Sales

18 results

Sales Advice for a Winning Year

Sam Fiorenzo and Lorena Cortes are two exceptional salespeople at MongoDB who have made a significant impact on their careers and the company. As they geared up to join our Excellence Club, they offered to share their insights and advice on what it takes to have a successful year in sales. Whether you're just starting out or looking to take your career to the next level, their tips and strategies are sure to inspire and guide you on your journey. FInd your next sales role at MongoDB Advice from Lorena Cortes Account Manager, Customer Success I joined MongoDB in 2020 and have since been promoted twice. In each role I’ve held, I’ve learned something new that’s helped me achieve success as a salesperson. Developing myself from an Account Development Representative to Account Executive, and most recently to an Account Manager within our Customer Success team, has taught me to have a customer-centric mindset and reiterated the importance of building and maintaining long-term relationships with clients. This is why success requires more than just hitting your quotas. To develop yourself and your career, here are my three pieces of advice: Maintain a positive mindset and trust the process This is easier said than done, but it’s essential to success. One of the keys to maintaining a positive attitude is following a proven sales methodology. At MongoDB, for example, we follow a process that involves understanding the customer's current state, what they're trying to achieve, and what is required to get there. It's important not to skip any steps and to stay patient and persistent throughout the process. Deal cycles can be long, and some deals may fall through, but it's crucial to stay focused on your long-term vision and persevere through difficulties. Preparation will be key here. As for experiencing setbacks, such as losing a deal, it's important to embrace these opportunities to reflect, review, learn, and grow. Losing deals can be tough, but it's also an opportunity to refine your approach and improve it for the next time. Trusting in the process means staying committed to your weekly M4S (Metrics for Success) and tracking your activity. Even if you don't see immediate results, trust that the actions you're taking will eventually yield outcomes. Work hard and stay consistent Working hard and staying consistent is another key to success in sales. Cultivating self-discipline and holding yourself accountable to your yearly goals is essential. Establishing a positive routine will help you avoid distractions and stay on track. Allocating time for additional enablement around the technology you’re selling and working with internal stakeholders can help establish credibility with your customers. This is a reflection of how well you listen to your customer and take your partnership with their company seriously. Achieve work-life balance Achieving work-life balance is crucial to your physical and mental well-being, and ultimately, your success in sales. This was one of my biggest lessons this past quarter. It's easy to get caught up in work and forget to take care of yourself outside of the office, but this can actually hinder your productivity and success. Making time for yourself outside of work by engaging in activities that bring you joy, such as exercise or hobbies, will enhance your overall happiness and ability to come back to work recharged. Advice from Sam Fiorenzo Strategic Account Executive I joined MongoDB as a Sales Development Representative and have spent almost six years growing my career here. I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to be a successful salesperson from different peers or leaders and through my own experiences. While success isn’t promised, there are some things that have been core to getting there. Company matters Being selective about the product or service you want to represent makes a big difference. In my mind, a strong company will have a clearly defined addressable market, a product that is mission critical or tied to revenue-generating functions (it will solve pain for its customers), and is backed by a leadership team that you trust to drive the company forward. If you’re missing these factors, it probably means you’re selling a commodity or you’re losing to competitors for various reasons. Selling “nice-to-haves” makes it difficult to differentiate based on real value and near impossible to forecast. The company you work for matters. Having an employer who invests in understanding the market and your customers' pain points matters. Working for an organization like MongoDB that is continuously iterating to improve products or services massively simplifies my role. I get to focus on finding and understanding the real problems some of the largest organizations in the world are facing, and then help them fix it. Growth mindset Sales can be a tough job. You hear "no" far more often than "yes," and it's easy to become discouraged when it seems like all of your hard work isn't paying off. I’ve had to learn to be diligent in reframing challenges or setbacks. I’ve messed up a sales cycle more times than I can count, missed an important qualification detail or deadline, and have definitely lost deals. The key for me is that I don’t look at any of those as my end result. When I’m met with a challenge in order to progress, it just means I need to pivot. These moments act as change agents that drive me forward. It would be untrue to state that all problems you face are good, however, if I had never learned to persevere through setbacks, my sales career would’ve ended years ago. Some of the most successful sales professionals I’ve come across refer to this as having a growth mindset. They’re the people who could get a door slammed in their face and respond with “not that door? – I’ll try this window.” Great discovery The foundation of any good partnership or deal is deeply understanding your customer’s current state and their biggest problems. We refer to this as discovery. Early in my tech sales career, I was given advice to mute the phone when I wasn’t speaking. This additional second it took for me to unmute before driving the conversation forward taught me how to listen to understand instead of immediately responding. Those brief moments became filled with elaboration or detail of what was most important instead of closed questions filling the silence. Another senior leader used to tell us to “hold the point” during great discovery. He told a story about his duck-hunting dogs. It was the dogs’ job to seek out the ducks' nests and point to their location without waking them or scaring them away. He (the hunter) would then signal when he was ready to shoot. It was then that the dogs would flush or scare the ducks out of the nest. A "Hold The Point" sticker from the MongoDB archives One of his dogs was the best at finding the ducks but would get too excited and jump to flush out the ducks before he was ready. The hunts became wildly unsuccessful. He compared this excited hunting dog to an eager sales rep hearing the first pain that could be solved and jumping to share our product. When we talk to customers, it’s easy to become eager or excited when hearing about one problem your solution can fix. The analogy highlights the importance of patience in understanding their entire situation and “holding your point” before jumping to prescribe a solution. These are small examples that resonated with me. I use them as reminders to stay laser-focused on listening to the customer and understanding as much as I can about their needs before getting too excited about a qualified deal. Last, but far from least, it's important to remember that you can't do it alone It truly takes an army of talented individuals to find a lot of success in sales. For me, this includes people in roles focused on consulting services, customer success, solutions architecting, product engineering, support, and even partnerships. Whether you’re one week or ten years into selling it’s important to stay humble and acknowledge that everyone around you has unique strengths or skills that can drive your success forward. In my experience, working together and leveraging others’ expertise is crucial to overachieving goals and ultimately making a meaningful impact in your organization. Learn about MongoDB’s employee resource groups that build community and foster inclusion for women in tech, including Sell Like a Girl, an initiative devoted to making MongoDB the best place to work for women in sales.

