We think the Agility team is made up of some pretty impressive people! Our international crew is comprised of hard workers with inquisitive minds who are excited to improve PR practices through data and technology.
You deserve the chance to get to know the crew! We designed this blog series to give you an insider’s view into Agility and to introduce you to the people behind the PR platform. Subscribe to the blog to make sure you meet the rest of the brilliant minds at Agility!
Without further ado, meet Abbie Woodward.
How long have you been at Agility?
I have been with Agility for 15 years now!
What is your role and what team are you a part of at Agility?
I work in a split role. My title is Senior Manager of Media Intelligence Solutions. So, I’m part sales enablement for channels and I’m part sales enablement for our internal team. In my role, I am tasked to train and enable all of our partners’ sales teams to sell, deliver, and position our products, as well as helping the internal team. I’m currently predominantly focusing my efforts on Agility Social Listening .
What is your favorite thing about working at Agility?
I have a couple of favorite things. The people are a big thing for me. I’ve been here for several years now, and there is a lovely hub of people that I have met. Individuals that I’ve been with from when I started at the company, and also a lot of new people that I’ve met along the way. My other favorite thing is everybody’s ability to help one another. I kind of feel like we have the culture of a small startup, but we’re not. We have done this for a very long time. We’ve got some great backing and brilliant product, but we still feel like we’re a family startup company and that’s what I love.
What does a typical day in the life at Agility look like for you?
My day is comprised of an equal combination of training new sales hires and training new channel partners. On a typical day, I might deliver some training content that I’ve written. I might deliver a sales training session globally, as well as having plenty of internal meetings regarding where we’re going with the product.
There’s a lot of different variation in my day, especially now that I’m in the two different roles. It’s very much a split between helping our channel partners and their sales teams be successful, as well as helping the internal sales teams, and writing and delivering that sales content.
Do you have any advice for new employees starting at Agility?
It depends on the kind of role and position they’re going in. Generally, I would say step outside of your department. There are so many great minds in this company. I would get to know as many of those people as you can in those different divisions. It not only helps you with your progression, but it also helps you with understanding what we do as a company. For anyone in sales, with the people that I train, I would really advise them to take advantage of all the sales enablement and help that there is out there. Connect with people outside of your team to understand the product; understand the engineering team; understand the research team. Do not just live in your bubble. Take advantage of the brilliant people that are doing so well, and that are happy to mentor. Learn who you work with and find those bright minds.
What are some skills that you’ve gained working at Agility?
It’s been a long journey. I started at the company when I was 28. I’ve learned a lot, and I’ve had so many different roles in sales. I’ve gone from being a salesperson to an account manager to managing the account management team to working on the channels to now training the internal team on sales enablement. I think one of the main skills that I’ve learned is to accept that change is not a bad thing. I was at the company when we were acquired, and I’ve seen each bit of change that’s happened since. I’ve seen it through and witnessed it turn into magnificent progress.
The other thing I’ve learned, is to learn from your mistakes. To turn them around and take them as a way to progress forward. That’s helped in my ability to train salespeople. As a trainer, something that I teach is to look at what you are doing, analyze what you’ve done, and work out where you could have done better.
What is your favorite digital tool that you use at work?
I’d say Slack. It’s brilliant. I’ve always been a remote worker. Before Covid times, that was a very lonely place. But since Covid, we’ve become far better with the tools that we’ve given to employees to stay connected. With Slack, everybody is helping each other learn and grow via multiple channels of how did they win that deal, or what’s going on in the market space, or what are we doing as a company, or even social stuff. So yeah, I’d probably say that Slack is my favorite digital channel that I use at work. I mean, you can’t beat social interaction, but if you can’t have it, then this is kind of the second best. I also love Zoom. I never ever did a meeting on video before and now I do not feel disconnected.
What is your favorite work snack or beverage?
Decaf coffee. I can’t drink caffeine that much, otherwise I’d be wired. I drink caffeine in the morning just to get me going and then I carry on with decaf.
How do you stay connected with coworkers while remote?
Slack, definitely. And then making sure that we have a lot of team and one-on-one meetings with video on.
What is your favorite after work or weekend activity?
The gym and walking the dog. I have a Springer Spaniel. She’s gorgeous.
Abbie’s at home setup, complete with her dog.
What’s the best part of your day?
The best part of my working day, well it’s not my day, it’s my week, is my one-on-one with my manager who has also become a very, very good friend of mine. We’ve been working at Agility together from the start and she’s been an amazing advocate and mentor, just brilliant for me and kind of taking me to where I am and seeing things in me that maybe I haven’t seen. So, I love chatting and talking to her and she’s so knowledgeable. I enjoy that.
And then my normal day, I’m massive fitness fanatic, so at lunch I break my day up by going to the gym. I have gone through numerous years of me working too hard and, especially as a remote worker, not stopping. So, I made it a big thing to always make sure I break for lunch and I go to the gym or I do a class and it just gives me that hour’s break of focusing on something for my mental and physical health. I come back after lunch and then I’m refreshed for all of my afternoon meetings.
