In my last blog post I wrote about finding my way within the Meltwater organization and how and why I ended up “down under,” all of which probably sounded quite fancy and great. In this post I want to go into more detail on what my very first months at Meltwater were like. These first few months were not so fancy, but rather hard work. This was a really important time for me and I wanted to share it here.

I started out in our Berlin office and was quite aware that it would be B2B sales position, but to be honest I had little idea what sales on this level would be like. There were many new things to learn that were quite different from my previous experiences. Luckily enough I had great support from all my colleagues, especially from my team leader, Inga, who all helped me through the initial training with many workshops and mock conversations as well as one-on-one recap sessions.

Usually people want to know what the first couple weeks on a new job will be like. The first weeks were very fast pace and had long hours. I personally did not mind much because I really wanted to get my first sales contract ASAP and I had known that this job would not be easy. Sad thing is though, it did not happen – as I wanted – in my first month. When I got my first sale in (first week of my second month), it was certainly one of the best feelings ever, all the hard work had paid off. The entire office celebrated with me, I got messages and emails from all over the world and was prouder than anyone could imagine.

However, after this first success it still took some time for me to really master sales. Over the next months I did close deals, but I was not consistent and it felt sometimes like I was lucky, rather than really having command of the situation. I spoke to my managers about this and I received reaffirmation and support. But at the same time it was very frustrating because I was not as good as I wanted to be. And I wanted to become a team leader, a Sales Manager, as soon as possible, so obviously I needed to prove that I could master sales.

Something really important happened to me in July. The Berlin office had some new people on board and I started working with a new team leader, Angela (who is now the Area Director of the US East Coast). Even though I definitely was not new on the job anymore, one afternoon Angela took the time to sit down with me and speak in detail about all my cases and accounts and how I was doing. I told her that I was frustrated and did not know where to go. She looked at me as if I was crazy and said without any doubt in her voice, ”You’re doing just fine and I actually want you to be a Sales Manager by Fall, and that is going to be our plan.” And sure enough I thought she must be crazy herself; I felt like I was years away from my goal. After setting this goal, Angela and I worked together to change some rather minor things in my work habits, did mock calls again with a lot of feedback, and then the nut was cracked. I don’t know if it was just a matter of time or if it was this absolute firm belief from my manager and the team (probably both), but from that month on, I was in control of my sales and started to do very well. And believe it or not, by October I was indeed promoted to Sales Manager.

Looking back on these first few months I now know that sometimes it just takes a bit of time until things fall into place. And the firm belief in people and the kind of support I experienced is certainly what I built my management style upon, be it with a team as a Sales Manager or as a Managing Director in my own office. It is also about always being available for a chat and having time for the people I work with. Right now we are getting started with the second round of recruitment for the Auckland office and it will be – again- very exciting to manage these new guys, develop new managers out of the existing bunch and, hopefully, be of similar influence and help in all their careers as my managers were for me. I’ll definitely let you all know how this is going…