Simon Higgins
Sydney
Summary
Highly accomplished business development professional with a proven track record of delivering exceptional results across various roles. Specialized in solution selling, business strategy, strategic alliances, software as a service, and consultative selling. Sought after by leading companies in the IT industry, including Barhead Solutions, Cloudactive, Salesforce, Verizon Enterprises, Hewlett Packard, VMware, and Microsoft. Consistently surpasses revenue targets and receives recognition and awards for outstanding performance. Success attributed to diverse range of skills and competencies in solution selling, business strategy, go-to-market strategy, strategic alliances, software as a service, negotiation, demand generation, presenting, sales prospecting, multi-channel marketing, sales processes, consultative selling, and professional services.
Overview
39
39
years of professional experience
Work History
Enterprise Account Executive
Barhead Solutions
01.2022 - 12.2023
- Company Overview: A Microsoft Business Application Partner
- Prospect commercially practical new clients to sell in the value proposition of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 product portfolio and Barhead Professional Services model for solution implementation
- Managed the entire sales cycle and drove revenue from first prospect conversation to negotiating contract and deal close
- Leverage your contacts and connections in the market to build a pipeline
- Prospect, acquire, develop, and expand business leads, including working with Microsoft leads
- Partner with the Microsoft Sales team to present the D365 solution to selected customers
- Ran discovery sessions to fully understand and question client requirements
- Worked with the delivery teams to ensure the right solution for clients’ business issues and ensured the SoW was accurately documented and signed off
- Accurately and consistently used the CRM system to record and forecast all opportunities
- Up and cross sold to existing customers to expand the Barhead services footprint
- A Microsoft Business Application Partner
Sales Director
Cloudactive
04.2020 - 01.2022
- Company Overview: A Salesforce Implementation Partner
- My role as Head of Sales & Customer success at Cloudactive was to drive professional Services revenue as a trusted Salesforce implementation partner through account penetration, building a strong network and development of effective multi-year sales campaigns working directly with Salesforce Australia as a trusted implementation partner across all the Salesforce Cloud Platforms
- CloudActive provided customer digital transformation services through cost effective delivery capabilities, an expert team and proven experience across involving, people, process, and technology trends across the Salesforce platforms: Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Community Cloud, Field Sales Lighting, MAPS, PARDOT, Einstein Analytics and supporting business outcomes to our customers
- Developed Sales Strategy, Go-to Market, supporting Sales cadence, rhythm of the business and governance to drive sales targets
- Leading account development and acquisition strategies mapped to the clients' pain points and planning cycles, focusing on customer outcomes
- Assessing accounts to set up primary/secondary account targets with Salesforce
- Took ownership of the end-to-end sales process in complex and multi-year relationships
- Engaged with and nurtured existing network of executive relationships within Salesforce Australia
- Took initiative-taking steps to build strong executive relationships with Salesforce Australian Regional Vice Presidents, Directors, Account Executives across ESB (Emerging Small Business) SMB, Enterprise segment teams at Salesforce
- Set Go to Market Strategy and long-term growth plans and supporting marketing programs to drive growth
- Mentored and supported the sales team
- Engaged with internal Senior Architects and pre-sales resources during the right stage of the sales cycle at both CloudActive and Salesforce Australia
- Based on Sales engagement strategy with Salesforce Australia grew the pipeline from $100K to $750K of professional Services revenue within 3 x months of starting in the role
- Built strong relationships across all Salesforce Selling segments and teams setting the business up for robust growth moving forwards
- A Salesforce Implementation Partner
- 135% revenue achievement against a revenue target of AUD $1.5M FY 2021
- 112% revenue achievement against a revenue target of AUD $2M FY 2022
- Consistent strong pipeline and supporting forecast accuracy
Senior Account Executive
Salesforce
11.2015 - 03.2020
- My role at Salesforce was based within the General Business Unit (GBU) customer segment with a set of target/acquisition accounts targeting customers segments of 500 -2500 employees within my assigned territory on a yearly basis
- It involved positioning Salesforce’s 'best-in-class solutions' across CRM, Service Cloud, Platform and more to businesses looking to digitally transform their business processes
- 122% revenue achievement against a revenue target of AUD $960K FY 2016
- 104% revenue achievement against a revenue target of AUD $1.2M FY 2017
- 108% revenue achievement against a revenue target of AUD $1.4M FY 2018
- 112% revenue achievement against a revenue target of AUD $1.6M FY 2019
Senior Account Executive
Verizon Enterprises
07.2012 - 10.2015
- Simon was focused on driving new business sales for Enterprise Cloud Computing (Public Cloud, Hybrid Cloud, Private Cloud) outsourcing/managed solutions, hosting, security solutions and professional services through thought leadership and client engagement
- 110% revenue recognition during FY 2012
- 106% revenue recognition during FY 2013
- 118% revenue recognition during FY 2014
- Sold SAP Germany the Cloud Platform in 2012 to launch SAP SuccessFactors in the APAC region
- Achieved top employee rating of 'Emerging Talent' for FY 2013
- Achieved top employee rating of 'Emerging Talent' for the first half of FY 2014
- Established strong business relationships and joint sales engagement and alignment with Verizon’s Strategic Alliance partners: Cisco Systems, EMC, and AKAMAI
