Jr. Sales Operations Analyst: Revel Employee Spotlight

Get to know some of the best and brightest at Revel Systems® in our recurring “People POS” question-and-answer series. Our previous spotlight featured Andy Friedt, a Sr. Financial Planning & Analysis Analyst, who approaches financial challenges from the perspective of the people who will be impacted by them. 

In this blog post, Revel’s Sr. Marketing Communications Manager Sydney Kida talks with Revel Jr. Sales Operations Analyst Devon Banks in a Q&A session. The go-to resource for Revel’s sales team when questions arise throughout the many stages in the sales cycle, Devon spends much of his work week answering questions and creatively problem solving.  

Read on for a deeper dive into the world of sales operations at Revel and the talented teammates who help ready pending deals for closing signatures and implementation. 

Meet Jr. Sales Operations Analyst Devon Banks 

Question: 

How long have you been with Revel and how would you describe your role here?

Answer:

I've been with Revel for just a little over two years. And my role is very much like a Swiss Army Knife—that’s how I would describe myself. I do a lot of troubleshooting with Revel’s tech stack, updates to Pulse (Revel’s intranet), and really just supporting the sales team to make sure that they're able to do everything they need to within the sales process.

Question:

If you had to describe a typical day at Revel for you, what would that look like?

Answer:

As far as a typical day goes, for most of them, my daily recurring tasks are troubleshooting, answering questions about sales quotes, or going in and helping fix a quote, or opportunity. I get lots of emails, lots of Slack messages, and I've even got a couple people who call me that have my number like, “hey, please help me?”

Question:

How do you work together with your team? How would you characterize the nature of how you work with others here at Revel?

Answer: 

It’s great—I love it. Our team is very collaborative, and we work together quite a bit, especially me and my immediate boss, Kristin. All day, we're pretty much collaborating on things, trying to get stuff done, no matter what the project is. We know both of us are just a call away, which I love; the small team environment that we have here.

The whole marketing team, depending on the problem I’m trying to solve, is very accessible. I work closely with others to get aligned on sales communications, our marketing operations team when I encounter any type of data issue or lead issue, or our business development representatives about incoming leads, or helping folks with something in Salesforce. And it's really great, because everybody answers right away all the time. I love it.

Question:

Which of your most recent projects do you feel will have the most significant impact for Revel?

Answer:

Oh, absolutely. I'm working with our corporate systems team on multi-location quoting, and this has been a huge project. It's been in the works for a while now and it’s finally being pushed out. Being a part of the testing and making sure the sales reps understand the new process of how we do things has been very interesting. I can't wait for the whole project to be released.

Question:

What most excites you about working at Revel?

Answer:

I genuinely just love working here. So every day, no matter what it is, I'm always happy to log in. My role is one where I get to help people every day, and I love helping people. That's something I've been doing for a while in a few different roles. They have always been involved, at least somewhat, with helping people. I love getting to say, like, “Alright, who do I get to help today?” So there's never been a time where I don’t look forward to logging in for the day. 

Question: 

What personal and/or team attributes do you feel have helped sustain your success here at Revel?

Answer: 

My problem-solving skills have contributed to my success here for sure. Culture here is very open. If there's an issue that comes up, it doesn't matter who comes up with a solution as long as the issue is resolved. So I've been able to help a lot of different teams, and even my team, with certain issues just from the problem-solving skills I've developed over the years, which I think is probably one of my greatest attributes. 

How Military Service Led to Sales Operations at Revel 

Question:

I want to dig into your background a little bit more. You have military service that encompasses several roles and spans several years, with positions including US Army armorer, squad leader, combat engineer, and more. First, thank you for your service. Second, I’m curious, what inspired you to serve?

Answer:

What inspired me to serve—it goes back to me helping people. I've always felt like I had a greater purpose. And coming out of high school, which I joined immediately out of high school, I thought, “what can I do to feel like I'm making an impact?” And I felt like the military was the greatest route for me to immediately make an impact on my life and other people's lives.

Question: 

How did you transition to Revel following your military service?

Answer: 

How I came to Revel is pretty interesting. Revel actually took part in a program which took transitioning service members and put them into software sales jobs. So that's actually how I got to Revel. While I was transitioning, I did an internship with a program called Service 2 Software. Revel was partnering with Services 2 Software at the time, and you know, I still went through the interview process and everything. But if it wasn't for their partnership, I wouldn't have this smooth transition.

As I was getting out, the Army tells you about all these different programs that they have. And it's kind of like getting out of high school, you had to figure out what you want to do with your life again. And I had a couple friends that were in software sales, and I was like, you know, let me try this. I had a business degree already. So I was like, alright, let's try this. And it worked out great for me. 

Question:

In terms of the skills or lessons that you gleaned during your time in the service, what do you think resonated with you the most? What stayed with you?

Answer: 

Back to my problem-solving skills, they were developed in the military. And just over the years, I've been able to use them in different situations. And that's what I think remains my greatest attribute along with my ability to work with different teams and to work in small teams, which is what we do here at Revel.

Question: 

For other military service members transitioning into civilian careers, do you have advice you can share based on your own experience?

Answer: 

Yeah, absolutely, I talk to a lot of transitioning soldiers to help with their adjustment from military to civilian life because I was able to transition so smoothly. For me, my biggest advice would be to stay open minded. Be willing to listen and take advice from everyone, good or bad. Just take it in, and you can sort out whether you want to use it or not. But just be willing to take in different perspectives and different advice.

Life Outside of the Office

Question: 

When you're not at work, what are some of the things that you do for fun?

Answer: 

So along with hanging out with my kids, I'm a big fisherman. In my head, I'm a professional, but not actually. So most of my free time I'm on the lake fishing. I like to just hang out, even if I don't catch anything. I'm just out there, enjoying the peace and quiet and listening to nature.

Question:

You mentioned your kids, so I’ve got to ask—you’ve got four children, right?

Answer:

That’s correct.

Question: 

I’d say four kids qualifies you as an expert of sorts. How has fatherhood impacted you? What would you say you’ve gleaned from that very significant life experience?

Answer: 

It's been fun, it's been a, it's still an interesting journey. It's different stuff every day that I learn as far as being a father, but it's very rewarding. I have all girls. So my house is very loud. And it's also very fun. Lots of love. But, you know, I think before I was a father, there were a lot of holes in my life that needed to be filled. Once I started having kids, it really put a lot of stuff into perspective for me, which kind of changed the way I thought about life in general. So it's great. I wish everyone got to experience this. 

Question: 

Do any of your girls show interest in military service or anything technical?

Answer:

Not yet, it's all just Barbie right now. They do like to remind me that I used to be a soldier. Like, “hey, you used to do that.” And I say, “yeah, that was a couple of knee replacements ago.” 

Whether you are a parent, a military veteran, a fresh graduate, or elsewhere in your career, if you or someone you know would make a great addition to Revel’s team, check out the open roles on our careers page to see if we have a position that fits your skills and interests! We are constantly looking for more great additions to our team.