Inside Temenos – A Series of Inspiring Career Journeys, Nate Long
“Overall, the Sales Academy was an unbelievable experience for me. I was able to greatly expand my knowledge of the banking industry and Temenos. And I got to meet some truly amazing people who I will surely stay connected with as I progress my career.”
My Sales Academy experience was a bit different than most of the other members of the program. A lot of them were new hires, who were joining Temenos knowing they would be sent to Luxembourg for 3-6 months for training before they really got into the work. I had been with Temenos for over a year at the start of the program. A lot of them had degrees or employment history in banking or finance. I did not. A lot of them were working their second, third, even fourth jobs of their professional careers. I was working my first. I think the best thing about the program is that none of this mattered. I was willing to put the work in because I knew Temenos is a growing company, and one of the leaders in the banking software industry. I never felt like I was at a disadvantage because of my background. I never felt like I was looked down upon because of my background or lack of experience. Both the current Temenos employees and Sales Academy members saw me for who I was and not just what they read on paper about me.
I started at Temenos in July of 2018 as a Marketing Intern, and eventually moved to a full-time Marketing role in May of 2019 when I graduated college. Between these two roles, I was very involved with a lot of the sales and marketing functions, but most of my work was logistics and organizational tasks so my product knowledge was not very deep. The Sales Academy gave me the chance to really understand the products and what makes Temenos so successful as a banking software vendor.
The Academy also gave me the industry knowledge that I need to succeed, considering I didn’t have the financial background like many others did. In our 6 weeks in the Luxembourg House of Training, we got crash courses in many different sectors of banking. A lot of these topics were very complex and all new information for me, but with extra studying and diligence I was able to make sense of most of it. It was also interesting because it was all based on banking standards in Luxembourg and the European Union. Coming from North America, it was hard to see value in this at first. But I soon realized that despite banks functioning much differently in the different regions, I could use my European banking knowledge to compare and understand North American banking standards.
The product and soft skills training in the Temenos office is where I really started to make sense of everything and expand my knowledge. Temenos employees from all around the world came in to present the knowledge that they gained from years and years of experience in the industry. Even the COO, Jean-Michel Hilsenkopf, spent some time with us to answer a lot of our questions. We got to work with some truly amazing people in this portion of the program. Some of it was more technical, like actually working in the Model Bank environment originating accounts and transfers, seeing our payments platform at a very technical level, and other similar presentations. Other lectures were more based on selling philosophy and how we can become effective sellers, no matter how the products and the industry develops.
Overall, the Sales Academy was an unbelievable experience for me. Despite my background, I was still able to keep up and never felt like I was lower than any other members. I was able to greatly expand my knowledge of the banking industry and Temenos. And I got to meet some truly amazing people who I will surely stay connected with as I progress my career.
If you want to embark on the 2020 Sales Academy journey, apply for one of the positions HERE.