Sales and Marketing Director Nas Abrahams says he will put the emphasis on customers as he seeks to build sales growth and retention in his new role.
With more than 25 years’ experience in technology sector sales management, he brings a track record of hitting targets and staff development to Smart CT. Among his priorities is to build strong relationships with the company’s clients to better understand their needs and challenges.
“Growth and retention is a challenge for everyone in the sector,” he said. “We’ll be looking to sharpen our conversions by focusing on our lifecycle services that help customers keep their hardware functional for longer, which makes them more cost effective.”
“What will be a huge help is that Smart CT has steadily grown its digital capabilities and successfully matured its server, storage and workplace technologies. This has reinforced our company’s stellar reputation for reliability and customer service and our continued excellent customer satisfaction scores are evidence of that.”
Since his first sales management role in 1998 Nas has always plied his trade in the technology sector. “I enjoy the fact that you’re learning something new every few months, so you’re not sitting on your laurels,” he says. “You’re learning how it impacts business, how business needs to change. It is obviously highly competitive but there are so many areas to it and it impacts on all our lives in so many ways.”
Nas, who is married with two sons and lives in Solihull, says he was attracted to Smart CT because of its reputation for excellent service and by the energy he found within the management team. “When you first begin talking to a company you get a hunch in terms of whether you can work with them, what they’re trying to do, what they’re trying to achieve and where are they in their journey,” he says. “With Andy the CEO and Richard the chairman that lined up really nicely.
“These are services I’ve sold before. We are supporting critical infrastructure for our customers and if the infrastructure’s not in play, it can become very costly very quickly.”
His leadership style has been honed through managing a range of different sized teams, spread over vastly different locations with varying goals, for companies such as BT, Claranet, SCC and ISG in telecoms, channel services, cloud services and cyber-security.
“For me, it’s understanding people, understanding the skills gaps you’ve got, being open in communication and very transparent with people, including customers. If you’re clear in your communication and your objectives and you’re giving regular feedback in terms of performance, that’s where good leadership comes from.”
Nas, who at weekends can still be found defying his ageing knees and back to play football and cricket, says he is relishing the chance to continue driving Smart CT’s growth. “I know the investors through a previous role and, as I’ve said, I’m excited about working with the management team,” he says. “It’s a good business and I can’t wait to get started.”
