Hi, this is Matt Finney and I’m the Director of Sales. I’ve been at iXsystems for almost 8 years and I’ve seen a lot of cool technology in that time. I came here with a basic understanding of computers. I knew what RAM was. I knew what a processor was. I quickly found out servers and storage servers were a completely different ballgame.
I had to learn all aspects of the business and it became one my greatest strengths. It’s something I stress to my sales team: knowledge makes them valuable. The ones who can do many things and understand the “why” are the most valuable because they can make us more efficient. The best feedback comes internally, from within the team because they know what they need.
Lately I’ve been spending a lot of my time interviewing job candidates. The team’s grown but we’re very selective about who we hire. It’s helped foster more teamwork and collaboration. During interviews, I like to ask candidates to tell me about the best sale they’ve ever made. This question lets me find out why they consider the sale to be an accomplishment. Most people answer with the largest sale they’ve ever made. The truth is I’m not looking for a dollar number, although many candidates equate their biggest sale as their best sale. What I’m looking for is integrity and what motivates an individual.
In 2007, the company was growing but didn’t have a lot of money. I had just interviewed with the two founders of iXsystems. As I was leaving, I saw co-founder Matt Olander and the head of marketing debating how to attach a magnet with the company logo to the side of our delivery van. All I could think was, “Oh holy hell, what have I gotten myself into?” The van we had was the ugliest van I had ever seen. The idea of branding iXsystems with a magnet on a beat up and dented van was telling.
Fast forward a few years—we had grown significantly and had just moved to a new building with a huge iXsystems sign out front and obtained a new company van. One day, we received an inquiry from a client. They said they were looking at one of our partners’ websites and recognized our logo from our building.
They asked whether we had customer references.
“Yes, we do!” I said.
Then they asked if they could tour the facility.
“Sure!” I followed with. I consider that my best sale. They ended up becoming a very good client and we never would have gotten the sale without all the different parts coming together: the new building, the new van, the experience I received so I could interact with customers on that level, a list of customers we could point to as references, everything. That experience meant a lot to me. It was something that I could directly point to, where everyone’s contributions over the past few years opened doors for us that would not have opened before.
Our team has responded positively to the growth. We share information and we’ve recently restructured to become more efficient. It’s produced a cohesive unit that works together. Everyone’s really excited for the future.
Matt Finney
iXsystems Sales Director
