Q&A with Cindy Shibutani, Inside Sales Manager
Continuing on my theme of putting the spotlight on those behind the scenes at Certinia.com, I had a lively discussion with Cindy Shibutani, Inside Sales Manager, about the importance of making the best first impression and how to have fun while doing it.
Q: Hi Cindy, what is your role at the company?
A: I am the Inside Sales Manager and I oversee the Inside and Outside Sales representatives. The Inside Sales team qualifies and works through any new leads that come through the website, trade shows, and other marketing efforts. As the entry point of the sales process, we want to make sure any prospect or customer, whatever the inquiry is, will be handled and managed effectively, to ensure that their needs and most pertinent questions are being answered. The outbound side of team is purely strategic and works alongside the mid-market and enterprise-level account executives to create opportunities.
Q: How has your team transformed in the last year?
A: Quite a bit!! When I first started less than a year ago, there were 2 Inside Sales representatives and 1 Business Development rep. We’ve now grown to 7 Inside Sales reps globally and 5 Business Develop reps. Opportunity size and conversion rates have greatly improved. Since then, with collaborative technologies like Chatter, we’ve been able to gather intelligence and insight more effectively as a team, and make greater impact while aligning more closely with sales goals, key messages and objectives. It’s been a wild ride!
Q: What do you believe are your team’s most critical goals?
A: As a team, we want to maintain and help exceed Certinia.com’s reputation for customer satisfaction and high customer success rate. We want customers and prospects to know and believe that we are a customer-centric organization from the start, and not only are we a “customer company”, we help them become one as well.
Q: Describe your team and the different personalities
A: Wow, where do I begin!? Our entire team is like a rainbow. We have some folks who are high energy and always on, and we have others who are more pensive and analytical. Everyone is collaborative and very focused. We work great as a team and every personality plays a role.
Q: What word comes to mind when you describe the Certinia.com SF Office?
A: Quite a few words come to mind!! Outgoing, fun, creative, inspiring, thoughtful, hardworking, but most importantly, team-oriented!
