Michelle Wilkinson | Senior Director, Marketing
Spinnaker Support is thrilled to welcome Yoav Wilder, Israel Country Manager and Vice President, Sales for EMEA. Mr. Wilder is an accomplished business leader who brings nearly twenty years of experience to the position.
In his time working in the software and IT industry, Wilder has worked for corporations large and small as both a client and a vendor. He has always stood out as a driven leader with an independent spirit and unfailing commitment.
We sat down with him to discuss his transition to Spinnaker Support and philosophy regarding client generation, interaction, and third-party support.
You’ve demonstrated success in a variety of fields and from both a vendor and support angle. What’s your secret?
I’m a people kind of guy. I don’t mind working over the phone, but I find that I’m more inclined to a face-to-face interaction. I think that, unlike the classic salesperson who only cares about getting the deal done, I tend to take care of the customer through the entire lifecycle, even after the sale. It’s not like, “Okay, sold. I’m moving on, let the techies do what they do.”
I really do care that this relationship will last and the customer will be satisfied in the long term. I really take it personally if things go wrong. I believe that’s one of the keys to my success, but it’s also something I share with Spinnaker Support.
They appreciate the relationship with their clients. Spinnaker Support wants their clients to know that they are sitting in front of someone that cares and looks at their business like it is their own. They’re like me: people-oriented.
Why do you think clients are so satisfied with Spinnaker Support?
It’s like Nigel [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Pullan, Vice President – EMEA & Asia Pacific] says, “Spinnaker Support is a support company, not a software company.” A company like Oracle provides support because they want you to buy from them later on again and again. But still, it’s only part of what they do. They sell software, and they provide support because they have to.
At Spinnaker Support, though, support is our business. When a customer calls us, they know that they’re going to get state of the art third-party support, because that’s our focus. Spinnaker Support can give our clients peace of mind; we can offer a comprehensive approach to their entire environment, and at a much lower cost. Our team is also staffed with experts who have two decades working with the giants like SAP and Oracle. Companies who stick with the ‘big guys’ call and get someone who’s only got a few years of experience and wind up being transferred from one supporter to another. While with Spinnaker Support clients issues are resolved by someone who they know by name, and is familiar with their site and specific environment demands and software customizations
What attracted you to a career in third-party software support?
Like many things in life, not everything is pre-planned. As the old saying goes – “We make plans, and then, God laughs”. Where a lot of Israelis come with a technical background, either from school or the army service, I got into it very much by mistake. After my army service, I spent some time traveling and exploring the world. I can say those two years were the best “University” I ever had, and I got to learn a lot about life. Then I went home to study business And right after that, I had the chance to start working for a local IT firm that wanted to expand its business into the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
Then, I got a proposal from Oracle, and I had the chance to be in charge of the entire public sector for Oracle Israel, all the government entities and the municipal authorities, Healthcare, and other public sector units. At Oracle, I had the chance to understand both what is it to work locally with customers and globally with supervisors and employers.
Several years later (and after a 5 years as Sales Executive for CA Corp. in Israel), I found that I had a wide web of connections and relations with a lot of decision makers throughout every Israeli industry. In 2008, I tried to do things on my own. Leveraging the connections I had with “C level” executives in the industry, I started to give business development and consultant services to a variety of firms, local as well as international operations, that wished to get into the Israeli market. This time gave me a complete picture of what the software industry can offer an enterprise.
In the last few years I was back employed by a large IT integrator (Ness Technologies Ltd.) where I had the chance to manage a large business unit of IT professionals and to learn a lot about the skill set required to supervise a P&L center. Before joining Spinnaker Support, I had the chance to experience Global Business Development for a Start Up company (we have plenty of those in Israel, and many are also very successful worldwide) – which develops software for ‘Enterprise Gamification’.
How will that expertise transfer to your time at Spinnaker Support?
I’m hoping to take that experience and use it to expand our business in the territories assigned to me, and improve the customer-rep relationship.
Let’s say you’re trying to save money, reduce attrition, and engage employees so they’re much more aligned with the business that they’re in. The goal is to make their work environment a bit more fun and engaging. If you take game elements, for example, and tie them to the performance indicators your team is being measured for. It can be how many calls they performed in an hour or how efficient they were. The goal is to get them to solve the customer’s problems instead of saying, “Wait, let me put you onto my supervisor or the next level of support.”
Of course, that’s just an example, but it works with the team because it plays on our competitive nature. We all want to succeed. We all want feedback. We all want to be recognized. We all want to know that what we’re doing, we’re doing well. And that feedback translates to an improved customer experience.
I’ve found that same ethos at Spinnaker Support. Compared to the traditional industry practices I’ve seen working in other places, Spinnaker Support is a third-party support solution that is in the right time and in the right place, with the right attitude.
What do you mean when you say, ‘the right time and right place’?
From where I’m standing right now, if I had to compare the experience as I see it … when you’re coming from the vendor side of things (if you’re SAP or Oracle) then you’re huge. And you pick up the phone and you offer them Oracle, a trusted name. There are some alternatives, sure, but, Oracle is Oracle.
I think if you look at the third-party support arena nowadays, there are only a couple of real players in that industry and one of them is Spinnaker Support. So, again, I feel we’re in a position where it’s not that we’re competing with tons of solutions, we’re among a few that can provide these unique service in a very professional way.
Besides that, I think that what we’re bringing to the table is not only the reduction in price, but also a specifically tailored solution for every customer. Other vendors are coming out with generic solutions to change dynamic environments and letting their customers go and investigate their needs on their own.
And you think Spinnaker Support offers a better solution?
A firm like Spinnaker Support can treat its customers more in a concierge kind of approach. I’ve experienced how it is to be a customer, when you need support to be available, when downtime means money, when you want to be treated with respect. As a client, I want you to be there for me and to know that I can rely on you and to know that you’re behind me 100 percent. I need to know that I can call any time, even in the middle of the night, and get to a specific person who knows my name.
Working with a firm like Spinnaker Support, you have one point of contact, someone that you know will take care of you and will do whatever it takes to bring you from A to Z in the shortest time and with the best satisfaction possible.
I’ve only been with the company for a short time, but last week in Israel, I went to meet one of the executives from a company that’s one of Spinnaker Support’s local customers. I was so proud and happy to hear a customer that was so satisfied and so full of flattery to its supplier. It felt really good.
A Bigger Map, the Same Quality
In his role as VP of Sales, Wilder is hoping to expand Spinnaker Support’s reach and break into new industries and territories, while maintaining a commitment to increased customer satisfaction. After all, it’s Wilder’s devotion to the people he serves and works with that have helped propel him to the heights of the sales world.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]