Inside aioneers: Meet Sales Expert, Marie Wendel

Sales expert and adventure sport lover, Marie, is bringing her skills to the supply chain world. Just this month she started at aioneers; a new path for her, and an exciting addition for us. Today, we hear from Marie herself about her career arc, her tips for a journey into sales, and what she’ll be doing at aioneers.‍

Hello, I’m Marie. In my free time, I enjoy outdoor sports, especially climbing, skiing, and biking. I also like to travel and learn about new cultures – passions that feed my curiosity. And at work, I am very happy to now call myself an aioneer! I’ve joined as senior consultant for sales and business development, although I wasn’t always pursuing a career in sales. In fact, I expanded into sales only in the last few years.

Choosing for a career in sales

The COVID-19 crisis turned what was initially a critical event into a clear decision-making tool for me. My second-to-last position was at Red Bull, where I was responsible for marketing and event planning. I was asked to take care of some customer accounts, seeing as events were not allowed during the pandemic. I rose to the challenge and found I could do that job quite well. After that I decided that I wanted to continue this new journey in sales, and my next step was then to be able to combine sales with my passion for futuristic technologies and digital transformation.

That’s one of the reasons that aioneers was then such a great opportunity. Getting to know the products and solutions was really inspiring in this respect. So was meeting my mentor, Adrian, and getting to know the Sales team as well as others, like the Sustainability team. I found aioneers especially attractive because of this focus on sustainability, which is a very important topic for me.

My first weeks at aioneers

Obviously, the work that aioneers does is a big part of why I joined. But it’s also a great environment generally – one where you feel able to both perform well and grow. I’m grateful for this opportunity.

It's not only an exciting time for me, but also for aioneers. aioneers is very consulting-intensive right now, and part of my job is to help scale the SaaS solution from the sales side. I'll be working to bring more focus to the customers. This includes me finding out where customers' challenges are and how the aioneers platform can be used in those cases, and then showing companies how to solve the most important issues in their supply chains. Our goal as an entire sales team is to bring in new companies and turn them into long-term, satisfied customers.

The key to a great career in sales

I’ve found that the most important skill a salesperson can have (or develop!) is this:

Listen carefully. It’s easier said than done. The more you listen, the more you learn about a customer’s wants and needs. And the more you listen, the more you are listened to – we are always a mirror of the person we are talking to.

Thanks to Marie for a great look into her journey so far. If you like the sound of working with her and the rest of our team, check out our careers page.