I am one of six trainees who started the EMEA Sales Graduate Program at Dell EMC in Halle (Saale) in October 2017. Last week my colleague Katharina Wiemann shared her experience about being a trainee at Dell EMC, and to tell even more about our program I would like to add my experiences so far and show which challenges we have met.
The trainee program started with a two-week induction. During this time we were shown many different facets of the Dell EMC world. From the products and tools to practical sales training, everything was there. If the information comes out pretty much and unstructured at the beginning, it results in an ever clearer picture from day to day. In addition, we had the opportunity to get to know many colleagues from different areas right from the start, who are still happy to support us. Afterward we trainees came to our teams in our sections. It quickly became clear that not all sales are the same…..
While the other trainees came into segments where existing customers are looked after, I got involved in the acquisition team. It is the only pure acquisition department of Dell EMC in the whole region of EMEA. This fact shows, that my department/team is special and therefore a different small world within the Dell EMC cosmos.
I was very curious what I would expect. First I was assigned a buddy to introduce me to the business. I had the opportunity to observe and support him. After a short time, however, I was thrown in at the deep end and was allowed to contact customers myself. At the beginning, I called customers my buddy had already contacted. Of course, there was still a certain nervousness.
The first conversations went very well, which lowered the inhibition and increased my desire to contact new customers myself.
The trainee program gave me the opportunity to get to know the tools and to observe many different account managers at work. I tried to make the best use of the time to get as many impressions as possible. Because I knew from February I would take over my own portfolio.
Wow, what an opportunity! And at the same time a great responsibility.
After a short time, it became clear to me that there is no right or wrong in the way how to talk to the customers. Each customer is different and must be treated individually. And every account manager has his own style too.
For me, the attractiveness of acquisition is that every conversation is different and you have to react very quickly and flexible. There is no pattern that you can work through to reach your goal. You have to prepare each conversation individually.
I feel particularly good when I have succeeded in establishing a business relationship with a customer. On the one hand, I am convinced that we can support the customer in his business with products and solutions from Dell EMC. On the other hand, it is always a small personal sense of achievement. These experiences of success are a nice confirmation and motivate me to continue working hard.
I’ve had my own customer base for three months now. Together with my colleague in the field, I try to listen to the customers, to understand them and to realize different projects together with them. We live in a rapidly changing time and especially due to the rapidly advancing digitalization it is important to advise each customer individually and to make his IT future-proof.
To be able to offer the right solution from Dell Technologies’ comprehensive portfolio, I work with many specialists every day. In my daily business, I have to challenge myself again and again, but I also have a large team at my disposal, which supports me at all times. This mixture is a great working environment for me to develop further.
I have learned a lot in my first seven months at Dell EMC and look forward to having many more exciting experiences – during and after the traineeship.
