Name: Kathryn Blom
Designation: Sales Director
Company: Cloud On Demand
What do you do every day? A little bit of everything; mainly sales-orientated things like presentations, customer visits, training, internal staff meetings and admin – whatever it takes to increase our revenue.
How did you get into the tech space? By complete and utter accident. A friend was looking for an internal sales assistant and thought I’d be a good fit. He took a chance as I’d just gotten out of school and had absolutely zero experience in anything, let alone IT. I got into it pretty quickly and the rest, I could say, is history.
What was the best advice anyone ever gave you? That no matter what mistakes you make, it will be okay as long as you always act in the best interests of the company. I’ve lived by that rule and it’s something I tell my staff all the time. Go out, spread your wings and make it happen. We all make mistakes; it’s the intention behind them that makes the difference.
What advice would you given someone wanting to get into the tech sector? Run! Only kidding. Be prepared to devote a good portion of your life to it. It’s consuming at times, but the rewards are awesome. Also IT people are generally highly-motivated and dedicated. We work hard, but also know how to play hard too. Be prepared to get wrapped up in a whirlwind!
What motivates you to get out of bed everyday? My absolutely awesome job and the great people I work with. I also enjoy meeting new people and luckily for me that’s what sales is all about!
Who do you want to be when you grow up? Huh? Who said anything about growing up? I am perfectly happy right where I am right now.
Find me on:
LinkedIn: Kathryn Blom
Twitter: @kathondemand
Blog: http://www.cloudondemand.co.za/blog/author/kathryn-blom/
About The Author: Samantha
Samantha Perry is the owner and founder of SJ Perry PR, a small, independent agency that specialises in providing public relations and media relations services to small to medium-sized businesses. She recently served as the JHB Agency Lead for Irvine Partners, an integrated public relations and marketing agency. She has over 20 years' of experience writing for a range of media - print and online - mainly in the ICT sector including Computing SA (editor), ComputerWeek, and Brainstorm magazine (editor). In her capacity as a PR professional and consultant, she has and does work with a variety of companies including Google (South Africa & Nigeria), Salesforce, CLEVVA, Euphoria Telecom, Paymenow and Tiger Content (UK). She also has a Masters degree in ICT Policy & Regulation. She served on the IAB SA Marketing Council as the PR rep, has worked as an independent telecoms researcher for some of the analyst houses in that field and was regularly called upon to comment on telecoms issues in the press. Nowadays she can be found commenting on women in tech issues in the press and speaking at conferences on the subject and the issues women in the sector face.
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