June 5, 2023

Leading by Example: Salvatore D’Auria is Taking MongoDB Italy to New Heights

Salvatore D’Auria, Regional Vice President for Italy, the Middle East, and Africa, discusses his career path at MongoDB and the incredible opportunities for sellers in Italy. Jackie Denner: What was your journey to MongoDB? Salvatore D’Auria: The first time I heard of MongoDB was in 2014, long before the company went public or opened its first offices in Milan. I was captured by MongoDB’s operating sales model, which was different from what I was used to while working at Oracle. I found the openness to developers and speed of development accompanied by a distributed architecture very interesting. I studied the growth plans, and in 2017 I invested as a private individual in the MongoDB IPO. In May 2018, I joined the company as the first employee in Rome with the aim of launching the Italian Government market. Our focus led to an enormous success in technological adoption, and this is well represented by the Green Pass developed by Sogei on MongoDB . Since 2021 we have created a team completely dedicated to public administration to support the tremendous growth of this segment. JD: Tell us about your expereince prior to joining the company. SD: I started my tech career at Oracle as an inside sales rep. I made all the classic growth steps up to managerial roles, changing locations, and gaining experience in the Data and Public sector. Then, in 2015, a pretty strategic project opened up at VMware in the development of their commercial team that allowed me to broaden my experience in the channel. Development of new markets and starting new teams while working with data platforms and software-defined infrastructures have been my focus areas over the past 15 years. JD: Why do you believe that Italy is such a strategic and important market for MongoDB? SD: MongoDB opened its first office in Milan in 2017 just before the IPO. The Italian team has always been characterized by organic growth over time, constant development of large customers, and a strong presence in public administration. Our selection process for the team is quite meticulous, albeit challenging, because each team member supports business development from all points of view: sales, pre-sales, consultancy, marketing, and channel. We work closely with our fantastic sales enablement, pre-sales, and marketing teams and take ownership of our role within the sales ecosystem. Our MongoDB values “build together” and “own what you do” are extremely relevant for our sales team. In the last four years, the growth in Italy has followed the hyper-grow our global business has experienced. We have an excellent foundation that allows us to seize further opportunities including the opening of the new Google and AWS data centers in our country, where MongoDB will be present with our developer data platform, MongoDB Atlas, as well as building momentum, availability, and success in the Italian Government sector. This makes our long-term outlook particularly favorable. The MongoDB Italy team JD: How would you describe your leadership style? SD: I have always believed in leading by example. In my experiences as a young Scout leader or as an instructor at Nunziatella Military School, I always believed that example was the key to developing rapid adoption of virtuous models. During my time at military school I learned this quote from Seneca, which still accompanies me today: “Imperare sibi, maximum imperium est” (“the greatest power is to have power over one’s self”). In large organizations, this model of leadership is essential for guiding teams towards common business and career development goals. I consider myself lucky to have learned from leaders with determination and a sense of responsibility, and I try to do the same for my team. JD: Why should someone join the team in Italy? SD: The opportunities at MongoDB are truly endless. As a member of our sales team, you’ll find a culture of transparency and meritocracy. We are focused on developing individuals to be great salespeople and like to think that we are the best technology sales school in Italy. In terms of career growth, there is an opportunity to develop yourself as a manager or individual contributor. For example, we had someone join the team as an Account Executive and after six quarters, be promoted to a Regional Director role overseeing a team. Following the MEDDIC sales methodology, there is also the opportunity to be promoted into the role of Key Account Director supporting a single customer to drive rapid adoption of MongoDB’s developer data platform. Our team is competitive, but there is a lot of camaraderie and support for one another. You’ll have the opportunity to express yourself at your best and know that you will be valued for your unique perspectives and experiences. I am excited about the impact our team in Italy will continue to make on the industry, and I’d love for you to join us. Our sales team is growing in EMEA and across the globe. View open roles on our careers site.

April 4, 2023

How to Land Your Next Customer Success Role at MongoDB

Katie Palmer As director of customer success at MongoDB, I am thrilled to participate in growing our organization. Personally, I had two primary reasons for joining MongoDB. The first was the incredible market opportunity. The second reason was the opportunity to work alongside world-class go-to-market and customer success leaders. When I spoke with various MongoDB leaders during the interview process, I was impressed by their servant leadership approach, their genuine passion for what they’d been building at MongoDB, and their vision for customer success at MongoDB. The biggest highlight of working at MongoDB so far has been the deeply ingrained commitment to talent development in the culture here. At every level, there’s a feeling that no success is more important than helping employees build meaningful skills to achieve their full potential. One leader shared with me that the way they’ll measure their success at MongoDB is not by the number of quarters in which they hit their goals, or the revenue growth their work helped to achieve, but rather, how they were able to impact the pursuit of their employees’ goals and career aspirations. That approach has pushed me to new places both as a leader and an employee. Read on to learn more about our recruiting process for customer success and what we look for in candidates. Our approach to resumes The job-related people skills I look for when reviewing resumes include relationship building, communication, and business acumen. In terms of character-related skills, I look for signs of resourcefulness, grit, determination, and teamwork. MongoDB’s approach to hiring is similar to how we run our business. We have a data-driven, methodical approach, but we apply a human touch and creativity to supplement the science. Overall, I look for potential. I’m looking for individuals with a high ceiling, people who are going to up-level the team and make a massive impact on the business. Part of that is ensuring we bring in people with proven skills, but it also involves identifying those intangibles often seen in high achievers. Three things I look for when scanning a resume are: Relevant SaaS and/or customer success experience at an organization with a B2B sales motion A combination of technical skills and business acumen Career progression within a company The most important aspect of this role is the ability to connect business challenges and desired outcomes with the products and solutions that MongoDB offers. When I review a candidate's experience, I look for evidence of high aptitude and business skills combined with a passion for technology. In the absence of proven experience, your ability to articulate why you’re so excited to develop those skills will get me excited about having you join the team. The recruiting process Once a candidate has passed the recruiter screen, they move to the next step in the process and meet with the hiring manager. When meeting with the hiring manager, the goal is to engage in a conversational interview, where we will provide more insight into the position while discussing motivators, people skills, and experience managing customer relationships, as well as gauging technical interest and general knowledge of our products. If all goes well, we’ll schedule a call with one of our customer success team members. This step is a great opportunity to learn more about the day-to-day expectations of the role, our team culture, and how we work with our customers from someone actively performing a similar position with MongoDB. This interview will involve a case study, which is intended to be discussion based, to understand your approach to a customer use case. If the peer interview goes well, the candidate is invited to our “challenge” interview. In our case, this means that the candidate will prepare a mock onboarding meeting with a new MongoDB Atlas customer. We provide the materials, ranging from presentation slides to a basic script with expectations and platform demo instructions. At any stage throughout the process, we strongly encourage you to engage with our team and recruiters as a resource for additional information and to answer any questions you may have throughout your preparation. We’re here to help set you up for success. The three main things I look for during the challenge presentation are: A passion for technology. A strategic mindset. Are you able to balance the big picture objectives alongside the tactical outcomes throughout the conversation? Adaptability, coachability, and the ability to accept feedback. Finally, my top three tips for succeeding in the challenge are: Let your personality shine. Show us why customers will love working with you. Be curious. Think about great questions you can ask during the onboarding call and demo that will uncover details, help the customer adopt MongoDB, and make your call conversational. Take advantage of the prep call with your interviewer. Ask for feedback and apply it ahead of the challenge presentation. Hear from senior customer success manager Christina Chao on why she joined MongoDB's customer success team Christina Chao When looking for my next workplace, I knew I wanted to find a place where I could continually challenge myself and grow my career year over year. This requires a combined focus on customer success and professional development. Many companies say that they see customer success as the future, but few actually have programs or policies in place that support that notion. MongoDB, on the other hand, has put significant investment into its customer success organization. They have invested heavily in promoting customer success both within and outside of MongoDB, providing growth opportunities for customer success managers (CSMs) and ensuring that they feel heard. Most importantly, MongoDB has created a culture that genuinely encourages growth. This culture is embodied at all levels of the organization, and we are continually challenged to be intentional about our growth, step out of our comfort zone, make mistakes (and learn from them), and own what we do. Interested in joining our customer success team? We have open roles across the globe and would love for you to transform your career with us!

October 31, 2022

Growth and Opportunity: Why Now Is a Great Time to Join Our Sales Ecosystem in Korea

