Assent in Depth: Jamey Kocan, Strategic Account Executive
At Assent, we value optimism. We believe sustainability is not only possible but inevitable when we work together. Our sales organization puts this value into practice every day.
Below, Jamey Kocan, an account executive with Assent, shares his thoughts on what it’s like to work at Assent and how our corporate values resonate with him.
Are you looking for a job that aligns with your values? Check out our Careers page.
Q&A With Jamey Kocan
Q: What’s the best thing about working for Assent?
A: The best thing about working for Assent is the people. I’ve been here for over a year, and at any point in time, I can reach out to colleagues and managers on different teams or members of our Regulatory team, and everyone is willing and able to help. It’s a very refreshing experience.
Q: Which of Assent’s core values resonates most with you?
A: One of the values at Assent that resonates with me the most is optimism. When I was transitioning from sales training to getting my territory, there was some time when I just wasn’t getting the interaction with the prospects I was hoping for, but I remained optimistic because I spoke to my peers who had been in my position.
They told me to continue doing what I was doing, and that those efforts would pay off. They did. Remaining optimistic throughout my learning curve helped me get through those initial challenging periods as a salesperson with a new territory. It really has paid dividends for me.
Q: What makes a position as an account executive at Assent purposeful and fulfilling?
A: The reason is two-fold.
It’s nice to be in a position where you can do what salespeople like to do: bring value to customers and prospects and be able to sell solutions that will help their organizations.
Here’s how it’s fulfilling: the things that we’re doing are helping others. Whether we’re talking about regulations regarding products or things like human trafficking and slavery, it’s great to be able to do our part to help the world.
Q: In the current war for talent, what makes Assent a smart choice for candidates?
A: As an account executive who’s been in the software and SaaS industry for a while, I find Assent to be an attractive opportunity because of a few factors.
The overall compensation structure is very favorable. It allows you to properly ramp up, and not just for a short-term period — it’s over multiple years.
The product we’re selling is best-in-class, and it’s in a market where there’s a great need. The evolving market and the ESG space mean there’s going to be a lot of growth. It’s really nice to be at an organization where the market is seeing tremendous growth, but the company is seeing tremendous growth as well.
Q: How do you feel supported in your role as an account executive by other teams?
A: As an account executive who’s worked for other SaaS companies, I’ve been through onboarding at other companies and in the position of being a new person starting all over again. It can be stressful and a daunting task.
The onboarding process with Assent was the smoothest at any company I’ve been with. There was great training — I was able to get a good baseline. The other thing that I enjoyed that I was able to leverage a lot was being paired up with a peer mentor throughout the transition period. I’ve had that in the past, but it’s done in writing, but not in practice. Leveraging my peer mentor during my onboarding process was something I did routinely, and they actually enjoyed it. There was a genuine desire to help me and to allow me to succeed.
Additionally, we have a team of regulatory experts that we leverage during the sales cycle. I thought that when I was going through my onboarding that it was going to be a group of individuals that I wouldn’t be able to leverage. I didn’t think I’d be able to send them a Slack and ask them to join an upcoming meeting. For all of my calls, once I got my territory, I had regulatory experts. It made that transition so much smoother because if I had a customer asking me specifics on a certain regulation, I had an industry-recognized regulatory expert who knows that regulation and could have a peer-to-peer conversation.
The regulatory team allows for a smoother and more comfortable onboarding where you have the ability to have these conversations that can lead to real opportunities much sooner in your tenure. It’s been amazing.
In addition, every individual, whether it’s a peer that’s on a different team, a manager not on my team, or a group of sales engineers — they’re always available. Having a company that’s properly funded means it can provide these resources. You’re not thin on business development support, or sales engineers, or materials to allow you to do your job. You have all the tools — it’s just figuring out the best way to use them in your sales cycles.