Head of Sales – Microsoft Alliance APAC
Hewlett Packard
10.2009 - 07.2012
- Microsoft-Hewlett Packard- Infrastructure-to-Applications (I2A) is a three year, $250M joint initiative to build and deliver Visualization, Cloud Computing solutions and Converged Applications (SQL & Exchange)
- Simon was responsible for driving the business and marketing strategy for this key initiative within the Asia Pacific region across the following key markets Australia, Greater China, India, Japan, Korea and countries in S.E
- Asia
- His role sat within the HP Enterprise Business Unit, and he worked with the Enterprise Server, Storage and Network sales teams across the region (ESSN)
- Simon's position was part of the HP- Microsoft regional and global alliance team and he worked across multiple divisions and countries with the Sales, Services, and Partner and Marketing divisions in both Microsoft and HP to drive successful joint revenue outcomes and competitive wins
- Achieved revenue achievement of $290m against a target of $250m in FY 2010
- This revenue achievement also included opportunities for new acquisition wins for HP and competitive displacement for Microsoft of VMware
- Achievement of (Microsoft FY) quota and pipeline coverage of 2.5% driving robust growth and alignment focusing in on key countries: Australia, China, India, Korea, and Japan in just seven months
- Established joint teamed accounts in focus countries with a ROI of 675% through business investment funds to support Microsoft & HP Frontline partnership lighthouse sales opportunities with a result of over 200 x joint enterprise sales wins
- Sales Enablement: Drove joint sales training and content for an event held in Hong Kong and attended by 100 x HP & Microsoft employees with a direct outcome of an addition of $45M in pipeline revenue and training was also adopted as 'best practice' worldwide
- Established cadence and rhythm of the business through joint pipeline and executive reviews and processes adopted Worldwide across Hewlett Packard and Microsoft teams as 'best practice.'
Senior Partner Sales Manager – Dell Technologies
VMWARE
11.2007 - 10.2009
- As a senior partner sales manager, Simon worked very closely with Dell Technologies working closely with their regional Channel Sales Managers and alliances managers to drive mutual revenue across data Centre Virtualization solutions encompassing, server, desktop management, disaster recovery, storage, and Green IT initiatives
- Simon’s role had direct responsibility and KPI measurement on both technical and sales enablement of all these tier one channel partners to successfully articulate the VMware value proposition within the regional marketplace
- This was achieved by using the partner’s business focus and go to market sales strategies across the region, alignment to both existing partner solutions in the 'virtualization' space and aiding the partner to build out and deliver upon new market solutions across emerging technologies within the VMware solution portfolio
- Achieved 120% of revenue target during FY 2008
- Achieved 130% of revenue target during FY 2009
- Helped grow the Dell Computer business to represent 30% of VMware’s overall revenue per quarter in Australia & New Zealand
- APAC Sales Award for Senior Partner Sales Manager of the year –FY 2009
Senior Solution Sales Specialist (SSP) – Microsoft Modern Desktop
Microsoft
12.2003 - 10.2007
- The purpose of the Senior Solution Sales Specialist Role (SSP) role inside of Microsoft was to add value to the company by delivering Windows Client revenue and market share through new Enterprise customer and/or used investments in Microsoft Windows technologies
- The primary focus of this role was working with Microsoft enterprise customers, focusing on the business value of the Windows desktop platform, supporting management and deployment technologies to drive successful revenue against yearly sales and deployment targets
- The role also had a strong focus on driving the deployment and adoption of newer versions of the Windows Desktop operating system across FSI, Commercial, Public Sector and the Education sector across Australia
- Simon achieved his yearly revenue and deployment targets and was awarded several sales awards at both the local Australian subsidiary and global level
- Consistently achieved over 100% sales quota on windows client revenue within Microsoft’s Enterprise Accounts during each fiscal year
- Simon took part in closing some of the largest Enterprise agreement deals with customers such as the: CBA, NAB, Westpac, NSW Health Department, Victorian Government, Wesfarmers, Woodside Petroleum, Clough Engineering, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton to name a few
- Consistently Achieved a Microsoft employee rating of 'Exceeded' from annual employee reviews over a few fiscal years
- Achieved a Microsoft employee rating of 'Top 20% 'globally in the company as a direct outcome of an annual employee review at the end of fiscal year 2007
- Subsidiary & Global Sales Awards awarded during tenure
Trooper - 40 Commando Royal Marines
Ministry of Defence
08.1984 - 08.1992
Skills
- CRM proficiency
- Value-based selling
- Type industry background
- Customer relationships
- Sales presentations
- Sales lifecycle management
- Key account management
- Sales strategies
- Pipeline management
- Research and analysis
- Upselling strategies
- Pipeline development
- Cold calling
- Influencing skills
- Lead prospecting
Personal Information
- Australian
- British
Timeline
Enterprise Account Executive
Barhead Solutions
01.2022 - 12.2023
Sales Director
Cloudactive
04.2020 - 01.2022
Senior Account Executive
Salesforce
11.2015 - 03.2020
Senior Account Executive
Verizon Enterprises
07.2012 - 10.2015
Head of Sales – Microsoft Alliance APAC
Hewlett Packard
10.2009 - 07.2012
Senior Partner Sales Manager – Dell Technologies
VMWARE
11.2007 - 10.2009
Senior Solution Sales Specialist (SSP) – Microsoft Modern Desktop
Microsoft
12.2003 - 10.2007
Trooper - 40 Commando Royal Marines
Ministry of Defence
08.1984 - 08.1992
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