My journey at Beyond ended today. I am so appreciative of the many wonderful people I worked with and knowledge I gained during my nearly 3 years at the company. It’s funny (in a sad way)… six months ago I was told that if my region’s numbers didn’t hit a certain level, that I would be removed from my role. That was the first time I ever considered the idea that Beyond wouldn’t be the final destination in my career.
My team rallied and we emerged setting two sales records back-to-back. These incredible people did amazing things… Despite that, I was rattled.
I immediately considered what I would do next if I was removed and I settled on the idea of starting my own ISO (payments company). I came up with a name, and even spent a ton of my off-work time building a website – so sure was I that my path had reached its end.
I apologize now to all those incredible sales professionals on my team for not having faith in them. This was a time when every day I felt in jeopardy of being removed from my role.
I needed to provide for my family and couldn’t endure the thought of having a long gap of being the provider I’ve been during the nearly 13 years of my marriage.
Despite all this, I was re-energized by my team, especially my veterans and division leaders, and re-committed to making Beyond the future I envisioned it being. I rolled out trainings to help them – returning the work that they completed to keep me where I felt I belonged. I started researching different lead generation activities and tried leveraging niche marketing strategies via websites I created. I put my name on these to test the strategy thinking that, if successful, what a great opportunity for this company I had invested so much into.
I tested capabilities that no one was actively testing, and tried pouring into those who had demonstrated that they were willing to pour themselves into their job.
In December I was given a new role, one that was loosely defined that I approached as an internal consultant. I worked with several different departments to help streamline internal operations and with the marketing team to revisit how the company’s messaging was received.
I felt like I was making big strides in advancing different programs that would eventually make a giant impact on the sales force of nearly 400 commission-only sales representatives.
Sadly, my lack of faith in my team (encouraging my exploration of what’s next) and my experiments in lead generation (advanced B2B payments and niche vertical payment processing) were taken as me selling for another company or several other companies and misappropriating leads that should have been meant for another.
It’s crazy. As challenges continued and solutions were slow to arrive, I re-sold myself on staying at Beyond on a regular basis. I talked others out of quitting and became a resource for those who were struggling but weren’t comfortable talking to their direct leader. I turned down job offers and ignored the itch to start my own thing – after all I was in this thing and had invested so much time and effort.
I had become an extension of Beyond and Beyond became an extension of me.
I cannot encapsulate my disappointment in no one having a conversation with me or exploring my perspective. I still feel twisted up inside about this journey ending via an email from my HR department this morning and not having a chance to be heard. It baffles me that three years of embodying a brand can be ended without a conversation, but here we are.
So what’s next for me?
I’m going to take some time to spend with my family and explore the options I honestly never thought I would. My whiteboard is, for the first time in 3 years, clear.
If you or your company is in need of a sales professional and sales leader that has extensive experience in SaaS and financial technology products, let’s have a chat.
