2009 was an eventful year in my career: I started working at Meltwater News in Hamburg in April, learned the B2B sales ropes and got that important first deal in. Then I transferred to Berlin where my sales performance took off. This past December, the entire sales office fought to nail down the monthly office quota – to see a group of individuals work so hard together and achieve their goal was a really inspiring and motivating experience.

That’s not to say that it has all been easy. Throughout my time at Meltwater, I have been faced with countless challenges and obstacles – slowly but surely, however, I learned how to handle new kinds of situations and difficult people, and began to develop a broader understanding of business; company structures, internal processes. I’ve also learned important business skills; negotiation techniques, the value of persistence, determination, resilience and the list goes on.

At Meltwater, I’ve had to push myself beyond my limits. Especially challenging for me was learning the business/software lingo in German. Being half English and half German, I thought I had the German language fairly well under wraps, but learning how to sell a very specific software product, which comes hand-in-hand with all kinds of special terminology, would have been challenging enough in English – let alone in German! However, after getting the basics, a large part of this challenge was getting over my own self-criticism and self-consciousness with my German-speaking-ability. Who cares if I say der, die or das? Who’s counting if I choose the wrong word now and then? As long as I can get the main points across, and speak with confidence, nobody really minds.

I’ve truly learned the value of perseverance, good time management and thinking on your feet. Since September, I have been able to bring on several big client contracts. It’s a pretty amazing feeling when you realize you can do it, you have done it, and you can keep on doing it. And the great thing at Meltwater is that everybody shares your enthusiasm and celebrates with you.

Teamwork is different in theory than in practice. In a sales team and in a sales office, there’s nothing better than when everyone works together to bring in the office target. In the last days of December, the Berlin office was buzzing: each person gave their all to get themselves, their team, and the office on quota. Every day leading up to Christmas was another opportunity to hit our goals, and in the last days every hour counts. We reached an all-time high for our office and ended the year with a massive BANG. The hard-work, determination, drive Christmas spirit, and above all teamwork well and truly paid off!

The lessons I’ve learned at Meltwater in 2009 are just the beginning of my Meltwater career. I don’t know what 2010 will bring, but I’m sure there will be new challenges, obstacles and difficulties to overcome, but also new experiences, new roles, and plenty of excitement… Because here at Meltwater, just when you think you’ve learned a lot, think you know how it all works and start to get a bit comfortable, a new challenge presents itself to keep you on your toes.

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Lindsey is a Sales Consultant based in Berlin

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