One of the many things I love about working at Ivanti is the way, as an employee, you are enabled to work hard, get recognised, and work your way up the career ladder. I have benefited from this myself but, more importantly, I see it going on around me all the time.

One of my favourite examples of this is Ben Geleit. Ben joined the company five years ago working in my team as an Sales Development Rep (SDR). Ben has an amazing work ethic, is very talented, and soon started to work his way up the career ladder to the role he is in today.

Q: Could you please tell us a bit about yourself and what you do at Ivanti?

BG: I am currently an Enterprise Territory Manager and have been with the company for just over five years.

My day-to-day role entails a mixture of looking after our valued existing customers and engaging with new business prospects to see if the Ivanti solution portfolio can resolve challenges their organisations are facing. I have the privilege of being able to work in the office, in the field, or from home whenever necessary. My role is very flexible.

I get to work with every department in Ivanti, from professional services, support, finance, legal, product, marketing and more. So the knowledge I learn from people working in these roles has given me a deep understanding on how an organisation of this size operates.

Other involvements within my role include recommendations to our product managers from feedback I hear in the field. This is a rewarding side of the role as recommendations I make on behalf of customers often get put into our products. I also work closely with marketing to drive campaigns to attract new business and I assist with training new members of the team to get up to speed quickly.

Q: If you had to describe Ivanti in three words, what would they be?

BG: Supportive, Rewarding, Family

Q: How has Ivanti helped you grow professionally?

BG: Upon joining Ivanti five years ago, I came in as an SDR (Sales Development Rep), fresh out of an 18-month stint as a new-business hunter role at another company after graduating from University. At the time, I sat under marketing, however, the marketing and sales leadership teams combined, assisted me in growing the necessary skills to hunt for new business and succeed in doing so. After 18 months of success in the role, I was promoted to an Inside Sales Representative which was an official move to the sales department – a desire I had discussed during the interview process when considering Ivanti.

Within Inside Sales, I learnt to manage existing customers and was closely mentored by the sales leadership team, again, to manage accounts and navigate potential up-sell and cross-sell opportunities effectively. After another 18 months in this role, I was lucky enough to be progressed again into a Corporate Territory Manager role.

Corporate Territory Management was another step-up and again I was mentored closely by my Sales Director and others. I was put through a valuable training course and picked up further skills necessary to not only manage and navigate existing accounts, but to engage effectively with new business prospects also, taking the cycle from the very beginning, to the end and beyond into a fully managed account.

After another 18 months, I was promoted in January to Enterprise Territory Manager. Although similar to a Corporate role, the organisation sizes I am able to engage with are now much larger and the nuances of the engagement from prospect to prospect and customer to customer is varied. I have been continually and am today, supported, mentored and encourage to further succeed.

In short, Ivanti has helped me greatly with progression - I am often used as an example of what to expect when joining Ivanti and the progress that is possible when succeeding in your role.  

Q: Where do you see yourself in three to five years?

BG: If I haven’t yet earnt enough to retire, I’d love to still be at Ivanti. I appreciate I’ve still got a hell of a lot to learn and I don’t see a better place to get the guidance and mentorship needed to continue to grow and become a professional in my role. I’d love to win the Global Sales Rep of the year award at our Sales Kick Off in Salt Lake City within the next 5 years – ambitious yes, but it’s actively encouraged here at Ivanti.  

Q: What advice would you give to someone looking to start a career as an Enterprise Territory Manager?

BG: Don’t be daunted by it, believe in yourself and no one will question what you believe you can achieve. The ride will come with extreme highs and dreaded lows that knock you back, but if you keep on ‘chipping away at that block’, with the right guidance and hard work, you’ll get there and it really is a very rewarding place to be.

Q: Any final thoughts?

BG: If you’re considering Ivanti, it really is a family culture. If you’re successful in getting a role, you’ll be given the time and guidance to succeed in that given role. The management team are supportive, motivational and knowledgeable. This goes for any role at Ivanti, not just sales.