Read in Korean As MongoDB continues to scale, we are expanding our presence in the Asia-Pacific region. The South Korea market, in particular, is an important and strategic focus because we anticipate high growth in the region. Below, hear from members of our sales team in South Korea to learn how they work cross-functionally to make an impact — and how the opportunity to help build MongoDB Korea translates to extraordinary career growth. Joe Shin , Regional Director Over the past few years, MongoDB has grown rapidly because it addresses the emerging requirements of new applications and can modernize existing workloads which are struggling with traditional relational databases (RDBMSes). I've always thought that open source would become the next market trend, especially when new technologies such as NoSQL replace the limitations of RDBMSes and dominate the database market. We knew the market opportunity would be enormous for the MongoDB Korea branch because we know that our Korean customers would love to receive more active support locally. MongoDB’s organizational culture is horizontal. People of various positions in various jobs freely communicate and share opinions. In this horizontal organizational culture, each team has a clear role and works efficiently through organic relationships. As a regional director, my role is to drive local sales strategy, guide and develop our sales team on how to solve complex issues, and communicate effectively with partners — especially by escalating things when necessary to help solve problems. As a local leader, I hold myself accountable for embracing a collaborative environment where everyone cares about each other, one that encourages effective teamwork and empowers all team members to follow MongoDB’s corporate values of Build Together, Embrace the Power of Differences, Make It Matter, Be Intellectually Honest, Own What You Do, and Think Big, Go Far. MongoDB is at a great spot within the market. We already have hundreds of customers in the country, including many familiar brands such as KBS , Kakao Pay , Woowa Brothers , and many others across both traditional organizations and digital natives. In fact, Woowa Brothers have been users of MongoDB in Korea for some time and have now gone all in on our developer data platform for their international expansion into Southeast Asia. Our customer Nod Games is using MongoDB to transform the gaming industry by leading the move to pay-to-earn games using blockchain technology. Even with this success, we're still at the very early stages of a massive shift in technology, and we need to keep finding and researching our customers’ pain points to deliver them value. The Korean database market is getting bigger and bigger, and it shows enormous possibilities. MongoDB Korea is growing so fast that sales reps will have the opportunity to learn quickly and see the direct impact of their work. Hae Sung Kim , Strategic Account Director I joined MongoDB as an enterprise account executive and have been promoted to strategic account director. As an EAE, I benefited from the detailed and clear MongoDB sales methodology and enablement. MongoDB has a very passionate and strategic sales culture. There is a focus on finding the right person who can effectively deliver MongoDB’s value for the customer’s business. In addition, there is a culture of knowledge sharing across the entire sales ecosystem, so that you can take best practices from teammates and apply it within your own accounts. This culture helps strengthen sales capabilities by making it possible to establish strategies from a customer's business perspective. I also gathered enormously helpful tips from team sharing, delivered MongoDB’s value to numerous accounts, successfully completed various cases (including on premises, cloud, and ISV/OEM). I gained valuable experiences and recognition. At MongoDB, sales is not only about revenue. You work with various customer contacts within your accounts, such as developers, operations, and C-level stakeholders, with dedicated support from all internal functional departments. At MongoDB, you will have the opportunity to strengthen your sales capabilities and help a wide range of customers and industries. But more important and exciting is the communication and collaboration you will have with passionate global team members. White Moon , Field Marketing Manager I was first introduced to MongoDB about four years ago. At the time, it was still relatively new in Korea, but developers were very interested, and it was a promising and proven solution in the marketplace. When I joined, I was impressed by the diverse and inclusive organizational culture and how all employees supported one another. I joined as the first and only female employee, but I always felt that I was able to speak freely with other members of the team and that I would receive support whenever it was needed. As a company, MongoDB actively supports women through initiatives such as the MDBWomen affinity group, coaching and development for professional and career development, and holding celebrations for events like International Women’s Day. The global marketing team has also supported me by helping to ensure my region has everything it needs to strengthen MongoDB brand awareness and generate strong demand. I often connect with marketers in other regions to share best practices and learn from their experiences. Not only has this made me much more strategic, but it also gives me the opportunity to meet and become friends with people outside of my direct team. When working with the sales team, I want to be a representative partner of the Korean region and be a leader who oversees marketing in Korea. I'm not just an event planner; I'm trying to be the CMO of my region and a business partner to my regional sales team. Through local programs and account-based marketing activities, I can support driving new leads and accelerating deals. I’ve always seen myself as responsible for understanding when and why to do these programs, and how to ensure the leads make it through the sales funnel and become new customers. The MongoDB office space in Seoul. Jun Kim , Manager, Solutions Architecture I joined MongoDB when the Korea branch had just been started. To me, MongoDB’s document model and sharding capability were really attractive compared to other databases, and I was impressed by all of the technical features. I had worked for Oracle as a master sales consultant, and coming to MongoDB allowed me to gain exciting experiences in many different capacities, from meeting with developers and DBAs to C-levels. I started as a senior solutions architect and have since been promoted to a people management role. MongoDB is a very fast growing company, and I’ve seen my direct impact on the organization. It is exciting to be a part of scaling our team and MongoDB’s presence in Korea. I also feel that I’ve been developed and continue to develop through the support I receive from my peers and leadership. Our team in Korea is growing quickly, and we have a strong culture of collaborating with one another and benefiting from each other’s experiences. I am proud of what we have accomplished so far and look forward to our next phase of growth. Read about local customers BAEMIN and Nod Games, and find out what the media is saying about MongoDB in Digital Daily and TechM DataNet . Interested in making an impact and helping us scale MongoDB Korea? We have several open roles and would love for you to transform your career with us!

August 29, 2022

Development, Enablement, and Career Transformation With MongoDB’s Corporate Sales Team

MongoDB continues to grow our corporate sales team in Europe and the Middle East (EMEA). MongoDB corporate account executives sell into some of the world's highest growth and IT-focused companies, with a goal of securing net new accounts in organizations of up to 1,500 employees. Often working directly with CTOs, Engineering/IT leaders, and technical end users, our corporate sales team drives and builds solutions that serve the best interests of our customers to help them innovate faster than ever before. Hear from two corporate account executives on our EMEA team to learn more about how they’ve experienced development, enablement, and career progression during their tenure, and why now is a perfect time to join our expanding team. Career progression Sophie Gruber , Regional Director, Corporate Sales I joined MongoDB in 2019 and was looking for two things: First, the possibility of merit-based career progression and second, an uncapped product-market fit. From my initial research and what I learned throughout the interview process, it became apparent that MongoDB was a place where I would be guaranteed both of those things and more. I’ve held multiple roles within MongoDB since I began. I joined the corporate sales organization after being part of our cloud team. When I joined the corporate team, I had already been working closely with corporate account executives and understood their objectives. I received support from all levels, including peers and top-line management. I’ve recently been promoted to regional director for corporate sales in DACH (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland). It has been a steep learning curve, but I’ve received incredible support from all around. Our BDR to CRO program offers loads of different career progression opportunities, and management supported me along the way in identifying development areas. MongoDB offers so many different routes for development and progression; they’re yours to take and make the most of. For me, the success and excitement I get from my role is working with companies, being part of their missions, and watching them come to life in their industries. The moments I’m most proud of are being part of the MongoDB Excellence Club, an initiative that rewards top sales performers, for the past two years. This year’s event in Mexico was an incredible week full of celebrations and learning from top performers around the globe. I believe that everyone has different motivations throughout their career, but one constant is the environment they thrive working in. At MongoDB, we truly live our values and celebrate thinking big and going far. Our culture is the foundation of everything we do, and even though we work in a competitive field, collaboration and teamwork are always at the forefront. I’ve met so many amazing people during my time here and am very proud to be living and building upon MongoDB’s culture with them. Development and enablement Tyconor Chan , Corporate Account Executive I joined MongoDB in November 2021 as a corporate Account Executive, and there were a few key factors that influenced my decision. MongoDB invests a tremendous amount of effort in your personal and professional development. It sounds cheesy, but before taking the role I read that MongoDB is where you come to get your “Masters in Sales.” Having just gone through the bulk of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was excited to get back to learning. The first time I met my manager he asked, “So what's next for you?” The constant development mentality is what really excites me about MongoDB. Then there’s the actual product. MongoDB is a best-in-class product and the leading NoSQL database that supports mission-critical applications for some of the world's largest companies. It satisfies a tremendous variety of use cases in every industry. I came from a hardware background, so moving to software-based selling was initially very daunting. However, between team sessions, one-to-one sessions with my buddy (an experienced rep), and our sales enablement program, my concerns were quickly put to rest. New hires are enrolled in a two-week upskill bootcamp that gets you prepped for the role. A few months later, you can refine your skills in Advanced Sales Training. I’ve had a dream start in terms of achieving immediate success at MongoDB, getting to work with new and established companies in the UK and Ireland, and playing a key role in their journey. What I am most proud of are the relationships I’ve made in the short amount of time I’ve been here. Hands down, what I enjoy most about working at MongoDB are the people and the culture. Being able to bounce ideas off of colleagues and leadership knowing they have your best interests in mind is really encouraging, especially to someone new to the business, and that’s why I can’t recommend coming to the corporate sales team enough. Like anything of worth, it’s by no means an easy role, but if you are willing to set your ego aside, ask for support, and work hard, you will be a great fit at MongoDB. Do you want to make an impact and transform your career? Join us at MongoDB — we have several open roles on our teams across the globe.

