Employee Spotlight: Richard, Sales Account Executive
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Sebastian: 0:26
Welcome back to the Direct Farm Podcast everybody. My name is Sebastian. I am on the marketing team, and today we have a guest from the sales team. We have Richard here. Could you kind of introduce yourself, Richard to, for everybody on the podcast listening?
Richard: 0:39
Yeah, absolutely. So as Sebastian said, my name is Richard. I've been with Barn2Door since October, so really only a handful of months. It's my first sales job, but having a blast.
Sebastian: 0:50
Yeah. Well, what drew you here to Barn2Door? What made you apply?
Richard: 0:53
Great question. Actually one of my friends was working for Barn2Door and before I was even interested in applying before I wasn't even looking for another job all they could do is rant and rave about Barn2Door. But it wasn't so much about kind of what they did, but it was why they did it. And so about six months before I applied, I got several ear fulls from this incredible startup in Seattle. Doing this great mission of empowering farmers, getting kind of local food into the hands of customers who are looking for it in a super easy way and really turning the whole food system upside down. And that planted some seeds in my mind. I didn't even realize it. And so six months later, you know, I started looking for a job and my wife was friends with this person, at Barn2Door, and she encouraged that I apply and believe it or not now I work for her. That was my manager.
Sebastian: 1:40
Nice! This is your first sales position. So how was it like coming in here with no prior sales experience and then, you know, doing what you're doing now.
Richard: 1:48
It happened fast. I was a little intimidated at first. It was outside of my wheelhouse was outside of my experience. I know I liked talking to people. But I was really interested in having a position where I had an impact and I was part of a team. And so that's what really was the tipping factor for my decision. I figured I can learn anything, I mean that's the beauty of being a human being, right. And so I stuck my neck out there and I'm still learning a ton every single day. But being able to grow at the, especially at the pace that Barn2Door growing having the support of the team members and even my compatriots here and peers at Barn2Door have been, instrumental in what I do now. And so I'm extremely grateful that they got me up to speed quickly, but I couldn't ask for a better team, honestly.
Sebastian: 2:33
Awesome to hear. So then I guess what would, how would you kind of describe what your day-to-day responsibilities are you know, since, you got into the groove now, I guess, do you have any favorite parts of your job or any difficult parts?
Richard: 2:44
Yeah, well, of course, you know, it's not all, you know, a rose walk in the park or anything like that, but I'll start with my favorite part. So my favorite part, hands down is having meetings with, with the farmers, getting them on the video calls, learning a little bit more about not only their operation, but it's a little sneak peek in who they are, where they want to go there, their dreams, their priorities for their farm and their business and, if there's an opportunity for us to help them achieve those goals. It's just awesome. It's been so much fun to be able to help empower them and you can see their lives change over the course of, even months of being with Barn2door and so having those meetings is bar none my favorite. The most challenging aspect, for me anyway, some people I'm sure don't struggle with it at all. It's just making those dials. Calling farmers out of the blue. I mean, they're people, they're hard workers. I'm sure most of us can relate, you know, getting a call from a number we don't know is always a little odd. But, you know, thankfully we're working with farmers and hands down, they're some of the nicest folks around, they're passionate about what they do. And so even the calls, well, the most uncomfortable for me anyway, they're not bad uncomfortable.
Sebastian: 3:49
Right. What are the main differences you think that. Working at Barn2Door is like versus any other place you've worked at before?
Richard: 3:57
Yeah. Immediately is this, it's the culture. And it's the pace at which we move. So, you know, before I was working at Barn2Door immediately before, anyway, I was working at a huge fortune 500 company here in Washington state. And because it was so large and kind of bloated, if you will, it moved very, very slowly. And we quite literally felt like cogs in this huge machine. And so, right away, the climate in Barn2Door is very fast paced. And it's exciting. You feel like you have a role and an impact. You know, you're working on small teams, you're working to all achieve the same goal. There's a high degree of communication and every role is really significant and that's very different than what I felt in my previous job. Now in terms of culture, you know, my previous job being that larger company, of course They had a much more kind of outdated cultural experience. It was very much suits and, you know, thankfully no ties, but it was very old school feeling and being a part of this fun startup, everyone's passionate about what they're doing. And so being around a bunch of people that are ignited with their passions, their excitement. Even the management here, the board meetings we have, every Thursday are so much fun. And the first one I went to, I, my jaw dropped because it was so much different than the staff meetings I was used to going to.
Sebastian: 5:16
Wow. I think when you're doing moving so fast and you definitely have to kind of maintain that culture because you're exposed to so many changes while you're growing and Barn2Door's done, really a good job at you know, maintaining that culture and it really sticks with everybody here. You know, for any potential candidates out there that are interested or looking to apply at Barn2Door you know, maybe a future team member of yours, what would you have to say to them?
Richard: 5:41
Oh man. I can only really speak on the sales side of things, of course. And so to any potential future teammates, if you're passionate about helping people. And, you know, you want to make a change. Not only in the teams are working with, but eventually the world. Like I have no doubt that our reach and the mission will take us there. Come on board. Like Barn2Door is, blowing up and we're helping so many people along the way. And it's such a wild ride to be a part of. But it's been a blast and I it's such a privilege to be able to work here. And I mean, if there's any bit of interest of having an impact on the world, around you barn, the is going to be a great place to do that.
Sebastian: 6:18
And I do have just the last question here. Can you share a memorable experience helping a farm sell online or, you know, being successful with a farmer recently?
Richard: 6:28
I'll withhold any specific foreign name and farm names, but so at the state that I work in it's been a lot of fun building those relationships and then especially, you know, having that initial conversation with farms and, kind of hearing it click, like, wait there's options out there, right? Like what else can we do? We need to grow our farm. Like we're in need of help for service, but we're not sure what our options are. And so having that first contact with them having that first discussion kind of watching their eyes light up on those meetings, like holy smokes, like this can all do all of these things. Like the Barn2Door platform can help us and they'll be with us every step of the way. You know, and then of course, while how much does it cost? Right. You know, of course we're not the most expensive and we're also not the cheapest. When they saw how much they we're going to save by going with Barn2Door rather than certain web developers and other major programs out there, they just, they just lost it. They were so excited. And then, you know, once they got signed up, it was fun, kind of following them through the process. And then of course there's always communication between the teams. And so I was notified when their, website went live. Very exciting for them. And then later when their first orders started coming in and, and to be able to see their success and. You know, even hear other farmers in Missouri who know this farm. Talk about, oh, well, they're using you guys. They're seeing the success. They now have all these programs. It's that to me makes it a lot more real because all these other farmers are seeing the success themselves on a more operational side rather than the business side. And so, I'm excited to continue to watch them grow, continue to watch them you know, build their business and serve the people in their communities.
Sebastian: 8:06
Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Richard, for sharing and coming on to the podcast today.
Richard: 8:11
Happy to do it.