Alumnus, Luna McCann-Matsusaka talks to Esher Sixth Form College about his apprenticeship route into technical sales.

Favourite part about being at Esher College?

I attended Esher College between 2014 – 2016. College was certainly a different experience from Secondary School where the following areas stood out to me in particular. Communicating with teachers by their first name, which sounds strange but was the first real taste of growing up.  A sense of responsibility, especially during free periods where you’d contemplate between grabbing a pizza from the local Dominos or spending time in the library to catching up on coursework.

Pro’s of an Apprenticeship route?

There are countless pro’s of an apprenticeship, here are my top ones:

• Gain real life experience on the job whilst learning your trade, ‘earn & learn’!
• Shadow successful employees who often share valuable insight into career progression, development, and hot tips.
• Receive qualifications and build credibility within your CV through highlighting your experiences.
• Build self confidence.

Why did you choose Technical Sales?

Growing up, I was always competitive due to my passion for sports, especially rugby. There are a lot of similarities between Sports and my role as a Technical Salesperson. You win, you lose, and you constantly strive to be the best that you can be by training (learning and practicing) day in day out.

IT is a growing sector where data is said to become the ‘new oil’. This coupled with Sales, a fast pace, results driven environment was a perfect fit for me due to my competitive nature.

I chose Technical Sales, not only for the personal rewards (both financially and career progression) but due to the excitement of seeing the services I sell in action. I see myself as more of a consultant, the services I sell help solve business challenges, such as freeing up valuable time by streamlining mundane tasks, saving money, and helping businesses become more efficient and competitive in their sector.

History of your career so far?

My career as a Technical Sales Apprentice started back in October 2018, where I joined a leading IT Managed Service provider called Exponential-e along with 10 other hires.

The early stages of my career were focused heavily on training, specifically around my technical knowledge and business etiquette (communicating, presentation etc..).

Once my training had completed, I was on the sales floor next to all the other senior salespeople within the business – this was a scary but exciting time for me! It gave me real exposure to so many talented professionals along with the buzz of work life in the city of London.

The next couple of years were spent developing my skills by working closely with existing customers, communicating with new customers around how I can help them solve their challenges and winning contracts.

There’s something uniquely satisfying about taking your customer through a buying journey, from the initial conversation to pen on paper (contracts signed) and to deployment of the services you sold (e.g a new phone system).

To this day, I continue to develop my skills as a salesperson so I can add more value to my customers and achieve my personal goals.

Business sector tips?

IT is an exciting industry, there are so many career paths and specialities that you can choose from. Cyber Security is becoming a prominent area for many businesses – this is something I am personally very interested in!

Sales is a fast pace environment. You’re juggling multiple projects at once, working with different teams within the business and at the same time doing your best to exceed set targets such as revenue (value of a new contracts signed by a customer), meetings (online or face to face meetings with customers) and pipeline (value of a potential future sale). For this reason, it’s important to structure each day for maximum performance and keeping track of existing projects and deadlines.

"If I was to give one tip, it would be to know your ‘WHY’. WHY do you get up in the morning? WHY do you work so hard? WHY do you strive to be the best that you can be? This is important due to the many obstacles that will come your way during your career. Your ‘WHY’ will keep you going through tough times."

I’d like to share my favourite quote; this was written on my bedroom wall as a teenager.

‘It ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forwards, how much you can take and keep moving forwards. That’s how winning is done!’ – Rocky Balboa

What advice would you give your 17 year old self?

Don’t feel pressured into a path you’re not 100% sure about, it’s ok to be unsure.Use your time to gain new experiences by travelling the world, learn about different cultures, learn how to manage personal finances, cook, and truly take care of yourself. 17 is a confusing age as you are on the border line of becoming a young adult. You’ve got all this pressure from family, teachers and friends who have different ideals of what you’re going to become and what career path you’ll choose.

3 things I’d tell myself at 17 would be

1. Pick up healthy habits including sleeping well, reading books (I enjoy personal development books such as ‘Atomic Habits’), eating healthy and exercising regularly.
2. Don’t be afraid to fail. I regret countless amounts of things that I could’ve done but didn’t as I feared failure and concerned myself over what others would think of me. I’d rather fail and learn than regret later.
3.  Learn about business, the economy and how the world spins. This opened new doors that were never taught to me in school.

I’d like to leave you with a final quote that I wish I knew when I was 17.

‘If someone offers you an amazing opportunity and you are not sure you can do it, say yes then learn how to do it later' - Richard Branson