August 26, 2022

Meet Gabriella Cohen: Expanding MongoDB’s Presence in Israel as the Newest Regional Vice President

Gabriella Cohen recently joined MongoDB’s sales leadership team as Regional Vice President for Israel. We sat down to discuss her career move from Amazon Web Services (AWS) to MongoDB and the opportunities for sellers in the Israeli market. Jackie Denner: How did you come to join MongoDB, and what made you interested in the company? Gabriella Cohen: I have been privileged to work with some of the most tech-savvy and innovative startups in Israel, and many of them use MongoDB as part of their core products. Developers love the solution. This drove me to learn more about MongoDB’s technology and the potential market in Israel. The total addressable market for databases in Israel is growing rapidly, and MongoDB is only scratching the surface of this market. The extreme potential for MongoDB in this emerging market excited me and drove me to join. JD: Tell us about your experience prior to joining MongoDB. GC: For the last six years I’ve been working for AWS Israel. I joined the team in 2016 when Cloud was a new concept and the market was in its early stages of adoption. I started as an ISV Account Manager and grew to managerial positions as Startup Team Lead and Digital Native Businesses Team Lead. In my last role, I established and led the SMB Segment in AWS Israel and was part of the AWS Israel Leadership team. JD: Why do you believe that Israel is such a strategic and important market for MongoDB? GC: Israel is one of the most prominent innovation and technology hubs in the world, with an economy dominated by industrial high-tech and entrepreneurship. Israel ranks 15th among the 132 economies featured in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2021. This innovation is reflected in the large number of startups active in Israel, over 7,000 — 14 times more concentration of startups per capita than in Europe. It also attracts the highest rate of venture capital funding per capita in the world. Companies in Israel are tech savvy and early adopters of innovative technologies — such as MongoDB. Many of them are “born in the cloud,” while the more traditional companies are trying to close the gap and are rapidly adopting different solutions that enable a true digital transformation. Most of the Israel technology companies target and sell globally, resulting in a growing market opportunity for MongoDB. I view Israel as a strategic market from three perspectives. First, there is a large business opportunity in the Israeli market that isn’t correlated to the size of the country. All the leading cloud vendors are opening data centers here, which indicates the high potential of the market. Second, given that the Israeli market has early adopters of innovative technologies, this could be a great learning opportunity for other regions on how to work with digital-native and startup businesses. Last, it provides a platform for the MongoDB Product team to gather feedback from tech-savvy users, which can improve our product and shape MongoDB’s future roadmap. JD: What are you most excited about in expanding the Israeli market for MongoDB and continuing to build our sales organization in the country? GC: MongoDB’s technology has a strong reputation in Israel, however I believe it is yet to meet its business potential. The challenge of crafting a go-to-market strategy for Israel, which suits the specific and unique market conditions, excites me. Together with the existing sales teams, I’m looking forward to expanding and growing the sales organization to expedite our ability to cover the market. Finally, I’m really looking forward to evolving the MongoDB Israel office atmosphere, bringing together the MongoDB culture and the warm and friendly Israeli approach. JD: How would you describe your leadership style? GC: My leadership skills, style, and approach have evolved over the years. I believe in having a clear and inspiring vision, empowering the individual, generating value to my team, and leading by example. I tend to challenge the status quo and encourage creativity to explore new ways of doing things. The pandemic has added new challenges to leaders: on the one hand, having to lead remotely with minimal in-person interaction; on the other hand, having difficulty drawing the line between personal and professional as our home and family have been the background scenery of our business meetings. As a leader, I view this change as an opportunity to bring my authentic self and encourage my team to the same. I believe this builds trust, creates a fun environment, and strengthens connections. JD: What opportunities do you see at MongoDB? GC: Careers aren’t linear, and MongoDB offers endless career opportunities in both professional and managerial positions. MongoDB’s global presence offers an exciting addition to these opportunities. While the above might be relevant to other leading tech companies, I think what is unique about MongoDB is the hypergrowth we are experiencing. Working for exponential growth companies requires constant creativity, bias for action, and ownership. Each individual has the opportunity to shine, be successful, and develop new skills daily. The MongoDB Israel office in Tel Aviv was established in 2019. We currently have over 30 employees in customer-facing roles. We have a MongoDB customer support team based in Tel Aviv as well, and they provide support to over 900 customers across all industries and sectors. JD: What has your experience been as a woman in sales, and do you have advice for other women who are looking to build their sales careers and become leaders? GC: I believe in being successful, generating value to my team and business, and the rest follows. The three tips I would give are: Be the best version of yourself and insist on high standards. This positions you as a role model and drives success. Avoid having two versions of yourself—your personal/home version and your work version—because we are the same individual and our power is in the total package. It’s all about people. Leverage your interpersonal skills to drive business — to read into situations, connect to people, and understand the subtext. Our sales team is growing in Israel and across the globe. We have several open roles and would love for you to transform your career with us!

July 21, 2022

D’Enterprise Account Executive à Regional Director : comment Lucile Tournier a accéléré sa carrière en France

