How To Succeed As A Woman In Tech Sales

As we close in on the end of September, we enter into one of the most exciting parts of the year for most people in tech, events season! The Ortus team started our events lineup with a bang by attending the fantastic Women In Tech Forum Tech Sales panel at HighSpot’s London HQ. 🎉

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The panellists gave insight into how they grew their sales careers, navigated the buyer/seller dynamic, especially after the pandemic, and how to be a successful woman in sales. It’s no small feat, and these women are changing the sales game and how women are perceived in the workplace, so getting to sit in a room for a few hours and soak up all their knowledge was an absolute pleasure and something we would like to share.

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Diversity of thought is what drives success, this was a common theme throughout the evening, with each panellist speaking about companies being better the more diverse they are. Jessica Longley, the Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager at Revolut, spoke about ensuring you and your company are diverse at all points of contact such as being involved in interview panels that were previously entirely male, ensuring there is a diverse group of voices weighing in during the hiring process. She also spoke about being authentically you and going out of your way to not play into sales stereotypes, for example being aggressive, instead being assertive but personable. You know what you are doing, be confident!

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Elizabeth Hajjar, the Senior Director of Sales for Northern Europe at Highspot, spoke about how important having and being an ally can be. Having someone to bring attention back in a business meeting when you are spoken over or knowing that you have someone that has your back can make or break your confidence as a salesperson and all-around employee. While having an ally is so fundamental in growing your diverse team, being an ally is almost equally important. Be the person younger you needed when you started out in your career. Another thing Liz mentioned was, in its essence, JUST DO IT! For women trying to get into sales or sales leadership, take the plunge and just do it, the worst you can be told is no and as history commonly shows, it's rarely wise to tell a woman no!

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Learning is something we do every day and one of Lucrezia Marzotto’s, the Commercial Sales Director at Airtable, top tips to being a successful woman in sales. Take every opportunity to learn that you get and use it to its full extent. Ask questions and never ever stop shadowing your peers. One of the recommendations Lucrezia gave us was to read, and more specifically, the incredible book by Julie Zhuo called ‘The Making Of A Manager’. She spoke openly and honestly about owning the fact that you deserve to be (in the words of Hamilton) in the room where it happens. To be confident in the fact that you have earned to have your thoughts and ideas heard.

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The fantastic organiser and host of the event Angie Vaux, the Founder of the Women In Tech Forum, spoke about how important it is to research. Spend those extra 5 or 10 minutes before a meeting or presentation researching, reading and learning so you can go into everything with enough knowledge to back up your confidence. Being fully informed on a situation, whether it’s a hiring candidate or a new product, can help you back your own corner in the face of adversity and proves even more that you deserve to sit at the table.

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So thank you to Angie, the Women In Tech Forum team, the Highspot team, Jessica, Elizabeth and Lucrezia for an absolutely fantastic and insightful evening and for leaving us all feeling inspired and powerful.

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