It was great to sit down with Charles Uprichard, Account Director for Financial Services at Snowflake, to discuss everything tech sales and how to break in and be a top-performer in the space. He has over 10 years’ of experience as an enterprise seller working within data management and has had the opportunity to advise some of the most exciting organisations in financial services on their data transformations.
What initially attracted you to software sales?
I was eager to start my career after returning from the University of Maastricht and find something challenging and rewarding. I was fortunate to be offered a position at a Value Added Reseller (VAR). This role gave me the opportunity to learn about a variety of technology stacks and how they work together. It also allowed me to start building my network of contacts in the tech industry. I made the leap to “vendor land” in 2015 once I decided that Data Management was going to be my technology specialisation.
What would you advise to others looking to join software sales?
My advice to anyone looking to get into software sales is to start at a VAR. VARs offer a great way to learn about different technologies and to build relationships with vendors and customers. This experience will be invaluable as you progress in your career.
You’ve started a new role at Snowflake this year. What did you focus on in your first 90 days to set yourself up for success?
I’ve put together a fairly bullet-proof 90 day plan which I’m pleased to say has worked, though not without a few speed bumps. I’ve outlined the headlines below:
- Fail Fast: Acknowledge that not every approach will yield immediate success. Be willing to take risks, try new tactics, and learn from failures. Quick failures lead to quicker learning and adaptation, ultimately enhancing your sales skills.
- Leverage Your Peers: Collaborate with colleagues and tap into their experience. Share insights, best practices, and challenges. A supportive network can provide valuable guidance and different perspectives.
- Identify Low Hanging Fruit and Strategic Long-Term Wins: Prioritize prospects that are more likely to convert quickly (“low hanging fruit”). Simultaneously, develop a strategic plan for pursuing larger, long-term clients. Balancing short-term gains with long-term growth ensures a stable pipeline.
You’ve won numerous awards for being a top-performer, including making Presidents Club multiple times. What have you done differently that separates you from the rest/other AEs?
I believe that it is essential to put the customer first in any sales situation. This means understanding their challenges and finding a solution that meets those needs. Selling with empathy is a powerful way to build relationships and close deals as you are not just selling a product or service, you are selling a solution to the customer’s problems.
I also think it’s fair to say that it’s easiest to sell to those that want to be sold to. I tend not to spend time working with organisations that, frankly, don’t want to fix their problems. You start to gain an instinct of whether a given project warrants your focus and attention; you have to get ruthless about this. Qualifying out early and often, is my biggest advice here.
The other side to this is the sales process. You need to have and follow a strict process of engaging with clients. Most enterprise software companies these days will use MEDDIC or some iteration of it, which assists with qualification. A strict sales process can help us stay organized, identify our blind spots and improve our sales skills over time. However, it is important to be flexible and adaptable. We should not be afraid to deviate from the process if it is in the best interests of the customer.
Complacency is a dangerous state of mind that I avoid at all costs, as it can lead to stagnation and decline. When we become complacent, we stop striving for improvement and we become satisfied with the status quo. This can be a recipe for disaster, both in our personal and professional lives.
To quote Tony Robbins, “If you’re not growing, you’re dying”.
What do you think is the biggest opportunity in FinTech which is currently being overlooked?
I spend a lot of my time talking about a healthy “data culture” with both traditional financial institutions and FinTechs. Data culture transcends technology, and concerns how the data user interacts with a given system or set of systems. For example, does everyone in a bank know what PII data is and how important it is that that data is heavily monitored or obfuscated where possible?
Everyone in the organization should have a basic understanding of data and how to use it. This includes understanding the different types of data, how to collect and store data, and how to analyze data.
If a FinTech can master the above then they will have a monumental market advantage. This is part of the reason that I joined Snowflake, it’s quite literally the only SaaS company on the planet that can overcome these challenges effectively.
