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About Grant's Experience!
Hey everyone,
Grant here, Senior Account Manager at Pearl Lemon Group
As of the time of writing (22 June 2023) I have just completed my first month here with the company. I’m not sure where to begin as one month feels like one year given the amount of growth and knowledge that I have been exposed to. Prior to joining Pearl Lemon , my previous role served as a Senior Account Manager for a small boutique digital marketing agency which specialized in SEO and paid media and PPC.
Where it all began…
After working at a previous digital marketing agency for two years I felt my role was becoming stagnant and needed more of a challenge in my career which forced me to put my CV and feelers out to find a position and company which would enable me the opportunity to further progress my career and skills. I then came across the Senior Account Manager position at Pearl Lemon and applied for the position which involved a lengthy and challenging interview process where I had to fill in a set of questions, introduce myself through a loom video and then I was given a set of tasks to do regarding the role which involved demonstrating my knowledge on certain SEO tools.
After conducting a lot of research on the group and Deepak, I got to learn alot about him , his life goals and ambition for Entrepreneurship, from his past business ventures of setting up a record shop and experience of business failures, pursuing joining the british army, doing the ironman event twice , partaking in various marathons, this clearly demonstrates how he is continuously challenged and to this day continues to challenge himself. This is something I relate with as I am always looking to continue challenging myself and feel I could learn alot from Deepak as I would see him not just as my future boss but a leader who keeps pushing boundaries.
One of the things which resonated with me was the amazing reviews the company had and how quickly the group has progressed over the years since the group was only founded in 2016 and has expanded into a range of industry sectors. And after listening through the SoundCloud audio reference clips which Deepak had shared with me, this gave me a clear understanding of my future colleagues’ experiences and what their day to day roles consisted of being in a remote environment which put everything into perspective.
After listening to everyone’s experiences I came to learn more about the company culture and the way of life at Pearl Lemon and getting an understanding of how everyone works hand in hand with one another and from a day to day activity point of view the company is very fast paced and solution driven. Another opportunity I saw was the incentives l that came with the role which includes a commission earning structure based on any new additional deals that I get in.
On the other hand, although the above said looked and sounded all promising, I still needed to be extra sure that I would be making the right decision by resigning from my previous job and joining a new foreign company located abroad elsewhere in another country and being completely100% remote. Some of the questions burning through my mind were:
- What if this new job doesn’t work out?
- What if I don’t fit in ?
- How would this impact my family?
These are some of the questions which came to mind after discussing the role with my wife. She confidently had my full support and explained to me that I would have nothing to lose as she could see I was not happy from a growth and development perspective at my previous company.This really hit home and put things into perspective because for me everything boils down to self growth and development and this is something I was not getting as I felt I reached my full potential and there were no other areas to grow into at my previous company.Also from a culture perspective having had the privilege of traveling to numerous countries , meeting new people from different walks of life is something which highly resonates with me and by potentially working for an international company would certainly help further broaden my mind and knowledge.
With the above said, after making the final interview stage on the 17th May 2022 I got the opportunity to meet with Deepak and soon realised this is the type of person, company and culture I would want to be associated, involved and grow with.The exact same day of my interview with Deepak, later that evening he handed me the job offer which I immediately accepted and handed in my resignation at my previous company the day after, and the rest is pretty much history.
One month prior to Joining Pearl Lemon
After accepting the offer at Pearl Lemon, I created myself a set list of goals and tasks so I can be extra prepared when joining the company in my new role as Senior Account Manager.. I always believe in “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”.
- So the first point of call was to get a new WhatsApp business account and number set up since the company solely operates all communication on WhatsApp which is still mind blowing as I had never come across any company that both externally and internally communicates on one channel platform on a daily basis.
- The second step was to get a brand new laptop knowing that I was about to enter a fast paced / remote environment. It was clear that I needed to get an efficient laptop with an upgrade of at least 32 Gig Ram and eventually down the line knew I would need to budget for a good set of bluetooth / noise cancellation earphones. The good news was that I already had an inverter as in South Africa we experience a thing called “Load Shedding” Go Google it and you will understand..
Below is a screenshot of my new laptop, RAM Gig upgrades and Inverter which is much needed for power failure AKA Loadshedding….
- The third step was to start familairising myself with the Onboarding tool kit set and download the necessary plugins. I must say the onboarding toolkit is a very user friendly guide which enables you to get familiar with the SOP tools and systems.
