Boxer Spotlight: Chris Smith, Sales Director at Box
At Box, we believe great ideas can come from anywhere in the company. We enable Boxers to champion their ideas and drive their career, supporting them in any path.In this new series, we spotlight Boxers across EMEA who showcase what #LifeatBox is all about.With that, we’re excited to introduce you to Chris Smith, who shares the inside scoop on the life an Enterprise and Mid Market Sales Director at Box!
Why did you choose Box?
I was drawn to Box on the strength of the product, the company's vision (to power how the world works), and the personal opportunity to learn a new space and grow into management. Looking from the outside in, it seemed pretty clear that Box had a very strong culture. Reviewing the company's values prior to joining, the "bring your _ self to work" value really struck a chord with me. I decided that throughout the interview process I would not try and be the person that I thought they wanted me to be, but just be honest about how I liked to work, what I valued and where it was I wanted to get to. This is quite easily the best decision I have made, as not only did I find a business that I could grow in professionally, but Box was also a strong personal fit.
Tell us a bit more about what it's like to be a part of the sales team in EMEA.
Firstly, every day is good fun and you get to work with awesome people! Sales is sometimes seen as an individual game, but at Box it is very much a team sport. Sharing and enjoying in the success of those around you is very much part of the Box DNA - the product itself supports our customers as they collaborate easily, so by its very nature Box is a fantastic collaborative environment. We have some amazing sellers in region to learn and grow from but also such a strong supporting cast of teams as part of our Go To Market function. We have world class Customer Success Managers, Solution Engineers, Renewals Managers, Business Development reps, Marketing and Channel teams, so it's never a case of feeling like you're out on your own.
What is your favorite part of your role?
Seeing the growth in my team is without doubt the most rewarding part of my role. We have a good mix of very tenured and newer Boxers in both the Mid-Market and Enterprise functions. Watching my team support one another on deals and share experiences is always great to see. With new positions opening up, it has provided new opportunities for the team either through promotion from Mid-Market to Enterprise, or taking on new territories. Seeing the enthusiasm with which the team is taking the Content Cloud message to market has been awesome this year. We've got a breakout opportunity in front of us so I'm looking forward to being able to meet back in person to celebrate the success along the way!
...and the biggest challenges?
One of the great things about the product is that given content touches literally every part of the business, we aren't limited by who we can sell into from a role or function perspective, nor are we limited to any particular type of use case to sell into an organisation. If we can identify a process in a business that can be improved with Box, we have a case to be able to sell into the business. Whilst a great thing to not have these limits, it also means given the breadth of potential use cases to sell it can be easy to try and spread yourself too thin.
This year we have implemented a strong focus program all the way through the business to help us stay on course, but also provided the space to our sellers and teams to become real experts in their respective territories, getting to know the customers better than they know themselves as a means of positioning and driving the value of Box.
What are the career growth opportunities in an Account Executive Mid-Market position?
This role offers a huge amount of upward mobility. We recently promoted a member of my team from Mid-Market AE to Enterprise AE after an amazing year in seat and it's personally an awesome driver to be able to provide these opportunities.
Being an Account Executive provides the great opportunity to "Be an Owner". Whether your region is the UK or Nordics, you own that market and are the face of Box in the region. We have a huge amount of support, both across the GTM teams that are there supporting at deal level, and our global and local enablement teams - but ultimately the AE is the owner of their business. It is always fantastic seeing the right people come and grab the opportunity with both hands.