Overview

Founded by the creator of the YOU DON’T KNOW JACK^® game series, The Jellyvision Lab, Inc. creates virtual teachers, advisors, and salespeople who make online learning and decision making delightful.  In all that we do, our goal is to make complex topics simple and boring material interesting, using a combination of great design, unexpectedly funny content, and serious technology.

Of all the virtual people Jellyvision has created, the tallest and least afraid of bears is ALEX^®, the virtual benefits counselor (www.meetalex.com). ALEX helps companies talk their employees through the tricky choices they’ll have to make, like picking a health insurance plan, deciding how much to put in the 401(k), or whether they might want extra life insurance. Our customers love ALEX because he helps their employees figure out what’s best for their personal situations, which, in turn, saves our customers a boat-load of time and money – everybody wins! As we sell more and more of ALEX, we need more and more non-virtual (i.e., real life) people to keep the product amazing. That’s where you come in.

THAT’S LOVELY, BUT WHAT’S THE JOB?
Reporting to the VP of Sales, you will be contributing to the growth of ALEX by generating sales for our new ALEX Express team.  ALEX Express is a simpler version of our Enterprise ALEX solution, designed to handle fewer and simpler benefit plans at a price point that’s accessible to small and medium businesses (who tend to have fewer and simpler benefit choices than our larger Enterprise customers).  You’ll reach out to new small and medium business prospects in an assigned geographical territory, dazzling them with the ALEX Express product and closing deals left and right.  You will have the support of a team of inside sales reps, but will be responsible for reaching out to both cold and pre-qualified leads.

And why should you be interested in bringing your considerable sales chops to this particular opportunity?  Well, we seem to have a good thing going.  ALEX is well established and growing quickly. It isn’t utility enterprise software, like payroll or CRM; instead it’s an entirely new concept in employee communication.  Accordingly, the sales challenge isn’t as much differentiating ourselves from the competition, as it is shifting conversations from costs/price to value/benefits.  And the benefits are pretty impressive – we’ve got great case studies and a strong value proposition for the product.  We currently license ALEX on an annual recurring fee basis to more than 300 companies, many of which can be found sitting on the Fortune 500 list.  The product is award- winning and extremely highly regarded, a great marketing team is already in place, and we’ve got amazing account and implementation teams to take care of clients once deals close.

So what will I do on this rock star team?  Specifically, the Account Executives for ALEX Express will be responsible for:

• Managing the full life cycle of an opportunity: sourcing qualified leads during the offseason, pitching hundreds of qualified companies, and closing an insane amount of business (you are an all-star, after all).
• Once you have the green light from the client side, working closely with our implementation team to develop a statement of work based on the client’s unique benefits offerings, and shepherding the deal through legal review to close.
• Meticulously tracking activities in our CRM system (Salesforce).
• Reporting progress against daily, weekly, and quarterly goals.
• Efficiently managing complex and, at times, long sales cycles.
• And finally, upselling. We are an agency as well and there are a lot of ways we can help our clients humanize their communications.

While we’re big believers that the right “DNA” and cultural fit are what makes for a successful hire, we’ll take an early shine to candidates with the following background, skills, and experience:

