LEAP Spotlight | Aaron Sahin

About Aaron

Prior to starting at LEAP in 2020, Aaron was a soldier in the Australian Army from 2013 to 2018, followed by his role as a law clerk for 2 years before joining LEAP as a HelpDesk Consultant. During his time on HelpDesk, Aaron was approached by the former Professional Services General Manager regarding a sales role - which after conversations with the Sales Operations Manager he decided to pursue.

A Sales Executive position opened up just 5 months after Aaron moved to Sales, which he expressed his interested in to the Sales Director. His initiative and dedication was not only recognised by his direct manager, but also by the CEO and Chairman. After he completed the necessary processes, Aaron was promoted to Sales Executive.

Interview

What was your tertiary study and what year did you finish?

I have 2 completed diplomas, one in Justice Studies and another in Islamic Studies. I am also currently completing LLB (Bachelor of Laws 4 years) at University of New England and I'm in my final year.

What was your occupation before coming to LEAP?

I was a law clerk for 2 years (2018 - 2020) before coming to LEAP. Prior to my legal career, I was a solider in the Australian Army from 2013 - 2018.

What made you apply to LEAP?

I thought it would be an interesting role and a nice change of pace. The ability to gain the knowledge of a legal software system like LEAP in depth would help me career wise for law positions in the future.

What position did you initially apply for and were you successful?

My initial position was for a renewals manager role but this was given to a person internally. The GM of Renewals, Alex Kelly, thought that I would still be a good cultural fit at LEAP and that I should still be considered for a HelpDesk position.

Can you please explain the different positions you had at LEAP and LEAP Development?

HelpDesk - Operations - Feb 2020 to Aug 2020

I was a HelpDesk consultant for around 6 months. In this role, I learnt the very fundamentals of the LEAP product from a technical standpoint and learnt how to help clients deal with these technicalities on a daily basis. My main responsibilities included LiveChat and making outbound telephone calls with clients, reporting on technical cases, raising any QA issues and knowing the processes in salesforce.

Lead Generation - Sales - Aug 2020 to Jan 2021

After working on HelpDesk, I moved into the Lead Generation role in sales for 5 months. In this role I was able to take the knowledge I had learnt in HelpDesk and apply that to calling prospective clients and engaging with them, piquing their interests in LEAP as alternative software and a better choice for their firm - this gave me a great understanding of how we needed to initiate contact with clients and generate sales. My main responsibilities in my role included prospecting for clients on LinkedIn, calling opportunities in salesforce, and gaining an understanding competitor products.

Sales Executive - Sales - Jan 21 to present

Moving from a Lead Generation role to the Sales Executive role was different in many ways. Not only did I need to generate my own leads, but also needed to be able to present and bring in deals from start to finish. This required more interpersonal skills, negotiating and tactical planning whilst maintaining a high level of product knowledge. Having some key roles like Lead Generation and HelpDesk has really given me the understanding to develop these skills. My main responsibilities in my role include demonstrating LEAP to prospective clients, gaining a greater understanding of competitor products, developing interpersonal skills, negotiating and prospecting for new opportunities.

How did you progress into sales?

I didn't demonstrate any interest in sales whilst in my HelpDesk position until Ashleigh Kachel (former Professional Services GM) suggested to me that I would be good for the role and if I wanted to have some sort of career progression, it would not be in HelpDesk. Once she had piqued my interest, I then had some discussions with Elias and this gave me the push to apply as I was in need of more money.

What would you like your next role to be and what responsibilities or tasks would you like to have?

I'd like to see myself move into an executive position, such as Sales Director or another department executive position. If not in AU, then in another country such as US, Canada, UK or possibly NZ as a new challenge. I would not shy away from the idea of doing the same role in a different country either.

How does LEAP encourage career progression?

LEAP encourages everyone to seek the roles they want to pursue. If I hadn't spoken out about my expression of interest in the sales executive position, the role could have potentially gone to an external person or someone else in the team.

Do you have any career milestones or accomplishments?

I closed a 20 user firm from one of our competitors, SILQ, within a week in the last week of last financial year. This process included demoing LEAP to the client and finalising the contract. After 5 months within sales, I reached the 50 user milestone which is the target that is needed in order to be qualified to start selling to larger firms. I also reached final year budget early and over achieved budget for June quarter.

As a sales executive, how would you approach it if someone asked to progress into sales or move from their current role to a higher position?

If someone is genuinely interested in the role and expresses their interests, they will definitely be considered. I think that LEAP really value career progression and want their employees to be open about how they want their career path to be at LEAP.

If you are motivated, passionate and dedicated to growing your career, we'd love to hear from you! Check out our careers page to see all available roles.