Lucile Tournier a rejoint MongoDB France en tant qu'Entreprise Account Executive en 2020. De l'apprentissage de nouvelles technologies à son nouveau rôle de maman tout en assumant des fonctions de leader, Lucile a eu un parcours incroyable au cours des deux dernières années. Apprenez-en plus sur son expérience au sein de notre équipe commerciale en France et sur la façon dont elle a su développer sa carrière pour devenir Regional Director chez MongoDB. Jackie Denner: Bonjour, Lucile. Merci de partager ton histoire ! Comment as-tu rejoint MongoDB et pourquoi étais-tu intéressée par l'entreprise ? Lucile Tournier: MongoDB est ma première expérience dans le monde de l’édition logiciel. En effet, mes expériences précédentes étaient des ESN françaises.Rien à voir en termes de cycles de vente, de culture d’entreprise (MongoDB étant une société américaine) ou encore de technicité (les bases de données - la seule stack que je n’avais jamais abordée !). Ayant l’impression d’avoir fait le tour de mon précédent poste, je me suis dit “Si je cherche un nouveau challenge, pourquoi pas le monde des éditeurs ? Est-ce fait pour moi ? Est-ce possible de passer d’une ESN à un ISV?” J’ai alors pris contact avec Alexandre Esculier , VP France MongoDB, à l’époque Regional Director, qui lui-même avait réussi un tel virage. Qui de mieux placé pour répondre à mes questions? Au fur et à mesure de mes échanges avec lui, mais aussi avec l’équipe MongoDB France, j’ai été conquise et j’ai décidé de me jeter dans le grand bain ! On pourrait se demander pourquoi MongoDB en particulier ? 3 ans auparavant, j’ai co-fondé une start up en Finance de marché au sein d’une ESN. Une expérience exaltante, à 1000 à l’heure, pleine de challenges, de difficultés et de belles réussites. J’aimais le côté “speed boat” (rapide et adaptable) à l’intérieur d’un grand groupe. Aussi, pour mon prochain challenge, je ne voulais pas rentrer dans une compagnie “paquebot”, où tout est long et fastidieux. J’ai vraiment retrouvé le meilleur des deux mondes chez MongoDB : à la fois grand groupe, avec des process clairs, une technologie disruptive, tout en ayant un esprit start up avec une croissance forte et de l’agilité. Et j’ai bien fait ! JD: Raconte-moi en davantage sur ton rôle d’Enterprise Account Executive. LT: Un vrai rollercoaster ! En parallèle de 6 mois d’onboarding poussés, j’ai pu rapidement aller sur le terrain, accompagnée bien sûr d’équipes à très grande valeur : mon manager, des architectes, les équipes post-sales etc. J’ai commencé à monter en compétences, à signer mes premiers contrats sur de grands comptes qui m’ont fait confiance (tout comme mon management), à ouvrir de nouveaux périmètres, à faire grossir les existants. J’ai énormément appris sur la technologie, sur le processus de vente ( basé sur le MEDDIC, dont John McMahon, co-inventeur de celui-ci, est au board de MongoDB ! ) et surtout sur moi-même grâce à une culture du feedback qui est la base chez MongoDB. Apprendre sur soi n’est pas si facile… Cela demande de savoir et de pouvoir se remettre en question quotidiennement. Mais quelle superbe opportunité pour grandir ! JD: Qu’est ce qui rend une carrière chez MongoDB unique ? LT: Elle est unique à plusieurs niveaux: la technologie, les process, le côté 1000 à l’heure, les résultats de la société …LES PEOPLE. Tout est fou.Ce que je retiens particulièrement c’est la bienveillance. Durant cette première année, j’ai eu l’immense joie de devenir maman, d’un petit garçon - Dorian. Commencer un nouveau job, tomber enceinte dans la foulée, ce n’est pas tout à fait ce que j’avais prévu. J’ai eu la chance d’avoir un management à l’écoute et ravi pour moi. Et j’ai pu réussir à mener de front mes deux belles aventures: réussir chez MongoDB et devenir Maman. Je ne pense pas que cela aurait pu aussi bien se passer ailleurs. JD: Tu as été promue d’Enterprise Account Executive à Regional Director. Comment as-tu réussi à atteindre cet objectif, et comment tes managers t'ont-ils soutenu dans cette démarche ? LT: Si je n’avais pas eu la confiance de toute ma ligne managériale, ce passage aurait été difficile, voire impossible. J’avais déjà un rôle de Manager dans mon “ancienne vie”. Cependant, il était important pour moi, comme pour MongoDB, de repasser par le terrain avant de revenir sur un poste de manager. Comment bien orienter ses équipes sans être passé par le terrain, en venant d’un monde complètement différent ? J’ai donc fait mes armes, j’ai prouvé, je me suis donnée à 100%, j’ai essayé d’être au maximum à l’écoute des feedbacks qu’on me donnait, j’ai testé, j’ai perdu, j’ai gagné, j’ai revu, j’ai recommencé et encore recommencé... Bref, j’avais confiance en mon environnement, et j’ai pu tout donner, tout en étant bien encadrée. J’avais des sessions régulières de développement, des formations, et surtout une oreille attentive de la part d’Alexandre et de Jérôme Delozière, VP Europe Continentale, qui m’aidaient à me poser les bonnes questions. JD: Qu’est ce qui est le plus passionnant au sein de MongoDB ? LT: Tout ! Déjà, la technologie est folle. C’est important de le souligner, car impossible pour moi d’aller dans une société où les clients ne sont pas satisfaits du produits une fois mis en place. Je veux pouvoir croire en ce que je vends. Et j’y crois ! Les équipes R&D sont toujours à la recherche des dernières évolutions qui nous permettent de garder nos 5 ans d’avance sur le marché ! Le fait de vendre à travers la méthodologie MEDDIC m’a énormément appris. J’avais l’art et MongoDB m’a apporté la science. Même après une dizaine d'années de vente, j’ai continué d’apprendre ! Et le plus important: les People ! Tout le monde cherche à se dépasser, à être un des constructeurs de cette belle aventure - et c’est vraiment agréable de travailler avec autant d’émulation. JD: Comment tu définirais la culture de vente chez MongoDB ? LT: Transparence ! En transparence on peut progresser, il faut se dire les choses, s’entraider, annoncer ses faiblesses, être à l’écoute. Comme avec les clients ! La transparence est la clef. On peut tout dire, avec les formes et au bon moment. JD: Quelles seraient - selon toi - les qualités pour réussir en tant que commercial au sein de MongoDB ? LT: Le travail. Rien n’arrive tout cuit. Il n’y a pas de périmètre facile, il n’y a pas de “chance” dans ce milieu. Il faut travailler, apprendre, se remettre en question, faire avancer les sujets. La chance arrive après. JD: Autre chose que nos candidats doivent savoir ? LT: Je recrute, alors n’hésitez pas à m'écrire sur LinkedIn ! Si vous souhaitez rejoindre l’équipe MongoDB, nous avons plusieurs rôles disponibles partout dans le monde et nous serions ravis que vous transformiez votre carrière avec nous !

May 3, 2022

MongoDB ASEAN: How the Corporate Sales Team Is Scaling in One of MongoDB’s Fastest-Growing Regions

MongoDB is growing rapidly around the globe, but one region experiencing particularly significant growth this year is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Our ASEAN team works with customers in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines. Hear from members of our Sales and Presales team to learn more about how they’re growing their careers and MongoDB’s presence in ASEAN. Hailey Dinh , Corporate Account Executive, ASEAN I’m currently a Corporate Account Executive at MongoDB. I don’t know if it’s fate that brought me and MongoDB together, but I’m glad I’ve chosen this path. It’s cliché to use the people-process-technology framework to explain what makes me stay, but it’s true at MongoDB. People: supportive, knowledgeable, and helpful. Process: fast, efficient, and always evolving. Technology: beautiful products with constant updates. MongoDB is such an unexpected yet satisfying journey for me . The most exciting things about my role are freedom and support. Freedom, as in we can always be creative and flexible with how we go about doing sales at MongoDB. We have full control of our daily schedules. Additionally, we’re always encouraged to share our initiatives and get recommendations from our leaders and colleagues on areas of improvement. Our leaders are very down-to-earth people who are willing to listen, mentor, and support their employees, so I feel less pressured by hierarchy and more open to sharing my ideas and concerns. For example, I initiated the idea of organizing an enablement workshop for our partners in Vietnam just a few months after joining MongoDB. I was immediately endorsed by our Leadership, Partner, and Marketing teams to own this initiative and run with the idea! I feel like I’ve grown at triple the rate I expected. The accelerated growth, the collaborative environment, the high market demand, the constant product development, the endless learning opportunities — all these factors have driven me to adapt and grow way faster than I had expected. At MongoDB, we all have our fair share of exposure to a highly international environment where our colleagues and customers may sit across different geographies. In terms of career development, our leaders take our career aspirations seriously, and there are defined paths and programs to help sales reps grow into more senior or even managerial roles. Our team culture is very positive. I feel like we are all each other’s mentors and mentees, which says a lot about the learning-from-each-other culture at MongoDB. I think what makes someone successful on the team is proactiveness and self-motivation. For a company with such a high growth trajectory, we have to be proactive and self-driven in the ways we identify and approach opportunities. “Go above and beyond” is the common trait I’ve seen from many successful Account Executives here. It’s impressive and motivating to see how the majority of MongoDB’s salespeople have attained and overachieved their KPIs quarter by quarter. My goal is to make a strong impact in my role, and I’m proud of how I’ve driven several go-to-market initiatives in terms of marketing, partnerships, and social selling toward the Vietnam market that have helped increase MongoDB’s visibility in this country. I couldn’t do all these things without our leadership’s endorsement and other teams’ support. I’m thrilled about the business direction we’re heading in this year. William Tan , Senior Solutions Architect, ASEAN The energy and pace of MongoDB — especially in the ASEAN region — is, for lack of a better word, electrifying. Every day, we uncover customer needs and issues with real business impacts, identify their vision, and translate it all into tangible, technical requirements that can be fulfilled by MongoDB’s technology. At a personal level, it is an endless journey of deepening one’s understanding of databases, cloud, application development, and how it all fits together. There is a deep focus on continuous learning and sharpening our minds as we continue to hone our skills in the field. It is this daily rigor that makes my role exciting. There are no moments of boredom as new questions force me to rethink what I know, and there is no greater joy than to witness the smiles and acknowledgement from our customers when they achieve their goals and resolve the problems they set out to. Throughout the interview process, I discovered how easy, intuitive, and powerful it is to use Atlas as a database for everything, and the many rich and interesting platform features that come along with it. I even told myself it would be okay not to get the job, since the experience of trying was such an enriching and rewarding experience already. Thankfully, I was hired! If I were to summarize the onboarding experience in a few words, they would be “rigor” and “a detailed training plan.” The onboarding process for a Solutions Architect consists of weeks of focused tasks and activities to complete, including online courses and demos, as well as reading tons of write-ups and presenting it all to fellow teammates and managers to obtain feedback on areas of improvement. I’ve never had an opportunity to learn with such seriousness before, and I am still using the training plan to keep my skills sharp. The SA onboarding rigor is key to preparing for day one and beyond in the field. If you are looking for an opportunity to learn something new and work with people of great technical passion in a vibrant and open-minded team, then MongoDB could be a great place for you. Many of us on the SA team come from various backgrounds. Some have experience with databases, while others do not; some are developers, while others are purely infrastructure. Combined, this gives rise to interesting approaches and insights. There are so many things to learn from one another, and very soon you will realize there is more than one way to cook a dish. There is a willingness to share and empower one another, and you can see that when one celebrates the success of another. If you want to experience the marriage of technical exhilaration with the practical abilities to solve real problems, then this is definitely the right team to be a part of. Views from the MongoDB office in Singapore Stephanie Lee , Corporate Account Executive, ASEAN After three years in hardware sales, I moved to software when I joined MongoDB. I currently cover corporate accounts across Singapore, Malaysia, and the rest of ASEAN, including Pakistan and Myanmar. With the rate at which MongoDB is growing, there is always something new to learn. As a salesperson, I find it valuable that I am pushed to grow in areas of technical knowledge to be more well-rounded. There are a lot of internal resources available for anyone who wishes to learn or upskill in the course of their job, regardless of their scope of work. MongoDB has set the bar extremely high for any onboarding experience I encounter in the future. The investment in training and Sales Bootcamp blew me away. The two-week virtual Sales Bootcamp sessions equipped me with the right skills to hit the ground running. Not only were we given in-depth training on the technical aspects of the products, but we also had targeted sessions on sales methodology that I believe is invaluable for any salesperson, but especially for those still in the early years of their careers. Some characteristics I believe make someone successful in a Sales role at MongoDB are self-motivation, resourcefulness, empathy, and resilience in the face of rejection or failure. You are ultimately driving your own book of business and responsible for your own performance. There are also no hard and fast rules for how to land a deal or generate a lead, so it comes down to how resourceful you can be and how thorough you are in researching your prospects. I also think empathy is critical because this is a client-facing role, and you will always be meeting new people who are looking to solve their problems. We need to be invested in listening to them and putting ourselves in their shoes to feel their pain and be motivated to provide the best solution. Finally, you are bound to be met with rejection, so it is important to have a go-getter attitude and not be discouraged. Prior to joining MongoDB, I honestly had not heard much about the company. As I went through the interview process and met the management team, however, I found myself wanting the role more and more. This boils down to two key aspects: the product and the people. Even though I am not the most technical person, the more I learned about the MongoDB product, the more excited I became to sell it. The people I met along the way, such as my hiring manager, Regional Director, and VP, gave me a glimpse into the warm, dynamic culture. Every day is exciting. If you challenge yourself, then there will always be opportunities for growth. I choose to stay at MongoDB because I believe in the long-term vision and goal of the organization. I trust that we are building a world-class team of people, and I aspire to be a part of the process. Members of the ASEAN team gather after work Interested in joining the team? We have several open roles in Singapore and would love to help you to transform your career at MongoDB!

