Veronica Fernandez
SUMMARY
What difficulties did Veronica Fernandez encounter when she began working in sales at Aircall?
When Veronica Fernandez started working in sales at Aircall, she encountered a number of difficulties. These included feeling scared and questioning why she accepted the position, overcoming her ego and realizing that no one cared about her position or level of education, and dealing with the pressure to succeed while also attempting to be overly personalized in her approach to sales, which she later discovered was unnecessary. Nonetheless, she felt like she had a chance to flourish at Aircall because of the company's diversity, which included having a French VP, and it encouraged diversity throughout the organization.
How important was having a team and management for Veronica Fernandez's success as an SDR?
According to Veronica Fernandez, her performance as an SDR at Aircall was greatly influenced by her management and team. While she was without a direct management for a spell, she was supported and given feedback by her coworkers and a vice president. She also underlined the value of having the capacity to solve difficulties and humility, as well as being open and willing to make adjustments. Having a thick Mexican accent and working for a French company offered additional difficulties, but she was able to overcome them thanks to her helpful coworkers and management.
Did having an accent in Australia make it more difficult to succeed in outbound?
The interviewee encountered difficulties and insecurities as a result of her accent while working in Australia, but she overcame them and was hired by a multinational corporation. Although the interviewer agrees that immigrants with accents may have difficulties in Australia, she also points out that an accent might work in a candidate's favor in some sales positions. They also talk about the distinction between speaking English as a first language and being a native speaker.
What exactly are channel sales and what does it entail?
Channel sales entails negotiating deals with other companies who use a company's tools and managing partnerships with them. It generates income through a combination of farming and hunting, but it depends on the partner to make the sale. Building relationships with partners is a key component of this thrilling and always evolving position.
TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00]
Ricky Pearl: So today on A Couple of Pointers Podcast, we are lucky enough to have Veronica Fernan Fernandez, the Channel Partnership Manager at Aircall.
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: I get that right?
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: Welcome to the show.
Veronica Fernandez: Hi. Thank you, Ricky. Thanks for having me.
Ricky Pearl: So I'm super excited to talk to you. There's quite a few things I want to talk to you about and I think the audience is gonna be particularly interested in.
Veronica Fernandez: Well, I'm excited too.
How you got into sales?
Ricky Pearl: So let's, why don't we start at the beginning, right? Tell me about how you got into sales.
Veronica Fernandez: How I got into sales? I guess no one gets into sales, no one chooses to get into sales. Everyone says, like, I just fell into it.
I actually did sort of made a choice to go into sales. So, I have a background in law and public policy. I'm from Mexico, was working for an NGO in Mexico, anti-corruption.
Then came here to Australia and started working [00:01:00] to do a master's degree. And then I was trying to find a job in my field. But obviously it's different. It's low. We don't have the same law. And I was like, okay, just
be realistic. Like you might need to explore something else. And one of my friends was like, Hey V, I think you'd be really good at sales.
Why don't you give it a like a crack? And I was like, oh, I'm not sure. Sales bad rep. And I was like a believer of those things that they say.
But then I said like, look, if I don't give it a try, like I'd always be wondering and as well, like I want to get a job. I want to see
what it is like, to work here.
Ricky Pearl: Exactly. What are you gonna do? You gotta get a job.
Veronica Fernandez: Exactly. So I was like, yes, I'll give it a try. I think I'll be good at it, and yes, let's do it. So that's when I decided to start looking into sales. And then someone reached out from Aircall and yes, that's how it happened.
When hiring immigrants you get access to higher talent level, higher education level
Ricky Pearl: A few interesting things there, like the one that I picked up on as well is how, when hiring [00:02:00] immigrants you get access to, uh, a much like higher talent level, so to speak, or higher education level. Cause we have people that move here from India with an MBA and they're struggling to find a job here, so they might take an entry level sales role, whereas an Australian with an MBA not looking for the same thing.
So, I think there's a lot of opportunity there. Alright, so you got into sales at Aircall and you landed yourself in one. I mean, Aircall sells you know, telephone products basically. Right? It's like a voice server. So you landed in, they're not gonna be primarily email focused in their outbound, they're gonna be cold calling.
Right. They're gonna drink their own Kool-Aid there.
Veronica Fernandez: Hundred percent
Ricky Pearl: So you landed in like the phon-a-thon of cold outbound companies.
Veronica Fernandez: Exactly right.
