Account Manager Rahand Omar started at Retriever in the Finnsish Customer Relations team. The product knowledge and customer interface experience he gained in his previous role opened up the opportunity for Rahand, who was looking for new challenges, to make a natural transition to Retriever's sales team.
What is your job at Retriever? What is a typical day like for you?
I am responsible for my own client portfolio and new client acquisition. At Retriever, every Account Manager does the same job, so everyone is responsible for the whole sales and client process. A typical day involves a lot of meetings. I meet a lot of new and existing clients to identify media monitoring and analysis needs, and to think about new solutions and development opportunities. Alongside the meetings, I spend a lot of time using Retriever services. I routinely use media monitoring tools to keep up to date with the situation in different companies and industries. Although sales is ultimately an individual job, we in the sales team spend a lot of time sharing information and helping each other.
How and when did you end up working for Retriever?
I started at Retriever in December 2019, the same year I did an internship to get more familiar with the media monitoring tools. After the internship ended, I noticed Retriever posted a job ad for a Customer Relations Coordinator role, which ended up being the start of my Retriever career. From this role I was then promoted to the Customer Manager role. However, in the spring of 2022, I made a lateral move and moved from our Customer Relations team to our Sales team. Having done the same job for a couple of years, I wanted more challenges, as well as to learn more. Moving into sales forced me to step outside my comfort zone, which in hindsight was a very smart decision for myself.Although I had no previous work experience in sales, I was confident that my past years at Retriever gave me plenty of opportunities to succeed.
What is the best thing about your job?
First of all, I would like to highlight my supervisor, my team, and my other colleagues. Moving into a new role is always a challenge, but with good leadership and teamwork, everything feels much easier. I am surrounded by colleagues more experienced than myself and they each have their own strengths. "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"; I've taken inspiration from each of my team members and used those lessons while developing my own skills as a sales person. We also have a really good culture at Retriever, which is by no means a given. Another aspect of being a customer that I find very appealing is the opportunity for continuous learning.I meet and talk to new people every week who are professionals in their own work and industry. By listening to them and learning about their industry, I learn something new all the time.
What is the most challenging part of your job?
What makes this job really interesting is also what makes this job really challenging. Even though I'm a salesperson, I never feel like I'm pushing products, but instead offering customer-centric solutions. In order to provide customer-centric solutions, I have to step into the shoes of the customer and understand their business and their playing field. The world is by no means static, but constantly evolving. Customers need to react to change, which means that we need to stay on the same wavelength.
Tell us about a recent success in your work?
In addition to personal successes, I have had the opportunity to make a difference internally at Retriever. Whether it's in product development, helping colleagues, or promoting Retriever's culture, I feel that I am listened to and my input is valued.
What is the importance of measuring communication and media monitoring?
The importance of measuring communication and media monitoring has increased enormously, especially during the financial crisis. Given the unpredictable world situation, getting relevant information regardless of the job was really essential. Many of our clients utilised our services throughout their entire organisation. Whether it was a CEO, a specialist or a salesperson, the added value of customised media monitoring or analysis based on their own work definitely added value.
The role of social media in the media landscape is becoming increasingly important. Its development, and the need for it, will only increase in the future. Given the unpredictable world situation, it is also desirable that media monitoring is used to monitor the media debate in society as a whole.
How do you spend your free time?
Sport has always been a big part of my identity. I'm passionate about basketball, football and soccer. I play very high quality basketball with my friends in the men's 3-division, as well as dedicating every Sunday night to watching NFL games.
