Meet the Team
Big Four Audit Experience Leads to Sales Excellence at FloQast
Whether it’s selling cars or software as a service, there are plenty of misconceptions about the art of sales. At the end of the day, you can look at sales in two ways: One, you’re convincing someone to spend money on something. Two, you’re convincing someone of the value a product holds.
Accounting and sales are about as different as two professions get. Can there be overlap? Sure. Is there? Not often. So when former auditors and accountants are presented with the opportunity to make the jump to sales, you better believe there’s a serious sense of justifiable reticence in the air.
For FloQast Account Executive Andrea “Andy” Stefan, CPA, this was very much the case. With a year-plus audit experience under her belt and a CPA in tow, Andy wanted a change of scenery but didn’t want to leave her experience as an auditor by the side of the road. After a brief flirtation with working in recruiting for the Big Four, an opportunity to join FloQast as a business development representative came up. Ultimately, it was her experience in audit and her CPA that set her up for success as a sales professional at FloQast.
“…the idea of doing cold calls or email blasts seemed a little daunting,” she recalled thinking before ultimately joining the company. “You go into it expecting a lot of angry responses, but this is business-to-business sales, and I think having my CPA and audit background establishes my credibility right off the bat. I think it’s a breath of fresh air to be able to introduce clients to FloQast, and really use my background and take a consultative approach to help people find something that fits their needs.”
“I think having my CPA and audit background establishes my credibility right off the bat.”
Andy Stefan, CPA, Account Executive at FloQast
Rising quickly from BDR to Senior BDR, and now to Account Executive, it’s clear that sales suits her. But as empowering as the sales success she’s experienced has been, Andy admitted that the culture within the sales team — which includes quite a few former auditors and accountants — makes the wins all the better.
“It’s like being in an audit room, but with 40 of your close friends,” Andy said. “So, there’s just a lot of comradery, the respect is mutual, and we know that we’re all working toward one common goal together.”
“It’s like being in an audit room, but with 40 of your close friends.”
Andy Stefan, CPA, Account Executive at FloQast
With two-plus years of software sales under her belt, Andy looks back at her decision to leave audit for FloQast as a professional and personal milestone.
“I’m so genuinely happy that I made the move,” she said. “I always tell prospective customers that ‘I used to make your lives a little bit more difficult when I was in audit, but now that I’m introducing you to a product like FloQast, I get to make your lives a lot easier.’”