What was that like landing in the phon-a-thon of cold outbound companies?
Ricky Pearl: What was that like? That would've been pretty jarring.
Veronica Fernandez: Oh my God, I'm not gonna lie. It was scary. I was like, why did I do this? Like at the, to be fair you know what helps the VP, I don't [00:03:00] know if you know this, the VP and Aircall in general, so the VP is French.
And Aircall in general is just like there's people from everywhere. So that in the stat helps. I'm like, if he's a VP and he's like such a gun and has such a thick accent, then I have a chance to like do something here.
Ricky Pearl: It's amazing that, that diversity all the way to the top
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: Kind of encourages it all the way to the bottom, which is nice.
Veronica Fernandez: A hundred percent. So that was one thing that like, and he interviewed me, so that just gives you that landing ground. The second thing, I guess the challenge was as well, internally I was, as you said, I was like, I have a master's degree and I'm in the most junior sales, like ego. So just killing that ego and being like, who cares?
Like no one cares. Now you have new, like this new challenge, this new target. Just go and get it. Like stop thinking about, oh, is this the right thing? La. And I guess the third thing, and you were [00:04:00] one of my first cold calls. Do you remember that? Yes?
Ricky Pearl: I remember that very clearly, getting that cold call from you. And I'd previously been prospected by one of your colleagues,
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: I remember straight away thinking I'd offer this Veronica a job, right? That, that's where I'd do most of my recruitment is I just wait for good callers to call me and I'll be like, Hey, is this call being recorded?
Bloody hell calling from Aircall. I knew it would be, but yeah I remember that.
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah, so that, uh, I guess the most challenging part for me was like, obviously learning the job. I had never done sales. They took a chance on me. There's huge pressure. Like I wanna, like, I wanna succeed, but also like, uh, realizing that I didn't have to be so hyper-personalized.
Like you try to do this research and be like, super different and stand out and you really don't have, like, you really don't have to take that much time or spend that much time into doing all those things.
SDR research exercise
Ricky Pearl: Uh, we recently did an exercise where [00:05:00] we had an SDR. We were spending like a good hour researching each company and rarely good work, like super amazing research. And then we would actually read the emails and listen to the phone calls. And none of that personalized, like none of that research was actually being used.
Like, what's the point? You're like, you're just talking to the same CFO about the same pain points,
Veronica Fernandez: Mm-hmm.
Ricky Pearl: Regardless of if you spent an hour researching it. But that comes with experience, right? To begin with. You kind of, uh, you wanna do everything perfectly.
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah, and just letting that go as well. So you just nailed it. You want to do everything perfectly, and that's certainly me, my, my family, like dad. My dad is like a perfectionist. I've always been not a perfectionist, but yes, like, so a bit hard on myself. And so that was something that was pointed out really early. Even management or likely you need to like, trust yourself. You're good at it. Like, stop being hard on yourself and just give it a go. And yeah.
But I guess something that helped me, [00:06:00] and I know a lot of people are like, scripts are horrible and you shouldn't use them. And having a script is like having a security blanket, like having your best mate going into a party and being like, oh, if I don't know what to say, you'll help me.
Like just having it there and opening a call with the same sort of talk track,
Just comes natural. Obviously we're all smart. Like we all know some of the pains, we hear them every day. So if you trust that like opening every single day and you do it for a few weeks, then that just makes it easy.
And just having the script to me was a game changer cuz I was like, oh, don't have the script or whatever. Just having it there was like, okay, I can go and, yeah.
If you're a runner, it means you challenge yourself with your own personal goals and it's you against yourself
Ricky Pearl: But you have the attributes for that. I know two things about you, and those two things would be enough for you to get a job at Pointer. You're a dog. You're a dog person, and you're a runner, right? That's all I need to know because if you're a runner, it means you challenge [00:07:00] yourself with your own personal goals and it's you against yourself, right?
Unless you're like a professional athlete, it's always just about how you ran last week or you running a little bit further. You're running a little bit faster. So you, you've got that intrinsic motivation. You also are a little bit of a, a little bit of a masochist because like running's not fun. Like, let's be honest.
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: You like you're dealing with sore knees, you're dealing with a stiff neck, you're dealing with sore feets. Like, but all of these attributes kind of, are the reasons why. And it's also discipline and routine. So like you fine with the call scripts. I have SDRs, like every call they make is a new bloody script and I'm like, guys, what are you doing?
