Two things tend to surprise Carla Shiver’s coworkers when they meet her in person.
First, she’s tall. “After two years of Zoom calls, that’s the first thing people say when we meet in person. I should probably reposition my camera,” Carla laughs.
And, she’s shy — a real curveball given her charismatic personality. Throughout her career, Carla has pushed herself to break out of her shell and engage with others. It’s made her a successful sales chameleon who’s pivoted across various sales functions and roles, with an unwavering commitment to fostering strong relationships.
From closing big deals to lending a hand to her team, Carla has dipped her toes in various facets of sales and found herself in the perfect niche: sales enablement at Veracode. We caught up with Carla to hear more about her journey into sales enablement and the numerous sales roles available to those who don’t want to, well, sell.
From commission checks to sales support
Carla’s career progression has been a series of unintentional yet fortuitous pivots.
“I was 20 when I had my first official sales role in telecommunications. Only, I never thought of it as sales until I started getting big commission checks,” Carla jokes. “In all seriousness, I always just thought about it as listening to people, asking questions, and getting to know them. Turns out that relationship building is the foundation of sales.”
A few years into her career, Carla noticed that her sales team wasn’t reaching their full potential.
“I took a step back to identify the real problem. There wasn’t any training for the managers and sales representatives. Without proper training, how can I expect someone to know what to do? So, I decided to fix it.”
Carla partnered with a colleague to develop sales training content and found herself, again, excelling in a role before discerning its official name. Turns out, she had stepped into sales enablement.
“Pivoting from sales to sales enablement was the next logical and natural step in my career. As a sales manager, I had been enabling my team daily, just on a much smaller scale.”
Driving growth through enablement
While she wasn’t always versed in the various opportunities outside direct sales, Carla wouldn’t want to be anywhere else now.
“Meeting people where they are and having a positive impact on their career and journey is more than I ever could have asked for.”
Day to day, she gets to equip Veracode’s sales team with the resources they need to streamline workflows, forecast, and build relationships. This includes facilitating the company’s in-person onboarding program each quarter and organizing regular virtual sessions to keep teammates up to date. Carla incorporates material on who Veracode’s customers are and what tools and technologies will help team members effectively engage with those customers.
“This makes our sellers more efficient so they can really focus on building customer relationships instead of getting overwhelmed with other tasks,” Carla explains. “As Veracode continues to evolve, so does our enablement. We have a continuous desire to simplify the business, create high-quality content, and promote continuous learning.”
Is sales enablement right for you?
“First, ask yourself…” Carla advises, “How important is it to me to have a positive influence on someone’s career path and journey?”
If you answer “very important,” sales enablement might be right for you.
“You should also ask yourself: Do I want to improve sales performance? Do I like project management? Do I want to streamline processes?” Carla adds. Beyond just sales enablement, you might find your niche in an operations role that includes sales forecasting, performance analysis, territory management, and sales process optimization. If you’re interested in reporting dashboards, project management, or change management, there is a world of opportunities for you in sales that don’t involve selling.
“Sales enablement will open the door for you to be a positive influence, to connect with people, and to increase customer satisfaction and revenue along the way,” Carla says with a smile. “So walk through that door and change the world!”
Ready to kickstart your sales career with Veracode, the company empowering enterprise and public sector development and security teams to create and run secure software? They’re hiring! Explore career opportunities with Veracode here.
