledge.

    A person’s CV will always be valid but it should outline specific abilities, qualities and now also contacts.  Whenever I meet someone and they say, “I know such and such a customer” but then I ask myself, does the customer know them?  Not only must you know the customer, they must also know you.  It is not enough to just channel orders and not give a personalized service and putting a familiar voice and a face to the names of each customer…  The customer will remain loyal when treated well upon receipt of a good service.  And in a 2.0 world, this is completely possible.

    A customer will always ask to speak with someone who listens; this is very important.  The salesperson needs to know how to listen and say what the customer wants to hear.  A few years ago, I would hear about how how we should only look after customer who bring us business or those who are not problematic. I have always thought that this was a mistake and the reason behind why things are how they are now.  All customers are clients as long as they are paying and they can help the business expand as well as with further sales.  These days, customers are scarce and they must be looked after.

    At Zyncro, we try to look after our clients to the maximum, offering them a 360º service.  We contact them by their own business model (B2B model) via LinkedIn, Twitter…when the sales relationship begins.  We recommend they read our blog and find out if the client has their own blog.  All that is needed is to search for names and then click the “follow” or “connect” button.  From that moment, you form part of their network.  You see and learn what that client conveys and the customer usually does the same with your product or business because reciprocity is common in 2.0.  Zyncro as a social intranet is a basic tool for sharing information with the different departments dealing with the customer, their needs and the financial position.  This way, the strategy is made worthwhile.

    The “hunter or farmer” dilemma is a utopia for 2.0 salespeople.  We should all be all of the above.  Now the dilemma is will we know how to be one? Or will we want to?

     

     

  • Ana Fernández 9:30 am on August 30, 2011 Permalink | Reply
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    How to become a salesperson 2.0 and not die trying. Introduction 

    Allow me to first introduce myself, my name is Ana Fernandez, Sales Manager at Zyncro and I would like to thank the company for giving me this opportunity to publish my first blog post.  My objective is to start this article with a section on how to reestablish the “salesperson” as a “salesperson 2.0” and how to not die trying…

    I firmly and constantly believe in the use of information in order to achieve results. Generation 1.0 is reluctant to share information and collaborate.  Salespeople from this generation think clients belong to them simply because they have their business cards, their telephone number, their extension or their mobile number.  This is now in decline as well as it being non-productive when such tools as LinkedIn and social networks exist.  Customer share their information with you within social networks if they really believe that you are the right person to manage their needs.

    Traditional companies also think customers are theirs exclusively and they do not realize that clients are free to choose and can be lost more quickly than the time spent finding them.

    The sales paradigm is currently changing.  I firmly believe in:

    • the use of tools that aid the salesperson’s day to day such as social ERP, social CRM and  the use of collaborative tools like Zyncro
    • the exchange of information – moreover the immediate exchange – between the different departments.
    • and customer loyalty via all possible channels.

    Companies that believe departments to be like territories are destined to fail.  Departments must collaborate.  The technical department, marketing and the sales departments should be one and they must fight with the same intensity towards obtaining business opportunities and sharing information.

    I will periodically present you with articles on what it means to be a salesperson 2.0.  From “The Philosophy” and basic concepts about the new paradigmic change in “customer-sales” relationships, going through “The Tools“: LinkedIn, Twitter, Salesforce, iContact and of course, Zyncro.  Until we reach marketing-sales relationships in a company 2.0, technical-sales relationships in a company 2.0, salesperson profiles 2.0, contact management in a hyper-connected and social world (the sales point of view)…

    Finally and with regards to my position, I would like to explain to you why I choose to support the salesperson 2.0 perspective and overall, the reasons for doing so by using Zyncro.

    Zyncro allows for information sharing and to be honest, I think this is the key to success.  Collaboration is a basic principle with regards to the change we are experiencing.  Everything changes and in order to survive, the use of words such as information and collaboration, are key especially in the sales arena.  Zyncro allows the sales team to share presentations, proposals as well as improve your productivity by means of generation of work groups and, I am leaving out the most important part, the possibility to learn about colleagues’ successes with clients as well as the possibility to ask about them. Questions can be posed freely by using the microbloging system and your colleagues can respond to these while you are at a customer base so you may also meet the customer’s needs at that very moment.  By using the employee profile module, we can search for the person within our own organization that has the right knowledge in order for us to respond to our client.  And this is just the beginning…  In the following posts ,you will start to discover a lot more about the sales world 2.0 as well as about Zyncro. This is just the first chapter.

    Welcome to the “Sales 2.0” section of ZyncroBlog!

     

     

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