April 5, 2022

Building on Atlas to Accelerate Sales Efficiency at MongoDB

When it comes to customers and prospects, there is no such thing as having too much data. But it can sometimes seem that way. With so much data on prospects, the challenge is in sorting through it to truly understand which have the highest potential. As a result, companies are often left with disparate and disorganized spreadsheets, making Salesforce that much harder to use. Soon, sales leaders find themselves preoccupied with simply trying to access and understand data, rather than implementing strategy. MongoDB’s own sales organization found itself in such a position in the summer of 2020 and decided that there had to be a better way to utilize the customer data they received from vendor Scalestack . “There were hundreds of customized documents that each needed to be updated from multiple different data sources — repeatedly,” said Matt Highland, account strategy manager at MongoDB. “The documents would often become outdated very quickly. We needed a current view of the data.” First, the sales team conducted an in-house study of the process its sales leaders use to analyze accounts and territories in order to gain an idea of all the data points and workflows that optimize account allocation. Next, sales leaders evaluated vendor solutions, but couldn’t find any tool or service that met every need. From there, the decision was made to build a tool internally using MongoDB’s own engineering resources and technology. With an assist from its Product Design department, the sales leaders translated the requirements and previous tools used into high-fidelity wireframes for the engineering team. The solution, named Argos, is a web application built on top of MongoDB Atlas . Launched in early 2021, it is now being used by more than 600 people in MongoDB’s sales teams. Argos helps employees to understand the potential spend for each of their accounts, which in turn informs account and territory planning at the regional, team, and rep level. “The main benefits have been transparency and access to timely data,” Highland said. “The relevant data is in one place, and it’s up to date. Argos has also helped with speed, and how quickly we can get a new sales rep going, how quickly we can grow our teams, and how quickly we can adjust our strategy when situations change. It also gives us more clarity about how equitable the territories are.” MongoDB’s sales group is now far more agile in building and adjusting territories because it became far easier to find those key data points about customers and prospects. Additionally, it freed up analytical bandwidth for more strategic projects that were previously spent wrangling data. Thanks to its intuitive document data model, MongoDB Atlas made it easy for developers to build Argos — as well as for sales teams to spin up and use the web application. In addition, the flexibility of the document model made it easy for teams to alter the application as its requirements evolved. Because of how simple Atlas is to use, engineers could focus solely on the Argos implementation and not worry about database deployment, availability, or performance. The analytics available in Atlas also made fine-tuning queries and indexes straightforward, which translated into a better user experience through faster application performance. And the flexibility of the document data model made ingesting data quick and easy, which decreased the time between the start of the Argos project to its working prototype. “With Argos, the sales team has a shared single view of their accounts with the decision making data points available and up to date,” Highland said. Next, Highland said, is to explore expanding Argos to other teams inside MongoDB to continue to streamline its go-to-market efforts. The MongoDB SalesOps team is hiring! Check out our job postings to see if you would be a good fit!

