Jessica! How was EBACE this year?
Very good! It’s always wonderful to go to the show and meet all the clients and feel the buzz of the industry. In general, it felt like the exhibition was a lot smaller this year, but the traffic in our booth was very high, especially during the first two days and the Champagne Mingle. It’s very nice with the set-up of our new booth because people can actually come and have their meetings there and hang out, so it’s kind of a “marketplace” as well.
We had a lot of good discussions and collected a lot of feedback from clients. It’s a good opportunity for us to show the new features that we have released, such as Takeoff Ready. And we’re working on floating fleets and a new pricing model, so we were collecting feedback on that as well.
What was foremost on people’s minds at the convention?
People are always interested in where the industry in general is headed, and where we are heading too – our upcoming releases. This year we have been really focusing on improving the system so that our operators can provide accurate data within the system. Our goal is to have a click-to-book platform. To be able to reach that goal we need to have accurate data, so that’s what our focus has been on recently.
What is the best part about getting to talk to customers at events like EBACE? What kinds of opportunities arise?
It’s always nice to be able to meet someone face-to-face instead of just emailing and speaking to someone on the phone. We get good honest feedback, which we appreciate. Also they can let us know if they have an issue. Sometimes we’re able to solve those issues there and then, sometimes we have to get back to them. Typically it’s a very open and honest dialogue and many times we can actually fix the issues they have. This is a good opportunity for them to be open and let us know what is going on.
How did your own NODE talk on the big stage go?
It went really well! The topic I discussed was “The two most important things for getting the requests you actually want”. I actually spoke a lot about price accuracy and all of the settings that the sellers can adjust in the system in order to have accurate data.
So you have been at Avinode for three years now. First as a Product Specialist, and now as a Sales Manager. What would you say attracts you most to sales?
It’s the challenge of finding new clients and getting more content into the system. It’s obviously the drive of selling, that’s the best part, but it’s also to follow the entire process: to find someone new, to get them set up in the system and have the communication back and forth during training and making sure they’re doing well. And then to hear that they’re actually getting business and are happy with the service they get. So it’s the entire journey.
Lastly, gotta ask, what was all this about tattoos at EBACE?
We had some temporary tattoos, in celebration of our release of Takeoff Ready. So we had a little tattoo corner, that was funny. After some drinks at the Champagne Mingle people were really into the tattoos! There were some Takeoff Ready tattoos on necks and arms and stomachs. We all had a good laugh!