My honest story about growing into a sales team lead position as a 25-year-young man.👇🏼
Two years ago I started as a Customer Acquisition Specialist at Strongest Group.
I had practically zero previous experience of B2B sales, besides my studies. To my surprise, I quickly became the company’s top performer in front-end pipeline building for various B2B clients from different industries. On an average month I booked 70-80 sales meetings, for one and a half years straight.🤝
At the same time Strongest Group Oy was growing rapidly. We were only six when I started. Now we are 20 people.
Obviously the growth didn’t come without challenges. Some decisions could have been better, some people weren’t a good fit, and some responsibilities just kept stacking to those who could handle it.
Early this year, February/March 2024, I started noticing some early signs of burning out. I had collected a nice set of responsibilities… a bit too much though😵
I was still on top of the leaderboard of meetings booked and euros generated. I was proud of that. I was also managing about 10 accounts, doing the usual reporting, steering group meetings, upselling, etc. And on top of that I was occasionally helping on our internal sales, welcoming and coaching new colleagues, and leading a team of six people. I often worked extra long and without breaks.🥶
I am competitive and conscientious, so it was hard for me to lower my focus on the core money generating activity for the company. It felt important, I felt important.
Little by little, as we did some changes to our salary models, priorities, and recruited awesome talents, like Aapo Lind ,Alexander Krook , Mikko Ryysyläinen , Annamaria Mäkelä , Jimi Hackspik , Heidi Grönroos , and others. I was able to see the importance and possibility of focusing more on the team leading responsibilities.🙏🏻
Now I am happy to see my team become better every day at our job. I’ve learned a lot about leadership from insightful conversations with Toni Heiskanen and Taru Merikoski.
For sure I have room to improve as a leader, and I probably don’t know what I don’t know yet. But this is a good start, and Strongest will grow even stronger after summer.💪🏼
Tomorrow it’s time to easen up for a vacation! Visit family and friends, read books, work out, and so on.😎
I’ll be out of office until the 29th of July!
Wishing you all a hot and relaxing summer!☀️
#growth #b2bmyynti #leadership