Employee Spotlight: From Mentor to Leader, Lizzy Miggins

Seeking Work Life Balance

Given my birthday is in the Summer (July 11th to be exact), I have often found myself reflecting on what I want my life to look like in 5, 10, 50 years from my current birthday. It is similar to a New Year’s resolution, but more long term.  In July of 2020, while in the midst of a pandemic, I realized that professionally, I wanted the opportunity to grow into a leadership role, personally, I planned to adopt a dog. Since my employer at the time was insistent that all employees would be returning to the office full time, traveling for work two or three times a month, and was not providing flexible paths to management, I knew it was time to look elsewhere.

Career Opportunities

I distinctly remember opening the LinkedIn message from one of the recruiters at Sensor Tower, and I immediately realized there was an opportunity here to achieve both my personal and professional goals. Beyond the opportunity for growth, the role would allow me to take full responsibility of my book of business, a dream for a type A person like me. Previously, I had seen sales teams where 10+ people were on a single account, and not all individuals gave the same 110% that I would always give. Once I started speaking with Anthony, our VP of Sales, Financial Institutions, about the specifics of the role, I recognized that not only would I be on the best path for my career journey, but my immediate day to day would massively improve.

The New Journey Begins

When I started with Sensor Tower, I discovered that there was this great mix of inbound and outbound work. In my previous role I wasn’t directly generating revenue but here, I hit the ground running. I increased ARR across my accounts (averaging over 120% Net Retention) and retained and maintained our core business. I leaned on my existing business development skills (from selling Sunglasses at the mall in my town) and leveraged mentorship from my manager. Within a year, I grew into a Sensor Strategic Consultant role and in Q4 of 2021, I had 13 renewals and 10 upsells!  My hard work over 18 months had paid off. The greatest part was feeling so recognized by Sensor Tower, in both commission and career progression.

Building my Skill Set

While I had never had formal sales training, I was born into sales. My parents were in real estate and there’s no 9am to 5pm in real estate. You’re on all the time. Growing up in that environment gave me a sense of the language of sales. I realized though — I could use this knowledge to help other sales professionals with their career growth. I began mentoring new individuals on my team on best practices, finding upsells and renewals, and supporting our clients. I continued leveraging my manager’s coaching and began reaching out other Sensor Tower Sales Leaders, to understand how they run their teams and what skills I was missing. Sensor Tower gave me the opportunity to learn from a highly supportive group of professionals who are subject matter experts in their fields.   

The Transition from Mentor to Leader 

While 80% of my role had been focused on all client facing work, I used my bonus 20% to make the move to manager. I’ve transitioned from mentoring colleagues and peers to becoming their Team Director. I’ve even hired two new members to join my team in July, a true full circle moment from where I was two years ago. I’m not only responsible for my book of business, but also the oversight of the finance vertical’s retention and growth targets. I’m looking forward to learning the best ways to support my team in their career growth now. I’m also very lucky to work with a team who feels they can communicate with me openly and honestly about what’s working, what’s not and what I (as their leader) can do better. 

What Skills Do I Look For?

While I definitely cannot teach someone the in-depth ins and outs of the financial industry, I am always more than happy to mentor those who have a passion for their career. When I look to hire, the only requirement is that you have some foundational knowledge of the financial industry.  Otherwise, I’m open to hearing all stories about taking ownership, forging new paths, trying new things. The sales side is much easier for me to teach because there are processes that you can lean on to improve. However, if you don’t have the drive to do so, I can’t force you to learn it.

A Bright Future

I have felt so fulfilled in the two years I’ve been at Sensor Tower!  I’ve leveled up my career, adopted an amazing dog (Stevie) who joins me in our WeWork office space 2 days a week, and increased my overall work life balance. Beyond my sales and leadership progressions, I’ve learned about Product Management, Data Science, and Marketing, because Sensor Tower puts Sales right in the middle of the conversation. There’s always something new around the corner and that’s really exciting! I have the best seat in the house because I get to see it all!