- The 4th step would be to go through as many training videos as possible that falls part of the companies training courses which is mandatory and by then I also started to familiarise myself with all the systems, tools and platforms used for SEO, Lead generation and cold calling service and by also getting to understand the company’s operating procedures , getting to know the various departments I would be working with and most importantly getting to know my future colleagues who I would be working with , mostly who would be 1000’s of miles away from me.
Below is a screenshot of my reference google spreadsheet doc for keeping track of my learning video tutorials and timestamps
My first official month:
Not sure where to start here , but for those who are in full agreement at most companies when you officially join, you start you in neutral gear , then slowly progress once you get accustomed to the culture , standard operating procedures, systems and tools then you eventually fall in line and catch up to normal team pace.
Since joining Pearl Lemon some of the things I have learnt:
- How to communicate effectively with our clients through different communication platforms
- Gaining a solid understand of all tools and systems and G Suite
- Providing online video demonstrations via Loom (Both externally for clients and internally)
- Communicate effectively via WhatsApp and how to conduct onboarding calls.
- I also seen quite a few people come and go
- There is a very close culture within the team and everyone is helpful and there to have your back.
- The training videos have certainly helped me along the way as it adheres to the company’s blueprint and way of doing things.
All of these areas have been constant growth and development as more from an implementation and understanding perspective, this has enabled me to get a better understanding of what goes on behind the scenes. From a solutions and system / tools perspective Deepak constantly challenges us to go figure things out for ourselves and I believe that is the best way one can learn to become more solution oriented.
My First Week
At Pearl Lemon in my first week I was handed 3 clients, had to figure out new tools and systems , and got to learn how to use various new online platforms such as AHrefs for running keyword research and site audits, Frase.io for optimizing blog articles, SEO Night simulator,Linkedin Sales Navigator for building outreach mail campaigns Ulinc , and Google Search Console for managing client website campaigns.
Below is a screenshot of one of my campaigns from Sales Navigator connected to ulinc.com
My Second Week
In my 2nd week I managed to build my own Linkedin campaign, conducting podcasts for the company’s new knowledge sharing podcast platform titled Lemonology and by doing research everyday and getting to interview some of my fellow colleagues on key topics which started off with seo and learning how both SEO and lead generation road maps are done and also got to learn how to learn how to project manage two clients to assist building them their one Google knowledge panels and grow their personal brands and which entailed a lot of research and understanding of Data Structure and social media website interlinking to grow their notability. I also started familiarizing myself with Ahrefs , Google search console and getting to understand how Sales Navigator works and building effective targeting campaigns.
Below is a screenshot of feedback from one of my clients which we managed to set up her Google Knowledge Panel in one month
My Third Week
In my third week I was assigned two more clients and started getting the hang of conducting onboarding calls which has grown my confidence in taking lead and getting to know standard operating procedures for internal briefing processes and managing external communication workflow which has increased my knowledge and confidence as a Senior Account Manager. This has enabled me to improve managing my client expectations when it comes to managing deliverables and briefing the team and following up internally.
Below is a screenshot of one of our client onboarding calls with a new client within the telecommunications industry which we onboarded.
My Fourth Week
In my fourth week I was given the opportunity to lead a project for Pearl Lemon Group to build an interlinking social and website presence in order for them to be on the Google Knowledge Panel. This is an exciting project to be involved in as not only am I learning the various phases and platforms to register the group and its subsidiaries on but I am also learning more about the company as whole including its respective subsidiaries.
Below is a screenshot of my Google spreadsheet doc for the Pearl Lemon Google Knowledge Panel project which includes the subsidiary companies.
Below is a screenshot of the Pearl Lemon Group Knowledge Panel
In
Conclusion
One of the things that stand out in our team is there is always consistency. We meet everyday at 9am as a team to have a brief catch up and ensure all campaigns are on track given that we don’t work in an office environment and need to make the most of catching up online as a team and also finding ways to solve any client problems to help each team member.
Throughout my first month at Pearl Lemon, although I have picked up a lot of people who may come and go as people need to realise Pearl Lemon is not for the faint hearted, it’s a company that is serious about growing and growing quickly and efficiently, and the only way you will adapt and survive is if you get out your comfort zone and find solutions and build and work on them.
Also based on the amount of knowledge shared by training videos, open team meetings, and working closely with various departments in most other companies each department generally keeps knowledge to themselves whilst at Pearl Lemon their mission is to equip and educate their staff so that they can learn quickly and grow quickly.
I also have learnt how to be open to constructive criticism because it allows us to learn about our weaknesses while continuing to grow and improve. Keep an open mind and recognize that the person who is giving you advice just wants to see you succeed.