Every month, QuotaPath collects nominations from our customers to name a Quokka of the Month. We’re thrilled to announce our QuokkaPath August winner below.
Nominated for excelling as a mentor and his incredible dad jokes, Gerard Ayala has been named our August Quokka of the Month!
This Senior Account Executive for Victorious SEO has more than 10 years of sales experience, including 3 with Victorious. Since joining the SEO marketing agency, Gerard earned Victorious Club twice, a company recognition for sales reps that finish in the top 3 in the percentage of annual sales to quota. He has also become an instrumental member of their mentorship program.
Below, we caught up with Gerard to learn more about our QuokkaPath August winner!
What has helped you succeed in sales?
In addition to the stellar training I’ve received over the past few years, Victorious’s team-first culture has created a camaraderie amongst our reps that is unlike anything I’ve experienced in other sales roles.
We are all willing to help each other at any moment, and we often step in to help close deals for reps who are out sick, on PTO, or otherwise unavailable.
I would say the one area where I feel that I have a unique advantage is my previous non-sales work experience in hospitality management. This experience gave me the ability to easily build rapport with prospects and practice active listening, which has helped me truly understand a client’s challenges and goals.
How do you serve as a mentor to other sales reps on your team?
At Victorious, departments actively practice distributed training, meaning that individual contributors in the sales department assist with training new hires. This allows for deeper collaboration between team members and provides us the opportunity to share best practices across the team. Armed with unique perspectives from across the team, we’re able to mentor new folks and share success stories in ways that are not possible in traditional mentoring approaches.
What advice would you tell your younger self on the first day of your first sales job?
If I could start my sales career over again, I would invest more time in learning from proven sales leaders earlier on. I spent a few years mostly winging it, relying on sub-par training and rapport-building skills. I ended up making a lot of friends but not a lot of money. Those 3-4 years could have been much more lucrative if I had approached sales a little differently.
Lastly, describe what it’s like to work on the Victorious team. What keeps you there?
Our growing company’s ability to cultivate and maintain a thoughtful (and intentional) team-first, family-friendly culture is a highlight of my current role. We also execute well on new ideas and act on constructive employee feedback. This is truly a phenomenal organization!
Learn more about Victorious SEO and get a free SEO consultation.
About QuokkaPath
Like a gaggle of smiling quokkas, we’re happiest when our customers excel!
That’s why every month, our customers nominate someone from their team who has gone above and beyond in the workplace. From there, a QuotaPath Quokka Committee selects a winner.
Congrats again, Gerard, and thank you for sharing your story!
