Routine Questions Flashcards
1
Q
Tell me a little about yourself
A
- I’m a fairly down to earth Southern-bred guy from NC with two great passions: 1) living as passionate and purpose-driven of a life as I can and 2) chasing as much accomplishment as I can in the field of tech
- Within a specifically professional lens I would say this translates to an inarguable track record over the last 6.5 years of helping companies grow by breaking critical new ground
- I started as an appointment-setter and quickly worked my way up to lead an outbound sales team
- and whether it’s a small SaaS platform or a larger research organization, prior bosses and colleagues will tell you that I’ve been a force in winning new revenue and diversifying customer bases that drive forward the overall growth story
- That’s put me squarely in my current position where I think I’m ready to chase my next opportunity
2
Q
What does Qualia currently do?
A
- Qualia is a machine-learning tool for cross-screen identity recognition
- We solve for one of the most pervasive challenges in the digital eco-system: the inability to consistently recognize consumers as they hop across different screens and browsing environments throughout the day
- Since brands buy media across every channel, connecting a user’s identity is crucial for retargeting, measurement and optimizing every dollar spent
- Our machine-learning intelligence is constantly analyzing billions of anonymous signals to map a user across all devices and browsing environments so you have a continuous line-of-sight of them
3
Q
Tell Me About Current Role/ Walk Me Through A Deal
A
- At Qualia I’ve had the incredible chance to really meaningfully impact our customer base
- Originally I was tasked with delivering new revenue from across accounts that fit the traditional mold of who our clients were: advertising agencies and mar-tech platforms
- When I leaned into the role, however, I noticed several fresh opportunities for diversifying our customer base.
- Namely, how relevant our technology was to fin-tech companies who were chasing explosive growth, and video personalization companies who were facing increasing pressure within the marketplace
- I rolled up my sleeves and handled the entire process — from prospecting and strategic cold outreach to landing that second and third meeting with additional stakeholders
- Then negotiation, a pilot and a signed contract
- So yes, though I hate using buzzwords to generalize people, I would say I most closely resemble a hunter type of mentality
- I had no inbound leads, had to sculpt my own messaging and needs assessment and eventually build on those uncovered prospect challenges to win those contracts
- Those clients now contribute about 25% of new revenue for the business for this year
4
Q
What’s your Sales Style?
A
- I would say it’s comprised of two unique ingredients
- First: anyone who knows me can testify that I am the opposite of your smarmy buzz-wordy sales guy
- I believe in authentically connecting with people, and in authentically understanding their reasons for why they would buy something
- This means that every interaction of mine is consultative where I bring my expertise and specialized experience from working with both large and small companies alike to bear and ask real questions centered actually helping prospects accomplish whatever they are after
- At the same time I understand that my role at the organization has a concrete purpose, to drive revenue
- And the second ingredient is equally important: a real energy and contagious passion for sourcing new revenue opportunities.
- So I’m constantly on the lookout for opportunities to be instrumental in someone else’s growth story — whether it’s swooping in and capitalizing on accounts that were just mentioned in the news or circling back to an account that wasn’t ready before to talk to us
- This also satisfies my OCD-ness a little bit and prevents anxiety.
- But I think those are the two defining elements that are ground into my DNA and they have delivered a track-record of success
5
Q
What does Smartly do?
A
- Simply put, for anyone who is serious about optimizing the impact of their Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest advertising, you are their number one choice
- Your platform gives them the keys to automate manual tasks, bulk edit creatives, and maximize campaign performance by tapping into powerful AI
- And you do it all through a very transparent, no-nonsense business model
6
Q
What questions should people be asking?
A
From my experience, I think it comes down to asking the ground rules questions:
Who are you showing your ads to?
What action are you trying to get the viewer to take?
How in-tune with that is your messaging and copy?
What’s eating up your time?
What insights about your audience are you missing?
How confident are you in the system you have developed?
Is your team following the most optimal workflow?
What glitches or issues are standing in the way of higher performance?
7
Q
Why looking to move?
A
- I joined company a year ago because I knew from my previous role that the identity-resolution space would be heating up as brands and agencies made it more of a must-have
- Naturally, with such a saturation of companies in the mar-tech space I knew that you’d have a lot of consolidation and m&a action
- And, honestly, I wanted to be a part of that
- To feel what it’s like to have your work and efforts contribute to a company that’s successfully sold
- That’s happened over the last month and I’m hunting for my next experience
8
Q
Why Smartly?
A
- Because I want to be a part of something that can really transform its space
- I want to valuably contribute to that growth story
- Because I’ve seen what it can do for you
- And I’m not just blindly walking in here
- When I choose a new opportunity it’s because I’ve done my research and concluded that it’s an extraordinary fit both in terms of what I’ll be selling and in terms of the cultural feel of the place
- I know that Smartly is at a defining moment of expansion
- And I know that in order to get there it must be doing something right
- I believe my experience, my track-record and my passion for products I believe in can really come to bear on that
