When my job was eliminated on October 5th, I knew where I wanted to take my career, and it only took three phone calls as I left the parking lot of my previous employer. Actually the first two calls were personal. The first to my best friend, letting him know that I wouldn’t be in Austin that week for the LifeSize Partner Conference (a double bummer). The second was to my friends at VISITEC, who were coming to my (former) place of business that afternoon for a training session.
The Third call was to the VP of Sales (East) at Accordent Technologies (Jay Schwartzberg). Quite honestly, I could have stopped there (if only because I had an offer from Accordent that Friday), but I found myself overwhelmed from calls, emails and LinkedIn messages from friends and acquaintances in my network just moments after updating my status on my LinkedIn profile.
I literally had offers and referrals from all over the US, Asia and Europe – it was amazing. I believe this was not just the result of having over 6,000 personal contacts in LinkedIn, as much as the building momentumwe are fortunate to be experiencing in both streaming and videoconferencing.
So, for the first time in 13 years I am not directly involved in two-way visual communications (videoconferencing). I am focused on 5 products and when aked what I do my reponse is that I help organizations maximize their investment in online media communications with the industry’s best content management platform – the Accordent Media Management System v3.0, and a robust suite of creation tools: the Accordent Capture Station, PresenterPRO and PresenterPLUS.
Working with Accordent has already proven to be rewarding. My second week on-board, we had our company sales meeting in Las Vegas. It was a phenomenal experience to walk into a room of 30+ Accordent staffers and already know just about everyone there, from the CEO to the very capable inside sales team. Sales meetings are fun, informative and to the point. It is great to be in an environment where your opinions and ideas are welcomed and valued.
2010 promises to be an exciting year. I now have a nine state territory and I am part of a team consisting of one of the top territory managers and sales engineers in the country. Having worked closely with both Gwynne and Dude for the past 3+ years as a reseller (actually the top reseller last year!) my ramp-up time will be brief, if only because I don’t need to invest time to get to know my team or product – I just need to focus on re-sharpening the tools in my bag.
Here’s to a 2010 filled with possibilities!!!