Like, just say the same thing. It's so easy. But they can't, they don't have the patience, right?
Veronica Fernandez: That was, yeah, that was a huge thing for me. So my new manager, well not new manager, like he's been at Aircall for like eight months, but he came in June. His name is Ellis,
Ricky Pearl: Yeah.
Veronica Fernandez: He is super experienced. Uh, he was a head [00:08:00] of sales at. Like a big company and he just has like a lot of experience. And one of the things when I was really, I took like a couple of months, not a couple of months, a couple of weeks off and coming back to work just like I felt like everything I had built was just like, I didn't know where it was and stuff like that.
Ricky Pearl: That's the same as running. You lose that momentum,
Loose that kind of fitness.
Veronica Fernandez: Exactly. Yeah, a hundred percent. And he was like, okay, V tell me what you're doing. Okay. Maybe you are spending too much time in this, just trust me. Let's do a little bit more velocity. Try it for a couple of months and let's see how you go. And I was like, okay, what do I need to do? And that's one of the things I guess like going to your manager and saying like, I am struggling a hundred percent. If your manager is not helping you or you just don't match with your manager, go to someone else, go to your VP, go to the director of sales, like go to someone else. [00:09:00] If the person you report to doesn't give you what you need, like it's in your hands to find that.
Ricky Pearl: Let me dig in a little bit there, because you were at a, essentially at an enterprise or mid-market company selling mostly into enterprises. It's a big business now, Aircall, right?
Do you think you could have succeeded in the role if you didn't have an SDR manager and a whole team around you?
Ricky Pearl: It's unicorn. Do you think you could have succeeded in the role if you didn't have an SDR manager and a whole team around you?
Veronica Fernandez: Nah. Ah, I don't know. No, I don't think so. I mean, what do you mean by like a direct manager? I didn't have one for a while.
Ricky Pearl: So like, so often, I mean, the majority of SDRs. being hired as a solo SDR,
Veronica Fernandez: Mm.
Ricky Pearl: I have four other SDRs that have already been in the team and 30 other SDRs around the world who have already refined a talk track and everything. They're like the first sales hire.
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: They've got the found, they've got the founder, to report to, or like a senior salesperson who's had relationships in the industry.
So, yeah, I, I'd love [00:10:00] to understand like how instrumental having that, like that team and that management to you being able to succeed?
Veronica Fernandez: So I guess that's, there's two things to do. You need to realize what I mean. Airco Yes. Is a global company. 800 people around the world. But in Australia, when I joined we were, I think I was 25, 23rd, something like that. We act as like a little startup cuz like we're all the way here. They sometimes forget that we exist, and for a bit, I didn't have a manager.
People know I have really good friends from Aircall. Hannah was a really good friend that we sort of like bonded since this start. She was another BDR. She's moved on now, but, yeah.
Ricky Pearl: Mm-hmm.
Veronica Fernandez: So that certainly helped. But if I didn't have those people and I didn't have a direct manager for a while, I was going to the VP, I was like, you know this thing about the cost of inaction that you want me to get, I just don't get it.
So I cannot get it out of the [00:11:00] person cause I don't understand what that means. And I was like, tell me what that means for you. And a lot of the times, I guess like, If you sit next to a founder and he hears you making those calls and you're not getting it,
Ricky Pearl: Yeah.
Veronica Fernandez: It's his business. I doubt he will be like, you know what?
Go to a room and stop delivering me. Like he'll be happy that you're next to him and he'll be happy to provide feedback, but you have to be open and like willing to make that change. So
Ricky Pearl: Yeah.
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah, having the team a hundred percent helps cuz it keeps your spirits up and stuff, but there's a bunch of other people. Help you to get there. Whoever is in the company, they're most likely gonna be facing the, like, the issues that your buyer is gonna be facing or they're gonna be facing, like issues that you'll be talking to them about. So yeah,
Ricky Pearl: Amazing.
Veronica Fernandez: Yes,
Ricky Pearl: I guess it takes your attributes to want to solve problems and that humility that you spoke about and having the people available [00:12:00] to help and support you.
Veronica Fernandez: a hundred percent.
Ricky Pearl: Now I guess you joined, then you're, uh, you're an immigrant. You don't get the Aussie culture necessarily very different business culture.
You're working for a, you said a French company. Where's Aircall based? Is it France?
