An Inside Look at the Bench Sales Team
Your first interaction with a potential client is the start of their relationship with Bench.
Sales at Bench is a people-centric team focused on helping small business owners and entrepreneurs in the US. As a member of the Sales team, you are key in discovering how Bench can be a part of their entrepreneurial journey through resilience, genuine curiosity, and your drive to help people.
Working towards success on the Bench Sales team
“Speaking with clients was once nerve wracking but quickly became second nature. Explaining what bookkeeping was and why business owners need it went from being a mystery to an expertise. I felt like I was making a difference.
People would call in stressed out, behind on their books, getting letters from the IRS, and we would be able to help them out and take that weight off their shoulders. After only four months in the contract Sales Development Role, I ended up being offered a full time role as a Sales Development Representative, and was then promoted to an Account Executive position 5 months after that.”
—Nathan Mazur, Account Executive
Working in the sales team of a start-up can be both an exhilarating and challenging experience. We’re a team that constantly pushes our performance to new heights. We work incredibly hard but have fun doing it. You’ll have targets to meet individually and revenue goals to hit as a team as part of your daily tasks.
Our sales team is made up of people from different walks of life — each finding and paving their personal career path.
We support each other no matter what — whether that’s through coaching on resilience strategies, individual goal setting, individual and team shout outs, ongoing training, constructive and positive feedback.
“One of the things that drew me to Bench was actually the fact that Bench was looking for the right person with the right attitude, as opposed to many other companies that just care about experience and qualifications. I was also enticed by the fact that unlike other co-op roles, Bench does not care whether you are a co-op student or a full time employee; you are given the same responsibilities and voice. In October 2020, I was promoted to an Account Executive while still in school. Fast forward to today, I just finished my degree and am still working at Bench!”
—John Bae, Account Executive
We look for individuals who are authentic — who know themselves and know what motivates them to excel. Our Sales team has a genuine passion for helping people and always prioritizes client experience. We strive to go above and beyond for every business owner we speak to, regardless of whether they become a client or not.
We’re drawn to people who are independent and will get scrappy to search for the information they need to get the job done.
“I went straight for Sales at Bench as I knew I could leverage my communication and selling skills that I built over years in the restaurant industry. Coming in with 0 sales experience, I was a little nervous but the training was world class. The level of confidence and growth mindset that the leadership team and Benchmates inspire me with daily is the core reason I have grown so much so quickly.”
— Kristofer Siemens, Senior Sales Development Representative
Both quantitative and qualitative performance are incredibly important here. We have team members who thrive in a data rich environment and use their performance metrics to identify areas that they can improve and work with the team to upskill themselves. Our team is also made up of positive team members who provide tons of feedback, celebrate each other’s wins, who speak up, and act with urgency to solve problems and chase opportunities.
In the team and at Bench, we value resilience and someone who is open to learning and changing. We look for someone who thrives in a feedback environment, and embraces it with open arms. Equally as important is the ability to flip that around and provide feedback to team members in return.
What can you expect as part of the Sales team
Some of our Sales team members come from the hospitality industry, some straight from school — regardless of where you come from and what you do, it’s the passion for growth and helping others through our work that connects us.
When you start at Bench, we provide you with the training and skills that you’d need to excel in the team through our Bench Sales Academy.
“I joined Bench with minimal sales training and was nervous about how I would perform on the team. That fear was quickly replaced with excitement when I saw much training and development each rep was to get. The 2 week training program was an eye opening experience on how to build a talented team — from individual coaching to group sessions and live call shadowing it was all incredibly valuable and showed how much Bench values their new hires.
I was paired with an experienced sales mentor who was able to guide me through the initial daily challenges. In addition I was given consistent coaching by my team lead throughout my time as an SDR which helped me build on my weaknesses and focus on my strengths. In time I was able to become a mentor myself and was able to help coach and train the newest members of our team.
