Tucker’s story

I made a big jump and joined Forrester in 2020 right after lockdown. It was definitely a nerve-wracking decision, making a switch remotely during a time of such great uncertainty, but it’s the best decision I’ve made and my proudest achievement so far. Even though I was going into a brand new set of clients within a completely different industry during a pandemic, I was still able to hit my quota for the first two years in a row. Being able to find success almost immediately was a huge accomplishment for me. It really allowed me to take a deep breath and know that I belonged here, and I also realized that this business was sustainable even through economic turmoil. My Forrester experience has been fantastic, and even in this hybrid environment I still very much feel that sense of community.

I’m on the Premier User West team and primarily service companies that are within health tech. As an Account Manager, I identify opportunities within my account base. I work to renew the current businesses as well as try to find net new business within those accounts. My job is really to go in, listen, keep a pulse on what’s going on within those accounts and then take those situations to the wider Forrester ecosystem.

Nobody likes to be sold to, right? So I hear people out, try to understand what’s keeping them up at night. What’s on their plate right now that they’re struggling with, and how can Forrester help.

That’s really how I go about my day-to-day business. It’s being consultative in my role. It’s not selling to people. It’s not pushing Forrester services on them when they don’t need it. It’s understanding them, building the human-to-human relationship, and then presenting Forrester as a solution to the problem that they have.

What I’ve learned very quickly here is that if you want to be successful at Forrester, you need to be able to take advantage of the ecosystem at large. We have a lot smart people, from our research analysts to our solutions partners. My job is to be a very good listener with my clients, understand their problems, and then bring our analysts into the room to help solve them.

At Forrester, one of our selling points to our clients is being bold at work, and we practice what we preach. We’re telling our clients to be bold, so we’re empowered to be bold too. From day one, I’ve been given the autonomy to make my own decisions. I have people that I can bounce ideas off, but I’m very much like the CEO of my own territory. It’s your job to go out and make these decisions. Do what you think is best for your clients, and you have the full support of the Forrester team.

I’m supported inside and outside of work. Whether there’s something happening in our personal lives or current events around us, Forrester is not shy in addressing that. They understand that when a tragedy happens, people might be upset, they may not have their head fully in the game, and they’ll offer support.

Every single quarter I meet with my manager where we take a holistic look at my progress; what I want to do in the next two to five years, and they’ll help and build out development plans.

I’m still relatively new within my sales career, but I do have goals of getting into leadership at some point. At Forrester, you’re never trapped within your current role; they’ll focus on what you want and encourage you to plan, help you move up the ladder and accomplish your ambition. Forrester really has an acute focus on making sure their employees feel heard and that they are happy.

When you work in Sales things are always up and down. There will be times where it feels like you can do no wrong, where deals are coming in from all directions, and you’re at this high. But there will also be times when it’s a lot harder to get business, budgets dry up, and you’re behind on your number. It’s about remaining consistent, staying level-headed and never losing your curiosity to push forward. Because it’s all a learning curve and you’ll always be supported.