Breaking into a career in tech: tips from a Digital Transformation Manager at EasySend

Fallon Teren, Digital Transformation Manager at EasySend, shares her experience working at the company at the forefront of digital transformation and provides advice for those just starting out as Sales Development Representatives.

How do you feel you've grown in the last year?

Over the past year, I've had a lot of successes as well as failures that have helped me grow and develop as an SDR.

My job is to engage with prospective clients, understand their difficulties, and set up meetings for those who may benefit from our solution. In order to be successful, I've had to grow a lot as a person and learn how to manage my time better, work smarter, not harder, and be more proactive in order to get things done. I'm constantly learning new things and developing my skills, which is something I really enjoy about my job.

When I first started at EasySend, I aspired to be a perfectionist in my outreach, follow-ups, and research. I didn't want to lose any opportunity, and I was afraid of making mistakes as a result of being rushed or unprepared. So I would spend extra time on my research and often times over-prepare for meetings.

As I learned the ropes, I learned to focus on tasks that bring the best results. For example, at the start, I would focus on drafting flawless emails every day, but the reply rate was so low that it didn't really matter what was inside. Even in the case where someone had opened it, they seldom remembered what it was about when I called them.

Calling, on the other hand, was very successful. Calling allowed me to start a conversation right away, gauge personality and interest, and, if relevant, I could book a meeting immediately - so I started focusing more heavily on what works and dedicating time to calling instead of drafting emails.

In addition, when I first started as an SDR at EasySend, I felt that it was critical to be able to present the perfect pitch to potential customers. Now, I've realized that in many cases, it's more important to listen than to talk.

I take the time to understand my customer's needs and pains and how our product can help them before presenting a solution. This helped generate interest since conversations revolved around what they needed and wanted and not around why they should buy. This approach allows me to focus on their specific needs rather than trying to sell them a generic solution.

Another thing that's been strengthened from working here is adaptability. The whole industry is constantly changing, and we need to be able to change with it quickly. I've learned how to be open to new ideas, new processes, and change in general.

It was exciting to put together a unique approach for success, but it was also vital to revisit it, identify holes, and search for answers in order to enhance it.

For example, some of my colleagues were having success with video outreach. I was hesitant at first, but I decided to give it a try.

I didn't see the results immediately; my first attempts at personalized video outreach didn't generate a lot of interest and took forever to make. From there, I began testing different types of videos and experimenting with different strategies, and learning from my colleagues until I found what worked best for me.

Eventually, I learned to leave small mistakes and keep the video around 60 seconds or less. It turns out that video is an excellent way to stand out in someone's inbox - not only did I start getting positive responses, but investing the time to send a personalized video also helped me connect with prospects.

While it's impossible to be perfect, I've learned that what matters most is finding a way to continuously improve and learn from your mistakes in order to be successful.

How do you feel your current position contributes to the SDR team and the company's growth?

I've learned a lot about how to manage my time, how to communicate more effectively, and how NOT to get discouraged when encountering rejection.

Moreover, I learn new things every day. As someone on the front lines reaching out and chatting with our potential customers, I hear what frustrates them the most and learn more about their industry.

While I primarily set up meetings that will hopefully end with a new customer, I also pick up on what use cases are trending, what competitors are doing better or worse than us, and I also learn how to navigate common objections that prevent people from moving forward with our solution.

Sometimes I can turn the conversation around by offering a workaround or by highlighting a feature that they weren't aware of. Other times, I take note of the objection and report it to our product team so that they can consider building something to address it.

One notable objection that I keep seeing pop us is, "we already have a digital/IT team. They do what your product does, so we don't need it".

I came to the realization that it's actually a good thing. It gives me an opportunity to highlight the value of our product. I started responding with something like, "That's great! But our product will free up their time so that they can focus on other things and add even more value to your company."

I've been able to generate more meetings because of educating potential customers about no-code solutions, like ours, to improve business processes and enable them to be digital leaders in their industry with a fraction of the internal resources that they would otherwise need.

