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Regional Sales Manager and Internet Sales Vet Tori Ward on why she switched teams
Tori Ward is not your average account manager. With nearly 20 years of experience in the cybersecurity industry, she understands the industry better than most and can work virtually anywhere. So why did she join CrowdStrike as Regional Sales Manager for the North Central team? One, because it has so much more to offer than a typical emerging tech company. CrowdStrike may be relatively young, but our workforce is filled with seasoned experts with deep experience in a variety of fields who bring their perspectives to the table every day.
In the latest episode of 5 Questions, we chat with Tori about her decision to join CrowdStrike and why she feels it was the “absolute best choice” she could have made in her impressive career.
Q: Having worked in the cybersecurity industry for a long time, do you think there are any misconceptions in this field, specifically CrowdStrike?
In the past, I think people thought the industry was really “technical” – which is to say, a little bit boring. I don’t know if this is true as people are more familiar with the concept of cybersecurity, but I think this has been an issue in the past.
That said, there may still be people who think you need a technical background to work in this industry. But you don’t, and I’m a perfect example. I just need to understand the business issues.
So people might think, “I can’t do that. It’s too professional.” But that’s not the point. It’s more about understanding people and being able to connect the dots than it is about how the tool works.
Q: Please tell me more relevant information. What does “understanding the business problem” mean?
While CrowdStrike has many resources and I work on a nine-person sales team, I most often work with a designated sales engineer. We are definitely a couple. My job is to understand the client’s needs and connect all those dots. On a day-to-day basis, I focus on the clients I visit, understanding what their problems are, understanding where they are in their security journey, understanding who in the organization is responsible for managing security and their issues.
Then, once we understand the problem, my engineers and I dive into the solutions we offer and how CrowdStrike can assist. We come up with specific ideas that we can bring to the client and emphasize the benefits, rather than asking very generally, “Would you like a meeting?”
This approach has worked really well for me, not just at CrowdStrike, but in general. It’s important to first understand these accounts and then try to find solutions for them.
Q: What is the most rewarding part of your job?
The best part of my job is being able to actually solve problems for clients. That’s what’s really different here, because everything we do is to help our customers. While this is true of many companies, it feels unique here because our work is very visible to our clients. The impact was almost immediate. Once customers start using our products, they immediately understand our value. When we roll out across their entire environment, customers really see how much easier their lives become—how parts of their jobs that were once real pain points disappear with CrowdStrike.
For example, I got a call from a client this morning. They are a large enterprise organization with thousands of users. They called about a small department that was operating independently from an IT and security perspective but had suffered a massive breach. Everything is encrypted. The department’s current security provider (not CrowdStrike) basically told them there was nothing they could do. So today’s call is really about how we get them on board. How quickly can we do this and make an impact? It does pay off. We talked for 25 minutes, worked out a plan, and got to work. Almost all of these use cases can be solved with the right people, skills, and tools. We have that at CrowdStrike, and it’s very valuable.
Q: Do you think this enthusiasm is part of the CrowdStrike culture?
Absolutely. The excitement here is very palpable. Overall, the buzz is very consistent. Part of it could be the stock price, which is amazing, or the fact that we’ve been attracting new customers. I would say these things are unusual in this industry, but normal for CrowdStrike.
I also believe it is beneficial for the organization to have a leader who is truly present and visible. This sense of leadership trickles down to our employees and customers. We all know how to take care of each other, our partners and our clients. That’s very important to me – having a positive leadership presence in the company.
Q: What else do you think is different about working at CrowdStrike?
I was in my previous position for a long time and I think there were a lot of things that got me stuck. Little things like the type of computer I use or not knowing much about Slack. I was with my last employer for 20 years, so when I came in, I knew there would be differences and I would have to learn. Turns out I enjoy doing it. These systems are very easy to use. It’s actually very freeing to be able to really do your own thing, which is something I couldn’t do in the past. That’s one of the reasons I love working here, it pushes me to do things differently.
I think CrowdStrike has a lot of things that are designed to simplify things and make things easier. This is a new technology company, not some staid old organization that has to reinvent itself. It’s seamless. I like that. I thought I was going to hate it because it was a change, but it was a super positive change. Coming here makes me think change is a good thing overall.
Are you interested in working at CrowdStrike? Visit the CrowdStrike careers page to learn more about our team, culture and current open positions.
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