Dealpath is full of smart, energetic, and enthusiastic professionals who are passionate about solving real business challenges. Conor Dragomanovich, a Commercial Account Executive here, has lived up to those aspirations and then some. He recently sat down for a brief interview to talk about his experience at Dealpath and the secrets to getting the most out of this fast-growing company.
Can you give describe your current roles and responsibilities?
Conor:
I’m a Commercial Account Executive at Dealpath and I’m in charge of identifying and researching companies that we believe can get a tremendous amount of value from using Dealpath.
A lot of time goes toward understanding the challenges a prospective customer might be experiencing. I’ll learn about their team, what their day-to-day looks like, try to understand their goals and objectives, all in order to identify pain points and work together to see how Dealpath can help. Ultimately, I’ll work with potential customers on everything from evaluating our platform, to demonstrating our product, through to selection and then ongoing account management.
How long have you been working here now?
Conor:
I joined early January so coming up on eight months now.
Eight months in, how have you grown professionally?
Conor:
Professionally, there’s been a great deal of growth for me. It’s born out of having an increased understanding of what some of these very sophisticated professionals require when they are making decisions about what technology they’re going to use. It’s a serious decision for them to find a solution that’s going to help them manage an important part of their business — evaluating, executing, transacting, and closing on real estate assets.
You have to have a deep understanding of what goes into a commercial real estate deal and what it looks like to acquire, develop, and finance these properties.
On top of that, as Dealpath is also experiencing significant growth itself, and as the company continues to evolve, improve, and grow, you have no choice but to match it.
What’s a specific hard skill you’ve developed in these past eight months?
Conor:
One of the big things is learning to manage the customer’s needs with our solution. Our customers have a complicated process for managing deals, and as our product has grown in scope, the process to evaluate Dealpath can become complicated as well.
Thinking about our clients, some small deal teams might only have five or six users — while others might have 50 or more — but they each have a unique way that they evaluate and purchase solutions. You need to be cognizant of that as you help them explore technology that solves for their distinct challenges.
Managing the evaluation process becomes increasingly important as you understand who’s going to be involved in the selection of technology and who’s going to be ultimately making the decision. You have to be able to bring in all of these people and involve them at different phases of the deal.
What’s been your biggest challenge in this role
Conor:
Most salespeople I know are confident enough to demo a product once they’ve had enough opportunity to learn that product. I think the challenge here, and something that I’ve definitely improved at and gained more confidence with, is the ability speak the language of our customers, who are sophisticated folks and commercial real estate experts.
What advice would you give to a new salesperson at Dealpath?
Conor:
Get excited and have an open mind. There are a lot of opportunities and experience here that I didn’t have when I was at a larger company.
It goes without saying that you also need to be hungry. This is a company that rewards motivated, excited, and willing professionals so if you’re hungry to tackle any opportunity that comes your way, you’re going to find that they reveal themselves in increasing abundance.
What have you found most valuable in learning from your co-workers and colleagues at Dealpath?
Conor:
One thing that I really appreciate about Dealpath is its diversity, both in terms of personality and background. More than anything, I’ve learned that everyone has something to contribute, and that’s especially true at Dealpath because each one of these folks is extremely talented, has a very impressive background, and they’ve all been brought here for a reason.
On top of that, they’re willing to expand beyond their area of expertise to help solve a collective problem, and so I’ve learned to be more outspoken. By being vocal, you realize that there are a lot of willing and eager participants to contribute and help solve what you’re working on, but none of that happens without willingness or an openness in reaching out to colleagues and co-workers, who time and again I find are more than happy to help you with whatever you might need.
What kinds of activities does Dealpath do outside of work?
Conor:
Last week we all took advantage of wing night at a little bar and restaurant and had a really great time challenging each other to eat death wings, which I’ll never do again, but I was glad that I tried it!
We’ve gone to baseball games and happy hours, and we also hang out in more intimate settings, with just a few people going to get coffee or a drink or to Dolores Park. When you just need to get some fresh air and reset, we have a lot of different functions, and they can take place all over the city.
