From BDR to Enterprise Sales, Davis Keenan shares his commercetools career journey, key lessons and secrets to success. Ready to climb the sales ladder? Read on.
In our first edition of our new “Up the Ladder” series, which focuses on how specific employees grew their careers at commercetools, we spoke with Davis Keenan. Davis started his commercetools journey in March of 2021 as a Business Development Representative (BDR). In the almost four years since, Davis has been promoted to two different sales teams, first Mid-Market Sales and more recently, Enterprise Sales, where he’s creating relationships with prospects generating over $1B in annual revenue.
We sat down with Davis to learn more about his career path, his secrets to success, and ultimately, his trajectory “up the ladder.”
Q: Tell me about your career before commercetools
Davis: Finding the right professional fit took some bouncing around. I worked as a sports journalist in college and then sold residential real estate in my first year after graduation. Both roles were great experiences, but they felt like singular chapters rather than a career with staying power. I left real estate to join YMCA Camp Cheerio, an overnight summer camp, where I had worked every summer in college, as a full-timeProgram Director. It was an incredible experience that highlighted how “fun” work can be when you love your job. It also gave me the opportunity to wear many hats which translated into professional skills like organization and team management.
My first foray into the software industry came when my wife and I moved to Raleigh and I joined ChannelAdvisor as an Associate Account Executive. It was a great crash course on the worlds of eCommerce and sales.
While vastly different, I think all of those jobs prepared me in different ways to be successful.
Q: What was your first role at commercetools and how did it prepare you for where you are now?
Davis: I joined commercetools as a Business Development Representative in 2021. Anyone who has been in that role, or a similar role, knows that it’s a grind, and requires a lot of creativity and resilience. When I joined the BDR team at commercetools, we were still a small and scrappy company — I was only the second BDR in the US! This required me to ask a lot of questions and reach outside of my department for help, all while being incredibly organized and nimble.
Q: What is your current role at commercetools?
Davis: I’m currently an Enterprise Account Executive. On paper, my responsibilities are to acquire new customers and increase platform usage within our existing customer base, but in practice, I help potential and current customers understand how our technology can help them solve their challenges.
Q: Was there a specific moment or project that helped you level up your career?
Davis: I think each step of my career helped me in different ways, but there are a few moments that stick out:
The transition from real estate to leadership at Camp Cheerio taught me that financial opportunities may not always outweigh personal fulfillment and happiness.
My role at ChannelAdvisor — I was brand new to both sales and eCommerce, and it was an unbelievably tough job at the time (I started five months before COVID-19 hit). Ultimately, I learned so much about my role and the industry, and equally importantly, I learned that I wanted to pursue a career in sales.
Since joining commercetools, I’ve learned how to balance being willing to pivot and patience, as every day is different, especially at a company that's growing as quickly as commercetools.
Q: If you had to list a few “secrets” to your success, what would they be?
Davis: While my career trajectory hasn’t been a straight line, some things have been consistent throughout: work hard but work smart, be authentic to yourself and your personal goals but allow those goals to change and evolve as you do, be confident but not arrogant, and be a sponge for learning opportunities and new information.
Q: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned as you’ve climbed “up the ladder?”
Davis: Honesty and transparency are always the best path. If people you work with, and for, don’t know your goals, they can’t help you achieve them. You have to do the work, but it’s important to vocalize what you want out of your career, so people can help you get there.
In the sales space – online especially –, there’s a lot of noise from sales ‘gurus’ who will teach you different tricks and tactics, but my personal opinion is that leading with honesty and transparency will always prevail. If potential customers don’t trust you, they probably won’t trust your product. People generally don’t buy products they don’t trust from people they don’t trust.
Q: What tips would you give to someone who wants a similar career trajectory?
Davis: It’s important to have big goals and to break them down into small, actionable steps and behaviors that you can write down and track. For example: my goal as a BDR was to get promoted to an Account Executive role. Great goal, but how do I get there?
I needed to overachieve on my quota, so I broke what this looked like down into small steps that I could repeat daily, such as executing a specific amount of outbound activity, and made it a habit. I also needed to prove that I had the soft skills required to enter a closing role. I focused on building rapport and networking, not only with the hiring manager and my team, but also with others around the organization. I put energy into building relationships with all of my prospects, not just the ones who were ready to buy. This showed my dedication to the sales organization, overall company and that I could manage my business.
Having granular goals will help you identify if any progress is being made. Sometimes the journey takes a little longer than you’d like, but it’ll be hard to know if you’re moving forward if you’re not measuring it.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share?
Davis: There isn’t a roadmap or a one-size-fits-all journey to a career in sales, or any role for that matter. It’s easy to get caught up in the job title, and what comes “next” but embrace your own journey. Comparison can be the thief of joy — run your own race and you’ll be happier and more successful in the long run.
You don’t win a medal for running the fastest first 100 meters in the marathon.
We are growing our teams at commercetools and are always looking for passionate and motivated employees, like Davis, to join us. Take your first step Up the Ladder and apply on our Careers page.
After spending the last decade in tech recruitment, Nicole is now the Employee Experience and Employer Branding Lead at commercetools. Her mission is to maintain a positive, supportive and fun atmosphere for commercetoolers, and attract top talent to join the company.