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah. France. Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: So you're working for a French company. Again, very different cultures. And you've got a thick Mexican accents. Yeah, let me, fine. I don't mean thick as an insulting way, I'm just saying like, this is how
Veronica Fernandez: Oh hundred percent. Yeah. Hundred percent.
Did the thick accent make you feel very insecure and self-conscious?
Ricky Pearl: Did. Like, did that make you feel very insecure and self-conscious?
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah. At times, yes. And at times I would cry and I would hate my accent and wish it wasn't there. Like, yeah. Not gonna lie. And then I guess, I'm quite a, I can be a vulnerable person and you can know when I'm happy, when I'm stressed, when I'm angry. It's like [00:13:00] quite visible. So I did share that with people like, and I did, like when I had those situations, I would be like, this accent really makes me feel insecure, like I'm gonna, I even turned around one day and said like, I think I'm gonna take like public speaking classes or something because I like, I just block myself and like, just expressing that, sort of like having someone around you knowing that you're going through that just creates a huge like, sort of like awareness for them, that you're going through something. If you don't express that, same thing if you're struggling with something but you don't express it to anyone, how are they meant to know? So, so yeah, it did happen. But as you said, having people around who understood it and then laughing about it, I mean, we sometimes have those days where we feel down and yeah, it affects you the next day you can laugh and say like, ah, sorry, [00:14:00] english is a second language,
Do you have any insights into how it's impacted outcomes right now?
Ricky Pearl: Tell me about how, besides for your confidence, right, so this is how it, uh, impacted you uh, internally, I guess. Do you have any insights into how it's impacted outcomes right now? Obviously if you're an account executive or in your new role, and we can discuss how it is in your new role soon.
Your attributes, your intellects, your skills shined through. But in the first three seconds of a cold call, people don't get that.
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah
Do you feel like it was an actual impediment to success in outbound having an accent in Australia?
Ricky Pearl: You feel like, uh, we often joke Australians are casually racist. Do you feel like it was an actual impediment to success in outbound having an accent in Australia?
Veronica Fernandez: I mean, to be fair, uh, I don't know to what extent I did get, and I still get people saying like, oh, sorry where are you based? Or where are you? Or you're not from here, obviously you have an accent. Uh, [00:15:00] do you have someone local? Or even one day I took a call and they were like, oh, I spoke to someone in Asia and she didn't know what she was talking about, or something like that.
And my, my, my colleague was like, Oh no, she's actually from Mexico and she's just sitting next to me like, they would get angry. So I guess it did. But if you, I guess when you're, when that's happening to you,
it's like when you're, you took the example of running, but you can take it, anyone can take it in whatever they want to sort of like in whatever they find a challenge. Like if you keep digging into how that is affecting you and oh, they're not picking the phone because probably I have an accent, then that just fuels the insecurity. If when you're running, you dig into like, I'm tired, I can't feel my legs, oh, I wanna stop, then you'll start feeling that more. So you'll sort of create that for you. So again, it comes back to [00:16:00] like surround yourself with people who will champion you when you have that tough call and they tell you that, externalize it. And yeah, I don't know if the outcomes did happen, but I guess they didn't because now I'm in a new role and
Ricky Pearl: Yeah you got
Veronica Fernandez: So I yes. So,
Ricky Pearl: But it really does sound to me like you're really fortunate
Veronica Fernandez: uh, yeah, definitely
Ricky Pearl: Land at a company that was globalized.
Veronica Fernandez: 100%.
Ricky Pearl: They're French, they're not gonna think like a Spanish accent or a Mexican accent is anything other than normal, whereas Australia, there's a little bit of a homogenized culture here although
Veronica Fernandez: A hundred
percent.
Ricky Pearl: Maybe Melbourne's, whatever, without getting into it, I often feel like there's a real challenge for immigrants. I've got a dirty South African accents. I don't feel it ever held me back. But I also have the privilege of being like a middle class white male. Like I
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: I just don't feel these things.
And. So I'm always curious when I put a job out, now, if I get 99 applicants if 99 [00:17:00] applicants in Australia, 60 be immigrants, and I wonder how much they struggle more so than the locals.
Veronica Fernandez: I guess that's when you need to measure your. Other attributes.
