Virginie Guerrero, joined Contentsquare as a Team Lead and is now the Director of Sales Development for the company. She joined the company over 6 years ago and has known incredible growth since. With over 30 people across the different teams she handles, Virginie has a global view of the SDR function, which also happens to be her first job in the tech industry.
Tell me about your journey and your start in the tech world
I actually studied Spanish at first, I wanted to be a teacher, but I ended up attending a business school which led me to Dublin, and that’s where I first encountered the tech world. I started as an SDR and was rapidly drawn into this ultra-challenging industry with so many opportunities.
At some point, I decided to come back to France and that’s when I started working at Contentsquare. In November it will be my 7th year, and I’ve stuck around because I’ve had extraordinary growth as well as a real passion for the SDR role.
Being an SDR in the past, does that help you manage that same role today? Do you have the same growth objectives for your team as you’ve had for yourself?
Being an SDR in the past has helped me, but the SDR job I had has nothing to do with the SDR role today. We used to do everything manually, whereas today everything is synchronised. We pair volume and personalisation much easier than before. However, the very essence of the job remains the same: you have to be extremely resilient. We’re working on monthly targets and every month your gauge goes back to zero. Psychologically it’s quite intense, every phone call, every email, during each interaction you’re in a sales posture.
For the growth objectives, when I hire an SDR I’m going to do everything in my power to help them grow and to put them on the right path for their career development. Having a sales career can be amazing but it’s a lot of hard work. That’s why I am demanding with my team and why I require excellence, just as they do for themselves. .
Regarding growth, what’s the SDR career path like at Contentsquare, and their objectives in this role?
When we recruit an SDR, they enter an academy of excellence. There are three levels of seniority with specific training for each. If they have the ambition to have a commercial career, for 6 months they will enter a training cycle that will make them evolve from Senior SDR to Junior Account Executive. They’ll follow modules, there’s a buddy system, they’ll be in a duo with an Account Exec, work with them during their appointments, calls, negotiations, etc. I also have people in my teams who have moved to M&A, Sales Ops, Customer Experience… Evolution is taken very seriously.
As for their objectives, the main one is to generate a certain volume of pipeline. It’s also important to have the right attitude, to be willing and to be a team player. When you’re attracted to the SDR role and a sales career, you need the attitude that goes with it, the positive energy. You need desire, ambition and to always act ethically. That’s essential for us.
Could you speak more to the “ethical ambition”? Does that mean not being too competitive?
We’re very competitive! That’s part of what contributes to our strength, as well as the fact that in any SDR team in the regions I work in, people are friends. Throughout the regional SDR teams, everyone is very collaborative. They are a perfect example of our value “In It Together”. We’re all working for the same company with a common ambition. That’s something I’m really proud of. We’ve got the right attitude in our team.
How do the SDRs contribute to the global company strategy?
When the sales reps get their patches at the beginning of the year, they draw up an approach strategy and say “I think I’m going to do this many deals”. We then establish the prospecting strategy: we develop the organisation chart, identify the relevant people needed to achieve pipelining and bookings targets and write down recommended actions. We also partner with marketing to understand their roadmap and see how we can collaborate. We match the ambition of Sales, while looking at our own targets, which are a little more volumetric since we need to have backup prospects in case a deal goes wrong.
When recruiting an SDR, what are the skills or background you’re looking for?
I’m not looking for a specific skill or background because it’s a job which is different from one company to another. So I’m making sure the candidate has a genuine interest in sales, likes to collaborate, is a strong communicator, organized, possesses good analytical skills, and is resilient. Energy and motivation, that’s going to be what we’re looking for. The hard-skills, these can be developed on the job and new hires have 3 months of fairly intensive training when they join.
The individuals on the SDR teams are either recent graduates or people who come from completely different industries, from banking to luxury goods, retail, real estate, and finance and are looking to make that industry switch. Nothing to do with SaaS or Tech. It’s an extraordinary profession, conducive to professionals from diverse work backgrounds, which brings us a wealth of knowledge.
Is there anything you’d like to wrap up on?
I think it’s important to mention the international opportunities. I have people who have moved from one territory to another. Some have moved into Sales France and then left for the United States or even Australia. We’re delighted to help people develop, not just in terms of promotion but also in terms of geographical development via the company’s international mobility policy.
As my final note, I’d like to spotlight the exceptional SDRs I’ve had on my teams who were promoted and had the opportunity to move to another team. I’m proud to share that each and every one of their new managers has come back to me at some point saying that it was clear that the training those previous SDRs received was exceptional. However, I also credit the successful transition into their new roles to not only their drive but because they take responsibility. Ownership and accountability are important; they are linked to rigour, organisation, and communication. I want people coming into the SDR role to think to themselves “I’m not just starting a training course, but embarking on a journey of and to excellence.” The SDR role is a high-value-added job, and even more so at Contentsquare.
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Do you want to join Contentsquare in a global, values-driven, dynamic, and collaborative work environment? To view our careers site, please visit Contentsquare Careers.