A Day in the Life: Account Manager

Underneath the glamour of swish meetings and uncapped commission potentials that characterise media sales for many, lies the grit and determination that turns clients into loyal customers and jobs into careers. Our Lifestyle Account Manager, Nawal, below explains her experiences of this so far. 

What did you want to do when you were younger?

When I was younger I wanted to be called to the Bar or become a psychologist because I find criminal behavior really interesting.

What made you decide to pursue your chosen profession?

When I was at school I loved my Business Studies classes so I decided to pursue that instead. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I graduated, but I was lucky enough to get a sales job almost immediately and fell in love with it.

What is your career history prior to joining Venatus?

My first ‘proper’ job was at the Guardian on the schools sales team where I helped to reach two thirds of London’s schools with our services. As anyone working in education sales will know, schools necessarily have important and varied individual needs so this scale was brilliant. After that I volunteered for 3 months in Uganda supporting small business owners to become more sustainable. I then worked on a B2B magazine selling print ads beforemoving over to the tech space to enhance my digital sales skills. I moved to The Drum before I found my calling here at Venatus!

What training did you need?

A lot of it was on the job, for example learning how to craft my elevator pitch and develop negotiating skills are not things you are able to practice fully until you experience real-world scenarios.

Please describe a typical day in your role chronologically:

A typical day for me involves sourcing agencies with relevant clients who we haven’t worked with before and reaching out to them. Our sites have very passionate audiences so making sure that the brands we work with will align with their interests is crucial. A lot of my role includes research and face-to-face meetings. Getting out there and meeting as many new people as possible is vital to building relationships and learning about the changes in the industry.

What do you like best about your role?

Both the role and the industry are very fast paced and that can be tough sometimes but it keeps you on your toes! There’s never a dull moment in sales.

What is the best piece of professional advice you have ever been given?

Networking is key, you never know what a client will need to make a campaign fly so it makes being able to pull a rabbit out of a hat that much easier.

What advice would you give to anyone looking to enter your profession?

Don’t look to be like every other sales person. Everyone is different, so stay true to your personality and things will work out a lot better for you.  

If you are interested in joining Venatus please look through our current vacancies: https://www.venatusmedia.com/careers/