Mailjet Monday: Lina Hussain

What do you do for Mailjet?

As a part of the sales team, I'm in charge of finding leads and developing business in new countries as well as working with key accounts in France. Most recently, our business has really taken off in Spain — I'm looking forward to working more extensively with that market in the coming months.

What an average day look like for you?

There really is no typical day! Sometimes I'm in back-to-back meetings, giving presentations, other days I'm at my desk hunting for leads.

I'm also a part of EBG, Electronic Business Group, a digital media group which regularly holds networking events and conferences, so I'm often attending those as well.

How did you start working in sales?

Well, my path into sales was a bit of a whirlwind. It all started with an internship position in events. My time with the team was coming to an end and conveniently enough a neighboring company in the same building was looking for an Account Manager. The skill sets from my event management position easily translated to managing accounts; both were people facing and required a high-level of multitasking. I had also gotten to know both the brand and the team pretty well, developing both a passion and respect for the work they did. The transition made sense. From there, I eventually grew into a sales position and the rest is history.

What is the greatest challenge and reward of being in sales?

The clock is probably our biggest opponent in sales! Identifying the right lead takes a lot of time and once I get to that stage, I set up a first meeting where I identify their needs and how they can use Mailjet to take their email to the next level.

But on the flip side, I'm able to speak about a product that I really believe in and share this passion with potential and existing clients. I love being able to constantly meet new people.

What do you do during your time off?

Let see, do I ever have time off? [Laughs] When I do have some down time, I love to travel and experience new cultures. The benefit of being in sales is that I'm constantly flying around Europe and making friends along the way. When it comes time to vacation, I take out some time to reconnect with these folks.

Your favorite Mailjet moment so far?

When I first joined the team we were still working out of the old Mailjet HQ, a few blocks from where we are located today. The building was still undergoing construction at that time, including my office! Shortly after I started, furniture was brought in from Ikea and we held a building competition; the team that managed to put the most furniture together would go home with a bottle of champagne. I don't remember who won, but we had a great time. Fast forward less than a year now and we're in a bigger, fully furnished office with beanbag chairs and sofas. There are many more Mailjet moments to come as we continue to grow internationally.

[ Posted Mon, 09 Jun 2014 17:01:12 ]