February 9, 2022

Sales Development Series: Meet the North America Sales Development Team

Sales Development is a crucial part of the Sales organization at MongoDB. Our Sales Development function is broken down into Sales Development Representatives (SDRs), who qualify and validate inbound opportunities from both existing and prospective customers, and Account Development Representatives (ADRs), who support outbound opportunities by planning and executing pipeline generation strategies. Both of these roles offer an excellent path to kickstarting your career in sales at MongoDB. In this blog post, you’ll learn more about our North America inbound team, which works with customers all over North, Central, and South America. Hear from Manager Ravelle Mantoura and a few Sales Development Representatives about the SDR role, team culture, and how they’re looking to grow their careers at MongoDB. Check out the rest of our Sales Development series here . Ravelle Mantoura , Regional Sales Development Manager for North America As part of the inbound Sales Development team, there is an enormous opportunity for growth as you develop many skills in the Sales Development Representative role. Due to the nature of inbound, we tend to have a lot of conversations with customers who are further along their MongoDB journey than others. This means you will have a lot of customers asking questions about the product and features to understand what solution makes the most sense for them. Because of this, you will get well acquainted with the product and develop strong technical know-how around MongoDB offerings. Additionally, you will develop skills to understand how companies of all sizes purchase software. You’ll also have the opportunity to work with dozens of different Account Executives across the company, understand their business flow, their methods, and learn more about their organization -- it’s a great way to build relationships as you decide which path to take. Lastly, due to your customer calls, you will gain a deep understanding of our sales methodology very quickly which will prepare you well for the next role. All of this is incredibly valuable as you look to grow your career and decide which path makes the most sense for you (Enterprise or Corporate). To be on the inbound team means to work alongside marketing closely, understand the marketing to sales funnel, how data impacts results, and how to use the data you are given to have an impactful conversation with a potential customer. You will not be dedicated to one team or region but the entirety of North or Latin America, giving you the opportunity to network, build strong relationships with dozens of different stakeholders, and master your communication and relationship-building skills. We have a few different types of roles on the inbound team, so the typical day-to-day work can vary. For some, a daily structure will be around assisting customers through the live Sales Chat on our website, answering “contact us” forms, or responding to customer calls. This is a fast-paced role where you will help dozens of customers a week who are interested in speaking to sales. We typically schedule a meeting to understand the customer’s project and needs, so a large chunk of your week will be having live video conversations with customers. For the other roles on the team, we have individuals who respond to customers who have engaged with our marketing content. This can be anything from downloading the Enterprise Edition of our database to attending a webinar put on by MongoDB. Reps will reach out via phone, email, and LinkedIn to establish a connection and have a conversation around the potential customer’s interest. Lastly, we just launched a new strategic role on the team where reps will work on Enterprise accounts deemed with a high propensity for growth by marketing. The day-to-day in this role will focus on building connections within the entire account and understanding how the company can potentially leverage MongoDB in their current applications. This role is more strategic so there will be a heavier focus on building out messaging and strategy for approaching the account. The day-to-day in this role will be centered around gathering intel on the account, creating an action plan on outreach, and setting up live conversations with the customers you make contact with. Regardless of what role you’re in on our inbound team, you’ll have weekly, monthly, and quarterly enablement, training, and coaching sessions to set you up for success in your next career step. There are so many things that I love about our inbound Sales Development team. First, I enjoy being able to coach and develop my reps and seeing their growth throughout their tenure as they pursue a sales role at MongoDB. Second, getting the opportunity to learn about companies of all sizes and hear about the cool projects they are working on. Recently, one of my reps had the opportunity to meet with an architect from a popular digital music platform from the ’90s who wanted to completely re-platform their services to capture new market share. Another rep met with the CTO of an AI company where they use robots to track body motion throughout warehouses. Some really cool stuff! Lastly, being part of inbound and handling customers all across North, Central, and South America who are on different parts of the MongoDB journey makes every day exciting! Luiza Ozório , Sales Development Representative When I was looking for new career opportunities, I researched three points that I consider extremely important when assessing the job market: consistent company growth, people and culture, and training and growth possibilities. MongoDB excelled on all these points and when evaluating the two offers I received, I chose to join MongoDB. The Sales Development team culture is very collaborative. We are all on the journey of constant learning, so we often do teach backs on topics that contribute to our daily routines. We also share best practices and anything else that can help other team members develop. There is a culture of learning and development at MongoDB, with well-defined paths for career growth and open feedback which is an exciting working environment to be in. In terms of how to succeed, I don't think there is a specific formula that makes someone successful, but I believe in the importance of being consistent, disciplined, following the sales process, and, above all, communicating with stakeholders in a clear and effective way. Being part of a company that is constantly growing gives us the opportunity to build together and accelerate the company's development even further. I believe in the excellence of what MongoDB offers and I see that we really help our customers develop and scale their businesses. This feeling of being able to help is what energizes me! Brandon Bell , Sr. Sales Development Representative I chose MongoDB because the sales training is second to none. From the first interview, it was clear that MongoDB heavily invests in its people. I felt extremely welcomed and I could tell that MongoDB was a collaborative organization. I spent my first few weeks getting to meet others throughout the organization and going through our Sales Bootcamp which is a training program that’s designed to equip new hires with a strong technology and sales foundation before fully ramping into their role. MongoDB is uniquely positioned in the market to be the foundation for modern applications. It’s an incredible opportunity to be on the ground floor of so many digital transformation efforts. MongoDB is the foundation of so many applications that solve real-world problems! It's incredibly exciting getting to work with various customers with a wide variety of use cases like IoT, Machine Learning, and Blockchain technologies. What will make you successful is being intellectually curious and having a willingness to learn. Our industry and customers' needs are constantly evolving and being genuinely interested in keeping up with these changes is key. At MongoDB, your success is directly correlated with your ability to implement feedback and learn from your mistakes. Coming to the role with an open mind and an appetite to learn is one of the best things you can do as an SDR at MongoDB. My next step is going to be joining our Cloud team as a Cloud Account Executive. In this role, I will get the opportunity to support a lot of early-stage companies as they look to grow and launch new applications. In the long-term, I aspire to become an Enterprise Account Executive where I will get the opportunity to partner with some of the largest companies in the U.S. as they continue to innovate and create applications that will impact millions of people. I feel so fortunate to have joined a sales team that truly cares about everyone's success. Angel Rivera-Vega , Sales Development Representative One of my best friends was working at MongoDB and suggested that I apply to the Sales team based on the continuous growth that he experienced within the company. I had already been developing my tech sales career at other companies, and I knew a little bit about MongoDB through NodeJS and Javascript courses that I took back in 2017. I applied, and here I am! My onboarding experience with MongoDB was gold. I was blessed with a team that consistently helped me through the onboarding process. They always supported me when I needed it, and they consistently coached me on the path to success here in MongoDB. I have to admit that my journey through MongoDB’s Sales Bootcamp was the best sales training process in my professional career. Something that makes me feel very excited about my role is that I have the opportunity to help multiple entrepreneurial initiatives become a reality. I also enjoy promoting solutions to challenges that help enterprises in the long run. It feels great to interact with different companies across the globe and learn about different cultures. In my opinion, there are two critical elements for an SDR’s success. The first one is their mindset. The most successful SDRs are capable of continuously finding opportunities in which MongoDB will fit companies' initiatives. The second is that they are willing to learn and improve consistently. They are curious, test new ideas, and continuously improve on their execution. As I continue to progress my career at MongoDB, I see myself as a Cloud Account Executive in my next role. I like the idea of helping companies embrace cloud technologies such as MongoDB Atlas. In today’s world, all modern applications are empowered with data. To make good use of data, all modern applications need to use cloud technologies that will operate independently. These technologies will help companies to boost development productivity, reduce complexity, and facilitate innovation. What makes MongoDB exciting and unique is to see how much the company is growing year over year and know that our work is contributing to this continuous success. MongoDB is full of incredibly talented and capable people, and I always learn something new from them. Interested in joining the Sales team at MongoDB? We have several open roles on our team and would love for you to transform your career with us!