And I did have a chat with a sales leader the other day from American Express, and he was like, oh my God, my bestsellers are from South America because that accent and the tone and blah, blah, blah. Like, it eventually gets them to like, it's a charm or. And like, I don't know, I guess, I guess yes, obviously I have to say, like, when I started looking for a job, it took me a long time. And yes, being an immigrant was like, sorry, no, we don't want, we want someone local. Even the, and I don't wanna throw Aircall under the bus or anything, but even the ad for the BDR role said native English speaker. And when I read that, that I only read that after, so because I was approached by someone [00:18:00] about the job in Aircall, I actually didn't see it on the website and then applied.
But when I saw that later, that thing came into my head like, did they put that because probably they said after me, I'm not doing a good job.
Like obviously it played on my mind. And they, my friends were like, V, you're crazy. No.
Ricky Pearl: So, it's so interesting because, native English speaker versus first language speaking capabilities very different.
There's, often have clients say, the higher pointer as an off so anything. Right? If you are prospecting in Australia will hire an Australian rep.
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: Non-negotiable. Occasionally we like like, we have a Canadian living in Japan
Veronica Fernandez: Mm-hmm.
Ricky Pearl: Who doesn't speak Japanese, working for an Australian company. Like that's fine, Canadian accents and nobody ha cares.
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Do you hire locally?
Ricky Pearl: Clients often say to me, do you hire locally? I'm like, yeah, hire locally.
like, uh, would you be fine with Akhbar, he's in Melbourne and I'm like
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: Hmm.
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: Do you have like a, do you have like a clearance? Do you have a Gary?
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: In Melbourne? You know, they're very interested [00:19:00] in accents. And discriminating based on accent when your role is voice-based.
Veronica Fernandez: Yes.
Ricky Pearl: It's kind of like, it's kind of like an actor, like, oh, we want a British accent for this role.
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: I want, it's a very interesting space, but one of our top performers is Iranian, you know
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: Studied in the uk. So he is got a very British twang to his Iranian and lives in Perth. So he is got now an Amer uh, an Australian twang on a British twang of an in Iranian accents, and he's stellar.
Like he just rocks meetings out. Like, I can't believe I was like, how did he do it? But anyway. And on the same topic,
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: Tell me about being a female in sales. this is a very male dominated industry, particularly when you get to sales leadership.
Veronica Fernandez: I agree.
How'd you felt as being a female in the sales industry?
Ricky Pearl: How'd you felt, as being a female in the sales industry?
Veronica Fernandez: Look, I guess, I guess, uh, coming from a back, a Mexican background, I think I see things in Australia, in the sunnier side. So definitely in Mexico we have more of a [00:20:00] macho culture. We I mean not the typical stereotypical one, but even I'd say like we have more hierarchical structures at work. So like you would always like write like, dear sir, madam, or whatever.
You would never refer to people like on the first person at first. So to me, coming to this, it was actually a struggle, like, becoming so horizontal and just sending emails like, hi to straight to the Point, LA LA, like.
Ricky Pearl: Hey mate. Cheers.
Veronica Fernandez: Exactly. So that to me yeah. The second thing I think as women, I guess there's two things. One, I cry a lot and I know a lot of women don't, and it's not a women thing, but I cry a lot. I'm angry or I'm frustrated, or I'm feeling stressed and I cry and it's something I don't like. I dislike crying. I was in a meeting with my manager like a few months back and I just like, I don't know, I [00:21:00] was feeling very stressed and vulnerable and like, not comfortable, not with him, but just like, with like the numbers and the information and it was, I don't know. Well, when you are just like not feeling comfortable?
Ricky Pearl: Yeah.
Veronica Fernandez: And.
Ricky Pearl: Sales is an uncomfortable job.
Veronica Fernandez: Exactly. And I just started crying and he was like, oh my God, V, if you need to stop the meeting, that's fine. Like we can do it. I was like, I need you to continue. Like, and he was like, no, like you're crying. You're not okay. I was like, I am okay. I need you to continue. Like, because if that's, I know that's not, uh, like I'm crying because I'm not okay, but you need to also ex like be vulnerable to share that. Like,
Ricky Pearl: Yeah.
Veronica Fernandez: Sort make that self knowledge or self, uh, like become that, get that self consciousness to realize, like sometimes when I'm stressed, sometimes when I feel overwhelmed or whatever, [00:22:00] I'm gonna cry.
That doesn't mean that I need time off. Sometimes what helps me is for you to keep going or for you to explain to me, so that's what I said, like, look, this is what happens. And when that happens, unless I tell you, yes, I need a break, I need you to keep going, and that will just like calm me down.
