Recently, I interviewed a very strong candidate for a sales leadership position, and he shared that it’s important for him to see that his work makes a difference. While many people don’t articulate that need as clearly as this candidate did, it’s probably safe to say that most of us want our work to have purpose. We want our time and energy to have a meaningful, positive impact on others’ lives and on the world around us.
I’ve written elsewhere about how important it was, to me as the CEO of InfoTrust, to find our organizational purpose. Money, growth, innovation—all of these are important, but they are secondary to a more crucial question: Why are you growing, making money, and innovating? In other words, what’s your purpose?
That question is at the heart of everything InfoTrust does, and it’s also one of the reasons that InfoTrust has been named one of Forbes, Ad Age, and Inc.’s best places to work. Below, I’ll share what I discussed with this particular sales candidate, and I’ll also explain why, if you want your work to matter, it’s the perfect time to join our sales team.
1. We Want Our Sales Team to Become Trusted Advisors for Our Clients
The 1992 film Glengarry Glen Ross is a classic in the sales genre. As four real estate professionals desperately pursue the “always be closing” mantra, they run the gamut of deceitful and dubious tactics. The film is fun to watch, but it couldn’t be more opposite from the way we think about sales at InfoTrust. Of course we want to close sales, but that’s not our sole focus, or even our primary focus.
Instead, we believe in cultivating trusted advisors who understand our clients’ needs and who can guide them toward the products and services that will truly benefit their organizations. Every member of our team is either already an industry expert or they receive training to become trusted advisors. When you’re able to offer expert advice to clients, not only do they come to rely on you, but they’re also more satisfied. We don’t want a “sales-y” team focused solely on numbers. We want a team that’s capable of building mutually beneficial, long-lasting relationships.
Right now, the marketing and advertising tech industry is going through immense changes—more than it’s seen in the last ten years—because digital privacy regulations are forcing advertisers, publishers, and ad tech vendors to change how they track consumers. Recently, Google announced their commitment to leadership in setting industry-wide standards, and they released Google Analytics 4, a new generation of technology designed to optimize how we analyze data about consumers.
These changes mean that our clients will look to us as trusted advisors who can help them chart the course of their digital analytics and privacy journey. In fact, our book Crawl, Walk, Run (released earlier this month) is the first book to discuss this technology and focus on how we can become trusted stewards for our clients. It achieved bestseller status on its first day of release.
But, don’t worry. When I say “expert,” we aren’t expecting our salespeople to start coding in Python or to understand all the ins-and-outs of our technical capabilities. We have technical subject matter experts for that. But we do guarantee that you will develop cutting-edge knowledge of the latest technologies—and more importantly, understand how they solve your clients’ business problems and needs.
2. You’ll Be Part of a Purpose-First Organization
As I mentioned, InfoTrust was built as a purpose-first company. In the professional services world, that means that we make conscious, purpose-driven decisions about how we do business to make sure we’re making life easier for our team.
For example, our primary sales focus is on building relationships with organizations with whom we can become long-term partners. Service businesses often face the challenge of a “feast or famine” project cycle, which means getting caught in a stressful, unpredictable, up-and-down cycle of short-term projects. When our salespeople focus on selling long-term engagements, they’re able to improve the experience of everyone else on the team. Delivery teams have steadier work. Our talent acquisition team isn’t in a constant scramble to find the right people. We recognize that our sales team plays a key role in defining the types of projects we’re able to support and how smoothly we function as an organization.
When we’re rightly staffed, we have room for innovation, and when we have room for innovation, then we have happier employees who are able to create more great products. That adds more value for our clients, who will be even happier to buy those new, innovative products.
At InfoTrust, we’re always seeking business opportunities that can help us create this happy cycle. And it all starts with a purpose-driven team who understands what kinds of clients will add long-term value to our organization.
3. Making Work Matter
We want our sales team to be excited about financial incentives and earn huge commissions. I believe that when an organization’s top salespeople make more than the CEO, that’s how it’s supposed to be. InfoTrust had 10x growth in five years with single-digit employee churn, and we’ve been on Inc.’s list of the 5,000 fastest growing companies in the United States for six years running. And, by the way, we’re not a VC-funded company—we did it all without having more than one dedicated sales representative. Just imagine what we’ll look like when we have you on board.
But there’s more to life than just earning commissions. My mentor once told me, “There’s nothing wrong with making money, but there’s everything wrong with not using it for a good cause.” One of my favorite topics is, “How can we make our work matter?” At InfoTrust, we believe in a “Give to Grow” philosophy, which means that the more we give to social causes that we care about, the more we’ll be motivated to grow—and the more we’ll get to give tomorrow.
Brad Prenger, our VP of Partnerships, left Google to join our team. According to Brad, “You’re more than just a number here. My favorite part about InfoTrust is that I can directly feel the impact our sales make within the organization and our community.” Everything that you sell at InfoTrust will translate into a real impact. Every year, InfoTrust donates 5-10 percent of our profitability to the InfoTrust Foundation, which, in turn, gives grants to different organizations. We are constantly exploring how our donations can drive maximum impact and do something that as many Infotrusters as possible really care about.
For example, one of our favorite organizations to support is Operation Underground Railroad. No matter what your political or personal beliefs, this organization unites people under the agreement that the evil of child sex slavery should not exist. Right now, the cost to save a child from this miserable situation is $1,200. (Over the last five years that we’ve supported the organization, that cost has dropped from $10,000.)
Hypothetically, let’s say our profitability is 10 percent, and we donate 10 percent of our profit. How much harder will you be motivated to work when you know that every $1.2M you bring into the organization will produce a $12,000 donation that will save ten children from sex slavery? Or, alternatively, that same amount of money could provide 120,000 meals to Feeding America, another charity we support every year. When you know what your work means, won’t it be that much easier to find the right words for your clients? Won’t you be willing to make a few extra calls?
I’ll be honest with you: Our compensation is awesome. We have incredible benefits as an organization, including a generous parental leave policy and a flexible work schedule. We have unlimited PTO, health, dental, and vision insurance for employees and their dependents, and a 401k with employer match. But one of the best benefits you’ll get from working at InfoTrust is the chance to make an impact and give back to the community in real, meaningful ways.
Come Join Us
InfoTrust is a 100-percent self-funded organization on the path to becoming partially employee-owned within a couple of years. We want to connect with people who are passionate about building lasting, trust-based relationships, who want to learn and stay on top of the latest industry developments, who want their work to support innovation and client satisfaction, and who care about making a difference in the world.
Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a company with extremely competitive compensation that also cares about culture, professional growth, and making an impact, we’re probably a good match for you. Come join us.
