Salespeople are some of the hardest-working individuals, and in the New York City tech scene especially. Just as any good sales team knows how to hustle hard and achieve their goals, they also know how to celebrate when they transform those goals into reality.
Built In NYC got the scoop from four sales teams in NYC tech to learn exactly what goes into creating a team culture that focuses on working hard and playing hard.
At Yext, the company mission is to help businesses take control of their virtual identities on more than 100 different services. As Yext helps their clients learn and evolve, they make it part of their mission to reflect that same growth in their employee culture. Account Executive, Small Business Rana Rezvan told Built In NYC how Yext’s sales team upholds these standards — and then some.
How would you describe the overall attitude and culture of your sales team?
The people at Yext are everything — the leadership and support from everyone across the team is so friendly. If you have a question, just ask and people will go out of their way to help you. It's also a really fun group, and the whole team is always down for a good time. Everyone truly wants to see you succeed. The attitude is: when you win, we all win.
What rituals or traditions does your sales team have to celebrate a big win?
We each have mini cowbells of different colors that we ring every time we close a deal. Also, we're all friends, so we take the time to grab a few drinks with the team after work on certain occasions.
Amperity helps companies around the world make real, meaningful connections with their customers. Amperity designs and builds powerful customer segmentation tools that help bring content via email and advertisements to those most interested. Amperity's Enterprise Sales Director Mary Grace Tifft told Built In NYC how the sales team helps Amperity bring their tools to some of the biggest brands in existence.
How would you describe the overall attitude and culture of your sales team?
We have an incredibly open culture that strikes a good balance between hard-working and goofy — which is a pretty apt description of the overall Amperity (formerly Custora) culture as well. During my orientation, fondly known as "Custorientation", my sales buddy went above and beyond his duties to familiarize me with the Amperity product and culture before helping choreograph an interpretative dance that we jointly performed for the company. I can definitely rely on my sales colleagues for thought leadership, guidance and unwavering support — as well as a good laugh — that attitude permeates all of our interactions with clients and other "Custorians".
What rituals or traditions does your sales team have to celebrate a big win?
We are constantly trying out new NYC activities, from rock climbing to hip-hop dancing to using our collective genius to solve puzzles in order to "escape the room." And of course, after a big win, we'll pop a bottle of champagne!
When you’re working on a remote team like NS1 Enterprise Account Executive Kaelin Sprawls, it can be easy to feel left out of a real team culture. Yet as Sprawls explained to Built In NYC, DNS and traffic management platform developer NS1 succeeds in creating a truly vibrant and cohesive team, no matter where they may be located.
How would you describe the overall attitude and culture of your sales team?
The overall attitude and culture of the NS1 sales team is very unique — we are a diverse group of people from musicians, outdoorsmen, artists and athletes working side by side. We all come together with a hardworking, supportive, fun, consultative approach and a true intent to change the way applications are delivered today. I am actually remote from most of the team and because of Slack and Zoom video conference calls it’s easy to interact daily and still experience that sense of team camaraderie. There is a real understanding and ownership we each have toward taking care of business and winning the right way.
What rituals or traditions does your sales team have to celebrate a big win?
Every win is a big win! We usually give a huge shout out in our Slack channel for wins and shower the account executive with the Slack dancing pickle, Emojis, GIFs, and even some music videos.
At SevenRooms, hospitality is the product. The company designs an intuitive reservation and customer management platform for restaurants, hotels and more that helps users gain valuable insights into their clientele. The platform also helps said clientele have the experience of a lifetime — whether or not they know SevenRooms is behind it. SVP of Sales Dana Konwiser revealed to Built In NYC how the sales team brings this groundbreaking technology to top-tier establishments with their dynamism and collaborative skills.
How would you describe the overall attitude and culture of your sales team?
Our sales team members are hardworking go-getters who are driven by spreading the word about SevenRooms for our growing company. The team's biggest asset is their ability to be dynamic in a complex sale — it's essential because no two hospitality companies operate the same way, and it's something that really sets us apart from other sales teams. Also, everyone is willing to help a colleague work on their pitch or share an insider tip that's worked for them for a similar client. We genuinely care about the success of our teammates, which makes the culture very collaborative.
What rituals or traditions does your sales team have to celebrate a big win?
Every time a client signs up for SevenRooms, we have a Slack channel that sends out a notification with key details and recognition for the salesperson. It's amazing to see how excited the team gets when a new client is signed, and the channel is full of congratulations from colleagues on other teams including engineering, product, marketing and customer success. It's a way for us to celebrate the hard work of our team every day.
For big wins like signing your first client, a large enterprise deal or hitting a personal goal, we have a gong that the salesperson goes up to and hits along with the option to change office music to the anthem of their choice. We love celebrating team milestones — and we also make sure our team is recognized for their hustle through weekly shoutouts in our company newsletter.