I'm grateful for the opportunity to work with such an amazing team that is constantly pushing me to be better.

Where do you see the industry going in the next five years?

We primarily focus on the insurance and banking space, but I've also had many conversations with people in the automotive, logistics, and healthcare industries.

No-code is going to be huge.

As mentioned above, leveraging no-code solutions to complement the work done by internal IT teams is going to be huge.

I've had so many conversations where a process needed digitization, automation, or maybe it was already digital but needed to be changed or duplicated into a similar process - and it was taking months, or was in delay, or was done incorrectly and needed to be restarted.

Meanwhile, more resources are being poured into IT. Intuitive no-code solutions ease the burden of IT and empower business leaders to create and modify business processes in a few clicks.

I foresee a lot of businesses across all industries taking advantage of the time and resource savings that come with using no-code platforms to automate their business processes.

Digital self-service is a must.

In addition, I think we'll see a continued focus on customer experience and engagement through building digital self-service solutions.

I've seen too many insurance and loan websites that still start processes with "call this number to get started."

What?! In 2022? No way. Customers expect to be able to do everything online. They want transparency, and they want things to be easy.

You can't ask customers to call during their working hours, wait on hold, and then answer a bunch of questions just to get started with a quote or application.

If you want to stay relevant, you need to offer digital self-service solutions that are available 24/7.

Digital data intake solutions provide customers with a way to complete any process at their own pace, from anywhere, and on any device.

Another benefit of these self-service journeys is that you can track where bottlenecks occur, optimizing the customer experience and making it even more seamless.

Digital self-service also means that paper processes will become obsolete. I don't just mean physical paper but also "digital paper." There is no reason to use a PDF or Word Doc to get data or signatures anymore.

Digital data intake processes must be interactive and intuitive. Your business will fall behind if your process is full of friction.

We're seeing a lot of our customers using our no-code platform to quickly build digital self-service solutions for their customers that are seamless with conditional logic, pre-filled fields, advanced validation rules, and eSignature options.

One final change that I see is going to be critical in the insurance, and financial service space is the growing number of tech-savvy employees.

Many companies I've connected with have argued: "Your solution is great and will save us time, but my employees are old-school. They don't want to learn a new system."

Every time I've heard this type of response, I think of that one episode of "The Office" where the paper company launches a website to help sell paper digitally. This made the phone salespeople concerned that they were being replaced, so they decided to compete with the website to see who would sell more - the website or them. In the end, one of the salespeople barely managed to beat the computer system, but it was a brutal struggle and not sustainable. As the digital era develops, the education and adaptability of employees will be vital to staying on top.

What is your favorite thing about your job?

There are a few things that I really like about working at EasySend. First of all, the team is great. Everyone is very talented and motivated to do their best. It's also a very collaborative environment, so it's easy to get help or feedback when you need it. I love the company culture. We have a lot of fun here, and we genuinely care about our customers and each other.

Second, the company is growing very quickly. It's exciting to be a part of a company that is making such a big impact in the industry. We're constantly innovating and expanding our product offerings, so there's always something new to learn.

Finally, I really believe in the company's mission.  We're making it easier for businesses to go digital and automate their processes. This is something that I'm proud to be a part of.

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What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out as an SDR?

There are a few pieces of advice that I would give to someone who is just starting out.

First, learn from your experiences and optimize. Every call or email is an opportunity to learn and improve.  Make sure to take the time to reflect on your interactions and figure out what worked well and what you can improve on.

Second, don't be afraid to ask for help. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. If you're struggling with something, reach out to your team or manager for help.

Third, it's important to understand the needs of your customer before trying to sell them anything. Take the time to listen to their concerns and see how you can help solve their problems. Don't try to sell; try to help.

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EasySend is a company that helps organizations digitize their customer data intake  process and offers a no-code platform to quickly build digital self-service solutions. In this interview, Fallon Teren, Digital Transformation Manager at EasySend, shared her experience working at the company that is helping businesses automate their business processes.