Meet Elly, Manager of Commercial Sales at Hootsuite

If you’ve been lucky enough to land a career in sales, you know that being curious, empathic, and resilient leads to valuable connections. The world of sales is an exciting, fast-paced, and people-focused environment, where you can manifest your entrepreneurial spirit to be successful.

Our Vancouver Manager of Commercial Sales, Elly Leader embodies the true essence of what it means to work in sales, so we sat down with her to hear about her career and a few lessons she’s learned along the way.

Elly always had jobs that involve human connection. Early in her career she worked in the hospitality industry and has always had client-facing roles. Being extroverted and sociable played to her advantage — she’s enjoyed jobs where she got to help others, and it’s since been a theme throughout her career. Her main passion is people and she remembers writing about this in her Hootsuite cover letter, where she stated, “People fascinate me, I am intrigued, curious and probably a bit too nosey”.

Elly learned the hardships of sales competition in her early years. Her first job ever — at the age of nine — was a dog walking business in the small village where she grew up. She put up flyers around her neighborhood, only to find out that two other school girls had started an identical-looking business and were trying to steal her clients.

Fast forward 20 years, and she entered the world of software sales. She spent two and a half years in SaaS, selling software for the mining industry in a Customer Success role with a much smaller client base. This was her entry into learning about the world of software and sales, and what brought her to Hootsuite. Her career has had a few changes during her time with us, so we’ll let her tell you about it.

On the personal side, I have a passion for sports. I’m quite competitive and played basketball for 15 years. Throughout the stresses of school and university, it’s what helped me stay sane. Of course, living in Vancouver I spend a lot of my free time hiking. Lastly, I love to travel and take one or two big trips per year. My favorite place so far is Vietnam and I’d love to go back!

Tell us about your Hootsuite journey.

Three and a half years ago, I started my journey at Hootsuite. I started as an Inbound Sales Development Representative, where I was qualifying hundreds of inbound leads. Although this was an entry-level sales role, I had more experience than the typical SDR. I was fast-tracked and taking on more responsibilities within my first few months. I am still very grateful for my manager, who supported my ideas and initiatives for the team.

Nine months in, I took on a stretch program, which allowed me to work on projects for another team: Product Marketing. I helped analyze a load of competitive analysis data from win-loss reports. I was tasked with improving how we are capturing win-loss data, while leveraging my sales experience. It was a busy three months with a lot of work but also really valuable in figuring out my long-term career goals.

Just after I finished my stretch program, I was promoted to Commercial Account Executive. This was when we began building out the commercial business, and there were about ten of us at that time (the team now has over seventy Global CAEs). I got lucky and closed my first deal within a few days. From there, I was hooked and couldn’t wait to close more. During my time as a CAE, I helped onboard new reps who were coming to Vancouver for corporate training. That was the stepping stone between my time as an individual contributor and being in a managerial role. In March 2019, it was official: I became a manager of the Commercial Sales team.

Why did you join Hootsuite?

I had heard of Hootsuite as a local success story in Vancouver and I knew I wanted to be in software sales. I’m a dual citizen, and was meant to be in Canada for six months… it’s now been over six years! I was originally attracted to the brand, culture, and reputation of Hootsuite, and I knew it’d be software I’d enjoy selling.

What makes the Commercial Sales team unique at Hootsuite?

The Commercial Sales team is its own little start-up within Hootsuite. It’s a young and hungry team working at a quick pace! It’s a passionate group of both reps and leadership where everyone is looking to grow and improve; we have an idea and we get after it! I love that we are able to act on ideas and improve processes.. we don’t sit around and wait.

My amazing team in Vancouver!

Tell us three reasons why someone would want to join Hootsuite as a Commercial Account Executive and three reasons why they wouldn’t.

Why this could be the team for you:

1. You want to kick-start your sales career. This is a really great role and team for someone to kick-start their sales career. We have a range of new hires from different backgrounds who truly care about their career and professional development.
2. You are curious. This ties into our company values and definitely applies to the Commercial Sales team. A key quality of a successful CAE is curiosity — someone who wants to learn and is not afraid to ask questions. As Jeff Hoffman says, “When reps take the role of a curious student rather than an informed expert, buyers are much more inclined to engage.”
3. You give up at nothing. We are a team where having grit is important. We promote not giving up until you’ve exhausted all options, and really thinking outside the box.

Why this may not be the team for you:

1. You want to work independently and teamwork comes second. I’m proud to say the culture we have on the team is not just a “show up to work” environment, but we have a family approach to everything we do.
2. You want to sell to one type of industry. At Hootsuite, we work with a broad range of customers — every industry and every business model. It’s a dream to speak to so many different companies and industries, but if that’s not your dream, you may not enjoy it.
3. You do not get excited by the evolving tech sales landscape. Being nimble and agile is key and there can be some unpredictable moments!

Do you have any advice for somebody who wants to start a career in sales?

Sales is a great career for someone who has both an entrepreneurial and student mindset. It’s a fun career to have if you stop at nothing to get the win. A few pieces of advice I have are:

1. Shadow a top performing Sales Representative/Account Executive. Shadow a sales call and understand what sales is really about to see if it’s something you want to do
2. Treat the company you are applying for as a prospect. When applying to roles, treat the company you want to work for as a prospect. Understand what they do and sell and bring that enthusiasm to the interview!
3. Never stop learning. Read sales books, sales blogs, listen to podcasts. Having a growth mindset is crucial!

To give our readers some more insight into who you are, can you tell us…

1. A valuable leadership lesson. Quoting our Vice President of Commercial Sales, Liam Surridge: ”Sales is the perfect balance between intelligence and emotion — needing the people skills and having just general intelligence while not being too emotional.”
2. What or who inspires you? People inspire me. What humans are capable of both mentally and physically.. really, any story or anecdote about that is inspiring!
3. What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten? Favorite quote from my dad and something I’ve lived my life by: “Chance favors the prepared mind.” When you prepare for life, chance is in your favor. If you’re prepared and open minded, you’re more likely to jump at an opportunity and make the most of it.

Interested in being part of our Sales team? Check out our open roles here!