Employee Spotlight: Tim Straughn, Senior Sales Engineer
This month’s Employee Spotlight is on Tim Straughn, Senior Sales Engineer at YOTTAA. Tim loves helping prospects understand how the YOTTAA platform can help their eCommerce site performance, and ultimately help them grow their business. Read on to learn more!
What is your role at YOTTAA?
Technically, I’m a senior sales engineer, although sometimes we are referred to as solution engineers (SEs). I partner with the sales team to help on the technical side, mainly running product trials during the sales cycle.
How do you help eCommerce brands?
SEs help brands understand the YOTTAA platform from a technology standpoint. And mainly, I concentrate on how we can help them improve their site performance. I help the sales team get a prospect ready to run a trial and then I walk them through the trial period. I meet with prospects several times to help them to understand the value YOTTAA brings in terms of optimizing site performance, which hopefully leads to partnership.
What is your favorite part about working with YOTTAA prospects?
What we do is pretty tangible; our trials show in a short amount of time what YOTTAA brings to the table. It’s exciting when prospects see that we are providing a significant bump by decreasing page load times and bettering site performance. There aren’t many products out there that can show almost immediate results and what prospects will be getting if they onboard that product, but YOTTAA can. That ROI is huge for anyone who’s shopping for eCommerce technology. It is not only fulfilling, but also fun to see that come to fruition. I love seeing the excitement in people when they see all the ways we can help them!
What did you do before YOTTAA that has helped you most in your current role?
I have been in tech for a handful of years now. Before YOTTAA I was in a similar space and role called solution consulting and I think it helped set me up for success here. I assisted the sales team and brought prospects to the point where they’d want to run a proof of concept. It was very similar in the process of helping prospects understand exactly what the technology would do for them.
How is your work at YOTTAA different from your previous jobs?
At YOTTAA, it’s awesome that we can make a serious impact in a short period of time and that the prospect can see it for themselves. It’s so tangible and qualifiable because it’s right there in the data for prospects to see. Coming from my previous experiences to this one, the YOTTAA product speaks volumes; it is a great product, and that is what I really enjoy so far. I work with a great team, but across the board, it’s been awesome working with everyone here. It’s easy to work at a company where the product works!
What do you like most about your job at YOTTAA?
Like I said before, I love being able to visually and tangibly show value in a short period of time. There are not a lot of products that can do that. It feels good to know that I can confidently go into a trial checkpoint to show a prospect the improvement that we estimated for them. It’s pretty amazing from a technology standpoint and I think it really sets YOTTAA apart from the competition.
What brief advice do you have for others wanting to enter this profession?
First, you need an interest in technology and an understanding of how websites work; second, you need to be willing to learn new things. This role is part sales and part customer success in a way, which I really like because I get to do a little bit of both.
Having experience at other companies, what about YOTTAA makes it a great place to work?
It is a lot different from my previous experiences, simply because of COVID. It’s been different onboarding and getting to know people because everything is on Zoom or Teams, so it’s hard to compare. I have been here for 4 months, and it’s been fun. Everyone’s been super welcoming and supportive. My team is always there to help me work through things I haven’t come to understand yet. It’s challenging sometimes because we are not face to face. But I think people have adapted really well, especially here at YOTTAA. Everyone is open to jumping on a quick phone call or screen share. I think the overall environment and camaraderie here at YOTTAA is outstanding. I got up and running quickly and I have been able to work on many opportunities and help close deals in a short period of time. So, we are doing something right.
What do you do when you’re not at the office?
I have been married for four years, and I have two kids, a two-year-old and a ten-month-old. My wife and I are family focused and we have a ton of fun with the kids. Generally, we like to get outside as much as possible, and we do a lot of hiking. We live in New Hampshire; it’s beautiful and we have access to lots of mountains, trails and beaches. When I am not with my family, I like to go mountain biking and play ice hockey.
Interested in working for YOTTAA? Check out our Careers page to see all open positions!