Ricky Pearl: I think that's one of your other obviously must be one of your other really strong attributes is emotional awareness. It's, uh, I feel you really need that emotional awareness in sales because it's a, it's an emotional rollercoaster.
Sometimes I do wish I had less emotional awareness cause I had a colleague who just couldn't feel rejection, almost like a psychopath, everything. Like, everything just washed off him.
And he was a great salesperson because of it. Or great prospects or at least,
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: But yeah, I mean it definitely sounds like your experience at Aircall in particular has been really favorable. They're a mature organization, great culture, great values and now you've taken up a new role there.
Veronica Fernandez: Yes. I've taken up [00:23:00] a new role.
Ricky Pearl: Tell me, you've gone now into sales from law, from politics,
Veronica Fernandez: I know
From Policy to Sales
Ricky Pearl: From policy into sales. You became a, an SDR or BDR, whatever they call it at Aircall.
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah,
Ricky Pearl: Now you're in partnerships channel, which is like this weird word that everyone uses.
Veronica Fernandez: I know.
Ricky Pearl: And it's a completely different side of revenue generation.
Veronica Fernandez: Oh yeah. Yeah. So that was one of the reasons why. So obviously all the metrics, all the numbers, everything you measure is different to a BDR and that's one of the reasons why I was crying in that meeting. I was like, I'm not getting anything and I'm stressed and I want to like be good. He's like, oh my God, you're running at a million hours per hour, like a million kilometers per hour. Like, calm down, so, yes. So, channel sales, I know it's not sort of like super known, not even internally at Aircall. So, I mean, it is for us who are in channel, but it's a different side of partnership. So I guess it looks different to different orgs, [00:24:00] but so Aircall is a partnerships led organiz, organization. And one of the reasons why we're like that is because our biggest strength is that our phone system integrates with a bunch of business tools. So those business tools are our technology or alliances integrations, but people have to implement those tools. So, so you have these other businesses who are like tech consultants or Salesforce implementators, or agencies that implement those systems, and that's channel sales. So I manage a group of different tho of those businesses specifically for Salesforce and Monday.com.
So, so yeah, it's different and it changes, but it's so exciting and I love it. It's more of a, like, it's still a hunting our role cause I need to find those partners, are they the right partners et cetera. And and
Ricky Pearl: Love or relationships there.
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah, you get them into the partner program, [00:25:00] but as well, well then after you need to find deals from them. And so it's like, it's a farming and hunting, so it's a mix of both. I like it.
Ricky Pearl: Yeah. It's a very exciting thing. It can also be, I guess, frustrating when your partners aren't pushing hard, and you've got a, it's kind of like where SDRs are being held to revenue numbers, but there's an account executive who's actually accountable for the revenue.
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: As a panel, uh, channel partnership sales rep, you've, you're responsible for revenue, but your partner has to kind of facilitate
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: The sale. Right.
Veronica Fernandez: Exactly right.
Ricky Pearl: And it makes a lot of sense. Like partnership was, I think community was the word for 2022
Veronica Fernandez: Mm-hmm.
Ricky Pearl: And partnership is the word for 2023.
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Do you also get involved in partnership, in co-innovation or co-marketing, or it's just co-selling?
Ricky Pearl: I think everyone's looking at, partnerships. Are you involved in just partnership sales? Do you also get involved in partnership in co-innovation or co-marketing, or it's just co-selling?
Veronica Fernandez: Yes.
So I do both. So I do [00:26:00] I mean, I don't do marketing, but we do have a partner marketing manager and we work, she's part of like the partnerships team, obviously the marketing team. So we work together to make sure that we are delivering content to our partners and that they have all the content they need. I guess the difference is like, yeah, it's sales, but it's also a little bit of enablement. Cause like they can't know all the business tools.
Ricky Pearl: Of course it sounds exactly like enablement.
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah. So, so it's like a bit of like training their teams, but also knowing how they do sales, how they implement and just, yeah it's a mix of a lot of things and it's nice.
It's really exciting.
Ricky Pearl: Sounds like a real generalist role as a seller, where you need a little bit of management cuz you're helping them manage their deals. You like a little bit of strategy, a little bit of sales enablement and coaching and training, a little bit of outbound, a little bit of everything really. It seems like, like a phenomenal sales role.
I think it's a uh, it's exciting. And, uh, I guess all those attributes [00:27:00] that we spoke about before that you maybe felt were inhibiting your ability to sell in earlier on in your career, I imagine would be like amazing attributes now.