November 10, 2021

Sales Development Series: Meet the North America Account Development Team

Sales Development is a crucial part of the Sales organization at MongoDB. Our Sales Development function is broken down into Sales Development Representatives (SDRs), who qualify and validate inbound opportunities from both existing and prospective customers, and Account Development Representatives (ADRs), who support outbound opportunities by planning and executing pipeline generation strategies. Both of these roles offer an excellent path to kickstarting your career in sales at MongoDB. In this blog post, you’ll learn more about our North American outbound team, which is divided into territories covering North America West, North America Central, New York City and the Mid-Atlantic, and New England, East Canada, and the South East. Hear from Regional Manager Jordan Gregory and a few Account Development Representatives about the ADR role and how MongoDB’s sales culture enables employees to grow and succeed in their career. An overview of Account Development in North America Jordan Gregory , Regional Manager of Sales Development for New England, East Canada, and the South East Account Development at MongoDB is crucial to the success of our sales organization, being the first point of contact with all of our prospective customers. We partner with our incredibly talented Enterprise Account Executives to find new business opportunities within some of the largest and most complex organizations in the world across a broad range of industries (financial institutions, video games, telecommunications, insurance - you name it!). The Account Development team culture is one of extreme ownership. It’s about controlling what we can control, building off of each other’s strengths, enjoying working together, and holding ourselves and each other accountable for growing and failing forward every day. If you work hard, you play hard, and that culminates in a lot of fun with this incredible group! MongoDB has a growth-focused culture. Our management and Sales leadership team take learning and development seriously, and the most successful individuals on the Sales team are those who are committed to growing and learning in their role. MongoDB is an open-source data platform company, and I firmly believe that if you can sell an open-source data platform, you can sell anything. This is one of the most challenging places to sell and because of that, and the focus on growth and development, I’ve seen countless people (including myself) take their careers to new heights. The hardest part of sales is prospecting, and it’s something we train our ADRs on extensively. You’ll learn how to identify your Ideal Customer Profile, execute deep discovery and qualification, and progress deals forward to Qualified Pipeline. You’ll also go through our Sales Bootcamp and on-the-job training. Another product of the ADR program is the massive impact we have on revenue which allows folks to build their internal brand and make lifelong connections. On top of that, we have structured upskill programs to set our ADRs up for success in the next role that they’re pursuing internally, whether that's as a Cloud Account Executive, an Associate Account Executive, or other non-direct sales roles like Customer Success and Field Marketing. We’ve also had internal promotions from the Sales Development org to Sales Enablement. At MongoDB, there is a lot of mobility to progress your career in the direction you want, and you’ll be truly valued as a person rather than an employee number or a revenue target. Hear from some team members Andrew Brownlee , Account Development Representative for New York City I joined MongoDB because it seemed like a great place to start my journey to being an Enterprise Sales Executive in the software industry. The people here have a winning mentality and operate as a team when faced with a challenge. The products are world-class and we invest heavily in R&D. MongoDB also has a process called BDR to CRO that’s geared towards developing and promoting sales talent year over year. The most exciting part about working here is the opportunity ahead. To be successful at MongoDB takes conviction, drive, and curiosity. You have to be firm in your opinion that our technology can transform an organization for the best. You must have the drive to push when it's easy, and when it's hard. The best ADRs are focused on being effective with their activity day-to-day and aren't dissuaded by how easy or hard that particular quarter is. Curiosity will help you grow in your career. It’ll also help you get the respect you need amongst your stakeholders. Maria Dorsey , Account Development Representative for North America Central I joined MongoDB because I was looking for a challenging yet rewarding start to my software sales career. It was clear to me throughout the MongoDB interview process that there is a huge emphasis on growth and development which is exactly what I was looking for. During my onboarding, I received a lot of support from my team. Although learning the MongoDB value proposition, products, and sales process can seem overwhelming, my team set aside time to ensure I was ramping up successfully. My manager also took the time to listen to my concerns, talk through tech fundamentals, walk through use cases I was unfamiliar with, and was an ally that I could depend on. What makes me stay at MongoDB is the opportunity for growth, the culture of the Sales Development organization, and the collaboration with enterprise reps and management. I’ve been extremely lucky to learn from and work alongside Enterprise Account Executives, Regional Directors, and my Regional Vice President who all truly care about my growth and success. The biggest thing that makes someone successful as an ADR is their willingness and eagerness to learn. MongoDB doesn’t necessarily care if you come from a software sales background (some of the best ADRs have not), but rather your ability and eagerness to learn the tech, sales process, and stakeholder management. These characteristics are a great foundation for building a long successful career at MongoDB. Vlad Pak , Account Development Representative for North America West I joined MongoDB because I wanted to challenge myself and gain experience working in enterprise sales. MongoDB is an incredible company that offers many opportunities for personal, professional, and financial growth, but the thing that keeps me happy here is the culture. I am surrounded by driven and intelligent teammates and leadership that cares about my success. It's great to be supported from an employee-first perspective. I think the two key traits that make someone successful on my team and in my role are proactiveness and curiosity. Many of our team members are proactively sharing insights, collaborating, and facilitating engagement with each other which benefits us all and drives us to be the best ADRs we can be. Curiosity is the bread and butter of any successful sales professional and will directly impact the quantity and quality of the meetings we set, helping us attain our quotas! I am looking forward to growing my career with MongoDB in a closing role and taking on the challenge of owning my own sales cycle. It’s exciting to work for a company that is leading the charge in digital transformation and changing the way enterprises approach technological innovation. It has been a great learning experience so far, and I can’t wait to see how the organization will grow and evolve along with my career! Interested in joining the sales team at MongoDB? We have several open roles on our team and would love for you to transform your career with us!

September 27, 2021

How to Prepare for Your Sales Interview at MongoDB

At MongoDB, our Sales team is growing rapidly as we strive to build a salesforce with a legendary reputation of excellence and integrity. Although we are eager to add new reps to our team, we are focused on ensuring we hire the right people for the job and that we’re the right company for you, too! Because of this, our interview process may not be as quick or look the same as other companies’. We feel confident that we’ve designed our interviews to uncover a mutually beneficial opportunity that will allow anyone who joins the team to look back on their time at MongoDB as a career-defining point in their lives. Our typical interview process includes three interviews, a sales profile assessment, and a final interview that we call “The Challenge”. Throughout these interviews we want you to meet as many people on our team as possible. Your interview panelists may include the Regional Director (RD) you’d directly report to along with RDs from other regions. You’ll also typically meet with a Regional Vice President or SVP depending on your location. We ultimately want you to be introduced and exposed to teams across the company so that you receive insight into our broader culture and can decide if MongoDB is the right fit for you. We recommend treating the recruitment process similar to a sales cycle including preparation, qualification, and closing. No matter the interview, you should be aware that all MongoDB Account Executive interviews are around the three Whys: Why MongoDB? Why you? Why now? Why MongoDB We want to ensure that we can support your career growth at MongoDB. At each stage of the interview process, leaders will want to dig in on the three P’s: 1. People Our executive leadership team is made up of some of the best in the industry. To understand who is behind the success of the company and how they got here, we recommend looking into some notable MongoDB figures such as our Executive team and Board Members. Prior to each interview, you will receive a guide with the names of the managers you’ll be interviewing with. We recommend doing some research on these individuals and their team members, along with other Account Executives at MongoDB. It’s likely that you’ll be asked about this research during your interview, so be prepared to discuss what you found. 2. Product The MongoDB data platform is complex which can make our sales process rather technical in certain use cases. While we don't expect you to come with database expertise, we do want to know why you have an interest and see the value in selling it! We recommend taking a look at our customer testimonials online to learn how MongoDB technology is applied. We also recommend researching our differentiators, which should help you understand why a C-Suite executive should buy MongoDB. Below are some resources to help you get started. Introduction to MongoDB Why MongoDB Atlas 3. Process Whether you’re interviewing for a Growth or Acquisition role, the team will want to understand how you master your pipeline generation to win new business as we continue to disrupt a huge market. Our Sales team follows the MEDDIC sales qualification methodology as well as our own internal sales process. This provides the team with a proven roadmap on how the most successful sellers have closed deals and promotes a common language within our teams across the globe. We recommend you speak to the sales and qualification process you follow currently and understand how they compare. Why you We’ve spent a lot of time defining our sales process and how our Account Executives can be successful. Because of this, we’ve been able to determine what top-performing reps at MongoDB have done differently and what characteristics help them quickly develop and achieve great records of closed deals. Coachability: There’s a ton of enablement at MongoDB, and we want you to make use of it! If you enjoy coaching and development, this is a good environment for you. Drive: The database market is massive, and MongoDB owns less than 2% of it. To be successful, you’ll need grit, a competitive nature, and a drive to disrupt one of the largest addressable markets in the software industry. Street smarts: Although the MongoDB product is technical, there is still a very human element to the sales process. We look for people who have emotional intelligence, the ability to “read the room”, and are empathetic. Ability to build pipeline: It may seem obvious, but our top performers are great at generating business meetings that impact their number of deals closed. You’ll need to excel at and enjoy hunting new business! Champion building: We strongly believe in making long-lasting connections and look for individuals who can identify and build a MongoDB Champion within their customers. Why now We believe that timing is important and want you to feel confident in your decision to join MongoDB. We encourage you to think about the following: Do you feel ready to leave your current role? If so, why do you believe now is the right time for you to do so? What are you not receiving in your current role that you’re looking for in a new role? Do you feel confident in your decision to interview with MongoDB at this time? These are things that will be discussed during your interview process, and we hope that you can happily articulate why you believe MongoDB is the next step for your development and career. Interested in pursuing a career at MongoDB? We have several open roles on our teams across the globe and would love for you to transform your career with us!

September 10, 2021