The career growth opportunities that Bench has provided me have been huge. I have been fortunate enough to help develop a variety of sales projects including expanding our partnership with Freshbooks and most recently being tasked with creating a new consultation focused sales funnel.”
—Russell Miller, Account Executive
“This was my first job in Sales, and I had no idea what I was doing. I was grinding on the phone for hours, putting in the effort I believed was necessary to achieve my targets and yet I did not hit quota in my first month. Sales was a lot harder than I was expecting. At this point, I raised my hand and asked for help.
The support I then got from my colleagues and sales leadership was incredible, and I worked to improve my workflow, my assumptiveness, and my confidence on calls. After a year, I earned a promotion to the Account Executive role, and a year after that, I moved into Sales leadership”
—Ada Vaccaro, Senior Sales Manager
“As a current business student at SFU, my co-op department presented me the SDR opportunity at Bench. All Benchmates were welcoming from day 1 and always willing to help as I was learning the role. Never did I think that two and a half months into a 4 month co-op term we would be in the middle of a pandemic and had to work from home, but Bench supported everyone on the team to ensure working from home was successful.
The pandemic caused the rise of our Client Relief Team where we were providing consultations to our current clients and non clients on how to obtain financial aid to help them get through the pandemic. I was blessed with the opportunity to be a part of this team in the early stages and learn about the various funding options available and the specifics.
The past 8 months at Bench has given me a new career outlook. Originally I was considering accounting, however I am now interested in potentially pursuing something in the technology industry or in operations.”
—Nabeel Jagani, Sales Development Representative
The culture at Bench
We rely on five principles to guide us in how we work together:
We keep it human — and practice empathy and understanding in every situation.
When you take a stand at Bench, you create a future for yourself within that mission.
We are responsible for the freedom and autonomy as a Benchmate and that means being accountable for that freedom. Take action for what’s possible and let us know your ambitions and goals.
Default open with information — we share information openly and freely ensuring that everyone can use and understand the information.
Get Scrappy — if you have something that needs doing, do the thing and don’t wait for others to do it for you.
We are committed to becoming an anti-racist organization and in order to do so, we constantly work to educate ourselves to become aware of practices, biases, or barriers that may exist within Bench.
Career growth at Bench
We are committed to each of our team members reaching their career goals at Bench in whatever team and role they want.
The Sales team is the talent pool for many other teams at Bench, such as our Retro team, Business Development, Client Success, leadership roles and the list goes on.
Our Account Executive, John, started out with Bench as a Co-Op student back in 2019 with fresh eyes as he had never had sales experience prior to starting.
“I’ve never had real sales experience before, so I was a little nervous when I first started. In terms of a learning curve, yes it is steep, but the training and resources are more than enough to smooth the curve and get you up and running in no time. Thanks to the support of the team, I feel like I was able to hit the ground running. As long as you are dedicated, focused and resilient, you shouldn’t be scared at all.”
—John Bae, Account Executive
“Working on Bench’s sales team for nearly six years now, I’ve been given countless opportunities to step outside of my comfort zone and develop multiple skills that are transferable to wherever my career takes me next. I started my career at Bench as a Sales Development Representative, transitioning into an Account Executive not too long after, and now work as a Sales Team Lead. The people here are everything.
Even though we’re currently in a remote work environment, which can be daunting to some, I still look forward to connecting and collaborating with Benchmates every single day. Plus, we get the occasional dog visitor on Zoom, which is always a bonus!
—Charlotte Mann, Sales Team Lead
“One quality that is important to me in any career is growth. Running a high performing, motivated sales team that constantly pushes their performance to new heights while still supporting and celebrating one another along the way is extremely challenging. I learn and grow so much every single day in this role, and am grateful to Bench for supporting me to develop into the sales leader that I am today.”
—Ada Vaccaro, Senior Sales Manager
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Apply to be an Entry-Level Sales Development Representative!
Have an Inside look at our Entry-Level Associate Role at Bench.
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