Like now you can bring your legal background and that strategic thinking around policy to how do we create influence
I think your accents, uh, what's the, it's endearing and memorable, I think all of these things kind of now become like, qualities that you can admire as opposed to anything you feel is holding you back.
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah, a hundred percent.
Ricky Pearl: I mean, you just like, to me this is a success story of, an immigrant moved to Australia. Overqualified, what humbly went into sales, the hardest rollout there, uh, phone-based outbound, uh, SaaS built your way up, moved into now a more senior role, a more strategic role, and let the beginning of your.
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah, I know. I love that. And I love the fact. Exactly. What do you say? Like if you trust the process and you tru and you let your ego just like [00:28:00] be there and be somewhere else. It's like you, I was like, oh my God, I got to create a new career. Like who gets that chance? Like,
Ricky Pearl: Mm-hmm.
Veronica Fernandez: It's I don't know.
It's just like you get to be this whole new person. That no one, yeah, and you chose that. So yeah, it's quite, I don't know. It's like you decided to start your business and like you try things and if they don't work, who cares? Like what you're doing on LinkedIn and what you're doing on the podcast and everything it, it takes a little bit of guts and yes, you feel that fear, but if you get stuck on like the fear, then you never feel the emotion.
You know how they say like they're the opposite but the same.
Ricky Pearl: Yeah.
Veronica Fernandez: Uh, mental or emotional triggers. So, yeah.
Pretty
Ricky Pearl: Well I've loved, sorry, I've loved watching your journey,
Veronica Fernandez: Well, thank you.
Ricky Pearl: Since, I was one of your cold calls
Veronica Fernandez: I know.
Ricky Pearl: all the way through to now. It's an incredible, it's an incredible story and I think [00:29:00] like really inspirational. There's a lot of young females, there's a lot of young female immigrants.
There's a lot of young people in general looking to get into sales.
Would feel what you felt, all those insecurities, whether they got an accent, whether it's a gender issue, whatever. Everyone has their bloody insecurities and how you've overcome that I think is a remarkable story.
And if anyone's listening to this you know, follow Veronica. You don't post as much as you used to when you're in outbound.
Veronica Fernandez: I'm doing it now again. You know what? Someone told me that, and I did. I do take that.
I I paused cuz I was finding it hard in my new role and I was like, I need to send like good foundations to be able to succeed. So I'm back. I'm back.
Ricky Pearl: Amazing. Like, and you know what, you don't even have to post about partnerships. Like, I think just people want to hear your story, right?
Your story is incredible.
and the people are in your network. Like Hannah's story's incredible.
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: Irwin or you mentioned your manager when you came, his story's incredible and your of [00:30:00] sales,
Veronica Fernandez: Definitely.
Ricky Pearl: All of is pretty incredible.
Aircall's incredible. We don't use it, but it was a very strong contender when
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: you're very, very, strong contender. You know, but anyway, it's been such a pleasure chatting to you.
What's the best way top get a hold of you?
Ricky Pearl: If somebody wanted, wanted to talk to you, what's the best way to get a hold of you?
Veronica Fernandez: Yes, I was gonna say that and like good that you brought it up. So obviously always feel free to like, send me a DM or just yeah, just send me a message on LinkedIn. Uh, you can always also send me my, send an email, but what I was gonna say is we started as a cold call, right? And. We're here like almost two years after. So like two people doing it is like, you never know who you might meet on those cold calls or you might meet on LinkedIn or whatever. Like, I guess the biggest thing is like reach out to people and just like farm those relationships because it's just really incredible. But what you both [00:31:00] get out of it. And they might be experiencing the same thing that you are or they might be able to guide you in a way so yeah,
Ricky Pearl: Wow.
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: It really just gave me the chills when you said that Like this, yeah. Two years later is all
Veronica Fernandez: Yeah.
Ricky Pearl: You cold call me, and that's amazing. It's amazing to think of what can happen when people are, put themselves out there. They brave, humble. You know, and willing to try.
So, really so inspirational and I really appreciate you giving me the time to, talk to me and anyone who's gonna watch this.
Veronica Fernandez: Oh, thank you. Thank you. It was so good to chat to you, Ricky.
Ricky Pearl: And I'll definitely be chatting to you again in the next roles when you can explain to me what the, what partnership channel is again,
Veronica Fernandez: channel is