• Proven sales chops.  Ideally, 2+ years of sales experience, preferably in the technology industry selling B2B. A solid technology, agency, or benefits background would be helpful.
• Experience prospecting, cold calling and securing appointments as well as closing new business.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills – the ability to talk and write with confidence, charisma, and competence for a wide variety of audiences.
• Mad people skills. You’ll need to make a killer first impression, and then maintain active engagement with new and existing leads by being creative in your follow up efforts.
• You must be a relationship builder – interacting with prospective clients in a way that projects Jellyvision’s sense of fun paired with the unmistakable je ne sais quoi that reeks of hard-core competence.
• You should also be able to challenge people in a charming way – for example, if you walk away every time a prospect says they don’t have the budget, you will leave sales on the table.  But you need to know how to address those budget concerns thoughtfully, in a way that doesn’t feel pushy.  Which means you’ll also need…
• Great listening skills, as well as humility.  We aren’t the right solution all the time for everyone, and we’re believers in “seeking first to understand” before we make our pitch.  We get that people want to do business with people they like. If the timing isn’t right, but you form a relationship that can yield fruit in another season, well, that’s a key part of the job.
• Killer sales instincts and drive.  Someone with a good gut for which leads are worth running down.  And the stamina to run them down.  And the drive to always want to close one more deal next week than you did this week.  Or two more.  Why not three if you hit two last week?  What would happen if you pushed for four?  (Are we beating a dead horse yet?  Probably.  But if you automatically started thinking, “Five, I could do Five.” then we want to talk to you.)
• Although we want killer sales instincts, we’re hoping to find them in a person with a down-to-earth, laid back personality.  Do we want someone who’s a master at overcoming objections?  Yes, but we also would really love to find someone who doesn’t run around saying things like “overcoming objections” all the time.
• Innate curiosity and the ability to act on it.  You’ll have to be able to quickly understand prospects’ industry and core business processes, and how our solution could solve some of their problems.
• Excellent market research skills, coupled with great instincts for the market.  You’ll need to be great at market research and analysis to evaluate the market for ALEX and develop a winning sales strategy.
• Technical savvy – or at least a comfort level with discussing and understanding technical issues.  We need someone who can learn and understand product solutions and features.
• Ability to play well with others.  Sales at Jellyvision is a team effort.  You’ll work closely with the other sales team members, the marketing team, and members of the creative, engineering, and implementation staffs.
• Organization and time management skills in spades. You’ll be maintaining a large pipeline of leads and opportunities, so the ability to keep everything sorted out is key.
• Proficiency in MS Office, Outlook, Google Alerts, Advanced Google searching techniques and Salesforce.com (experience with marketing automation tools such as Eloqua or Marketo is a plus).
• A phenomenal sense of humor.  Yes, it will make you more effective.  It’s also a job requirement at Jellyvision.

NOTE: Although our Account Executives will be managing geographic territories, we’re largely phone, email, and WebEx based in our sales. The ideal candidate will be based in Chicago, working out of our Lincoln Park office.

PHEW. THAT WAS A LOT. ANYTHING ELSE?
Yes.  We only hire nice, bright, funny people who are willing to work hard.  Jellyvision is a group effort and our Sales folks must be capable of working collaboratively with creative, technical, and project management types.  Everyone at Jellyvision shares a commitment to excellence and a desire to work in a comfortable, friendly atmosphere.

ARE THERE ANY PERKS? Yes, we love perks.

• Competitive pay, stock options and benefits.  401(k) with matching.  And we pay 100% of the cost of premiums for medical, dental, vision, disability and life insurance for our employees (as long as you qualify for our tobacco-free discount; if you’re a tobacco user, your medical premiums will be higher than $0). We also cover a really nice chunk of the cost of premiums for spouse/partner/dependent medical, dental and vision insurance.
• Casual dress and a flexible schedule.  Come in a sweatshirt, jeans, whatever, like everyone else here.
• Creative work environment. We are lucky to work in a place that is full of intelligent, talented and innovative folks. Although most hours the place is deathly quiet (we’re a focused bunch), this is punctuated with hilarious outbursts and general merriment, which makes a nice way to spend the day.
• Easy transportation. We’re really close to the “L” and the Halsted (#8) bus (right by the new Apple Store and Mega Whole Foods if that’s your kind of thing), and we have a transit FSA that allows you to dedicate pre-tax dollars to public transportation expenses.  Since a number of our employees like to bike to work, we also have showers and lockers in the office.
• Did we mention our yoga class?  We bring a pro instructor right to the office. Fully subsidized by Jellyvision and fully optional, btw.
• Oh! And you should know that we have a massage chair. And not just any massage chair, my friend.  It’s the HumanTouch HT 5320 WholeBody™ Massage Chair. Feeling a little stiff? Sit down. Relax. Feel better? Good. Okay, back to work.
• Free food. Every week, we stock our kitchen with free healthy snack foods, and we have a “hot lunch” catered once a week to give people a reason to hang out and eat together. 

INTERESTED? GREAT! HERE’S HOW TO APPLY:

We need:

1. Your resume.
2. A cover letter that highlights 3 reasons you think you’d be great for the gig, along with your sales stats for the past several years, target vs. actual.  Writing is key to all that we do, and we weigh cover letters heavily.  Show us how you’d engage us as if we were a prospective client.

You should receive an auto-reply confirming that we’ve received your application.

NO PHONE CALLS OR FOLLOW-UP EMAILS, PLEASE.
Yes, we know it’s part of a good salesperson’s job to follow-up and follow-up.  But we also want to know that our salespeople can follow guidelines.  Trust us: pay attention to this one.   If you do decide to apply, please know that every complete application will be carefully reviewed.  Seriously!  We know it is a time commitment to prepare an application.  We will respect that effort by thoughtfully reviewing every single complete application and responding one way or the other, and we are truly grateful for your interest.