Introducing Zoe Silverman: Sales Operations

Q&A With Zoe Silverman

Where are you from and what have you done before Yesware?

I was born and raised in Northampton, Massachusetts, “where the coffee is strong, and so are the women!” Before coming to Yesware, I was right around the corner at Brightcove, where I did Sales Operations supporting a global Sales organization. Before that, I was a student at the University of Richmond, where I majored in Leadership Studies and Sociology and was involved in a number of campus activities, such as Greek life, a service-oriented scholarship program, and inclusivity initiatives. Go Spiders!

How did you grow into a Sales Operations role?

I actually started out as an Inside Sales Rep. There wasn’t a fully-developed, formal Sales Operations department at the time, and I started to notice that certain things that I needed to do my job were missing. So, I started by raising my hand to help — I worked with my manager on things like evaluating sales trainers, developing a new hire onboarding program, documenting our sales process, and improving team communication. After a while, my manager said to me, “Do you know what you’re doing? You’re doing Sales Ops.” From there, I continued to raise my hand on those projects that needed a little help, and eventually, it became a full-time gig. Sales Ops is perfect for me because I love thinking about organization, communication, process, and culture. The whole goal of Sales Ops is to help your sales team be as effective and efficient as possible, and I think that’s a pretty cool job to have.

Why did you think that Yesware would be a good fit for you?

I totally cheated… I already knew Yesware would be a good fit for me before I got here! As a Yesware customer at my last job, it was easy to fall in love with the company from a product perspective. Since I led our evaluation of the service, and later our adoption of it, I had the pleasure of working with Matthew from early-on. Matthew and I had a similar outlook on sales process and sales culture; and I knew right away that he was someone I wanted to work with more. After crashing the Yesware holiday party, I fell in love with the rest of it: the office, the culture, the people, the vision. I’m only a few days in but I feel right at home already.

What are you most excited to accomplish in your first 100 days at Yesware?

In my first 100 days, I am most excited about finding some smart, talented, passionate salespeople to be a part of the growing Yesware Sales Team. And after that, I’m going to find some more. Let’s do this.