Join Giles Reid, sales director at Barrachd, and his team as they use big data analytics to inform their sales success.
I’m Giles Reid and I’m the sales director for Barrachd. Within the business, we are focused on three areas: one is social media big data analytics, one is policing data management and analytics and we’re also an IBM retailer of software and services. My role is to inspire the team to go out and sell. I sell myself but I like to help the team with deals and shape opportunities with them, too.
I get involved in sales plans, customer meetings and marketing for lead generation – we go and create the market, we don’t sit back and wait for deals to come in.
From London Fashion Week to IBM
We get involved with all sorts of projects. We’ve recently been working with an investment bank around London Fashion Week, reviewing two huge fashion brands, which the bank will then use to write analyst reviews – it’s interesting work. With the IBM side of the business, we’ve been helping a hotel brand work out how to fill their rooms better, where the bookings come from, what nationalities are more likely to do during their stay, such as use the gym or restaurant so they can better tailor their ads.
I love working for a fast growing business and I enjoy the variety and flexibility of the business. We also give our sales people lots of creativity to come up with ideas and we’ll let them take those good ideas and run with them – and you just don’t get that sort of environment anywhere else. The culture is entrepreneurial and supportive. There are tough targets, but I know what I need to do, so just get on and do it. It’s good to stretch people, it makes them more creative, we hit the numbers and we grow, which opens up more sales opportunities. It works really well.
What do you need to thrive?
To succeed here you need three things: a want to win mentality, a passion for what you’re selling, and commitment to the task at hand. You also need an ability to deal with a changing landscape. The scene is constantly changing – from new technologies, to GDPR, to what our customers expect – and we need to keep abreast of this so we’re at the forefront of the market. Resilience is a key aspect too, you get lots of no’s, and you need to be able to bounce back from them.
Software sales roles
If you’d like to find out more about the opportunities at Barrachd, and roles at Capita software, head over to our software sales page.