#Databoss of Red Flag Alert: Andrew Mason

What is your role at Red Flag Alert?

I manage the SDR team.

My role consists of holding team meetings in the morning. We get everyone together, and make sure everybody knows where they're up to target-wise, go through their daily goals and then kick the day off.

As part of my role, I coach the team, give training, and offer feedback so they can manage progression. Even in this role, I’m still on the phone still doing the Sales part of the SDR role, alongside my additional responsibilities.

The main aim is to get the team to target, and make sure that everyone is happy at Red Flag Alert!

How would you describe yourself in three words?

• Hardworking

• Ambitious

• Understanding

When did you first become interested in sales?

I went to university and studied business, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do after graduating. I knew a few individuals who had gone into sales and liked it, they’d had success. So, I thought I’d be a decent fit for that, and it went from there.

My focus was always tech sales because I knew a couple of people who were in SaaS (software as a service) sales. I found it interesting, and I still do – I’ve been in tech sales ever since.

I kind of fell into it a little bit, like a lot of salespeople do, but I love it.

How long have you like been at Red Flag Alert?

I’ve been at Red Flag Alert for just over three years now.

When I joined as an SDR, it was a very different company, a lot smaller. There was just myself, and one other salesperson with no real Marketing team at all to support us. I joined during the Covid-19 pandemic, right around the first lockdown, so it was quite weird and not your typical experience… However, it’s been a great journey from then to now. The company has changed so much, it’s so different, it’s almost hard to believe.

What do you enjoy most about working here?

The best thing about working at Red Flag Alert is that the product is fantastic, which helps as a salesperson! And my colleagues are great people.

When I say ‘great people’, I don't just mean people who are good at the job. I mean that they make it a genuinely  nice place to work. We have a lot of talented people here as well.

I think the fact that it's a growing business, with a lot of ambition, also makes it exciting. You can talk to people across all different levels of seniority, across all different departments – that makes it unique in a lot of aspects. 

Is there something you've worked on that you're especially proud of?

I think what I'm most proud of is coaching people and helping my team hit their goals and achievements.

Working with people, training them, seeing that improvement, and helping them to hit the target, is really rewarding.

How do you stay current with industry trends and developments?

Having your finger on the pulse, listening to potential customers, being active on LinkedIn and reading the latest articles are important.

Aside from that going to industry events is a great way to stay up to date.

How do you approach problem-solving and overcoming challenges in your role?

Taking advice from people who've experienced similar things before is vital.

Leaning on people with more experience than you and trying to take a bit of a human approach. Try to put yourself in other people's positions and think about how they might feel, even if you don't necessarily agree.

It's not just about being nice to people, and obviously there are some situations where you have to avoid being a pushover. But trying to understand who people are, I think that’s something crucial in life, especially from a work perspective.

How does your role contribute to the success of Red Flag Alert?

We’re the first part of the process. The first part of any new business tends to come from a conversation they’ve had with an SDR. You need to make sure that the process is right and working at a high level, because if it isn't, you're going to struggle and potentially fail.

What advice would you give someone who's interested in pursuing a career in sales?

No two days are going to be the same.

One thing I always tell people is that: Sales can be a hard job, particularly working in New Business. If you have a bad day or even a bad week, don't let it get you down. You can have a bad couple of days, but you never really have a bad third day; that's kind of what I try to think.

You’ve got to be resilient and not be too critical of yourself. The sun comes out again, and most of the time, it's not that deep.

Who’s your role model?

My dad's probably my biggest role model in my life.

He's always been a good, honest, hard-working person. He's had some success, so I think in terms of a role model, I couldn't have a better one than the one that’s right in front of me.

From a work side of things, Natalie Kennedy who is our the Director of Sales Ops has been such a positive influence on me, so she would be my role model from an Red Flag Alert perspective.

What do you see as the future of your industry?

The reason I wanted to get into tech and software in the first place was because it's always growing.

I think you're always going to have the old Sales strategies like cold calling and emails, but I do think the social selling aspect of Sales is going to get bigger, and there will be more machine learning and AI in the actual technology side of things; I think everything will diversify that way.

From a Sales perspective, I don't see a great deal changing. From a technology perspective, it's hard to see exactly where it's going to go, but there will be a definite AI and Machine Learning focus, integration cloud, and all those sorts of things are going to become more prevalent. It’s an incredibly competitive industry and everyone wants to innovate and be the first to achieve certain things.

What drives you to succeed?

My main drive is that I want my family to be proud of me.

I want to be successful, and not have any sort of regrets like ‘I wish I've done that workwise’ or ‘I should have worked harder.’ That’s a big driver for me, so I can think I've done my all.

What are your career ambitions?

I've been at Red Flag Alert for three years now, so I want to stay here and experience the rest of our growth journey.

I'd like to expand my team, and then potentially go up the ladder within Sales, whatever that looks like.

I think it'd be fantastic to be a Director one day, but in the short term, just growing the team and getting bigger and better deals.

What do you enjoy doing when you're not working?

I am a music fan, so I enjoy going to gigs particularly in and around Manchester. I also enjoy going to the cricket and I am a big football fan, as cliché as that sounds. I love trying new food spots and experimenting with things around that.

I am also trying to try and see as many European cities as a I can at the moment.