Started from the bottom now I’m here

This month marks my 1-year anniversary at 4C and my first year as an employee. WOW, has it really been a year already? Time flew by! And what a year it has been.

In just one year 4C encouraged me to grow and become the Salesforce consultant and person I am today. I am beyond grateful to have found a company that does not only stress the importance of growing in my job, but also on a personal level. I gained experience during Salesforce projects and I have had the privilege of following many trainings and workshops during the past year.

Laying a foundation of Salesforce expertise

The very first training I received was, of course, a Salesforce training. I started at 4C with barely any knowledge of the Salesforce functionalities (shhhh, don’t tell ‘em!). 4C gave me a kick start with a 2-day Salesforce Administrator training. Believe me, 2 days is a short time to receive that much information. Do you have any idea how many things you can achieve thanks to the Salesforce CRM platform? It’s endless! After the training, 4C gave us some time to go through the study material again before actually doing the exam. And guess what, I PASSED THE EXAM! With my first Salesforce Certificate in the pocket, I had the necessary theoretical background to start my first projects.

My development journey

I soon realised that I would need more than only Salesforce knowledge to be a successful consultant. Every client and colleague is different, and I quickly understood that this also requires a different approach and communication. Luckily, 4C realised this way before I did and had already scheduled the Insights Discovery training. This training taught me on which level people differ and how I can effectively communicate and interact with each of them. It speaks for itself that such training does not only help me in work interactions but has a great impact on my personal life as well.

As a Salesforce Consultant, you are expected to interact with customers during loads of workshops, trainings, handovers, etc. And even though I believe I was not a bad presenter before the Presentation Skills training, it provided me with so many tips and tricks that improved my presentations enormously. Trust me, it was a very confronting session, where we were asked to film ourselves while sharing an anecdote. I admit I was slightly terrified but looking back at that video afterwards was incredibly educational about how I come across. I now feel much more confident giving all sorts of presentations. It really taught me to give meaningful presentations which leave an impact. Do you think this is also greatly appreciated by our clients? You bet!

At 4C, we aim to provide our customers with the best service possible. As a Junior Consultant, the Customer Companies training series, provided by our Global CEO Johan Van Genechten, was a great help to me in better understanding our customers. During these sessions I got a better understanding of the needs and wants of our customers, what questions I need to ask them, and how to gain a better insight of their clients. In addition, it stresses the importance of how new technologies and innovations impact the business of our customers and how I can proactively support them in dealing with such changes.

As mentioned earlier, 4C wants me to grow in my job but also personally. Their Growth Program has the perfect balance between these 2 growth paths. It taught me to be confident, to set goals, to accept fear, to push myself, to ask questions, to give and receive feedback, to communicate effectively and, most importantly, how not to get frustrated in Belgian traffic.

Taking up new challenges

Almost a year has passed, and it is time for another challenge: a new certificate! I was able to follow a Service Cloud Training given by 2 amazingly experienced colleagues. And it is thanks to their guidance (and also a little bit my own effort and determination) that I was able to pass the exam and received my Salesforce Service Cloud Certificate. YAY!

To anyone starting a (new) career or wanting to make a step forward, make sure that you continuously push yourself to grow even if this means that you need to step out of your comfort zone. And for those still looking for a company that will allow you to do all of this, take a look here: http://jobs.weare4c.com/